Acts 5:27–5:32, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Acts 5:27–5:32
The apostles answer the renewed charge
The apostles answer a gag order with obedience to God and witness to Jesus
They set them before the council. The high priest asks whether they did not straitly command them not to teach in this name, and yet they have filled Jerusalem with their doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon them. Peter and the apostles answer that they ought to obey God rather than men. The God of their fathers raised up Jesus, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. God exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. They are his witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to those who obey him.
The maxim about obedience answers a specific prohibition against truthful witness after public evidence. It is not a blank check for private certainty, tax revolt, or lawlessness. The charge about blood is answered inside an intra-Jewish hearing: repentance is offered to Israel, not a racial curse. Naming the council's killing is not collective guilt against Jewish people.
Witness and Spirit stand together against a silenced name
The apostles do not claim a private vision as sufficient grounds to ignore every human rule. They claim what God has done in raising Jesus and what they have been told to speak. Obedience to God here is public testimony, not a mood.
How this should shape us
When told to hide a public truth about Jesus, obey God rather than that gag. Do not stretch the maxim into lawlessness or into blame of Jews as a people, and do not baptize private hunches as the same thing as this witness.
Teach it back
Explain Acts 5:27–5:32 in your own words, naming its movement, speaker or narrator role, one source-controlled detail, one uncertainty, one affected person, and one conclusion the passage does not authorize.
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The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible interpreters differ?
Best judgment: The maxim about obedience answers a specific prohibition against truthful witness after public evidence; it is not a blank check for private certainty or lawlessness.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Acts 5:27–5:32, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
SBLGNT official text, Acts 5:27-5:32
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 5:27-5:32
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 5:27–5:32
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Deepening Community, Growing Mission,' Acts 5-8 study guide
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 5:27–5:32
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 5:27–5:32, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 5:27–5:32, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 5:27-5:32
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 5:27-5:32
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 5:27–5:32
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Deepening Community, Growing Mission,' Acts 5-8 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 5:27–5:32
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract and metadata
The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish
Joshua Paul Smith
The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 5:27–5:32, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