Acts chapter 5

vs 31

The words of Peter are so explanitary that it's hard to comment on them. Jesus' exaltation is just another thing that shows his authority over the Sanhedrin, as does his title of prince. But his main focus is that of salvation, and here we are talking the salvation of Israel. The term Israel itself is a little problematic - they live in Judea now - it hasn't been called Israel forever. Israel speaks of a unification that never was. You could argue that, through use of that term, Peter is talking about a bigger picture than just jews.

vs 32

They did witness his ascension, but not his exaltation I don't think. But if anyone knows what happened to Jesus, it is the apostles. Moreover, they say that the Holy Spirit tells them, because they obey God. This is a huge claim - because of course the Sanhedrin would either say "only people like David get the Holy Spirit" or "we've all got the Holy Spirit". But that is not the claim the Apostles are making.

vs 33

I wonder which comment drove them over the edge? Probably the killing Jesus thing.

vs 34

Time honoured tradition of speaking about people behind their back. He obviously wants to discuss some sort of non-murderous strategy, which is good - stopping the claims about you killing someone by killing some more people is not the way to go.

vs 35

What a good idea. Let's talk about this before we get all upset and kill some more people.

vs 36

Who was Theudas? He was nobody, obviously. Got his name in the Bible, well done. When he says "He was killed", I wonder if he's dobbing in the Sanhedrin for another death?

vs 37

This Judas guy sounds more like a revolutionary. But these two verses tell us that there was a history at the time of people gathering followers, trying to make social or perhaps even religious change, and coming to a grizzly end. Jesus was not the first! Only the first to come back from the dead.

vs 38

This guy is actually quite wise. The vast majority of such social movements will die without their leader. But he goes a step further - because these guys are spouting religious change, he posits that their change will not take place if it is earthly.

vs 39

So wise! But not just for his own sake - to be able to see the fact that it could be possible that the mighty Sanhedrin could be wrong about a religious matter is wisdom indeed.

vs 40

Well, his speech persuaded them enough that they still had to flog the apostles to get it out of their system. But this was a turning point. Would Christianity have died, or blossomed even more if the apostled had died here? Who knows. We only know what did happen.