book of Acts

What we believe

Around the middle of the first century, the preaching of the gospel became more solidified by the documentation of important doctrines in letters or scrolls that were circulated throughout the churches. James’ letter that was addressed to the twelve tribes that were scattered abroad is thought to be the first of those types of documents. A dispute about the Pharisees’ requirement to be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:5) led to a more intentional effort by Jesus’ apostles to make clear the teachings of Christianity. Act 15:11 states plainly, “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved.” The Greek word translated grace, charis (khar’-ece) refers to “the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life” (G5485). One way to describe grace would be an action of God that removes the misery of guilt.

Peter, who was probably considered to be the final authority on Jesus’ gospel message, stepped in to clarify the issue about Jews and Gentiles being treated equally. Peter reminded the other apostles and elders of the church in Jerusalem of his experience with the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:17-48). He said, “Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:7-9). The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians expounded on the concept of grace and what it meant to be saved by faith. He stated, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The idea that salvation was something that anyone could receive without doing anything to earn it was very difficult for Jewish believers to accept. The Jewish religion referred to as Judaism emphasized the importance of keeping the Ten Commandments. In their struggle to abandon the rules of their former religion, James suggested a compromise. He said, “Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions to idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood” (Acts 15:19-20). These requirements have little relevance to us today, except for the sin of fornication. The Greek word translated fornication, porneia (por-ni’-ah) is typically associated with adultery and incest, but from a broader perspective porneia refers to anything that is considered to be illegal sexual behavior, including pornography and sex outside of marriage.

The problem with the stipulations the Jewish leaders placed on believers in Jesus Christ was that it distracted people from the real purpose of salvation, to obtain God’s forgiveness for the sins we commit. Paul’s letter to the Romans emphasized the guilty state of all who are unsaved. He stated, “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:9-12).

 

A spiritual revolution (part one)

Paul’s first missionary journey quickly changed the focus of his attention. Initially, Paul followed the course of Jesus’ apostles and taught in Jewish synagogues about the fulfilled promise of a Savior for God’s chosen people (Acts 13:23), but then he turned to the Gentiles and faced a great deal of persecution from the Jews. Paul’s straightforward message was good news to the Gentiles because they understood they were being included in God’s plan of salvation. After hearing his teaching in Antioch in Pisidia, the Gentiles wanted Paul to preach to them the next week also and Luke reported, “the next sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming” (Acts 13:44).

Paul and Barnabas’ objective in turning to the Gentiles was to fulfill God’s great commission to take Jesus’ gospel to the whole world (Matthew 28:19). Their succinct explanation of the situation showed that Paul and Barnabas were only interested in doing God’s will. Speaking to the Jews in Antioch in Pisidia, Luke reported, “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:46-47). Paul and Barnabas placed the blame on the Jews for their rejection of God’s free gift of salvation. The Greek word translated unworthy, axios has to do with deserving God’s blessing (G514). Although the Jews were destined for salvation, their rejection of Jesus caused them to lose the preferential treatment they previously had through the Old Covenant. According to the prophet Jeremiah, Israel will be restored at some point in the future and will serve God as they were originally intended to (Jeremiah 30:9).

Unlike Peter’s experience with the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:17-48), Paul and Barnabas’ impact on the Gentiles in Antioch in Pisidia appeared to be the result of the moving of the Holy Spirit rather than an answer to prayer. Luke said of Paul’s message of salvation, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). The expression “ordained to eternal life” indicates that “eternal life involves both human faith and divine appointment” (note on Acts 10:48). The Greek word translated ordained, tasso means “to arrange in an orderly manner, i.e. assign or dispose (to a certain position or lot)” (G5021). Tasso is associated with positions of military and civil authority over others and is used in Luke 7:8 to describe the assignment of soldiers to a particular location and activity. The centurion stated, “For I also am a man set (tasso) under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it” (Luke 7:8). Therefore, it seems likely that God’s divine appointment of certain individuals to salvation has something to do with spiritual warfare and the orderly government of his kingdom.

