Author's Note: All previous volumes of this series are here. The first 56 volumes are compiled into the book "Bible Study For Those Who Don't Read The Bible." "Part Two," featuring volumes 57-113, was published in December 2022.
Thanks for joining our second study about Rabbi Gamaliel. The first study, Vol. 58, posted on April 24, 2021, was titled “Rabbi Gamaliel, the Pharisee Who Spoke Truth About Jesus.” There are two reasons why I am writing another Gamaliel study over three years later. First, recently, Gamaliel’s name came up in conversation, and immediately, I felt “called” to write about him since God is my “co-writer.”
The second is I believe Rabbi Gamaliel is an unsung hero. He impacted at least eight New Testament books by Jesus’s original apostles. Furthermore, Gamaliel indirectly influenced St. Paul’s intellectual development and writings since the Rabbi was his teacher.
As the title reads, Gamaliel changed the course of Christianity by intervening to save the life of Peter and several of Jesus’s apostles, who would have been executed by the authorities of the Jewish high court not long after Jesus ascended into heaven. However, Peter is the only apostle specifically named by Luke in Acts chapter 5. Luke authored the New Testament’s book of Acts, which follows the four Gospels.
Let’s turn to Acts Chapter 5 and read this remarkable story. Afterward, you, too, will elevate Rabbi Gamaliel to hero status.
Teaching in the name of Jesus, His apostles “performed many signs and wonders among the people.” Subsequently, “more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” Peter was blessed with the miraculous gift of healing:
“People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed” (Acts 5:15-16).
Seeing what was happening, the temple high priests — who doubled as politicians and wielded power over the people — “were filled with jealousy.” Exercising their authority, they arrested and jailed the apostles. But, that evening, the apostles were miraculously freed by “an angel of the Lord” who commanded them, “‘Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life’ ” (Acts 5:20). Thus, at dawn the apostles were back in the temple courts to “teach the people.”
When the Sanhedrin (Jewish supreme court) convened, they sent for the jailed apostles, but “the officers did not find them there.” Then Sanhedrin members heard, “The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” Promptly, the Sanhedrin issued orders to retrieve the disobedient apostles. Before the court, the apostles were reprimanded by the high priest, who said:
“‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name [Jesus]. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood’” (Acts 5:28).
Peter seized the moment to speak the truth in what could be characterized as “the apostle’s mission statement”:
“‘We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him’” (Acts 5: 29-32).
Peter's defiant defense made the Sanhedrin “furious and wanted to put them [apostles] to death” (Acts 5:33). Indeed, the apostles would have been executed if not for the intervention of the highly respected Rabbi Gamaliel.
Among the Sanhedrin, Gamaliel was a Pharisee, an esteemed teacher of the Law. His most famous student was Saul of Tarsus — who later became known as St. Paul.
Gamaliel, knowing the apostle's death sentences were imminent, stood up and “ordered that the men be put outside for a little while” so he could privately address the court. Then Gamaliel spoke, convincing the Sanhedrin to spare the lives of those hated apostles, whom the Sanhedrin believed threatened their power. Gamaliel said:
“‘Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.’” Then he mentions two names familiar to the court, both of whom had many followers. “Theudas,” who was “claiming to be somebody,” and “Judas the Galilean,” who “led a band of people in revolt.” Two different cases, but after the court ordered them killed, their followers “were dispersed” (Acts 5:35-37).
Upon reminding the Sanhedrin how they dealt with trouble-making leaders, Gamaliel boldly proclaims the verses that make him memorable:
“‘Therefore, in the present case, I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God’” (Acts 5: 38-39).
Given Gamaliel’s stature, his arguments persuaded the Sanhedrin to bring the apostles back into court, where they were flogged instead of killed. But the Sanhedrin issued a stern order “not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go” (Acts 5:40). The apostles ignored the order since when in jail, God had commanded them to “tell the people all about this new life.”
“They left rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah” (Acts 5:41-42).
Gamaliel is a hero because he used his intellectual firepower to warn about “fighting against God” and saved the apostles from death. Think how the spread of Christianity would have been slowed if the apostle's writings had not existed.
Interestingly, while researching for this study, I found the following on a Catholic news website:
“There is a tradition that Gamaliel became a Christian. Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople says that he was baptized along with his son Abibon and Nicodemus by the apostles Peter and John, and the Eastern Orthodox Church venerates him as a saint.”
All we know for sure is that the Lord used Rabbi Gamaliel to further His kingdom. And He will use you if you open your heart, mind, and soul to Him. Amen!
Myra Kahn Adams is a conservative political and religious writer with numerous national credits. Her book, "Bible Study For Those Who Don't Read The Bible," reprints the first 56 volumes of this popular study. "Part 2,” with the same title, reprints Vols. 57-113. Order it here.
She is also the Executive Director of the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit, which is dedicated to building a future permanent Shroud of Turin exhibit in Washington, D.C. The National Shroud of Turin Exhibit recently hosted a four-day exhibit (with a VIP guest) at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, IN. Contact: <MyraAdams01@gmail.com>