1. Barclay, Acts, 1.
2. A. Harnack; cited in E. F. Harrison, Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 235.
3. Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Discipleship (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1987).
4. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Warfare (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1976), 274; cited in Stott, Acts, BST, 9.
5. Longenecker, “Acts,” 238.
6. See especially Hemer, Acts, 312–34.
7. See 9:30; possibly 11:25–26; 13:4, 13; 14:26; 17:14; 18:18, 21 (from D. J. Williams, Acts, 3–4).
8. W. W. Gasque, “Luke,” ISBE, 3:179.
9. Ibid.
10. For a listing of the various positions on the date of Acts and the defense of an early date, see Hemer, Acts, ch. 9.
11. For a fuller discussion of the issues involved see my Supremacy, ch. 6.
12. Haenchen, Acts; Hans Conzelmann, Acts, Hermenia (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987).
13. David Gooding, True to the Faith: A Fresh Approach to the Acts of the Apostles (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990); Robert C. Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation; vol. 2, The Acts of the Apostles (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994).
14. I. Howard Marshall, Luke: Historian and Theologian (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970); Roger Stronstad, The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke; Harold Dollar, St. Luke’s Missiology: A Cross-Cultural Challenge.
15. William M. Ramsay, BRD, 37–38.
16. Ramsay denotes this as 14:5 in ibid., 39.
17. Ibid., 40.
18. Ibid., 42.
19. Ibid., 48.
20. Ibid., ch. 3.
21. Ibid., 89.
22. William M. Ramsay, St. Paul: Traveller and Roman Citizen (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1949 reprint). This book was unfortunately not available to me.
23. Scot McKnight, “Sir William Ramsay: Archaeologist: Re-Tracing Acts,” More Than Conquerors, ed. John Woodbridge (Chicago: Moody, 1992), 306.
24. E. M. Blaiklock, The Acts of the Apostles, TNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959). This commentary was different from the others in the Tyndale series, being what was called a historical commentary.
25. A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978, reprint of 1963 ed.).
26. Hemer, Acts.
27. Irina Levinskaya, BAFCS, vol. 5, Diaspora Setting (1996). See especially the preface (vii–x) for a description of her scholarly pilgrimage.
28. R. I. Prevo, Profit with Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987).
29. C. K. Barrett, Luke the Historian in Recent Study (London: Epworth Press, 1961), 15, 55; cited in Howard Marshall, A Fresh Look at the Acts, 18.
30. William W. Klein, Craig Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Dallas: Word, 1993), 345.
31. Marshall, Fresh Look, 19–21.
32. See our comments on 16:1–3.
33. See our comments on 21:20–26.
34. See 13:38–39; 20:17–38 and our comments on these verses.
35. David E. Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987), 124.
36. Conrad Gempf, “Public Speaking and Published Accounts,” BAFCS, vol. 1, Ancient Literary Setting, 260, 261 (italics his).
37. Aune, Literary Environment, 124–25.
38. For a summary of these developments, see Conrad Gempf, “Public Speaking,” 291–98. For a more detailed study, see W. Ward Gasque, A History of the Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1989).
39. Published as F. F. Bruce, The Speeches in the Acts of the Apostles, Tyndale New Testament Lecture, 1942 (London: Tyndale, 1943).
40. Hemer, Acts, 418.
41. Gempf, “Public Speaking,” 259–303. For a summary of Gempf’s view see his, “Acts,” NBCTCE, 1071–72. We have discussed the alleged contradictions between Paul’s letters and his speeches in Acts above.
42. On prayer in Luke-Acts, see M. M. B. Turner, “Prayer in the Gospels and Acts,” Teach Us To Pray, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 59–75; P. T. O’Brien, “Prayer in Luke-Acts: A Study in the Theology of Luke,” TynBul 24 (1973): 113–16.
43. This seems to be the approach advocated in Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), 97.
44. Ibid.
45. On this see the discussion in Klein, Blomberg, Hubbard, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, 350–51.
46. Ibid., 350.
47. See also the abbreviations for other books consulted in this commentary.
1. Longenecker, “Acts,” 253.
2. See Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 30, for examples of such dedications.
3. Ibid.
4. Longenecker, “Acts,” 253.
5. See 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 10:39–41; 13:30–31.
6. John B. Polhill, Acts, 82.
7. Many scholars today prefer to use the expression “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” But we will stick to the NIV rendering of this expression: “baptism with the Holy Spirit.”
9. The definitions are from Louw and Nida, 536, 537, and 539 respectively.
10. Larry W. Hurtado, Mark, NIBC (1989), 176.
11. Stott, Acts, 41 (italics his).
12. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 36–37.
13. See below on “The Holy Spirit and mission.”
14. See J. Edwin Orr, The Fervent Prayer: The Worldwide Impact of the Great Awakening of 1858 (Chicago: Moody, 1974), 111–20; idem, Campus Aflame: Dynamic of Student Religious Revolution (Glendale, Calif.: Regal Books, 1971), 217–19.
15. Both quotations are from David McKee, The Wonder of Worship (Ahmedabad, India: Jiwan Sahitya Sanstha, 1967), 16.
16. See James D. G. Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit (London: SCM, 1970); Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 763–87; Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970); John R. W. Stott, Baptism and Fullness (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1976).
17. See Laurence W. Wood, Pentecostal Grace (Wilmore, Ky.: Francis Asbury, 1980); Wilber T. Dayton, “Entire Sanctification,” A Contemporary Wesleyan Theology, vol. 1, ed. Charles Carter (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983).
18. See Howard M. Ervin, Conversion-Initiation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1984); Stronstad, The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke.
19. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable: Power and Renewal in the Holy Spirit (Wheaton: Harold Shaw, 1984). See also Michael A. Eaton, Baptism with the Spirit: The Teaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1989), and Tony Sargent, The Sacred Anointing (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994).
20. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival: Can We Make It Happen? (London: Marshall Pickering, 1986), 49–54.
21. D. A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), 47. Carson directs our attention to Iain Murray, “Baptism with the Spirit: What Is the Scriptural Meaning?” Banner of Truth Magazine 127 (April 1974): 5–22.
22. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 767–68; Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, 127–31.
23. Erwin, Conversion-Initiation, 100.
24. Ibid., 102.
25. Some have understood this statement as meaning “Be filled in your spirit.” But, as Leon Morris points out, even if this were the meaning, it could be achieved only through the work of the Holy Spirit (Expository Reflections on the Letter to the Ephesians [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994], 176–77).
26. Clements, The Church That Turned the World, 16.
27. See Roland Allen, The Ministry of the Spirit: Selected Writings of Roland Allen, ed. David M. Paton (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962), 3–12.
