Acts 5:25-32

Before the Council

It must have been a shock for the council to learn that the men they had charged not to preach in the name of Jesus were, even as they met, preaching in the temple. The captain and his officers brought them back without violence because they feared the common people, who sympathized with the apostles, would stone them. The high priest asked the apostles why they continued to preach in the name in which they had been strictly told not to preach. Coffman notes they would not even speak Jesus' name because of the great hatred they had for him and all for which he stood. When our Lord was crucified, they, with the mob, had been very willing to have the blood of Jesus on their hands, but now they expressed shock that the apostles would portray them as responsible parties in his death (Acts 5:25-28; Matthew 27:25).

The answer of Peter and the other apostles carries profound implications for each generation of Christians. "We ought to obey God rather than men." Clearly, no law was considered by the apostles to be above God's law. After all, the limit of the Sadducees authority could be seen in the fact that they had crucified Jesus and God had raised him up from the grave. Further, the apostles said God had now seated Jesus on the throne as ruler and savior. The Lord had been empowered by his Father to give repentance leading to the forgiveness of sins to all of Israel. The twelve stood as witnesses of God's working and the Holy Spirit confirmed the truthfulness of the events they related through the miracles he enabled them to perform (Acts 5:29-32).