Person New Testament
Theudas
Theudas was a Jewish rebel leader who was killed, and his followers scattered, by the Roman authorities. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Acts 5:36.
Why it matters. Jewish rebel leader killed by Roman authorities
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Theudas
Theudas is mentioned in Act.5.36 as an example of a failed messianic pretender. According to Gamaliel, a respected Pharisee, Theudas rose up claiming to be somebody important and gathered about four hundred men to follow him. However, he was killed, and his followers were dispersed, resulting in the failure of his movement. Gamaliel used Theudas and another rebel named Judas the Galilean as cautionary examples to dissuade the Jewish council from persecuting the apostles. He argued that if the apostles' movement was of human origin, it would fail like those of Theudas and Judas.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
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Appears in Scripture
Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.
Acts (1 verse)