Introduction to Acts:

The title “Acts” is the translation of the Greek term praxeis (pronounced: prax-ice). This term was used in ancient Greek compositions to summarize the heroic accomplishments of remarkable individuals. In many ways, the Gospel accounts are a type of praxeis concerning what God has accomplished in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the book of Acts, beginning with Jesus’ ascension, carries this record of praxeis forward into the first generations of Christians and their earliest communities. After Jesus’ ascension, Luke’s record in Acts focuses upon Peter and Paul, the pillars of the Jewish and Gentile churches, respectively, and intermittently upon the various ministries of the first- and second-generation disciples of Jesus. As such, Acts records the origin and growth of the Christian movement, telling us how the first believers lived out their faith––their message, ministries, and communities, including triumphs and trials, and the source of divine power that daily energized their faith into action.

Acts as History and Theology:

Historically:

Luke’s Gospel and Acts are addressed (or perhaps dedicated) to Theophilus (1:1). In the prologue to his gospel, Luke referred to him as “most excellent Theophilus” (Lk. 1:3), a title that suggests Theophilus was a government official because the same titular address is used by Luke with reference to Felix and Festus, both Roman governors (23:26; 24:3; 26:25). Theophilus was either Luke’s patron and/or sponsor, underwriting Luke’s expenses so Luke could research and write his Gospel and Acts; or he was a Gentile seeker in whose honor the works were written through the church’s fundraising, likewise to support Luke’s research and writing. In either case, the book is designed to introduce the Greco-Roman world to the origins of Christianity by providing an accurate historical account of the early Church. Accordingly, large portions of Acts consist of speeches, for speeches played a significant role in the history books of the period before and during the 1st c. A.D. In historical works of this era, speeches constituted 20 to 35 percent of a historical narrative because ancient historians tended to focus on battles and speeches as the events that shaped history. Written with this ancient historical practice in mind, Acts has thirty-two speeches (excluding short statements) which make up 25 percent of the narrative.

Theologically:

Luke writes to explain the truth and integrity of the way of Christ not to Theophilus alone, but the group he represented––the Greco-Roman world––in two significant ways. First, Acts aims to provide the reader with eyewitness accounts. Luke was the traveling companion of Paul, as revealed by the use of “we” in the accounts of Paul’s journeys (16:10–7; 20:5–21; 27:1–28:16). This means that Luke was an eyewitness to many of the events he recorded and his close association with Paul provided him ample opportunity to interview Paul for additional information. Second, although the first followers of Jesus were Jews and the very first Church was Jewish, Luke is concerned to express God’s intention to save people from every nation. Accordingly, Luke writes with the theology of “the Way” in mind, emphasizing that the Gospel of salvation is for all people––Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rich and poor, rulers and slaves.

This latter emphasis surfaces in the intentional parallel between Peter’s and Paul’s ministries and the people impacted by them: Both Peter and Paul healed a disabled man (3:1–8; 14:8–10); both men rebuked a magician (8:9–24; 13:6–12); both men raised a believer from the dead (9:36–41; 20:7–10); God directed Peter to Cornelius in a vision (10:9–23) while He led Paul to Macedonia in a vision (16:6–10); and finally, God miraculously released both men from prison (12:3–19; 16:9–34). Luke deliberately identified the parallels between the ministries of Peter and Paul to demonstrate that Jesus’ Gospel was as much for the Gentile or the outsider as it was for the Jewish person or insider. The geographical sequencing of Acts also underscores this theological significance: (1) from 1:1 through 6:7, Luke describes the birth and growth of the church in Jerusalem; (2) from 6:8 through 9:31, Luke describes the church’s witness in Judaea and Samaria; and (3) from 9:32 to the end of the book, Luke records Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles, highlighting Paul’s missionary journeys and the events that took Paul to Rome, the capital of the ancient world at that time. This three-step geographical sequence illustrates that “the Way” is available to all in fulfillment of Jesus’ commission in the opening chapter: “[Y]ou shall be My witnesses in [1] Jerusalem and [2] in all Judaea and Samaria, and [3] as far as the remotest part of the earth” (1:8b). In addition to this geographic metric, Luke provides us numerical summaries of the explosive growth of the early Christian community at key points traversing this geography (2:41, 47; 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20). At the beginning of Acts, the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem numbered 120 (1:15), but by the time Luke completed this book there were hundreds of thousands of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. As a narrative, Luke’s account informs us of crucial elements as to how that happened.