Acts

Ye Shall Be Witnesses

Luke opens his second volume with a sentence that changes how we read the whole New Testament: “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (1:1). Began. The Gospel of Luke was only the start of what Jesus did. The book of Acts is what He kept doing, now from the right hand of the Father, by His Spirit, through His church.

In thirty years, a frightened group of about a hundred and twenty people in an upstairs room becomes a movement that reaches Samaria, Ethiopia, Antioch, Asia Minor, Greece, and finally Rome itself. Prisons cannot hold it. Persecution only spreads it. And the book ends without really ending. The last verse leaves Paul in Rome, “preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him” (28:31). The story is still being written.

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Authorship & Setting

Acts is the second half of Luke’s two-volume work, addressed to the same Theophilus. At several points the writer stops saying “they” and starts saying “we” (16:10–17; 20:5–21:18; 27:1–28:16), which tells us he was there for much of Paul’s travels, including the voyage and shipwreck on the way to Rome. The early church unanimously named Luke, the beloved physician, as its author.

The book covers about thirty years, from Jesus’ ascension around AD 30 to Paul’s two years under house arrest in Rome, around AD 60–62. Luke says nothing about the outcome of Paul’s trial, the persecution under Nero, Paul’s death, or the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. For that reason, many conservative scholars believe Acts was written around AD 62, right where the story stops. Others date it later.

Jesus gives the book’s outline Himself in 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.” Chapters 1–7 take place in Jerusalem. Chapters 8–12 move into Judaea and Samaria and open the door to the Gentiles. Chapters 13–28 carry the gospel across the Roman world. Peter leads the first half of the book, and Paul leads the second.

Key Figures

• Peter — the fisherman who denied Jesus, now preaching boldly at Pentecost and opening the door of the gospel to the Gentiles.
• Stephen — a deacon “full of faith and power”(6:8), the church’s first martyr, who died praying for the men stoning him.
• Philip the evangelist — who preached Christ in Samaria and led an Ethiopian official to faith on a desert road (8:5–40).
• Saul of Tarsus, called Paul — a Pharisee who persecuted the church until the risen Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus, and who became the apostle to the Gentiles.
• Barnabas — whose name means “The son of consolation” (4:36). He vouched for Saul when no one else would, and later gave his cousin Mark a second chance.
• Cornelius — a Roman centurion who feared God and prayed. He was the first Gentile household to receive the Holy Spirit (10:1–48).
• Lydia — a seller of purple from Thyatira, “whose heart the Lord opened” (16:14). She was the first convert in Europe.
• Priscilla and Aquila — a tentmaking husband and wife who worked with Paul, risked their lives for him, and taught the eloquent Apollos the way of God more perfectly (18:1–28).

Greek Word Study

μάρτυς · martys

“Witness,” one who testifies to what he has seen. “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”(1:8). So many of these witnesses died for their testimony, beginning with Stephen, that the word eventually came into English as martyr. A witness doesn’t need to be clever. He only needs to tell the truth about what he has seen.

δύναμις · dynamis

“Power,” ability, might. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (1:8). It is the same word used for Jesus’ mighty works. The church was not told to go in its own strength. It was told to wait until it was clothed with power from on high.

ἐκκλησία · ekklēsia

“Church,” literally “called-out ones,” an assembly summoned together. In the Greek Old Testament it described the congregation of Israel. In Acts it means a people, not a building. The church met in houses, by rivers, and in rented halls, and was the church in every one of them.

παρρησία · parrēsia

“Boldness,” freedom of speech, plainness. The council marveled at the boldness of Peter and John, “and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (4:13). The church prayed for boldness and was filled with the Spirit (4:29–31). And the very last phrase of Acts, “with all confidence” (28:31), translates this same word.

