Outline
- Introduction (1:1-2)
- Christ's resurrection ministry (1:3-11)
- The period of waiting for the Holy Spirit (1:12-26)
- The filling with the Spirit (ch. 2)
- The healing of the lame man and the resultant arrest of Peter and John (3:1;4:31)
- The community of goods (4:32;5:11)
- The arrest of the 12 apostles (5:12-42)
- The choice of the Seven (6:1-7)
- Stephen's arrest and martyrdom (6:8;7:60)
- The scattering of the Jerusalem believers (8:1-4)
- Philip's ministry (8:5-40)
Acts Chapter 5:12-42
12 The apostles were performing many
miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were
meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade.
13 But no one else dared to join them, even
though all the people had high regard for them.
14 Yet more and more people believed and
were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women.
15As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people
were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might
fall across some of them as he went by.
16 Crowds came from the villages around
Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they
were all healed.
17The high priest and his officials, who were
Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
18 They arrested the apostles and put them
in the public jail.
19But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened
the gates of the jail, and brought them out. Then he told them,
20 “Go to the Temple and give the people
this message of life!”
21 So at daybreak the apostles entered the
Temple, as they were told, and immediately began teaching. When the high priest
and his officials arrived, they convened the high council —the full assembly of
the elders of Israel. Then they sent for the apostles to be brought from the
jail for trial.
22 But when the Temple guards went to the
jail, the men were gone. So they returned to the council and reported,
23 “The jail was securely locked, with the
guards standing outside, but when we opened the gates, no one was there!”
24 When the captain of the Temple guard and
the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would
all end.
25 Then someone arrived with startling
news: “The men you put in jail are standing in the Temple, teaching the
people!”
26 The captain went with his Temple guards
and arrested the apostles, but without violence, for they were afraid the
people would stone them.
27 Then they brought the apostles before
the high council, where the high priest confronted them.
28 “We gave you strict orders never again
to teach in this man’s name!” he said. “Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem
with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his
death!”
29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We
must obey God rather than any human authority.
30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus
from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross.
31 Then God put him in the place of honor
at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel
would repent of their sins and be forgiven.
32 We are witnesses of these things and so
is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, the high council
was furious and decided to kill them.
34 But one member, a Pharisee named
Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people,
stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a
while.
35 Then he said to his colleagues, “Men of
Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men!
36 Some time ago there was that fellow
Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him,
but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole
movement came to nothing.
37 After him, at the time of the census,
there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed,
too, and all his followers were scattered.
38 “So my advice is, leave these men alone.
Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own,
it will soon be overthrown.
39 But if it is from God, you will not be
able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against
God!”
40 The others accepted his advice. They
called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again
to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.
41 The apostles left the high council
rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of
Jesus.
42 And every day, in the Temple and from
house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the
Messiah.”
