Obey God Rather Than Men

Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
July 2025

Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

²¹ At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. ²² But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 

²³ “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” ²⁴ On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.

²⁵ Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” ²⁶ At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.

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. (Acts 5:17-42 NIV)

Today, we come to an amazing passage.  It is a long passage.  It is twenty-five verses long.  It deals with three things: organized persecution, supernatural protection and bold preaching.

This is a passage that deals with PERSECUTION.  God’s people are persecuted.  They are arrested.  They are thrown in prison.  They are beaten.  They are threatened.

It is a passage that deals with PROTECTION.  There is deliverance in this passage.  It is a miraculous deliverance.  An angel shows up and delivers the apostles from prison.  He gives them all a get out of jail free card.[1]

It is also a passage that deals with PREACHING.  It begins and ends with the apostles preaching Jesus publicly without fear.  It is bold preaching.  After being told not to preach Jesus, they didn’t stop preaching Jesus.

Six Dramatic Scenes

There is a long passage.  Let’s summarize what is going on here.  We can think of this as a play.  There are six scenes in this play.

SCENE 1 – The apostles preach the gospel and are arrested and jailed.

Why were they arrested?  Luke tells us the reason.  Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were FILLED WITH JEALOUSY. ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail (Acts 5:17-18 NIV).

Jealousy was involved.  They were losing some of their power and control. The Christians were getting more popular.  All of these miracles were taking place.  Crowds were flocking to the apostles.  They couldn’t compete with them, so they arrested them.

They do not arrest one or two of them but ALL of them, all of the Twelve, including the new guy (Matthias).

Why did they do this?  If you arrest all of the leaders, you don’t have much of a movement left.

That is why in the latest attacks on Iran, Israel took out their top generals and nuclear scientists.  They went after many of the leaders.

SCENE 2 – The apostles get out of jail.

They do not break out and try to escape.  An angel shows up at night, opens the doors and lets them out.

He also gave them a message.  Keep preaching Jesus.  “Go, stand in the temple courts, and tell the people all about this new life.” (Acts 5:20 NIV)

SCENE 3 – The authorities find, arrest and interrogate them.

They brought the apostles back and the Sanhedrin confronted them.  “Didn’t you get the memo?  Didn’t we make ourselves clear?  We specifically told you not to preach Jesus.  You disobeyed a direct order.  You preached Jesus.”

They brought the apostles back and the Sanhedrin confronted them.

“Didn’t you get the memo?  Didn’t we make ourselves clear?  We specifically told you not to preach Jesus.  You disobeyed a direct order.  You preached Jesus.”

You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” (Acts 5:28 NIV). You not only disobeyed us; you accused us of murder.

This is where Peter gives his famous reply, “We must obey God rather than man.”

Peter also slipped in the gospel message to the Sanhedrin.  He preached against sin.  He said, you killed your Messiah, but He not only rose from the dead; He sat at God’s right hand.

Israel needs to repent and gets its sins forgiven.  The good news is that Jesus is not only a Prince; He is a Savior.

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 (Acts 5:30-31 NIV). 

That message by Peter did not go over very well.  They were ready to kill them after this.  When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death (Acts 5:33 NIV). 

SCENE 4 – The Sanhedrin have a private discussion to determine what to do with these men.

The apostles were taken out of the room and a private discussion takes place among members of the Sanhedrin. Different opinions were expressed.

Most of these seventy old men in robes were so angry that they wanted to kill the apostles on the spot.  One spoke up and told them to leave them alone.  They went with that advice.

SCENE 5 – The apostles are beaten and released.

Beating was a compromise between doing absolutely nothing and killing them, but they are released with strict orders of the court.  “Don’t speak in the name of Jesus.”

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 stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. (Acts 5:40-41 NIV)

SCENE 6 – The apostles rejoiced and preached Jesus everywhere they went.

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. (Acts 5:42 NIV)

A Divine Comedy

In many ways, this section reads something like a divine comedy.  It is full of irony.  You expect one thing, and the opposite happens.

The things that you think are negative turn out to be positive.  The same is true in our own lives.  God works all things out for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).

1) You expect the Sanhedrin to be in charge, but they are not.

The Sanhedrin was the most influential group in the country.  They had all of the power.  They are the top judges, like our Supreme Court but they are not in charge.  They can’t control anything.

They put people in jail, but they can’t keep them there.  They get out, even though they are guarded. They can’t control what the apostles say.  They can’t control their speech.  They give them an order, and they break it.

2) You expect the apostles to be law-abiding citizens, but they are not.

