The Bible CourseSample

The viper, the gospel and Rome – to the ends of the earth

Reflect:

Do you love theatre? Seeing the Bible as an unfolding drama can be helpful. Hopefully by now you’ve seen and experienced the miraculous harmony of the Scriptures and how Jesus is its centre of gravity. But what if there’s more? What if God, the ultimate screenwriter, has deliberately left space in the final act?

Drawing loosely on an analogy from Prof NT Wright: imagine a team of actors discover a long-lost Shakespearean play. Originally, it would have had five acts, but only four have survived. How should the actors perform the missing act and finish the show? Wright suggests that to do this successfully, they’d need to immerse themselves in the rest of the drama.

Knowing the story means entering the mind of the playwright and sensing the inner logic and heartbeat of his work. From this position, they’d be able to improvise a fifth act in keeping with the whole. Today, we hear the call of God to play our part in the fifth act of the drama of Scripture, to get to know him and his story in such a way that we act in a way that is consistent with his intention for us.

What do we learn about Paul and his mission towards the end of the book of Acts?

We may be nearing the end of the book of Acts, but God isn’t finished with his mission. On the island of Malta he protects Paul from the viper's bite so that he can go on to heal many on the island. You’d think that, having been through so much, Paul deserved a break!

Life is unpredictable, and opposition to the gospel will always be there. So don’t be discouraged if the trials feel relentless. They never stopped for Paul, and they may not for you either, but keep going because God isn’t finished with you!

Acts concludes with Paul following up the letter he’d sent to Rome with a visit. But it didn’t go to plan. Paul was put under house arrest, to await trial before the emperor in Rome.

On death row, guess what Paul was doing? He didn’t give up. He went on sharing Jesus with his guards – they were literally his captive audience! Paul was set on finishing well. Are you?

What does the end of Acts mean for us today?

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Luke, the author, just ran out of ink at the end of this chapter. It feels so wrong to end here: shouldn’t there be another chapter? But there is no neat ending. And that’s the point: there’s no Acts 29, because we are writing Acts 29. The story continues.

Respond

How will you play out your role in the fifth act?