Acts Verse by Verse

By Grant R. Osborne

The events in the book of Acts changed our world forever.

Following his account of Jesus' life and ministry in his Gospel, Luke recounts the formation of the early church in Acts. And while the apostles appear to be at the center of this narrative, all of their work is done through the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. In every chapter in Acts, we see Spirit-empowered apostles sharing the gospel reality of the risen Christ to the ends of the earth.

In Acts Verse by Verse, Grant Osborne guides readers through these crucial events in history. He shows us that by sending his Holy Spirit, the risen and exalted Lord was acting through the apostles--and through us today--to transform human history. Osborne skillfully explains the significance of these events and shows us how we can draw inspiration from them today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Release date: Mar 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781683592754

Grant R. Osborne

Grant R. Osborne (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen) is professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He also serves as series editor for the IVP New Testament Commentary Series, for which he contributed the volume on Romans. He has also written on Revelation for the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.

Book preview

ACTS

Verse by Verse

GRANT R. OSBORNE

Acts: Verse by Verse

Osborne New Testament Commentaries

Copyright 2019 Grant Osborne

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [e-mail].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Print ISBN: 9781683592747

Digital ISBN: 9781683592754

Lexham Editorial Team: Elliot Ritzema, Jeff Reimer, Danielle Thevenaz

Cover Design: Christine Christophersen

CONTENTS

Series Preface

Introduction to Acts

Glossary

Bibliography

Subject and Author Index

Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Literature

SERIES PREFACE

There are two authors of every biblical book: the human author who penned the words, and the divine Author who revealed and inspired every word. While God did not dictate the words to the biblical writers, he did guide their minds so that they wrote their own words under the influence of the Holy Spirit. If Christians really believed what they said when they called the Bible the word of God, a lot more would be engaged in serious Bible study. As divine revelation, the Bible deserves, indeed demands, to be studied deeply.

This means that when we study the Bible, we should not be satisfied with a cursory reading in which we insert our own meanings into the text. Instead, we must always ask what God intended to say in every passage. But Bible study should not be a tedious duty we have to perform. It is a sacred privilege and a joy. The deep meaning of any text is a buried treasure; all the riches are waiting under the surface. If we learned there was gold deep under our backyard, nothing would stop us from getting the tools we needed to dig it out. Similarly, in serious Bible study all the treasures and riches of God are waiting to be dug up for our benefit.

This series of commentaries on the New Testament is intended to supply these tools and help the Christian understand more deeply the God-intended meaning of the Bible. Each volume walks the reader verse-by-verse through a book with the goal of opening up for us what God led Matthew or Paul or John to say to their readers. My goal in this series is to make sense of the historical and literary background of these ancient works, to supply the information that will enable the modern reader to understand exactly what the biblical writers were saying to their first-century audience. I want to remove the complexity of most modern commentaries and provide an easy-to-read explanation of the text.

But it is not enough to know what the books of the New Testament meant back then; we need help in determining how each text applies to our lives today. It is one thing to see what Paul was saying to his readers in Rome or Philippi, and quite another thing to see the significance of his words for us. So at key points in the commentary, I will attempt to help the reader discover areas in our modern lives that the text is addressing.

I envision three main uses for this series:

1.Devotional Scripture reading. Many Christians read rapidly through the Bible for devotions in a one-year program. That is extremely helpful to gain a broad overview of the Bible’s story. But I strongly encourage another kind of devotional reading—namely, to study deeply a single segment of the biblical text and try to understand it. These commentaries are designed to enable that. The commentary is based on the NIV and explains the meaning of the verses, enabling the modern reader to read a few pages at a time and pray over the message.

2.Church Bible studies. I have written these commentaries also to serve as guides for group Bible studies. Many Bible studies today consist of people coming together and sharing what they think the text is saying. There are strengths in such an approach, but also weaknesses. The problem is that God inspired these scriptural passages so that the church would understand and obey what he intended the text to say. Without some guidance into the meaning of the text, we are prone to commit heresy. At the very least, the leaders of the Bible study need to have a commentary so they can guide the discussion in the direction God intended. In my own church Bible studies, I have often had the class read a simple exposition of the text so they can all discuss the God-given message, and that is what I hope to provide here.

3.Sermon aids. These commentaries are also intended to help pastors faithfully exposit the text in a sermon. Busy pastors often have too little time to study complex thousand-page commentaries on biblical passages. As a result, it is easy to spend little time in Bible study and thereby to have a shallow sermon on Sunday. As I write this series, I am drawing on my own experience as a pastor and interim pastor, asking myself what I would want to include in a sermon.

Overall, my goal in these commentaries is simple: I would like them to be interesting and exciting adventures into New Testament texts. My hope is that readers will discover the riches of God that lie behind every passage in his divine word. I hope every reader will fall in love with God’s word as I have and begin a similar lifelong fascination with these eternal truths!

INTRODUCTION TO ACTS

The historical books of the Old Testament are important reading for us because they detail the historical development of God’s people down through the centuries and help us to understand how God watched over and guided his chosen people, showing that he, not the world empires, is in control of history. That continues in the New Testament, with the Gospels paralleling the Pentateuch and Acts paralleling the historical books. God is Lord of history, and all the opposition that the world can throw at his people is ultimately inconsequential. The term salvation history refers to God’s controlling of history in order to bring his salvation to fallen humankind. So Luke’s monumental work is not built on Greco-Roman histories like those written by Thucydides or Suetonius (although he does draw on them somewhat) so much as Jewish works like the Pentateuch or Historical Books or later Jewish writings like the books of Maccabees.

Most ancient books trace the acts of heroes like Odysseus, Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar. Luke’s is unique because these are the acts of a movement. As the second part of a two-volume work, it is a historical narrative tracing how the Christ followers built on their founder and became a worldwide force. They began as a fairly narrowly conceived Jewish sect and by the end of the book had expanded to the ends of the earth (1:8). This work tells how that came to pass in just a little over thirty years, from the ascension of Jesus (AD 30) to the imprisonment of Paul in Rome (AD 60–62).

