THE FELLOWSHIP OF FAITH
ACTS 5:17-42
This is a story that follows the significant signs and wonders recorded in the earlier account, following the first arrest of Peter and John and the death of Ananias and Sapphira
- The fame of the fledgling church was spreading and they were growing
- Even though the Jerusalem community feared the church, the outlying areas were sending people to receive ministry
- These were areas that probably had felt the impact of Jesus earthly ministry prior to His trial
Our Idea: Fame has a price. Sometimes fame brings reward, sometimes notoriety: always risk. The fame of the Fellowship had an affect. Observe:
I) FELLOWSHIPS AFFECT: TESTIMONY
The apostles did many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. All the believers used to meet together at Solomon’s Porch. 13No outsider dared to join them (there was a re-gathering of those that had scattered). But the people thought highly of them. 14More and more men and women believed in the Lord. They joined the other believers. 15So people brought those who were sick into the streets. They placed them on beds and mats. They hoped that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he walked by. 16Crowds even gathered from the towns around Jerusalem. They brought their sick. They also brought those who were suffering because of evil spirits. All of them were healed. 17The high priest and all his companions were Sadducees. They were very jealous of the apostles. 18So they arrested them and put them in the public prison (Acts 5:12-18).
Luke takes us to a pivotal theme in his narrative: fellowshipping in the Spirit
- Fellowship is really at the heart of Luke’s picture of the church: he shows us their triumphs and trials; the miraculous and the conquests
- Starting at the end of Acts 2, Luke gives us 3 summaries: 2:43-47; 4:32-35; and our passage that we just read 5:12-16. the three passages comprise a total of 14 verses
- Of these 14 verses, 8 deal with the theme of fellowship
- Three of the verses also address the apostolic ministry of witness and the correlative signs of the Spirit; five of the verses focus on the impact of those activities upon those who were outside of the church
- Half of the passages are about getting along (fellowship), and the rest are about getting going (doing the stuff)
- Luke isn’t trying to point out that fellowship was more important than preaching, teaching or witnessing
- This does tell us however, that the churches life is more than preaching and teaching, and that the churches internal relationships affect its external testimony
Fellowship is a popular term in our Christian jargon: it is used in the name of many churches today. However, even though we banter the term back and forth, we should not automatically assume that we know what Luke means when he uses the term. When the New Testament uses the term, it is deep, virile, and costly, not like the normal expression today, where it is cheap and superficial. Let me put it this way:
The higher we value our personal privacy and freedom from commitments, the shallower our grasp of fellowship will be. Luke corrects our deficiencies by using the term Koinonia, which focuses on the idea of common possession, experience, and future. The focus of fellowship is on what we share in common with one another, what we have in common together, and how we put our common faith into practice utilizing the truth we hold dear as members of one body.
Fellowship can also be seen as us becoming partners in the family of God’s business. This is what Paul called: “fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit” If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion (Philippians 2:1).
II) FELLOWSHIPS FRUIT: UNITY
The unity of the early church is important, as Holy Spirit’s coming marked a reversal of Babel’s rotten fruit of separation. God began to gather a redeemed remnant who would enter into a divine partnership with and through His Spirit from the far corners of the earth through Holy Spirit’s grace. He continues this process today, as we lead others into the fellowshipping of the Spirit with the brethren. Luke’s repeated references to believer’s togetherness and unity of heart exemplify what Paul calls “The fellowship of the Spirit.”
This is in direct contrast to the divisiveness of spirit that Ananias and Sapphira exhibited in their greed and deception, which if left unchecked, would have created an almost insurmountable obstacle or hindrance to Spirit-given fellowship: They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail (5:18). This fellowship and unity caused the High Priest and his associates to be “filled with jealousy (17).” Luke again points out that the primary opposition to the early church rose primarily from the Sadducees.
“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life” (5:20). Pharisees were undoubtedly present as the “full assembly of the elders of Israel” was there. However, the Pharisaic presence was viewed as being only mildly antagonistic by the apostolic leadership until the “apostasy” of Stephen and the Hellenists, led by Saul: Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke…And Saul was there, giving approval to his death (6:8-10, 8:1).
