Acts 4:1-4:
4:1But (during) their uttering-forth towards the people, the priests and the commander of the temple and the Sadducees stood-on (them) .2throughly-being-pained because of them (continuing) to teach the people and to message in Jesus the resurrection, the (resurrection) out-from dead-people, .3and they threw (their) hands on them and they put (them) into keeping into the morrow for it was already evening, .4but many of the (people) having heard the word believed and the number of the adult-males became five thousand.
Even though physically it was only Peter who was actually speaking to the people, God's Word attributes what was being spoken to both Peter and John because the same holy spirit-life that was in Peter was in John. They were both in the same situation and these words are what God and the Lord Jesus Christ wanted them to say at this time.
However, as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander of the temple and the Sadducees stood-on them (in the sense of quickly approaching and taking position standing near them) because they were feeling a lot of pain and grief - why? Because Peter and John were instructing the people and bringing the message by way of Jesus regarding resurrection out-from the rest of the dead-people.
These people were some of the so-called "religious leaders" at that time who should have been delighted to hear God's words being spoken, but instead they disagreed with the truth of resurrection! So, they arrested Peter and John and put them in custody to keep an eye on them until the next day because it was late and they didn't want to deal with them that evening.
But, many of the people who had listened to the word (the spoken account communicated to Peter via his holy spirit-life and which he then spoke to the people) believed that word. They believed God's Word just as Peter and John believed God's Word and therefore they too received the gift of holy spirit, and the number of grown adult men who believed became five thousand [some Greek texts include the word “as” – as five thousand]. There were probably quite a few women and possibly teenagers there as well who also heard and believed God's Word, but the Bible only mentions the adult-males because they were the heads of their families and once they believed every other person within that household ought to believe the same way.
[Reference: Matthew 22:23; Acts 23:6-8.]
A printed paperback book of the complete study of Acts of the Apostles may be purchased at:
or
True Bible Study - Acts of the Apostles
