Acts 3:1–5:42

Section Overview: Signs, Wonders, and Results

This lengthy, focused narrative begins with a miraculous event that leads to immediate conflict with the Jewish authorities, a conflict that spreads throughout the rest of Acts. Beginning from Jerusalem, enmity follows the spread of the gospel through the Mediterranean world and ends right back in Jerusalem near the end of the book. In this part of the narrative, the suspicion and unbelief of the Jewish leaders comes to the forefront when Peter and John are summoned to give an account of what happened outside the temple. The boldness and authority of the apostles is evident, and the picture is clear: God’s people have new leaders. When these leaders do their work, moreover, it does not take place in the temple. The former leaders, on the other hand, are entrenched in unbelief and rejection of God’s work in Jesus the Messiah.

This section is concerned with responses to the gospel and the work of the apostles. The negative response of the Jewish leaders is contrasted with the apostles’ response to their admonition and orders, as well as the response of the Jerusalem Christians upon the apostles’ release from custody.

Luke provides a remarkable account of life among Christians in Jerusalem. This community is united by the Spirit, putting the needs of others before their own. They share everything and donate generously to the needs of the community. In the midst of this bright beginning, however, the story takes a dark turn when Ananias and Sapphira put on a show of generosity, lying to the apostles and ultimately to the Spirit. It is quickly apparent that this is no golden era. Nevertheless, the miraculous work of God through the apostles’ ministry continues and grows in the wake of Ananias and Sapphira’s sin.

When this section comes to a close, the apostles are again arrested and brought before the council. Peter tells the Jewish leaders plainly that he and the apostles are loyal to Jesus, the risen Messiah—the Jesus the leaders killed but whom God raised and exalted. Peter’s testimony leads to the first death threats in Acts. Gamaliel, a member of the council, advises a wait-and-see approach to the situation. Adopting this proposal, the leadership beats, warns, and frees the apostles. The apostolic response is counterintuitive:

They left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (Acts 5:41–42)

TABLE 2.2: Psalm 2:1–2 and Its Christological Fulfillment

These believers clearly recognize Jesus as the anointed Messiah and all who oppose him as enemies of the covenant God. Among such enemies are the “peoples of Israel,” those who are sure they are the people of God but who reject their own Messiah. What is taking shape in Acts is a community that sees itself as the true people of God, heirs of the prophets, and followers of the Messiah.

Furthermore, everything Herod, Pilate, the Romans, and the Jewish people did to Jesus was according to God’s will: he “predestined” all of this to happen (4:28). God’s predestination of events and actions is a basic presupposition among the early Christians, serving as a key to their confidence. They do not confuse sovereignty or predestination with fatalism, as many do in our day. Sovereignty—understood biblically as God’s working out the hidden mystery of his eternal, divine knowledge—is a cause for assurance and hope. Those who know God through faith in Christ embrace God’s sovereignty as part of his revelation of himself. For the early Christians, God’s sovereignty is foundational to their belief in Jesus as the Messiah: he died on the cross according to the Scripture—that is, according to God’s will. His enemies murdered him according to God’s predetermined plan. God raised him from the dead according to the Scripture. Alongside all of this is their conviction that people are responsible for their sins and that the gospel message of forgiveness through Jesus is the way people are saved. Sovereignty fuels their preaching because they fully embrace both God’s will and his means of fulfilling that will.

The prayer moves to supplication as the people ask God for boldness in the face of the council’s threats (v. 29). Although the council is threatening them, the community does not respond by asking God to judge it. Instead they are resolved to continue their witness to Jesus, recognizing their reliance on God to equip them for the task. Along with boldness, they pray for God to continue to support their witness through miracles in the name of Jesus (v. 30), continuing what he started at Pentecost. Taken all together, this is something of a model prayer. It begins by addressing God as Lord and King, expresses confidence in his will and actions, exhibits faith and hope in their current situation, and ends with bringing requests to God. The prayer exhibits a theological flow: God is Sovereign Lord, and as such he has always kept his word, continuing to show himself faithful among his people; therefore they can trust him fully to provide for them.

