<p>5:38 <i>And now I say to you, <em>Keep away </em></i><i>from these men and leave them alone</i>- See on :37 <em>Drew away some of the people after him</em>.</p><p><i>For if this counsel or this work is of men</i>- Gamaliel's reasoning made a deep impression on Paul; for years later he uses the same word in saying that he declared the &quot;counsel of God&quot; (Acts 20:27). Gamaliel had reasoned that this &quot;counsel&quot; was either of God or man; and clearly it was of God. And Paul recognizes this by alluding to his teacher's words. The unusual position of Gamaliel, therefore, was surely a goad in Saul's conscience. Saul would have carefully noted and thought about his words. Luke has used the same idea in describing the &quot;counsel and deed&quot; of the Jewish Sanhedrin in condemning the Lord to death (Lk. 23:51). Gamaliel is now addressing the Sanhedrin... and so he may be suggesting that the 'counsel and work' of the Sanhedrin is being compared against the 'counsel and work' of the apostles, and only time will tell who is of God and who of man. Again, we must note that Gamaliel is open to persuasion that the Sanhedrin may be wrong; he does not condemn the apostles, rather does he urge leaving them alone and leaving time to judge. This very significant position would have irked and concerned Paul deeply, and developed his conscience for Christ. On the basis upon which Gamaliel reasons, I personally would consider it likely that he converted to Christianity. Whilst this appears impossible to prove, it is incidentally the position held within the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, where he is revered as a saint. &quot;According to Photius, he was baptized by Saint Peter and Saint John, together with his son Abibo (or Abibas, Abibus) and Nicodemus. The Clementine Literature suggested that he maintained secrecy about the conversion and continued to be a member of the Sanhedrin for the purpose of covertly assisting his fellow Christians&quot;.</p><p><em>It will fail</em>- The same Greek word translated &quot;overthrow&quot; in :39. Gamaliel had surely heard the Lord's prediction of the overthrow s.w. of the temple and the Judaism of His day (Lk. 21:6). Again, Gamaliel is heightening the stakes- either Christianity will be overthrown, or the temple will indeed be overthrown as the Lord Jesus had predicted. This heightening of the stakes, and leaving the verdict open, was psychologically a path towards conversion to Christianity. And Paul was goaded down that path, as I suspect Gamaliel himself was.</p>