Notes on Acts 1-5 "Ye Shall Be Witnesses unto Me", CFM lesson for July 1 - 7

Theme in this week's Reading

• Bold testimonies in the face of opposition.  
• Blame laid at the feet of the people and especially the chief priests and elders for the death of Jesus Christ.  
• Great miracles of tongues, healing, and deliverance.
• The members unite, "with one accord."
• The growth of the Church from a little over a hundred to thousands. The student manual points out that, "The word church is mentioned only three times in the Gospels (see Matthew 16:18; 18:17). However, it appears over 100 times in Acts through Revelation. It seems likely that during the 40 days prior to the Lord’s Ascension into heaven, His teachings to the Apostles about “the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” included instruction about how the Church was to be organized and how it should function (Acts 1:3)."

Introduction, Forty Days, and Ascension of Jesus, Acts 1:1-11

• Luke wrote the Book of Acts as the sequel to his Gospel.  Both are addressed to Theophilus, which means "lover of God."  Some say that he represents any believer, others that he was a patron who paid for Luke to write the books.  Luke was by tradition a missionary companion to Paul, which explains why the book of Acts focuses so much on Paul and why after chapter 16, he begins uses the plural "we."  Lynn Wilson says, "In the second century, a manuscript of the Gospel of Luke included an extra prologue which read: "Luke was a Syrian of Antioch, by profession a physician, the disciple of the apostles, and later a follower of Paul until his martyrdom. He served the Lord without distraction, without a wife, and without children. He died at the age of 84 in Boeotia, full of the Holy Spirit. Though gospels were already in existence, that according to Matthew, composed in Judea, and that according to Mark in Italy, he was prompted by the Holy Spirit and composed this gospel entirely in the regions about Achaia. He made very clear in the prologue that other [Gospels] had been written before him, but that it was necessary to set forth for Gentile converts the accurate account of the (new) dispensation that they might not be distracted by Jewish fables or deceived by heretical and foolish fantasies, and so miss the truth itself. From the very beginning [of his Gospel] we have received as of no little importance [the story of] the birth of John, who is the beginning of the Gospel. He was the Lord’s precursor, the one who shared in the articulation of the good news, in the ministering of baptism, and in the company of the Spirit. Of this dispensation a prophet among the Twelve makes mention. Later the same Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles." "
• Hugh Nibley wrote a very fascinating summary of the writings that have emerged that cover the forty days.  There's also a very extensive BYU collection online that I've been perusing, with a couple of essays introducing the various texts as well as the texts themselves.  I've read through several of the writings, listened to this two part presentation by Hugh Nibley, and wish I had more time to understand this fascinating collection of writings.  It's a bit of a rabbit hole.  Some of the works are truly odd and difficult to understand and others seem to be written the way a legend would have.  My favorite read so far has been the Acts of Thomas, which is quite engaging as a story, with Thomas refusing at first to go to India but having his hand forced when Christ, in disguise, sells him as a slave to a man seeking a carpenter for the king there.  There's a lion attack on a man who strikes Thomas, a wedding feast, imprisonment, and the king's brother who rises from the dead just in time to save Thomas a horrible death.  And that's just in the first part!  It's interesting to read and think about what rings true and what seems more like legend.
• In the 40 day literature, there are a lot of familiar elements and references to Latter-day Saint ordinances. Kent Brown and Wilfred Griggs write, "References to ritual abound in this large body of material. In addition to baptisms and sacred meals, there are also numerous references to washings, anointings, and special garments. In the Acts of Thomas, those who are baptized also request the “seal” from the Apostle Thomas, which consists of an anointing with oil. In the famous Hymn of the Pearl from the same work, the plan of redemption is portrayed in amazing detail and clarity. The son of God is sent to the world (symbolized by Egypt) with the charge to bring back the pearl (his soul). Although he falls into a spiritual coma by partaking of the food and raiment of the world, his heavenly parents, after holding a great council to plan his redemption, send the message of salvation and its attendant power to their son. The son awakens, exercises his new power over the serpent who rules the world, rescues his pearl, and accomplishes the long, hard journey back to his parents’ home. There, according to the promises given before he made the journey, the son receives a heavenly garment and a beautiful robe that admit him into the company of the great ones of heaven.
  
