Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (ESV)
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. (NIV)
Acts 4:13 is one of my all time favorite versus of scripture. Over and over again throughout scripture, God calls the uneducated, the common, and the ordinary; in fact, many times he calls the small and the weak--using them to do great things.
One of my favorite OT stories is the story of Gideon. Once again God chose to use the least of family from the weakest tribe. Later, God reduced the number of men who were going to fight with Gideon, making the odds impossible for a victory. He wanted there to be no way for Israel to boast. He wanted there to be no doubt as to what he had done.
For Peter and John . . . these unschooled men with no formal training . . . These ordinary, blue collar workers with thick, tanned skin from the their hard work in the hot sun . . . what gave them the boldness they had, the authority with which they spoke? Why were they able to have so much courage?
Ah, yes, they had spent time with Jesus. They had been with Him.
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