6. Acts
6. Acts
CONTENTS
The book we know as the Acts of the Apostles belongs with the gospel of Luke as the second volume in a history of Christian beginnings. Luke probably did not give this second book a title of its own; only when his gospel was separated from its companion volume and placed with the other gospels was there need to give the second part of his story a title. Second- and third-century authors made various suggestions, such as "The Memorandum of Luke” (Tertullian) and "The Acts of All the Apostles” (Muratorian Canon). The name that would eventually stick, "The Acts of the Apostles,” is first used in the anti-Marcionite prologue to Luke (late second century?) 1and in Ireneus (Adv. Haer. 3.13.3). 2The word "Acts” (πραξεις [praxeis, G4552]) denoted a recognized genre, or subgenre, in the ancient world, characterizing books that described the great deeds of people or of cities. In that Acts narrates the founding events of the church and ascribes most of them to apostles, the title is not inappropriate. Yet, judging from Luke’s own emphases, he may have preferred a title such as "The Acts of the Holy Spirit” or "What Jesus Continued to Do and to Teach” (see Acts 1:1).
In Acts, Luke conducts the reader on a whirlwind tour of three decades of church history. We visit Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Syria, Cyprus, many cities in Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, and, finally, Rome. We witness everything from preaching and miracles to jailbreaks and shipwrecks. And, while many individuals accompany us on our tour, two are rather constant companions: Peter, who is often with us in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria; and Paul, who is our almost constant companion from Syria to Rome. We can, in fact, divide our tour into two major parts based on the prominence of these two individuals: Acts 1-12 and chapters 13-28. Each of these major sections can be subdivided further into three parts, which are marked off by key summary statements. In these brief notes, Luke sums up a series of events by telling us that they have led to the growth of the Word of God or of the church (Acts 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20). Each section carries us to a new geographic and/or cultural stage in the itinerary of the gospel, as Luke portrays the fulfillment of Jesus’ command to the apostles that they be his witnesses "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1:8). 3
Prologue: Foundations for the church and its mission (Acts 1:1-2:41). Luke begins by rooting the church and its mission in Jesus’ acts and words. It is the risen Jesus who prepares the apostles for the coming of the Spirit (1:4-5) and charges them with their worldwide missionary mandate (1:8). Jesus’ earthly ministry is then brought to a close with Luke’s second narrative of his ascension into heaven (1:9-11; cf. also Luke 24:5051), a narrative that serves as a hinge between the gospel and Acts. Luke then describes the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas (1:12-26), the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (2:1-13), and the first missionary sermon (2:14-41).
The church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42-6:7). Luke begins this section with a summary of the characteristics of the early church in Jerusalem (2:42-47). He then describes Peter’s healing of a crippled man in the temple precincts (3:1-10), a notable and public miracle that gains Peter a hearing for another missionary sermon (3:13-26). Opposition arises from the Sanhedrin, but Peter and John boldly resist its request that they cease speaking "in the name of Jesus” (4:1-22). The church as a whole, infused with the power of the Spirit, follows the lead of the apostles, preaching the Word of God boldly after having prayed that God would grant them such opportunity (4:23-31). But all is not perfect, even in these early and exciting days in the life of the church. The lie of a married couple, Ananias and Sapphira, about their participation in the early community’s voluntary sharing program (4:32-37) brings swift judgment upon them (5:1-11). The popular healing and preaching ministry of the apostles (5:12-16) again sparks opposition from the Jewish leaders, and again the apostles are arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. Gamaliel, an important rabbi of his day, counsels moderation, and the apostles are released (5:17-42). In order to give themselves fully to the preaching of the Word, the apostles appoint seven men to regulate the distribution of food among the community (6:1-6). In his first summary statement, Luke concludes that in this way "the word of God spread” (6:7).
Wider horizons for the church: Stephen, Samaria, and Saul (Acts 6:8-9:31). To this point in his narrative, Luke has portrayed the early believers as loyal, if somewhat unusual, Jews. The stories in this next section show how the church began to strain the bounds of traditional Judaism. Stephen is a pivotal figure in this respect. A charismatic figure who attracted a considerable following, Stephen was falsely accused of speaking against the temple and the law (6:8-15). When brought before the Sanhedrin to answer charges about his teaching, Stephen uses a sketch of Israel’s history to suggest that God’s revelation cannot be confined to one place and to charge the Sandedrin members themselves with resisting the Holy Spirit (7:1-53). So bold a charge does not go unanswered: Stephen is condemned to be stoned (7:54-60).
