Journey Through ActsSample

This is a review of Acts.

Author & Audience: Behind the Text

Luke had a purpose for writing his account, and he followed the conventions of his day to make his points. Let’s recognize him as both a historian and an “apologist.”

Luke the Historian

The Death of Agrippa in Josephus & Acts

Reference, and table quoted from: Craig S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary: Volume 2: 3:1–14:28, 2013, p. 1967.

Luke is telling the same story as Josephus, with the same outcome, but the details of his story are confined to those things relevant to the Church’s story. As for Agrippa’s illness, modern scholars have offered a number of guesses as to what he died of: a ruptured appendix, intestinal roundworms, rupture of a digestive organ, or perforation of an abdominal wall. However, he died, and both writers go out of their way to tell us why he died—he was content to rival and try to surpass the glory of God.

Luke the Apologist