And the high priest rising up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, were filled with wrath,
Healings had drawn crowds to the apostles, and the temple authorities answered with arrest. Why did the men in power react so hotly? And what does the word "sect" tell us about them?
The Sadducees were a small, exclusive group with a short list of denials.
Next to the Pharisees, the Sadducees were the most prominent sect of the Jews. The Pharisees made converts, but the Sadducees were much more exclusive, and so remained fewer in number. They did not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels, nor in spirits: they held that the soul perished with the body.
A different party had opposed Jesus while He was alive.
The Pharisees were the greatest enemies of the Lord while He was on earth — the falsely righteous ones, as opposed to the truly Righteous One. In the same way, after His death, Satan raised up the Sadducees, who were enemies to the doctrine of the resurrection.
The word "sect" here is the Greek word also translated "heresy." Its root shows what a party is.
The word hairesis comes from "to choose." The same Greek word is also translated "sect," and it describes the sects among the Jews, such as the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Heresies and sects developed early in the church. They were the result of the working of the will of man in some form. The root of the Greek word being "to choose" shows that a heresy is something peculiar.
What stirred them was not a crime. It was God's power working through despised men, outside their track.
But sadly, the power of God was displayed through the despised disciples of Jesus. It worked outside the well-worn track where the self-importance of the high priest and those with him found its path. What they rejected made progress, and the miracles drew attention to the apostles. All this stirs up the opposition and jealousy of the rulers, and they put the apostles in prison. In this world good always works in the presence of the power of evil.
Grace at work did not soften them.
The more that grace and truth worked, the more they hated; and they laid their hands again on the apostles and put them in the common prison.
This arrest was heavier than the one in chapter 4. Different men acted, under a different authority, and they took the whole company.
The apostles were openly defying the command of the Sanhedrin. By the miracles worked and the healing given, they were plainly winning the people over more than ever. So the high priest and all who were with him, which was the sect of the Sadducees, arrested the Twelve and put them all in prison. Earlier the priests and the captain of the temple — the temple guard — arrested Peter and John in Solomon's porch (4:1). They had authority inside its area, and so they interfered. But now it was the Sanhedrin — at least its Sadducean members, with the high priest at their head — which had power over religious matters.
Truth exposes a man, and a religious man most of all.
Man never knows himself apart from Christ, any more than he thinks or feels rightly about God. The revealed truth detects him and lays him bare in his departure from God. This is all the more unbearable when he has a religious position to keep up. Their boasted liberty of conscience is only for the different forms of error. The truth of God is always unwelcome, and they treat those who preach it as mere troublemakers to punish without hesitation.
This arrest was a counter-stroke, and God had an answer ready.
God had worked in this striking way for blessing. Now, in verse 17, we see the next counter-stroke of Satan. The priests and Sadducees, filled with indignation, arrest them again. God meets this by sending an angel to open the prison doors and set them free.
The care shown then has not stopped.
Angelic care has in no way disappeared for His servants. Neither has the presence and energy of the Spirit within the assembly. There is simply no such display of power as of old. It is our fleshly activity, and our lack of spirituality, which hinder. We grieve the Spirit by our self-confidence and worldly wisdom, and we fail to see the wonderful ways in which God delivers.
- Creed — The Sadducees denied resurrection, angels and spirits. A risen Christ, preached in public, wrecked all they taught.
- Choice — "Sect" comes from a word meaning "to choose." A party is human will picking its own religion, and this one chose against the truth.
- Jealousy — What filled them was not a crime, but blessing outside their track. The more grace worked, the more they hated.
- Power — This time the high priest and the council acted, not the temple guard, and they took all twelve. Religious position makes exposure by truth unbearable.
- Prison — Man shut the doors. God opened them by an angel — one of the beings these men said did not exist. The same care still surrounds His servants, though our self-confidence often blinds us to it.
and laid hands on the apostles and put them in the public prison.
Healings were spreading and the crowds were growing. The religious authorities answered with an arrest. For the first time all twelve apostles were shut in the public jail. Why were the men closest to the temple the most hostile to what God was doing?
The leaders could not match what the apostles were doing. So they reached for what they could still control.
But all this stirred up the envy and indignation of the chief priests. Divine power and authority had clearly passed out of their hands. They were unwilling for it to be found anywhere else. They could not stop God from showing His power. But they could seize the people who used it, at least when God allowed it. So they do, and they throw the apostles into the common prison.
The resurrection changed who led the opposition to Christ.
During the ministry of the Lord Jesus here below the Pharisees had been His chief adversaries… Now after He rose from the dead, those who said there is no resurrection, no angel and no spirit were naturally the most embittered. That was so despite their usual self-satisfaction and their wish to appear the mildest of the people.
Why does truth provoke such rage? The answer lies in what truth does to a man.
Revealed truth detects him and lays him bare in his departure from God. This is all the more unbearable when he has a religious position to maintain. That is why the Sadducean high priest and his party were so furious at this time. Their boasted liberty of conscience is only for the different forms of error. The truth of God is always unwelcome. Those who preach it are just troublemakers to be punished without hesitation.
The earlier arrest in chapter 4 took only two men, and the temple guard made it. This time the highest Jewish court moved, and it took all twelve.
