Acts 5:28
Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
The verse records a second hearing where the apostles were set before the council after being brought without violence because the officers feared stoning, following God's angel freeing them from prison with command to teach in the temple. The high priest's charge has three parts, that they had defied the strict order not to teach in the name of Jesus, had filled Jerusalem with their teaching, and intended to bring Jesus' blood upon the rulers. The complaint about blood shows the priests were now unwilling to bear blame for killing Jesus, opposite to their earlier joining of the mob cry calling for His blood to be on them and on their children. Even that hostile admission proves the public reach and power of Spirit-empowered preaching, which proclaimed His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension with healing and miracles so hundreds daily believed despite threats. The charge exposed fear and resistance to truth, for the leaders feared exposure as responsible and, though warned of guilt and called to repent, hardened in opposition. It sets a direct clash between human prohibition and God's command, answered by the principle that they must obey God rather than men, followed by the fearless reply charging the rulers with murdering Jesus whom God raised and exalted as Prince and Saviour.
The Council's Accusation
The high priest's words came at a second hearing, after the apostles had been shut in prison, freed by God's angel with command to teach in the temple, found standing in the temple teaching the people, and brought without violence and set before the council because the officers feared the people would stone them. The prison had been found shut secure with keepers standing outside yet empty inside, and the captain brought them without violence for fear of stoning after word came that the imprisoned men were teaching in the temple. This was the second time Peter and John were brought before the council, examined by the high priest after healing of the afflicted and sick while hundreds daily enlisted under the crucified, risen and ascended Saviour.
The charge had three parts: they had defied the strict order not to teach in the name of Jesus, they had filled Jerusalem with their teaching, and they intended to bring Jesus' blood upon the rulers and make them answer for His death. The leaders accused them of disobeying the ban on preaching in Jesus' name and of spreading their doctrine through Jerusalem, with Peter's reply identifying the leaders as those who killed Jesus while affirming God raised and exalted Him as Prince and Saviour. The complaint about blood showed the priests and rulers were now unwilling to bear blame for killing Jesus, opposite to their earlier joining of the mob cry calling for His blood to be on them and on their children.
The charge exposed fear that preaching of the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension would expose them as responsible for His death. It reflected resistance to the apostles' testimony and to the evidence God was giving through the Holy Spirit, for they were being warned about the guilt of the course that had led them to crucify Jesus. The charge that they had killed the Prince of life gave them further evidence and a call to repent, but they resisted the Holy Spirit's conviction, showed no repentance, intended to continue opposing His work, and hardened in opposition with deepened rejection of light.
The verse belongs to the closing part of Acts 5 from verse 17 to the end, continuing the circumstance begun with Ananias and Sapphira to show God has a work to accomplish in the earth in order that truth shall triumph. When dealings in the Lord's work are deceptive and not straightforward but oppressive, unjust and fraudulent — using lawyers to take advantage, doing things savoring of injustice, exacting exorbitant price, conniving at fraud, placing hindrance in the way, and diverting His means into a wrong channel — the Lord will surely punish the actors and judge the wrongdoer as He did Ananias and Sapphira.
Spirit-Empowered Witness
The charge belongs to the bold witness that followed the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus, when opponents expected the apostles to be discouraged and to disown him but instead they testified boldly under the power of the Holy Spirit, including to his resurrection. It shows the rulers opposing teaching in the name of Jesus and accusing the apostles of filling Jerusalem with their message and seeking to make the rulers answer for his death, yet their threats did not silence Christ's witnesses, who continued to proclaim the message God had given them. The teaching the rulers objected to was given in Jerusalem despite deep prejudice against Jesus, concerning his work and mission, his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The voice heard here is that of the world and the enemies of Christ, forbidding his messengers to teach in his name and accusing them of intending to bring his blood upon the rulers, but the threatenings did not succeed and did not make them cowards. Though shut up in prison, they were released by God's angels with the opposite command to go and speak in the temple all the words of this life, setting the command of human authorities not to preach against the command of God to preach.
That preaching was accompanied by signs and miracles, and many people believed and praised the Redeemer. By the power of Jesus every afflicted and sick person brought to the apostles was healed, while hundreds daily enlisted under a crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour. After angels opened the prison doors contrary to the command of the high priest and elders and told them to go into the temple and speak all the words of this life, the council sent for its prisoners and the officers found the prison shut secure with keepers standing outside yet empty inside. Word then came that the imprisoned men were standing in the temple teaching the people, and the captain brought them without violence for fear the people would stone them and set them before the council. The high priest then reminded them of his strict command not to teach in the name of Jesus and accused them of filling Jerusalem with their doctrine and aiming to bring the guilt of Jesus' blood upon the rulers.
Even the enemies' testimony that Jerusalem had been filled with the teaching proves the public reach and power of the witness enabled by the Spirit. After the Holy Spirit came upon the praying disciples following the ascension, their preaching spread the gospel through Jerusalem so powerfully that even opponents acknowledged its reach. That Spirit-empowered preaching had spread their teaching throughout Jerusalem before any New Testament book was written. This acknowledgment by enemies came before any New Testament book had been written or any gospel sermon had been preached, showing a public testimony made effective by the Spirit's work.
Obeying God Above Men
The high priest's question sets a direct clash between a human prohibition not to preach in the name of Jesus and God's command to preach, and it is answered by the principle that God must be obeyed rather than men. No human authority has a right to place anyone under obligation to any claim that requires disobedience to God as rightful Sovereign, for He has a government of His own and He lives. The voice of the world and the enemies of Christ forbade His messengers to teach in His name, but their threatenings did not succeed and did not make the witnesses cowards, because they proclaimed the message God gave them. When they were shut up in prison God sent His angel to release them with the opposite command to go and speak in the temple all the words of this life, so they were found preaching in the temple and were brought without violence before the council. It is right to hearken to God more than to men.
Their refusal to stop is a noble, heroic example of loyalty to God's law in the gospel dispensation, enduring threats rather than break one of God's commands. Standing a second time before rulers bent on their destruction, Peter and John continued to obey the divine command at any cost to themselves, enduring imprisonment, torture, and death itself rather than break one of God's commands. The ban itself illustrates oppressive religious authority and the spirit of persecution, oppression, and bondage, with Satan on the side of the oppressor. That same spirit sets up the spurious Sunday sabbath against Christ and says it must be kept on pain of not buying or selling. God overruled that human command by sending His angel to free the prisoners with orders to make known His words, showing that human authorities opposed their preaching while God must be obeyed above human rulers.
The accusation sets the scene for the fearless reply that charged the priests and rulers with murdering Jesus while affirming that God raised and exalted Him as Prince and Saviour. Peter and the other apostles declared that the leaders had killed Him and had killed the Prince of life.