It is overwhelmingly evident that God hears their prayer: the Spirit comes with such power that they sense it physically as the building shakes as in an earthquake. This fledgling community regularly experiences dramatic revelations of the Spirit accompanying and supporting their witness. For the most part, the signs and wonders reported in Acts take place in direct relation to apostolic witness. Thus any discussion of the ongoing place of miraculous signs must take into account their explicit relationship to the apostles in Acts, specifically the link with verbal witness to the gospel.

4:32–37 Prayer, Praise, and Community: Unity in Community. This section provides a narrative summary similar to the one found in 2:42–47. Both appear after a dramatic Spirit-event and serve to demonstrate the growth of the new covenant community. Both speak of the community’s sharing its money and possessions (cf. comment on 2:42–47), and thus the question of whether these summaries are normative for all Christian communities or only descriptive of the first Christians in Jerusalem receives much attention. But both are true: Luke is describing, not prescribing, Christians’ sharing together, demonstrating the life-changing, transforming power of the Spirit. Yet this text also provides fundamental principles for living a true Christian life. Such a life is so rooted in the joy of God’s salvation, what he is doing in the world, and his sure promises for the future that it gives generously, shows hospitality, and shares with those in need—in short, it lives for both God and neighbor.

In narrative, description and prescription can never be totally separated, since the story itself conveys the teaching. Further, the normative nature of this text is confirmed by the teaching found in both the Gospels and the Epistles (Phil. 2:2–4 is but one example). The selfless, seemingly unconscious mutual love and generosity demonstrated in this text should win the reader’s attention; these believers are truly living out Jesus’ teaching:

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:33–34; cf. Matt. 6:19–21)

Followers of Christ are called to be selfless, generous, caring, and unified. The believers’ example in Acts 4 is one way to fulfill Jesus’ teaching, even if it is not the only way.

Through this text, Luke is showing a remarkable fulfillment taking place, as well as a remarkable shift.⁵ These believers are demonstrating a marked change from the old covenant people of Israel as they become a Spirit-filled community, with God’s Word written on their hearts. Through their actions they fulfill the second great command to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” which summarizes the Mosaic law and becomes a hallmark of the fulfillment of the new covenant (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 19:19; cf. Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8). These are people filled with the Spirit, and from the greatest to the least they exhibit the law written on the heart (cf. Jer. 31:33–34)—this is what the new covenant looks like. As noted earlier, God admonished the Israelites to circumcise their hearts (Deut. 10:16; cf. Introduction: Theology of Acts; Its Relationship to the Rest of the Bible and to Christ: The Apostolic Preaching) and later promised to do the very thing he commanded (Deut. 30:6). The promise of a new heart is the promise of the Spirit, and the texts containing this promise emphasize doing what the Lord commands. Here in Acts we see the Christian community manifesting the new heart created by the Spirit.

As N. T. Wright points out, these believers exhibit explicit fulfillment of the OT in other ways as well. In Deuteronomy 15:4, in the context of forgiveness of debts in the sabbatical year, Moses remarks, “There will be no poor among you.” In Christ the sabbatical year has been fulfilled (cf. Luke 4:18–19). Jesus’ fulfillment of these OT foreshadowings, as predicted by Isaiah, goes beyond erasing poverty, releasing captives from exile, healing physical ailments, or relieving the oppressed—in him sins are forgiven and a covenant relationship with God is established. But the new covenant reality does not separate the physical from the spiritual, based as it is on the consummation of a new heavens and a new earth. In these verses in Acts we see believers transformed by the Spirit and meeting physical needs. The Jerusalem believers experience the times of refreshing (Acts 3:20–21) in the present. This too is normative for believers in all times.

At this point Barnabas (“son of encouragement”), who will come to play a major role in Acts, appears as a personal example of one who shares his possessions with the apostles, to be used as needed (4:36–37). Barnabas is the one who later vouches for Paul amid doubts and fears of the Jerusalem believers regarding Paul’s conversion (9:27), and he travels with Paul on the apostle’s first missionary journey, which begins at Cyprus, Barnabas’s homeland (13:4; cf. 4:36). Barnabas remains with Paul until the two separate after a disagreement concerning John Mark’s involvement in the ministry (15:39). More immediately, Barnabas stands in stark contrast to Ananias and Sapphira, whose grave sin is narrated in the next section.

5:1–11 Ananias and Sapphira. The account of Ananias and Sapphira causes understandable trouble for readers. Some believe their punishment to be “harsh,” exceeding the principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Matt. 5:38; cf. Ex. 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21). However, we should read this account in the context of the description of the believing community that begins at Acts 4:32. This community is living proof of the Spirit’s indwelling in fulfillment of new covenant promises. The believers are living for one another in unity, voluntarily sharing what they have, devoted to prayer, and committed to the apostles. Barnabas provides an example of the kind of other-focused ethos that prevails among the Jerusalem Christians.

Ananias and Sapphira, in contrast, sell a field and secretly keep back some of the money but bring their gift as though it was all of the proceeds. It was their field and money, and they could do with it as they pleased. They were under no compulsion to sell it, nor to bring all of the proceeds, as Peter makes clear (5:4). But Sapphira’s lies are a clear indication that the couple intends to mislead Peter and the rest of the community (v. 8). Instead of prayer and praise to God, the couple engages in falsehood (vv. 3–4). Instead of being filled with the Spirit, they are “filled” with Satan (v. 3). There is more involved here than telling a lie.

The new covenant context is key to understanding this text. The Spirit dwells in the community: God is present in and with them. Thus in the apostles and community we see the true people of God. The place and role of the temple and of the Jewish leaders are eclipsed by the church—they are not replacing but fulfilling national Israel, through faith in Israel’s Messiah and in fulfillment of Israel’s Scripture according to the plan and foreknowledge of Israel’s God. God now dwells not in a building made by human hands, as Stephen puts it later (ch. 7), but with his people. Lying to the community and the apostles is, thus, lying to God himself (5:4). The community itself, as Wright puts it, is sacred.⁶

Once again we see a narrative description of truths taught in propositional form in the Epistles. Some years later Peter writes to believers, citing OT texts such as Psalm 118 (cf. Acts 4:11), and says:

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,

a cornerstone chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”

and

“A stone of stumbling,

and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Pet. 2:4–10)

The Jerusalem Christians are a living example of Peter’s description of the church. It is in this context that Ananias and Sapphira sin. Like the OT examples of Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10), Achan (Joshua 7), and King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26), in which people are punished for sins related to both temple and community, so Ananias and Sapphira are punished for bringing sin into the new covenant sanctuary.⁷

Another new covenant aspect involves the issue of lying specifically.⁸ Zechariah prophesied a time in which God would turn to do good to Judea and Jerusalem (Zech. 8:6–8), a time of eschatological blessing in which “many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord” (Zech. 8:22). It is in this prophetic context that God commands the people, “Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord” (Zech. 8:16–17). Truth telling is a characteristic of the new covenant and of the relationships its members are to have with one another. Thus Paul tells the Ephesians, while encouraging them to renewal and spiritual vitality, “Having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Eph. 4:25). Ananias and Sapphira bring falsehood to a place in which there should be only truth, and their particular form of lying at this place and time witnesses to the fact that they are not truly a part of the new community.