Eight-Movement Narrative Outline

MOVEMENT ONE

Wait for the Promise (1:1–26)

For forty days after His resurrection, Jesus shows Himself alive and speaks of the kingdom. He tells His disciples not to leave Jerusalem but to “wait for the promise of the Father” (1:4). Then He gives them their commission and is taken up into a cloud. Two men in white tell them, “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (1:11). The disciples go back to the upper room and continue “with one accord in prayer and supplication” (1:14), with the women, Mary, and Jesus’ brothers. Matthias is chosen to replace Judas.

MOVEMENT TWO

Pentecost (2:1–47)

On the day of Pentecost, a sound like a rushing mighty wind fills the house, tongues like fire rest on each of them, and they are all filled with the Holy Ghost. Jews from every nation hear them speaking “the wonderful works of God”in their own languages (2:11). Peter, the man who denied Jesus to a servant girl, stands up and preaches to thousands. He quotes Joel and David and declares that God has made the crucified Jesus both Lord and Christ. Pierced in heart, they ask what to do. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (2:38). About three thousand are added that day, and they continue “stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (2:42).

MOVEMENT THREE

Boldness in Jerusalem (3:1–5:42)

At the temple gate called Beautiful, Peter tells a man lame from birth, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (3:6). He leaps up praising God. Peter and John are arrested and told to stop speaking in Jesus’ name. Instead Peter declares, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (4:12). The church prays for boldness, and the place where they are gathered is shaken. Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Ghost and fall dead. The apostles are jailed, freed by an angel, and arrested again: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (5:29). Beaten and released, they leave “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name”(5:41).

MOVEMENT FOUR

Stephen (6:1–8:3)

When a complaint arises about the daily care of widows, the church chooses seven men full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom to serve, including Stephen. Stephen does great wonders and is dragged before the council on false charges. His defense walks through Israel’s history, from Abraham to Joseph to Moses to Solomon, showing a people who always resisted the ones God sent. The council is enraged, but Stephen, looking up, sees “the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (7:56). They stone him. He prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (7:59–60). A young man named Saul watches the coats and consents to his death.

MOVEMENT FIVE

Scattered Seed (8:4–9:43)

Persecution drives the believers out of Jerusalem, “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word” (8:4). Philip preaches Christ in Samaria, and the city is filled with joy. Then an angel sends him to a desert road, where an Ethiopian treasury official is reading Isaiah 53. Philip “began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus”(8:35), and the man is baptized on the spot. Meanwhile Saul, breathing out threats, is struck down by a light on the Damascus road: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (9:4). Blind for three days, he is visited by a frightened disciple named Ananias, receives his sight, and begins preaching Jesus as the Son of God. Barnabas brings him to the apostles. Peter heals Aeneas and raises Dorcas.

MOVEMENT SIX

The Door Opens to the Gentiles (10:1–12:25)

An angel tells the centurion Cornelius to send for Peter. Meanwhile in Joppa, Peter sees a vision of unclean animals and hears, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (10:15). He goes to Cornelius’s house and says, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons”(10:34). While he is still speaking, the Holy Ghost falls on the Gentiles. The church in Jerusalem accepts it, and in Antioch, where Jews and Gentiles worship together, “the disciples were called Christians first” (11:26). Herod kills James and jails Peter, “but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (12:5). An angel leads Peter out of prison, and he knocks at the door of the very house where they are praying for him.

MOVEMENT SEVEN

To the Ends of the Earth (13:1–20:38)

The Holy Ghost sends Barnabas and Saul out from Antioch. Saul, now called Paul, preaches in synagogues and cities across Cyprus and Asia Minor. When Jewish believers insist Gentile converts must be circumcised, the council at Jerusalem decides that “through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved”(15:11), Jew and Gentile alike. A vision calls Paul into Macedonia. In Philippi, Lydia believes, and Paul and Silas are beaten and jailed. At midnight they pray and sing praises, an earthquake opens the doors, and the jailer asks how to be saved: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house”(16:31). The Bereans search the scriptures daily. In Athens, Paul preaches the unknown God. He spends years in Corinth and Ephesus, and bids the Ephesian elders farewell with the words of Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (20:35).

