Verses 1-42
Chapter 5
5:1-11 A man called
Ananias, together with his wife Sapphire, sold a bit of ground he had,
and surreptitiously kept back part of the price, and his wife knew about
it. He brought some part of the price and laid it at the feet of the
apostles. Peter said to him, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart
so that you have deceived the Holy Spirit and kept back part of the
price of your ground? While it remained yours did it not remain your
own, and after it had been sold was it not entirely at your disposal?
Why did you put this business into your heart? It is not to men you have
lied but to God." As Ananias listened to these words, he collapsed and
breathed his life out. Great awe came upon all who heard it. The young
men rose and bound him up and carried him out and buried him.
After an interval of
about three hours his wife came in and she was not aware of what had
happened. Peter said to her, "Tell me, did you sell the piece of ground
for so much?" "Yes," she said, "for so much." Peter said to her, "Why is
it that you agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Look now, the feet
of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will
carry you out." Immediately she collapsed at his feet and breathed her
life out. When the young men came in they found her dead and they
carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great awe came
upon the whole Church and upon all who heard these things.
There is no more vivid story in the book of Acts. There is no
need to make a miracle of it. But it does show us something of the
atmosphere which prevailed in the early Church. It is on record that
once Edward the First blazed with anger at one of his courtiers and the
man dropped dead in sheer fear. This story shows two things about the
early Church, the expectancy of men's minds and the extraordinary
respect in which the apostles were held. It was in that atmosphere that
the rebuke of Peter acted as it did.
This is one of the stories which demonstrate the almost stubborn
honesty of the Bible. It might well have been left out because it shows
that even in the early Church there were very imperfect Christians; but
the Bible refuses to present an idealised picture of anything. Once a
court painter painted the portrait of Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell was
disfigured by warts upon his face. The painter, thinking to please the
great man, omitted the disfiguring warts. When Cromwell saw the picture,
he said, "Take it away, and paint me warts and all." It is one of the
great virtues of the Bible that it shows us its heroes, warts and all.
There is a certain encouragement in this story, for it shows us
that even in its greatest days the Church was a mixture of good and bad.
Peter insists that sin is sin against God. We do well to
remember that, very specially in certain directions. (i) Failure in
diligence is sin against God. Everything, however humble it may be, that
contributes to the health, the happiness and the welfare of mankind is
work done for God. Antonio Stradivari, the great maker of violins, said,
"If my hand slacked, I should rob God." That is a motto for every man
to take. (ii) Failure to use our talents is sin against God. God gave us
such talents as we have; we hold them in stewardship for him; and we
are responsible to him for the use we make of them. (iii) Failure in
truth is sin against God. When we slip into falsehood it is sin against
the guidance of the Spirit in our hearts.
5:12-16 Many signs and
wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles;
and they were all together in Solomon's colonnade. Of the others no one
dared to meddle with them. But the people held them in the highest
esteem; nay more, crowds of men and women believed in the Lord and
attached themselves to them. The result was that they brought the sick
to the streets and laid them on beds and pallets, so that, when Peter
came, even his shadow might fall on some of them; and a crowd assembled
from the cities round about Jerusalem carrying the sick and those who
were troubled by unclean spirits; and all of them were healed.
Here is a cameo-like picture of what went on in the early
Church. (i) It tells us where the Church met. Their meeting-place was
Solomon's colonnade, one of the two great colonnades which surrounded
the Temple area. The early Christians were constant in their attendance
at the House of God, desiring ever to know God better and to draw upon
his strength for life and living. (ii) It tells us how the Church met.
The early Christians assembled where everyone could see them. They knew
what had happened to the apostles and what might well happen to them;
but they were determined to show all men whose they were and where they
stood. (iii) It tells us that the early Church was a supremely effective
Church. Things happened. The days when the healing ministry of the
Church was in the forefront of its work are past, although they may well
return. But the Church still exists to make bad men good; and men will
always throng to a Church where lives are changed.
This passage closes with a reference to those troubled by
unclean spirits. The ancient people attributed all disease to the agency
of such spirits. The Egyptians, for instance, believed that the body
could be divided into separate parts and that every part could be
inhabited by an evil spirit. Often they believed that these evil spirits
were the spirits of wicked people who had departed this life but were
still carrying on their malignant work.
5:17-32 But the high
priest and his party (the local sect of the Sadducees) were filled with
envy, and they laid hands on the apostles and put them under public
arrest. But through the night the angel of the Lord opened the doors of
the prison and led them out and said, "Go, stand in the Temple and tell
the people all the words of this life." When they heard this they came
into the Temple very early and began to teach. When the high priest and
those with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin and all the council
of the sons of Israel; and they despatched messengers to the prison that
they should be brought. When the officers arrived they did not find
them in the prison. When they returned, they brought news saying, "We
found the prison shut with all security, and the guards standing at the
doors, but when we opened the doors we found no one inside." When the
superintendent of the Temple and the chief priests heard these words,
they did not know what to make of them and could not understand what
could have happened. But someone arrived and told them, "Look now, the
men you put in prison are standing in the Temple and teaching the
people." Then the superintendent of the Temple went away with his
officers and fetched them, but he used no force, for they were afraid of
the people in case they might be stoned. When they had fetched them
they stood them amidst the Sanhedrin. The high priest questioned them,
"We laid the strongest injunctions on you not to teach in this name;
and, look now, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are
aiming at bringing on us guilt for the blood of this man." Peter and the
apostles answered, "It is necessary to obey God rather than men. The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you got into your hands and
hanged on a tree. God has exalted him as Prince and Saviour at his right
hand, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins, and we are
witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit, whom God gave to those
who obey him."
