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21. προσαπειλησάμενοι, having further threatened. The first threats must have been made as soon as the Apostles were called back into the council-hall, as was suggested in Act 4:17. They did not see their way to do more than threaten, because the people were sure that the lame man had been healed and that there was no charge against the Apostles for which they deserved punishment. They could not say that the miracle was untrue, for there was the man standing by, and proving its reality; and they could not inflict a punishment’ for a good deed,’ nor could they find any ground for an accusation in the declaration that the man had been healed in the name of Jesus.
On the contrast between the courage of the Apostles and the terror of the Sanhedrin Chrysostom says: τοιοῦτον ἡ φιλοσοφία. ἐκεῖοι ἐν ἀπορίᾳ, οὗτοι ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ· ἐκεῖνοι πολλῆς γέμοντες αἰσχύνης, οὗτοι μετὰ παῤῥησίας πάντα πράττοντες· ἐκεῖνοι ἐν τῷ δεδοικέναι, οὗτοι ἐν τῷ θαῤῥεῖν. τίνες γὰρ ἦσαν, εἰπέ μοι, οἱ φοβούμενοι; οἱ λέγοντες ἵνα μὴ ἐπὶ πλέον διανεμηθῇ εἰς τὸν λαὸν ἢ οἱ λέγοντες οὐ δυνάμεθα ἃ εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν; καὶ ἐν ἡδονῇ καὶ ἐν παῤῥσίᾳ καὶ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ μείζονι πάντων οὗτοι· ἐκεῖνοι ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ ἐν αἰσχύνῃ ἐν φόβῳ. τὸν γὰρ λαὸν ἐδεδοίκεσαν. ἃ ἐβούλοντο ἐφθέγξαντο οὗτοι, ἐκεῖνοι ἃ ἐβούλοντο οὐκ ἐποίησαν. τίνες ἦσαν ἐν δεσμοῖς καὶ ἐν κινδύνοις;
τὸ πῶς κολάσωνται, i.e. on what pretext, or in what way they might punish them, without enraging the multitude. For the form of the sentence cf. 1Th 4:1 παρελάβετε παρ' ἡμῶν τὸ πῶς δεῖ ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν.