Last week we looked at Stephens defense before the Sanhedrin. Stephen used the history of the Jewish people, which the members of the Sanhedrin were so proud of to convict them of the very crime he was on trial for. He caps off this attack with cutting accusation that they did not keep the Law that was so precious to them.

Last week we when we left the new Christians they had just seen their leaders chastised by the Jewish Supreme Court and were singing and praising God for it. They asked God for courage to carry on doing what they were for Him, and they had no intention of following the orders of the court to stop preaching. The New Testament church at this point is strong, unified and pure. This is especially hammered home by verse Acts 4:32.

In this second half of his sermon, Peter returns to his hard line that everyone most repent and convert to Christianity (although it would not be known by that name for some time yet) if they want to avoid the judgment to come. Since Peter is addressing an audience of Jewish believers he uses the common ground of the Old Testament Scriptures to connect Jesus to prophecy and show that he is the one that has been promised by their own Holy Books to come and bring them salvation. For them belief in God was a given, they just had to learn that Jesus was God.