40 They followed his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to [ ab ]speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the [ ac ]Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and [ ad ]from house to house, they did not stop teaching and preaching the good news of Jesus as the [ ae ]Christ.
Acts 5:40-42 (NASB) 中文
Trial concludes
The 12 apostles were preaching the name of Jesus and doing many signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit. The crowd was following them and growing. So they are brought before the Jewish religious leaders for a trial of sorts. They wanted to kill them but a wise member of their council, Gamaliel, suggested they wait to see. If it’s like other movements he said, it will die a natural death. Otherwise, it’s of God and we can’t stop it.
Advice taken
So here we see the Jewish leaders took Gamaliel’s advice. But they didn’t just release them. First they beat them (flogged them) but for what reason? And how could they get away with it? Then they told them (again, Acts 4:18) not to speak in the name of Jesus; don’t promote that name.
Shame for His name
The 12 went out rejoicing! For suffering and being humiliated! “Jesus warned His disciples that they would face flogging (Matthew 10:17; beatings, Mark 13:9 ) in the synagogue.” (studylight.org) Now it is happening…and they are rejoicing. Are they nuts?! Study this and probe to find out why. We can learn something great from them.
House calls
The apostles make a routine of teaching and preaching the Gospel (and doing miracles of course – as we’ll see again in the next passage). They preach everywhere – in the temple but also they also do house calls. This is clearly contrary to what the Jewish leaders had commanded them. But as we shared before, they considered obedience to God higher than to man (Acts 5:29).
RЯeflection
- Why do we fear suffering for Jesus’ Name? It’s a part of life and for Christians, Jesus promised tribulations would come (John 16:33). And it is all for a purpose – mostly to shape us into the image of Jesus.
- God repeats messages for a reason. This is now the 3rd or so time the call to obey God rather than men occurs in this narrative. Are we getting the message? Do we obey our Lord or men, or the fear of men (Proverbs 29:25)?
