commentary on the book of acts Archives

The Book of Acts also know as Acts of the Apostles, frequently alluded to just as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; it recounts the establishing of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire.

Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a two-section work, Luke–Acts, by the same author, generally dated to around 80–90 AD. The initial segment, the Gospel of Luke, tells how God satisfied his arrangement for the world’s salvation through the life, passing, and restoration of Jesus of Nazareth, the guaranteed Messiah.

Acts proceeds with the account of Christianity in the first century, starting with Jesus’ Ascension to Heaven. The early sections, set in Jerusalem, portray the Day of Pentecost (the happening to the Holy Spirit) and the development of the congregation in Jerusalem. At first the Jews are responsive to the Christian message, however soon they betray the devotees of Jesus. Dismisses by the Jews, under the direction of the Apostle Peter the message is taken to the Gentiles. The later sections recount Paul’s change, his main goal in Asia Minor and the Aegean, lastly his detainment in Rome, where, as the book closes, he anticipates trial.

Luke–Acts is an endeavour to answer a philosophical issue, in particular how the Messiah of the Jews came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the appropriate response it gives, and its focal topic, is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles on the grounds that the Jews rejected it.

Luke–Acts can be likewise observed as a resistance of (or “conciliatory sentiment” for) the Jesus development routed to the Jews: the majority of the discourses and sermons in Acts are routed to Jewish gatherings of people, with the Romans including as outer judges on debate concerning Jewish traditions and law.

On the one hand Luke depicts the Christians as an order of the Jews, and along these lines qualified for legitimate assurance as a perceived religion; on the other, Luke appears to be indistinct with regards to the future God plans for Jews and Christians, commending the Jewishness of Jesus and his prompt devotees while additionally focusing on how the Jews had rejected God’s guaranteed Messiah.

Book of Acts Structure

Acts has two key structural principles.

The first is the geographic movement from Jerusalem, centre of God’s Covenant people, the Jews, to Rome, centre of the Gentile world. This structure reaches back to the author’s preceding work, the Gospel of Luke, and is signaled by parallel scenes such as Paul’s utterance in Acts 19:21, which echoes Jesus’s words 9:51 (Paul has Rome as his destination, as Jesus had Jerusalem).
The second key element is the roles of Peter and Paul, the first representing the Jewish Christian church, the second the mission to the Gentiles.

Transition: reprise of the preface addressed to Theophilus and the closing events of the gospel (Acts 1–1:26)
Petrine Christianity: the Jewish church from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 2:1–12:25)

2:1–8:1 — beginnings in Jerusalem
8:2–40 — the church expands to Samaria and beyond
9:1–31 — conversion of Paul
9:32–12:25 — the conversion of Cornelius, and the formation of the Antioch church
Pauline Christianity: the Gentile mission from Antioch to Rome (Acts 13:1–28:21)
13:1–14:28 — the Gentile mission is promoted from Antioch
15:1–35 — the Gentile mission is confirmed in Jerusalem
15:36–28:31 — the Gentile mission, climaxing in Paul’s passion story in Rome (21:17–28:31)