There is much to be examined in this chapter, however I will focus on the later part of the chapter. Peter and John once again find themselves before the religious leaders. Once again they have been teaching the people in the name of Jesus, and healing the sick. Arrested, the Spirit of God sets them free at night and they continue to teach. They are brought before the religious leaders to face their charges. Then a wise man rises and counsels, "If this is based in humanity, it will fail. If it is of God, we do not want to be on the wrong side of this." This is a lose paraphrase of the words spoken.
For almost 2000 years people have been refuting the claims of Jesus to be an invention of humanity. There might be an acknowledgment of this man named Jesus who was a good teacher, but he was not the Son of God, or Messiah. It would seem if we take the words spoken in Acts 5 to heart, there might be enough evidence to support Jesus as being God, not of human creation. Despite all of the attempts to discard Jesus, through the centuries He stands.
More than proving the divinity of Jesus, which I am not sure is possible to prove 100 percent, this passage addresses another important issue. In our lives and in the church as we continue to grow and move, the old way of doing things will be challenged. When trying to discern the direction we are to go the lead qualifier is we want to follow God. When facing a new direction we can trust God to be God, and if something is of human origin, it will fail. If it is of God we do not want to stand in the way of God.
God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Yet the way God works will be different, same God different way to connect with humanity. As God is doing something new, we do not want to work against what God is doing. So test, challenge and question. Just leave room for God to be doing a new thing.
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