God's power manifest through the apostles in blessing (3:1-26) as well as in judgment (5:1-11) made an increasingly powerful impact on the residents of Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders increased their opposition to the apostles as they had increased their opposition to Jesus. Luke preserved the record of the developing attitudes that resulted. The Sadducees became more jealous and antagonistic, the Pharisees chose to react with moderation, and the Christians gained greater joy and confidence.
This pericope is another of Luke's summaries of conditions in the church that introduces what follows (cf. 2:42-47; 4:32-35). It also explains why the Sadducees became so jealous that they arrested not only Peter and John but other apostles as well. The apostles were gaining great influence not only in Jerusalem but also in the outlying areas. The healing of one lame man had triggered initial opposition (3:1-10), but now many people were being healed.
5:12 The lame beggar was not the only person who benefited from the apostles' ministry of performing miracles. Many other needy people did as well. These miracles signified who Jesus really was (signs), and they filled the people with awe (wonders). The believers continued to meet in Solomon's portico (cf. 3:11).
5:13 The "rest"(Gr. hoi loipoi), probably the unbelieving Jews,268steered clear of the Christians because of the Jewish leaders' opposition (4:18) and the apostles' power (vv. 1-10). The "people"(Gr. ho laos), the responsive Jews, honored the believers.
5:14 Luke stopped giving numbers for the size of the church (cf. 1:15; 2:41; 4:4) and just said that God was adding multitudes of both men and women to the church constantly.
5:15 Peter's powerful influence reminds us of Jesus' influence during the early days of His Galilean ministry when all Capernaum gathered at His door (Mark 1:32-34). Elsewhere Luke described the power of God's presence overshadowing someone (cf. Luke 1:35; 9:34). The text does not say that Peter's shadow healed people. It says that people wanted to get close to Peter because he was so powerful.269Even today some people in the Orient superstitiously believe that a person's shadow carries his power. Eastern parents have pulled their children away from the shadow of a wicked person and thrust them into the shadow of an honored individual. The action of these first century Near Easterners shows their respect for Peter who had the power to heal. These signs and wonders authenticated the apostles as Jesus and God's representatives (cf. 19:11-12; Matt. 10:8).
"I have often told how my oldest son at one time had an eclipse of faith until one day several of us were invited to spend an afternoon with William Jennings Bryan in his Florida home, and I was asked to bring my son. During that visit, for two or three hours we discussed the Word of God and exchanged thoughts on precious portions of Scripture. The young man sat apart and said very little, but as we left that place he turned to me and exclaimed, Father, I have been a fool! I thought I couldn't believe the Bible, but if a man like that with his education and intelligence can believe, I am making a fool of myself to pretend I cannot accept it.' So much for the shadow ministry of William Jennings Bryan."270
5:16 News of the apostles' powers was spreading beyond Jerusalem. People from outlying areas were bringing their sick friends to them just as people had brought sick friends to Jesus from miles around (cf. Luke 5:15). Luke probably meant that all whom the apostles sought to heal experienced restoration, not that they healed every single individual who was sick (cf. Matt. 8:16). Even Jesus' healings were limited in their scope (cf. Luke 5:17).271This verse is one of the texts that advocates of the "prosperity gospel"appeal to as proof that it is never God's will for anyone to be sick.272
This section is very similar to 4:32-35, though this summary shows the church gaining many more adherents and much greater influence than the former one documented.
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
Gamaliel's advocacy of moderation is the main point and reason for Luke's record of the apostles' second appearance before the Sanhedrin. Whereas the Sadducees "rose up"against the apostles (v. 17), Gamaliel "rose up"against the Sadducees (v. 34). He proved to be God's instrument for preserving the apostles, and perhaps all the early Christians in Jerusalem, at this time.
5:34 As mentioned previously, the Pharisees were the minority party in the Sanhedrin. They were, notwithstanding, far more influential with the masses than the Sadducees were. The Pharisees looked for a personal Messiah. They believed in the resurrection of the dead and the existence and activity of angels and demons. They tried to live a simple life in contrast to the Sadducees' luxurious living.276The name "Pharisee"evidently comes from the Aramaic verb peras, meaning "to separate."They considered themselves to be separated to holiness and dedicated entirely to God. Most of the scribes, the Bible expositors of that day, were Pharisees. Consequently the Sadducees listened to the Pharisees and especially to Gamaliel.
