This chapter illustrates both the suffering entailed in the service of Christ (12:1–19) and God’s judgment on those who inflict it (12:20–25). It also exemplifies the power of prayer. However, not for these reasons chiefly has Luke told the story of Peter’s rescue from prison, but for its own intrinsic interest and for the explanation it gives of Peter’s disappearance from the narrative after dominating the first half of the book. This has probably determined the placing of this material here and not earlier, as a concern for strict chronology might have suggested; Peter’s leaving to go to “another place” (v. 17) makes way for the emergence of Paul and the story of his missionary work. In short, this chapter is transitional, standing in a similar relation to the two halves of this book as…