Furthermore, Luke’s ongoing emphasis on the Spirit’s filling of believers, making it clear that their actions are Spirit-driven, stands in contrast to Peter’s statement that Satan, the Father of Lies (John 8:44), filled Ananias to lie (Acts 5:3). Spirit-filled prayer, praise, and gospel declaration come from the mouths of the believers, but Satan-filled lies come from this couple. Instead of living waters flowing from their hearts, in fulfillment of the promise of the Spirit (John 7:38), evil deception flows instead. These are not believers punished for lying but unbelievers filled with Satan and bringing wickedness into the covenant setting as a satanic attack. The contrast between the Spirit and Satan leads to the conclusion that Ananias and Sapphira are not lapsed believers, nor do they lose their salvation. They are like Judas, deceived by Satan and in rebellion against God. And like Judas, they meet with a decisive, fatal end (Acts 5:5, 10).

Thus Luke is not first and foremost describing how to deal with lying in the church. Ananias and Sapphira are not church members disciplined for their sin. Their sin, against the overwhelming Spirit-filled context, points to their unbelief. They betray the community and show their true nature. Furthermore, just as the miracles and boldness of the apostles is a manifestation of God’s working through them, so here the judgment of death originates not with Peter or the community but with God. Peter is merely the agent and messenger of God’s verdict over the couple.

Peter tells Ananias that he has lied to the Holy Spirit (v. 3) and then repeats the idea with a slight but important change: “You have not lied to man but to God” (v. 4). Thus lying to the Holy Spirit is the same as lying to God—which implies that the Spirit is God. The divinity of the Spirit is also alluded to in Peter’s words to Sapphira: he asks her why she and Ananias “agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord” (v. 9). This language is reminiscent of OT texts concerning Israel’s testing of God (e.g., Ex. 17:2; Num. 14:22; Deut. 6:16; Pss. 95:9; 106:14). Peter either believes the Spirit is divine or is not being careful or mindful of what he is saying. The second option seems impossible, to say the least.

The deaths of Ananias and Sapphira provide more evidence of the shift from the old covenant to the new. Judgment is carried out not on the temple grounds or in the council of Israel’s leaders but in the community of believers led by the apostle Peter. He is the one with the authority to speak on God’s behalf, and through him comes God’s judgment for unfaithfulness. God is with the believers in both salvation and judgment. The word “fear” appears after both deaths (Acts 5:5, 11) and connotes the healthy fear of the Lord that comes from knowing who he is and recognizing what he is able to do. This fear now grows in the company of believers, apart from the temple and those who rejected Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

5:12–16 Summary: Signs and Wonders. The judgment of Ananias and Sapphira is bounded on either side by summaries of the believers’ activity. Here Luke emphasizes the ongoing and increasing signs and wonders performed by the apostles: the work of the Spirit is on display. Verse 13 refers either to the fact that the believers do not join the apostles while they perform signs and wonders, because only the apostles are ministering—and the Jews have high regard for them—or to the fact that people outside the community dare not join with believers (perhaps because they are afraid to do so publicly) but still look on them favorably. The Greek could be understood either way. Verse 14, however, notes that “more than ever believers were added to the Lord,” which would be strange if Luke had just said the general population refused to join with the believers. Furthermore, verses 15–16 highlight the great expectation people have that Peter could heal them, as well as how people from all over Judea with various infirmities are healed. Given that the work of the apostles is the main topic in these verses, it is best to read “them” in verse 13 as referring to the apostles: the other believers do not presume to heal and minister like the apostles and so do not stand right beside them. The signs and wonders at the portico are the work of the apostles alone, as far as Luke tells us, not the large group of Christians.

