Acts 5:17-32 Freedom and Confrontation

Acts 5:17-20 Peter is arrested by the high priest and freed by an angel of The Lord. We should not be surprised at the priesthood's reaction to the church's growth. The apostles had been warned not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus. They had decided that they they would obey God rather than men. (Acts 4:18-20, 5:29) I still have to wonder why the High Priest was a member of the sect of the Sadducees. But it is obvious that for a man who on theological grounds believes there is no resurrection from the dead, the proclamation of Jesus' resurrection would be a poke in the eye. In this case, we find out that very night an angel came and freed Peter from prison and told him to continue preaching. This is the first of three such incidents recorded in Acts. (See also Acts 12:7-11, 16:25-26)  Jesus had told Peter that one day he would give his life for the gospel (John 21:18-19) but that day was not yet.

Acts 5:21-25 The Temple guards search for Peter and find him teaching in the Temple. I am certain that the priests had not had any inkling that God would supernaturally free Peter from prison. In all cases in which the apostles were freed from jail miraculously, people were astonished at God's supernatural deliverance. In this case, the priests were astonished to find Peter in the Temple teaching the people, in direct defiance of their commands to him, and not in prison where they thought he had to be.

Acts 5:26-32 The high priest and Peter confront each other about Peter's teaching. The logical next step. The high priest didn't really question Peter so much as repeat his threat. In this case he adds the comment that Peter's teaching is intended to bring Jesus' blood on their head. Obviously they could not deal with the concept of the resurrection, because they were Sadducees. And apparently they had made no real effort to understand Peter's teaching, that it was every single person for whom Christ died, and that the Jews of Jerusalem had all been part of putting Jesus to death, and that He had voluntarily laid down His life to redeem mankind.  But Peter repeats the basics of the plan of redemption anyway.