But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it, and you would be found even to be fighting against God!”
Parallel Translations
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But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it, and you would be found even to be fighting against God!”
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But and yf it be of God ye can not destroye it lest haply ye be founde to stryve agaynst God.
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But if it be of God, ye can not destroy it, lest ye be found euen fighters against God.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Acts 5:39 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh.
- Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.
- Matthew 16:18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
- Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Acts 11:17 If then God gave to them the same gift as us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?”
- 1 Corinthians 1:25 because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
- Luke 21:15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.
- Acts 6:10 They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
- Acts 9:5 He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
- Job 34:29 When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,
- Isaiah 43:13 Yes, since the day was, I am he. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?”
- Revelation 17:12-14 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful.”
- Daniel 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?”
- Exodus 10:3-7 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one won’t be able to see the earth. They shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field. Your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” He turned, and went out from Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh, their God. Don’t you yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”
- Job 15:25-27 Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty, he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers, because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.
- Acts 23:9 A great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ part stood up, and contended, saying, “We find no evil in this man. But if a spirit or angel has spoken to him, let’s not fight against God!”
- Job 40:9-14 Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him? “Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty. Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low. Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden place. Then I will also admit to you that your own right hand can save you.
- Isaiah 45:9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’
- 1 Corinthians 10:22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
- 2 Samuel 5:2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel out and in. Yahweh said to you, ‘You will be shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be prince over Israel.’ ”
- 1 Kings 12:24 ‘Yahweh says, “You shall not go up or fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Everyone return to his house; for this thing is from me.” ’ ” So they listened to Yahweh’s word, and returned and went their way, according to Yahweh’s word.
- 2 Kings 19:22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- Genesis 24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can’t speak to you bad or good.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 39 But if it be of God, ye cannot…
39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Ver. 39. Ye cannot overthrow it] Neither you, nor kings and tyrants to help you; so one ancient Greek copy readeth it. Diocletian laid down the empire in great discontent, because he could not, by any persecution, suppress the true Christian religion. (Beza.) So did Charles V, a political prince, and a sore enemy to the Church. He, when he had in his hand Luther dead, and Melancthon, Pomeran, and other preachers of the gospel, alive; he not only determined not anything extremely against them, or violated their graves, but also entreating them gently, sent them away; not so much as once forbidding them to publish openly the doctrine that they professed. For it is the nature of Christ’s Church, that the more that tyrants spurn against it, the more it flourisheth and increaseth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The other part of the dilemma.
The other part of the dilemma.
The counsel of the Lord, that shall stand, Pro 19:21; Isa 46:10; and it must needs be so, for all power is his, in whom we live and move, Act 17:28.
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Fight against God; they who afflict and contend with his people unjustly, though they little think so, set themselves against God, who will overcome at the last, and triumph over his and his people’s enemies.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And to him they agreed,.... They were convinced and…
And to him they agreed,.... They were convinced and persuaded by his reasonings, approved of his advice, and agreed to follow it:
and when they had called the apostles; into the council again, having sent their servants for them, or ordered them to be brought in:
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and beaten them; or scourged and whipped them with forty stripes save one, whereby was fulfilled what Christ had foretold, Mat 10:17
they commanded they should not speak in the name of Jesus; as they had strictly commanded them before, Act 4:18. Perhaps both in this, as well as in bearing the apostles, they did not closely attend to Gamaliel's counsel, who advised them to keep their hands off of them, and not hinder them, but let them alone in what they were about: but this might be thought by them not to their reputation, nor sufficiently asserting their authority, to dismiss them, without saying or doing anything to them:
and let them go; from the council to their own company: they released them, and loosed them from their bonds; they set them at liberty, and let them go where they would; and so far they followed Gamaliel's advice.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 39. But if it be of God, ye…
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.] Μηποτε και θεομαχοι εὑρεθητε. 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.
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Τῳ δ' αιει παρα εἱς γε θεων, ὁς λοιγον αμυνει·
Και νυν οἱ παρα κεινος Αρης, βροτῳ ανδρι εοικως.
Αλλα προς Τρωας τετραμμενοι αιεν οπισσω
Εικετε, μηδε Θεοις μενεαινεμεν ιφι μαχεσθαι.
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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But if it be of God - If God…
But if it be of God - If God is the “author” of this religion. From this it seems that Gamaliel supposed that it was at least possible that this religion was divine. He evinced a far more candid mind than did the rest of the Jews; but still it does not appear that he was entirely convinced. The arguments which could not but stagger the Jewish Sanhedrin were those drawn from the resurrection of Jesus, the miracle on the day of Pentecost, the healing of the lame man in the temple, and the release of the apostles from the prison.
Ye cannot overthrow it - Because:
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God has almighty power, and can execute his purposes; Because he is unchanging, and will not be diverted from his plans, Job 23:13-14.
The plan which God forms “must” be accomplished. All the devices of man are feebleness when opposed to him, and he can dash them in pieces in an instant. The prediction of Gamaliel has been fulfilled. People have opposed Christianity in every way, but in vain. They have reviled it; have persecuted it; have resorted to argument and to ridicule; to fire, and faggot, and sword; they have called in the aid of science; but all has been in vain. The more it has been crushed, the more it has risen, and it still exists with as much life and power as ever. The “preservation” of this religion amidst so much and so varied opposition proves that it is of God. No severer trial “can” await it than it has already experienced; and as it has survived so many storms and trials, we have every evidence that, according to the predictions, it is destined to live and to fill the world. See the Mat 16:18; Isa 54:17; Isa 55:11 notes; Dan 4:35 note.
