Having weathered the threat, the church returns to its normal condition: growth. So integral to growth is the Word of God, the message of salvation, that Luke uses personification, saying literally, "The word of God grew" (see 12:24; 19:20). As the seed possesses the power of growth, so "the word has in itself the power of life. . . . This independent force of the word of God makes it the preeminent instrument of salvation" (Kodell 1974:506; Acts 10:36; 13:26; 14:3; 16:32; compare 4:4; 11:1; 13:49; Lk 8:11). Luke's combination of spread (grew) and increased (multiplied) echoes the Old Testament command "Be fruitful and multiply," which was incorporated into covenant promises about the people of God (Lev 26:9; Jer 3:16; 23:3; compare Gen 1:28).

From among the priests, the core of the church's opposition (Acts 4:1; 5:17), a large number become obedient to the faith. The social gulf between the ordinary priests and the upper-class chief priests, who oppressed them economically, may explain the regular priests' openness to the gospel (Longenecker 1981:333). Still, the response of the priesthood reflects the total triumph of the church's mission. No segment of Jewish society was beyond the reach of the gospel. And today our churches should be marked by the same conviction—that the ministry of the Word is essential for growth and that growth is the normal condition of the church.