Brief Thoughts on Acts 5:29-42

"...Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them. Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. And he said to them: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.” And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."
- Acts 5:29-42

This last Wednesday at church we had a discussion of this passage and I did not get an opportunity to share some of the thoughts that went through my head as I considered this passage...so of course I've decided to share them here! ;-)

The part that makes me stop and think is the section in bold above. Everyone credits Gamaliel with incredible wisdom and forethought over his advice, but long ago I read something in a commentary that made me stop to think more closely about it. If we consider it from the long term perspective about how God indeed used Peter "and the other apostles" to bring about His plan for the church, then of course Gamaliel was right. His comment, however, is not the point of the passage, and to place too much emphasis on it can be a bit misleading.

Allow me to explain...

When we turn Gamaliel's comment into the primary teaching of this wonderful passage we set upon a path that leads to all kinds of erroneous thought. For example, if we take the comment at face value, what does it say about such things about Mormonism? Or Watchtower? For all intents and purposes, these are extremely successful movements. Does it follow, therefore, that they are of God? Well only in the sense that God is fully sovereign and that nothing happens outside of His eternal purposes. This does not mean that they are pleasing to Him or that in opposing their false teaching that we are placing ourselves against God! There are many things that purport to be Christian, that attempt to be defined as mainstream Christianity, but they are not. To say that what is successful must be of God is to open ourselves up to such foolishness as that which comes out in the form of the emergent church movement. To embrace it is to give credence to the idea that if we want to "grow" our churches we must adopt business models instead of Biblical Truth!

When one considers the success of Christianity in our day and age (any day and any age actually), then we must look at whether it embraces Biblical doctrines and upholds the five solas (sola scriptura; sola fide; sola gratia; solus Christus; soli deo gloria). Numbers are great, but only if they reflect a redeemed people rather than "seekers"; programs can be beneficial, but only if their purpose is to minister to the sheep and not to attract those ever important numbers. So success from a Christian perspective does not look at all like what the world considers success...and sadly, it does not look like what too many within the church would declare as successful!

Disagree if you must, it is possible (not likely though- ha ha) that I am wrong. But at least give it some thought.

God Bless