Location in the Bible

Following the four gospels that record events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, Acts is the fifth book of the New Testament, and it chronicles life in the early church after the ascension of Jesus, in the “Apostolic Age”.

Title: “The Acts of the Apostles”

• A. Acts: A history of the activities that occurred in the early church.
• B. Apostles:  “The Sent Out Ones”
• 1. Eyewitness to the life and resurrection of Jesus
• 2. Miraculous power
• 3. Chosen by Christ to minister
• 4. Was Paul an Apostle?

Author: Luke

• A. Physician
• B. The author of the gospel of Luke

Date: Before 70 AD

Why? There is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, a huge event in Jewish history, within the book of Acts.

Josephus, the Jewish historian who wrote “The War of the Jews” in 75, was sent by Roman Titus to negotiate with the Jews defending Jerusalem for their surrender in 70.  During that time, he was shot by an arrow, and after negotiations failed, he witnessed four legions of Roman soldiers (20,000 elite heavy infantry) seige and sack Jerusalem, during which the Second Temple was destroyed.

Acts was probably written somewhere around 64 AD.

Years Covered: From AD 30 – AD 63
(From the founding of Jerusalem Church until Paul’s imprisonment in Rome)

Summary

The Good News of Jesus, fueled by persecution, spreads from Jerusalem, the center of the Jewish world, to Rome, the center of the world.

• A. Not a coincidence
• 1. Paul was a Roman Citizen- he took the gospel to Rome.
• 2. The main language in the world at that time for commerce was
  Koine Greek
• 3. The gospel provides hope and encouragement where there is
  tribulation

Simple Outline

• A. Life in the Baby Church (Ch. 1-5)
• 1. Community forms.
• 2. Pentecost
• B. The Gospel Story Starts to Spread (Ch. 6-9)
  • 1. Stephen is Martyred (Ch. 7)
  • 2. Saul is Converted
• C. The Gospel is for All Nations (Ch. 10-12)
• D. Paul’s Calling and The Jerusalem Conference (Ch. 13-15)
  • 1. Paul Goes to the Gentiles: Greece, Antioch, Cyprus
  • 2. Peter to the Jews, Paul to the Gentiles
• E. Paul Goes to the Gentiles: Greece, Palestine, Asia Minor (Ch. 16-18)
• F. Paul Pastors in Ephesus, and Preaches Elsewhere (Ch. 19-20)
  • 1. Ephesus is capital of the Roman Province of Asia
  • 2. Paul stayed here 3 years
• G. Paul’s Arrest, Appeal, and Audience in Rome
  • 1. Two Years of Testifying

Key Figures In Acts

• A. The Holy Spirit
• 1. Given at Pentecost
• 2. Comforter, counselor, confronter
• Acts 13:2, Acts 8:29, Romans 8:14, John 16:7-8, Romans 8:26, II Thessalonians 2:13
• 3. Third person in the Trinity

• B. Paul (Saul)
• 1. Dedicated Persecuter of Christian Believers (- Acts 8)
• 2. Converted by An Encounter with Christ (Acts 9)
• 3. Missionary to the Gentiles
• 4. Author of 14 epistles
• Romans, 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1st Thessalonians, Philemon, 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, Ephesians, Colossians and 2nd Thessalonians

• C. Peter
• 1. Missionary to the Jews

• D. Stephen
• 1. The first martyr for Jesus  (Acts 7)

• E. John Mark
• 1. Missionary with Paul and Barnabas

• F. Barnabas
• 1. Missionary companion to Paul

Key Thought

The Book of Acts serves as a transition from the Old Covenant of law-keeping to the New Covenant of grace and faith.

This transition is seen in several key events in Acts.

First, there was a change in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, whose primary function in the Old Testament was the external “anointing” of God’s people, among them Moses (Numbers 11:17), Othniel (Judges 3:8-10), Gideon (Judges 6:34), and Saul (1 Samuel 10:6-10).

After the resurrection of Jesus, the Spirit came to live in the very hearts of believers (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 3:16), guiding and empowering them from within. The indwelling Spirit is the gift of God to those who come to Him in faith.

Paul’s conversion was a dramatic example of the transition from the Old Covenant to the New.

Paul admitted that, prior to meeting the risen Savior, he was the most zealous of Israelites and was blameless “concerning the righteousness of the law” (Philippians 3:6 NKJV), going so far as to persecute those who taught salvation by grace through faith in Christ. But after his conversion, he realized that all his legalistic efforts were worthless, saying he considered them “rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Philippians 3:8b-9). Now we, too, live by faith, not by the works of the law, so there is no boasting (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Peter’s vision of the sheet in Acts 10:9-15 is another sign of the transition from the Old Covenant—in this case the dietary laws particular to the Jews—to the New Covenant’s unity of Jew and Gentile in one universal Church. The “clean” animals symbolizing the Jews and the “unclean” animals symbolizing the Gentiles were both declared “cleansed” by God through the sacrificial death of Christ. No longer under the Old Covenant of law, both are now united in the New Covenant of grace through faith in the shed blood of Christ on the cross.

(Source: http://www.gotquestions.org/Book-of-Acts.html)

Key Verses

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  ~ Acts 1:8

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”  ~ Acts 2:4

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  ~ Acts 4:12

“But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’”  ~ Acts 4:19-20

“As he [Saul] neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’”  ~ Acts 9:3-6

“So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.’” ~ Acts 16:31

(Source: http://www.gotquestions.org/Book-of-Acts.html)

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Additional Sources:

“Alpha Teach Yourself The Bible in 24 Hours” by W. Terry Whalin.
“Zondervan’s Pictorial Bible Dictionary” by J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney.