Acts 5:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They were unworthy to see the Resurrection, but He shows it by His works. Likewise, when the water was changed into wine, those reclining at table did not see it because they were overcome by wine. He leaves judgment about it to others.

So it is here also. They do not see how the apostles were led out. But they did see the proofs by which they could be assured of what had happened.

Why did the angel lead them out at night? Because in that case they could be believed more than otherwise. In another case they would not even have questioned them about it, and they themselves would not have believed.

So it was also in ancient times, for example with Nebuchadnezzar. He saw the youths in the furnace praising God, and then he was amazed (Dan 3:91).

Therefore the Sadducees ought first to have asked the apostles, "How did you come out?" But as though nothing had happened, they address the apostles with this question: "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name?" (Acts 5:28).

"Having brought them out": the angel does not lead them away himself, but releases them. From this their fearlessness is also revealed, for they themselves went into the temple at night and taught.

If the guards had released them, as the rulers supposed, then, if they had agreed to go out, they would have fled. If the guards had driven them out, they would not have appeared in the temple, but would have withdrawn.

This is clear to every sound-minded person.

The apostles fulfilled what God commanded them through the angel. In general, in matters of true convictions, useful to public welfare and to each conscience, violent and harsh measures against preachers of righteousness do not achieve their purpose. They do not help malice.

Truth, silenced and crushed for a time, will sooner or later triumph. Conviction can be met with equal force only by conviction itself, by rebuke and reasoned arguments. These must be founded on respect for one who thinks differently, and on love for the neighbor's benefit.

They must even be founded on love for the benefit of all mankind. Falsehood has no firmness. But the Jewish high priest and the Sadducees did not understand the matter in this way.

When they learned that the apostles had miraculously come out of the locked prison and were again preaching in the temple within the hearing of all the people, they were torn with rage. They plotted to put them to death (Acts 5:33).

Fortunately, among the members of the enraged Sanhedrin there was one good, honest, and wise man. Moreover, he was one of the Pharisees, who believed in God's providence, and not one of the Sadducees.

His name was Gamaliel, and he was held in great honor by all the people. He persuaded the other members not to harm the apostles and not to plan their slaughter.

"Keep away from these men and let them alone," Gamaliel said. "For if this undertaking," that is, the apostles' preaching, "and this work," that is, all their activity, "is from men, it will be overthrown.

But if it is from God, you cannot overthrow it. Take care lest you even be found fighters against God" (Acts 5:38-39). They listened to him and, after admonishing the apostles, released them.

If there were more people in the world with Gamaliel's convictions, just described, then the history of Christianity would have recorded fewer accounts of tortures, fires, torments, swords, and gallows for the name of Christ.

But Gamaliels are rare in history. Before the Christian faith became dominant in the world, it had many martyrs and confessors during the first three centuries.

The streets and squares of Rome, Alexandria, Bithynia, Lyons, and Antioch were soaked with Christian blood. Yet, by the wise ordering of providence, the blood of the martyrs was the seed of new Christians.

In the life, zeal, and sufferings of the holy apostles and the first Christians, there is an example for us also. We too must confess our faith fearlessly and patiently endure life's sorrows.

We must believe that God sees both our life and our sufferings. In His own time He will send consolation to us as well, just as He did not leave the apostles in prison without His help.

Stand there before the people and explain it to them." Here the angel called the teaching of faith in Christ "words of life," just as Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68).

The teaching of faith is called words of life because the believer who keeps everything taught by those words becomes an heir of eternal life and the Kingdom.

But the apostles, without hesitation, said that one must obey God rather than men. They preached the resurrection of Jesus and the witness of the Holy Spirit. The Sadducees could no longer endure this and wished to put the apostles to death.

Yet the voice of the learned Pharisee Gamaliel, honored by all the people, served the work of God. They were only punished and released.

It is true that the Sanhedrin did not treat the apostles more harshly because it listened to Gamaliel's counsel (vv. 34-40). Yet one may think that Gamaliel dared to speak so sympathetically for the accused only because of the angel's wondrous deliverance of the apostles from prison.

For the same reason, the Sanhedrin did not rise against Gamaliel or reproach him as it once reproached Nicodemus (Jn 7:50 and following). This miracle must have powerfully affected the judges.

It showed them that they were plainly dealing with men guarded by God. Consequently, they were fighting against a holy work.

Perhaps this was so the apostles could more freely go out while the guards were sleeping. It was also so that the miracle of their deliverance would be more evident.

At night prisons are usually locked with greater care than during the day. Their release from prison by day might have gone unnoticed. But their release by night had to draw everyone's attention in the morning.

In the eyes of the ruling pagans, the Sadducees, by their unbelief, appeared equal to them in outlook. But in popular opinion they were considered apostates from the faith, and still more from a pious life.

Thus it is natural to suppose that the people honored the Christians for their piety and revered them for their miracles. By contrast, the Sadducees hated the Christians as representatives of a contrary direction of life and thought.

"Please observe how the life of the apostles is woven together," writes blessed Theophylact. "First there is sorrow because of Christ's Ascension, then joy because of the descent of the Holy Spirit.

Again there is sorrow from those who mocked them, and again joy from the multiplication of believers and from the sign of the miracle. Then there is sorrow again through the imprisonment of Peter and John, and again joy through their acquittal.

Finally, now there is joy from the radiance of the angel's appearance and from the sign, but sorrow from the high priest and from those who seized them. Yes, their life, one may say, is like the life of all who live according to God.

The angel led them out both for their joy and for the benefit of the Jews."

Or who dares to say that now is no longer the time to see the angels of God ascending and descending by the will of the Son of Man? "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who are to inherit salvation?" Who even now can assert that they are already without work, and that we are without help? But the more surely we are assured of the holy angels' nearness to us and of their readiness to help us, the more carefully we must consider why, in our days, so little is heard of this help. Still less is what is heard about it believed. Either there are no angels with us, or we do not notice them, or we drive them away from ourselves. That they do not exist is false, as we have seen. Therefore it is true that we either do not notice them, or even drive them away. In their visible appearances, the holy angels were often taken by men for men like themselves. So it can easily happen that a man takes their invisible actions for his own human actions, or for ordinary natural actions. Does it not happen, for example, that amid perplexity or a certain inactivity of the mind, a pure, holy, and saving thought suddenly shines forth like lightning? Or that in a storm-tossed or cold heart, stillness is instantly established, or a heavenly flame of love for God is kindled? If every phenomenon, according to its kind, bears witness to the presence of an active power, do these inward phenomena of our soul not bear witness to the presence of the heavenly Powers? In their love for mankind, they cast rays into our mind and sparks into our heart. Are these not the actions of angels, who, according to the saying of the prophet Zechariah, speak within us? How worthy of lamentation it is if we do not notice this angelic help. For by not noticing it, we do not receive it as we should, and we do not profit from it. By not profiting from it, we remain ungrateful and guilty, and we do not prepare ourselves for other similar visitations. In this way we even drive our guardians away from ourselves. We human beings withdraw from people whose dispositions are opposed to ours. A teacher renounces a pupil who does not heed instruction, or a tutor a ward who rejects guidance. Even a father puts away from himself a disobedient son. How, then, will the holy angels not at last withdraw from us, when we do not follow their saving inspirations and leave their ministry fruitless for us? How will the heavenly Powers not withdraw from us, when we give ourselves only to earthly things? How will pure spirits not withdraw, when we live in the impurities of the flesh? How will the angels of God not withdraw, when we continually have in our thoughts and desires not God and His Christ, but the world and ourselves?