Amazingly, all this is accomplished in the midst of incredible adversity and opposition. Virtually an entire nation turned against and sought to eradicate one small religious movement and ended up empowering a world-changing force. Thus the book should be labeled not the Acts of the Apostles but the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. It is the Triune Godhead who is the central figure in this book. The progression of these acts is both geographical (from Jerusalem, to Judea and Galilee, to Samaria, to Antioch, to Asia Minor, to Macedonia and Achaia, to the ends of the earth, 1:8) and personal (from the Twelve to Stephen to Peter to Paul), as God orchestrates all the details.

AUTHOR

Luke and Acts are a two-part series and thus have the same author. Like the Historical Books of the Old Testament and the four Gospels, the book of Acts doesn’t name its author, undoubtedly to emphasize that the true Author was God himself. Still, from the outset the church fathers unanimously claimed that its author was Luke, who also wrote the Third Gospel and was the associate of Paul. While this doesn’t prove it, their unanimous witness should be taken seriously. The primary evidence is found in the we passages of Acts (16:10–17; 20:5–16; 21:1–18; 27:1–28:16), those parts where the author includes himself as part of the action in the scene. It is highly unlikely that these were fictive creations inserted for no particular reason. The purpose of this material is to show that Luke was not just using eyewitness testimony from others but was one of the eyewitnesses himself, having firsthand knowledge of these events.

When one considers the associates of Paul—Silas, Timothy, Aristarchus, Demas, Epaphras, John Mark, and others—Luke fits the part by far the best. His classical Greek style of writing and his hometown of Troas would indicate that he was most likely a Gentile, though the influence of the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) on his writing and his theological nuances have led several to think of him as a Jewish Christian. I prefer the former, though he may well have been a God-fearer (a Gentile who worshipped the Jewish God) before becoming a Christ follower, as there are quite a few Jewish traits in his writing. His history writing shows both Gentile and Jewish style. He was a physician by trade (Col 4:14) and became a close friend as well as associate of Paul, staying with him during his imprisonment (2 Tim 4:11). We don’t know what led him to write his two-volume masterwork, but it is likely that he did his extensive research, gathering information from eyewitnesses (Luke 1:1–4), throughout Paul’s imprisonments in Caesarea and Rome.

DATE

The dating of Acts is closely aligned with the dating of Luke, so to get a fuller picture please consult the introduction to the commentary on Luke in this series. Scholars have proposed three possible dates for the writing of Acts. (1) Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century commentators often argued for an early second-century dating. A school calling itself tendency criticism (1850s) used the dialectical methods of Hegel to argue that there was conflict between a thesis (Jewish Christianity/Peter) and an antithesis (Gentile Christianity/Paul) that produced a synthesis, evident in what they viewed as second-century works like John and Acts. This speculative reworking of history is no longer accepted, for it was built on false premises. Others who adopt a later date have taken a Darwinian approach and believe Christianity evolved from the melding of influences in the Jewish and Hellenistic¹ worlds surrounding it. In this reconstruction, the author of Acts was an editor who chronicled this lengthy process. However, if God was directing history and created the Christian movement, as the book of Acts itself attests, there is no need for a decades-long evolutionary set of changes.

The other two possibilities are far more viable. (2) Many argue that it was written before Paul’s death, probably at the time where Acts ends, around AD 62. The absence of references to the results of Paul’s Roman imprisonment (released or executed) or of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 are unlikely if the work was written later. Acts presents a positive picture of Roman justice that would have rung less true a decade later, after the persecution of Christians by Nero, the destruction of the temple, and systematic Roman persecution.

(3) The third possibility is that Luke-Acts was written around AD 75–85. This is based on the assumption that Luke built on the Gospel of Mark, which itself was written AD 65–70, and that the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 is presupposed in Luke 19:41–44 and 21:20. However, if we accept the possibility that Jesus was using predictive prophecy in his Olivet Discourse recorded in Luke 21 and its parallels, then Luke and Acts do not have to be written after AD 70. I find the view that Luke-Acts was written during Paul’s imprisonment compelling and so prefer the early date (AD 62).

HISTORY AND THEOLOGY IN LUKE-ACTS

Even though Luke is called the primary historian of the early church, it has been almost a fad in scholarly circles to doubt the historical trustworthiness of Luke-Acts and to argue that they are largely fictional stories that were created as the early church tried to defend itself in the Greco-Roman world. This scholarly view assumes a work must be either history or theology, and that the theological core of these writings diminishes their historical worth.

Alternatively we could see Luke-Acts as both history and theology, with a blend of the two functioning equally in the production of the work. Ancient Judaism strongly stressed history, and Christianity was more Jewish than Gentile in outlook and perspective. If God is involved in history, as Christians strongly believe he is, then it is false to separate history and theology, since theological explanations simply highlight the significance of historical events. Miracles, for example, do not happen outside history but simply explain the supernatural acting within history.

As a test case, let’s consider the speeches in Acts, since nearly a third of the book (300 of the 1,000 verses) occurs in speeches. It is common for critical scholars to assume Luke created these speeches, thinking they were what would likely be said on each occasion. However, it is likely that Luke assimilated what was said in speeches and summarized material he received in notes taken during those speeches. There is quite a bit of evidence that the apostles were note-takers (especially Matthew), and Luke as a historian would have taken care to speak to people who had been present at the events. There is no evidence he made up accounts and created speeches wholesale. Furthermore, there is evidence that ancient historians like Thucydides tried to be as accurate as possible when re-creating speeches.² While they certainly used paraphrase and summary, they still sought accuracy. Truth had absolute priority over the fabrication of details for the sake of the narrative. In Luke 1:1–4, Luke stresses how carefully he sought eyewitness sources behind everything he wrote.

THE PURPOSE OF ACTS

Luke’s purposes are closely tied to his theological emphases, but they are not identical. I find five major purposes for this work:

1.To preach the gospel. Luke wanted to proclaim the good news of Christ by relating its history in the early church. It is mainly a historical work showing how the presence of the Holy Spirit moved the people of God from a small Jewish sect in Jerusalem to a worldwide force bringing the gospel of salvation to a lost world.