Thus, the actions taken are represented as being at the hand of the Sadducees here, arresting them and putting them in public jail: Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail (5:18)
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out (5:19) The inclusion of the ‘doorway’ miracles of the New Testament gives a peek into how God uses mindsets outside of the boundaries of faith to express His will and power. We all remember the way Jesus used mud and spit to heal blind eyes, don’t we (John 9:1-12)? This is a disputed idea among many scholars, because the formula was a common wives tale for recovery that has absolutely no basis in reality. It shows us how God meets us at our point of entry into Kingdom reality.
The doorway miracles are another entry point, as there are numerous references to doors bursting open, falling off hinges, exploding, etc. in ancient folklore. While they have no basis in truth, God used the common beliefs of the people to demonstrate His powerful presence Redemptively.
III) FELLOWSHIPS FRIEND: YHWH
(5:19) But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. The “angel of the Lord” (Angelos kyriou) is the LXX term for the Hebrew “Angel of the YHWH” (mal’ak YHWH), which speaks of God’s direct dealings with humanity: (Exodus 3:2, 4, 7).
While the Greek angelos, like the Hebrew mal’ak, may simply denote a messenger, here, it means the presence or agency of God Himself: Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza…” Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists… Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died (8:26; 12:7, 23).
Divine intervention facilitated the apostle’s release from prison; divine presence told them to: “Go, stand in the temple courts, and tell the people the full message of this new life (5:20).” The term stand (aorist passive), or more appropriately: hold your ground/stand firm, combined with the word go (present imperative), suggests that God required dogged steadfastness on the apostles part in the face of the Sadduccean opposition. The apostle’s message was to continue being directed to the nation of Israel and to continue being proclaimed fully in spite of the directives to silence the message.
(5:21-25) 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 puzzled, wondering what would come of this. 25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.”
The full court of the elders is an interesting concept, as the end result gives us a clue as to how the trial of Jesus would have concluded if all of the Pharisees had been present there, instead of Sadducees alone-punishment, with release, instead of death. “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 (5:26).” The apostle’s disappearance from prison and subsequent re-arrest is important, as it points out the fact that the temple police were afraid of the crowd, but the apostles quietly allowed themselves to be led away.This undoubtedly was a carry over from Jesus response in the Garden of Gethsemane: non-violence and non-retaliation. They could have caused a riot and thus extricated themselves from arrest, but they did not.
Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest (5:27). The apostolic interrogation had no questions apart from the lack of compliance to the order to keep silent. They were charged with being in contempt of court, with a noted objection to the apostolic insistence of placing the blame on Jesus death at their feet.
“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 (5:28).” The charge of contempt was enough for the council to act, and to protect the Sadduccean interests by quelling riotous activities among the people. They had no interest, in determining the truth or falsity of the Christians claims about Jesus. Their hardened attitudes manifests in their refusal to use the name of Jesus in their discussions, which flies counter to the apostolic usage of the name above all names.
Conclusion
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men (5:29)! By saying that “Peter and the other apostles replied,” Luke lets us know that Peter acted as the spokesman for the band, with everyone being in agreement with what he had to say. Their response is not a reasoned defense; it is simply a reaffirmation of their position, which they laid out at their first trail. Here they emphasize the noble principle: “We must obey God rather than man” while emphasizing obedience to Jesus.
The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree (5:30). The term “hanging Him on a tree” is a locution for crucifixion and stems from Deuteronomy 21:22-23: If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, 23 you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance…
God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him (5:31-32).”
The titles ‘Prince’ and ‘Savior’ are Christological ascriptions that are rooted in the early churches confessions, and are closely aligned with the New Testament themes of exaltation and Lordship; thus affronts to the high priest and his followers. As far as the Sadducees were concerned, the charge of contempt was uncontested and repeated.
When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death (5:33). The apostolic response was considered intolerable obstinacy, leading to a furious reaction. The Sanhedrin could not inflict capital punishment, but we have to assume that they would have created a reason to hand the apostles over to Rome if it were not for Gamaliel and the Pharisees
