The church asks God to pay attention to the Sanhedrin's threats (4:17, 21) without further defining what they expect him to do about them. The easy transition from opposition to Jesus to threats against the apostles is possible because theologically there is a close identification of the people of God with their suffering and risen Lord, not only in continuing his work (1:1) but also in the pattern of his life (Lk 24:25-27; Acts 14:22; compare 1 Pet 2:20-25; 4:13). The great (literally, complete) boldness or candor the believers ask for is not only the freedom of speech of a Greek citizen versus a slave (Demosthenes Orations 9.3) but also the courage that stands up to all those who would limit the right to reveal the truth (Dio Chrysostom Discourses 32.26-27; Schlier 1967:872-73). Peter has already demonstrated such Spirit-filled boldness in declaring the whole truth to the Sanhedrin (4:8, 13; compare 28:31; the verb form, 9:27-28; 13:46; 14:3; 18:26; 19:8; 26:26). With this request we learn the believers' great concern is not for their own safety but for the mission's advance.

In the Greek, verse 30 is not a request (contra NIV; E. F. Harrison 1986:97) but a confident assumption of what will accompany the enablement to speak the word boldly ("while you stretch out your hand"). The believers understand the corroborative weight that the healings, signs and wonders have for their preaching of the gospel. The recent experience with the crippled beggar has taught them both the impact and the limits of a miraculous sign through the name of your holy servant Jesus (3:6-7, 16; 4:10, 14; see comments at 3:7-8).

When we realize that this statement is not a request but an assumption of what God can do, we are freed from both the presumption and subsequent anxiety which come with demanding the miraculous from God.