2.To trace the Spirit’s activity and show the divine impetus behind the church’s mission. Here Luke is a theologian of salvation history as well as the father of church history. The goal of this book is to forge a new movement whose mission is to bring God’s truths to all the world.

3.To defend the faith. This is an apologetic work with two audiences: to defend Christianity against Jewish antipathy and the demands of the Judaizers, and to show the tolerant attitude of Roman officials, proving that Christianity was no political danger to Rome and should be tolerated.

4.To bring together the Jewish and Gentile elements of the church into one united new Israel. Both sides need to understand that God’s will is for them to come together and form the new messianic community together.

5.To teach the historical beginnings of the church for the benefit of new converts and to tell those in Jerusalem about the spread of the church into Gentile lands.

OUTLINE

I. Preliminary events to the world mission (1:1–8:3)

A.A new end and a new beginning (1:1–11)

1.Prologue (1:1–2)

2.The commissioning of the apostles (1:3–8)

3.The ascension of Jesus (1:9–11)

B.Reconstituting the Twelve (1:12–26)

1.The ten days in the upper room (1:12–14)

2.The end of Judas (1:15–20)

3.The replacement of Judas (1:21–26)

C.Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit (2:1–47)

1.The Pentecost event (2:1–13)

a.The setting: Pentecost in Jerusalem (2:1)

b.The descent of the Spirit (2:2–4)

c.The reaction of the crowds (2:5–13)

2.Peter’s Pentecost sermon (2:14–36)

a.Introduction (2:14–15)

b.The fulfillment of Joel 2:28–32 (2:16–21)

c.The basis: the death and resurrection of Jesus (2:22–36)

1)Introduction: Jesus of Nazareth (2:22)

2)The death and resurrection and Jewish guilt (2:23–24)

3)Old Testament prophecies fulfilled (2:25–35)

4)Conclusion: Lord and Messiah (2:36)

3.Call to repentance (2:37–41)

4.Life in the Jewish Christian church (2:42–47)

a.Four pillars of the church (2:42)

b.Results in the life of the church (2:43–47)

D.Opening events in the new messianic community (3:1–26)

1.Healing of the lame man (3:1–10)

2.Peter’s temple sermon (3:11–26)

a.Peter responds to their astonishment (3:11–12)

b.The true source of the power: God and Jesus (3:13–16)

c.Call for repentance (3:17–21)

d.The promises of Scripture (3:22–26)

E.Persecution and power: The first stage (4:1–22)

1.Peter and John arrested (4:1–4)

2.Peter’s defense before the Sanhedrin (4:5–12)

a.A hearing is called (4:5–7)

b.Peter’s defense (4:8–12)

3.Freed with a warning (4:13–22)

F.Community life of Jewish Christianity (4:23–5:16)

1.Prayer for greater boldness (4:23–31)

a.The occasion: community prayer (4:23–24a)

b.Plea for boldness and power (4:24b–30)

c.God’s response to the prayer (4:31)

2.A spirit of giving versus greed (4:32–5:11)

a.Community life (4:32–37)

b.Ananias and Sapphira (5:1–11)

3.Healings and growth (5:12–16)

G.Persecution: The second stage (5:17–42)

1.Arrest and deliverance (5:17–20)

2.Successful witness and failure of the authorities (5:21–26)

3.Defense before the Sanhedrin (5:27–32)

4.The advice of Gamaliel (5:33–39)

5.The apostles continue to witness (5:40–42)

H.Final stages of the Palestinian church (6:1–8:3)

1.The appointment of the seven (6:1–7)

2.The ministry of Stephen in Jerusalem (6:8–15)

3.Stephen’s defense (7:1–53)

a.The high priest’s question (7:1)

b.The patriarchal period (7:2–16)

1)Abraham (7:2–8)

2)Joseph (7:9–16)

c.Moses (7:17–43)

1)The Hebrews in Egypt (7:17–19)

2)Moses’ childhood (7:20–22)

3)Rejection and fleeing to Midian (7:23–29)

4)Commissioning at the burning bush (7:30–34)

5)Failure in the wilderness (7:35–43)

d.The tabernacle and the temple (7:44–50)

e.Conclusion: Israel indicted (7:51–53)

4.The death of Stephen (7:54–8:1a)

5.Persecution and the beginning of mission (8:1b–3)

II. Steps to the Gentile mission (8:4–12:25)

A.Ministry in Samaria (8:4–25)

1.Evangelistic ministry among the Samaritans (8:4–11)

2.The conversion of many Samaritans (8:12–13)

3.Peter and John sent to Samaria (8:14–25)

a.Receiving the Holy Spirit (8:14–17)

b.Confrontation with Simon (8:18–24)

c.Summary: ministry in Samaria (8:25)

B.The Ethiopian eunuch (8:26–40)

1.Setting: an official on the road (8:26–28)

2.Encounter with Philip (8:29–31)

3.The gospel from Isaiah 53 (8:32–35)

4.The baptism of the eunuch (8:36–38)

5.The continued travels of the two (8:39–40)

C.The conversion of Saul (9:1–30)

1.The process of his conversion (9:1–19a)

a.Saul the persecutor (9:1–2)

b.The Damascus road vision (9:3–9)

c.Ananias and Saul’s new birth (9:10–19a)

2.Ministry in Damascus (9:19b–25)

3.First trip to Jerusalem (9:26–30)

D.Peter’s ministry in coastal cities (9:31–43)

1.Summary: a church growing in peace and numbers (9:31)

2.Lydda: healing a lame man (9:32–35)

3.Joppa: raising one who has died (9:36–43)

E.Cornelius—the gospel to the Gentiles (10:1–11:18)

1.Preparatory visions (10:1–16)

a.The vision of Cornelius (10:1–8)

b.The vision of Peter (10:9–16)

