ACC ~ Acts 5 v17 - 26

OVERVIEW:

This incident is meant by Luke to be a prelude to the short speech of Peter in the next section and the longer speech of Gamaliel in the same section. Later, in Acts 12:1-17, there will be another story of Peter’s deliverance from prison that is redolent with resurrection allusions. The Fathers are sensitive to these allusions even in the story, as can be seen by their use of resurrection themes in their commentaries.

5:17 | The High Priest Rose Up

DEJECTION AND GLADNESS INTERWOVEN. CHRYSOSTOM: Look how their life is woven. First there was dejection because Christ was taken from them; then came joy through the descent of the Spirit; then dejection again because of the scoffers; then joy because of the believers and the sign; then dejection again because of the imprisonment, followed by joy in the result of their defense. And here again both dejection and joy: joy because they were well-known and God made revelations to them, dejection because they made away with some of them. Again, joy from their success and dejection because of the high priest. And the same pattern could be seen throughout. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 12.

WHO ARE THE SADDUCEES? BEDE: Therefore “the Sadducees, whose name is interpreted as ‘righteous’ for they claim to be what they are not” (as we read below), entirely denied the resurrection of the body and said that the soul perishes with the flesh. Indeed, they did not even believe “that there are any angels or spirits, and accepting only the five books of Moses, they scorned the honoring of the prophets.” COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5.17.

5:19 | An Angel of the Lord

FOR ENCOURAGEMENT AND INSTRUCTION. CHRYSOSTOM: “But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, ‘Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.’ And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and taught.” This was done for the encouragement of the disciples and for the benefit and instruction of the others. For notice how what Christ once did happened again here: he does not allow them to witness the miracle in action but provides that from which they may learn of it. This is what happened on the occasion of his resurrection: he did not let them see how he rose again. When wine is made from water, the guests do not see it (for they were drunk); the judgment he entrusts to others. Likewise in the present case, they do not see them being led out, but the evidence, from which they might understand what happened, they saw. And it was by night that the angel put them outside. Why? Because in this way they were more believed than they would have been otherwise. They would not have come to ask questions. They would not have believed otherwise. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.

AN ANGEL OPENED THE PRISON DOORS. BEDE: So that Thomas would not doubt that the Lord bore flesh and blood when he had seen him entering with the doors closed, behold, he himself, while he was still clothed in mortal flesh, made his departure with his companions though the doors were closed. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5.19.

HIS SIDE IS A WITNESS. ARATOR: If anyone in addition considers Thomas, with his feeble heart, let him seek teaching from this: seeing that the closed door, being penetrated, admitted God then, is it astonishing if [Christ], in the flesh, approaches a gate in this manner, [he] whom a virgin bore, whom the unviolated womb of his mother conceived? What reason, I ask, was there to take human flesh unless it was to resurrect it? Returning after that, he presents his side for a witness and teaches that the ashes of our body must be made new by the example of his own, proving they are his limbs by their wounds. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

5:21 | The Apostles Taught in the Temple

MINISTERS OF LIGHT. ARATOR: This symbol does not lack a voice [to explain] why the holy men left this darkness [of prison]. Endowing them richly, he said that these are the ministers of light and that they shine in the whole house just like lamps set atop a stand. No night holds back those whom the Light himself calls a candle, who have merited the God who bears gifts and is a witness [to the question] by what law that place concealed in its caverns so many suns in the [apostolic] order, [suns] by which [that place] had a chance to know the eternal light so that with the expulsion of error the world might conquer darkness. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

5:24 | The Leaders Perplexed

BLIND TO THE WORK OF GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: And observe, by report of others they are apprised of all the circumstances: they see the prison remaining closed with safety, and the guards standing before the doors. A twofold security is here, as was the case at the sepulcher, having both the seal and the men to watch. See how they fought against God! Say, was this, that befell them, of human doing? Who led them forth when the doors were shut? How did they come out with guards standing before the door? In truth, they must be mad or drunken to talk so. Here are men whom neither prison nor bonds nor closed doors had been able to keep in; and yet they expect to overpower them. Such is their childish folly! Their officers come and confess what has taken place, as if on purpose to debar them from all show of reason. Do you mark how there is miracle upon miracle, differing in kind, some wrought by them, others on them, and these more illustrious than the others? HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.