SEV Biblia, Chapter 5:39
mas si es de Dios, no la podris deshacer; no seis tal vez hallados resistiendo a Dios.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 5:39
Verse 39. But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it] Because his counsel cannot fail; and his work cannot be counteracted. If he be determined that this doctrine shall prevail, it is vain for us to attempt to suppress it. Lest haply ye be found-to fight against God.] mhpote kai qeomacoi eureqhte. Some have thought that they saw a parallel to these words in the speech of Diomede, when, seeing Mars, associated with Hector, oppose the Grecians, he judged farther opposition vain, and desired his troops to retire from the battle.
tw d aiei para eiv ge qewn, ov loigon amunei? kai nun oi para keinov arhv, brotw andri eoikwv.
alla prov trwav tetrammenoi aien opissw eikete, mhde qeoiv meneainemen ifi macesqai.
Iliad, lib. v. 603.
Protected always by some power divine; And Mars attends this moment at his side, In form a man. Ye therefore still retire, But facing still your foes: nor battle wage, However fierce, yet fruitless, with the gods. COWPER.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 39. But if it be of God , etc.] If it is according to the counsel of his will; if it is a scheme of his forming, and a work to which he has called these men, and they proceed in it on good principles, and with a view to the honour and glory of God: ye cannot overthrow it ; it will proceed and get ground, and stand, maugre all the opposition of hell and earth; therefore do nothing to them, or hinder them from going on. Some copies read, ye cannot overthrow them; and add, neither you, nor kings, nor tyrants; wherefore refrain from these men; so Bezas Cambridge copy. Lest haply ye be found even to fight against God ; which to do is downright madness, and which no man in his senses can expect to succeed in. There are some sayings of the Jewish doctors which seem to agree with these reasonings of Gamaliel f230 . Says R. Jochanan the shoemaker, every congregation, which is for the name of heaven (or God) at length shall be established, but that which is not for the glory of God shall not be established in the end.
Which one of the commentators interprets in words still nearer to Gamaliels language, thus: it shall be that that counsel which is for God shall stand and prosper, but that which is not for God shall cease.
And in another place it is said f232 , all contention (or dispute) which is for God, at length shall be established, but that which is not for God shall not in the end be established: what is contention that is for God? the contention of Hillell and Shammai, (two famous doctors among the Jews,) but that which is not for God is the contention of Korah, and his whole company.
Some have thought from this advice of Gamaliel, that he was a Christian, or greatly inclined to Christianity; but when it is considered what respect was shown him at his death by the Jews, before observed on ( Acts 5:34) it will appear that he died a Pharisee; and especially it cannot be thought he had any favourable sentiments of the Christians, since a little before his death he ordered a prayer to be made against them. Maimonides says f233 , that in the days of Rabban Gamaliel, the Epicureans (so the Amsterdam edition reads, but former editions read ynym , heretics, by whom are meant Christians) increased in Israel; and they distressed the Israelites, and seduced them to turn aside from God; and when he saw that this was greater than all the necessities of the children of men, he stood up, and his council or sanhedrim, and composed another prayer, in which there was a request to God to destroy the Epicureans, or heretics, meaning the Christians: and though this prayer is sometimes ascribed to Samuel the little, yet it was composed by him at the hint and instigation of Gamaliel; for so it is said f234 , R. Gamaliel said to the wise men, is there no man that knows how to compose a prayer for the Sadducees? (R. Asher reads heretics;) Samuel the little stood up and composed one.
And it is also said f235 , that Samuel the little composed, ynym tkrb , the prayer for the heretics, before, or in the presence of Gamaliel the elder.
He made it when he was present, assisting, dictating, directing, and approving. The prayer was this f236 , let there be no hope for apostates, and may all heretics perish in a moment, and all the enemies of thy people be quickly cut off: root out the kingdom of pride, and break, destroy, and subdue them in haste in our days.
In some forms it is added, blessed art thou, O Lord, that breakest the wicked in pieces, and humblest the proud.
Upon the whole, Gamaliel does not seem to have been a Christian, or to have favoured the Christian religion; but he was, as he is said, ( Acts 5:34) to be, a Pharisee: and this council, or sanhedrim, were, for the greater part of them, Sadducees, as seems from ( Acts 5:17) who, as the Jews say, were wicked and base men, men of very ill manners, whereas the Pharisees were ynmjr , merciful men f237 ; and such an one was Gamaliel: he was a religious man in his way; a man of humanity, a mild and moderate man, that had compassion and pity for his fellow creatures; and could not give in to any schemes of cruelty and persecution, which the Sadducees were forward to; and upon these principles he acted, and upon these he gave this advice.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 34-42 - The Lord still has all hearts in his hands, and sometimes directs the prudence of the worldly wise, so as to restrain the persecutors. Commo sense tells us to be cautious, while experience and observation sho that the success of frauds in matters of religion has been very short Reproach for Christ is true preferment, as it makes us conformable to his pattern, and serviceable to his interest. They rejoiced in it. I we suffer ill for doing well, provided we suffer it well, and as we should, we ought to rejoice in that grace which enabled us so to do The apostles did not preach themselves, but Christ. This was the preaching that most offended the priests. But it ought to be the constant business of gospel ministers to preach Christ: Christ, and his crucified; Christ, and him glorified; nothing beside this, but what ha reference to it. And whatever is our station or rank in life, we shoul seek to make Him known, and to glorify his name __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
ει 1487 COND δε 1161 CONJ εκ 1537 PREP θεου 2316 N-GSM εστιν 2076 5748 V-PXI-3S ου 3756 PRT-N δυνασθε 1410 5736 V-PNI-2P καταλυσαι 2647 5658 V-AAN αυτο 846 P-ASN μηποτε 3379 ADV και 2532 CONJ θεομαχοι 2314 A-NPM ευρεθητε 2147 5686 V-APS-2P
Vincent's NT Word Studies
39. To fight against God (qeomacoi). Lit., to be God-fighters.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
5:39 {But if it is of God} (ei de ek qeou estin). The second alternative is a condition of the first class, determined as fulfilled, ei with the present indicative. By the use of this idiom Gamaliel does put the case more strongly in favor of the apostles than against them. this condition _assumes_ that the thing is so without _affirming_ it to be true. On the basis of this alternative Gamaliel warns the Sanhedrin that they cannot "overthrow" (katalusai) these men for they in that case must "overthrow" God, {lest haply ye be found} (me pote--hureqete, negative purpose with first aorist passive subjunctive) {even to be fighting against God} (kai qeomacoi, late adjective from qeos and macomai, in LXX and here only in the N.T.).