28. For introductions to postmodernism from a Christian perspective, see Stanley J. Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996); J. Richard Middleton and Brian J. Walsh, Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1995); Gene Edward Veith Jr., Postmodern Times (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994).
29. Veith, Postmodern Times, 19.
30. See Sir Norman Anderson, Jesus Christ: The Witness of History (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1985); Stephen Neill, The Supremacy of Jesus (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1984); A. Fernando, Supremacy.
31. See Lesslie Newbigin, Truth to Tell (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), and Vinoth Ramachandra, The Recovery of Mission (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1996). For a comprehensive response to pluralism and its influence within and without the church, see D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996).
32. For a helpful analysis of these changes in science, see Nancy R. Pearcey and Charles B. Thaxton, The Soul of Science (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994). I am indebted to this book for much of what I have written on science.
33. See Charles Colson with Ellen Santilli Vaughan, The Body: Being Light in Darkness (Dallas: Word, 1992).
34. David F. Wells, No Place for Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 109.
35. See Veith, Postmodern Times, 16–18.
36. Theodore Roszak, Unfinished Animal (New York: Harper and Row, 1977), 225, quoted in Douglas R. Groothuis, Unmasking the New Age (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1986), 21.
37. Quoted in ibid.
38. See Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989); Timothy R. Phillips and Dennis L. Okholm, editors, Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1995).
39. See Leighton Ford, The Power of Story (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1994), and Charles Stromer, The Gospel and the New Spirituality (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996).
40. Lewis Drummond, Eight Keys to Biblical Revival (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1994), 35.
41. David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1991), 115.
42. Reprinted in Allen, The Ministry of the Spirit, 1–61.
43. Charles Henry Long and Anne Rowthorn, “Roland Allen, 1868–1947: ‘Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?’ ” in Gerald T. Anderson et al., Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Missionary Movement (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1994), 385.
44. Harry R. Boer, Pentecost and Mission (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961).
45. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Authority (London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1958), 88.
46. George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), 123–24.
47. Taken from Kellsye M. Finnie, William Carey: By Trade a Cobbler (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1986), 28–36.
48. For an explanation of these matters see, John R. W. Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1975); Bruce J. Nicholls, ed., In Word and Deed: Evangelism and Social Responsibility, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986); Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and World Evangelical Fellowship, Evangelism and Social Responsibility: An Evangelical Commitment (Exeter: Paternoster, 1982).
49. See Donald Dayton, Discovering an Evangelical Heritage (New York: Harper and Row, 1976).
50. On this see Robert E. Coleman, The Great Commission Lifestyle (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1992).
51. Among the many available introductions to the Great Commission and its implications for the church are Paul Borthwick, How to be a World Class Christian (Wheaton: Victor, 1991); idem, A Mind for Missions (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1987); Michael Griffiths, Shaking the Sleeping Beauty (Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1980); Robertson McQuilkin, The Great Omission (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984); John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993); John T. Seamands, Harvest of Humanity (Wheaton: Victor, 1988); Max Warren, I Believe in the Great Commission (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976). The U.S. Center for World Mission (Pasadena, Calif.) has produced a helpful mission education and involvement package, Vision for the Nations, which includes a “Participants Reader” and thirteen video lectures.
52. Related in E. Stanley Jones, A Song of Ascents: A Spiritual Autobiography (Nashville: Abingdon, 1968), 65–66.
53. Ibid., 66.
54. E. Stanley Jones, The Word Became Flesh (Nashville: Abingdon, 1963), 149.
1. Williams, Acts, 24.
2. Ibid., 25.
3. Ibid.
4. Faw, Acts, 31.
5. A compilation of Jewish oral tradition of interpretations of the law, completed around A.D. 200.
6. Among the suggestions are: where the Last Supper was held (Luke 22:11–12), where Jesus met the disciples after the resurrection (John 20:19), where they were on the day of Pentecost (2:1), and where Mary the mother of Mark lived (cf. 12:12).
7. Longenecker, “Acts,” 260.
8. Keener, BBC, 325.
9. Kistemaker, Acts, 60.
10. Barrett, Acts, 90.
11. For the variety of occasions for, and of locations and times of, prayer in Acts, see Coleman, Master Plan of Discipleship, 107–9.
12. Ten of the eleven times it appears in the New Testament are in Acts.
13. See Barrett, Acts, 88–89.
14. Barrett, Acts, 88. Romans 12:12 is mistakenly recorded as Acts 12:12 in Barrett’s book.
15. Williams, Acts, 31.
16. “According to a Jewish tradition of uncertain date, 120 elders first passed on the law in the time of Ezra. Then again, the Dead Sea Scrolls required one priest for every ten men, so 120 may be the number of people a team of twelve leaders could best accommodate. . . .” (Keener, BBC, 326).
17. Ibid.
18. Longenecker, “Acts,” 263–64.
19. Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72, TOTC (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1973), 245.
20. See Acts 2:23; 3:18; 8:32–35; 13:27, 29.
21. Keener, BBC 325–26.
22. Marshall, Acts, 63.
23. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 103.
24. Luke 3:21–22; 11:13; Acts 4:31; 8:15. For discussions on prayer in Luke-Acts, see M. M. B. Turner, “Prayer in the Gospels and Acts,” Teach Us To Pray, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 59–75; P. T. O’Brien, “Prayer in Luke-Acts: A Study in the Theology of Luke,” TynBul 24 (1973): 113–16.
25. R. Arthur Matthews, Born for Battle (Waynesboro, Ga.: STL Books, 1978), 72.
26. F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 411.
27. For more on community prayer in Acts see below and the discussions on 4:23–41; 12:1–19; 13:1–4.
28. William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Dallas: Word, 1993), 348.
29. Campbell Morgan, Acts, 21.
30. Lev. 16:8–10; Num. 26:55–56; Josh. 14:2; Judg. 1:3; 20:9; 1 Chron. 24:5–19; Neh. 11:1; Prov. 18:18.
31. “Casting of Lots,” BEB, 1356. The only other time it appears in the New Testament is the soldiers’ casting lots for Jesus’ garments (Matt. 27:35).
32. See Luke T. Johnson, Decision Making in the Church: A Biblical Model (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983).
33. For an exposition of this understanding of leadership, see my Leadership Lifestyle: A Study of 1 Timothy (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1985).
34. Robert H. Stein, Luke, NAC (Nashville: Broadman, 1992), 192. See also ibid., 51–52.
35. Quoted in Wesley L. Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 135.
36. Taken from Wesley L. Duewel, Revival Fire (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 128–31.
37. For the full story, see ibid., 306–18.
38. Roger Steer, George Mueller: Delighted in God (Wheaton: Harold Shaw, 1975), 267.
39. See Ruth Bell Graham, Prodigals and Those Who Love Them (Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family, 1991).
