The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke'S Account Of God'S Unfolding Plan

By Alan J. Thompson

When the book of Acts is mentioned, a cluster of issues spring to mind, including speaking in tongues and baptism with the Holy Spirit, church government and practice, and missionary methods and strategies. At the popular level, Acts is more often mined for answers to contemporary debates than heard for its natural inflections. Instead of using Acts as a prooftext, this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume brings a biblical-theological framework to the account to expose Luke's major themes as they relate to the book as a whole. With this framework in place, Alan Thompson argues that Acts is an account of the 'continuing story' of God's saving purposes. Consequently we find that Luke wants to be read in light of the Old Testament promises and the continuing reign of Christ in the inaugurated kingdom. Read in this way as a snapshot of God's dynamic, unfolding kingdom, the book of Acts begins to regain the deep relevance it had in the first century. Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson, aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IVP
• Release date: May 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781789740110

Alan J. Thompson

Alan Thompson is Head of Department of New Testament at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, Australia. His previous books include One Lord, One People: The Unity of the Church in Acts (LNTS), The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus (NSBT) and biblical commentaries on The Book of Acts and Luke.