“For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
As for us, we cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard.' — the apostles' refusal is grounded in eyewitness necessity (ou dynametha, we are not able, we cannot) and personal knowledge (what we have seen and heard, heoraka akouō, perfect tenses indicating ongoing knowledge). They have seen the risen Jesus; they have heard his teaching; they must speak. The compulsion is internal and irresistible; truth demands utterance.
Church Fathers on Acts 4:20
But Peter and John answered and said to them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people. Acts 4:19-21 The miracles shut their mouths: they would not so much as let them finish their speech, but cut them short in the middle, most insolently.
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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