They had to strike a blow that was both bold and effective. Everyone must see that the authorities were not afraid to touch men whom the people now praised more than ever. … On the earlier occasion the priests and the captain of the temple — that is, the temple guard — arrested Peter and John, who were in Solomon's porch. They had authority inside the temple area, and so they stepped in. But this time the Sanhedrin acted — at least its Sadducean members, with the high priest at their head. That council held power over religious matters concerning members of the nation.
One writer looks past the men to the power behind them.
This miraculous testimony to the power of God had a double effect. People came from far and near to benefit from it. Satan began to tremble for his kingdom, and his servants were "filled with jealousy" (older translations: "filled with indignation"). … Bitter opposition rises, and he and the rest of the apostles are thrown into the common prison. But the Lord would not have His work stopped by Satan's servants.
That leaves a question for readers today. What actually holds the gospel back?
Acts 5:12-28 teaches us one lesson. No hatred or force of men could stand in the way of the gospel of God while His servants walked in the truth and in the fear of God. In these last times the testimony to the grace of God and the glory of the risen Christ is weak. The cause is not the enemy outside, but failure inside. We do well to admit this, for only in confessing the truth is there any measure of recovery.
- Cause: envy. Divine power had left the hands of the religious leaders, and they would not have it found anywhere else.
- Party: the Sadducees denied resurrection, angels and spirits. Once Christ rose, they became the bitterest opponents of all.
- Motive: truth lays a man bare. That is hardest to bear when he has a religious position to defend, so he treats the preachers as troublemakers.
- Escalation: in chapter 4 the temple guard took two men. Here the high priest's court seizes all twelve, in public.
- Limit: hands could reach the preachers, not the message. No force of men stood in the gospel's way while the servants walked in the truth and the fear of God.
But an angel of [the] Lord during the night opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, said,
The apostles had been shut in the public jail overnight, with guards posted at the doors. Before morning came, the doors stood open. Where did that power come from, and why did it send them straight back into the danger they had just left?
So far in Acts the power on display has been the Holy Spirit inside the company of believers. Now a different power acts from outside.
A power different from that of the Holy Spirit in the assembly now displays itself. God's providence watches over His work and acts through the ministry of angels. It frustrates all the plans of the unbelieving leaders of Israel. The priests shut up the apostles in prison. An angel of the Lord opens the prison doors, and sends the apostles to pursue their usual work in the temple.
The jail was not only locked. Guards stood at the doors. That is what makes the morning discovery so hard to explain.
Darkness now settled on the city. But the eye of the Lord was on that public prison, and on His servants shut up in it. Before morning came an angel had opened the doors and had brought them out... All seemed secure outside the prison. The keepers were there, and the doors were shut. None of the guard had seen them opened, and none of them had the slightest suspicion that they were guarding an empty jail! Angelic power could open those doors, and did, without waking the keepers. When God pleases He can cause a deep sleep to fall on men. It may well have been so here.
No one picked a lock. No one bribed a guard. The release pointed in one direction only, and so did the errand that came with it.
Here there could be no mistake about the matter. This was no question of men escaping by strength and skill or by any earthly means. It was an angel opening the doors of the prison by night, leading them out, and commanding them to speak in the temple to the people all the words of this Life. The source of the deliverance was as plain as the commission to speak.
The angel did not tell them to scatter or lie low. The release and the order came together. The effect on the men was not caution but courage.
The Lord sends His angel, who opens the prison doors and brings them out, saying, "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life." The effect of that is increasing boldness, for now it was all very simple. Before this, the apostles had acted on their confidence in the Lord's will. Now they had the positive word of the Lord. It was not just an instinctive sense of what He wished, but a certain, positive word... The very place was given.
God could have freed them by ordinary means. He chose otherwise:
So, as in a day of wonders, He stepped in by an angel. He did in an extraordinary way what He could have done by more ordinary means, if that had pleased Him... The words of this Life must be spoken at His command so that souls might hear and live.
This same-night rescue is not a formula. Other imprisonments in Acts ended in other ways.
Consider how God delivered imprisoned witnesses. Once the doors opened the same night (Acts 5:19). Another time they did not open until the night before the promised execution (Acts 12). And in one case He used no angels at all, but an earthquake (Acts 16). Truly, "The wind blows where it wishes" (John 3:8).
So the timing and the means change from case to case. God's hand is behind each one.
Kelly holds that this care continues, even though the striking displays do not:
Angelic care has in no way disappeared for His servants, though there is no such display of power as of old... It is our fleshly activity and our lack of spirituality that hinder... If the Lord opened our eyes, we would see something. Enemies may surround us and seem countless and overwhelming. Yet those who are with us are more than those who are with them — if we are truly with and for Christ.
- Prison — Locked doors, posted guards, and an empty cell by morning. No human explanation fits.
- Power — This was not the Spirit working inside the believers. It was God's providence working outside them, through an angel, to overturn the rulers' plans.
- Word — The rescue came with orders attached. The apostles no longer had to guess the Lord's will; they had His plain command.
- Place — They were not sent into hiding. They were sent back to the temple, to speak to the very people the council wanted silenced.
- Pattern — Same night, last night, or by earthquake. God varies the rescue, but the witness goes on.