Week 5
WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN
Welcome back to our study of Acts. This week we will return to our fearless apostles, as they
preach at the Temple and stand firm and faithful in the presence of power and opposition. As
you will see, God certainly answered their prayer in Acts 4:29-31 to give them confidence and
boldness of speech!
Always begin your study with prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to give you eyes to see, and ears
to hear what He is saying to you today by His living Word.
1. Read Acts 5:12-16 to remind you of the context of chapter 5.
a) How would you describe the condition of the early church at this point? Be as
specific as you can.
2. Read Acts 5:17-19.
a) According to v.17, who exactly rose up to put the apostles in jail?
b) Why did they do this?
The actual Greek word translated here as “jealousy” is zelos. It literally means heat, and is a
zeal that, when turned against your enemies, implies malice. The Sadducees were filled with
a zealous indignation against the apostles for what they were saying and the effect it was
having on “their” people.
It, however, was not the concern of a shepherd’s heart for his flock. There were two motives
for their actions against the apostles:
1- The gospel proclaimed resurrection, which the Sadducees denied.
2- The message was politically subversive. The gospel proclaimed another King, and the
Sadducees had power and a very cozy relationship with Rome.
We will take a closer look at who the Sadducees and Pharisees were at the end of this week’s
study.
3. Read 5:19-26.
a) Who intervenes on their behalf?
b) What does he tell them to do?
Don’t you just love the way this angel describes the gospel? “The whole message of this LIFE.”
This Greek word for life is zoe. The BLB Lexicon describes it this way: “the absolute
fullness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God…life real and genuine,
a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of
those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by
new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever.
The eternal life of God’s Spirit in us! Now, that is a “message” worth sharing!
c) How quickly and how publically do the apostles obey the direction from the Lord?
d) The entire Council is gathered together to have the prisoners brought before them.
What happens next?
e) How did they find out where the apostles were?
f) In what way did the commander of the guard bring them back to the Council?
Why?
Can you just imagine the perplexity and frustration that these Jewish leaders are feeling at
this point? First an empty Tomb, and now an empty prison!
4. Read 5:27-33.
a) When accused, Peter and the apostles see another opportunity. What is it?
Although the Council is seeing these men as the enemy, the apostles continue to
offer them a message of hope.
b) Read vs. 29-32 again. Mark a triangle over God (the Father), and put a cross over
Jesus and pronouns of their names. List what you learn from asking the “Who,
what, when, where, why and how” (5W and H) type of questions.
God
Jesus
What do you learn about the Holy Spirit from v. 32?
1.
2.
How did God exalt Jesus? In other words, what were the apostles witnesses of?
c) How does the Council respond to the gospel message? Do you notice an escalation
of their zelos?
5. Read Acts 5:34-42.
a) The Council mentioned was the Sanhedrin was a council or assembly of seventy
men. They were the highest ruling body and court of justice among the Jewish
people. At this point in history, all but three of them were Sadducees. From v. 34
we can see that one of the three Pharisees was Gamaliel. How is he described?
b) In Acts 22:3, Paul is giving his testimony in Jerusalem. What do you learn about
Gamaliel here?
c) What is Gamaliel’s advice to the Council?
d) What point is he making, using the two examples in vs. 36-37?
e) Note his conclusion below.
If this plan or action is of ________; then __________________________________.
BUT
If this is of _________; then______________________________________________
or else __________________________________________________.
f) What does the Council do next?
g) What is the attitude of the apostles upon their release? Why?
Can you imagine yourself ever responding to a flogging that way? Grace, grace, grace! This
same power is available to us.
According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible DictionaryThe Sadducees [SAJ uh seez] were members of a Jewish faction who were known for their
denial of the bodily resurrection. They came from the leading families of the nation- the
priests, merchants and aristocrats. As we saw in Acts 5:17, the high priests and the most
powerful members of the priesthood were mainly Sadducees. Many of the wealthy people
were also Sadducees.
They rejected the “tradition of the elders”, that body of oral and written commentary which
interpreted the Law of Moses. This automatically placed them in direct opposition with
another Jewish group, the Pharisees [FARE uh sees], who made the traditions surrounding the
Law of Moses as important as the Law itself. The Sadducees insisted that only the laws that
were written in the Law of Moses (the first five Books of the Old Testament called the
Pentateuch) were really binding. They thought this way because of religious practices that
had taken place for several centuries.
For many years, the priests had been in charge of teaching the Law of God to the Israelites;
they were the authorities to go to for the interpretation or application of the Law.
Unfortunately, the leading priests lost the respect of the people by becoming corrupt. When
this happened, many Jews began to respond to the Scribes, people who had become experts
in God’s Law and who usually lived pious, disciplined lives, although many of them were not
priests. The Sadducees rejected the customs, rulings and interpretations of the Scribes.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or the immortality of the soul,
since these doctrines are not mentioned in the Law of Moses. Neither did they believe in
rewards or punishments handed out after death, as in the doctrines of heaven and hell. Acts
23:8 indicates that they did not believe in angels or spirits either. They also believed in free
will- that man is responsible for his own prosperity or misfortune. They interpreted the Law
literally and tended to support strict justice as opposed to mercy toward the offender.
Well, it seems that with the power, wealth and comfort that this ruling class enjoyed, they
did not feel a yearning for heaven. They kept God at a distance, and enjoyed the pleasures of
this world. Thinking that their affluence was all a reward from God, they thought that they
must be pleasing Him with their lifestyle. They lacked compassion. They lacked love for those
less fortunate then themselves. They lacked a relationship with God- who so wanted to be
their God.
They had no idea how poor they really were.
That is enough for this week. But we may take a closer look at the Scribes and Pharisees at a
later point in this study…