MOVEMENT EIGHT

Bound for Rome (21:1–28:31)

Paul goes to Jerusalem knowing chains await him, and he is seized in the temple and nearly killed by a mob. Over the next years he gives his testimony again and again: to the crowd, to the council, to the governors Felix and Festus, and to King Agrippa, who tells him, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (26:28). Paul appeals to Caesar and sails for Rome. A storm drives the ship for two weeks, and an angel stands by Paul in the night: “Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar” (27:24). The ship breaks apart off Malta, and all 276 aboard reach land alive. A viper fastens on Paul’s hand, and he shakes it off unharmed. At last he arrives in Rome, a prisoner in his own rented house, and preaches to all who come to him.

Christ Typology

Sinai and Pentecost. Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, came fifty days after Passover, and Jewish tradition came to associate it with the giving of the law at Sinai. At Sinai, God came down in fire and the mountain shook, and after the golden calf, “there fell of the people that day about three thousand men”(Exodus 32:28). At Pentecost, the Spirit came down with fire, and about three thousand were saved (Acts 2:41). Paul put it this way: “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). The law written on stone exposed sin. The Spirit writes God’s law on human hearts.

Babel Reversed. At Babel, proud men tried to build a tower to heaven, and God confused their language and scattered them across the earth (Genesis 11). At Pentecost, God came down from heaven, and people from every nation heard the gospel in their own languages. At Babel, language divided the nations. At Pentecost, the Spirit began gathering them into one people in Christ.

The Rejected Stone. Before the council that crucified Jesus, Peter quotes Psalm 118: “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner”(4:11). The builders of Israel looked at Jesus and threw Him on the rubble pile. God raised Him from the dead and made Him the cornerstone of an entirely new temple, built out of living stones from every nation.

Stephen Dies Like His Lord. Luke writes Stephen’s death so it echoes Jesus’ death, which he recorded in his first volume. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them” and “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Stephen prays, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”and “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Notice that Stephen prays to Jesus the way Jesus prayed to the Father. And notice what Stephen saw: the Son of man standing, as though He had risen from His throne to receive His servant home.

Christ in His Body. Saul never laid a hand on Jesus. He persecuted Christians. Yet the risen Lord asks, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Christ is so united to His people that what is done to them is done to Him. That is the deepest reason Acts begins with “all that Jesus began.” He has not stopped. The church is His body, and He is still at work in it.

Personal Application

Wait for power before you run. The disciples had been with Jesus for three years, seen Him risen, and received the Great Commission. And He told them to wait. Ministry in our own strength wears us out and accomplishes little. Ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and keep asking. The book of Acts shows the same people being filled again and again (2:4; 4:31).

Boldness comes from being with Jesus. The council did not see trained speakers in Peter and John. They saw unlearned and ignorant men, and they could tell where those men had been. Time with Jesus is not preparation for the real work. It is the source of it.

No one is beyond His reach. If you had told the church in Acts 8 that Saul of Tarsus would become their greatest missionary, they would have laughed or wept. Keep praying for the people you think are too far gone. The Lord who stopped Saul on the Damascus road is still in the business of interrupting people.

Be a Barnabas. When Saul came to Jerusalem, the disciples were afraid of him. Barnabas took him by the hand and brought him in. Later, when Paul gave up on Mark, Barnabas gave him another chance, and Mark went on to write a Gospel. The church needs prophets, teachers, and evangelists. It also needs sons and daughters of consolation who will stand beside the person no one else will trust yet.

Sing at midnight. Paul and Silas were beaten, bleeding, and chained in the inner prison. At midnight, they prayed and sang praises to God, “and the prisoners heard them” (16:25). Someone is always listening to how a believer handles the dark. Your praise in a hard place may be the very thing that leads another person to ask, “What must I do to be saved?”

Acts has twenty-eight chapters, and the story isn’t finished. Luke ends with the gospel still going out, boldly and without hindrance. The same Spirit who filled that upper room fills believers today, and the same commission stands: to Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. The church is still writing the twenty-ninth chapter, and you are part of it.

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY · MARANATHA

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