27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
Dig Deeper
During the American Civil War there was a great deal of arguing back and forth between the North and the South as to who was on the side of right. We might look back now from the vantage point of the twenty-first century and think that it is pretty clear that the North was right in their eventual attempts to end slavery within the United States and that the South was wrong in their desire to keep the system of slavery viable, yet the issue was not so clear in the minds of those who lived at the time. In fact, both sides claimed quite boldly that God was on their side during the war. Both sides felt justified in their positions of arguing for freedom. The North argued for freedom of all men, and the South argued for freedom from government control. Whenever one side or the other won a major battle they would immediately give the credit to God and use their victory to put forth their argument that this was proof that God was on their side. Near the end of the war, however, Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States and the Commander in Chief of the Northern Army, was asked if the recent success that the Union had been having in the war was a clear sign that God was on the side of the North. Lincoln responded by saying, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.” Lincoln understood that any human being can make a claim that God is on their side but that is not really of any importance unless one is more interested in being justified in their behavior than they are with being truly right. In the end, we must remember that God doesn’t choose sides but we must.
I don’t think that there are any human beings who believe in God who are unconcerned with God being on their side or being with them. Yet, there seems to be a strong human urge to work God into their beliefs to justify them rather than actually and seriously examining what they believe to see if they match up with God’s will. In the first century for those who were speaking about the resurrection and the life of Christ, and the Jewish leadership, the issue of whose side God was on was very much at the forefront. When it came down to it, however, the real issue was not who could make the best case that God was for them to justify their own beliefs and practices. Far more important was which group was on God’s side and which group would find themselves fighting against God and his true people.
As the apostles were brought in once again (at least for Peter and John) before the Sanhedrin, it is clear to see that the Sanhedrin were rather annoyed that their first instructions to stop speaking about Jesus were not heeded. This begins with the apostles standing before the Sanhedrin and being scolded and threatened, yet we see no fear on their part. The Sanhedrin were the most influential and powerful spiritual group in Jerusalem and the normal response of people being brought before them was to be filled with fear and intimidation. But these men were different. They were of no account and no impressive training and yet they had a boldness and wisdom about them that was striking. So much so, that they quickly seemed able to turn the tables in the hearing and put the Sanhedrin themselves on trial.
The real issue wasn’t whether or not the Sanhedrin had the power or authority to silence them; or in other words, whether God was on the side of the Sanhedrin. The real issue was their actions. Peter and the other disciples were not, in their opinion, trying to justify their own behaviors by saying that God was on their side. Their argument was far more significant than that. They were not using God to justify themselves, they were simply obeying God. God had sent one who claimed to be his promised Messiah but the Jewish leadership would not consider that. He had performed many signs and wonders but they would not see. He had spoken the words of God but they would not listen.
Instead they responded by conspiring with the Romans to hang Jesus on a cross. The literal word that Peter used in verse 30 is translated “tree,” which makes clear that he was making an obvious allusion to Deuteronomy 21:23 which declares a curse for anyone who is hung on a tree to die. What seems like a bad thing, though, was actually good news for all people because through the mercy of God “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us; for it is written ‘cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’” (Gal. 3:13; see also Acts 13:29). This man that they thought was accursed by God because he died on a cross was actually God’s Messiah who became a curse for all so that they might have access to God’s kingdom. God had proven Jesus to be in the right by resurrecting him from the dead and exalting him to his right hand as Prince and Savior. The exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God was a key element in the early preaching of Jesus to the Jewish people because, in part at least, it showed him to be the one like the son of man of Daniel 7 (see Acts 2:33-35; 3:20-21; 4:11).
The apostles were not trying to defend their own actions, per se. They were demonstrating that Jesus really was God’s Messiah and they, therefore, had no choice in the matter except to obey God. Jesus had promised them that the Spirit would come and enable them to be his witnesses and in verse 32, Peter confirmed that they were partnering with that same Holy Spirit to be just that. They were not concerned with whether or not God was on their side. They were claiming undeniable proof that they were on God’s side; that they had done the only thing that they could have done under the circumstances. And now it was the Sanhedrin’s choice. They had stood in judgment and been responsible for Jesus’ death but the apostles were shockingly offering salvation to the very group that had crucified the Messiah.