40. Gooding, True to the Faith, 44.
41. Sometimes, however, we bring extrabiblical, social qualifications, which may disqualify biblically qualified candidates for leadership. My fear is that often qualified and gifted Christians from among the poor are eliminated because they do not meet with some of these social requirements, such as educational requirements.
42. For an exposition of this understanding of community, see my Reclaiming Friendship.
1. The Pharisees and Sadducees had different systems regarding when to start counting the fifty days (see Ferguson, Backgrounds, 524). Pentecost is called the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament (Ex. 34:22; Deut. 16:10) because it occurs seven weeks after the Passover.
2. In time it became a popular time for baptisms in the Christian church. The white dress of the candidates gave rise to the name Whitsunday (White Sunday) in Christian tradition (“Pentecost,” BEB, 2.1639–40).
3. Chrysostom, “Homilies on Acts,” 25.
4. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 58.
5. Longenecker, “Acts,” 270.
6. Others feel that the “all” (v. 1), “whole” (v. 2), and “all” again in verse 4, used at the start of the process described here, suggest “that the Spirit’s outpouring on the church as a body precedes its filling of the individual” (V. Verbrugge, in a letter to the author).
7. The word translated “God-fearing” (eulabes, see also 8:2) is different from those used in Acts for Gentile “God-fearers” (eusebes, see 10:2, 7, and phoboumenos ton theon, 10:2, 22; 13:16).
8. John Stott, Acts, 63.
9. I. H. Marshall, “The Significance of Pentecost,” SJT 30 (1977): 357; cited in Wolfgang Reinhardt, “The Population Size of Jerusalem and the Numerical Growth of the Jerusalem Church,” BAFCS, 4.261.
10. Harrison, Apostolic Church, 49.
11. See Reinhardt, “Population Size,” 262–63.
12. R. Riesner, “Galilee,” DJG, 253.
13. A different word is used in verse 11. But Bruce says that there is no significant distinction between the two words (Acts: Greek Text, 116).
14. Greek was the universal language of the time and it was likely spoken extensively in Palestine; the disciples themselves probably knew this language (John E. Stambaugh and David L. Balch, The New Testament in Its Social Environment [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986], 87).
15. E.g., Barrett, Acts, 125.
16. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 119.
17. Alexander, Acts, 57.
18. Longenecker, “Acts,” 271.
19. Willimon, Acts, 31.
20. Gempf, “Acts,” 1071.
21. Wagner, Spreading the Fire, 86.
22. For a scholarly fruit of this emphasis, see Gordon Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994), which shows how central to the letters of Paul is his teaching on the Spirit. Fee points out that this factor has often been overlooked by earlier scholars (1).
23. See Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993).
24. The following quotes are taken from Roy Clements, The Church That Turned the World Upside Down, 20–23.
25. Benjamin B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1918, reprint 1972); cited in C. M. Robeck Jr., ISBE, 4.872.
26. Walter J. Chantry, Signs of the Apostles: Observations on Pentecostalism Old and New (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1976); cited in Robeck, ISBE, 4.872.
27. See D. A. Carson, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12–14 (Grand Rapids: Book, 1987), 76–72; Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit; Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, 204–8; idem, 1 Corinthians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 642–46.
1. See the comments on Acts 3.
2. Robert H. Mounce, “Gospel,” EDBT, 474.
3. Peter’s words translate literally, “It is only the third hour of the day” (NASB). According to our system of reckoning time, that is 9.00 A.M.
4. Marshall, Acts, 74.
5. Ibid.
6. Gary V. Smith, “Prophet; Prophecy,” ISBE, 3:1004. By contrast, the tongues described in 1 Corinthians 12–14 were unintelligible without an interpreter and were primarily for private edification (see comments on 2:1–11).
7. Longenecker, “Acts,” 271.
8. See the influential book of C. H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments (New York: Harper & Row, 1964 reprint), 7–31.
9. See the discussion on the speeches of Acts in the Introduction.
10. Note how in his speech in Cornelius’s house Peter makes the same point, but there he outlines the career of Christ in more detail (10:37–39).
11. Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 75.
12. C. K. Barrett, Acts, 127.
13. G. Bertram, “ὖδίν,” TDNT, 9:673.
14. Note especially Phil. 2:8–9. The resurrection of Christ is not mentioned in this Christological hymn. Rather, immediately after mentioning Jesus’ death, Paul refers to the exaltation: “He humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.”
15. Ladd, Theology, 370. The words in single quotes are from C. F. D. Moule, “The Ascension,” ExpTim 68 (1956–57): 208.
16. Ladd, Theology, 371.
17. Ibid., 375. This is also true of the Luke’s Gospel, where the word is used at least 39 times for Jesus.
18. Ibid., 377. See also R. N. Longenecker, The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity (London: SCM Press, 1970).
19. Ladd, Theology, 376.
20. See 1 Cor. 15:24–27, which describes the rule of the exalted Christ until that time.
21. Gooding, True to the Faith, 55.
23. See Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Times of Jesus, trans. by F. H. and C. H. Cave (London: SCM, 1969), 84.
24. See Wolfgang Reinhardt, “The Population Size of Jerusalem and the Numerical Growth of the Jerusalem Church,” BAFCS, 4:237.
25. Leighton Ford uses this sermon as a model for public evangelism in his influential book, The Christian Persuader: A New Look at Evangelism Today (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 92–139.
26. John Stott, Understanding the Bible (Glendale, Calif.: Regal, 1976), 113–14.
27. For a discussion of using the life of Christ in evangelism see my Supremacy, 75–80.
28. It is interesting, however, that the records of Paul’s speeches in Acts do not mention his using the life of Christ. In his letters, however, are places where key theological implications are drawn from the life and example of Jesus (e.g., Phil. 2:1–11; 1 Tim. 3:16).
29. On this see my Supremacy, 58–65.
30. See ibid., 79–80.
31. Stephen Neill, Crises of Belief (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1984), 90 (North American Edition, Christian Faith and Other Faiths [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press]).
32. Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1987), 77.
33. Lesslie Newbigin, The Finality of Christ (Richmond: John Knox, 1969), 50.
34. For Gandhi’s views on Christ, see M. M. Thomas, The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance (London: SCM, 1969), 193–236.
35. On this issue see my Supremacy, 21–24, 85–98.
36. On this see my Supremacy, 149–53.
37. “Lamb” is used 28 times of Christ in Revelation.
38. Classic statements of the liberal position are found in Albrecht Ritschl, The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation (1870–1874; trans. reprinted by Clifton, N.J.: Reference Book, 1966), and Adolf von Harnack, What Is Christianity? (London: Ernst Benn, 1958 reprint). For a recent analysis of this approach, see Peter Toon, The End of Liberal Theology: Contemporary Challenges to Evangelical Orthodoxy (Wheaton: Crossway, 1995).