You expect them to obey the laws.  They taught submission to authorities.  The apostles teach that we are to submit to the authorities that God has placed over us.  They were given direct orders from the Jewish Supreme Court of the day, and they disobeyed them and did it openly without apology.  They did not even try to hide it.

3) You expect the apostles to be in trouble when they are arrested, but they are not.

You expect the apostles to be in trouble.  There is legal action taken against them.  There is police action.  They were arrested and put in prison.  They are locked up.  It doesn’t look good for them but what happens?

Not only are they delivered from prison; they are delivered by an angel.   That is kind of funny.  The Sadducees didn’t believe in the supernatural.  They didn’t believe in angels, so God uses an angel to deliver them.  What happened the next day was funny.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. ²² But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported,²³ “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside (Acts 5:21-23 NIV)

The Sanhedrin send for the apostles and expected to find them in chains.  The guards went to check on them and find everything in order.  The cell was locked and secure and guarded.  Everything on the outside looked right but the cell was empty, and they had no idea where they went.  They couldn’t find them anywhere.

4) You expect prisoners to be hiding after they escape, but they are out in the open.

This has never happened before.  Plenty of people have broken out of prison but they always run and hide.  They get as far away as possible.  The police have to go looking for them.

The apostles were delivered by an angel late at night.  By the next morning, they were preaching Jesus out in the open.  Once they were released, they went back to do the same thing that got them arrested in the first place.

5) You expect the Pharisees to be the bad guys in the story, but they are the good guys.

Jesus on the Pharisees You might think that the Pharisees were all bad, especially if you have read Matthew 23.  Jesus said some harsh things about the Pharisees. A. He called them “a brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33), not just snakes but poisonous snakes. B. He called them “hypocrites,” not once but seven times in Matthew 23 (Matthew 23:13, 14 [MT], 15, 23, 25, 27, 29). C. He called them “blind guides” (Matthew 23:16), not just guides but blind guides. They were the blind leading the blind. D. He called them “blind fools.” Jesus called the Pharisees “blind guides” in Matthew 23:16 and “blind fools” in the next verse (Matthew 23:17). It is bad enough to be a fool, but these Pharisees were blind fools.  Jesus had a sense of humor. E. He called them, not “children of God,” but “children of the devil” (John 8:44). We think of murderers and rapists as children of the devil, but these men were moral and religious and respectable, and they were also children of the devil. F. He called them “children of Hell” (Matthew 23:15). Jesus believed in Hell.  Apparently, even religious people go there.

In Acts 5, it was the Sadducees who wanted to kill the apostles.  It was a Pharisee who saved the lives of the apostles.  The Pharisee turned out to be one of the good guys, and as far as we can tell, he was not even a Christian.

His name was Gamaliel.  He is mentioned twice in the NT.  Both times in the Book of Acts.  Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel, who was one of the greatest Jewish rabbis who ever lived.  He established his own rabbinic school (the School of Hillel).

He also happened to be one of Paul’s teachers.  He was one of Paul’s seminary professors.[2] We find that out in Acts 22.

Gamaliel went against the majority who advocated violence and extremism.  Gamaliel spoke the voice of reason and moderation.  He said to leave them alone.

He said, “If it is of God, you can’t sop it it.  If you try to stop it, you will only be fighting against God.  If it is not of God, it will not last. It will die out.” This has been called, “The Gamaliel Principle.” He based it on recent history.

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.” (Acts 5:38-39 NIV).

Because of Gamaliel’s enormous reputation, these seventy angry men listened to him. We are told that “His speech persuaded them” (Acts 5:40 NIV).  He was one of Israel’s top teachers at the time.

6) You expect the apostles to be sad after they are beaten but they are happy

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 (Acts 5:40-41 NIV)

The apostles were severely beaten before they were released.  They were mistreated.  They were unjustly beaten.  They did nothing wrong.  Their backs were in pain. They were bleeding.  Instead of being sad, they were happy.  Their happiness had nothing to do with external circumstances.  They rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus’ name.

Applications for Today

1) Be Ready for Persecution

This is a passage of persecution. The apostles were arrested once but twice in this chapter.  This would have been Peter’s third time.  What are they arrested for?  Not for doing anything bad but for doing something good.  They are arrested for talking about Jesus.

Jesus never said that His followers would have an easy life.  He said they would be persecuted.

“Remember the word that I said to you: servants are not greater than their masters. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too (John 15:20 NIV)

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. (John 15:18 NIV)

That is not a popular message today, but Jesus said that the world is going to treat us just like it treated Him.

We don’t face it as much in our country, but other countries experience high levels of persecution.