Breaking down barriers

One of the obstacles that prevented the gospel from spreading outside the borders of Jerusalem was the prejudices that existed between Jews and Gentiles. Centuries of isolation caused the Jews to view the nations around them as a threat to their identity and God-centered way of living. Several years after Jesus commanded his disciples to take the gospel to all nations (Matthew 28:19), the farthest anyone had traveled from Jerusalem to do so was about 30 miles (Philip’s and Peter’s Missionary Journeys, p. 1570). The Apostle Peter’s view of the outside world seemed to be skewed by a reluctance to accept the freedom from rituals that Jesus’ salvation by grace afforded him. Peter clung tightly to the rigorous rules of the Mosaic Law in spite of his experience of living in close fellowship with Jesus during his three-year ministry on Earth. In order to break down the racial barriers that were preventing the gospel from spreading further, God orchestrated a mission that caused Peter to step outside of his comfort zone and preach the gospel to a group of Gentiles.

Peter’s adventure began with a visit to the city of Joppa where he raised a woman from the dead (Acts 9:40). Afterward, Peter decided to stay in Joppa, the main seaport of Judea, which was located about 38 miles west of Jerusalem (Acts 9:43 and note on Acts 9:36). While Peter was there, a man named Cornelius, who was identified by Luke as a Roman centurion, had a vision in which an angel of God spoke to him these words, “Cornelius, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose  house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do” (Acts 10:3, 5-6). Cornelius’ home town of Cesarea was located 30 miles north of Joppa (note on Acts 10:1). In obedience to the message he received, Cornelius sent two of his household servants, and a devout soldier to Joppa, to bring Peter back to his home (Acts 10:7-8). Luke tells us:

On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the house to pray about the sixth hour: and he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. (Acts 10:9-16)

Luke’s account of Peter’s experience suggests that he was in an altered state of consciousness. The phrase “fell into a trance” (Acts 10:10) describes “A state of mind God produced and used to communicate with Peter. It was not merely imagination or a dream. Peter’s consciousness was heightened to receive the vision from God” (note on Acts 10:10). Luke went on to say:

Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate, and called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee: arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.

Apparently, the supernatural vision Peter had while he was in a trance was used by God to overcome his resistance to interacting with Gentiles. Afterward, when Peter received instruction from the Holy Spirit to go with the men that Cornelius had sent to get him, Peter went away with them (Acts 10:23).

 

Chosen by God

Saul of Tarsus, who later became known as the Apostle Paul, started out as a vicious enemy of the church that was located in Jerusalem. When Stephen was martyred for his candid preaching of the gospel, it says in Acts 7:58 that those who stoned him “laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.” Saul was thought of as the “arch-persecutor” of the church (Roman Damascus, p. 1572) because of his violent treatment of believers. Saul’s plan to stamp-out Christianity before it was spread abroad caused him to seek letters from the high priest to the synagogues in Damascus “that if he found any of this way; whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2). Saul’s reference to Christianity as “the way” may have been meant as a derogatory comment against its gospel message. The night before he was crucified, Jesus told his disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). It is likely Saul had heard Jesus’ words repeated by his apostles and was determined to prove them wrong.

Luke’s account of Saul’s conversion showed that he was stopped dead in his tracks as he proceeded to carry out his plan of preventing the gospel from spreading through Damascus, the hub of a vast commercial network with far-flung lines of caravan trade reaching into north Syria, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Persia, and Arabia (Roman Damascus, p. 1572). Luke said:

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutes: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (Acts 9:3-5)

Jesus’ message to Saul was intended to make him aware of the fact that he wasn’t doing God’s work, he was hindering it. The statement “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” could be simply translated as “Saul, you’re going the wrong way!” Saul’s immediate submission to Jesus’ authority is apparent in his question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).

Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus resulted in him being blind for three days until a man named Ananias came and laid his hands on him (Acts 9:9, 17). During that time, people may have wondered if Saul had lost him mind or was having a nervous break down. There was no apparent explanation as to why Saul suddenly changed his mind about arresting the Christians in Damascus. The only one who knew what was going on was a man named Ananias, who had received a message from the Lord about Saul’s conversion. Ananias was directed to go to Saul’s location and was told to put his hands on him so that he could recover his sight (Acts 9:11-12), but Luke indicated Ananias was reluctant to obey the Lord’s command because of Saul’s bad reputation. He said:

Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake. (Acts 9:13-16)

 

Preaching the gospel

The arrival of the Holy Spirit was marked by an unusual display of spiritual capability. Luke said, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4). Luke’s phrase “as the Spirit gave them utterance” meant that their spirits were completely under the control of the Holy Spirit; the words they spoke were His words, not their own (note on Acts 2:4). The fact that the Holy Spirit enabled these men to speak in languages they had not previously learned might not seem all that impressive, but it had particular relevance here because as a result of this miracle there were numerous people of different nationalities and languages that gathered together afterward who were able to pass on the gospel message they heard more effectively (Acts 2:5-12).

