Acts 5:17 - Meaning and Application

No good work ever goes on without opposition. People who mean harm cannot make peace with those who are committed to doing good. Satan, the destroyer of mankind, has always stood against those who help others, and it would have been strange if the apostles had kept teaching and healing without any resistance.

Here we see the evil of hell and the grace of heaven in conflict. One side tries to push the apostles away from their work. The other strengthens them to keep going. The priests were angry with them and put them in prison (Acts 5:17-18).

Notice first who their enemies were. The high priest, Annas or Caiaphas, led the attack. He saw that his wealth, honor, power, and control were all at risk if Christ’s spiritual teaching spread among the people. The Sadducees joined him most eagerly. They especially hated the gospel because it taught the invisible world, the resurrection of the dead, and the life to come, which they denied. It is no surprise when people with no true religion show fierce hatred toward pure religion.

Notice also how they felt toward the apostles. They were deeply stirred up and furious. When they saw how many people were gathering around the apostles, they could no longer endure it. They were angry that the apostles preached Christ and healed the sick, angry that the people listened and brought their sick for healing, and angry at themselves for letting it go this far before trying to stop it. In this way, Christ’s enemies become a trouble to themselves. Envy destroys the foolish person.

Notice, too, how they acted against them (Acts 5:18). They laid hands on them, perhaps with their own hands, or more likely through their officers, and put them in the public prison with common criminals. They meant three things by this. First, they wanted to restrain the apostles, even though they had no charge worth death or prison. While the apostles were locked up, they could not keep doing their work, and that seemed like a gain to the rulers. Second, they wanted to frighten them and drive them away from their mission. The last time, they had only threatened them (Acts 4:21), but that had not worked, so now they imprisoned them. Third, they wanted to shame them. By putting them in the common prison, they hoped to make the people think less of them, since Satan often works against the gospel by making its preachers and followers seem worthless.

But God sent his angel to free them and give fresh power to preach the gospel. The powers of darkness fought against them, but the Father of lights fought for them and sent an angel of light to defend their cause. The Lord never leaves his witnesses and spokesmen. He will surely stand by them and support them.

First, the apostles were legally released from prison (Acts 5:19). The angel of the Lord came by night and, despite the locks and bars, opened the prison doors. He also brought the prisoners out, despite the guards standing watch outside (see Acts 5:23). He gave them permission to leave, and he led them through every obstacle. This event is not described as fully as Peter’s release in Acts 12, but the miracle was the same. No prison is so dark or strong that God cannot visit his people there, or, if he chooses, bring them out. This release of the apostles by an angel was a picture of Christ’s resurrection and his release from the grave. It would help confirm the apostles’ preaching about that resurrection.

Second, they were also given a clear command to keep doing their work, and this released them from the ban the high priest had placed on them. The angel told them, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20). When God set them free in such a wonderful way, it was not so they could simply escape from danger and save their own lives. It was so they could keep working with even more courage. When we recover from sickness or are freed from trouble, we should see those mercies as given so that God may be honored through our lives. “Let my soul live, and it will praise you” (Psalm 119:175). “Bring my soul out of prison,” like the apostles here, “so I may praise your name” (Psalm 143:7). See also (Isaiah 38:22).

In this command, notice where they were to preach. They were to speak in the temple. One might think it would have been wiser to continue in a more private place, where the priests would be less offended and the danger smaller. But no, they were told to speak in the temple, because that was where the people gathered, and it was still their Father’s house, not yet left completely desolate. Christ’s ministers should not retreat into corners while they still have a chance to preach before the great crowd.

Notice also to whom they were to preach. They were to speak to the people, not to the princes and rulers, who would not listen. The people were willing to be taught, and their souls were as precious to Christ as the souls of the greatest rulers. They were to speak to the people in general, because all were concerned.

Notice, too, how they were to preach. “Go, stand, and speak” shows that they were to speak publicly, standing so all could hear. It also shows boldness and firmness. They were to speak as men resolved to stand by their message, to live and die by it.

And finally, notice what they were to preach: all the words of this life.

“This life” may mean the life the apostles had been speaking about among themselves, perhaps their talks about heaven that encouraged one another in prison. If so, the command was, “Go and preach the same message to the world, so others may share the comfort God has given you.” It may also mean the life the Sadducees deny, which is why they hated the apostles and persecuted them. Or it may mean this heavenly, divine life, compared with which ordinary earthly life is hardly worthy of the name.

It may also mean these words of life, the very words the apostles had already preached, the words the Holy Spirit put into their mouths. The gospel words are living words. They bring spiritual life, and by them we may be saved, which is the same thought as in Acts 11:14. The gospel is the word of this life because it secures not only our future home in heaven, but also the blessings for our present walk with God, along with the promises for this life and the life to come.

