Gamaliel
“When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them,” etc. — Acts v. 33-42.
THE word on Peter’s lips was “sharper than a two-edged sword.” The audience were cut to the heart. Such convictions cannot pass away without some practical result. They will either melt the heart on which they fall, or make it harder. Those who have trembled like Eelix under the preached word will either submit to the gospel, or resist it with increased enmity.
In the case of judges and rulers, if there is not true penitence, the enmity reveals itself in active persecution; but in
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private life the convictions that are resisted are for the most part kept secret. When conviction ripens into conversion and peace, the fact becomes known in the Christian brotherhood: but those piercings which are successfully resisted seldom become known beyond the breast of the convict. When he overcomes his convictions, he keeps the conflict to himself; when his convictions overcome him, his friends will hear of his surrender. I think there is many a conflict between Christ and the world which is never blazed abroad in history. When the world wins, and shuts the door in the face of J esus, the strong man armed not only keeps his goods in peace, but keeps his victory a secret. When the lion has caught his prey, he devours it in silence.
At first the prevailing opinion in the court was that measures should be taken forthwith to secure the death of these two troublesome preachers. The Jewish rulers thought that they should carry out the policy which they had already begun, and treat the scholars as they had already treated the Master. At this juncture they were turned from their cruel purpose by the politic persuasion of one of their own number, “named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people.” On his suggestion the accused were removed from the bar, that the court might deliberate in private on their sentence. In the private conference, Gamaliel succeeded in persuading them that it would be wiser in all the circumstances to desist, and leave the case to Providence.
In ancient times the opinion prevailed that Gamaliel interfered from secret sympathy with the Christians. There is an ecclesiastical tradition that he became a disciple. It was thought by many that he was already in secret a Christian when he exerted his influence to save the lives of Peter and John.
The Chttrch in the House.
The prevailing opinion in modern times is different. Later critics have thought that it agrees better with all the circumstances to suppose that Gamaliel was really a Pharisaic Jew, that he had no sympathy with the disciples of Jesus, and that he continued to the end an unbeliever.
He was indeed a calmer and fairer man than any of his fellows. Besides, being a leading doctor of his sect, he had a personal and party interest in protecting the apostles at this crisis; for the real root of the charge against them was their doctrine of the resurrection. The apostles were suffering under Sadducean influence for the very doctrine which the Pharisees maintained as their distinguishing characteristic. The Sadducees were the movers at this stage of the persecution, and they moved in it because the resurrection of the body, as taught by Peter and John in connection with Jesus went to demolish the corner-stone of their distinctive system.
As the Sadducees gave their influence against the apostles because they preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead, it was natural that the Pharisees should draw back when they discovered that by joining in the persecution they were in effect strengthening the hands of their rivals. Gamaliel, accustomed to lead his party, seems to have discovered as the case advanced that the Pharisees had glided unawares into a false position. He found that in swelling the triumph of the Sadducees in their crusade against the witnesses of the resurrection, they were mining the ground under their own feet. Accordingly, by a cautious speech and a temporising motion, he succeeded in extricating his party from the scrape into which they had inadvertently stumbled.
In all that lay between the Pharisees and the Christians, Gamaliel was a Pharisee and an ti- Christian; but in as far as the Sadducees were compassing the death of Peter and
Gamaliel.
John for asserting the resurrection of the dead, he felt that his proper place was on the side of the apostles, and against the rival sect. At a subsequent stage of the history, Paul employed the conflict between the two parties on this very point, to rend asunder the cordon which his united enemies had drawn around him; and through the opening made his escape (chap, xxiii. 6).
The Lord over all is wont to cleave a path through hosts of foes, as through the sea, when he desires to set his imprisoned servants free for further usefulness. If there had been no divisions in Israel, — if the nation at that time had not been arrayed in two hostile camps against each other, the witnesses might have been crushed at the outset of their career. In this way God in providence divides, that he may conquer the strong, and so deliver the weak out of their hands.
A remarkable parallel is found in the division of Israel into two rival kingdoms after the death of Solomon, and the consequent preservation of the Pentateuch from wilful adulteration. The mutual jealousy between Samaria and Jerusalem rendered mutilation or addition impossible. In the same way the Scriptures were preserved from interpolation in the earlier Christian ages — before the invention of printing — by the mutual jealousies between the Roman Church and the various sectaries that successively arose and asserted their liberty. Between Pharisees and Sadducees there was a rent, and the apostles went out free: between Ephraim and Judah there was a rent, and the Pentateuch came through entire.
The proposal of Gamaliel, with the reasons which supported it, have been much canvassed by modern critics; but I suppose the view generally taken now is that it does not manifest great depth of wisdom in the court. The philosophy of the speech is flimsy, and its religion more than doubtful. It is probable that the Sanhedrim were by this time frightened at their own shadows, — in bodily fear lest the people should rise in insurrection, otherwise they would not have yielded so readily to the arguments which the great doctor advanced. Probably Gamaliel knew very well that his reasoning was weak; but he perceived also that it was sufficient to afford an excuse, which the court wanted, for dismissing the panels from the bar. His reasoning is substantially though not formally a dilemma. He says in effect: The cause is either of God or of men: if it is of God, ye cannot overthrow it, and therefore in that case you should let it alone; if it is of men, it will crumble to pieces, and in that case also you should let it alone.
To this notable piece of wisdom they all agreed. I suspect they desired to reach this conclusion with a view to their own safety, otherwise they would not have reached it on such grounds. Persecutors are neither consistent nor dignified. The prisoners, though unconvicted, were beaten in presence of the court, and dismissed with a command to preach no more in the name of Jesus. The court might have understood by this time that they might as well command the tide not to rise on the beach as command these men to hold their peace.
The disciples “departed from the presence of the council rejoicing:” and what was the ground of their gladness? That they were set at liberty? /No; but that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. What a word! And what a thought! It was new in the world. The world was incapable of comprehending the idea which inspired these martyrs. This joy of theirs was as new and strange as if a second sun had appeared in the sky. This is a joy which their Redeemer gives — a joy that no man taketh from them.
Again they grandly disobeyed the impotent orders of the Sanhedrim. Every day, in public and in private, they continued to teach and preach Jesus Christ. There is a great lesson in this last word. It is not enough to say that they preached. The power lies not in the act, but in the object. They pressed Christ as a Divine Redeemer to the hearts of weary men. This is the true apostolical succession — to know nothing as a Cure for men’s sin but Jesus Christ and him crucified; and no sin which his blood cannot wash away. None but Christ for any; and Christ sufficient for all.