Acts 4:18-31 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.… The great classic dramas (the Antigone of Sophocles, e.g.) frequently deal with the complications involved in the conflict between duty to God and duty to earthly authorities. I. MAN'S CLAIMS ARE ADMITTED. Family life and social order demand that some should rule and some should serve. Scripture requires due submission to government authorities on the ground that they are ordained of God, and that resistance to them is resistance of the ordinance of God. All right and reasonable demand of human magistracy are therefore to be loyally met as indirectly the claims of God. But no human authority may interfere with a man's spiritual religion. Man's claims are limited to conduct. God alone may rule in motive, thought, opinion and feeling. Even apostles had no dominion over the disciples' faith. II. GOD'S CLAIMS ARE ADMITTED. 1. He may as He pleases communicate His will either directly or indirectly by — (1) His providential arrangements. (2) His written Word. (3) His Son. (4) His Spirit. 2. These claims must be absolutely supreme. They, indeed, afford the test of all other claims, which must be in harmony with these, if they are to be in any sense binding upon men. The relation in which man stands to God is that of the child who recognises no authority above that of his father. III. SHOULD THE CLAIMS OF MAN AND THE CLAIMS OF GOD COME IN CONFLICT THERE CAN BE NO QUESTION AS TO WHICH MUST YIELD. Here was such a conflict, and there were many such in the times of the prophets. The conflict is in regard to things — 1. Absolutely wrong, as when the early Christians were required to swear by the genius of the Emperor. To cease to witness for Christ, or to yield where custom, fashion and caste require what is inconsistent comes under this category. 2. Doubtful. The conflict in this case is the gravest perplexity of life, and sends us back on first principles. No one, however, need find much difficulty who accepts such counsel as this, "Be not conformed to this world," etc. (R. Tuck, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.WEB: They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. |
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