Matthew Henry Commentary Acts 5:26-33

"Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them, [but] without violence; for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name: and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man`s blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree. Him did God exalt with his right hand [to be] a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. And we are witnesses of these things; and [so is] the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him. But they, when they heard this, were cut to the heart, and minded to slay them." — Acts 5:26-33 (ASV)

Many will do an evil thing with daring, yet cannot bear to hear of it afterward or to be accused of it. We cannot expect to be redeemed and healed by Christ unless we surrender ourselves to be ruled by him. Faith accepts the Saviour in all his offices, who came not to save us in our sins, but to save us from our sins.

If Christ had been exalted to give dominion to Israel, the chief priests would have welcomed him. But repentance and remission of sins are blessings they neither valued nor saw their need for; therefore, they, by no means, accepted his teaching. Wherever repentance is brought about, remission is granted without fail. None are freed from the guilt and punishment of sin except those who are freed from the power and dominion of sin, who are turned from it and turned against it.

Christ gives repentance—by his Spirit working with the word—to awaken the conscience, to produce sorrow for sin, and an effective change in the heart and life. The giving of the Holy Ghost is plain evidence that it is the will of God that Christ should be obeyed. And He will surely destroy those who will not have Him reign over them.