Acts of the Apostles

v    20/3/2012

F    Recommended Books

1.                  Raymond Brown: An Introduction to the New Testament

2.                  Achtermeir et al

3.                  William Barclay

4.                  J.B.C or an commentary

F    Introduction

The Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of St. Luke are believed to be authored by the same person – cf Acts 1: 1; Luke 1: 1- 4. Although we do not find names here with regards to author, we would discover later that the author had been a companion of St. Paul in his missionary journeys. The exclamation “O Theophilus!” in Acts chapter one have been interpreted differently by scholars. It could refer to a particular individual person by that name or it could refer to all of us. “Theos’ means God and “philus” means Son. Literary then, it could be said that Luke by using this name is addressing all us who are sons and daughter of God. Some scholars however, have argued that the name refers to a particular individual who was considered worthy of receiving the account of Jesus’ life and ministry.

Scholars have equally argued whether the Acts of the Apostles could be classified as a historical account of what happened in the early church or not. Although there are some historical elements in Acts of the Apostles, opinion holds that the writer of Acts did not intend writing a historical book but of God’s saving acts in the life of the Jews. Acts of the Apostles is not a historical account in the real sense of the word. Part of the author’s goal is to show that God kept his Biblical promises to Israel – (cf Chapter 3) before opening the “new Way” (Acts 9:2) to non-Jews.  In tracing Christianity’s movement away from its Palestinian roots to Gentile soil, Luke reassures Theophilus and other Gentiles that God faithfully fulfilled his covenant vows in the work of Jesus and his Jewish followers. Although the writer of the Acts of the Apostles did not aim at writing a historical book, he nevertheless had a firm grasp of the Hellenistic culture and he wrote in Greek.

Acts of the Apostles narrates the origin of Christianity, depicting characters who, like Jesus, are models of Christian behaviour and service. Acts focuses only on two Christian leaders – Peter and Paul – whom the author uses to symbolize two consecutive phases of the religious development. Dominating the first half of the book (chapters 1 –12), Peter represents the original Jewish Christianity centered on Jerusalem. After converting thousands of his fellow Jews to the new Way, Peter completes his role by bringing the first Gentile – a Roma centurion names Cornelius – into the church (Chapters 10 – 11). Act’s second part (Chapter 13-28) narrates Christianity’s historical transition from a Jewish to a Gentile religion, a movement represented by Paul’s three missionary tours through the Greco-Roman world. Because Luke wishes to show the early church as a paradigm of harmony and cooperation, he creates a picture of Paul different from that revealed in Paul’s own letters.  Instead of the fiercely independent missionary defending his “gospel’s” total freedom from the Jerusalem leadership (Gal 1-2; 2 Cor. 10-13), the Lukan Paul is a team player who meekly accommodates himself to church authority. Emphasining the same themes from his Gospel, Luke paints Christianity as a Spirit-directed faith, innocent of sedition against Rome and divinely predestined to spread “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), a process that will continue indefinitely into the future. The most important event in the writings of Saint Luke is therefore the community of believers empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The author of the Acts of the Apostle wrote in the third person. From chapter 1 – 16:9, we see the use of he, she, they. Experts have opined that Luke was probably not present when the events he narrates took place. He heard of the account and he is reporting it.  From 16: 10 onwards, he uses we. This implies that the author was present and witnessed the events being narrated.

F    Themes in the Acts of the Apostles

1.                  The birth and foundation of the Church

2.                  Witnessing of the disciples in Jerusalem

3.                  Expansion of the Church beyond Jerusalem

4.                  The mission of Paul

5.                  Paul’s imprisonment and his trial

F    Literary devices used in the Acts of the Apostles

The literary device called speech made up of 1/3 of the Acts of the Apostles. We have speech of Peter on the Pentecost day, the speech of Stephen before the Sanhedrin, the speech of Paul at Antioch, Paul’s farewell speech to the Ephesians’ elders and so forth. 

F    Acts of the Apostle Chapter One – Early Christian Community

·                     The group of Apostles: 1: 12- 14

Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son o James

·         Replacement of Judas: 1: 15-26

ü    Peter’s speech

ü    Judas bought a plot of land with the money he was paid

ü    Fell headlong and burst open and his entrails poured out

ü    Reduce his encampment to ruin and leave his tent unoccupied

ü    Let someone else take over his office

ü    Election between Joseph and Matthias – Matthias was chosen to bear witness to the Resurrection of the Lord.

ü    120 persons in the congregation

F    Chapter Two – Pentecost

·                     Peter’s speech

ü    Repent, be baptised in the name of the Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins – so as to receive the Holy Spirit.

ü    Three thousand converted

·         The early Christian community – 2: 42 – 47

ü  Remained faithful to the teachings of apostles, the brotherhood, breaking of bread, and prayers

ü  Owned everything in common, sold their goods and possessions and distributed the proceeds among themselves

ü  Went to the Temple as a body for prayers but met in their houses for the breaking of bread.

F    Chapter Three – The cure of a lame man