1. Acts 4:15 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

How do we know what the Sanhedrin said if the apostles were ordered to withdraw?

Acts 4:15 (ESV)

15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another,

Ordering Peter and John to leave was a normal procedure meant to enable free and open discussion among the council members.1 It is possible that a summary of the discussion came to be known to the apostles via Nicodemus, Paul, or Gamaliel,2 or someone else who was on the council and later converted (see Acts 6:7).