Acts About this book
About this book
This is the second book written by Luke. His first one is commonly known as the Gospel of Luke. In it he told “all that Jesus did and taught from the very first until he was taken up to heaven” (1.1,2). In this book Luke continues the story by describing some of the struggles the disciples faced as they tried to obey the command of Jesus: “You will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world” (1.8).
So many different countries are mentioned in Acts that the book may seem to have been written only to tell about the spread of the Christian message. But that is only part of the story. After Jesus was taken up to heaven, one of the big problems for his followers was deciding who could belong to God's people. And since Jesus and his first followers were Jews, it was only natural for many of them to think that his message was only for Jews. But in Acts, the Spirit is always present to show that Jesus came to save both Jews and Gentiles, and that God wants followers from every nation and race to be part of his people.
The first conflict between Christians and Jews took place when some of the Jewish religious leaders rejected the message about Jesus (4.1-31; 7.1-59). But the most serious problems for the early church happened because the disciples at first failed to understand that anyone could become a follower of Jesus without first becoming a Jew. This began to change when Philip dared to take the message to the Samaritans (8.7-25), and when Peter went to the home of Cornelius, a captain in the Roman army (10.1-48).
Finally, Peter reported to the church in Jerusalem (11.1-18) and a meeting was held there (15.3-35) to discuss the question of who could become followers of Christ. Before the meeting was over, everyone agreed that the Spirit of God was leading them to reach out to Gentiles as well as Jews with the good news of Jesus.
The one who did the most for the spread of the faith was a man named Paul, and much of the book tells about his preaching among the Gentiles. Finally, he took the message to Rome, the world's most important city at that time (28.16-31). One of Luke's main reasons for writing was to show that nothing could keep the Christian message from spreading everywhere:
For two years Paul stayed in a rented house and welcomed everyone who came to see him. He bravely preached about God's kingdom and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one tried to stop him.
(28.30,31)
A quick look at this book
1. Telling the good news in Jerusalem (1.1—8.3)
2. The good news in Judea and Samaria (8.4—12.25)
3. Paul's first journey to tell the good news (13.1—14.28)
4. An important decision in Jerusalem (15.1-35)
5. Paul's second journey to tell the good news (15.36—18.22)
6. Paul's third journey to tell the good news (18.23—21.16)
7. Paul's arrest in Jerusalem (21.17—23.22)
8. Paul is taken to Caesarea (23.23—26.32)
9. Paul is taken to Rome (27.1—28.31)
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Acts About this book: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Acts Introduction
Introduction
Luke wrote the book of Acts as well as the book of Luke. Acts continues the story of the good news of life in Jesus Christ. In the book of Acts the story moves from Jerusalem to other nations. It tells about the Holy Spirit coming to the believers in Jerusalem. And it tells about the teaching and work of Peter and Paul. They were followers of Jesus and leaders of the new church. People from many nations became believers.
The book of Acts has six main parts. Each part tells about a new step in the spread of the good news about Jesus. Each part is marked by words similar to “God’s word spread and grew.”
First, the church is established in Jerusalem. For the first time the Greek language is used in the church. This allowed for the message of the good news to spread throughout the Roman Empire.
Second, the message of the good news spread to Galilee and Samaria.
Third, it became clear that the message about Jesus was also for people who were not Jews.
Fourth, messengers of the good news went west into the Roman part of Asia.
Fifth, the message went from Asia into Europe.
Sixth, the last part of the book tells how the message of good news spread to Rome. Rome was the capital city of the Empire. The good news of God’s kingdom is reaching all nations.
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