Gamaliel’s Wisdom: If It Is of God

Commentary 11 on Acts: 5:34-42

On their second appearance before the Sanhedrin, the apostles found an unexpected helper. Gamaliel was a Pharisee. The Sadducees were the wealthy collaborationists, who were always seeking to preserve their own status; but the Pharisees had no political ambitions. Their name literally means ‘the separated ones’, and they had separated themselves from ordinary life in order to devote themselves to keeping the law in every small detail. There were never more than about 6,000 of them in total, and the austerity of their lives made them highly respected. Gamaliel, a grandson of the famous Hillel, was more than respected; he was loved. He was a kindly man with a far wider tolerance than his fellows. He was, for instance, one of the very few Pharisees who did not regard Greek culture as sinful. He was one of the very few to whom the title ‘Rabban’ had been given. It was a title of higher rank than “Rabbi”, and it was reserved for only a few of the most eminent Palestinian sages. It meant, “great one.” He was also called ‘the Beauty of the Law’. When he died, it was said: ‘Since Rabban Gamaliel died, there has been no more reverence for the law; and purity and abstinence died out at the same time.’ When the Sanhedrin seemed likely to resort to violent measures against the apostles, Gamaliel intervened. The Pharisees had a belief which combined fate and free will. They believed that all things were in the hand of God and yet that human beings were responsible for their actions. ‘Everything is foreseen,’ they said, ‘yet freedom of choice is given.’ So, Gamaliel’s point was that they must take care in case they were exercising their free will to go against God. He pleaded that, if this matter was not from God, it would come to nothing anyway. He quoted two examples.

First, he cited Theudas. In those days, Palestine had a quick succession of leaders who stirred up the people and set themselves up as the deliverers of their country and sometimes even claimed to be the Messiah. Who this Theudas was, we do not know for sure. There was a Theudas, a failed charismatic leader with 400 followers. Some years later Josephus, the historian, tells us there was another Theudas who led a group of people out to the Jordan with the promise that he could divide the waters and that they would walk over without getting wet, and whose rising was swiftly dealt with.

Gamaliel’s second example was Judas. He had rebelled at the time of the census, taken by the governor Quirinius in AD 6 in order to arrange taxation. Judas took up the position that God was the King of Israel; tribute was due to him alone; all other taxation was without due reverence for God, and to pay it was a blasphemy. He attempted to raise a revolution but failed. The Sanhedrin listened to Gamaliel. In Acts 5, he used these two failed leaders as precedents. He argued that if a movement is merely human, it collapses (as with Theudas and Judas). If it is of God, opposing it is futile. As a result of his intervention the apostles were released. They went out rejoicing in spite of their suffering. They rejoiced despite being persecuted for two reasons.

1)   It was an opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to Christ. 

2)   It was a real opportunity to share in the experience of Christ. Those who shared in  the cross-bearing would share in the crown-wearing.

The reading concludes with Luke telling us that despite all the resistance they encountered, the apostles and disciples of Jesus continued to evangelise in

A.            The temple, i.e., prior to 70 AD when it was destroyed

B.            By going from house to house teaching and preaching about Jesus Christ.

Clearly, persecution did not silence the disciples; it intensified their witness. Luke was showing the unstoppable nature of the Gospel—precisely what Gamaliel had warned the Sanhedrin about.