This Book continues the history of Christianity begun in the Third Gospel. The two Books are part of the same work by St. Luke. The Gospel of Luke records the life and works of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles, beginning with His reincarnation and ascension, goes on to tell of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the ministry of Peter, the martyrdom of Stephen, the conversion of Paul, the founding of the Christian church, the missionary journeys of the apostles.
As in the Third Gospel, the Book of the Acts opens with a dedication to one Theophilus:
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For . . . ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.1:1–5
When Jesus has finished speaking, continues Luke, He is taken up out of their sight. While they look toward heaven, two men clad in white stand by them, saying, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.1:11
THE DAY OF PENTECOST
The little band of believers now numbers about a hundred and twenty persons: the eleven apostles, the women (among them Mary the mother of Jesus), and the other disciples. Having sought guidance in prayer, they appoint Matthias to fill the place of Judas Iscariot.
They are gathered together on the day of Pentecost:
Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. . . . And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire . . . And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.2:2–4
People come from everywhere to hear them. Jews and proselytes from every nation say in amazement to each other, We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. . . . What meaneth this?2:11–12 The twelve apostles stand up before them, and Peter speaks: Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.2:22
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted . . . he hath shed forth this, which he now see and hear.2:32–33
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.2:38
About three thousand are baptized on this day.
Many wonders and signs are wrought by the apostles.
And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they . . . did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.2:44–47
As Peter and John are entering the Temple one day at the hour of prayer, a lame man asks alms of them. Peter says to him, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.3:6
The man leaps to his feet. He enters the Temple, praising God, filling the people with wonder and amazement. Peter speaks to them: Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you: And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong. . . .3:14–16 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. . . .3:19
From this time the apostles are forbidden by the High Priest to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. Nevertheless they continue to preach in His name. They continue to perform signs and wonders. They are thrown into prison; but upon being released by the Angel of the Lord, they immediately go to teach again in the Temple. Questioned by the High Priest, they say, We ought to obey God rather than men.5:29
It is decided by the council to put them to death. But Gamaliel, a Pharisee, a noted doctor of law, urges caution: For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.5:38–39
The apostles are beaten, and then released—rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.5:41
The apostle Stephen, full of faith and power, performing many miracles among the people, is charged with blasphemy, confronted by false witnesses, driven out of the city, and stoned to death.
His martyrdom is witnessed by a young man named Saul:
And Saul was consenting unto his death.8:1
Afterwards there is a great persecution of the disciples. They scatter abroad—all but the apostles, who remain in Jerusalem.
Saul, a Jew of Tarsus but a Roman citizen by birth, leads in the persecution in Jerusalem, entering every house, carrying men and women off to prison, breathing out threatenings and slaughter.9:1 With authority from the high priest, he sets out for Damascus to bring back in chains the disciples who have fled there.
Suddenly, as he nears Damascus, a light from heaven shines upon him. A voice says, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Falling to the earth, Saul says, Who art thou, Lord? The Voice replies, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. . . . Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.9:4–6
Saul arises, blind. He is led into Damascus. For three days he neither eats nor drinks. Then, at the word of the Lord, a disciple named Ananias goes to Saul, in the street which is called Straight,9:11 and, laying his hands upon him, causes the scales to fall from Saul’s eyes. He is baptized; and immediately he begins to preach Christ in the synagogues. So boldly does he preach, that the disciples, for his own safety, smuggle him out of Damascus and send him on his way to Tarsus, the city of his birth.
The churches are now established throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. Peter, journeying from one to the other, comes upon a man named Eneas sick of the palsy, and says to him, Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.9:34 Eneas, bedridden for eight years, arises and is cured.
Tabitha, a woman full of good works,9:36 lying dead upon her bier, opens her eyes and sits up when Peter kneels and prays at her side.
Though it is unlawful for a Jew to seek the company of Gentiles, Peter goes to the house of a centurion named Cornelius in Caesarea, because, he says, God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.10:28 Cornelius, a good and devout man, has been told in a vision to send for Peter: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee.10:32 Upon hearing this, Peter says, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.10:34–35
He preaches to Cornelius and his assembled kin the remission of sin through faith in Jesus:
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.10:44–46
And Peter orders these Gentiles to be baptised in the name of the Lord.
Fleeing persecution, some of the disciples journey as far as Antioch, in northern Syria. They preach not only in the synagogues but to the Greeks as well, and a great number are converted.
When word of this reaches the church in Jerusalem, Barnabas is sent to look into the matter. What he finds at Antioch makes him rejoice. He fetches Saul from Tarsus, and they remain in Antioch for a year. The work prospers. Many people are converted and turn to the Lord. It is here in Antioch that the disciples are first called Christians.
Being warned by a prophet named Agabus of a coming famine, the church at Antioch determines to send relief, every man according to his ability,11:29 to the brethren in Judea. Barnabas and Saul go to Jerusalem on this mission. When they return to Antioch, they bring with them Mark, a cousin of Barnabas.
A new wave of persecution now breaks over the disciples in Jerusalem. James the son of Zebedee is killed. Peter is imprisoned. Constant prayer is made for him by the brethren; and on the night before he is to be brought to trial the Angel of the Lord appears and sets him free.
Shortly afterwards Herod, seated on his throne, makes an oration to the people, who shout, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.12:22 Immediately he is smitten:
And he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
But the word of God grew and multiplied.12:23–24
At Antioch the prophets and teachers of the church, by divine command, send forth Barnabas and Saul to preach the word of God. They sail from the port of Seleucia to Cyprus, where they preach at Salami’s and at Paphos; and afterwards to Perga in Pamphylia, where Mark, who has accompanied them this far, leaves them and returns to Jerusalem.
