1. AN INTRODUCTION TO ACTS

 

From the standpoint of Church History the Acts of the Apostles is of extreme importance. It is our only reliable source (putting aside the various epistles of the New Testament) of information regarding the history of the early church in the days of the apostles, from Pentecost to Paul’s imprisonment at Rome. The book not only provides a history of these early days in the church, but also important background information for a correct understanding of the apostolic literature.

Without doubt Luke strove for historical accuracy, for the book is full of accurate descriptions of Roman law, of Roman titles, of Roman rule, and of geographical localities.

In fact the above statement of historical relevance is perhaps too humanistic, for it is before all that an account of the continuing work of Jesus Christ in His church through the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, is this not a record of Christ fulfilling His promise in the great commission to be with His church even to the end of the age (Mt 28:20)? For this reason the account begins where Luke left off in his gospel.

 

1.1 The Purpose of Acts

Clearly the intention of Acts is not to give a detailed account of church history, for there is much that is simply not recorded in Acts. We are not given detailed accounts of each church, or of what went on in each church. Yet it does give us a useful introduction to apostolic church life. All this lends itself to the idea that church history is not its primary purpose, for not all is recorded. If that is so, what is the primary purpose of Acts?

QUESTIONS: What do you think is the primary purpose of Acts? Why?

 

Clearly there is a major focus on both Peter (in the early chapters, 1-12) and Paul (in the latter chapters, 8-28) in Acts. In fact the other apostles barely rate a mention. Perhaps the book of Acts is seeking to describe the work of the Apostle to the Jews and of the Apostle to the Gentiles, and is therefore a work devoted to the growth of the church through the instrumentality of these two men?

The author of Acts tells us that in his first work he had begun to give an account (Lk 1:3) of what Jesus had begun to do (Acts 1:1-3). This being so, it would appear that the primary purpose of Acts is that it is a continuation of that former account given in the Gospel of Luke to Theophilus. It would also appear that Luke gives something of a summary statement of his purpose early in Acts (Acts 1:8), as was the practice of his mentor Paul (cf Rom 1:16,17). With this being the case, perhaps the purpose given by Luke in writing his gospel would be the best place to start as to deciding on the primary purpose of Acts (Lk 1:1-4).

Theophilus was more than likely a Roman official of some form, who appears to have embraced Christianity (Lk 1:4), but yet needed further instruction. Another possibility is that he was a Roman official to whom Luke had been witnessing, and therefore the two works of Luke were intended to relate to him the facts of Christianity more accurately.

So what we have in Acts is not just an historical account of the church, but rather an historical account that recognizes the divine hand behind the events of which he writes. It is an account of the continuing work of Christ in the church through the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, in order that Theophilus would have an accurate record of the things he had been taught. A more appropriate name then would be ‘The Acts of the Holy Spirit (2:38; 6:3, etc),’ or even ‘The Continuing Acts of Jesus Christ (3:6; 4:10, etc).’

 

1.2 The Author and Date of Acts

The early Church Fathers regarded Luke as the author of Acts, with clear external evidence of this recorded in the Muratorian Canon, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome.

What is clear from the internal evidence is that the author travelled with Paul in Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16. He also had access to many people from whom he would have been able to gain much information (Acts 21:8ff; 21:16). The ‘we’ recorded in these passages virtually eliminates all the other people that travelled with Paul, leaving us with Luke (Col 4:14; Phil 24; 2 Tim 4:11) as the likely author.

The first thing that should be said regarding the date of when Acts was written is that it was obviously written after the Gospel of Luke, and before his death (probably around 85 AD). It should also be noted that the book ends with Paul in prison in Rome (60-61 AD?). What is the reason for this seemingly abrupt ending? Is it that that was the date when Luke stopped writing the account, having accomplished his purpose in writing the book?

Luke makes no mention of the death of James, the brother of Jesus, who is the elder of the Jerusalem church in around 62 AD at the hands of his Jewish opponents. There is no suggestion of Roman opposition to Christianity which began after the year 64 AD with Nero’s limited (to Italy) persecution of it. There is certainly no record of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. There is also no record of what Paul did after his first release in Rome, or of his second imprisonment there, at which time Luke was present (2 Tim 4:11). And there is no record of Paul’s death at the command of Nero. All are important events that would have been recorded if they had happened during the writing of the book (you would think), therefore the date of writing must be before these events took place.

 

1.3 Outline of Acts

1. The Church’s Beginning: Jerusalem (1:1-8:4)

2. The Church’s Early Growth: Judea and Samaria (8:5-12:25)

3. Further Expansion (13:1-28:31)

 

1.4 Individual Discovery

Explain what the ‘promise of the Father’ is in Acts 1:4?

 

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17/10/2006

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