The second arrest of the apostles was inevitable. The Sanhedrin
had strictly ordered them to abstain from teaching in the name of Jesus
and they had publicly disregarded that injunction. That to the
Sanhedrin was a doubly serious matter. These apostles were not only
heretics, they were also potential disturbers of the peace. Palestine
was always an inflammable country; if this were not checked it might
well result in some kind of popular rising; and that was the last thing
the priests and Sadducees wanted, because then Rome would intervene.
There is not necessarily a miracle in the release of Peter and John. The word angelos (Greek #32)
has two meanings. It means an angel; but it is also the normal word for
a messenger. Even if the release of the apostles had been brought about
by human means, the agent of the release would still be the aggelos of
the Lord.
In the narrative of the events after the release we see vividly
displayed the great characteristics of these early men of God.
(i) They were men of courage. The command to go straight back
and preach in the Temple sounds to a prudent mind almost incredible. To
obey that command was an act of almost reckless audacity. And yet they
went. (ii) They were men of principle. And their ruling principle was
that in all circumstances obedience to God must come first. They never
asked, "Is this course of action safe?" They asked, "Is this what God
wants me to do?" (iii) They had a clear idea of their function. They
knew that they were witnesses for Christ. A witness is essentially a man
who speaks from first-hand knowledge. He knows from personal experience
that what he says is true; and it is impossible to stop a man like that
because it is impossible to stop the truth.
5:33-42 When they
heard this they were torn with vexation and planned to destroy them. But
a certain Pharisee called Gamaliel stood up in the Sanhedrin, a teacher
of the law held in honour by all the people, and ordered that the men
should be put out of the meeting for a short time. He said to them, "Men
of Israel, take heed to yourselves regarding these men and think what
you are going to do with them. Before these days Theudas arose, saying
that he was someone. Men to the number of about four hundred attached
themselves to him. He was destroyed and all who were persuaded by him
were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilaean arose,
in the days when the census was taken, and he persuaded the people to
follow him. He too perished and all the people who were persuaded by him
were scattered abroad. And in the present circumstances I say to you
keep off these men and let them go, because if this purpose and this
affair is of men it will come to nothing; but if it is of God you cannot
stop them. So take care that you do not turn out to be men who are
fighting against God." They were persuaded by him. So they called in the
apostles, and, when they had threatened them, they enjoined them not to
speak in the name of Jesus and sent them away. So they went out from
the presence of the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they were deemed worthy
to suffer dishonour for the name. Every day in the Temple and from house
to house they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that
Jesus was God's Anointed One.
On their second appearance before the Sanhedrin the apostles
found an unexpected helper. Gamaliel was a Pharisee. The Sadducees were
the wealthy collaborationists, who were ever seeking to preserve their
own prestige; but the Pharisees had no political ambitions. Their name
literally means "The Separated Ones," and they had separated themselves
from ordinary life in order to devote themselves to the keeping of the
law in its every small detail. There were never more than about six
thousand of them all told, and the austerity of their lives made them
highly respected.
Gamaliel was more than respected; he was loved. He was a kindly
man with a far wider tolerance than his fellows. He was, for instance,
one of the very few Pharisees who did not regard Greek culture as
sinful. He was one of the very few to whom the title "Rabban" had been
given. Men called him "The Beauty of the Law." When he died it was said,
"Since Rabban Gamaliel died there has been no more reverence for the
Law; and purity and abstinence died out at the same time."
When the Sanhedrin seemed likely to resort to violent measures
against the apostles Gamaliel intervened. The Pharisees had a belief
which combined fate and free-will. They believed that all things were in
the hand of God and yet that man was responsible for his actions.
"Everything is foreseen," they said, "yet freedom of choice is given."
So Gamaliel's point was that they must have a care in case they were
exercising their free-will to go against God. He pleaded that if this
matter was not of God, it would come to nothing anyway. He quoted two
examples.
First he cited Theudas. In those days Palestine had a quick
succession of fire-brand leaders who set themselves up as the deliverers
of their country and sometimes even as the Messiah. Who this Theudas
was we do not know. There was a Theudas some years later who led a band
of people out to the Jordan with the promise that he could divide the
waters and that they would walk over dryshod, and whose rising was
swiftly dealt with. Theudas was a common name and no doubt this was just
such another fire-brand.
His second example was Judas. He had rebelled at the time of the
census, taken by the governor Quirinius in A.D. 6 in order to arrange
taxation. Judas took up the position that God was the King of Israel; to
him alone tribute was due, all other taxation was impious and to pay it
was a blasphemy. He attempted to raise a revolution but failed. The
Sanhedrin listened to Gamaliel and once again, after threatening the
apostles, they let them go.
They went rejoicing in their tribulations. They rejoiced in
persecution for two reasons. (i) It was an opportunity to demonstrate
their loyalty to Christ. In Russia in the early days of communism the
man who could show the marks of the fetters on his hands and the mark of
the lash on his back was held in honour because he had suffered for the
cause. It was Mr. Valiant-for-Truth's proud boast, "My marks and scars I
carry with me." (ii) It was a real opportunity to share in the
experience of Christ. Those who shared in the cross-bearing would share
in the crown-wearing.
-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)