39. From John Wesley, Letters, (London, 1931), 3:82. Quoted in A. Skevington Wood, John Wesley: The Burning Heart (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 242.
40. See 2:23, 36–38, 40; 3:13–15, 19, 23, 26; 10:42–43; 13:40–42; 14:15; 17:30–31.
41. Wood, John Wesley: The Burning Heart, 230.
42. Shenk and Stutzman, Creating Communities, 31–32.
1. I prefer the expression “follow-through care” to the more commonly used “follow-up,” as the former stresses that this is a personal ministry rather than a mechanical process dependent on materials and techniques.
2. See 1:14; 2:42, 44; 6:4; 8:13; 10:7.
3. Barrett, Acts, 164.
4. Ibid., 162.
5. For a summary of the possible content of teaching in the early church, see Harrison, Apostolic Church, 165. Harrison’s material is from C. H. Dodd, Gospel and Law: The Relation of Faith and Ethics in Early Christianity (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1951), 252.
6. Some have claimed that this word was coined or given a completely new meaning by the church. But this is incorrect. This word appeared commonly in the classical writings to refer to, among other things, a close bond among people. See NIDNTT, 1:639–41.
7. Harrison, Acts, 74.
8. Murray J. Harris, “Baptism and the Lord’s Supper,” In God’s Community: Essays on the Church and Its Ministry, ed. David J. Ellis and W. Ward Gasque (Wheaton: Harold Shaw, 1978), 21.
9. G. F. Hawthorne, “Lord’s Supper,” ZPEB, 3:978–86; E. Earle Ellis, The Gospel of Luke, New Century Bible (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1974), 250; Oscar Cullmann, Early Christian Worship (London: SCM, 1966), reprinted in Robert E. Webber, ed., The Complete Library of Christian Worship; vol. 1, The Biblical Foundations of Christian Worship (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1993), 318–19.
10. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 73, quoting R. Otto, The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man (London, 1943), 315.
11. See Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 24:30, 35; Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7, 11; 27:35; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:23–24.
12. The Didache is variously dated from somewhere in the end of the first century to the late second century.
13. Didache, 8:2–3; in Apostolic Fathers, 259.
14. From his Homilies in Genesis (30:5); quoted in Everett Ferguson, “Prayer,” Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, ed. Everett Ferguson (New York and London: Garland, 1990), 744.
15. See 4:32–35; 5:12–16; 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20.
16. For evidence for this see Gary S. Greig and Kevin S. Springer, ed., The Kingdom and the Power (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1993), 359–92.
17. David Prior, The Message of 1 Corinthians, BST (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1985), 250.
18. See also Rom. 16:5; Col. 4:15; Philem. 2. It is interesting that the church era began in a home (Acts 2:2); that the first group of believers from the Gentile world met Christ in a home (10:27–48), and that in Corinth when the doors of the synagogue were closed to Paul and his team, they went to a house (18:7).
19. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 133.
20. In our discussion on 4:4 we will see the significance of numbers in terms of the results of evangelistic activity.
21. See David F. Wells, God the Evangelist: How the Holy Spirit Works to Bring Men and Women to Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987).
22. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 133.
23. “Social” here refers to Christian fellowship; John Wesley, “Preface,” Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739).
24. Bruce’s translation in Acts, NICNT, 391.
25. The classic statement of this view is in Benjamin B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1918, reprint 1972).
26. See John Wimber and Kevin Springer, Power Evangelism (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1986); idem, Power Healing (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987).
27. For a comprehensive defense of the view that miracles are for today, see Gary Greig and Kevin Springer, The Kingdom and the Power; Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993). For the opposite viewpoint, see Thomas R. Edgar, Satisfied by the Promise of the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1996). For a study of four views on this issue, see Wayne Grudem, ed., Are the Miraculous Gifts for Today: Four Views (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996).
28. D. A. Carson, “The Purpose of Signs and Wonders in the New Testament,” Power Religion: The Selling of the Evangelical Church? ed. Michael Scott Horton (Chicago: Moody, 1992), 99.
29. For the other types see the index at the back of the book.
30. John Koenig, New Testament Hospitality (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 89.
31. J. Navone, “The Lukan Banquet Community,” Bible Today 51 (1970): 155–61; cited in ibid., 89.
32. Mortimer Arias, “Centripetal Mission or Evangelization by Hospitality,” Missiology: An International Review 10 (1982): 69–81; cited in Koenig, Hospitality, 106.
33. On house churches see, Robert Banks, Paul’s Idea of Community: Early House Churches in Their Historical Setting (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988); Del Birkey, The House Church: A Model for Renewing the Church (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald, 1988).
34. See F. F. Bruce, Peter, Stephen, James and John: Studies in Non-Pauline Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 114–19.
35. See my Reclaiming Friendship, 146–48. Here I have drawn on Gary Collins, How to Be People Helpers (Santa Ana, Calif.: Vision House, 1976), 58–59.
36. See the studies on 1:1–8; 6:1–7; 17:1–15; 20:1–38.
37. Roland Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, repr. 1962), 95 (see esp. 81–94).
38. See Matt. 11:2–5; Mark 2:8–11; John 10:37–38; 14:11; 20:30–31.
39. See Matt. 14:14; 15:32; 20:29–34; Mark 1:41.
40. Probably Matt. 8:14–15; Acts 9:36–41; 20:9–12.
41. On this see my Supremacy, 81–84.
42. Much of what appears below is found in my Leadership Lifestyle: A Study of 1 Timothy (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1985), 69–71.
43. Donald Bubna, Building People Through a Caring Sharing Fellowship (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1978).
44. Karen Burton Mains, Open Heart—Open Home (Elgin, Ill.: David C. Cook, 1976).
45. For graphic evidence of this see, Michael Medved, Hollywood Versus America (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992).
1. There is no unanimity about the identity of this gate. See the discussions in Williams, Acts, 66; Barrett, Acts, 179–80.
2. Marshall, Acts, 87.
3. Longenecker, “Acts,” 294.
4. Marshall, Acts, 88.
5. Tannehill, Narrative Unity, 58.
6. See 3:6, 16; 4:7, 10, 12, 17, 18, 30.
7. Longenecker, “Acts,” 296.
8. Barclay, Acts, 35.
9. Bruce’s translation in Acts, 82–83.
10. Much of the material above is from my Reclaiming Friendship, 36–37.
11. Polhill, Acts, 132–33.
12. Cf. Tannehill, Narrative Unity, 53.
13. I have elaborated on these points in my Reclaiming Friendship, 38–42, 132–45.
14. For a discussion on team ministry in an itinerant context, see comments on 15:36–16:10.
15. For a discussion on proclaiming judgment today, see my Crucial Questions about Hell (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994; orig. ed.: Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1991).
