Acts 5:32

5:26-33 Many will do an evil thing with daring, yet cannot bear to hear of it afterward, or to have it charged upon them. We cannot expect to be redeemed and healed by Christ, unless we give up ourselves to be ruled by him. Faith takes the Saviour in all his offices, who came, not to save us in our sins, but to save us from our sins. Had Christ been exalted to give dominion to Israel, the chief priests would have welcomed him. But repentance and remission of sins are blessings they neither valued nor saw their need of; therefore they, by no means, admitted his doctrine. Wherever repentance is wrought, remission is granted without fail. None are freed from the guilt and punishment of sin, but those who are freed from the power and dominion of sin; who are turned from it, and turned against it. Christ gives repentance, by his Spirit working with the word, to awaken the conscience, to work sorrow for sin, and an effectual change in the heart and life. The giving of the Holy Ghost, is plain evidence that it is the will of God that Christ should be obeyed. And He will surely destroy those who will not have Him to reign over them.

We are his witnesses; they refuse not to bear their testimony for Christ, who witnessed a good profession for us. So is also the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost does witness, 1. By the apostles; through his grace and strength they bear their record. 2. By all the miracles that were wrought, for they were only done by his power. 3. By enabling any to believe these things; which belief is his work. 4. Not to say that the Holy Ghost was a witness of the things concerning Christ at his baptism, and the several attestations he gave, saying, This is my beloved Son, Matthew 3:17 . Obey him; some read, believe in him, which is to the same purpose; for there is no true repentance where there is no faith; nor no saving faith where there is no repentance and amendment.

Acts 5:32 . Καὶ , and ) and in consequence.— δὲ , indeed ) This particle amplifies. The testimony of the Holy Spirit is weightier than that of the apostles.— τοῖς πειθαρχοῦσιν , who obey ) God, saith Peter, hath given us the Holy Spirit: it is He who impels us to give testimony; and we obey; Acts 5:29 . We should note the difference between the two words, comparing Acts 5:36-37 ; Acts 5:40 , where πείθεσθαι occurs: it is this, according to Ammonius; πείθεσθαι is said of one who voluntarily assents to another ( τὸ ἑκουσίως συγκατατίθεσθαι : so also ὑποτάσσεσθαι ), but πειθαρχεῖν of one who obeys the command of another ( τὸ κελεύοντι πεισθῆναι ).[42] Comp. Acts 27:11 ; Acts 27:21 , “The centurion believed ( ἘΠΕΊΘΕΤΟ ) the master of the ship:” “Ye should have hearkened (complied with my counsel, ΠΕΙΘΑΡΧΉΣΑΝΤΆς ) unto me.” [42] Πειθαρχεῖν , from ἀρχὴ , implies some degree of constraint or obedience to authority and command . Πείθεσθαι and ὑποτάσσεσθαι are more spontaneous. See Tittm. Syn. N. T.—E. and T.

Verse 32. - Witnesses for his witnesses , A.V. and T.R.; so is the Holy Ghost for so is also the Holy Ghost , A.V. and T.R. We are witnesses. The direct reference is to the command recorded in Acts 1:8 , which they felt imperatively bound to obey. So is the Holy Ghost . The Holy Ghost bare witness to the gospel preached by the apostles by the powers which he gave them to heal and work miracles, and by the conversion of many who heard the word: "the gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven" ( 1 Peter 1:12 ). Mark the solemnity and authority which Peter claimed for the gospel by thus asserting that the Holy Ghost was the witness with the apostles to the truth of their testimony concerning Jesus Christ. Acts 5:32

32 . And we are his witnesses of these things ] The best texts omit his , while some ancient authorities add in him in place of his . these things ] i.e. the Crucifixion and the Resurrection and Ascension. and so is also the Holy Ghost ] Also is not found in the best MSS. Christ had said, while alive, concerning the Holy Ghost, “He shall testify of me” ( John 15:26 ). This He did in the minds of the Apostles by “bringing all things to their remembrance,” and enlightening them to see how Christ’s life had fulfilled the prophecies, and also in the mighty powers which through the outpouring of the Spirit they now possessed. whom God hath given to them that obey him ] Thus the disciples declare that the obedience to God, which at the outset ( Acts 5:29 ) they had proclaimed as their bounden duty, was also the reason why the Holy Ghost had been bestowed upon them, and leaving it to be gathered that what God has done He will do again, and bestow His gifts of grace on those who are willing to obey Him.

(32) And so is also the Holy Ghost. —The signs and wonders, the tongues and the prophecies, the new power and the new love, were all thought of by the Apostles as coming from their Lord; and therefore as an evidence that He had triumphed over death and had ascended into heaven. (Comp. Acts 2:33 .)

Acts WHOM TO OBEY,-ANNAS OR ANGEL?Acts 5:17 - Acts 5:32 . The Jewish ecclesiastics had been beaten in the first round of the fight, and their attempt to put out the fire had only stirred the blaze. Popular sympathy is fickle, and if the crowd does not shout with the persecutors, it will make heroes and idols of the persecuted. So the Apostles had gained favour by the attempt to silence them, and that led to the second round, part of which is described in this passage. The first point to note is the mean motives which influenced the high-priest and his adherents. As before, the Sadducees were at the bottom of the assault; for talk about a resurrection was gall and wormwood to them. But Luke alleges a much more contemptible emotion than zeal for supposed truth as the motive for action. The word rendered in the Authorised Version ‘indignation,’ is indeed literally ‘zeal,’ but it here means, as the Revised Version has it, nothing nobler than ‘jealousy.’ ‘Who are those ignorant Galileans that they should encroach on the office of us dignified teachers? and what fools the populace must be to listen to them! Our prestige is threatened. If we don’t bestir ourselves, our authority will be gone.’ A lofty spirit in which to deal with grave movements of opinion, and likely to lead its possessors to discern truth!

The Sanhedrin, no doubt, talked solemnly about the progress of error, and the duty of firmly putting it down, and, like Jehu, said, ‘Come, and see our zeal for the Lord’; but it was zeal for greetings in the marketplace, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the other advantages of their position. So it has often been since. The instruments which zeal for truth uses are argument, Scripture, and persuasion. That zeal which betakes itself to threats and force is, at the best, much mingled with the wrath and jealousy of man. The arrest of the Apostles and their committal to prison was simply for detention, not punishment. The rulers cast their net wider this time, and secured all the Apostles, and, having them safe under lock and key, they went home triumphant, and expecting to deal a decisive blow to-morrow. Then comes one of the great ‘buts’ of Scripture. Annas and Caiaphas thought that they had scored a success, but an angel upset their calculations. To try to explain the miracle away is hopeless. It is wiser to try to understand it. The very fact that it did not lead to the Apostles’ deliverance, but that the trial and scourging followed next day, just as if it had not happened, which has been alleged as a proof of its uselessness, and inferentially of its falsehood, puts us on the right track.