  Marriage as a requirement for those who would achieve the highest of the three heavens is a teaching found in the Gospel of Philip, and the sanctity of marriage is alluded to in other documents. On some occasions the resurrected Jesus is portrayed as giving sacred teachings to the apostles and their wives, as in Second Jeu. From the variations of the rituals perceived in apocryphal literature, it appears evident that the different sects probably changed the ordinances, perhaps because they no longer understood their significance.
  
  Finally, one of the recurring messages in this body of literature is the gloomy future that is in store for the true believers. In the Epistle of Peter to Philip, when the disciples are walking back to Jerusalem after being instructed by the risen Lord on the Mount of Olives, Peter explains to the others that they will suffer greatly. The voice of the Lord is then heard from heaven and confirms what Peter has said, adding that persecution is necessary for one to become like the Savior. In the Apocryphon of James, Jesus explains to James that by suffering persecution and doing the will of the Father one can be made equal to Christ. James later asks how the apostles are to respond to those asking for prophecy, and Jesus replies that prophecy had been taken from the earth.
  
  Later in the same work Peter expresses concern that the Savior was not very encouraging, to which the Lord responds that the disciples should not be concerned with anything but the promise of eternal life.
• There's also a lot of prophecy of the Apostasy that would come to the early Church.  Hugh Nibley says, "In a standard 40-day situation the apostles, deeply worried, ask the Lord what lies ahead for them and their work,35 and receive an appalling reply: They are to be rejected by all men and take their violent exit from the world,36 what time corrupters and false shepherds will appear within the church, where a growing faction of the worldly-minded will soon overcome and annihilate what remains of the faithful saints.37 The sheep turn into wolves as the Wintertime of the just settles down;38 the lights go out and the long age of darkness begins under the rule of the Cosmoplanes, disastrously usurping the authority of Christ.39 There is indeed a promise of comfort and joy, but it is all on the other side and in the distant return of the Lord.40 The apostles protest, as we do today: Is this a time for speaking of death and disaster?41 Can all that has transpired be but for the salvation of a few and the condemnation of many? But Jesus remains unyielding: that is not for us to decide or to question.42 The grim picture is confirmed by the Apostolic Fathers, who are convinced that they are beholding the fulfillment of these very prophecies, and are driven by a tragic sense of urgency and finality.43 After them the early patristic writers accept the pattern with heavy reluctance,44 and only the surprising and unexpected victory of the church in the fourth century enable Eusebius's generation to turn the tables and discredit the whole pessimistic tradition.45
  
  Nobody would willingly invent such a depressing message or accept it without the highest credentials. The picture, though full of familiar elements from the earlier Jewish apocalypses, is not derived from them. The actors are not prophets and kings of other ages but the very men sitting before the Master; the predictions are not for distant ages but limited to a scope of two generations;46 and what is described is not the fate of the world or even of Israel, nor titanic upheavals of nature, but the undoing of the Christian society by perverters and corrupters in its midst.47 The more grandiose imagery is not missing, but it is kept distinct from the story of the church, which is concrete, specific, and utterly gloomy.48
  
  All the 40-day teaching is described as very secret, delivered to a closed cult group.49 There is no desire to intrigue and mystify, however, as with the Gnostics, but rather the clearly stated policy that knowledge should be given always but only to those who ask for it,50 with the corollary that the higher and holier a teaching the more carefully it should be guarded.51 As "the last and highest revelation," the teaching of the 40 days was top secret, and has not come down to us.52 Since Irenaeus, churchmen have strenuously denied that there ever was a secret teaching or that anything really important has ever been lost.53"
• After Christ promised the baptism of the Holy Ghost, they ask him in verse 6 if He will restore the kingdom of Israel at this time.  They still desire a political liberation, with the descendant of David on the throne.  Christ tells them they won't know the times and seasons, but that they will be witnesses of Him "unto the uttermost part of the earth."  One podcast I listened to pointed out that the Roman world was a remarkable one of peace at this time, allowing missionary work to go forward.  It was also said that it probably contained about a third of the world's population at the time.
• After this commission, Christ ascends to heaven in a cloud and two angels testify that He will come again the same way He left.  Wayment points out that the parallels indicate that the angels "are probably the same two messengers from Luke 24:4 and Luke 9:30-31.  Luke 9 identifies the two on the Mount of Transfiguration as Moses and Elias."  
• They then go down from the mount Olivet, which reminds us that this was a sacred, mountaintop experience.  

