Acts: to the ends of the earth
Acts, the second volume of Luke's work, tells how the risen Jesus made his disciples his witnesses by the Holy Spirit, and how the gospel went out from Jerusalem towards the ends of the earth. It begins at Pentecost and ends with Paul, under guard in Rome, preaching without hindrance.
About the book
The name Acts, short for the Acts of the Apostles, was given to the book early. It opens, "In my first book, O Theophilus" (Acts 1:1): it is the second volume after Luke, and the church has received both from the start as the work of Luke. The Muratorian Fragment, an early list of New Testament books usually dated to the late second century, says that Luke wrote the acts of the apostles for Theophilus The Muratorian Fragment.
From chapter 16 the author sometimes says ‘we’. After Paul's vision he writes, "we got ready to leave for Macedonia" (Acts 16:10), and the ‘we’ goes with Paul to Jerusalem and at last by ship to Rome (Acts 28:16). The church has taken this as a sign that the author travelled with Paul. The book ends with Paul spending "two full years in his own rented house" (Acts 28:30), and says nothing of the outcome of his trial, of his death, or of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. So it has traditionally been dated about 62.
Many scholars date Luke after Mark and after AD 70, and so place Acts in the 80s. Some also find the Paul of Acts different from the Paul of the letters, for instance in how he treats the law, and doubt that the author was his companion. Many other scholars, among them evangelicals, who stress the authority of Scripture and the telling of the gospel, read the ‘we’ passages as the author's own experience and see the story and the letters as the same Paul seen from different places.
Its events fall in the first part of the era the map under the Jesus tab calls the church (c. AD 30–90), from Pentecost to Paul's two years in Rome in the early 60s.
How it unfolds
The risen Jesus' words before his ascension give the book its plan:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Acts 1:8
| Chapters | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1–7 | Jerusalem: the ascension, the Spirit at Pentecost, the first church, Stephen's death |
| 8–12 | Judea and Samaria: Philip, Saul's conversion (9), Cornelius (10), the church at Antioch |
| 13–28 | To the ends of the earth: Paul's journeys, the council of Jerusalem (15), arrest and trials, Rome |
Key passages
Pentecost was a Jewish feast. On that day the Spirit came, and the disciples "began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them" (Acts 2:4). Peter proclaimed that God had raised the crucified Jesus, and to those cut to the heart he answered:
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
About three thousand were baptized and added to the believers that day (Acts 2:41), and the first church lived like this: "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42). On belonging to a church, see Belonging to a church in the New Believers course. Before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council, Peter spoke boldly:
Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12
As the gospel reached the Gentiles, some taught that they must be circumcised to be saved (Acts 15:1). At the council in Jerusalem Peter said, "we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are" (Acts 15:11), and the council laid no circumcision on Gentile believers.
Christians read the Spirit's coming and the tongues differently. Many Pentecostal churches take the tongues that came with the Spirit (Acts 10:46) as a pattern for believers today, and teach a baptism in the Spirit after conversion, with tongues as its first sign. Most Reformed and Baptist churches and many others see Pentecost as the once-for-all opening of a new age, and teach that every believer is baptized in the Spirit at conversion. What the Holy Spirit does, in the New Believers course, sets out both.
The book and Christ
Luke's first volume told of all that Jesus "began to do and to teach" (Acts 1:1); Acts tells what he goes on doing. Exalted to God's right hand, he "has poured out" (Acts 2:33) the promised Spirit. To Saul, who was persecuting the church, he says, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" (Acts 9:4): to strike the church is to strike him. John Wesley, who began the Methodist movement in the eighteenth century, notes that as the first volume tells the acts of Jesus Christ, this one tells "the Acts of the Holy Ghost" Wesley, done through the apostles.
Like Jesus on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:27), the apostles preach Christ from the Scriptures. Philip "began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus" (Acts 8:35), and in Rome Paul persuaded his hearers "about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets" (Acts 28:23). The book closes with Paul preaching "boldly and freely" (Acts 28:31). The story does not end; it goes on in the church that bears witness to Christ today (Sharing the gospel).
Reading it
A chapter a day takes four weeks; begin with Acts 1. Short summaries such as "the word of God continued to spread" (Acts 12:24) mark off the stages of the story. Read Paul's letters with the chapter where each church was founded: Philippians with chapter 16, 1 Thessalonians with 17, Ephesians with 19. Next comes Romans.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 6
In Acts 1:8, what is the path of witness that gives the book its plan?
- Practice 2 of 6
At Pentecost, when the people asked, "Brothers, what shall we do?", what did Peter answer?
- Practice 3 of 6
Before the Sanhedrin, of whom did Peter say there is "no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved"?
- Practice 4 of 6
What was the heart of Peter's words at the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15)?
- Practice 5 of 6
What has the church taken the ‘we’ passages from Acts 16 onward to show?
- Practice 6 of 6
Which view of the Spirit's coming in Acts is paired with the churches that teach it?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Source
- The early church, The Muratorian Fragment — An early list of New Testament books, usually dated to the late second century (some date it to the fourth); found in Milan and published by Muratori in 1740.
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.