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THERE are three prison stories in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Scholars tell us that “groups of three” are signs of importance in Acts: these three stories will be the subject of our Bible studies in the next three months.

Each prison story is an escape story. Escapes from prison have always been rare. And they are very rare in modern Scotland. Most of the incidents which are described as “escapes” in the press are stories of absconding: a person has not returned from a home leave which was part of his preparation for being released.

Very occasionally a prisoner will break out of jail: I remember marvelling at the courage – or foolishness – of the route one prisoner had taken to escape when I was shown the next day the walls and fences he had to overcome, the climbing and jumping he had had to do to get out.

He was caught the next day.

Most of our thoughts about prison escapes are formed from films, and these thoughts help us very little to understand these Bible stories.

In “The Shawshank Redemption” the escape depends on the remarkable ingenuity, patience and determination of the hero. Nothing like that features in any of the three stories in Acts. In each one the imprisoned apostles make no contribution to their breakout. Luke tells the story to proclaim his message that the apostles have been set free by the power of God alone.

The first story is in Acts 5: 17-29. Despite having been ordered by the authorities to say nothing about Jesus the apostles are found preaching and healing and teaching.

They are arrested and thrown into jail.

“But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said ‘Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life’”.

Which is what they did. Meanwhile the authorities sent for the prisoners and learned of the escape.

No wonder the Bible says: “They were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on”. They were told that the apostles were at that moment teaching in the temple. They sent for the apostles and ordered them to stop.

Peter’s reply has been an important text for Christian ethics, especially in the

Reformed tradition. “We must obey God rather than any human authority”.

The authorities had them flogged, ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles “rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of the name” – and marched straight back out to begin preaching and teaching again.

It is really hard to get past the question

“what really happened to make the escape possible?”, but that is not a good question.

It is not a good question because we have no other information behind the story itself, no “explanation” we can turn to except what Acts says.

What the escape story is about, what mattered to the first readers and what matters to readers now, is this: the apostles were helpless and by the power of God they were set free. It is not a story about angels or people walking through locked doors. It is a story about the unlimited power of God which can be contained by no earthly doors.

The Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan served as H M Chief Inspector of Prisons from 2002 until 2009.