From 4:32 to 5:16, Luke particularly underscores the authority of the apostles as the leaders of the new community. People bring their money to the apostles, Peter judges Ananias and Sapphira, and the summary text in 5:12–16 emphasizes the ongoing signs and wonders done by the apostles and their increasing public regard. People hope merely that Peter’s shadow would pass over them (v. 15). This account of apostolic activity and ministry is bounded on either side by texts narrating the Jewish authorities’ persecuting and arresting the apostles. Luke draws a contrast of leadership: one group, unfaithful and obsolete, is eclipsed by the other. The old guard of Jewish leaders, the same ones who put Jesus to death, stands in clear opposition to the kingdom, thinking they speak for God and believing themselves to be the heirs of Abraham and Moses as the rulers and powerbrokers of Israel. The apostles, on the other hand, follow the testimony of the prophets and the teaching and commissioning of Jesus. They are the ones filled with the Spirit to speak for God, judging and condemning unbelieving Israel, including the council, for conspiring with Gentiles in the death of Jesus. They also proclaim the gospel of forgiveness in Jesus’ name. These are God’s spokesmen, the leaders of the new covenant.

The apostles’ notoriety points to the work of the Spirit, which is evident in the signs and wonders and also in the conversion of new believers—“More than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (v. 14). The kingdom is growing and spreading, just as Jesus had said. The excitement and commotion surrounding the apostles is reminiscent of Jesus’ ministry (Matt. 4:23–25; 8:16; 14:35; Mark 6:53–56). With this growth, however, comes increasing persecution.

5:17–26 Persecution Begins: The Apostles Arrested. Once again the signs and wonders accompanying the gospel lead to an arrest. This time all of the apostles, not just Peter and John, are arrested—opposition is increasing. As before (4:1), the high priest and Sadducees are the main culprits. Rather than being filled by the Spirit, they are “filled with jealousy” (5:17) and put the apostles in jail.

However, a miraculous event occurs that further confirms the apostles and the church as the true people of God: “an angel of the Lord” appears and frees them from prison (vv. 19–20; cf. 12:7–10). The “angel of the Lord” is a well-known OT figure, one whose identity is at times difficult to ascertain—interpreters often assert that the angel in the OT is the preincarnate second person of the Trinity. However, by and large there is no reason categorically to assert that the angel of the Lord is the preincarnate second person of the Trinity. The angel of the Lord appears as a mediator through whom God speaks. For instance, Exodus 3 states that “the angel of the Lord appeared” to Moses (Ex. 3:2) and also states that God spoke to Moses (Ex. 3:4; cf. Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:30–34). Thus we see that the angel is the Lord’s messenger who speaks directly for him. The same is true in Acts. Luke is able to distinguish clearly between appearances of Jesus and those of angels: Jesus appears in Acts to Saul on the road to Damascus (9:5; cf. 26:15–16), while an angel appears to him in a vision before the shipwreck at Malta (27:23). Angels appear to others in Acts as well (8:26; 10:3–6; 12:23).

Clearly the angel of the Lord is as active in Acts as he was in the OT, and there is no more reason to assume that the angel in the OT is the second person of the Trinity than there is here—he is not. Just as the angel of the Lord appeared to Israel in times of need, guided them, watched over them, and protected them (Num. 22:27; Judg. 13:3; 1 Chron. 21:12; Ps. 34:7; Dan. 3:28; 6:22), so he does so here for the early Christians.

God heartily confirms the determination of the apostles to continue in ministry despite the warnings and threats from the Jerusalem leaders. The angel sends them straight to the temple to “speak to the people all the words of this Life,” undoubtedly a reference to the gospel as preached several times so far (Acts 5:20). As people come to the temple first thing in the morning, the disciples are there too (v. 21).

When the priests and the council find Jesus’ disciples not only missing from jail but very much present and back at it in the temple (vv. 22–25), they are again confronted with a choice of faith or rejection. There is no way to deny what has happened, but no amount of proof alone can bring faith. Instead the leaders are worried about their public standing: they are forced to ask nicely for the apostles to come along, lest the people stone the leaders (v. 26). The apostles have favor among the public, and as with Jesus, the leaders know it is unwise to anger the populace (Matt. 14:5; Mark 11:32; Luke 20:6)—they must keep the peace or face possible repercussions from the Romans. And yet these upstart, ragtag followers of a crucified Nazarene are working miracles in Jesus’ name, claiming all of the covenant promises for themselves and anyone who believes that Yahweh has raised Jesus from the dead, and holding out the offer of forgiveness. Now they cannot even be kept in jail, and the people want to hear them. Yet the leaders are unmoved. The ultimate rejection of the Messiah is nearly complete.

