What did Israel's religious leaders think was their only option after hearing the apostles' truth?
Israel's religious leaders, after hearing the apostles' truth and being cut to the heart, believed their only option was to kill the apostles and get rid of them. Religion, as portrayed in Scripture, hates the truth and deals with its enemies by seeking to slay them.
Les explains that the religious leaders of Israel had Peter and the eleven on trial. When they heard the apostles' truth, they were cut to the heart, and the Spirit was working even on them. Yet religionists hate the truth and have only one way to deal with their enemies: kill them and get rid of them. This book never uses the term religion in a good way; even Paul spoke of profiting in the Jews' religion as a bad thing. As soon as these leaders realized the truth Peter and the eleven proclaimed, they had only one option—kill them—and they sought to slay them. Gamaliel, a level-headed Pharisee and doctor of the law, then stood up and warned them to take heed what they intended to do to these men.