Bold in the Name of Christ

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge that they had been with Jesus.”  Acts 4:13

Peter and John were two of Jesus’ disciples.  John’s brother, James, made this trio what I like to call Jesus’ “right-hand men”, or we could call them the more outstanding disciples of Jesus’ “crew”.  They were the closest friends to Him.  Of course, He loved all of His disciples, but just as we have close, intimate friends, so did Jesus.  The event to which the above verse refers was the arrest of Peter and John for preaching the gospel.  This occurred some time after Jesus’ ascension back to His Father in heaven.  The two of them were brought before the high priest and other religious leaders to give an answer as to how they had the power to heal a lame man.  (The two of them, through the power of Christ, had healed a lame man who was laying at the temple gate begging for money.)  Peter and John did not hesitate for a moment to inform their interrogators as to the source of their healing power.  They boldly proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ, the One whom the religious leaders had crucified and whom God had raised from the dead, as the One who brought healing to this lame man.

The Sadducees, priests, and the captain of the temple were somewhat shocked at the boldness and fearlessness of these two uneducated, common, and ordinary fishermen.  The common people would normally not have contact with the upper echelon, and even if they did, they would never be so bold to even speak, much less proclaim a message which they knew would not be well received by those in charge.  That would be like me going up to an ultra leftist who supports abortion and other policies that I don’t agree with and stating to him or her that he or she should repent.  Could I ever be that bold?  I would hope that if God led me to someone with that message, that He would give me the courage and the proper attitude to do so.  Being bold in a blog is very different that being bold in person.

The religious leaders likely thought all of this “Jesus talk” would go away since Jesus had been crucified.  What they didn’t realize was that the gospel message was just getting started.  In marveling at the articulate manner in which Peter and John, “the ignorant fishermen”, expressed themselves clearly and with conviction, the leaders surmised that these two had actually been with Jesus.  Now they weren’t admitting that Jesus was who He said He was, the Son of God, but they had likely heard Jesus as He spoke to the multitudes in His commanding, yet eloquent way with confidence and boldness.  Thus they probably just assumed that Jesus’ style of speech had influenced Peter and John.  Besides that, the two of them were saying and doing the same things that Jesus had said and done when He was traveling from place to place.  I think that’s called being “Christlike”, the goal for which we should all strive.

Fast forward to today.  Believers in Christ are still seen by many unbelievers as ignorant, uneducated, and using “religion” as a “crutch”.  What they failed to see is that being a Christian has nothing to do with religion.  It is a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Just like Peter and John’s relationship with Jesus gave them a power within to confront the enemies of Christ and walk in newness of life, we, too, can have that same intimate relationship with the Son of the most High God, the Maker of heaven and earth.  People might call me ignorant, but I wouldn’t trade my position in Christ for anything the world has to offer.  Perhaps I do “cling” to my Bible, but its truths have never failed me.