Acts 5:29 Peter and the apostles answered, “It’s necessary to obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, the One you killed by hanging him on a cross.” (The Message Bible)
Peter had been warned by the authorities (yes, the authority was both religious and political) not to keep preaching about Jesus, particularly the part where he blamed these same authorities for Jesus’ death. Such preaching got people all worked up and the last thing they wanted was to give the Romans an excuse to display a little heavy-handed control. Peter was not preaching rebellion against the Jewish rulers nor the Roman ones. He was simply stating that there was a higher authority, that of God, who had made his message known through Jesus. But there can only be one ultimate authority. The Romans wanted that spot. The Jewish rulers did too. But Peter said it was God’s and God’s alone and demonstrated by the resurrection of Jesus. We have plenty of voices claiming ultimate authority. Some religious. Some political. Some academic. They all have a justification for their authority. Whose do you recognize as having the ultimate say in your life? If there is a God isn’t it “necessary to obey God rather than men?”
Logan Memorial Presbyterian Church 