2.The encounter with Cornelius (10:17–33)

a.The messengers arrive (10:17–23a)

b.The meeting with Cornelius (10:23b–33)

3.Peter’s sermon (10:34–43)

a.Theme: the impartiality of God (10:34–35)

b.The means: the work of Christ (10:36–41)

c.The implications: Jesus as Judge and Savior (10:42–43)

4.The Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit (10:44–48)

5.Justifying Gentile conversions to the church in Jerusalem (11:1–18)

a.Criticism of Peter (11:1–3)

b.Peter retells the Cornelius story (11:4–17)

c.The Jewish Christian reaction (11:18)

F.The church at Antioch (11:19–30)

1.Barnabas and Saul arrive (11:19–26)

2.The famine relief (11:27–30)

G.Persecution under Herod (12:1–25)

1.The martyrdom of James (12:1–2)

2.The arrest and escape of Peter (12:3–19)

a.Arrest and imprisonment (12:3–5)

b.Miraculous escape (12:6–11)

c.Reactions to the stupendous event (12:12–19)

3.Herod Agrippa’s death (12:20–23)

4.The mission of the church (12:24–25)

III. The missionary journeys (13:1–21:16)

A.Mission in Cyprus and Galatia (13:1–15:35)

1.Mission in Cyprus (13:1–12)

a.A commissioning service (13:1–3)

b.Mission in Cyprus (13:4–6a)

c.Encounter with Elymas Bar-Jesus (13:6b–12)

2.Mission in Pisidian Antioch (13:13–52)

a.Journey from Paphos to Pisidia (13:13–14a)

b.Paul’s sermon in Antioch (13:14b–41)

1)The setting: the synagogue (13:14b–15)

2)Survey of history from the patriarchs to David (13:16–22)

3)Fulfillment in Jesus and John the Baptist (13:23–25)

4)Further fulfillment in Christ (13:26–37)

5)Call to repentance and faith in Christ (13:38–41)

c.Results: division among the people (13:42–52)

3.Mission in Iconium (14:1–7)

4.Mission in Lystra (14:8–20)

a.Healing of the lame man (14:8–10)

b.The reaction of the crowds (14:11–13)

c.The response of Paul and Barnabas (14:14–18)

d.Rejection and stoning (14:19–20)

5.Ministry in Derbe and then backtracking to Antioch of Syria (14:21–28)

a.Follow-up in the three cities (14:21–23)

b.Mission activity in Perga (14:24–25)

c.Return to Syrian Antioch (14:26–28)

6.The Jerusalem Council (15:1–35)

a.Delegation to Jerusalem (15:1–5)

b.The council and Peter’s speech (15:6–11)

c.The speech by Barnabas and Paul (15:12)

d.James settles the issue (15:13–21)

e.Letter to the Gentile churches (15:22–29)

f.Reception of the letter in Antioch (15:30–35)

B.Mission in Macedonia and Achaia (15:36–18:22)

1.Paul and Barnabas separate (15:36–41)

2.Revisiting Galatia: Timothy joins (16:1–5)

3.Troas and the call to Macedonia (16:6–10)

4.Mission in Philippi (16:11–40)

a.The trip to Philippi (16:11–12)

b.The conversion of Lydia (16:13–15)

c.The possessed slave girl (16:16–18)

d.The jailing of Paul and Silas (16:19–34)

e.Freedom and departure (16:35–40)

5.Mission in Thessalonica (17:1–9)

6.Mission in Berea (17:10–15)

7.Mission in Athens (17:16–34)

a.Setting in the synagogue and marketplace (17:16–17)

b.Debates with philosophers and the Areopagus (17:18–21)

c.The Areopagus address (17:22–31)

d.Reaction and aftermath (17:32–34)

8.Mission in Corinth (18:1–22)

a.Ministry in the synagogue (18:1–4)

b.Rejection and turn to the Gentiles (18:5–8)

c.The encouraging vision (18:9–11)

d.Pre-trial before the proconsul Gallio (18:12–17)

e.Trip to Ephesus, Jerusalem, and Antioch (18:18–22)

C.Mission in the province of Asia: Ephesus (18:23–21:16)

1.Preliminary ministry (18:23–28)

2.The mission in Ephesus itself (19:1–20:1)

a.The disciples of John the Baptist (19:1–7)

b.Two years of ministry in Ephesus (19:8–20)

c.Plans to visit Jerusalem (19:21–22)

d.The riot in Ephesus (19:23–20:1)

1)Demetrius and his speech (19:23–28)

2)The riot erupts (19:29–34)

3)The city clerk speaks (19:35–40)

4)The two results (19:41–20:1)

3.Return to Jerusalem (20:1–21:16)

a.Trip through Macedonia and Achaia to Troas (20:1–6)

b.Eutychus falls from a window (20:7–12)

c.Farewell to the elders from Ephesus (20:13–38)

d.From Tyre to Jerusalem (21:1–16)

IV. Final events: Jerusalem to Rome (21:17–28:31)

A.Conflict in Jerusalem (21:17–23:35)

1.Meeting the Jerusalem elders (21:17–26)

2.Arrest in the temple (21:27–36)

3.Permission to address the mob (21:37–40)

4.Defense speech in temple courtyard (22:1–21)

a.Pedigree and life as a Jew (22:1–5)

b.The vision of Jesus on the road (22:6–11)

c.Ananias and the dawn of understanding (22:12–16)

d.The vision and commission to the Gentiles (22:17–21)

5.Rejection and interrogation by the Romans (22:22–29)

6.Paul before the Sanhedrin (22:30–23:11)

a.Opening remarks (22:30–23:1)

b.Conflict with the high priest (23:2–5)

c.The debate and its aftermath (23:6–10)

d.An encouraging vision (23:11)

7.The plot to kill Paul (23:12–22)

8.Paul sent to Caesarea (23:23–35)

B.The trial under Felix (24:1–27)

1.The trial itself (24:1–23)

a.The accusations (24:1–9)

b.Defense before Felix (24:10–21)

c.Case adjourned (24:22–23)

