New Testament Made Easy, Book of Acts

Welcome back! We're picking up this fall with an overview of the Book of Acts and a study of the history of the early church in general. Our live class meets on Sunday mornings at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 1730 St. Clair Rd. in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Join us in the Stephen Ministry classroom downstairs from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., in between early and late worship services.

For our first class, we got acquainted with one another and had a very brief introduction to our study of the Book of Acts. The written material we handed out is provided below.

For Sunday, September 20, please read the first two chapters of the Book of Acts in the version or translation of your choice.

Visitors and new students are always welcome! No previous experience necessary.

-- Dan and Laura Thompson-Aue

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Notes from September 13, 2009

Overview

The author opens with a prologue, usually taken to be addressed to an individual by the name of Theophilus (though this name, which translates literally as "God-lover", may be a nickname rather than a personal appellation) and references "my earlier book"—almost certainly the Gospel of Luke. This is immediately followed by a narrative which is set in Jerusalem.

Structure

The structure of the book of Luke[17] is closely tied with the structure of Acts.[18] Both books are most easily tied to the geography of the book. Luke begins with a global perspective, dating the birth of Jesus to the reign of the Roman emperors in Luke 2:1 and 3:1. From there we see Jesus' ministry move from Galilee (chapters 4–9), through Samaria and Judea (chs. 10–19), to Jerusalem where he is crucified, raised and ascended into heaven (chs. 19–24). The book of Acts follows just the opposite motion, taking the scene from Jerusalem (chs. 1–5), to Judea and Samaria (chs. 6–9), then traveling through Syria, Asia Minor, and Europe towards Rome (chs. 9–28). This chiastic structure emphasizes the centrality of the resurrection and ascension to Luke's message, while emphasizing the universal nature of the gospel.

This geographic structure is foreshadowed in Acts 1:8, where Jesus says "You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem (chs. 1–5), and in all Judea and Samaria (chs. 6–9), and even to the remotest part of the earth (chs. 10–28)." The first two sections (chs. 1–9) represent the witness of the apostles to the Jews, while the last section (chs. 10–28) represent the witness of the apostles to the Gentiles.

The book of Acts can also be broken down by the major characters of the book. While the complete title of the book is the Acts of the Apostles, really the book focuses on only two of the apostles: Peter (chs. 1–12) and Paul (chs. 13–28).
Within this structure, the sub-points of the book are marked by a series of summary statements, or what one commentary calls a "progress report". Just before the geography of the scene shifts to a new location, Luke summarizes how the gospel has impacted that location. The standard for these progress reports is in 2:46–47, where Luke describes the impact of the gospel on the new church in Jerusalem. The remaining progress reports are located:

• Acts 6:7 Impact of the gospel in Jerusalem.
• 9:31 Impact of the gospel in Judea and Samaria.
• 12:24 Impact of the gospel in Syria.
• 16:5 Impact of the gospel in Asia Minor.
• 19:20 Impact of the gospel in Europe.
• 28:31 Impact of the gospel on Rome.

This structure can be also seen as a series of concentric circles, where the gospel begins in the center, Jerusalem, and is expanding ever outward to Judea & Samaria, Syria, Asia Minor, Europe, and eventually to Rome.
It is almost universally agreed that the author of Acts also wrote the Gospel of Luke. In fact, "the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles originally constituted a two-volume work." [19] See also Luke-Acts. In some editions of the Bible, Luke-Acts has been presented as a single book. [20] The traditional view is that both books were written c. 60, though most scholars, believing the Gospel to be dependent (at least) on Mark's gospel, view the book(s) as having been written at a later date, sometime between 70 and 100.[21]