Who Should You Obey God or Man?
The Apostles Persecuted
At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to. 25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them. 27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
In chapter 5, the apostles continue to do many signs and wonders to the amazement to the people. It also caused some fear as the people "dared not join them". I would call this "holy fear". The Holy Spirit was working through them so powerfully that people even approached Peter hoping that they might at least stand in his "shadow". Meanwhile as the Jewish leaders resented Jesus, they began to hate the disciples. Jesus had forewarned the disciples, "If they hated me, they will hate you." The Jewish leaders thought they had gotten rid of Jesus, but now there were 12 of Jesus walking around doing the things he had done. So they put them in jail.
But that didn't last too long, as an angel of the Lord came into their cells, opened the doors, and brought them out. When the leaders found them out in the temple courts, they are furious again and give them strict orders not to teach in Jesus' name. In a classic line Peter says in response, "We must obey God rather than man." By the way this verse has been used as a rationale for people not to obey the government. The Anabaptist tradition refused to obey any earthly ruler. Luther used this verse as a biblical basis to stand up to the Catholic church. He too was threatened by church to stop preaching and teaching what they thought was heresy.
In most all cases we are called to obey the governing law of the land until they call us to disobey God's law. This can be challenging intrepretation for us to make as it could apply to many issues related to the church and state in today's world. Many Christians around the globe face severe persecution and are forbidden to speak in the name of Jesus in public. Click on a link here to see 50 countries that Christians are most persecuted in. They include countries like: North Korea, Afghanistan, and Iran.
On Memorial Day we give thanks to the many men and women who have served and sacrificed their lives in order to protect our freedom, including our freedom to worship. May we bold like Peter to obey God over everyone else.
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