Acts 5:38

38 And now, therefore, I say to you: Refrain from these men and let them alone. For if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

Acts 5:38 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 5:38

And now I say unto you
This is the sum of my advice upon the observation of these and other instances:

refrain from these men, and let them alone;
keep your hands off of them, do not attempt to take away their lives, but dismiss them quietly, nor go about to hinder them, in what they are concerned:

for if this counsel, or this work be of men;
if the doctrine these men preach is an human device; or this business they are engaged in is only an human affair, projected by men, and carried on upon selfish principles, and worldly views, seeking only themselves, and their secular interests, and not the glory of God:

it will come to nought;
as did the designs of Theudas and Judas.

Acts 5:38 In-Context

36 For before these days rose up Theodas, affirming himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves. Who was slain: and all that believed him were scattered and brought to nothing.

37 After this man, rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the enrolling, and drew away the people after him. He also perished: and all, even as many as consented to him, were dispersed.

38 And now, therefore, I say to you: Refrain from these men and let them alone. For if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

39 But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God. And they consented to him.

40 And calling in the apostles, after they had scourged them, they charged them that they should not speak at all in the name of Jesus. And they dismissed them.