Articles
Gamaliel's Advice for Today
In our bi-weekly young people study we have been going through the book of Acts and there is one story that we hit that is powerful to me and not only to me, but the young people expressed it as well. One young person in particular was so excited to have now learned this story and talked about how she had hardly studied about it before! I under-stand why she may not have been as fa-miliar with this story because it is a lesser-known story and focuses around one who was not a Christian. In Acts 5, the apostles have been put in prison, let out of prison by an angel of the Lord, taken back by the captain and his offic-ers, and placed before the Council which is also known as the Sanhedrin. This is where we get into an interesting story, a powerful tool to add to our evangelism “baskets” if you will, and the focus of our article. The Counsel of Ga-maliel.
In response to the anger of the Counsel to the words of the apostles in Acts 5:29-32, Gamaliel urges those with him to be careful in what they are about to do. He then brings up an example of a man whose name was Theudas. Theduas ap-peared and claimed to be somebody and he amassed a following of about 400 men! Despite having this following, it did not last as once Theudas was killed all those who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing! All that Theudas had set or desired went away when he died. Af-ter Theudas, a man appeared named Judas of Galilee and he like-wise gained a following and he also died. As for his followers? They did exactly what Theudas’s followers did, which was dis-perse. Now, Gamaliel isn’t bringing this up as a history fun fact of the day but is bringing these things up to compare them to Jesus Christ and His followers. He precedes in v38 with advisement to stay away from the apostles. To leave them alone and the reason behind it is quite amazing and full of common sense. To quote Gamaliel in v38b-39, he says “for if the source of this plan or movement is men, it will be overthrown; but if the source is God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.” I’m impressed of his acknowledge-ment of if the “plan or movement” of Christianity was from the planning of man, it wouldn’t last. That’s why he brought up the examples of Theudas and Judas of Galilee. Gamaliel was 100% right in what he said, that when the source of the plan is from men alone, it will eventually reach an end, and as we know about 2,000 years later in the days in which we live, God was and is clearly behind Christianity as it is still living and active today.
Additionally, I personally am quite amazed at his thought process for multiple reasons. He knew when God was behind something there was nothing that was going to stand in His way and whatev-er God desires to happen, will happen. Keep in mind that Gama-liel was a Pharisee and a teacher of the Law. He would’ve known the stories that we find in the Old Testament. He would’ve known about how God freed an enslaved group of people from the nation that enslaved them. He would’ve known about the Israelites eventual arrival in Canaan’s land. He would’ve known about the story of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21, which interestingly enough Jesus compared His own death to in John 3:14-15. Gama-liel was a man that was educated about God there was no doubt about that, but he certainly was missing the most important piece, which was the One who the Law pointed to, being Jesus Christ.
And lastly what amazes me about what Gamaliel said is that he was aware of the possibility if God was behind the Gospel mes-
sage that not only would they fail to overthrow it, but they could even be fighting against God! Gamaliel had really thought out both sides of the argument. Either God was behind what the apos-tles were doing, and it was going to last (which as we know it has!) OR God wasn’t behind it, and it would come to nothing like other men before. This isn’t “profound” thinking by Gamaliel in my opinion, this is really what I would classify as common sense, yet it’s amazing that a man among a group full or hardness of hearts could at least recognize the possibility of God’s involvement.
I wonder if Gamaliel became a Christian and that’s a wonder I’ll never have the answer to on this side of heaven and once I’m there by the grace of God, I doubt I’ll care to know the answer because we’ll be with God for eternity! It is interesting to think about though! Did Gamaliel follow his own logic if he was blessed to live longer and see the church continue to grow? Would he have recog-nized that God was 100% behind the Gospel message? The best thing we can say is we hope so! We can’t change what Gamaliel’s answer would’ve been, but we can use his story to evangelize to-day. Whether you are studying with a person who believes in Je-sus as God or not, no man can logically deny that He was a real man that lived 2,000 years ago. There is no greater evidence of anyone’s existence than that of Jesus Christ. Building from that point in which no one can justifiably deny, we see that Jesus is still proclaimed and worshipped as God today! More than 2,000 years later! Ask honestly to yourself or the one you may be study-ing with, could man have kept this going this long? Theudas and Judas of Galilee’s movements were snuffed out in the lifetime of the people of the Council. The Roman empire had some dedicated people to it, and it died out well before reaching 2,000 years. There are many more examples to use. The point being, if God wasn’t behind this then it would not exist today. But it does and it has held the test of time despite countless men trying to destroy it. It is still as true today as when it was written. We can lean on this tool and the simple common sense of Gamaliel and by basic com-mon sense, show that there is obviously something different about Christianity. For us that are Christians, we obviously have come to known this, but this could be a great starting point to help some-one get to the point of being a Christian as well!