Gamaliel was the leader of the more liberal school of Hillel, one of the two most influential parties within Pharisaism. He had been a protégé of Hillel, who was his grandfather,277and Saul of Tarsus was one of his own promising young disciples (22:3). People called him Rabban Gamaliel. Rabban (lit. "our teacher") was a title of higher honor than rabbi (lit. "my teacher"). Gamaliel was the most respected Pharisee of his day. The Mishnah, a collection of commentaries on the oral laws of Israel published toward the end of the second century A.D., contains the following statement about him.
"Since Rabban Gamaliel the elder died there has been no more reverence for the law; and purity and abstinence died out at the same time."278
Gamaliel was able to direct the Sanhedrin as he did through his personal influence, not because he had any superior official authority within that body.
5:35-36 After the apostles had left the meeting room, Gamaliel addressed his colleagues with the traditional designation "Men of Israel"(cf. 2:22). He warned his brethren to do nothing rash. He pointed to two similar movements that had failed when their leaders had died. Historians do not know anything about this Theudas, though he may have come to prominence shortly after Herod the Great's death (c. 4 A.D.).279
5:37 Judas of Galilee led a revolt against Rome in 6 A.D.280The census in view was probably the one that Quirinius, legate of Syria, took in 6 A.D. when Archelaus was deposed and Judea became part of the Roman province of Syria.281Judas founded the Zealot party in Israel that sought to throw off Roman rule violently.
"Judas was a fanatic who took up the position that God was the King of Israel; to Him alone tribute was due; and that all other taxation was impious and to pay it was a blasphemy."282
His influence was considerable, though it declined after his death. Gamaliel seems to have been playing his influence down a little more than it deserved.
5:38-39 Gamaliel's point was that if God was not behind the apostles their efforts would prove futile in time. Obviously Gamaliel believed this was the case or he would have become a Christian. He offered the theoretical option that if the apostles were of God the Sanhedrin would find itself in the terrible position of fighting against God. Obviously Gamaliel believed in the sovereignty of God. He advised his brethren to wait and see. He did not believe that the apostles presented as serious a threat to the leaders of Judaism as the Sadducees believed they did. Saul of Tarsus took a different view of how the Jews should respond to the growing threat of Christianity. He executed many Christians, but that was after the number and influence of the Christians had increased dramatically (cf. chs. 6-7).
"The point made . . . by Gamaliel . . . has already been made by the narrator through the rescue from prison and the ensuing scene of discovery. Here we have an instance of reinforcement through reiteration. A message is first suggested by an event and then clearly stated in the interpretive commentary of a story character."283
Gamaliel's counsel helps us understand how objective unbelieving Jews were viewing the apostles' claims at this time. There had been others beside the apostles who had insisted that their leaders were great men. Yet their claims had eventually proved false. Many of the Jews, whom Gamaliel represented, likewise viewed the apostles' preaching as well-meaning but mistaken. Jesus was no more someone special than Theudas or Judas of Galilee had been. Other than their ideas about Jesus being the Messiah, the apostles held views that did not challenge fundamental Pharisaic theology.
5:40 Gamaliel convinced his fellow Sanhedrin members. They decided to settle for flogging the apostles, probably with 39 lashes (Deut. 25:3; Acts 22:19; 2 Cor. 11:24),284for disobeying their former order to stop preaching (4:18). This is the first instance of Christians receiving a physical beating for witnessing that Luke recorded in Acts. The rulers also threatened the apostles again and then released them (cf. 4:21). The official ban against preaching in Jesus' name remained in force.
5:41 Rather than emerging from their beating repentant, the apostles went home rejoicing. They did not enjoy the beating, but they considered it an honor to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus' name (cf. 3:6; 16:25). Jesus had predicted that people would hate and persecute His disciples (Luke 6:22-23). Peter later wrote that Christians should count it a privilege to suffer for Christ's sake (1 Pet. 4:13; cf. 2:18-21; 3:8-17). As the Master had suffered abuse from His enemies so, too, His servants were suffering abuse for their witness.
5:42 This treatment did not discourage the apostles at all. Instead they continued explaining (Gr. didasko) and evangelizing (euaggelizomai) daily, publicly in the temple and privately from house to house (cf. 2:46), that Jesus was the Messiah (cf. 28:31).
"It [v. 42] is a statement that has nuances of defiance, confidence, and victory; and in many ways it gathers together all Luke has set forth from 2:42 on."285
