The Book of Acts

• Aka The Gospel of the Holy Spirit

• The story of Acts begins with Jesus’ appearances over a course of forty days after his resurrection.

• The disciples are told to remain in Jerusalem until they receive the power of the Holy Spirit – Jerusalem was thought

as the place to which salvation came.

Divisions in Acts

Part 1 Part 2• The Early Church in Jerusalem

– Jesus’ Ascension• Apostles wait

– Matthias replaces Judas

– Pentecost• Apostles are empowered

– Preaching of Peter– Healing and good works of

Apostles– Sharing of possessions– Stephen is martyred– Philip interprets the Bible– Peter accepts gentiles– Council of Jerusalem

• It’s All About Paul– A zealous anti-Christian

– Experiences Conversion (part 1)

Acts• The author gave not title to this book

– But later church writers dubbed it

• “Acts”

– In the sense of deeds

• Two major figures

– Paul

• Is prominent in seventeen chaps.

• is only twice called an apostle

– Peter

• Is prominent in nine or ten chaps.

• Scholars prefer the designation of: Acts of Peter and Paul

Author• The author is Luke

• Acts is also dedicated to “Theophilus”

– Who is reminded of the basic content of the first volume of the work

• “all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven.

Date

• Date: The same information used to date the Gospel of Luke applies to the Book of Acts– 85 C. E.

• The church structure/hierarchy in the Book of Acts is not highly developed.

Audience• A Gentile audience

that converted to Judaism

• They see themselves as Jews– Follow Jewish

traditions

– Worship at Jewish synagogues

Sources

• Unlike the Synoptics (4 Source Theory), the Book of Acts draws upon its own or borrowed traditions that are not traceable.

• The Book of Acts stands alone as the first “history” of the Church

General Themes in the Book of Acts

• Acts picks up after the death and resurrection of Jesus

• Acts recounts the large-scale conversions to Christianity after the death of Jesus

• Acts recounts the miraculous deeds of the Apostles

• Acts recounts the conversion of the apostle Paul and his missionary activity (compare to the letters of Paul)

Acts in Relation to the Gospel of Luke

• Acts is the second volume of a two-volume work (Luke/Acts) that were meant to be circulated together

• Both Luke and Acts are written to the same recipient (Theophilus)

• Although circulated together, Luke and Acts represent two differing types of literature:

• 1. The Gospel of Luke- life of Jesus• 2. Acts, in contrast, sketches the history of the Church after

the death of Jesus• For the Gospel, the ascension visibly terminates the activity

of Jesus on earth; for Acts, it will prepare the apostles to be witnesses to him to the ends of the earth.

Early Christianity : A Movement within Judaism

The Way• A term used to describe those

who were followers of Christ– Always thought of themselves as

Jews following the Messiah as the prophets foretold

• Affirmed the promise of the Messiaho Foretold by the prophetso Recognized Jesus as that Messiah

o Did not reject the Law or the prophets or the history of the Israelites.

Acts: after the crucifixion

• The disciples were afraid after Jesus’ crucifixion– They might be crucified, too– Why did he die – was it all for

nothing?

• The risen Jesus reassured the disciples that death had not won

• He promised he would come again

• But the disciples did not know what to do, what was next– Hiding or execution

• Where would they get the courage to preach the Good News?.....

Theme in Acts: Pentecost• 10 days after the Ascension, the disciples gathered for Shavuot

(Jewish Pentecost) –Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Commandments to Moses at Mt. Sinai

• Result of experienceoMoses experiences God directly•10 Commandments + all other commandments = 613•Jews had a renewed identity of being God’s people, whom God had released from bondage and would reclaim Canaan

Pentecost

Back to the disciples:• They are celebrating Shavuot

when, suddenly:o A violent wind blew through

the roomo Tongues of fire appeared above

their headso All were filled with the Holy

Spirito All began to speak other

languages (in tongues)o The disciples experienced first

hand the power of God – Holy Spirit

The coming of the Holy Spirit

Result of this experienceoKnew that God was calling them to a special mission: to preach the KofGoWere no longer afraid of persecution or death.oRenewed their identity as followers of Jesus – The WayoEvent known as the Birthday of Church

• Shortly after Pentecost – it is said that 3000 people

were baptized

– Peter led the Baptisms

– making Peter a central figure in the eyes of Jesus’ followers.

– Even though they were baptized, they still saw themselves as “Jews”.

• Worshipped in temple, synagogue, and homes