2) Believe God can do Miracles

Miracles in Acts Acts is a book of miracles.  There are miracles all through the book.  Let’s review some of them so far. What miracles did we see in Acts 1?  There are two miracles in the first chapter.  The first miracle is the Ascension.  Jesus ascended into heaven in a cloud.  That is something you do not see everyday – people going straight up to heaven in clouds. Then, some supernatural beings showed up.  Angels described as two men dressed in white appear.  That doesn’t happen every day.  When was the last time you had a conversation with two angels? These angels rebuked the disciples.  It is hard to be rebuked by someone.  Even worse to be rebuked by an angel.  They said, “Why are you staring in the sky?  Jesus is leaving but He is coming back and the one coming back will be this same Jesus.” What miracles did we see in Acts 2?  There were two miracles in this chapter.  There was a miracle inside the Upper Room and a miracle outside the Upper Room.  Inside the Upper Room, a prayer meeting took place.  One hundred and twenty people gathered to pray. As they prayed, God showed up and filled the whole house.  The room started to shake.  God filled the whole house.  They heard a loud sound (rushing mighty wind) and saw a ball of fire and the fire separated and landed on the heads of these people. Outside, the Upper Room, another miracle took place, a linguistic miracle.  As the people in the Upper Room came outside, they saw a crowd and these uneducated Galileans started praising God in foreign languages that they had never learned before.  In fact, they spoke them fluently, down to the local dialect. What miracle did we see in Acts 3.  Peter and John healed a paralyzed beggar.  He never walked before.  He was forty.  Everyone knew him.  He was a fixture in the community.  Peter did not ask him if he wanted to be healed.  He just commanded him in the name of Jesus to rise up and walk and he did. There was no miracle in Acts 4 but there were some miracles in Acts 5.  There were miracles of judgment, miracles of healing and miracles of deliverance. We saw the miracle of judgment.  Two members of the church died.  They did not die of natural causes.  This was divine judgment for lying.   Once the lie was told, they both instantly dropped dead.  There was a double funeral. We saw the miracles of healing.  People came from all over to be healed. The apostles perform incredible signs and wonders. Finally, we see a miracle of deliverance.  All twelve apostles are locked up in jail and an angel shows up.  One angel lets them all out.  He delivers them. There are three times in Acts in which God’s people are imprisoned and then supernaturally set free (Acts 5; Acts 12; Acts 16).  Two of those three involved deliverance by an angel (Acts 5, 12). Now, having said that, God’s people are not always delivered by an angel.  Sometimes they are killed.  We will see that in Acts 7.  Stephen was stoned to death by an angry mob.  John the Baptist had his head chopped off.

3) Obey God First

Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29 ESV)

This was an incredibly bold statement.  It is in the context of persecution.  Peter was talking to people who had the power to kill them and wanted to kill them, and they said, “We have to obey God, not you”[3]

He was talking to the very people that killed Jesus, arrested the apostles and had the power to punish them and yet to them Peter says, ““We must obey God rather than men.”

Some have misused this verse.  Peter was not a radical.  He was not against government.  He was not against authority.  He had nothing against the court system.

Many today protest.  They do marches.  They do sit-ins.  They disobey the government because you do not like it or agree with its policies.  That is not what Peter did.

Peter believed in government.  He believed in authority.  He told us to submit to authority.  He said it in very strong language.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. (I Peter 2:13-14 NIV)

On the other hand, this is all about priorities.  In any basic math class, you learn something called Order of Operations.  There are certain operations you do before you do other operations and you were taught PEMDAS to help remember.

This is God’s Order of Operations.[4]  Do what God tells you to do over what man tells you to do.  Jesus told the apostles to do something.  It was called The Great Commission.

An angel told them to do something similar.   The angel said, “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”  The Sanhedrin said not to preach Jesus.  They obeyed God and so should we.  They listened to God.

It is interesting here how God overruled man.  Divine courts overruled human courts.  It reversed the decision of human courts.

The Sanhedrin condemned Jesus to death, but God raised him.

The Sanhedrin arrested all of the apostles, but God let them all out.

The Sanhedrin ordered them not to preach Jesus, but God reversed it and told them to preach Jesus.

An angel told them to “Go, stand in the temple courts, and tell the people all about this new life.” (Acts 5:20 NIV).

[1] Robert C. Girard & Larry Richards, The Book of Acts (The Smart Guide to the Bible), p. 64.

[2] Donald Grey Barnhouse, Acts: An Expositional Commentary, 56.

[3] https://gospelinlife.com/sermon/the-hero-of-heroes-2/.

[4] https://www.fighterverses.com/post/the-order-of-operations-acts-5-29