Acts

Author: Luke, physician and traveling companion of the apostle Paul
Place of writing: unknown
Time of writing: 65-70 A.D.

“The Acts of the Apostles,” written by the physician Luke, Paul’s traveling companion and fellow-worker, is the sequel to “The Gospel According to Luke”. In his gospel, Luke gives a careful and accurate account of Jesus’ words and actions in his life on earth, and ends with his ascension. Now, in this account, he is going to take up the story where he left off, and, beginning with his ascension, give an account of how the reigning Lord Jesus caused his church to spread throughout the earth, through the Spirit-empowered ministry of his apostles.

A key verse for understanding the structure of Acts is 1:8. There, Luke records a promise that Jesus made to his disciples: he would send his Holy Spirit to empower them, and then they would be witnesses of him in Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth. Luke records just how this happened, beginning with the account of how the Spirit came upon the apostles at the Feast of Pentecost, and gave Peter the ability to proclaim the gospel with boldness and clarity, in the language of every people under heaven. As a result, three thousand men came to Christ. But this was only the beginning: the remainder of the first twelve chapters records how the gospel spread through all of Judea and Samaria, by the testimony of Peter and the other believers, and how the Spirit was given to Samaritans and Gentiles, as well as the Jews. Then, Luke focuses on the ministry of Paul, with whom he frequently traveled (cf. 16:10-17; 20:5-21; 27:1–28:16), and records how the gospel continued to spread “unto the ends of the earth”. When Luke finishes his account, the gospel has gone through all the lands between Jerusalem and Rome, the greatest city in the world at that time.

Acts is a vital book for understanding the New Testament: it serves as a bridge between the completed work of Jesus on the earth, and the establishment of his church in the world, after he had ascended to heaven; it gives us the background circumstances of many of Paul’s letters to the churches; it gives us a model and example for how to approach our task of spreading the gospel, how to resolve differences between churches and believers, how to respond to persecution, and many other things. And furthermore, it gives us much encouragement, for we are assured again and again, when we read its pages, that in spite of every setback and obstacle, God is sovereignly causing his church to grow, empowering the proclamation of the gospel through his Holy Spirit, and preserving his believers in the midst of all their difficulties.

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