But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.
Parallel translations
- WEB But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
- KJV Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
- BSB But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.
- NKJV But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.
- NASB But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Peter and the apostles answer, 'We must obey God rather than men.' When human commands contradict God's, allegiance to God comes first.
Overview
This is a foundational principle for Christian conscience under hostile authority, echoing Peter's earlier words in Acts 4. It does not endorse lawlessness but submits all human authority to God's higher claim. The apostles cannot stop proclaiming the risen Christ whom God commissioned them to make known.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Acts 4:19But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves,
- 1 Sam 15:24Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
- Mark 7:7–9But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
- Gen 3:17To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
- Rev 14:8–12Another, a second angel, followed, saying, “Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 5:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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