“And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.”
No one else dared to join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people - the paradox is deliberate: the apostles enjoy popular esteem ('highly regarded,' megalaunoumenoi) yet people are afraid to join them. The 'fear' that grips the community (5:11) extends to outsiders; the boundary between church and synagogue is hardening, with the apostolic authority creating a sacred separation.
Church Fathers on Acts 5:13
the more added unto the Lord, believers, multitudes both of men and of women, insomuch that they brought out into the streets their impotent folk, and laid them upon couches and beds, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. Acts 5:12-15 For Peter was the wonderful one, and he to whom they more gave heed both because of his public harangue, the first and the second and the third, and because of the miracle; for he it was that wrought the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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