Stephen’s radical stance sparks opposition to the young Christian movement, and "all except the apostles” are forced to leave Jerusalem (Acts 8:1-3). One of those who leaves, Philip, brings the gospel to Samaria, a territory to the north of Judea inhabited by people considered by most Jews to be renegade Jews at best. The Samaritans believe the message of Philip, and Peter and John are sent to confirm that the Samaritans had indeed been accepted into the kingdom of God (8:4-25). Philip, directed by an angel, travels south, where he meets and converts a court official of the queen of Ethiopia (8:26-40). Finally, Luke tells us of the conversion and early ministry of the one chosen by God to be the pioneer in the mission to the Gentiles—Saul of Tarsus (9:130). Again Luke summarizes: "The church...was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord” (9:31).
Peter and the first Gentile convert (Acts 9:32-12:24). This section focuses on Peter, and especially on Peter’s role in opening the way for Gentiles to become Christians. Peter performs miracles in Lydda and Joppa, cities in Judea to the northwest of Jerusalem (9:32-43). He is then used by God to bring Cornelius, a Gentile Roman soldier, into the church. Through visions and the direct command of the Spirit, God brings Cornelius and Peter together (10:1-23). At Cornelius’s house, Peter’s preaching of the gospel is interrupted by the sovereign action of God, bestowing the Spirit upon Cornelius in so evident a manner that Peter had to recognize that God had truly accepted a Gentile into his church (10:24-48).
The importance of so clear a witness is revealed in the next narrative, in which Peter is able to reassure Jewish-Christian skeptics in Jerusalem about the reality of Cornelius’s conversion (Acts 11:1-18). It is surely significant that here Luke tells us of the church at Antioch, where the mixture of Jews and Gentiles required that believers in Jesus be given a new name: Christian (11:19-30). The section concludes with the story of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison (12:1-19) and the death of Herod Agrippa I, who had initiated the persecution that led to Peter’s arrest (12:20-23). Here again occurs Luke’s transitional summary: "The word of God continued to increase and spread” (12:24).
Paul turns to the Gentiles (Acts 12:25-16:5). From Peter, Luke turns now to Paul, who dominates the remainder of the book. Paul’s significance for Luke lies in his being used by God to pioneer an extensive ministry to Gentiles, to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth, and to show that the gospel was no direct threat to the Roman government. The vibrant Christian community at Antioch, to which Paul had been brought by Barnabas, is led by the Spirit to send Paul, along with Barnabas and John Mark, on the first missionary journey (12:25-13:3). The journey takes them first to Barnabas’s home, Cyprus, where a Roman official is converted (13:4-12). The band then sails to the south coast of Asia Minor, where they quickly head inland to the important city of Pisidian Antioch. Paul delivers an evangelistic sermon in the synagogue there, a sermon that Luke summarizes, giving us a sample of the way Paul preached to a Jewish audience (13:13-43). Here also what becomes a typical pattern is first enacted: general Jewish rejection of the gospel, leading Paul and his companions to turn directly to the Gentiles, followed by Jewish persecution that forces them to move on (13:44-52).
They move on to Iconium (Acts 14:1-7), to Lystra, where Paul is stoned (14:8-20), and to Derbe, planting churches in each city and strengthening the new believers as they retrace their steps again to the coast (14:21-28). Upon arriving back in Antioch, the missionaries are confronted with a serious dispute about their outreach to the Gentiles. A council convened in Jerusalem to discuss the matter endorses the law-free offer of the gospel to the Gentiles, a decision that was of vital importance in establishing the character of the church and enabling its further growth (15:1-29). Paul and Barnabas bring the good news back to Antioch and begin planning a new missionary trip. But their inability to agree about taking along John Mark, who had turned for home before the first journey was complete, leads them to split, Barnabas taking Mark with him back to Cyprus, Paul taking Silas with him overland to Syria, Cilicia, and on to the churches established on the first journey (15:30-41). Here Paul also recruits Timothy for the cause (16:1-4). And thus, Luke again concludes, "the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers” (16:5).
