Acts 5:19

Acts 5:19. The angel of the Lord. Commentators even of the schools of Meyer, Neander, and Ewald dislike to acknowledge this angelic interference as a historical fact, and seek by various devices to explain away the statement. So Neander writes: ‘The fact of a release by a special Divine guidance to us unknown, became involuntarily changed into the appearance of an angel of the Lord.' Others of the schools of Baur and Zeller reject the whole story as purely unhistorical. An earthquake which opened the doors of the prison, a secret friend of the Nazarenes, perhaps a prison official, have been suggested as the instruments of the apostles' escape; but the narrative admits of no such explanation. It is a simple matter-of-fact statement, and to guard against any such false expositions, the very words spoken by the angel to St. Peter are given us. The frequency of angelic interference in the early days of the Church is remarkable. In this book of the Acts the word ‘ angel ' occurs twenty times (Wordsworth). Six distinct works of angels are related, chap. Acts 5:19; Acts 8:26; Acts 10:3; Acts 12:7; Acts 12:23; Acts 27:23.

The reluctance to acknowledge angelic interference in the affairs of men here and on other occasions mentioned in the ‘Acts,' proceeds from a notion, deep rooted in many minds, that angels do not exist, and that the whole theory of angelic ministries is built up upon comparatively late Jewish tradition, none dating before the captivity in Babylon and the time of Daniel. (Respecting this strange but widespread error, see the Excursus at the end of the section on ‘ Angels. ')

Opened the prison doors, and brought them forth. It has been asked, What was the purpose of this miraculous interference of the angel, since they were brought on the following day before the council and shamefully beaten? But surely the effects of this interposition were immediately felt (1) by the apostles, to whose faith new strength was added by this visible manifestation of the protecting hand: fearlessly they appear in the most public spot early in the morning, again proclaiming the holy name of the Master; (2) by the Sadducee chiefs, whose perplexity and anxiety were increased by this new proof of a strange and awful power connected with these bold men.