The popularity and effectiveness of the apostles riled the Sadducees just as Jesus' popularity and effectiveness had earlier.
5:17-18 The high priest "rose up"(Gr. anastas, cf. v. 34) taking official action as leader of the Sanhedrin. As mentioned above, the high priest and most of the Sanhedrin members were Sadducees (4:1). The Holy Spirit filled the believers, Satan had filled Ananias and Sapphira, and now jealousy filled the Sanhedrin members, particularly the Sadducees. They had the apostles arrested and confined in a common (public) jail (Gr. teresis demosia). Peter and John have been the apostles in view to this point, but now we read that Peter and the apostles (plural) stood before the Sanhedrin (v. 29). It is probable, therefore, that more apostles than just Peter and John are in view in this whole incident beginning with verse 17.
5:19 "Angel"(Gr. angelos) means messenger. Wherever this word occurs, the context usually determines whether the messenger is a human being or a spirit being. Luke did not identify which kind of messenger God used here. His point was that the Lord secured the apostles' release. The messenger's message had a very authoritative ring, so probably he was a spirit being (cf. 12:6-10; 16:26-27). This is one of three "jail door miracles"that Luke recorded in Acts (cf. Peter in 12:6-11; and Paul and Silas in 16:26-27).
5:20 The angel instructed the apostles to go (Gr. poreuesthe) and stand their ground (stathentes). They were to resist the opposition of the Sanhedrin. They were to continue addressing "the people,"the Jews, with the full message that they had been heralding. They were not to back down or trim their words. The message of "this life"is a synonym for the message of salvation (cf. 4:12; 13:26).273
5:21 The apostles obeyed their instructor and began teaching in the temple again early the next morning. At the same time the full Sanhedrin assembled to try the apostles whom they assumed were still in jail.
5:22-23 Luke's account of the temple police's bewilderment is really quite amusing. This whole scene calls to mind scenes from old Keystone Cops movies. The people readily accepted the miracles that the apostles were performing, but their leaders seem to have been completely surprised by this miracle.
5:24 The major concern of the leaders was the public reaction when what had happened became known. They appear again to have been more concerned about their own reputation and security than about the facts of the case.
5:25 Eventually word reached the Sanhedrin that the prisoners were teaching the people in the temple. Probably they expected that the apostles had fled the city.
5:26 The apostles were so popular with the people that the captain and his temple police had to be very careful not to create the impression that they were going to harm the apostles. The apostles had become local heroes. Earlier Israel's leaders had wanted to arrest Jesus but were careful about how they did so because they feared the reaction of the people (Luke 20:19; 22:2).
5:27-28 Perhaps the apostles accompanied the captain and his officers submissively because they remembered Jesus' example of nonviolence and nonretaliation when He was arrested (Luke 22:52-53). Furthermore the guards' power over them was inferior to their own. They may have offered no resistance too because their appearance before the Sanhedrin would give them another opportunity to witness for Christ.
The high priest introduced his comments with a reference to the authority of Israel's leaders. Pilate had similarly threatened Jesus with his authority (cf. John 19:10-11). The high priest showed his dislike for Jesus by not referring to the Lord by name. Official Jewish opposition to Jesus was firm. He believed the authority of the Sanhedrin was greater than the authority of Jesus (cf. Matt. 28:18). The leaders earlier had instructed Peter and John not to teach (3:18, 21), but Peter had said they would continue to do so because of Jesus' authority (3:19-20). Moreover Peter had charged Israel's leaders with Jesus' death (4:10-11). These rulers had rationalized away their guilt for Jesus' death probably blaming it on Jesus Himself and the Romans (cf. 3:15). The Jewish leaders felt the disciples were unfairly heaping guilt on them for having shed Jesus' blood. However only a few weeks earlier they had said to Pilate, "His blood be on us and on our children"(Matt. 27:25; cf. Matt. 23:35).
5:29 This verse clarifies that the authorities had arrested other apostles besides Peter and John. Peter as spokesman for the apostles did not attempt to defend their civil disobedience but simply repeated their responsibility to obey God rather than men, specifically the Sanhedrin (4:19; cf. Luke 12:4-5).274
5:30 Peter also reaffirmed that the God of their fathers had raised Jesus from the dead and that the Sanhedrin was responsible for His crucifixion, an extremely brutal and shameful death. "Hanging Him on a cross"is a euphemism for crucifying Him (cf. Deut. 21:22-23; 1 Pet. 2:24).
5:31 Peter further claimed that God had exalted Jesus to the place of supreme authority, namely at His right hand. The Sanhedrin had asked Jesus if He was the Christ, and Jesus had replied that they would see Him seated at God's right hand (cf. Luke 22:67-71). Jesus was Israel's national Prince (leader, Messiah) and the Jews' individual and collective Savior (deliverer). Jesus had the authority to grant a change of mind about Himself to the nation and consequently forgiveness of sins. Jesus' authority to forgive sins had been something Israel's leaders had resisted from the beginning of the Lord's ministry (Luke 5:20-24).
5:32 The apostles thought of themselves not just as heralds of good news but as eyewitnesses of that to which they now testified. The witness of the Holy Spirit to which Peter referred was evidently the evidence that Jesus was the Christ that the Spirit provided through fulfilled messianic prophecy. The apostles saw themselves as the human mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus had promised to send to bear witness concerning Himself (John 15:26-27). They announced the fulfillment of what the Holy Spirit had predicted in the Old Testament, namely that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Furthermore God had now given the Holy Spirit to those who obeyed God by believing in Jesus (John 6:29). The Holy Spirit was the greatest gift God gave people who lived under the Old Covenant (cf. Luke 11:13). These leaders needed to obey God by believing in Jesus and then they too would receive this wonderful gift.
The early gospel preachers never presented belief in Jesus Christ as a "take it or leave it"option in Acts. God has commanded everyone to believe in His Son (e.g., 2:38; 3:19; 17:30). Failure to do so constitutes disobedience and results in judgment. The Holy Spirit now baptizes and indwells every person who obeys God by believing in His Son (John 3:36; 6:29; Rom. 8:9). This must be the obedience Peter had in mind.
5:33 Peter's firm but gracious words so infuriated the Sadducees that they were about to order the death of the apostles regardless of public reaction.
"While the Sanhedrin did not have authority under Roman jurisdiction to inflict capital punishment, undoubtedly they would have found some pretext for handing these men over to the Romans for such action--as they did with Jesus himself--had it not been for the intervention of the Pharisees, as represented particularly by Gamaliel."275
