Saturday after the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 14, 2021 by under
Scripture: Acts 4:13-20 (NKJV)
4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”
18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Devotion
The council commands Peter and John not to speak in the name of Jesus anymore. However, in the very next chapter they are standing before this council again and say: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (5:29). That is pretty clear.
Unfortunately, this verse has been used and abused recently with respect to public health concerns. Can civil authorities order churches not to meet? Can they regulate how many people attend, and dictate whether or not people wear masks, maintain safe practices of sanitizing common areas, keep “social distancing,” and so forth? Well, yes and no. Too quickly have some in churches used these verses from Acts 4 and 5 to claim that civil rule has no authority in the Church. Not true. The same God who inspired Luke to write these words in Acts also inspired Paul to write: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves” (Rom. 13:1-2). That is pretty clear too!
According to the Lutheran teaching about the two kingdoms, we are good, obedient citizens of both realms, and we only resort to Acts 5:29 when obeying civil rule would obviously violate conscience informed by Scripture.
Prayer: O God, Who declarest Thine Almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of Thy grace, that we, running the way of Thy commandments, may obtain Thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of Thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