Matthias Chosen as New Apostle, Acts 1:12-26

• Acts 1:14 introduces the wording "with one accord" in describing the prayers and supplication the Apostles "with the women" were engaged in.  Luke wants it known that the women were full partners in these united prayers.  We see this same phrasing used four more times in the next few chapters -- Acts 2:1, Acts 2:46, and Acts 4:24, and Acts 5:12.  The unity of these early Church members is beautiful.  How can we overcome jealousy and pride and work more united with those we serve with?
• We learn in verse 14 that Christ's half-brothers have joined with the Church.  Remember that earlier in the gospels we learned that Christ's own brothers didn't believe him (John 7:5).  The student manual points out the other scriptures that mention them:  "The “brethren” of Jesus Christ mentioned in Acts 1:14 were the sons of Mary and Joseph, Jesus Christ’s half-brothers (see Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Though Jesus’s brothers had not always believed in His divinity (see John 7:5), they were now counted among the believers. Jesus’s brother James would later become a leader of the Church in Jerusalem (see Acts 12:17; 15:13) and an Apostle (see Galatians 1:19). His brother “Juda” (Mark 6:3) is likely the author of the Epistle of Jude."  I wonder what personal experiences these brothers had that helped them to believe and become strong disciples.  
• The Twelve were the governing organization of the Church and with the loss of Judas, another would need to be called.  They wanted to choose one who had been with them beginning with the baptism of John and through the resurrection.  I love the sincerity of their prayer, "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,"
• This way of casting lots is different from what we do today, but was common in the ancient world.  "Anciently, casting lots was a means of making a decision (see Acts 1:26). Among the Jews it was generally believed that the hand of God would direct the outcome (see Proverbs 16:33). Though the exact method of casting lots in this instance is not known, one ancient method involved each voter writing a name on a broken piece of pottery and then putting it forth to be read or counted." (student manual)  I love that God can speak to us in ways that we recognize His voice.  In cultures where people expect to receive revelation through dreams, for example, He speaks more often through dreams.  D & C 90:11 tells us that one day "that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language,"  If one is accustomed to thinking of God speaking through the casting of lots, then God can speak in that language.  He condescends to meet us where we are at and in ways we can understand.
• Dan Peterson and William Hamblin have a great article on the way casting lots was a part of ancient culture.
• Another possibility is that the lots were a voting system.  My husband pointed out the "and they gave forth their lots" seems more like they each wrote who they thought God wanted.
  

The Day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1-13

• The believers were gathered together "with one accord" in one place on the day of Pentecost.
• From Lynn Wilson, "The first Pentecost celebrated Moses’ return to Mt. Sinai with the children of Israel after they left Egypt. The word comes from “fifty” as the fiftieth day after Passover. The feast is also known by two other names: • “the Feast of Weeks,” for a week of weeks, 7 X 7= 49, with the the next day being Pentecost, and • “First Fruits of Labor” as the first barley harvest came in late May or early June (Leviticus 23:16–21 and Deuteronomy 16:10). Since the time of the Second Temple, the feast of Pentecost was one of the three main week-long feasts each year that brought Jewish pilgrims (mainly men) to the Temple from around the Roman Empire."
• The promised day of the baptism of fire has come.  The Holy Ghost descended like "cloven tongues of fire," and the gift of tongues was poured out on the believers.  The crowd gathered to see what was going on and heard the Galilean men speak in their own languages.  Verse 11 tells us their reaction, "we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God."  This verse tells me that WHAT was said was as important as HOW it was conveyed to everyone.  There is power in their testimony and witness as they share what they know of Christ.
• Below is a map from the student manual that shows the places the people were from.  This is also where the gospel would begin to spread.  What a beautiful way to start the ministry of missionary work, with a group of people who witness a miracle and become converted, then can go home and share it with their friends and family.  

Peter's First Address, Acts 2:14-36

• Christ had promised that He would go away but that He would send the Comforter who would teach them all things and "guide you into all truth." (John 16:13).  With that power, Peter speaks boldly now and in the future, proclaiming the gospel, causing miracles to occur, and standing up for Christ.  I love watching the powerful Peter rise up to the full measure of what and who he is!