Even more, the gospel makes spiritual and eternal life so clear that it can be called “this life.” The word is near us. So the gospel is a matter of life and death, and ministers must preach it, and people must hear it, with that in mind. They must speak all the words of this life, and not hide any part of it for fear of offending others or hoping to win favor with rulers. Christ’s witnesses are sworn to tell the whole truth.

When the apostles heard this, they returned to Solomon’s Porch, the public covered area at the temple where they had been teaching (Acts 5:12). It was a great comfort to them to receive this fresh command. They may have wondered whether, if they were set free, they should still preach so openly in the temple, since they had been told to flee to another city when persecuted there. But now the angel had told them plainly to go and preach in the temple, so their duty was clear. They went without hesitation and did not fear people’s faces. If we are sure of our duty, we should stay close to it and trust God with our safety.

They also obeyed at once, without arguing or delaying. They entered the temple early in the morning, as soon as the gates were opened and people began to gather, and they taught the gospel of the kingdom. They were not afraid of what men could do to them. This was an unusual case. The whole treasure of the gospel had been placed in their hands. If they had kept silent then, the stream of witness would have been cut off, and the work would have stopped. That is not the usual condition of ministers, so this example does not require them to rush into danger. Even so, when God gives us a chance to do good, we should take a bold step rather than let the opportunity pass because of human pressure or fear.

Meanwhile the high priest and his group kept pressing the case, and they supposed the apostles were safely in custody. So they called the council together, a large and unusual meeting of the full senate of Israel. In this they showed how ready they were to crush the gospel and its preachers. The last time, they had brought the apostles only before a smaller committee from the high priest’s own circle, who had to act with some caution. But now they called together all the elders, that is, the full body of judges in Jerusalem, including the great council and the other two courts at the temple gates. If the gathering was complete, as many as 116 judges may have been present.

God allowed this so the enemies’ confusion and the apostles’ witness against them would be seen more openly, and so others might hear the gospel who would not hear it except in court. But the high priest did not mean it that way. In his heart, he wanted to gather all his strength against the apostles and destroy them all at once by common agreement.

They were soon shamed and disappointed. The one who sits in heaven laughs at them, and so may we, when we see such a solemn court brought to nothing. We can imagine the high priest making a serious speech, explaining why they had gathered. He would say that a dangerous movement had recently risen in Jerusalem through the teaching about Jesus, and that, for the sake of the church’s safety, it had to be stopped quickly and firmly. He would claim that now they had the power to do it, since the leaders were already in the public prison, ready to be dealt with severely if the council agreed.

So an officer was sent at once to bring the prisoners before them. But see how they were frustrated. The officers came back and reported that the prisoners were nowhere to be found in the prison (Acts 5:22-23). The prison doors had indeed been shut securely. The guards had done their duty. They found the guards standing outside the doors, aware of nothing wrong. But when they went in, they found no one there, meaning none of the men they had been sent to fetch. The common prisoners were probably still there.

We are not told how the angel brought them out, whether by another way or by opening the doors and shutting them again while the guards slept. However it happened, they were gone. The Lord knows how to rescue godly people from trouble and how to free those who are in chains for his name’s sake, and he will do so when he has work for them to do. Think how confused the court must have looked when the officers gave their report (Acts 5:24). The high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests were all thrown into confusion. They looked at one another, wondering what this could mean. They were deeply troubled and at a loss, because they had never been so completely disappointed in anything they had felt so sure about.

This led to many guesses. Some said the apostles had been carried out of prison by magic and had slipped away that way. Others thought the jailers had played a trick, because these prisoners had so many friends and were popular with the people.

Some people feared that, after such a remarkable escape, the apostles would attract even more attention. Others thought that, even if they had driven them out of Jerusalem, they would hear of them again somewhere else in the country. Then the gospel would spread even further, and they would have even less power to stop it. They began to think that, instead of fixing the problem, they had made it worse. Those who try to trouble Christ’s work often end up troubling themselves.

Their uncertainty was partly settled, but their anger grew when another messenger arrived. He told them that the prisoners were preaching in the temple (Acts 5:25). In other words, “The men you put in prison, and then summoned to stand before you, are right here in the temple, in plain sight and defying you, teaching the people.” Prisoners who escape usually hide, afraid of being caught again. But these prisoners were bold enough to show themselves where their enemies had the most power.

That was what upset them most. Ordinary criminals may be clever enough to break out of prison, but it takes unusual courage to openly admit what they have done and keep preaching after it.