This is the fifteenth
entry in the Bible Junkies Online Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. This
post examines the second arrest of the disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem on the
Temple Mount.
For previous entries, please now go to the Complete Acts of the Apostle Commentary, where you can find links to each of the
entries updated after each new blog post.
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3. Contents:
C) Work of Peter
and the Apostles (3:1-5:42): Arrested by the Council, Freed by an Angel (5:17-26):
17 Then the high priest took action; he and
all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with
jealousy, 18 arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them
out, and said, 20 "Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the
whole message about this life." 21 When they heard this, they
entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching. When the high
priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the
whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them
brought. 22 But when the temple police went there, they did not find
them in the prison; so they returned and reported, 23 "We found the
prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened
them, we found no one inside." 24 Now when the captain of the
temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them,
wondering what might be going on. 25 Then someone arrived and announced,
"Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and
teaching the people!" 26 Then the captain went with the temple
police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being
stoned by the people. (NRSV)
This section
follows the signs and wonders performed by the Apostles on the Temple Mount in
Acts 5:12-16, the third summary in Acts (the first being Acts 2:42-47 and the second being Acts 4:32-35). The transition from this summary is to
the second arrest of the apostles which follows immediately after in Acts
5:17-18.
17 Then the high priest took action; he and
all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with
jealousy, 18 arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.
In the Acts
of the Apostles Online Commentary 14 I cited T.E. Page who says that the
summary of the Church’s activity in 5:12-16 was
introduced to
explain the strong and decisive action of the high priest and rulers described
in ver. 17
That this is the
connection is clear from the use of the imperfect tens vv.12-16, contrasted
with the dramatic anastas of v. 17 and subsequent aorists. The
imperfects describe a state of things during a period of some duration; the
aorists express the single action which resulted from that state of things.
The paragraph
describes,
(
1) The miracles wrought by the Apostles.
(
2) The gathering of all believers in Solomon’s porch.
(
3) The fact that though none of the rest (i.e. the priests
and rulers) dared to join them, yet the people magnified them.
(
4) The great increase of believers, naturally resulting (hôste)
in a great public manifestation, viz. the placing of sick folk in the streets
by the inhabitants of Jerusalem and even bringing them in great numbers from
neighbouring cities.
It was this public
manifestation which at last roused the ‘envy’ of the rulers. (Page, Acts,
112)
The summary in Acts
5:12-16 uses verbs in the Greek aorist tense, Page reminds us, a verb tense
which reflects “the single action which resulted from that state of things.” In
particular Luke uses anastas (“took action”) in Acts 5:17, which
explains why the Temple officials took such vigorous action. They want to put
an end to the apostles’ ongoing actions at the Temple, fomenting what they
consider to be troublemaking.
The arrest, though,
is only the beginning of the trouble for the Temple authorities not the early
Christians. As Pervo says, “Official opposition had no chilling effect on
evangelism” (Acts, 137). The reason for this is because God is with
them and the immediate sign of God’s presence is seen with the coming of an
angel to free them from prison.
This will not be
the only prison break which angels undertake in Acts, but in Acts 12: 6-11 and
16:26-31 both Peter and Paul respectively will be freed from prison under the
auspices of divine messengers. The Church is not guided by human beings but by
God.[1]
19 But during the night an angel of the Lord
opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, 20 "Go, stand
in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life." 21
When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with
their teaching.
The angels not only free them, but encourage them to carry on with
their evangelistic task, saying “tell the people the whole message about this
life” (Acts 5:20). “The people” (ho laos) are the whole people of Israel, though it
need not exclude the clergy and leaders,[2]
and the message (panta ta rhêmata = “all the words”)
seems to be the story of the life of Jesus. “This life” (tês
zôês tautês), though, is a strange way to describe Jesus’ life and Page suggests
it might mean “the salvation which Jesus came to give,” that is, the new life
in Christ which the apostles themselves are living (Page, Acts, 113). Whatever
the precise case, it means that the disciples need to keep preaching and that
is what they continue to do.
The following verses describe a Keystone Cops type scene, in which
incompetent jailers go to round up their prisoners who unknown to them have
escaped:
“When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together
the council[3]
and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to
have them brought. But when the temple police went there, they did not find
them in the prison; so they returned and reported, ‘We found the prison
securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them,
we found no one inside’” (Acts 5:21b-23).
There are intended parallels here, too, with
Jesus’ trials in front of Temple authorities, but also with the “empty tomb”
and the “empty cell,” which has in fact been guarded all night. Where are the
prisoners? The prisoners, though, have not left the scene of their escape (or the
scene of their supposed crimes) but remain on the Temple Mount doing the same
things that got them arrested to begin the story.
The
captain of the temple, reintroduced from Acts 4:1, and the chief priests,
however, have no idea of what is taking place right under their noses: the
apostles are once again preaching on the Temple Mount. Instead the priests and
the captain of the Temple “were perplexed” about the reports of their escape, “wondering
what might be going on” (Acts 5:24).
At that point, “someone
arrived and announced, ‘Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in
the temple and teaching the people!’” (Acts 5:25). From the short description
it seems that “the people” are pleased (or at least interested) to have the
disciples back and preaching to them, offering us a parallel to Jesus’ own
preaching to the people, which always attracted interest and crowds on the
Temple and elsewhere.
There is, though, a
job the captain and his temple police have to do and so they arrest the
disciples. Luke stresses in his account, though, that “the captain went with
the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid
of being stoned by the people” (Acts 5:26). Not only God it seems, but also the
Jewish people are on the side of Jesus’ apostles.
Next entry, the
disciples of Jesus are on trial again.
John W. Martens
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This entry is cross-posted at America
Magazine The Good Word
[1]
Johnson, Acts, 97 notes a parallel to this (sort of) escape in Euripides’
play Bacchae.
[2]
Although, as we will see shortly in Acts 5:26, the authorities (the captain and
the Temple police) are frightened of being stoned by “the people” (ho laos),
which might indeed indicate that Luke does understand “the people” as separate
from the leaders.
[3]
“Council” here is not synedrion or Sanhedrin, but the more common Greek
word gerousia. Does it indicate the official body or an ad hoc
gathering of officials? It might be a loosely used term here, but I suspect it
is intended to indicate an official body (against Page, Acts, 114 who
thinks it is a loose gathering of leaders and elders).
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