BIBLE STUDY --- NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS

THE BOOK OF ACTS – PART 2

PURPOSE

In the preface to the Gospel, intended to cover the second volume also, Luke told Theophilus {and the audience he represented} that he had set out to write an accurate, orderly account about the beginnings of the Yeshua believer’s movement in the ministry of Yeshua of Nazareth {Luke 1:1-4}. The opening lines in Acts indicate that the narrative beginning with Yeshua of Nazareth {vol 1} is continuing and that Luke’s second volume intends to trace the story from Palestine to Rome {Acts 1:1-8}. While recounting this story, Luke attempted to defend the movement against false charges brought against it. A number of misconceptions attended the birth and growth of the movement. One concerned the relationship between the new faith and Judaism. Many, both within the church and among Roman officials, understood the faith in Yeshua as no more than a particular expression of, or sect within, Judaism. Against that restricted notion, Luke-Acts strikes a universal note. The Gospel proclaims Yeshua as Saviour of the world {Luke 2:29-32}. In Acts, Stephen’s defence before the Jewish council {chapter 7}, Peter’s experience in Joppa with Cornelius {chapter 10}, and Paul’s speech at Athens {chapter 17} all demonstrate that the believer’s movement is not merely a Jewish sect, some narrow messianic movement, but rather a universal faith. Another problem was popular identification of the new faith with the various religious cults and mystery religions in the Roman Empire. The accounts of the early church’s conflict with Simon the magician {chapter 8} and of Paul and Barnabas’s rejection of an attempt to worship them at Lystra {chapter 14} undermine the popular charge of superstition. Also, the believer’s movement is not a mystery cult in which esoteric, secret rites bring a worshiper into union with the divine. Adonai worshiped by believers, said Luke, belongs to real history; he lived his life in Palestine in the then-recent past, openly, for all to observe {see the speeches of Peter and Paul in Acts 2; 10; 13}. Luke’s major purpose, however, was defence of the faith in Yeshua movement against the charge that it posed a threat to the order and stability of the Roman Empire. There were of course, grounds for such suspicions. After all, the founder of the movement had been crucified on a charge of sedition by a Roman procurator, and the movement that claimed his name seemed to evoke tumult, disorder, and riots wherever it spread. Luke’s account met those problems head-on. In the Gospel he presented the trial of Yeshua as a serious miscarriage of justice. Pilate had handed Yeshua over for crucifixion, but he had found Yeshua not guilty. Herod Antipas likewise found no substance in the charges against Yeshua {Luke 23:13-16; Acts 13:28}. A neutral or even friendly attitude of Roman officials toward leading believers and the movement as a whole is documented throughout Acts. The Roman pro-consul of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, gladly received Paul and Barnabas and responded positively to their message {Acts 13:7-12}. The chief magistrate in Philippi apologized for the illegal beating and imprisonment of Paul and Silas {16:37-39}. The pro-consul of Achaia, Gallio, found Paul guiltless in the eyes of Roman Law {18:12-16}. In Ephesus the magistrate intervened in a crowd’s attack on Paul and his companions, rejecting the charges against them {19:35-39}. A tribune of the Roman military contingent in Jerusalem arrested Paul, but it turned out that he really saved the apostle from the wrath of a mob; in his letter to the procurator Felix, the tribune acknowledged that Paul was not guilty by Roman Law {23:26-29}. The same verdict was repeated after Paul’s arraignment before Felix, his successor Festus, and Herod Agrippa II: “This man hasn’t done anything worthy of death or imprisonment” {26:31}. Luke climaxed his story by telling how Paul carried on his missionary activity in Rome, the very heart of the empire, and with the permission of the imperial guards {28:30-31}. It is clear throughout Luke’s defence that the strife that attended the beginnings and progress of Christianity was not due primarily to anything within the movement, but rather to Jewish opposition and falsification. Within