2.Imprisonment in Caesarea (24:24–27)

C.Trial before Festus and Agrippa (25:1–26:32)

1.Appeal to Caesar (25:1–12)

a.Festus in Jerusalem (25:1–5)

b.Defense and appeal (25:6–12)

2.Consultation with Herod Agrippa II (25:13–26:32)

a.Presentation of Paul’s case to Agrippa (25:13–21)

1)The Jerusalem trial summarized (25:13–16)

2)The Caesarea trial summarized (25:17–21)

b.Agrippa hears Paul (25:22–27)

c.Paul makes his defense (26:1–23)

1)Introduction: gratitude (26:1–3)

2)The story behind the case (26:4–18)

a)Paul’s Pharisaic background (26:4–8)

b)Paul the persecutor (26:9–11)

c)The Damascus road vision (26:12–18)

3)Paul’s conclusion of his defense (26:19–23)

d.Agreement of Festus and Agrippa (26:24–32)

D.Journey to Rome (27:1–44)

1.From Caesarea to Myra (27:1–5)

2.From Myra to Crete (27:6–8)

3.The debate about going or staying (27:9–12)

4.The storm drives the ship to disaster (27:13–26)

5.Shipwreck on Malta (27:27–44)

E.Paul in Rome (28:1–31)

1.Paul and the viper (28:1–6)

2.Ministry in Malta (28:7–10)

3.The journey from Malta to Rome (28:11–15)

4.Paul in Rome (28:16–31)

a.Encounter with Jewish leaders (28:16–22)

b.Further encounter with many Jews (28:23–28)

c.Paul’s ministry over the next two years (28:30–31)

MAJOR THEOLOGICAL THEMES

History does not exist without theology, for theology by definition deals with God’s work within history. Since Luke-Acts is in reality a single work with two parts, the theologies of the two intertwine, and the theology of Acts studies the continuation of salvation history in the life of Jesus into the life of the church. Therefore this section must be viewed as the further development of the parallel material in the introduction to my commentary on Luke.

It should be clear that the events behind Luke-Acts have changed our world forever. It is simply the most significant (therefore the most deeply theological) period in human history, for without it there would be no future for humanity. Thus it is the greatest privilege I can imagine for me to develop this material.

SALVATION AND SALVATION HISTORY

The term salvation means deliverance, which we first see in Scripture at the exodus from Egypt. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt is a type of the greater deliverance achieved by Jesus on the cross, a liberation that is eternal in nature and effect. The term salvation history, then, refers to God’s performing these works in human history, orchestrating the redemption of lost, sinful humankind. In the birth, life, and death of Jesus the Christ, and then in the development and mission of the new Israel, salvation entered this world in a new way. The divine entering the world first in the incarnation of Jesus and second at the coming of the Holy Spirit transformed human history, making it a vehicle for the acts of God within it.

But history includes rejection and opposition along with redemption. In the Gospel of Luke, God’s former people have turned against his Son and Messiah, Jesus, and lost their place as his chosen people, to be replaced by people selected from all humanity. Gentiles thus join Jews as the new elect. In the book of Acts, the mission of this new Israel is traced within history, as the message of the good news is taken to the ends of the earth (1:8). Both temporally and geographically the new salvation expands to include all of sinful humanity, from Jerusalem (Acts 1–7), to Judea (8:1–3), to Samaria (the rest of ch. 8), to Syria and especially Antioch (chs. 9–11), to Asia Minor (chs. 13–14), to Macedonia and Achaia (chs. 16–19), and then to the ends of the earth (chs. 20–28). At every level the presence of messianic salvation unites the diverse peoples of earth into a single people, the family of God.

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL REALITY AS THE CENTER POINT OF THE NEW MISSION

The Triune Godhead has produced salvation in history, and the way this is communicated to fallen humanity is via the proclamation of the gospel. The good news is the message of sin and salvation, how the coming and death of Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for sin has made it possible for sinners to repent and be forgiven for their sins on the basis of the blood sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This message is the core of every chapter in Acts as the Spirit empowers and leads the saints to witness to the gospel reality and call lost humanity to repentance and belief in Jesus.

The mission of the church that energizes the action throughout this book centers on this proclamation to the lost. The disciples are commissioned to be witnesses, empowered by the Spirit to all peoples of the earth (1:8). So Acts is a missionary work, continuing Jesus’ work and taking it into all the world. The choice of Matthias as the twelfth apostle (1:21–26) was necessary to maintain Christ’s foundation of the church in the Twelve. The number twelve establishes a typological parallel between Israel and the new Israel as those who take God’s call to salvation to the earth (beginning with the Abrahamic covenant of Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18). The same is true of the three repetitions of Paul’s call to be the missionary to the Gentiles (9:15–16; 22:15, 21; 26:17–18), which shows how central this witness is to the central purposes of Acts.

JESUS THE CHRIST, SAVIOR AND LORD

In the Third Gospel, Jesus is the central figure, and in Acts it is not Peter or Paul but Christ who is the true actor. His human messengers are servants who carry out his will and directions. In Luke it is the incarnate Son of God who acts, and in this book it is the risen and exalted Lord who acts (3:15; 4:10; 17:3; 26:8). The powerful ministries of Peter and Paul are the result of their having been met and commissioned by this One who has risen from the dead and become Lord of all. In his suffering he becomes the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 52–53, and with his death he becomes Savior of humankind (5:31; 13:23). He is the core of the proclaimed gospel and the only means of salvation for sinners. The Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, sent by the risen Lord at Pentecost to guide the church and fill it with strength for mission. As the Christ he is Messiah of both Jews and Gentiles, and the church is the messianic community. Finally, he is Lord of all, who possesses the full authority of Yahweh.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

As I have said above, this book should not be labeled the Acts of the Apostles but the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. Virtually every single thing that is done properly is done through the presence and guidance of the Spirit. The Spirit permeates the book. He is promised in 1:4, 8, and arrives in 2:1–4. From that point he empowers the church and its leaders in everything they do. The Spirit’s presence is proof that the messianic age of salvation has arrived. It is the Spirit who guides the witness of the church and gives saving power to the gospel as it goes forth. In fact, the unity of Jew and Gentile in the new Israel is made possible by the same Spirit bestowed on both and bringing them together (15:28). He is the Spirit of prophecy, at work in guiding the people of God into the future through Spirit-inspired prophets (11:28) and filling those brought into the church, leading them to speak in tongues as evidence of his presence (8:15–17; 10:45; 19:6).

