Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 5:42

"And every day, in the temple and at home, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus [as] the Christ." — Acts 5:42 (ASV)

And daily in the temple.—Probably, as before, in the Portico of Solomon; the captain of the Temple now acting on the resolution just taken, and letting the movement take its course without interruption.

And in every house.—Better, as in Acts 2:46, at home: in their place, or, it may be, places, of meeting.

To teach and preach Jesus Christ.—Better, to teach and to declare the good tidings of Jesus Christ. The word for “preach” is literally to “evangelise,” as in Acts 8:4; Acts 8:12; Acts 8:25; Romans 10:15, and elsewhere.

As the chief members of the Sanhedrin disappear from the scene at this stage, it is worth noting the later fortunes of those who have been prominent up to this point in the history:

1. Annas lived to see five of his sons fill the office of high priest (Josephus, Antiquities xx. 9, § 1); but his old age was overclouded by the tumults raised by the Zealots under John of Gischala, in the reign of Vespasian. Before he died, the sanctuary was occupied by them and became indeed a “den of robbers” (Josephus, Wars, iv. 3, § 7).
2. Joseph, surnamed Caiaphas, his son-in-law, who owed his appointment to Gratus (Josephus, Antiquities xviii. 2, § 2), was deposed by the Proconsul Vitellius, A.D. 36 (Josephus, Antiquities xviii. 4, § 3), and disappears from history.
3. Regarding John and Alexander, see Notes on Acts 4:6.
4. Gamaliel, who is not mentioned by Josephus, continued to preside over the Sanhedrin under Caligula and Claudius. He is said to have died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem and to have sanctioned the Anathema, or “Prayer against heretics,” drawn up by Samuel the Little (Lightfoot, Centuria Chorographica, c. 15).

Christian traditions, however, represent him as having been secretly a disciple of Christ (Pseudo-Clement, Recognitiones i. 65) and to have been baptised by Peter and Paul, with Nicodemus, who is represented as his nephew, and his son Abibas (Photius Codex 171, p. 199).

In a legendary story, reportedly from a priest of Syria named Lucian and accepted by Augustine, Gamaliel appears as having buried Stephen and other Christians. He is said to have been buried himself in the same sepulchre with the Protomartyr and Nicodemus at Caphar-algama (Augustine, De Civitate Dei xvii. 8, Sermon 318).

Later Rabbis regarded him as the last of the great Teachers or Rabbans. They noted that until his time, men had taught the Law standing, while afterwards they sat. The glory of the Law, they said, had departed with Gamaliel.