5:27–32 Persecution Begins: The Apostles before the Council. The apostles are charged with teaching in Jesus’ name in spite of being warned and with blaming the council for Jesus’ death (vv. 27–28). The council is particularly annoyed that their teaching has spread like wildfire. The council does not ask about their teaching or its truthfulness—they have reached a conclusion on that score. They attempt to censure the teaching regardless of what it takes to do so.

It is difficult to determine whether the response in verses 29–32 is Peter’s words alone, a hybrid statement of different things said by the apostles, or a summary of their response—but the response is clearly from the leading of the Holy Spirit, in any case. The apostles’ reply is not an act of civil disobedience in the popular modern sense. They are not responding to injustice in hope of making a change to stop the injustice. True, injustice abounds on the council’s part, but it is not the cause of, nor does it lead to, the decision to speak in Jesus’ name. The apostles hope for change, but the change they seek is faith and repentance, not freedom of speech. In fact, they apparently do not even need freedom to speak—they will continue to speak regardless, for an angel of the Lord has told them to do so. This is a matter of obedience to God (v. 29).

What follows is a significant statement on covenant realities, centered on the actions of the “God of our fathers”—they are speaking of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This covenant God raised from the dead Jesus, “whom you killed by hanging him on a tree” (v. 30, citing Deut. 21:22–23 [cf. Acts 10:39], which describes a particular punishment reserved for crimes punishable by death). This is also the context in which Moses stipulates that a drunken and rebellious son who refuses to honor his parents should be taken outside the gates and stoned (Deut. 21:18–21). In Matthew 11:19, when the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being a drunkard and a glutton, they are stating that he is worthy of death in light of this law. While they cheer his execution, the irony is this very death establishes the new covenant, from which they are excluded.

Peter declares that “God exalted [Christ] at his right hand” (Acts 5:31), repeating his proclamation from Pentecost (2:25, 33, 34) that was taken from Psalms 16 and 110 to assert that Jesus is the rightful heir of David’s throne. The word translated “Leader” (Acts 5:31) is the same term (Gk. archēgos) translated “Author” in 3:15. Jesus is primary, the one who leads, the source and origin, as in Hebrews 2:10 (“founder of their salvation”) and 12:2 (“founder and perfecter of our faith”). This term can also include a royal connotation of Jesus’ preeminence (cf. “Prince”; Acts 5:31 KJV, NIV).

Peter declares that Jesus was also exalted as “Savior.” In the OT, Yahweh is the Savior of Israel—the only Savior. As Isaiah records, “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. . . . I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior” (Isa. 43:3, 11; cf. 45:15, 21; 49:26; 60:16; 63:8; 2 Sam. 22:3; Pss. 17:7; 106:21; Jer. 14:8; Hos. 13:4). Thus by declaring Christ to be “Savior,” the apostles equate him with Yahweh. And they proclaim that this exalted Savior came “to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31), which the prophets promised all along: a time of repentance and forgiveness in which God would establish a new covenant with his people (Jer. 31:34; 33:8; 36:3).

Finally, Peter adds that “we are witnesses to these things” (Acts 5:32). The OT requires two or three witnesses for legal credibility (Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6; 19:15), an idea taken up in the NT as well (Matt. 18:16; John 8:17–18; Heb. 10:28). Peter calls not only the apostles but the Holy Spirit also as witnesses to everything he has said. Thus the witness of the Spirit and his indwelling presence are connected, as he is the one “whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:32). The gift of the Spirit and obedience are closely connected in OT prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (cf. Introduction: Theology of Acts; Its Relationship to the Rest of the Bible and to Christ: The Apostolic Preaching).