Lest - That is, if you continue to oppose it, you may be found to have been opposing God.
Haply - Perhaps. In the Greek this is “lest at any time”; that is, at some future time, when too late to retract your doings, etc.
Ye be found - It shall appear that you have been opposing God.
Even to fight against God - Greek Θεομάχοι Theomachoi, “those who contend with God.” The word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. To fight against God is to oppose him, or to maintain an attitude of hostility against him. It is an attitude that is most fearful in its character, and will most certainly be attended with an overthrow. No condition can be more awful than such an opposition to the Almighty; no overthrow more terrible than what must follow such opposition. Compare Act 9:5; Act 23:9. Opposition to the “gospel” in the Scriptures is uniformly regarded as opposition to God, Mat 12:30; Luk 11:23. People may be said to “fight against” God in the following ways, or on the following subjects:
(1) When they oppose his “gospel,” its preaching, its plans, its influence among people; when they endeavor to prevent its diffusion, or to withdraw their families and friends from its influence.
(2) When they oppose the “doctrines” of the Bible. When they become angry that the real truths of religion are preached, and suffer themselves to be irritated and excited by an “unwillingness” that those doctrines should be true, and should be presented to people. Yet this is no uncommon thing. People by nature do not love those doctrines, and they are often indignant that they are preached. Some of the most angry feelings which people ever have arise from this source; and man can never find peace until he is “willing” that God’s truth should exert its influence on his own soul, and rejoice that it is believed and loved by others.
(3) People oppose the “Law” of God. It seems to them too “stern” and “harsh.” It condemns them; and they are unwilling that it should be applied to them. There is nothing which a sinner likes “less” than he does the pure and holy Law of God.
(4) Sinners fight against the “providence” of God. When he afflicts them they rebel. When he takes away their health, or property, or friends, they complain. They esteem him harsh and cruel; and instead of finding peace by “submission,” they greatly aggravate their sufferings, and infuse a mixture of wormwood and gall into the cup by complaining and repining. There is no peace in affliction but in the feeling that God is “right.” And until this belief is cherished, the wicked will be like the troubled sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, Isa 57:20. Such opposition to God is as wicked as it is foolish. The Lord gave, and has a right to remove our comforts; and we should be still, and know that he is God.
(5) Sinners fight against God when they resist the influences of his Spirit; when they “oppose” serious thoughts; when they seek evil or frivolous companions and pleasures rather than submit to God; and when they spurn all the entreaties of their friends to become Christians. All these may be the appeals which God is making to people to be prepared to meet him. And yet it is common for sinners thus to stifle conviction, and refuse even to think of their eternal welfare. Nothing can be an act of more direct and deliberate wickedness and folly than this. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit none can be saved; and to resist his influences is to put away the only prospect of eternal life. To do it is to do it over the grave; not knowing that another hour of life may be granted; and not knowing that “if” life is prolonged, the Spirit will ever strive again with the heart. In view of this verse, we may remark:
That the path of wisdom is to submit at once to the requirements of God. Without this, we must expect conflicts with him, and peril and ruin. No man can be “opposed” to God without endangering himself every minute. Submission to God should be entire. It should extend to every doctrine and demand; every law, and every act of the Almighty. In all his requirements, and in all afflictions, we should submit to him, for thus only shall we find peace. Infidels and scoffers will gain nothing by opposing God. They have thus far been thwarted, and unsuccessful; and they will be still. None of their plans have succeeded; and the hope of destroying the Christian religion, after the efforts of almost two thousand years, must be vain, and will recoil with tremendous vengeance on those who make them.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Time, and the evident success of Christ’s Church, prove…
Time, and the evident success of Christ’s Church, prove it to be of God. No violence of the Jews, no persecution of heathen princes, no attempts of domestic adversaries, heretics, schismatics, or evil livers, have been able to prevail against it. Men of superior abilities have made violent attacks against it; their memory, and that of their disciples, has either been buried and forgotten, or liveth only in malediction and infamy. Let, then no Catholic be dispirited, because modern heresies continue; Arian and other heresies have continued much longer, have been more powerfully supported by temporal power, and yet have come to nothing. The Catholic religion was the first, and it will be the last religion.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 39. If it be of God—Gamaliel here does suggest…
39. If it be of God—Gamaliel here does suggest the possibility that Jesus was from God. It may have been a momentary sincere feeling. The real fact probably was that, knowing that the popular mind was just in this state of doubt, Gamaliel grounded himself upon it to work a defeat of the Sadducean party.
Lest—This lest depends upon the phrase let them alone in Act_5:38.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 39. but if it be of God] The verb…
39. but if it be of God] The verb is not in the same mood as in the previous clause, and had the construction been in classical Greek, it might have indicated some opinion on Gamaliel’s part of the truth of Christianity = “If it is [as it is] of God.” But in the N. T. the construction indicates no more than a simple conditional. Yet to mark the difference of phrase, read here, But if it is of God.
ye cannot overthrow it] The best authorities read, ye will not be able to overthrow it.
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lest haply ye be found, &c.] The clause depends on, “Take heed to yourselves …” (Act_5:35).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (39) Fighters against God.—It is interesting to note the…
(39) Fighters against God.—It is interesting to note the recurrence of the same phrase in the reasoning of the Pharisees who took St. Paul’s part in Act_23:9.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Is for be, A.V.; will not be able to…
Is for be, A.V.; will not be able to for cannot, A.V.; them for it, A.V. and T.R.; to be fighting for to fight, A.V.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 34
See notes on verse 34
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.