The Gentile mission is the work of the Spirit, who separated and called Barnabas and Saul to the Gentiles (13:2) and oversaw every step as the gospel went forth (8:29, 39; 13:4; 16:6, 7). Those who surrender themselves completely are filled with the Spirit and exhibit that fullness with the joy and power of their witness (4:8, 31; 6:3; 9:17; 11:24; 13:52). In short, the Spirit is the empowering presence behind the church and makes possible all that it accomplishes for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners.

THE CHURCH

The church is the assembly of God’s people, saved by the blood of Jesus and filled with the Spirit. It has often been thought to have originated at Pentecost, but that is not true. Pentecost was the launching of the church’s mission to be witnesses (1:8), but not the genesis of its formation. If that can be ascertained, it would have come when Jesus chose the Twelve (Mark 3:13–19; Luke 6:12–16), but it is just as correct to see continuity between the Israel of the old covenant and the new Israel of the new covenant.

The church is anchored in teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer (2:42), and is the means by which God’s mission to the world is conducted. Even in the midst of adversity and crisis, with the Spirit they are filled with joy (13:52) and rise above their circumstances. Their primary tasks are worship and evangelism as they experience all God has for them and respond by turning to the world and proclaiming the gospel as witnesses to the reality of Jesus. Their first title for themselves was the Way (9:2), taken from Isaiah 40:3. The church forges the way to Yahweh, considering itself the messianic sect within Judaism. They were first called Christians, Christ followers, in Antioch (11:26).

SOCIAL CONCERN: THE POOR AND MARGINALIZED

Building on the Third Gospel, Luke stresses the effects of the gospel not only on the spiritual life but also on the earthly life of those touched by it. In the summary paragraph describing the Jewish Christian church of Jerusalem, we are told that they were characterized by togetherness and had everything in common, exemplified by the fact that they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need (2:44–45). A deep concern for the poor and suffering solidified their unity as God’s family. This was deepened in 4:32–34, where this oneness is further characterized by complete sharing of possessions to such an extent that there were no needy persons among them. One of the primary examples of this occurs in 6:1–7, where the church appoints the Seven to take care of the needy Hebrew widows in the church. Congregational care was at the heart of the early church.

There has always been debate over the balance between evangelism and social concern, expressed recently in arguments about social justice and earlier in arguments about the social gospel that dominated the early twentieth-century Protestant church in North America. Luke would not have insisted that the church choose between evangelism and social concern, for both the physical and spiritual dimensions of the Christian movement are critical. It does little good if the soul is saved when the body is allowed to deteriorate through the church’s neglect. Christ healed the sick and saved the lost with equal emphasis, and the early church believed in taking care of the earthly and the heavenly dimensions of life. Social concern is a core emphasis of the early church and is an essential part of the salvation of sinners.

PRELIMINARY EVENTS TO THE MISSION

(1:1–26)

Luke’s two-volume masterwork on the history of Jesus and the early church is in a very real sense the core of the New Testament. Everything flows out of these two central histories. This first chapter of Acts provides a transition (ten days long) from the ascension of Jesus to the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. We know from Acts 1:3 that he appeared to his followers over a forty-day period before being taken up to heaven in a cloud, and by definition Pentecost (meaning fifty days) took place fifty days after Passover. Thus there was a ten-day period in which they waited to be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). That period is described here in 1:1–26.

Jesus may be in heaven and no longer physically present, but he is every bit as central to the life of his messianic community, in fact even more so, for he is now the exalted Lord guiding the affairs of his people. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, sent by him (and his Father) in the same way he had been sent by his Father. The church, if we wish to describe origins, began not with Pentecost but with Jesus’ choice of the Twelve in Luke 6:12–16. The time with Jesus in Luke would constitute the training period, and graduation in a sense occurred in the breakfast scene of John 21:15–17, when Jesus commissioned them through Peter to feed my sheep. Now they are waiting for the full commission at Pentecost, when they will be given the Spirit to empower them for that mission.

JESUS ENDS HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY AND BEGINS THE CHURCH (1:1–11)

The ascension of Jesus in Luke 24:50–53 provides a doxological end to the earthly ministry of Jesus as he blesses his disciples then departs. Then in Acts 1:1–11 it provides an ecclesiastical beginning to the church age (and age of the Spirit) as Jesus promises the coming of the Spirit made possible by his departure. Clearly the mission of the church (indeed, its very existence) is a trinitarian act, as all three members of the Godhead undergird the events of this book. There are two main parts, the prologue (paralleling Luke 1:1–4) reminding Theophilus of the first volume (Acts 1:1–2) and the recapitulation of Jesus’ ascension and the impact it had on the disciples (vv. 3–11).

PROLOGUE TO THE SECOND VOLUME (1:1–2)

These verses not only summarize the first volume but also introduce four key theological themes that will guide us through Acts: (1) The deeds and words of Jesus are essential to both volumes of Luke’s works; (2) Jesus’ ascension as exalted Lord is the anchor on which Acts rests; (3) the coming of the Spirit will launch and make possible everything the church does in this book; and (4) the elect apostles will lead the church in its mission to the world. He begins by defining his gospel as a compendium of what Jesus began to do and to teach. Acts must be read and studied as a continuation of Jesus’ work and his words, and the church draws its meaning from the Jesus story.

It is clear that the church was not born out of Pentecost, which provides its commissioning rather than its birth. It is actually questionable that the church was birthed at all, for there is a direct continuity between Israel and the early church as the people of God. Israel and new Israel are intertwined in salvation history. Still, however, the origin of the church as an entity was indeed in Jesus’ choice of the Twelve in Luke 6:12–16, and as indicated here, it all began with Jesus.