16. See my Supremacy, 42–43, which gets the story from David Bentley-Taylor, Augustine: Wayward Genius (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 57–58.
17. On the integration demonstrated in the ministry of Jesus, see my Supremacy, 39–44; Stephen Neill, The Supremacy of Jesus (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1984), 51–69.
18. For a discussion on Francis Schaeffer’s attempts at integration and the criticism about his being a “generalist,” see Gene Edward Veith, “The Fragmentation and Integration of Truth,” and Lane T. Dennis, “Francis Schaeffer and His Critics,” in Francis A. Schaeffer: Portraits of the Man and His Work, ed. Lane T. Dennis (Westchester: Crossway, 1986), 29–49, 101–26, respectively. Other chapters present Schaeffer as a social reformer, an evangelist, a counselor, a host to young people with questions about the faith, and a man of prayer.
19. Karl Barth, How I Changed My Mind (Richmond, Va.: John Knox, 1966), 71–72; cited in David L. Mueller, Karl Barth, Makers of the Modern Theological Mind (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1972), 45.
20. Cited in Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 77–78.
1. Many of the insights in this paragraph are from Tannehill, Narrative Unity, 59–60.
2. W. J. Moulder, “Sanhedrin,” ISBE, 4:332.
3. Cf. comments on 2:41, where we showed that the objections to the high figure of converts, based on earlier figures of the population of Jerusalem, have been countered by more recent research.
4. See 4:31; 7:55; 13:9.
6. See Mark 12:10–12; Eph. 2:20; 1 Peter 2:7.
8. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 153.
9. Louw and Nida, 329.
10. John T. Seamands, Daybreak: Daily Devotions from Acts and Pauline Epistles (privately published in Wilmore, Ky., 1993), Jan. 17.
11. Barrett, Acts, 233.
12. John Gray, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (New York: HarperCollins, 1993).
13. John Vickers, Thomas Coke: Apostle of Methodism (Nashville: Abingdon, 1969), 343–52.
14. Barclay, Acts, 41.
15. Ibid.
16. John Pollock, Moody: A Biographical Portrait (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1963), 99.
17. Clements, The Church That Turned, 56.
18. John Hick, God and the Universe of Faiths (London: Macmillan, 1973); idem, An Interpretation of Religion (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1988); idem, “Whatever Path Men Choose Is Mine,” Christianity and the Other Religions, John Hick and Brian Hebblethwaite, eds., (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980); John Hick and Paul Knitter, eds., The Myth of Christian Uniqueness (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1987); Paul Knitter, No Other Name? A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes Toward the World Religions (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1985).
19. Ontology is the “study of being”; the word comes from a participial form of the Greek word “to be” (Ernest Weekley, An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English [New York: Dover, 1967], 1010).
20. Epistemology, the “study of knowledge,” is derived from the Greek episteme,“knowledge” (ibid., 518).
21. See Hans Küng, in Christian Revelation and World Religions, Joseph Neuner, ed. (London: Burns and Oates, 1967), 52–53; Karl Rahner, “Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions,” Christianity and the Other Religions, Hick and Hebblethwaite, eds., 52–79; idem, Theological Investigations, vol. 5, Later Writings (London: Darton, Longman, and Todd, 1966); Raimundo Panikkar, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism, rev. ed. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1981).
22. See Sir Norman Anderson, Christianity and the World Religions (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1984), 137–61; Clark Pinnock, A Wideness in God’s Mercy: The Finality of Christ in a World of Religions (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992); idem, “Acts 4:12—No Other Name Under Heaven,” Through No Fault of Their Own: The Fate of Those Who Have Never Heard, ed. William W. Crockett and James G. Sigountos (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991), 107–15; idem, “An Inclusivist View,” More Than One Way? Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World, ed. Dennis L. Okholm and Timothy R. Phillips (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 95–123; John Sanders, No Other Name: An Investigation into the Destiny of the Unevangelized (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992).
23. Ramesh Richard, The Population of Heaven (Chicago: Moody, 1994); Ronald Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994); D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996); R. Douglas Geivett and W. Gary Phillips, “A Particularist View: An Evidentialist Approach,” More Than One Way? 213–45. For an earlier treatment from this perspective see my The Christians Attitude Toward World Religions (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1987).
24. Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 196; see also John Stott’s views in David L. Edwards and John R. W. Stott, Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1988), 327.
25. For contemporary discussions on the different views, see Okholm and Phillips, More Than One Way? and Crockett and Sigountos, Through No Fault of Their Own.
26. Pinnock, “Acts 4:12—No Other Name Under Heaven,” 112.
27. For more complete treatments, see Geivett and Phillips, “A Particularist View,” 230–33, and Richard, The Population of Heaven, 55–60.
28. Geivett and Phillips, “A Particularist View,” 232–33.
29. Hendrik Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1969 [reprint of 1938 ed.]), 128.
2. Alexander, Acts, 163–64.
3. Of its twelve occurrences in the New Testament, eleven are in Acts.
4. See comments on 1:14, where this word also appears in the context of prayer.
5. Josephus, Wars 7 (cited in NIDNTT, 1:345).
6. See Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24; Rev. 6:10.
7. See 2 Tim. 2:21; 2 Peter 2:1; Jude 4.
8. For the use of despotes in the LXX and the NT see Karl H. Rengstorf, “δεσπότης,” TDNT, 2:46–49.
9. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 157.
10. Barclay, Acts, 42.
11. Marshall, Acts, 107.
13. G. Campbell Morgan, Acts, 135.
15. Coleman, Master Plan of Discipleship, 105.
16. It is ironic that though the early Christians did not own individual copies of the Bible, unlike Christians today, their knowledge of the Scriptures seems to have been so much more complete than that of today’s believers.
18. The conflict is related to the demand for a separate nation by sections of the minority Tamil community.
19. See the discussion on 7:54–8:4.
20. Barclay, Acts, 42.
21. W. J. Limmar Sheppard, Great Hymns and Their Stories (London: Lutterworth, 1945), 40–41.
22. Robert E. Coleman, The Mind of the Master (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1977), 54. This expands to 160 when one counts duplication in parallel accounts.
23. E. W. Bacon, Spurgeon: Heir to the Puritans (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1967), 109.
24. Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon at His Best, compiled by Tom Carter (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988), 22.
25. Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” EBC, 5:245.
26. For more on the blessings of God’s intervention in times of discouragement, see the comments on 18:1–22; 21:37–23:11; 27:1–28:15.
