Acts 5:27-32
‘They set them (the disciples) before the council, and the high priest asked them…: “Did we not clearly command you, that you should not teach in this name (of Jesus)?… You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine!”… Then Peter…answered…: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree! God has exalted Him with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour…, to give repentance!… We are His witnesses…, and so too is the Holy Spirit Whom God has given to them that obey Him!”‘ Acts 5:27-32.
Calvin comments: “The chief priest charges the Apostles…. Since they did not comply with the decision of the council, he accuses them of contumacy….
“He is acting in his own interest, rather than dealing with a public matter in a court of law…. To start with, he makes a pretext of their teaching…. He accuses the Apostles of sedition…. He abuses his power like a tyrant — as if that power were independent of all laws!…
“Even the form of speech which the chief priest uses, is proof how spiritual tyrants usurp for themselves a power that is unrestricted and is not subject to the Word of God…. ‘But Peter…answered and said: “We must obey God rather than men!”‘…
“God sets men over us with power in such a way that He keeps His Own authority unimpaired…. If a faithful Pastor orders or forbids from the Word of God, there would be no purpose in inflexible men objecting that God must be obeyed… But as soon as governors lead us away from obedience to God, seeing that they enter into conflict with God impiously and boldly — they must be put in their place, so that God and His authority may stand supreme!…
“If a father…not content with his own station tries to take from God the highest honour as Father — then he is a man, and nothing else. If a king or a prince or a magistrate extols himself so much that he minimizes the honour and authority of God, he is nothing but a man…. Anyone who goes beyond his function because he sets himself against God, must be stripped of the title of his office…. The office of a Pastor is honourable…. But yet, not so as to detract from the power of God and the headship of Christ!….
“Peter…expressly refers to the ‘God of the fathers’…. They (the Christians) are not bringing in a new kind of religion, or forcing some new God on the people…. ‘(The God of our fathers) raised (up Jesus)…to be a Prince (and a Saviour)…to give repentance!… And we are His witnesses…, and the Holy Spirit!’… But today…the majority, destitute of the Spirit of God, neither see nor understand anything.”
Calvin also says in his Institutes III:3:19: “After His resurrection, the Apostles preached ‘God has exalted Him with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour…to give repentance’…(Acts 5:31). Repentance is preached in the name of Christ, when men learn…they must be born again!”
God resurrected Jesus — to give repentance! Have you yet repented? Are you born again?