Here obedience refers to faith and repentance—which are also both gifts of God—that follow from hearing the gospel. Peter does not mean that God gives the Spirit to those who keep the law or do works—such an understanding ignores the pattern already evident in Acts and is contrary to the general teaching of Scripture. God promises the Spirit in Ezekiel 36 in spite of the hard-heartedness and rebellion of the people, not in response to any effort on their part. This is not to say that faith and obedience are synonymous. But obedience is impossible apart from faith, and true faith is evident in obedience. The overriding emphasis of this section of Acts is the need to accept the message about Jesus of Nazareth and receive the Spirit and forgiveness in his name. To “obey” in this context is to believe in Jesus.

5:33–42 Persecution Begins: The Council Issues a Warning. As they did with Jesus in the Gospels, the leaders take a short route from inquiry to the death penalty. They are carried away by their emotions and become “enraged and [want] to kill them” (v. 33). They likely would have done so except that in God’s providence one man steps in and saves them from their folly. Gamaliel, a leading scholar, Pharisee, and teacher (he taught the apostle Paul; 22:3), is the only thing standing between the council and the apostles. Up to this point, Luke has specifically identified the high priests and officials as largely being Sadducees. Gamaliel, as a Pharisee, would not have much in common with the high priests. His concern was with Torah and the traditions, not politics. Gamaliel advises caution and will not rule out the possibility that these men have God’s blessing. There is no indication that he is particularly sympathetic or inclined toward the apostles, but he is wise.

Gamaliel mentions two other troublemakers from recent memory. Theudas came making some sort of claim about himself (perhaps messianic, but surely political) and led a small group of men, but he wound up dead, and his group disappeared (5:36). There is no independent record of this rebel; all we know is what is recorded here. The second, Judas the Galilean, is known to history apart from the Bible. The Jewish historian Josephus tells of a tax revolt led by this man (Antiquities 18.1–10). His success was no greater than that of Theudas; he died, and his followers dispersed. In light of this history, Gamaliel says in effect, “We have seen this sort of thing before, so let us wait this out and see what happens.”

It is possible that Gamaliel senses something more in this new band of Galileans. He knows about the signs and wonders, he has heard Peter and the apostles speak on two occasions, and he surely has not missed all the OT references and allusions in their speeches. Something has given him enough pause to conclude that perhaps God is behind it. At the same time, if this is merely a human movement, it will fail like the others did. There is reason to be patient, because if this is God’s work, they cannot stop it. Moreover, they may find themselves on the wrong side (v. 39). Gamaliel is, if nothing else, pragmatic. His argument works, but the council will still have its pound of flesh, so they beat the apostles and warn them again “not to speak in the name of Jesus” (v. 40).

As is typical in Acts, persecution leads not to hiding or fear but to even more boldness. The apostles and the early church are convinced they are on God’s side, so much so that they do the unthinkable: they respond to a horrible beating with rejoicing. As Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!” (Luke 6:22). Christ also warned his disciples that persecution would come before he returned (Luke 21:12). Rejoicing in the midst of suffering is a unique theme of the Christian faith, flowing from the knowledge that suffering for Jesus’ name means God is on one’s side and that he is sanctifying and perfecting those who suffer (Rom. 5:3–5; 1 Pet. 1:6–8; James 1:2–4). No amount of persecution can shake the apostles, who are Christ’s witnesses and have received his promises and his Spirit. They believe he is the Messiah, the fulfillment of God’s word to Israel and the world. Thus they rejoice and continue to preach Jesus everywhere in Jerusalem (Acts 5:41–42).

The narrative of Acts is nearing a turning point. This is the last somewhat controlled interaction between the authorities and the believers, and the Jerusalem-focused part of Jesus’ plan has nearly come to an end. This is not to say that the work is finished in Jerusalem—the outward expansion continues to cycle back and forth as the narrative continues. Moving from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth is not a series of completed tasks but the story of an ever-expanding theater of operations, with each successively larger stage receiving emphasis.