1. Wesley, Explanatory Notes, 408.
2. David Gooding, True to the Faith, 93.
3. Brian Capper, “The Palestinian Cultural Context of Earliest Christian Community of Goods,” BAFCS, 4:340–41.
4. F. F. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 132.
5. C. K. Barrett, Acts, 255.
6. I. H. Marshall, Acts, 109.
7. E. D. Schmitz, “Unanimity,” NIDNTT, 3:908. See also comments on 1:14; 4:24.
8. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 98.
9. Capper, “Community of Goods,” 356.
10. See Capper, “Community of Goods,” 327. For an elaboration of this point see ibid., 326–35. For other arguments on the historical reliability of this account, see ibid., 324–27; Gonzales, Faith and Wealth: A History of Early Christian Ideas on the Origin, Significance, and Use of Money (San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1990), 80–81.
11. J. A. Zeisler, Christian Asceticism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), 110; cited in Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: A Biblical Study (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1977), 91.
12. See Gonzales, Faith and Wealth.
13. The First Apology, 14. Ante-Nicene Fathers, eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, American ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996 reprint of New York: Scribner’s, 1908–11), 1:167.
14. Lucian of Samosata, The Passing of Peregrinus, 13. Cited from the Loeb Classical Library ed. in Boring, Hellenistic Commentary, 313–14.
15. See below on “Giving to a central fund.”
16. Peter H. Davids, “New Testament Foundations for Living More Simply,” Living More Simply, ed., Ronald J. Sider (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1980), 57.
17. Ibid.
18. Gonzales, Faith and Wealth, 81.
19. Faw, Acts, 57.
20. See the section on, “Applying the Book of Acts Today,” in the Introduction.
21. Quoted in Leon Morris, Expository Reflections on the Letter to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 182.
22. Robert G. Tuttle Jr., John Wesley: His Life and Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), 278–79.
23. Depending on how we understand the meaning of homothymadon used in these two verses.
24. In 15:24 the word homothymadon is used with the unmistakable meaning of “being of one mind.”
25. Gonzales, Faith and Wealth, 82–83. The examples he cites include the business partnership between Peter and the sons of Zebedee (Luke 5:10), our sharing in Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:10), our sharing in the body and the blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 10:16), and the giving and receiving of financial support between Paul and the Philippians (Phil. 4:15).
26. Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, 7 vols. (1937–1945, reprint Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970). Latourette’s work was a step in the right direction. We must, however, not forget Wilbert Shenk’s pertinent criticism about many church histories emerging from the West: “In the West, the history of the churches in Asia, Africa, and Latin America is generally subsumed to be a subcategory of Western mission history” (“Toward a Global Church History,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 20 [April 1996]: 50).
27. See David A. Fiensy, “The Composition of the Jerusalem Church,” BAFCS, 4:213–36.
28. From John Wesley’s Letters, 1776, cited in The Daily Wesley, ed. Donald E. Demaray (Anderson, Ind.: Bristol House, 1994), 299.
29. Clements, The Church That Turned the World Upside Down, 44.
30. Juan Carlos Ortiz, Disciple: A Handbook for New Believers (Orlando: Creation House, 1995), 36.
31. Gooding, True to the Faith, 93.
1. Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, 4.1.2. Quoted in Thomas C. Oden, Classical Pastoral Care, Crisis Ministries (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 4:145. “The Constitutions are a collection of church canons compiled between 350–400 A.D. probably of second and third century, and chiefly Syrian, origin” (ibid., 196).
2. G. M. Burge, “Barnabas,” DPL, 66.
4. Barrett, Acts, 260.
6. D. J. Williams, Acts, 96.
7. Earle E. Ellis, Prophecy and Hermeneutic in Early Christianity: New Testament Essays (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 129.
8. Some Greek manuscripts have it in 2:47, but that seems to be an explanatory addition by a scribe (see Metzger, Textual, 305).
9. Willimon, Acts, 52.
10. See Luke 7:41–43; 10:29–37; 12:16–21; 16:1–8, 19–31; 18:14, 18–23; 19:11–27.
11. Williams, Acts, 100.
12. Wagner, Spreading the Fire, 149.
13. Peter H. Davids, “A Biblical View of the Fruits of Sin,” The Kingdom and the Power, ed. Gary S. Greig and Kevin N. Springer (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1993), 118–20.
14. Timothy M. Warner, Spiritual Warfare: Victory Over the Powers of This Dark World (Wheaton: Crossway, 1991), 80.
15. Cited in Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 103.
16. Craig L. Blomberg, “Wealth,” EDBT, 814.
17. Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death (New York: Free Press, 1973); cited in Willimon, Acts, 53.
18. Willimon, Acts, 53.
1. Polhill, Acts, 164.
2. Barrett, Acts, 284.
3. This verb also appears in v. 42, but it seems there to refer to what is traditionally known as teaching, that is, the instruction of believers (see the comments on that verse).
4. A high official (see the comments on 4:1).
5. Polhill, Acts, 167.
6. Barrett, Acts, 288.
7. Longenecker, “Acts,” 320.
8. Williams, Acts, 109.
10. Bruce, Paul, 50–51. Bruce cites the words of Josephus (Antiquities 13.172; 18.13) and of the later rabbis Aquiba (Pirqé Abôt 3:19) and Yohanan (Pirqé Abôt 4:14).
11. That is, the bringing together of contradictory terms.
12. Arrington, Acts, 63.
13. David W. J. Gill, “Acts and Roman Religion,” BAFCS, Graeco-Roman Setting, 2:98–103.
14. A. A. Rupprecht, “Legal System, Roman,” DPL, 546.
15. Harrison, The Apostolic Church, 81–89.
16. John R. W. Stott, “Christian Responses to Good and Evil: A Study of Romans 12:9–13:10,” Perspectives on Peacemaking: Biblical Options in the Nuclear Age (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1984), 52.
17. Harrison, Apostolic Church, 83. How this works out in daily life will be discussed in the “Contemporary Significance” section.
18. Carl F. H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), 60 (italics his).
19. See our comments on 8:1–4.
20. D. J. E. Attwood, “Civil Disobedience,” NDCEPT, 234.
21. John S. and Paul D. Feinberg, Ethics for a Brave New World (Wheaton: Crossway, 1993), 402.
22. Ibid., 405.
23. See Brother Andrew with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, God’s Smuggler (Lincoln, Va.: Chosen Books, 1970).
24. Duane W. H. Arnold, compiler and trans., Prayers of the Martyrs (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 4.
25. Mehdi Dibaj, Bound to be Free with the Suffering Church, ed. Jan Pit (Tonbridge, Kent: Sovereign World, 1995), 153.
26. Calvin, Acts, 155.
1. David A. Fiensy, “The Composition of the Jerusalem Church,” BAFCS, 4:235.
2. For a helpful discussion on the identity of these two groups see Longenecker, “Acts,” 327–30.
3. Barclay, Acts, 52.
4. Longenecker, “Acts,” 329.
5. The related noun diakonia, translated “distribution” in the NIV, is used in verse 1. Diakoneo, translated “wait on,” appears in verse 2. Both these words refer to the serving of food. But in verse 4 diakonia is used in connection with the ministry of the Word.
