Acts 4 · a question people ask
Acts calls Annas "the high priest" (4:6). Wasn't Caiaphas the high priest?
Acts says, "Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest" (4:6). Matthew calls Caiaphas the high priest: "the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas" (Matthew 26:3). John says they led Jesus "to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year" (John 18:13), and "Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest" (John 18:24). Each book is quoted as it has it. Acts says no more about it, and these notes don't try to fit the verses together. Of the John and the Alexander named in 4:6, the verse gives only their names, among those gathered when Peter and John were questioned (4:5-7).
The verses
“In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest. When they had stood Peter and John in the middle of them, they inquired, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?””
“Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.”
“and led him to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.”
“Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.”