Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 5:18

"and laid hands on the apostles, and put them in public ward." — Acts 5:18 (ASV)

As in 4:1–31, Luke has the early opposition to Christianity arising principally from the Sadducees. Pharisees were undoubtedly present in the Sanhedrin (cf. comments on “the full assembly of the elders of Israel,” v.21), but their presence in these earliest days of the church’s existence (at least until ch. 7) is depicted as exerting a moderating influence on the antagonism of the Sadducees. Thus the high priest and members of the party of the Sadducees take official action a second time against the apostles by arresting them and putting them “in the public jail.”