THE RISE OF THE CHURCH (ACTS 8:1–12:25)
Human nature abhors change, yet we cannot live without it. The fact is, our bodies and brains need a certain amount of stress to keep us moving, growing, and adapting. Without something to inspire creativity and to challenge our survival instincts, our muscles would atrophy and our brains would turn to mush. Fortunately, the only constant in our world is change. The tension created between turbulence and our desperate need to restore equilibrium forces us to grow stronger and wiser. And sometimes coping with change requires a complete overhaul of our worldview, a dramatic exchange of one perspective for another.
In the early 1960s, Thomas Kuhn gave this drastic change of perspective a name. We now call it a “paradigm shift.”[53] This occurs when a scientist or researcher cannot make sense of data using conventional perspectives. When scientists finally tire of stretching the old models to fit the new shape of information, a new way of thinking is born, and humanity takes a leap forward. But paradigm shifts are painful —like all significant changes. Those receiving the gift of a new worldview experience deep distress and often painful self-doubt: “Am I crazy for thinking this way?” They frequently endure the stinging rejection of peers as they take their tentative first steps toward a new frontier of thought. Theirs is a world of misunderstanding until other minds become receptive and a fresh generation begins to embrace the new paradigm.
The book of Acts documents the dramatic changes the first Christians faced. This particular section represents some of the most difficult and painful changes of all. The martyrdom of Stephen became a watershed moment in the life of the church —and in the progression of God’s plan.
Instead of stifling the message of salvation, persecution dispersed the good news like pollen in the wind. As the believers spread from Jerusalem, the Lord’s plan (1:8) entered its second stage, with Samaritans (8:15) and Gentiles (10:44-48) receiving the Holy Spirit. Peter thus came to embrace the new paradigm (11:1-18). Meanwhile, Saul, who had approved of Stephen’s execution, was converted and commissioned to proclaim Christ to the Gentiles (9:1-31), for a time joining Christians in Antioch who had also begun telling Greeks the gospel message (11:19-26).
Until this time, all of Jesus’ followers —numbering in the tens of thousands —were Jewish, and the epicenter of Christianity was the temple. These believers had inherited a covenant in which God selected Abraham, gave him and his descendants a piece of land, blessed them, and promised to make of them a great nation. He established Israel in that part of the world to be a light to other nations, a theocracy situated at the crossroads of civilization, ordained as a priestly nation whose purpose was to bring the world under the dominion of God as King. Furthermore, God promised the Hebrew people a Messiah, a supernatural King who would establish a kingdom that would grow to overtake the entire planet as nation after nation bent the knee to this King and became His citizens. The Jewish believers in Jerusalem had embraced Jesus as this celebrated monarch.
While these Jesus-following Hebrews fully expected to share the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with Gentiles, they thought they understood the process of expansion. In their minds, Gentiles would come into the church of the Messiah through the door of Judaism. Like the Gentile proselyte Nicolas (6:5), all non-Jewish individuals would embrace the Law of Moses, participate in the temple rites, submit to baptism and circumcision to become “sons of the covenant,” accept Jesus as their Messiah, and receive the Holy Spirit. That is how everyone thus far had come into the fellowship of the saints. The coming months, however, would force them to see things differently. Stephen’s death set the church on a path to a paradigm shift, led by the most devoutly steadfast Jew in the church, Peter.
The other first Christians were Jewish and couldn’t imagine how ignorant, unclean, idolatrous people could become citizens of God’s kingdom apart from His covenant with Abraham. Besides the theological issues, Jews had cultivated a generations-long disgust with all things Gentile: how they ate, what they touched, who they contacted, where they worked —every aspect of non-Jewish life prompted aversion. Then Peter became the Lord’s anti-prejudice project.
After a disturbing vision, Peter was sent to preach in a quintessentially “unclean” home so he could personally observe the Lord’s acceptance of Gentile believers. He saw a repeat of Pentecost in Caesarea. The Old Testament promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled in people the Jews considered outsiders. Now, however, God had spoken; His Spirit filled kosher and “unclean” equally and without prejudice. No one could deny the acceptance of Gentiles into the kingdom of God.
KEY TERMS IN ACTS 8:1–12:25
kēryssō (κηρύσσω) [2784] “to preach,” “to proclaim,” “to be a herald”
This word generally describes making official, public proclamations such as those announcing royal decrees, public festivals and fasts, and military actions. Such uses appear in the Septuagint (e.g., Exod. 32:5; 36:6; 2 Chr. 20:3), along with less frequent uses for proclamations of judgment (e.g., Jon. 3:2) and for the call of the lady wisdom (Prov. 1:21; 8:1; 9:3). Thus in the New Testament we often read of commissioned messengers proclaiming the good news of the Messiah’s kingdom.
euangelizō (εὐαγγελίζω) [2097] “to evangelize,” “to tell good news,” “to announce,” “to proclaim”
In the secular sphere, this verb was used for the action of an official messenger bringing good news, such as an update on the progress of battle, the birth of a royal, or the pending arrival of the king. The New Testament carries over the ideas of liberation and victory, applying this word specifically to preaching salvation in Jesus Christ. Of the fifty-four times this verb appears in the New Testament, almost half occur in Luke and Acts (ten times in Luke and fifteen in Acts). The majority of the other instances can be found in the letters of Luke’s mentor, Paul (twenty-one times).
mathētēs (μαθητής) [3101] “disciple,” “student,” “follower”
A mathētēs is one who subjects him- or herself to a process of becoming familiarized with, experiencing, learning, or receiving direction about something. This usually implied the aid of another person, and as the term fully developed, it became inconceivable for one to be a learner without a guide or a master. The term is used to refer to the disciples of rabbis and of John the Baptizer, the Pharisees, and Moses (e.g., Mark 2:18; John 9:28). Throughout Acts, Luke uses the term for those following Jesus as their Master (e.g., Acts 6:1), though not all had yet heard the complete gospel (19:1-5).
metanoeō (μετανοέω) [3340] “to repent,” “to change one’s mind or purpose,” “to regret,” “to be converted”
A word with a well-known general meaning can take on a very specific, technical meaning within a particular community. In secular Greek, this verb means, “to change one’s thinking,” “to regret,” or “to have remorse.” Within the Gospels, however, it almost exclusively carries the idea of being reconciled to God after turning away from sin.[54] Therefore, in Luke and Acts, when one repents, one is saved, converted, and added to the ranks of genuine believers. In Acts, the related noun form metanoia [3341] usually describes an ongoing state of mind and indicates that someone is in right relationship with God.
peritomē (περιτομή) [4061] “circumcision,” “a circumcised one,” “one among the circumcised”
This Greek noun derives from the verb meaning “to cut around” and describes the Hebrew rite in which the foreskin of a male is cut away. As instituted by God (Gen. 17:10), this ritual identified the male as a participant in God’s covenant with Abraham. In time, this distinguishing feature became symbolic of the people, the covenant, and the culture. Eventually, many Jews thought the circumcised state itself entitled one to blessings from God and salvation from divine judgment (Acts 15:1). In Acts, the place of this covenantal sign in the church becomes a point of tension as uncircumcised Gentiles come to faith in the Messiah (11:1-18; 15:1-35).