¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,^(A) the new creation^(B) has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!^{(C) 18} All this is from God,^(D) who reconciled us to himself through Christ^(E) and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

²⁵ Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” ²⁶ At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people^(A) would stone them.

²⁷ The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin^(B) to be questioned by the high priest. ²⁸ “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,”^(C) he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”^(D)

²⁹ Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!^(E)

³² We are witnesses of these things,^(A) and so is the Holy Spirit,^(B) whom God has given to those who obey him.”