Like the Third Gospel, this book is dedicated to Theophilus, most likely the wealthy Christian patron who finances the writing of these two volumes (Luke 1:3).¹ We don’t know when Luke (possibly with Paul’s encouragement) conceived and began to research these works, but tracking down all the eyewitness sources (Luke 1:1–4) must have taken some time. I am guessing that as Luke and Paul traveled from town to town, Luke was locating participants and getting their stories. Possibly he did a lot of traveling while Paul was in prison in Caesarea and Rome as well. Here he is thanking Theophilus for making it all possible.

The deeds and teaching of Jesus lay behind everything, and Luke wants to make that clear at the outset. The teaching of the church is a critical component (2:42; 4:2; 5:21; 18:11; 20:20), which itself is thoroughly grounded in Jesus’ teaching. Equally critical, this teaching did not end at the cross, for Jesus continued to teach and perform mighty deeds after his death on the cross. He is the living Word: He taught forty further days, and during this time he corrected and overturned all the misunderstandings of the disciples. His works and his words did not end at the cross but at the ascension, yet even that was continued by the Holy Spirit (John 16:12–15).

The ascension is critical because it is the basis for Jesus’ exaltation at the right hand of God (Ps 110:1; see Acts 2:34–35) and his assumption of divine power as Lord of all. By being taken up to heaven, he returned to his preexistent glory. The sending of the Spirit is an act originating in heaven. The involvement of the Trinity takes this form: the Father calls the Son to heaven, and from there they send the Spirit as their Envoy in the same way that the Father had sent the Son at his incarnation. Then the Spirit commissions the apostles to lead the church on its mission. In his earthly ministry the Spirit had infused his teaching as he instructed the apostles, a term that means they have joined the Spirit as Sent Ones commissioned by the Triune Godhead. The preposition through (dia) indicates that the Spirit is the means by which the disciples received and came to understand Jesus’ teaching. This is in keeping with John 16:12–15, the Spirit as guide and revealer of Jesus’ teaching.

THE COMMISSIONING OF THE APOSTLES (1:3–8)

The suffering of Jesus probably refers not just to the cross but to all of passion week as a united whole. The pent-up hatred of the leaders, the brainwashing of the crowds to demand his death, and the capitulation of Pilate and the Romans, together with the cross, defines his suffering. However, it all ends not with the grave but with the empty tomb, when he presented himself alive to his followers. His death was an atoning sacrifice that established a new covenant age (Luke 22:19–20). Luke here calls his resurrection appearances convincing proofs (tekmēria), decisive evidence for the reality of the event. The term presented places a great deal of emphasis on the apologetic value of the evidence. All of his followers were totally convinced of the physical resurrection, and our future is secure as a result of it (see 1 Cor 15). This fact was a major theme in Luke 24, as the risen Lord again and again provided proof that his resurrection was real.

It is here that we learn Jesus appeared over a forty-day period, thus ascending ten days before Pentecost. This does not mean he stayed with them that entire time. Looking at the four Gospels and 1 Corinthians 15:5–8, we see that Jesus visited them at specific times over a forty-day period. His appearances were specific and brief, and the purpose of each was to prepare them further for their future world-encompassing mission.

According to Luke here, the overall subject of Jesus’ teaching was the kingdom of God. This refers both to the new era being established and to the fact of God’s reign over it. Jesus inaugurated this new reign, and his followers would populate it as the messianic community, the church. The kingdom in Jesus’ ministry had arrived and yet had not come to consummation. We call this "inaugurated eschatology," the view that the kingdom is already here yet not in a final sense. We are living in the time of tension between the ages, with the last days begun but not come to fruition. Here the emphasis is on the presence and reality of the kingdom in the mission of the disciples to the world.

Luke now (1:4) turns to Jesus’ appearance to the Eleven (Luke 24:36–49) when Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit to come (24:49). Luke says that Jesus was eating with them, emphasizing that the Spirit will arrive in the midst of that Christ-centered table fellowship. As also in the Emmaus road incident of Luke 24:13–35, Jesus teaches truths and opens eyes via fellowship with him, which he emphasizes by adding which you have heard me speak about. As we bask in the presence of the Lord and open ourselves to his words, he imparts eternal truths to us.

God could have had the Spirit come in Galilee, where the movement began, but he clearly determined that the Holy City, Jerusalem, should be the starting point, as prophesied in Joel 2:28–32: On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance. The trinitarian foundation for the arrival of God’s kingdom demands that the Spirit come upon the new movement and fill it with divine power. The new messianic age is to begin in Jerusalem with the Spirit’s arrival, so they must wait for God’s timing.

John’s baptism was an immersion in water signifying repentance and forgiveness of sin, by which he called the nation back to God (Luke 3:3, 16). Jesus uses baptism to signify that the new age of the Spirit—the new covenant that the Spirit would introduce—would be an immersion in the Spirit’s power (1:5). This would constitute a baptism with the Holy Spirit, an immersion in God’s salvation and in that new messianic reality identified with the Spirit’s taking up residence in every believer (Rom 8:14–17). The mission of Jesus to the nations is to be completed by the church, but the church must be empowered by the Spirit to successfully accomplish that directive. So they must wait for God to fulfill his promise and send the Spirit to provide that impetus.

In Luke, the ascension entailed the doxological end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, as he blessed his followers and departed. Here in Acts it entails an ecclesiastical beginning for the church’s mission, as Jesus prepares for the coming of the Spirit and the launching of the universal mission to the world. Jesus came to restore not political power (vv. 6–7) but spiritual power (v. 8) to God’s people.

When the disciples ask Jesus if he is now going to restore the kingdom to Israel, they are still assuming political liberation rather than spiritual restoration. They assume the Spirit’s arrival will be accompanied by heaven’s armies, and that the last days will mean the defeat of the Romans and the instituting of Jewish rule over the nations. So they still have failed to learn that the victory over the nations will not come until Jesus’ second coming.

