Acts
The transition from Israel to the Church: the risen Christ’s witness moves from Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts continues Luke’s Gospel. Luke had written “of all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (1:1); Acts records what He continued to do through His apostles by the Holy Ghost. The book opens with the ascension and the promise of Acts 1:8—“ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”—and follows that outline.
Chapters 1–7 are centered in Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit is poured out, Peter preaches to Israel, and thousands believe. The kingdom is offered again to the nation: if Israel would repent, God would send Jesus Christ (3:19–21). But the leaders imprison the apostles and stone Stephen. Chapters 8–12 carry the gospel to Samaria, an Ethiopian, a persecutor named Saul who becomes Paul, and the Gentile household of Cornelius. Chapters 13–28 follow Paul on three missionary journeys and his arrest, trials, shipwreck, and arrival in Rome.
Acts is a book of transitions: from Jew to Gentile, from Israel to the Church, from the kingdom of heaven to the kingdom of God, from Peter to Paul, from Jerusalem to Antioch, and from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. The book ends with Paul in Rome announcing that “the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles” (28:28) and preaching the kingdom of God with all confidence.
Writer: Luke
Written: About AD 63, soon after Paul’s two years of house arrest in Rome.
Name: Acts means deeds or works: the acts of the apostles.
Title and authorship
The title is “The Acts of the Apostles,” though it concentrates on Peter and Paul. It might also be called the Acts of the Holy Ghost through the apostles.
Luke wrote Acts as the second volume to Theophilus (1:1; Luke 1:3). The “we” passages (16:10–17; 20:5–21:18; 27:1–28:16) show he was Paul’s traveling companion and an eyewitness of much he describes.
Historical background
From Jerusalem to Rome, from Christ’s ascension about AD 33 to Paul’s two years of house arrest in Rome, about AD 61–63. Acts was written soon afterward, before Paul’s death and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, neither of which it mentions.
Theophilus and, through him, believers needing an account of how the gospel went from a Jewish upper room to the capital of the Gentile world.
Luke’s accuracy
Luke uses correct titles for local officials throughout the empire: proconsul in Cyprus and Achaia, politarchs in Thessalonica (confirmed by inscriptions), Asiarchs in Ephesus, and the “chief man of the island” in Malta. His nautical account of the voyage and shipwreck in chapter 27 is one of the most detailed descriptions of ancient seafaring.
Gallio and the chronology
An inscription found at Delphi dates Gallio’s proconsulship of Achaia to about AD 51–52. Paul appeared before him at Corinth (18:12), providing a fixed point for dating Paul’s ministry and letters.
Paul’s journeys
Paul made three missionary journeys (13–14; 15:36–18:22; 18:23–21:16), founded churches across Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia, and was arrested in Jerusalem. After two years at Caesarea he appealed to Caesar and was sent to Rome, where he lived two years in his own hired house.
Key passages
Acts 1:8
Power from the Holy Ghost and the outline of the book: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 3:19–21
Peter’s appeal to Israel: repent, and God will send Jesus Christ and the times of restitution of all things.
Acts 28:28
The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it.
Acts 20:24
Paul describes his ministry as testifying the gospel of the grace of God.
Outline
1:1–8:4 · Witness in Jerusalem
The Spirit is given, the apostles preach, and opposition culminates in Stephen’s death.
8:5–12:25 · Witness beyond Jerusalem
Philip, Saul’s conversion, and Peter’s ministry mark widening gospel access.
13–20 · Witness from Antioch
Missionary journeys and the council bring the gospel into major Gentile centers.
21–28 · Witness through captivity
Paul testifies under arrest and reaches Rome.
Original language
μάρτυς (martus, G3144) — “witness”
One who testifies to what he has seen. So many witnesses died for their testimony that the word came to mean “martyr.” Stephen is called Christ’s “martyr” in 22:20.
πνεῦμα ἅγιον (pneuma hagion, G4151) — “Holy Ghost”
The Holy Spirit is named about fifty times in Acts. He fills, directs, sends, forbids, and appoints. The King James “Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” translate the same Greek phrase.
