Acts 5:29: “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.'”

April 2nd, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This critical verse and its application must be clearly understood by every believer. The truth found in Peter and the others response to the Jewish authorities, who commanded them to stop teaching about Jesus, is a truth that will arise in everyone’s life over and over: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” The word translated ought could be better translated with the word must. Civil disobedience is the issue here. Romans 13 clearly tells us of our responsibility to be in submission to those in authority over us, but there are many instances of civil disobedience in the Bible, where obeying God was the only possible response.

Daniel was ordered not to pray to anyone other that the Persian ruler, but he prayed to God anyway (Dan. 6). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were ordered to bow down to the image on the plain of Dura, but they refused and were thrown into a fiery furnace as punishment (Dan. 3). In Egypt, the midwives of the Hebrew children were ordered by Pharaoh to drown newborn baby boys, but they refused to report their births (Ex. 1). By faith, Rahab the harlot hid the Hebrew spies in Jericho, and God blessed her by putting her in the Messianic line (Josh. 2). Paul the Apostle was let down over the wall of Damascus to escape the authorities (Acts 9).

If we find ourselves in a similar situation, there are 2 requirements that must be met before it is ok to go against authority. First, we must make sure that we have scriptural authority; and second, we must be careful to act with humility. For example, a local city in California passed a city ordinance making it unlawful to witness in public places. A young believer went and preached anyway because he had scriptural authority (Mark 16:15: “Go . . . and preach”). But he was also humble, as he willing faced possible arrest and punishment if the court upheld the ordinance. Thankfully the matter was resolved without him being arrested, and the ordinance was removed because of the attention he brought to the matter. This is the foundation on which believers have gone out sharing their faith down through the centuries, all over the globe. Oh that we would be inspired by the sacrifices of those who have gone before us and especially by those who paid the ultimate price with their very lives.

“LORD, keep us fresh and open to see the opportunities You put before us to share Your love with others this day.”