Jesus’ response (1:7) corrects this failure by pointing out to them that they have the wrong time in mind. The coming of the Spirit is for the mission of the church (v. 8) rather than for the restoration of Israel, and the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority are not for them to know. Their question is valid but not for that occasion. They should be focused on the mission God has inaugurated through the Spirit, not on the events associated with the end of the age. Jesus says this as well in Mark 13:32: But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Jesus is building on that here.

There is an important lesson in this for today. An inordinate interest in the end-time events has often eroded the present mission of the church for us as well. Many preachers have given themselves entirely over to prophecy preaching and signs that this age is to end soon. Many are like the disciples here, too focused on eschatology and ignoring the current mission to the world that God wants to have first place in our lives. The doctrine of the second coming is important, but it is not meant to consume our interests. We are to remain focused on our present walk with the Lord and the mission to the lost he has entrusted to us.

Jesus is not denying the place of Israel’s restoration and his parousia in the life of the church. Rather, he is redirecting their focus to what has greater importance, the coming of the Spirit and launching of the church’s mission to the nations. He refuses to answer their question, for that issue is for a later time. However, the exact time will never be revealed and is God’s alone to determine. The important issue is not the time of the restoration but rather her part in the witness to the world.

So in 1:8 Jesus directs them to the critical point of power for witness. This is the true reason why the Spirit is coming. The Spirit is the power from on high (Luke 24:49) and will come to empower God’s people for their calling and send them into the world. This coming does not stress the continuous nature of the Spirit’s presence but announces the specific coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. It is at that moment that Jesus’ followers will receive power. The same divine power that was present in creation and evident throughout the Old Testament will now reside in the church as it fulfills its destiny.

The result of the Spirit’s presence will be witness. This is one of the central themes of Acts and fulfills Israel’s task to be witnesses and bless the world (Isa 43:10; 44:8), the one aspect of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14) she ignored. The church as true Israel will complete that mission. Yet there is an official cast to this witness as well. They have seen and walked with the risen Lord and can provide proof that he is truly alive. This group is at the heart of the eyewitness emphasis in Luke (Luke 1:1–4). They could attest to the reality of his suffering, death, and resurrection. When they spoke of him as Messiah and Son of God, they knew the truth of what they were saying. There is double meaning in "my [mou] witnesses." They were witnesses to the truth of Jesus, and they were witnesses who belonged to Jesus and were sent by him.

The last part of this verse is virtually a table of contents describing the material in Acts and the route of the mission—to Jerusalem (1:9–8:3), Judea (8:2–3), Samaria (8:4–25), and the ends of the earth (the Gentile mission in the rest of Acts). This too is a fulfillment of Old Testament promises, for Isaiah 49:6 describes Israel as a light for the Gentiles [or ‘to the nations’], that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. There is quite an extensive debate on the meaning of ends of the earth. Some think it refers to Ethiopia (the farthest south), Spain (the farthest west), the Gentiles (in Isaiah), or even Rome (the penultimate nation). When all is considered, Spain and Ethiopia are not really central to Acts, and most likely the reference is to the farthest reaches of planet earth, made up of Gentiles. The stress is on all the people of earth as the goal of the Christian mission.

THE ASCENSION OF JESUS (1:9–11)

These verses stress the apostles as official witnesses, for in all three verses Luke points out that they looked intently and watched him ascend into heaven. The ascension is not merely a symbolic way of providing a conclusion to the Jesus story. It actually happened and was witnessed by the 120 gathered together (1:15), perhaps even the five hundred of 1 Corinthians 15:6. This taking up is presented as a sudden, perhaps unexpected turn of events. The idea of a heaven up there and an earth down here sounds mythical, but of course God is simply accommodating the picture to human spatial perception. The heavens/sky is indeed up there, and so the picture makes sense.

As Jesus was speaking, a cloud suddenly enveloped him and took him away. The presence of the cloud echoes the Shekinah cloud over the tabernacle in Exodus 40:34, reenacting Sinai and drawing together the three major instances of the glory of Christ manifested—the transfiguration, ascension, and parousia (1:11). The catching up of Jesus also echoes that of Enoch (Gen 5:24), Elijah (2 Kgs 2:11), and, in Jewish tradition, Moses (Josephus, Antiquities 4.326).

The appearance of two men dressed in white (1:10) reenacts the angels in the empty tomb (Luke 24:4), who now escort Jesus back to heaven. The white robes picture the transfiguration as well as the resurrection and depict the glory the angels share with the exalted Jesus as he returns to his home in heaven. These are two heavenly witnesses (Deut 19:15) of this new reality.

There is a bit of a rebuke in their message (1:11). Jesus’ followers are just standing there transfixed as they gaze upward. They are followers from Galilee standing on the Mount of Olives, where their mission to the world is to begin. God wants action, not paralysis. They should have expected Jesus to return home to heaven and been ready to begin the ministry to which he had just commissioned them. They undoubtedly want Jesus to stay there with them, but the next phase of salvation history is even now being initiated, and it is time to get to work.

They proceed to encourage these Christ followers that he will indeed return, and in fact he will do so in the same way he has just been taken from them, as the angels will accompany him and the saints will be caught up … in the clouds (1 Thess 4:16–17; Rev 19:14). The church age begins here and will be consummated at his second coming. The intervening time is intended for the mission to the nations, which the disciples are to commence now as they return to Jerusalem to begin their witness.

THE TWELVE ARE RECONSTITUTED (1:12–26)

The Jerusalem portion of the mission constitutes the first seven chapters of Acts, consummating in the persecution of 8:1 that drove the church into Judea and Samaria. This period began with the ten days between the ascension and Pentecost, and during that time the disciples were led to choose a twelfth member of the apostolic band to replace Judas. Thus there are three sections to this passage: the centrality of prayer (vv. 12–14), the end of Judas (vv. 15–20), and his replacement by Matthias (vv. 21–26).

THE TEN DAYS