“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men” Acts 5:29 KJV.
In the comments for Acts 5:29 in The King James Study Bible by Thomas Nelson Publishers, it states that “Peter is not sanctioning civil disobedience, as he makes clear in his first epistle (1 Peter 2:13-17; cf. Rom. 13:1-7). We are to obey civil government, but when it goes contrary to the explicit commands of God, we must obey God and be ready to suffer the consequences.”
According to the definition of “obey” or peitharcheo in Acts 5:29 (found in The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible by James Strong, LLD, STD, Thomas Nelson Publishers), “obey” means to submit to authority, by analogy to conform to advice, hearken. To go deeper, this definition comes from the word “obey” or peitho which means to rely (by inward certainty), agree, assure, believe, have confidence, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.
In the Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary under the Greek word “peitho” it states that “Faith is of the heart, invisible to men; obedience is of the conduct and may be observed. When a man obeys God he gives the only possible evidence that in his heart he believes God. Of course it is persuasion of the truth that results in faith (we believe because we are persuaded that the thing is true, a thing does not become true because it is believed), but peitho, in NT [New Testament] suggests an actual and outward result of the inward persuasion and consequent faith.”
In addition to this we as believers should enjoy obeying God. We should enjoy obeying God because He is so good to us as He blesses us for our obedience (conduct). Our faith, our heart reveals our conduct!
God Bless You All!
Brenda A. McGee has attended New York Theological Seminary in New York, NY, and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA as a Master of Divinity student.