they were interrupted by the
priests, the officer in charge of the Temple, and the Sadducees, who
were angry because they were teaching the people and telling how Jesus
rose from the dead. They arrested the apostles and, as it was already
evening, put them in prison until the following day.

The next morning a meeting of their rulers, elders and scribes was held
in Jerusalem at which the high priest Annas, and Caiaphas, John,
Alexander and all the members of the high priest's family were present.
They made the apostles stand before them and inquired, "By whose power
and in whose name have you done this?"

Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, "Rulers of
the people and elders of Israel, if we are being examined this day for a
good deed done to a lame man, to find out how he was healed, you and all
the people of Israel should know that this man stands before you
completely cured through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you
crucified and whom God raised from the dead. He is the stone despised by
you builders that has become the chief corner-stone. And salvation comes
by none other, for there is no other name under heaven revealed among
men through which we can be saved."

When they saw how bold Peter and John were and found out that they were
uneducated and ignorant men, they were astonished but they remembered
that they had been with Jesus. Ordering them to go out from the council,
they said among themselves, "What are we to do with these men? All the
people who live in Jerusalem know that a wonderful miracle has been done
by them, and we cannot deny it. But to keep this thing from spreading
any farther among the people let us stop them by threats from speaking
in the future to any one in the name of Jesus." So they called them and
ordered them not to teach nor speak a word in the name of Jesus. But
Peter and John replied, "Decide for yourselves whether it is right
before God to obey you rather than God; for we cannot give up speaking
of what we have seen and heard."

Seeing the man who had been healed standing beside them, the rulers
could say nothing. So, after further threatening them, they let them go,
being unable to find any reason for punishing them on account of the
people, for they were all praising God for what had been done.

THE GENEROSITY OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS

All of the believers were as one in heart and mind; and not one of them
called what he had his own, but the