• The student manual explains the Psalm quoted by Paul, "Acts 2:27 records King David’s plea that God would not leave his soul in hell. The word hell in this verse comes from the word hadēs (the Greek translation of the Hebrew word sheol,which is translated as “hell” in Psalm 16:10). As used in Acts 2:27, this term means “an abode of departed spirits” (Bible Dictionary, “Hell”). Elsewhere in the scriptures, the word hellis used “in at least two senses. First, it is the temporary abode in the spirit world for those who were disobedient in mortality. In this sense, hell has an end. The spirits there will be taught the gospel, and sometime following their repentance they will be resurrected to a degree of glory of which they are worthy. …“Second, it is the permanent location of those who are not redeemed by the atonement of Jesus Christ. In this sense, hell is permanent. It is for those who are found ‘filthy still’ (D&C 88:35, 102). This is the place where Satan, his angels, and the sons of perdition—those who have denied the Son after the Father has revealed him—will dwell eternally (D&C 76:43–46)” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Hell”; scriptures.lds.org).
  Concerning King David’s eternal inheritance, Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught that David “received the promise that his soul would not be left in hell, that is, he would not be a son of perdition, he would not be cast out eternally with the devil and his angels. Rather, when death and hell deliver up the dead which are in them, he shall come forth from the grave and receive that inheritance which he merits. See Rev. 20:11–15” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 2:39).

The First Converts, Acts 2:37-47

• Peter doesn't shy away from letting the people know what they have done in crucifying Christ.  Now and in the chapters to come, he continually reminds him that the Jesus he is speaking of is the very one that "ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:" (Acts 2:23).  When the people begin to realize what they have done, "they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"  
• Peter taught that the people needed to repent, be baptized in the name of Christ for the remission of sins, and receive the Holy Ghost.  This is the way they can separate and save themselves from this "untoward generation."  This is the same call our missionaries bring to people today.  There is a better, happier, holier way to live!
• Three thousand souls were baptized and joined the Church on this occasion.  From one hundred and twenty to three thousand in one day!  I wish my words were that powerful.  :)
• I love that it says that these converts "continued steadfastly"  They weren't temporary or quick to abandon their new faith.  We, too, need to continue steadfastly, studying and growing in knowledge and charity.

Peter and John Heal a Lame Man at the Temple, Acts 3:1-10

• Peter and John go up to the temple at the hour of prayer.  I wondered what hour that was and was happy to see Lynn Wilson had a great explanation, "The hour of prayer was 3:00 pm each day.30 This was the same hour as the evening sacrifice and second lighting of the incense.31 The time of incense or hour of prayer developed from Exodus 30:7–8 when God instructed Aaron to burn incense “every morning . . . and at even . . . a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.”32 The incense symbolized Israel’s continual prayers. This time became the most reverent hour at the temple each day. The hour of prayer began once the priest lit the incense. The rising smoke from the sanctuary signaled the priests to line up in front of the Holy Place to recite or sing the priestly prayer from Numbers 6. As the priests gathered in a line, Jewish worshipers in the Court of the Women reverently bowed down and spread their hands on the ground in silent prayer (Numbers 24:26). Edersheim describes the special priestly prayer: Priests . . . lifted their hands above their heads, spreading and joining their fingers in a peculiar mystical manner. . . [A] priest repeated in audible voice, followed by the others, the blessing from Numbers 6:24–26 “Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee; Jehovah make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” To this the people responded, “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.” Luke includes Peter’s worship at the temple to show his readers that the temple was central to the apostles’ worship, prayer, miracles, and teachings."
• On their way, they find a man who asks alms of them. He is man has been lame from birth and is over 40 years old.  I love that Peter takes him by the hand and raises him up.  You can feel the man's joy in his new-found strength as he leaps around.  Then they go together into the temple. This article by Jennifer Lane says that scholars are divided on whether lameness kept one from the temple during this period.  It is possible that this healing allowed the man to finally enter the sacred space that he had been excluded from before.  
• I love this description from President Harold B. Lee of this moment:
  
  “Now in my mind’s eye I can picture this man, what was in his mind. ‘Doesn’t this man know that I have never walked? He commands me to walk.’ But the biblical record doesn’t end there. Peter just didn’t content himself by commanding the man to walk, but he ‘took him by the right hand, and lifted him up.’ (Acts 3:7.)Will you see that picture now of that noble soul, that chiefest of the apostles, perhaps with his arms around the shoulders of this man, and saying, ‘Now, my good man, have courage, I will take a few steps with you. Let’s walk together, and I assure you that you can walk, because you have received a blessing by the power and authority that God has given us as men, his servants.’ Then the man leaped with joy.
  
