Week 14, Chapter 5 continued
Amidst the incredible outpouring of God’s Spirit through the miraculous works and deeds of the disciples, what we see in Acts Chapter 5 is a rising level of tension and conflict between the followers of Yeshua and the local Jewish Temple authorities. At first it was warnings from the High Priest Caiaphas to stop healing in the name of Yeshua. When this warning wasn’t heeded it followed with floggings. And in the next chapter the tension spills over to the Synagogue and thus is taken up by the population of Jerusalem at large. That is, at first it was those whose livelihoods and status centered on the Temple (the Sadducees, Priesthood and Sanhedrin) that had issues with Peter and the Believers; and interestingly these issues were mostly about a perceived threat to their personal power and authority, although the sticky matter of resurrection also played a role. But then in Chapter 6 we will see the Synagogue take up the persecution of Believers for mostly theological reasons that primarily interested the Pharisees. And these theological issues were less about Holy Scripture and much more about Synagogue customs and traditions.
From a broad panoramic view we see that the spiritual change in Believers brought about by the advent of Christ, and the subsequent empowerment by the Holy Spirit, cannot help but affect the tangible physical world we live in. The notion that our faith can be separated from our daily lives, behaviors, decisions and activities is not feasible if true and sincere faith actually exists within us. The effects of our salvation change everything in us and how we relate to everything around us. Thus while a political philosophy can indeed call for a separation between faith and state, in practice for the true Believer this is an impossibility. This reality automatically brought Peter and the 11 disciples (as well as their followers) into unavoidable direct confrontation with the powers-that-be.
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