Peter’s Pentecostal sermon was the first instance of anyone preaching the gospel after Jesus’s death and resurrection. His message, which was probably delivered to an audience of at least ten thousand people, focused on the fulfillment of prophecy and the bold declaration that “Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32). Peter concluded his sermon with this statement, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Although Peter’s cutting remarks may have been offensive to some of the people that were gathered together to listen to him preach, his message resulted in about three thousand people accepting Jesus as their savior (Acts 2:41) and a remarkable transformation began to take place in Jerusalem. Luke described what was happening with a simple formula that is still followed today by some fundamentalist churches. Luke indicated the body of believers “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). In other words, they gathered together regularly to hear the gospel preached to them, they celebrated communion, and collectively prayed for each other.

An unusual aspect of the early church’s behavior was their communal living. Luke said, “all that believed were together, and had all things in common; and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need” (Acts 2:44-45). The purpose of this type of living arrangement may have been to facilitate the preaching of the gospel. Since men were typically the only members of the household to earn a living and they had the primary responsibility of preaching the gospel in the early days of the church, sharing resources enabled more families to survive with less income coming in. Even though people weren’t forced to sell their homes and give the money to the church (Acts 5:4), there may have been a collective movement that made it seem like everyone was expected to. Luke’s account of the situation pointed out that everyone “did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,” meaning one of the side effects or end results of preaching the gospel was thankfulness and unity among believers.

An amazing turnaround

The night that Jesus was betrayed in the garden of Gethsemane Matthew reported, “Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled” (Matthew 26:56). The Greek word translated forsook, aphiemi (af-ee´-ay-mee) is used in 1 Corinthians 7:11-13 of a husband divorcing his wife and in Matthew 4:22 of James and his brother John leaving their ship and father behind to follow Jesus (G863). Therefore it seems likely, when Jesus’ disciples abandoned him in the garden of Gethsemane, they didn’t expect to ever see him again; but after several days of consecutive appearances, the disciples became convinced that Jesus was alive again, and that their mission to take his gospel to the whole world was once more their number one priority.

As the book of Acts opens, Luke describes the scene in Jerusalem as being completely turned around from the previous weeks when Jesus was arrested and crucified. After the apostles saw Jesus taken up to heaven, Luke said, “Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Luke 1:12-14).

The phrase Luke used “continued with one accord” (Acts 1:14) means that everyone was in agreement about what they were going to do next. Today we might say, everyone was on the same page. Luke’s use of the Greek word homothumadon suggests there was an emotional element that connected the group of believers that were gathered together in the upper room. One of the components of the word homothumadon, thumos (thoo-mos´) denotes passion and can be translated as wrath. Thumos is described as “incipient displeasure fermenting in the mind” (G2372). It’s possible this group had banded together to formulate a plan of civil disobedience in order to turn the tide against the Jewish authorities that had plotted to kill Jesus.

One of the factors that changed the circumstances of Jesus’ followers was the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8). Jesus used two different words to describe the power of his Father and the power that his disciples would receive through the Holy Spirit. The Father’s power, exousia means ability or the authority to do something (G1849). The power that would come upon the believers was dunamis which means force or more specifically, “miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself)” (G1411).

The connection between exousia power and dunamis power can be found in the root word dunamai (doo´-nam-ahee) which means “to be able or possible” (G1410). Jesus used the word dunamai when he asked two blind men that wanted him to show them mercy, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). After they responded yes, Matthew reported, “Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29). On another occasion, Jesus told the father of a demon possessed boy, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23). Jesus’ instruction to his disciples to wait for the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5) meant that they had not yet received the power that was going to be available to them. As they sat huddled in their upper room, thinking about what they were going to do next, Jesus’ apostles probably had no idea that the Holy Spirit was about to turn their world upside down.