Acts: Introduction

The Book of Acts spotlights the first three decades of the development of the church after Jesus’ ascension into heaven. It is not a complete history. It is not the ideal church. It is about the developing church. It talks about how the first followers of Jesus lived out their faith.

Acts Cliff Notes Handout

1. Authorship and Date of Writing

Obviously, a casual reading of the book of Acts leads one to conclude that the book was written very early in the development of the church. Also, the book of Acts is linked with the gospel of Luke. The book is addressed to the person of Theophilus () which is the same as Luke.

A. Historically and traditionally, Luke is identified as the author.

As early as the 2nd century, church leaders identified Luke as the author of Acts.

B. The usage of the Greek language indicates an educated author.

Likely, the author was a Gentile who was well-educated. Luke was referred to as a doctor is .

Colossians 4:14 CSB

14 Luke, the dearly loved physician, and Demas send you greetings.

C. The date of writing is the early to mid 60’s A.D.

2. The Book of Acts as History

Acts is rooted in history. This is not to say that other books of the Bible are not historically accurate. Rather, this is to say Acts is rooted in concrete history.

A. Acts is theological history.

Theological history is a narrative of interrelated events from a given place and time, chosen to communicate theological truths.

It is not everything that happened. It is a selection of events that happened to give us a theological perspective.

B. God acts in the events of history to reveal his way and his will to his people.

C. Acts has elements of drama and suspense.

There are shipwrecks and court dramas. There are daring escapes and brutal sequences of events.

3. Major themes in the Book of Acts

A. is the key verse of Acts.

Acts 1:8 CSB

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This verse gives us two main themes for Acts.

i. The Holy Spirit

ii. The spread of the gospel

Jesus gave them a geographical sequence in which the task of witness will be carried out: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth.

B. The priority of evangelism

Evangelism is the great activity that dominates the book of Acts. Two major methods were used in evangelism throughout the book of Acts: miracles & apologetics.

C. The power of the Holy Spirit

Some have thought the book of Acts could be called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit”

D. Community life of the Church

Acts contains much information about how new believers cared for one another, how they pursued holiness, and how they dealt with matters that threatened their unity.

E. Teaching and Prayer

The book contains early doctrinal teachings of the apostles and the early church. Prayer is a key theme of of the first 15 chapters mention prayer.

F. Breaking human barriers

Gentiles were brought into the family of God. Other social differences and wall were torn down.

G. The theology of suffering

The church faced suffering because of opposition to the gospel.

H. The sovereignty of God

God works out his purposes even through suffering.

I. The Jewish reaction to the gospel

The early church and Paul tired repeatedly to evangelize the Jewish people, but the Jewish people as a whole rejected the gospel.

J. The legal status of Christianity

At first, Roman authority did not view Christianity as a problem or dangerous. Acts contains a defense of the Christian faith before the Roman state officials.

4. Applying the Book of Acts Today

How do we go about gleaning abiding principles from these stories?

A. Principle: Unless a narrative passage explicitly teaches a principle to follow, we should not use it in a normative way.

E.g. - Paul was bitten by a snake in ; therefore, we should handle snakes to prove the veracity of our faith.

Sometimes the Bible records things, not so that we will do the same thing, but rather so that we will have a history of God’s revelation of his name and purpose to humanity. Sometimes it records things we should not do.

B. Some narrative passages are to inspire us.

Just because the early church did something a certain way, doesn’t mean that we do it the same way today. We should be inspired to find a model for church governance that fits with our context today.

C. Look for the purpose of the inclusion of the narrative.

Outline of the Book of Acts.

1. Prologue ()

2. Preparations for Pentecost ()

3. Witness in Jerusalem ()

2. Preparations for Pentecost ()

4. Witness in Judea and Samaria and the Beginnings of Gentile Evangelism ()

5. Witness to the Ends of the Earth ()