Χριστιανός (Christianos, G5546) — “Christian”
“Belonging to Christ.” The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch (11:26), a Gentile city, as the name moved beyond Jewish categories. It occurs only three times in the New Testament.
ἀποκατάστασις (apokatastasis, G605) — “restitution”
Restoration to a former state. “The times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (3:21)—the theme of all prophecy.
Doctrinal study
Transitions in Acts
Six transitions run through the book: from Jew to Gentile; from the nation of Israel to the Church; from the kingdom of heaven to the kingdom of God in emphasis (compare 1:6 with 8:12 and 28:31); from Peter to Paul (15:7 and after); from the Jerusalem church to the Antioch church; and from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts. Each develops through real events rather than a single announcement.
Baptism and the Holy Ghost
In Acts 2:38 the order is repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost; in 8:12–17 believe, be baptized, then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; in 10:44–48 hear, receive the Holy Ghost, then be baptized; in 19:1–6 rebaptism and laying on of hands. The Church-age order is given in the epistles: hear, believe, and be sealed with the Spirit at once (Ephesians 1:13).
Tongues as a sign
Tongues appear in Acts 2, 10, and 19, each time with Jews present. Paul explains that the Jews require a sign (1 Corinthians 1:22) and that tongues are a sign to unbelievers (14:22), fulfilling Isaiah 28:11. Tongues were a sign to unbelieving Israel during the transition.
Commentary notes
Three strikes
Israel rejected God the Father in the murder of John the Baptist, whom the Father sent; God the Son in the crucifixion; and God the Holy Ghost in the stoning of Stephen, who was full of the Holy Ghost and saw Christ standing at God’s right hand (7:55–56).
Outlines of Acts
Acts 1–7: the kingdom of heaven offered again and refused (Jerusalem). Acts 8–28: the kingdom of God preached throughout the world. Acts 1–12 centers on Peter, the apostle to the circumcision; 13–28 on Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:7–8).
Truth out of place
Baptismal regeneration, apostolic signs for today, the church replacing Israel, and hyper-dispensational views all arise from pulling transitional passages out of their place. Nearly every heresy is a biblical truth taken out of its context.
Christ in the book
- The ascended Lord who will return in like manner (1:9–11)
- The Prince of life and Just One whom Israel denied (3:14–15)
- The Son of man standing at God’s right hand (7:56)
- The One who appeared to Saul on the Damascus road (9:5)
Applications
Historical
- Luke writes to Theophilus about Israel’s final rejection of the kingdom offer and records the movement of the Holy Ghost through the Church to a primarily Gentile world.
- Acts records the foundational expansion of the Church and provides the setting for many New Testament epistles.
Doctrinal
- Many events of Acts, especially the early chapters addressed to Israel with signs and wonders, will be repeated in the Tribulation through the ministry of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses. The Church doctrine for this age must be taken from Paul’s epistles, not from the transitional experiences of Acts.
- The differing sequences of baptism, laying on of hands, and reception of the Spirit belong to the transitional history recorded in Acts. Their doctrinal significance requires comparison of the audiences, circumstances, and subsequent teaching of the Church epistles.
- Israel and the Church must be distinguished as the gospel moves among Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles. The Church is already present before Paul’s later letters explain its mystery.
Devotional
- Jesus left and replaced Himself with His body, the Church, His Word, and His Spirit. We must not fail to continue all that Jesus began both to do and teach.
- Ordinary believers participate in the advance of the word through witness, hospitality, prayer, and faithful service.
- Opposition and confinement provide occasions for witness throughout Acts, including Paul’s defenses and his ministry during imprisonment.
Answering the critics
Critics have doubted Luke’s authorship, the unity of the book, its historical accuracy, and the lack of early circulation, and they point to differences between manuscripts.
Archaeology has confirmed Acts in detail after detail, from officials’ titles to sailing routes. Acts was written to an individual, Theophilus, not a local church, which explains why it was not circulated like the epistles. The “lack of continuity” critics mention reflects the differences between the majority of manuscripts and a small group of minority texts, not a problem with the book.