Hello everybody, and welcome in to episode 27 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Acts 5 today, and our focus is on civil disobedience. Thank you for joining us for Bible 2021! We are a daily 10 minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Hamburg, Germany, parts unknown, China, Odisha, India, Albuquerque/Santa Fe New Mexico, Madison, Wisconsin, Tulsa, Oklahoma  and Scotland, UK where one person downloaded over 100 episodes today! Thanks for listening! Our goal this year is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast Don’t forget about our new web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more – Click here for our reading plan! 

Great comment from listener WhereWhatHuh on yesterday’s podcast – which was about the exclusive claims of Jesus being the ONLY way to Heaven:

The exclusivity statement here, along with Jesus’ own claims, such as John 14:6, condemns any religion which says that Jesus was A way to God or to divinity or to Nirvana. Jesus is either THE way, the one and only way, or else NO way at all. Any religion that seeks to co-opt Jesus as an ascended master, a wise teacher, or an inspired prophet does so at peril, because Jesus cannot logically be any of those things alone. Chesterton points this out in The Everlasting Man , Lewis in Mere Christianity , and McDowell in More Than A Carpenter . Either Jesus was and is the Creator God of the universe, or else He is no one at all.
Absolutely – there is not an in-between with Jesus. He is either who He claimed to be, or some sort of fraud or madman.
Today we tackle a topic that everybody has an opinion on, and lots of rationalizations about…but I wonder – do we have a biblical answer to the question of civil disobedience and civil obedience. When should Christians obey a government directive and when should Christians disobey a government directive? Today’s Acts 5 chapter is loaded with topics, but our focus is going to be on how the apostles respond to the order of the ruling authorities to NOT preach about Jesus. Spoiler alert: They disregard that law – and, when confronted, they give a very succinct reason:

28 “Didn’t we strictly order you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”29 Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people. Acts 5:28-29

Let’s go ahead and call vs. 29 our verse of the day.

How do we balance the behavior of the apostles with clear New Testament commands such as:

Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. Romans 13:1-2

And

Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, (Titus 3:1)

And

12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.13 Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority 14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. 15 For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:12-17)

Those are strong verses that don’t really seem to allow for many loopholes or exceptions, but I do think we find one in Acts 4-5 – when the ruling authorities command us to do something that God commands us not to do – or, they command us to NOT do something (like Daniel praying to God) that God commands us to do – we must obey God rather than human commands…other than that one exception, the commands and teachings of the Bible tell us to obey/submit to the ruling authorities – our doing so will be a testimony to the lost, and silence the ignorance of foolish people, and we won’t find ourselves in the position of opposing what God has set up.

End of the Show: Bible memory verse for January: Mark 1:15 15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

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