6. Barclay, Acts, 52.
7. Marshall, Acts, 126.
8. Bruce (NICNT) and Barrett translate it this way.
9. Alexander, Acts, 243.
10. Faw, Acts, 87.
11. Grant R. Osborne, “Hellenists,” BEB, 1:961.
13. E. Stanley Jones (The Word Became Flesh [Nashville: Abingdon, 1963], 207) takes a different path in criticizing this decision by saying that by separating the sacred and the secular, the apostles lost their influence in the church. The result was that the Seven became the center of spiritual power in the church and the Twelve dropped out of the scene. This is reading too much into the text.
14. F. F. Bruce, Peter, Stephen, James and John: Studies in Non-Pauline Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 50.
15. Fiensy, “Composition of the Jerusalem Church,” 4:213.
16. Stott, Acts, 216.
17. John E. Stambaugh and David L. Balch, The New Testament in Its Social Environment (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 149.
18. Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1983), 51–73.
19. Haenchen, Acts, 266.
20. Peter Wagner adopts Haenchen’s conclusion, even though I do not think he would agree with his point that Luke distorted the facts (Spreading the Fire, 182).
21. Polhill, Acts, 179.
22. See 2 Chron. 20:3; Ezra 8:21.
23. Bruce’s translation, Acts, NICNT, 391.
24. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 172; John R. W. Stott, I Believe in Preaching (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1982), 183 (US edition, Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans., 1981]). This “Calendar” is reproduced in full in Kent Hughes, The Disciplines of a Godly Man (Wheaton: Crossway, 1991), 230–39.
25. G. Davies, “Stress,” NDCEPT, 817.
26. See Archibald Hart, Coping with Depression in the Ministry and Other Helping Professions (Dallas: Word, 1984); Donald E. Demaray, Watch Out for Burnout (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983).
27. W. T. Purkiser, The New Testament Image of the Ministry (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1970), 64.
28. For a discussion of this issue, see Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, The Pasadena Consultation—Homogenous Unit, Lausanne Occasional Papers, No. 1 (Wheaton: Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 1978).
29. In a recent book (Church: Why Bother? [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998]), Philip Yancey explains in great detail why he will never join a church that does not have cultural and economic diversity.
1. F. F. Bruce, Peter, Stephen, James, and John: Studies in Non-Pauline Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 53.
2. For more arguments for the historical reliability of this passage, see D. J. Williams, Acts, 129.
3. Gempf, “Acts,” NBCTCE, 1076.
4. Williams, Acts, 119.
5. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 185; Longenecker, “Acts,” 334.
6. Luke uses charis in this way in Luke 4:22 and Acts 4:33.
7. Some have understood this verse as referring to more than one synagogue, and the figures suggested range from two to five synagogues. The NIV is probably correct in understanding it as one synagogue with freedmen from all four places. See Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 186–87.
8. A transliteration from the Latin libertinus.
9. F. W. Danker, “Synagogue of the Freedmen,” ISBE, 2:360.
10. Williams, Acts, 124.
11. J. Goetzmann, “Wisdom,” NIDNTT, 3:1030.
12. Ibid.
13. Bruce, Peter, Stephen, 52–53. Some interpreters, however, think that what happened to Stephen was more a lynching than a legal punishment through the due process of law.
14. Williams, Acts, 125–26.
16. Bruce, Peter, Stephen, 54.
17. Ibid., 54–55.
18. See Gen. 19:1–13; 2 Sam. 24:16–17; 2 Kings 19:35; Acts 12:21–23.
19. See especially T. W. Manson, The Epistle to the Hebrews: An Historical and Theological Reconstruction (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1951), 25–46.
20. Jill Morgan, A Man of the Word: Life of G. Campbell Morgan (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972 reprint), 93.
21. On this, see James Dobson, Hide or Seek (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1974), 81–88.
22. See the discussion on worship below.
23. See A. W. Tozer, ed., The Christian Book of Mystical Verse (Harrisburg, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1963).
24. Cited in Christopher Hogwood, “Introduction,” George Frideric Handel, Messiah: The Wordbook for the Oratorio (New York: HarperCollins, 1992).
25. For more discussion on contextualization see the studies on 17:16–34 and 19:8–41.
26. Paul G. Hiebert, “Critical Contextualization,” Missiology 12 (July 1987): 287–96; reprinted in The Best in Theology, vol. 2, J. I. Packer, ed. (Carol Stream, Ill.: Christianity Today, n.d.).
27. See the discussion in F. Debuyst, “Architectural Setting (Modern) and the Liturgical Movement,” The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship, ed. J. G. Davies (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 44–45. This article refers to a book by J. G. Davies entitled The Secular Use of Church Building (1968).
28. I am indebted to my colleague at Colombo Theological Seminary, Dr. Charles Hoole, for this insight.
29. See David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1991), 274–75.
30. See ibid., 214–36.
31. On the value of a holy place see Ronald Allen and Gordon Borror, Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel (Portland: Multnomah, 1982), 47.
32. A. W. Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship? ed. Gerald B. Smith (Camp Hill, Pa.: Christian Publication, 1985), 7. See also Allen and Borror, Worship; Marva J. Dawn, Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Turn-of-the-Century Culture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995); Robert Webber, Worship Is a Verb (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1985); idem, Worship Old and New (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982); Warren W. Wiersbe, True Worship: It Will Transform Your Life (Nashville: Oliver-Nelson, 1986).
33. Kellsye M. Finnie, William Carey: By Trade a Cobbler (Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1986), 32. Finnie says that whether this statement was indeed made has not been confirmed.
34. John Vickers, Thomas Coke: Apostle of Methodism (Nashville: Abingdon, 1969), 344.
35. See Robert G. Clouse, Richard V. Pierard, and Edwin M. Yamauchi, Two Kingdoms: The Church and Culture Through the Ages (Chicago: Moody, 1993), 560–62.
36. Willimon, Acts, 63.
1. Louw and Nida, 150.
2. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 210.
3. See also 4:30–31; 7:55–56; 18:9–10; 23:11; 27:23–24.
4. I am indebted to Bruce for much of what I have written on these verses. His whole discussion is well worth reading. Acts, NICNT, 154–57.
5. Bruce points out that the expression in Rev. 1:13 and 14:4 is not the title “the Son of Man,” but “one like a son of man,” that is, a human figure (Acts, NICNT, 154).