Further Penetration into the Gentile world (Acts 16:6-19:20). It seems a bit odd that we should divide Luke’s story at this point. Yet Luke implies that we have reached a decisive stage by the care with which he shows how Paul was directed by God’s Spirit step-by-step to take the gospel into Macedonia (16:6-10). (This is also the beginning of the first "we” passage—see v. 10.) The first stop is Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia, where an exorcism lands Paul and Silas in jail. They (like Peter before them—one of the many parallels Luke draws between Peter and Paul) are miraculously rescued, and Paul turns his Roman citizenship to good account in order to be set free (16:16-40). Paul and Silas move on to Thessalonica, but persecution forces them to flee
by night to the relatively insignificant town of Berea (17:1-9). Trouble follows them even here, so Paul is sent away to Athens (17:10-15).
Here we are treated to a second sample of Paul’s preaching, this time to a sophisticated, skeptical, Gentile audience on so-called Mars’ Hill in Athens (Acts 17:1634). The results in Athens seem to be meager, however, so Paul travels across the narrow isthmus to Corinth, the chief city in the Peloponnese. Here Paul spends a year and a half, preaching, defending himself before the Roman official Gallio, and enlisting the Roman Jewish couple Priscilla and Aquila in the work of the gospel (18:1-17). The three leave Corinth for Ephesus, where Paul leaves the other two as he proceeds on to Caesarea, Antioch, and the churches of southern Asia Minor (18:18-23). In Ephesus, meanwhile, Priscilla and Aquila establish more firmly in the faith a gifted young man from Alexandria, Apollos (18:24-28). Paul himself arrives in Ephesus for a stay of two and a half years. We are given glimpses of Paul converting some disciples of John the Baptist (19:1-7), preaching in the synagogue and in his own hired hall (19:8-10), working miracles (19:11-12), and confronting the strong current of demonism for which the city was known (19:13-19). "In this way,” Luke informs us, "the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power” (19:20).
On to Rome (Acts 19:21-28:31). Again we may feel that it is rather artificial to insert a major break in the midst of Paul’s stay in Ephesus. But Luke again suggests such a break with his first indication that Paul was determined to go to Rome (19:21-22). This determination drives Luke’s narrative from this point on, but it takes Paul some time to get there. He leaves Ephesus only after a serious public uprising forces him to go (19:23-41). He revisits the churches in Macedonia and Greece and decides to return to Judea by the same route because of a plot against his life (20:1-6). On his way back, Paul stops to preach in Troas and stops again in Miletus to meet with the elders of the church of Ephesus (20:7-38). He arrives in Jerusalem via Tyre and Caesarea, with warnings about his impending arrest in Jerusalem ringing in his ears (21:1-16). The warning quickly becomes reality.
Paul’s willingness to "fly his Jewish flag” for the sake of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem by paying for, and joining in, some purification rites in the temple backfires (Acts 21:17-26). Certain Jews think that Paul has brought Gentiles into the temple with him, and the ensuing riot forces the Romans to intervene (21:27-36). Paul is arrested but is allowed to address the crowd before being taken away (21:37-22:22). Paul’s Roman citizenship again stands him in good stead, and he is allowed to state his case before the Jewish Sanhedrin (22:30-23:10). The Lord assures Paul that he will live to testify about him in Rome (23:11), despite a plot of the Jews to kill him (23:12-15). Paul is moved to Caesarea because of this threat, where he again defends himself, this time before the Roman governor, Felix (23:16-24:27). After Paul has languished in prison in Caesarea for two years, Festus replaces Felix, and Paul forces the issue by appealing to Caesar to hear his case (25:1-12). Before leaving, however, Paul again defends himself before Festus and his guests King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice (25:1326:32). Paul is then sent on to Rome. The trip, however, is interrupted by a severe storm, stranding Paul and his sailing companions for three months on the island of Malta (27:1-28:10). Paul finally arrives in Rome, where he is able to live in his own house, under guard, and preach the gospel freely (28:11-31). Here, with Paul in Rome for two years under house arrest, Luke’s tour of the expansion of the gospel comes to an end.