his lengthy apology for the integrity of the believers, Luke’s specific theological perspectives can be clearly seen. The two-volume work presents a grand scheme of the history of redemption, extending from the time of Israel {Luke 1–2} through the time of Yeshua, and continuing through the time of the church, when the good news for Israel is extended to all nations. Paralleling that emphasis is an insistence that YHVH is present in the redemptive story through the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel, Yeshua is presented as the Man of the Spirit; the reality of the Spirit empowered him for his work {Luke 3:22; 4:1, 14, 18}. In Acts, the fellowship of Yeshua’ disciples are presented as the community of the Spirit {1:8; 2:1-8}. What Yeshua in the power of the Spirit had begun in his own ministry, the church in the power of the Spirit continues to do. For Luke, the empowering presence of YHVH’s Spirit was a reality that gave the new faith its power, integrity, and perseverance. It enabled faithful witness {1:8} and created genuine community {2:44-47; 4:32-37}, something for which the ancient world desperately longed. The Spirit in the new community produced courage and boldness {see Peter’s defences in chapters 2–5}, empowered for service {chapter 6}, overcame prejudice as in the mission in Samaria {chapter 8}, broke down walls as in the Cornelius episode {chapters 10–11}, and sent believers out on missions {chapter 13}. The entire story is also punctuated by the centrality of Yeshua’ resurrection. Luke, like Paul {see 1 Corinthians 15:12-21}, must have been convinced that without the resurrection of Yeshua there would be no believer’s faith at all. More than that, the resurrection put YHVH’s stamp of approval on Yeshua’ life and ministry, authenticating the truth of his claims. Luke announced his interest in that theme at the outset: the ultimate criterion for an apostolic replacement for Judas was that he must have been, with the other disciples, a witness to Yeshua’ resurrection. Throughout Acts, from Peter’s Pentecost sermon and defences before the Sanhedrin to Paul’s speeches before Felix and Agrippa, the church is shown bearing witness to Yeshua’ resurrection as a great reversal executed by YHVH {2:22-24, 36; 3:14-15; 5:30-31; 10:39-42}. Acts fall naturally into two parts, chapters 1–12, and 13–28. The first part, roughly speaking, contains the “acts of Peter.” Part two is largely concerned with the “acts of Paul.” In the first 12 chapters, Peter is the central figure who initiates the choosing of a replacement for Judas Iscariot {chapter 1}; addresses the multitudes at Pentecost {chapter 2}; interprets the significance of the healing of a lame man to a temple crowd {chapter 3}; delivers a defence of the faith in Yeshua proclamation before the supreme Jewish council {chapter 4}; leads the apostles in a healing ministry and speaks for them {chapter 5}; stands in the forefront of conflict with a Samaritan magician, “Simon the Great” {chapter 8}; launches -- though somewhat unwillingly -- the movement of the gospel to the Gentiles through Cornelius {chapters 10–11}; and draws the fire of Herod’s campaign against the church but is miraculously delivered from prison {chapter 12}. Proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles through Paul’s ministry is the theme of part two of Acts {chapters 13–28}. The story primarily concerns three major missionary tours, each of which moved the gospel into yet untouched territory and expanded earlier missionary efforts. The account of Paul’s life and work climaxes in his arrest in Jerusalem {chapters 21–22}, a lengthy imprisonment in Caesarea {chapters 23–26}, and a voyage to Rome {chapters 27–28}. Another way of getting at the structure and content of Acts is thematic. It has its starting point in Yeshua’ statement, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” {1:8}. Acts can be seen as the story of the fulfilment of that “Great Commission,” unfolding essentially in three stages:

1 -- witness to Judaism, focused in Jerusalem but also expanding into surrounding Judea and north into Galilee {chapters 1–7};

2 -- witness to Samaria through Philip, Peter, and John {8:1–9:31};

3 -- witness to the gentile world, first haltingly through Peter {9:32–12:25}, and then decisively through Paul {chapters 13–28}.