One man that seemed to grasp at least some of what was going on in the midst of this incredible scene was the great Rabbi Gamaliel the elder. Gamaliel was a deeply respected man, perhaps the most highly respected man of his time. It was said of him when he died that “the glory of the Law ceased and purity and abstinence died.” At the time of Gamaliel there were two basic camps of interpretation of the Law amongst the Pharisees and Rabbis. There was the school of Shammai which tended to be very zealous for God and the Law. They were hard-lined and were more than willing to engage in violence in order to protect one or the other or both. Then there was the school of Hillel which included the more moderate faction that believed that the real issue when it came to God was the heart so violence wasn’t necessary. They believed that God would work it out. Most commentators have speculated that Gamaliel belonged to the school of Hillel, but there is evidence to support the notion that he was so highly revered that he may have had his own school and followers (later traditions cite Gamaliel as a member of the school of Hillel but early writings indicate that he did not belong to Hillel and had his own school, the school of Gamaliel). It is simply not known for sure where Gamaliel fell on the spectrum of zeal for the Law but it is clear that he had a student named Saul (Acts 22:3) who was quite zealous (Phil. 3:6) and more than willing to kill Christians to preserve the honor of God, which would lead us to believe that at some level, Gamaliel would not completely fall in the camp of Hillel (Saul, of course, would later be known as the apostle Paul).
Gamaliel’s point was stunning and insightful and he offered two examples from history to prove his point. He referred to two rebellions that likely took place shortly after the death of Herod the Great. The rebellion of Judas was fairly well documented in history but that of Theudas has been lost outside of this reference. His point was that both of these rebellions must have taken on some sort of Messianic tones or claims but they both amounted to nothing. It wasn’t necessary to determine whether or not God was on their side, the very fact that they had amounted to nothing following the death of their leader demonstrated that they were not of God at all.
Gamaliel made it clear that the Sanhedrin should tread carefully. Perhaps he had noticed the fantastic nature of the signs and wonders surrounding the Christian community and could not explain it away so simply. In this moment of deep wisdom, Gamaliel argued that fighting against this new movement was largely unnecessary. If they left them alone they could see what would happen. If they were not from God, then the movement would surely fail. But if they were to try to extinguish these believers and they really were a movement that was being powered by God himself, in other words, if they were truly on God’s side, then the Jewish leaders would find themselves in the unenviable position of fighting God. Thus, persecuting these people would serve no purpose.
Luke doesn’t tell us how he learned of this conversation among the Sanhedrin but it is possible that Gamaliel’s student, the young Saul, was present and later reported these events to Luke. If that was the case, Gamaliel’s words were evidently lost on Saul as he would go on to persecute the church with incredible zeal.
Gamaliel’s speech was persuasive enough to dissuade the Sanhedrin from doing anything more than a punitive whipping and another threat to stop their preaching about the resurrection and life of Christ that was available to those who would repent and die to self and have faith in his life. The whipping had the opposite from the desired effect, though. Rather than frightening or intimidating the disciples, they rejoiced in the suffering which is a family characteristic of a Christian in such a condition (Jam. 1:1-3: 1 Pet. 1:6; 4:13; Matt. 5:11; Rom. 5:3; 2 Cor. 6:10). It is only when we are focused hard and fast on being on God’s side will we be unconcerned with whatever the world might throw at us and rejoice in good time and in suffering. A church that is more focused on being on God’s side than in anything else is a church that cannot be stopped. In the end, we must remember that God doesn’t choose sides but we must.
Devotional Thought
Can you think of anyone who is more concerned with God being on their side than with actually being on God’s side? What are you more concerned with? Are you more interested in justifying your own behaviors and beliefs and covering them over with a God-veneer or have you been willing to racially question your own beliefs and do your best to ensure that you are on God’s side?
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