The Acts of the Apostles

184 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
the outpouring of the Spirit,^ or for the presence of
the multitude, or for the fear of the people, or for the
fear of the authorities because of the people, or for
the imprisonment of the Apostles. In A everything
has hands and feet : the cure of the impotent man
—this astonishing miracle that it had been granted
to St. Peter to perform—explains everything:—the
courage with which St. Peter openly and loudly pro-
claimed Jesus in Solomon's Porch before the people
who were present, and were rushing together to him ;
the many conversions ; the imprisonment of St. Peter
(and St. John ?) ;
authorities on the following day ;
his open testimony before the Jewish
his dismissal through
fear of the people. And now after the return of the
Apostle the enthusiasm of the first believers (the
5000, i.e. probably the 500) arose into an ecstasy
which opened the way to the reception of the Spirit^ i.e.
what then happened was the actual, the histo7ical, Pente-
cost} And though there is no speaking with tongues
—this at least is not mentioned—what happened
then had the result upon which everything depended
eXaXouv tov \6yov tov Oeou /ULera irappfjo-lag and
Svvdjui€i jmeydXr] dweSlSovi/ to juapTupiov ol dirocnoXoi
TOV Kvpiov 'Itjcrou Tt]9 dvacrTOLcreco^.
After the appearance of the Risen Christ to St.
Peter and to the Twelve (1 Cor. xv. 5) the cure of
the lame man was the next great stirring event ; after
the two speeches in which St. Peter bore public testi-
^ Are the words: ko2 iv t^