  “You cannot lift another soul until you are standing on higher ground than he is. You must be sure, if you would rescue the man, that you yourself are setting the example of what you would have him be. You cannot light a fire in another soul unless it is burning in your own soul”

• This video and it captures the moment beautifully:

Peter's Second Address, Acts 3:11-26

• Once again, Peter brings up that awkward detail of the crucifixion and their part in it.  "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;  And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses."  He tells them that the man is healed not by his own power but through his faith and the power of Christ.
• I love the description of the "times of refreshing" when Christ would come again and bring about the "restitution of all things."  The shame and regret we feel when we realize we have done something that we can't undo will one day be swallowed up in the joy that Christ will come and set things right.
• Elder Bruce R. McConkie said of this prophecy, "“This times of refreshing, is to take place at the second coming of the Son of Man, in the day when the Lord sends Christ again to earth.
  
  “If we are to catch the vision of Peter’s prophecy, we must know pointedly and specifically what is meant by the times of refreshing. It is elsewhere spoken of by Jesus as ‘the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory.’ (Matt. 19:28.) It is the day ‘when the earth shall be transfigured, even according to the pattern which was shown unto mine apostles upon the mount, …’ the Lord says. (D&C 63:21.) It is the day when ‘the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.’ (Tenth Article of Faith.) It is the day of the ‘new earth’ that Isaiah saw (Isa. 65:17), the earth which will prevail when wickedness ceases, when the millennial era is ushered in”

Peter and John are Arrested, Acts 4:1-22

• While in the act of sharing this news, Peter and John are arrested.  But many believed in their words.  Wayment notes that when it says there were five thousand men, that would not have included the women and children.  This is a huge group that is following Christ now.  No wonder the priests and Sadducees are concerned.  They thought they'd done away with this pesky Jesus thing.
• Peter and John, again, lay the death of Christ at the feet of the rulers. 
• The Jewish leaders are shocked at the power and boldness of Peter and John because they are "unlearned and ignorant men."  Lynn Wilson says, "This does not mean illiterate, as most Jewish boys learned to read and write starting at age five."
• Do we ever hold back our witness because we worry we lack the proper credentials or lack the power of words?  Or do we trust that the Lord will be with us and give us power to do His will no matter our weakness?  Eighteen and nineteen-year-old men and women missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ go out in their weakness, as prophesied "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;"(1 Corinthians 1:27) 
• Peter and John are let go with the charge not to speak of Jesus again.  But they respond, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
• Elder Richard G. Scott said, "Do what is right even though it seems you will be alone in so doing, that you are going to lose friends, that you will be criticized. What you will find is that by doing what is right, after a period of testing, the finest friends will be discovered and you can mutually support each other in your resolve to be obedient to all of the commandments of the Lord. I have never been sorry on any occasion that I stood for what was right even against severe criticism. You will learn that truth. You will also discover that when you have taken a determined stand for right, when you have established personal standards and made covenants to keep them, when temptations come and you act according to your standards, you will be reinforced and given strength beyond your own capacity, if that is needed” (“Do What Is Right” [address given at Brigham Young University, Mar. 3, 1996], 5; speeches.byu.edu).

Prayer of Jesus's Followers, Acts 4:25-31

• The believers gather and pray their thanks to God "with one accord."  I love that their prayer request is for courage.  Wayment translates verse 29 as "and now, Lord, behold their threats and grand unto your servants to speak your words with great courage."  The KJV uses boldness there.  After their prayer, "they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spake the word of God with courage."  
• What prayers for courage and strength have you found answered?

Having All Things in Common, Acts 2:44-47, 4:32-37

• The new converts lived what we call the law of consecration, where they gave what they had to the Church and it was distributed to those who were in need.  This wasn't a free for all or a disorganized compound-type of living.  There was order (we see later they called seven men to oversee some of it), and "distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."
• Luke uses a pattern throughout his writings of contrasting examples and parallel stories.  He continues that in Acts by giving the contrasting examples of consecration by Barnabas and by Ananias and Sapphira.  We will see a lot of Barnabas later in Acts, so this act of consecration was only the beginning of a life of service.  Later, he will bring a converted Saul/Paul to the Apostles, and go with the Paul on a missionary journey before they parted ways (a bit contentiously) in Acts 15, with Barnabas taking John Mark as a companion and going to Cyprus.

Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:1-11

• This story isn't an easy one.  Ananias and Sapphira, having presumably pledged and covenanted to live the law of consecration, sell a possession and conspire to keep back part of the price.  First Ananias goes to Peter and lies and is struck dead.  Then Sapphira has the same happen to her.  "And great fear came upon the church and upon as many as heard these sayings."
• Peter's words are interesting.  He points out that the sin wasn't in holding back but in lying about it.  He says that they had the right to do whatever they wanted with their land and the money from the land.  Then he says, "thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God."
• This obviously isn't an event that happens often, but it does show us how seriously Heavenly Father expects us to take our covenants.  Are we lying to God in some aspect of living up to what we have promised?  Or are we honest about our weakness and seek to do better?  It's not the holding back, but the lie that is the problem.  We cannot pretend to be fully consecrated while knowing of our fraud.
• It may be that God used Ananias and Sapphira to illustrate the spiritual death that would come upon everyone who lies to God.  They also served as a witness to the Church that God had power to destroy as well as to build and that this isn't a light things they are undertaking.

Early Apostolic Miracles, Acts 5:12-16

• We've seen now the Church grow to over eight thousand members from many locations.  And now the record tells us believers continue to be added.  
• In John 14:12, Jesus promises that "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." Peter is a fulfillment of this prophecy, as the sick are healed simply by having his shadow fall upon them!  "And they were ALL healed."  What a beautiful thing it must have been to feel God with him and to see the miracles be poured out so abundantly.  They were without Christ's physical presence, but He had not left them alone.  

Persecution of the Apostles, Acts 5:17-42

• I love the humor in the story of the apostles in prison!  An angel appears at night, frees them, and tells them to go to the temple and preach.  So they do (an act of courage given the attitude of the authorities.  Meanwhile, the Sanhedrin and the elders are meeting and they send for the apostles to be brought from the jail.  No one can find them until someone shows up and says, "Uh, guys?  I think I found those apostle dudes and you're not going to like where they're at. . ." (I'm sure it says something like that).  So they bring them from the temple, careful not to use violence because they don't want the people to stone them. 
• And here again, Peter brings up that awful accusation that "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree."  Then he tells them that God has exalted Jesus as a Savior.
• Many times in the scriptures we see good, fair-minded men who do what is right even though they are not counted among the believers.  Gamaliel is one of these.  Interestingly, he is also Paul's teacher.  You wonder what he thought of Paul's later zeal against the Christians, given his words here.  The student manual notes, "Gamaliel was the grandson of the famous rabbi Hillel. He was a member of the Sanhedrin and a distinguished scholar of Jewish law. Paul was tutored by this famous master of the law (see Acts 22:3). Gamaliel had a reputation for being tolerant and kind, relaxing the standards of the Sabbath observance so they were not so rigorous and encouraging more humane treatment of women in divorce laws. His wise counsel likely saved the lives of the Apostles, who had been brought again before the Jewish council after being released from prison by an angel.  In his speech before the Jewish leaders, Gamaliel referred to two historical situations that showed how a movement would fail if the Lord was not with it. The first was a Jewish uprising against the Romans that was led by a man called Theudas, who had gained about 400 followers before he was slain and his followers were scattered. The second occurred in about A.D. 6, when Judas of Galilee and a band of followers revolted against Roman taxation; in the ensuing violence, Judas died and his followers were dispersed."
• Gamaliel advises that if the men are just people, their plans and movement will fail, but if they are from God, there is no way to overthrow them and it wouldn't be good to fight against God.  
• The leaders agree to show restraint, but that still doesn't stop them from beating the apostles before they let them go.  They show restraint when there are crowds, but not now.
• These apostles, who scattered on the night they took the Savior, show their mettle.  There will be no more denying or shrinking.  Instead, they will rejoice "that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

Video Playlist for the Week

Note:  I'm indebted to Thomas Wayment for most of my section divisions and headings on this post and others.  If you haven't checked out his New Testament translation, it is well worth it!