In Pisidian Antioch, Barnabas and Saul (who also is called Paul13:9), angrily rejected by the Jews, preach to the Gentiles:
Seeing ye . . . judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles. . . .13:47
They are expelled from here; and also from Iconium, where they next preach, and where the Jews stir up the people against them.
In Lystra a miracle is wrought. Paul causes a lame man, who has never before stood up, to leap to his feet and walk. A cry goes up from the bystanders: The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.14:11 Barnabas is called Jupiter; and Paul, Mercury. Sacrifices to them are made ready. Paul and Barnabas plead with the people, saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you. . . . Turn from these vanities unto the living God. . . .14:15
But then there arrive certain of the Jews of Pisidian Antioch and Iconium, who incite the people against Paul. They stone him and throw him out of the city.
Nevertheless, on their return journey to Antioch, Paul and Barnabas retrace their steps through Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch, and through Pamphylia: Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.14:22–23
THE LETTERS TO THE GENTILES
Dissension arises at Antioch: Is it required that Gentile converts be circumcised in accordance with the law of Moses?
Paul and Barnabas, returned from their journey, are sent to the mother church in Jerusalem about this question. They find division among the apostles and elders of the church. Some say it is necessary that all he circumcised. But Peter says, Ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts . . . put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.15:7–9
James then speaks: My sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God.15:19
The decision is made to send two men, Judas Barsabas and Silas, to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, and to send letters by them which read, in part, as follows:
Greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: It seemed good unto us . . . to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.15:23–26
For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.15:28–29
Once more in Antioch, Paul one day proposes to Barnabas that they revisit the cities where they have preached.
Barnabas is determined to take along Mark; but Paul, because Mark left them at Pamphylia during the first journey, opposes this. So Barnabas, with Mark, sails for Cyprus; while Paul, taking Silas, goes to Syria, Cilicia, and Lystra. At Lystra a disciple named Timotheus, the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother, is added to their party.
Paul journeys throughout Phrygia and Galatia, confirming the churches, delivering the decrees ordained by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.16:5
PAUL IN ATHENS
In Philippi, chief city of Macedonia, Paul makes the first European convert: a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple. . . .16:14
But here also the people rise against them, they are beaten and imprisoned, their feet are fastened in the stocks, and only the miracle of an earthquake which breaks open the prison saves their lives.
When they come to Thessalonica, where there is a synagogue, a cry is set up by certain lewd fellows of the baser sort17:5 that these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.17:6 They are forced to flee Thessalonica in the night.
Leaving Silas and Timotheus in nearby Berea, Paul goes on to Athens, where philosophers of the Epicureans and Stoics ask each other, What will this babbler say?17:18
(For all the Athenians, and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.)
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. . . .17:21–24
Seek the Lord. . . . For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said. . . .17:27–28
And the times of . . . ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.17:30–31
Some of his listeners mock; but others believe. Among the latter are Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and many others.
From Athens, Paul goes to Corinth, where he remains for a year and a half. Silas and Timotheus come from Macedonia. With them, and with the help of a Jew named Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who are tent-makers, the work goes forward in spite of opposition from the Jews of the synagogue. Many converts are made. The church at Corinth is founded.
After this Paul sails to Syria, and comes to Ephesus, where there are disciples who know only the baptism of John, and who say to Paul, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.19:2 These he baptizes in the name of Jesus.
He is in Ephesus for two years:
So that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul.19:10–11
PAUL’S RETURN TO JERUSALEM
Sending for the elders of the church at Ephesus, Paul says to them, Behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there.20:22
Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. . . .
I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.20:24–25
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. . . .20:28
I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.20:35
He sails from Ephesus for Jerusalem.
The brethren receive him gladly. But as he enters the Temple he is seized by an angry crowd stirred up by zealots, and is only saved from death by a band of soldiers who carry him off in chains to the garrison.
As he is being led into the garrison, Paul says, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.21:39
Given leave, standing on the stairs, Paul speaks in Hebrew: Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense. . . . I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus . . . , yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law. . . .22:1–3
He tells of his persecution of the disciples, of the miracle on the road to Damascus, of his conversion to faith in the Lord. But at the end the people demand his punishment. He is ordered to be scourged; but he says, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?22:25 The captain of the garrison asks, Art thou a Roman? When Paul answers, Yea, the captain retorts, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. Paul says, But I was freeborn.22:27–28
He is unbound. For his own safety he is sent to Caesarea, to be heard by the governor of Judea. But it is two years before he comes before Festus, the governor, to whom he says, I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong. . . . I appeal unto Caesar. Festus replies, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go.25:10–12
But the king of Judea, Agrippa, happening at this time to be in Caesarea, asks to see Paul. Brought before him, Paul says, I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee. . . .26:2 He states his cause so eloquently that Agrippa says, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.26:28
PAUL IN ROME
He is placed aboard a ship for Italy. The story of the voyage is one of storm and shipwreck; of miraculous escape from death; and of the adventures of the shipload of survivors cast away on the island of Melita (Malta), where they gain the confidence of the natives only through Paul’s miraculous power of healing, and are rescued at last by a ship which carries them to Italy.
In Rome, Paul is allowed to live by himself, with only a soldier to guard him. He calls together the leaders of the Jews, to whom he tells his story:
He expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets. . . .28:23
When he sees that some believe his words, and some do not, he quotes the prophet Isaiah:
Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed. . . .
Paul says, Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.28:26–28
The Jews leave, having great argument among themselves.
And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.28:30–31