Acts 5


Acts 5 is the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the growth and obstacles in the early church.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek and is divided into 42 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Verse 34

St. Luke had mentioned that there was an influential party of Sadducees in the Sanhedrin. He, therefore, now specially notes that Gamaliel was a Pharisee. There can be no doubt that this alone would rather dispose him to resist the violent counsels of the Sadducean members, and the more so as the doctrine of the Resurrection was in question. Moreover, Gamaliel was noted for his moderation. That Gamaliel here named is the same as that of, at whose feet St. Paul was brought up at Jerusalem, and who is known in the Talmud as Rabban Gamaliel the elder, the grandson of Hillel, the head of the school of Hillel, and at some time president of the Sanhedrin, one of the most famous of the Jewish doctors, seems certain, though it cannot absolutely be proved. The description of him as a doctor of the law, had in honor of all the people; the allusion to him as a great teacher, learned in the perfect manner of the Law of the fathers, and one whose greatness would be as a shield to his pupils, in ; the exact chronological agreement; the weight he possessed in the Sanhedrin, in spite of the Sadducean tendencies of the high priest and his followers; and the agreement between his character as written in the Talmud and as shown in his speech and in the counsel given in it, seem to place his identity beyond all reasonable doubt.

Verse 42