# Gamaliel - Wise counsel



## scottmaciver (May 17, 2011)

In Acts 5:33-42, Gamaliel intervened where Peter and the apostles were going to be killed. Would you consider Gamaliel's counsel wise or is there more to it than meets the eye?


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## NaphtaliPress (May 17, 2011)

George Gillespie notes that Calvin takes Gamaliel to be a godless politician, and cites Pelargus for the same opinion.
The anonymous writings of George ... - Google Books


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## SolaScriptura (May 17, 2011)

Here's my thoughts without checking any other sources:

I think Gamaliel was speaking from a vantage point that assumed the death of Jesus was like the death of any of these other guys and that the Sanhedrin's persecution of Jesus' followers was sort of keeping the issue alive. Rather than make these men a martyr and continue keeping this new movement at the forefront of the public eye, his counsel would try to kill the movement by causing it to just fade away. As a tactic, it should be noted that it is indeed true that sometimes the best thing to do is nothing and just let it disappear. Sometimes protesting something gives more attention to the thing being protested and fans flames of curiousity that otherwise wouldn't have happened.

The other thing to remember is that the Sanhedrin couldn't legally kill people (thus the reason they had to hand Jesus over to Pilate) and to kill someone they risked incurring the wrath of Rome.

So there are a couple possible motivations behind Gamaliel's words, and as far as being temperate and judicious, I think he was indeed being prudent. I think it lamentable that his peers ultimately proved too hot-headed on multiple occasions.


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## MMasztal (May 17, 2011)

I take the position that Gamaliel's position was wise. During his time there were others that claimed to be the Messiah who turned out to be frauds, therefore making making the apostles to be martyrs would not serve the Jews to any useful purpose. I guess he was of the "give them enough rope and they will hang themselves" mentality. 

As far as Gamaliel's personal belief in that Christ may have been the Messiah, we can offer only conjecture.


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## Semper Fidelis (May 17, 2011)

I would agree with Ben on this. I think Gamaliel demonstrates the limits that the light of nature can guide men without the benefits of regeneration. It was "wise" as far as it goes but was not Biblical wisdom. It is a good illustration of how God can restrain men by giving them a sense of the way things work best in the world and it keeps things from going completely nuts. Whether you're a Christian or a pagan, hotheads cause trouble and weighing options and analyzing a situation tends to produce a better result. From the standpoint of his fellows, then, Gamaliel's counsel was "wise" and I think stating that it is politically wise is a good way of putting it. It is not, ultimately, wisdom attaining to Biblical wisdom because Gamaliel was not motivated out of a sense of serving the Triune God and honoring Christ but it does go to show how God can use the wisdom of this age to advance the agenda of the wisdom of the age to come.


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## sastark (May 17, 2011)

The *wise* thing to do would have been to confess Jesus as the Christ and submit to Him as Lord. Gamaliel did not do this, but instead instructed the Sanhedrin to "keep away from these men and let them alone." To encourage others to keep away from preachers of the Gospel is foolish advice. Gamaliel's advice was not wise, but arrogant and foolish.

Edited to add: I am leading a midweek Bible study through Acts, and this is what I blogged concerning Gamaliel back in January: http://www.therulingelder.com/2011/01/sin-of-gamaliel.html


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## Jack K (May 17, 2011)

I suspect Luke mentioned it because, in part, by his counsel Gamaliel unwittingly demonstrated that Jesus is indeed the Christ come from God. Gamaliel didn't realize it at the time, but his argument was solid and contained some amount of wisdom, and as the Christian movement continued to build this should have been a sign to him that it was of God.

I wonder if Paul was present at this council meeting or heard a report from Gamaliel himself, either at that time or at some point later. It is interesting that Luke reports this bit of information that one would think only Gamaliel himself and other members of the council would be privy to, and that both Luke and Gamaliel are associated with Paul. Did this info come from Paul?


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