6. E.g., F. F. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 154; E. F. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 136; C. F. D. Moule, “From Defendant to Judge and Deliverer: An Enquiry into the Use and Limitations of the Theme of Vindication in the New Testament,” Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, 3:47, quoted in Harrison, Acts, 136; Richard Longenecker, “Acts,”350–51; I. Howard Marshall, Acts, 149.
8. See Luke 1:32–33.
10. Polhill, Acts, 208.
11. Marshall, Acts, 151.
13. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 215.
14. Stott, Acts, 145. Longenecker thinks it may refer to Jews who were open to the Christian message (“Acts,” 355).
15. Longenecker, “Acts,” 355.
16. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 139.
17. Barclay, Acts, 88.
18. See the index at the back.
19. I like to give this passage from Romans the title “Spirit-Filled Suffering.”
20. This accusation, however, does not appear in Luke’s Gospel.
21. On “birthpangs of the Messiah,” see Peter O’Brien, “Colossians,” NBCTCE, 1266; idem, Colossians, Philemon (WBC 44; Waco, Tex.: Word, 1982), 78–81.
22. The idea of a “quota of suffering” is from C. F. D. Moule, “The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon,” The Cambridge Greek New Testament Commentary (London: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1968), 76–77.
23. Cited in James S. Stewart, in Classic Sermons on Suffering, compiled by Warren W. Wiersbe (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1984), 92.
24. The expression “Christian hedonism” is from John Piper’s book, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Portland: Multnomah, 1986).
25. Peter T. O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians, NIGTC (1991), 402–3.
26. I have been particularly helped by the writings of Dr. Archibald D. Hart, such as, Adrenalin and Stress (Dallas: Word, 1991).
27. Tertullian, Apology, ch. 50; cited in Stott, Acts, 119.
28. Ibid.
29. Cited in James and Marti Hefley, By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the Twentieth Century (Milford, Mich.: Mott Media, 1979), 589. This book gives a stirring account of twentieth-century martyrdom.
1. Marshall, Acts, 153.
2. The primacy of God’s word in Philip’s ministry is indicated in Luke’s report that “the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God” (8:14, italics added).
3. Louw and Nida, 443.
4. See Barrett, Acts, 408.
5. Simon is called Simon Magus in postapostolic writings—Magus being a word given for people who practice sorcery. According to these writings he led many people astray.
6. Tannehill, Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts, 2:102–4.
7. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 164.
8. Gooding, True to the Faith, 145.
9. Marshall, Acts, 159.
10. Bruce, Acts, NICTC, 223.
11. See Williams, Acts, 158, for a discussion of these two options.
12. Money is presented in Acts as a factor in the evil acts attributed to Judas (1:18), Ananias and Sapphira (5:1–11), the owners of the soothsaying girl (16:16–19), and Demitrius the silver worker (19:24–27) (see Tannehill, Narrative Unity, 106).
13. Polhill, Acts, 220. He writes: “Were the term fully based on Simon’s behavior, it would be extended to cover any attempt to manipulate God for personal gain.”
14. For classic treatments of the experiential aspect of Christianity from Calvinist theologians, see Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections in The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh and Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, reprint), 1:234–343 (a modern version of this has been edited by James M. Houston, entitled Religious Affections: A Christian’s Character Before God [Minneapolis: Bethany]); D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Enjoying the Presence of God, ed. Christopher Catherwood (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant, 1991). Others who have written helpfully on the experiential aspects of Christianity include John and Charles Wesley and Blaisé Pascal.
15. William H. Willimon, Acts, 70.
16. This is what happened to Tal Brooke, once one of Sai Bäba’s chief Western disciples. See his Lord of the Air (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House, 1990).
1. For the view that the Greek of verse 26 may suggest that Philip was in Jerusalem at the time, see Williams, Acts, 160.
2. Tannehill discusses this point and cites the relevant literature on it (Narrative Unity, 108–9).
3. See Longenecker, “Acts,” 363.
4. Keener, BBC 346.
6. “Told . . . the good news” translates an aorist form of euangelizo.
7. See Matt. 8:17 on Isa. 53:4 and John 12:38 on Isa. 53:1.
8. See Luke 22:37 on Isa. 53:12; cf. Longenecker, “Acts,” 365.
9. Ibid.
10. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:12 (The Ante-Nicene Fathers [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint 1996]), 1:433. Longenecker says, “We do not know whether he only inferred that from this account or whether he had independent knowledge about it” (“Acts,” 366).
11. Acts 21:8 is in one of the “we” passages of Acts.
12. Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 225.
13. See Acts 3:1–16; 8:9–24, 26–40; 13:6–12; 16:13–15, 16–18; 16:19–40; 18:1–4, 7–8, 24–28; 19:1–7; 27:9–44.
14. Coleman, The Master Plan of Discipleship, 90.
15. Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church, 224–29.
16. The personal evangelistic ministry of Jesus has been the subject of many studies. See esp. Robert E. Coleman, They Meet the Master (Fort Lauderdale: Christian Outreach, 1973); The Master’s Way of Personal Evangelism (Wheaton: Crossway, 1997); also G. Campbell Morgan, The Great Physician: The Method of Jesus with Individuals (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1937).
17. Coleman, Master Plan of Discipleship, 92.
18. Michael Green, Acts for Today: First Century Christianity for Twentieth Century Christians (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1993), 110.
19. John Wesley, Explanatory Notes, 426.
20. Ingvar Haddal, John Wesley: A Biography (Nashville: Abingdon, 1961), 28–29.
21. Leighton Ford, Good News Is for Sharing (Elgin, Ill.: David C. Cook, 1977), 49.
22. See also the studies on 16:11–40 and 18:2–11.
23. Such portions are published in attractive form by groups like the Bible Society and Scripture Gift Mission.
24. W. H. Griffith Thomas, Christianity Is Christ (Canaan, Conn.: Keats, 1981 [repr. of 1949 ed.]).
25. I have made an attempt at explaining the gospel using that statement as a base in Supremacy.
26. For a discussion of dialogue see the study on 17:1–15.
27. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible in One Volume, ed. by Leslie F. Church (Basingstoke, Hants: Marshall Pickering, 1960 ed.), 466.
28. On this see Roland Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? 81–99.
29. F. F. Bruce, In Retrospect: Remembrance of Things Past (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 311.
1. Keener, BBC 347.
2. Willimon, Acts, 74.
3. See E. P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE–66 CE (London: SCM, and Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1994), 419–20. Sanders uses evidence from Josephus and other sources.
4. Bruce, Paul, 70.
5. From Josephus, Antiquities 20; cited in Sanders, Judaism, 419.
6. Haenchen, Acts, 320. The Qumran community also described itself as “the Way” (NIDNTT, 3:941–42).
7. Polhill, Acts, 234.
8. See Gen. 22:11; 46:2; Ex. 3:4; 1 Sam. 3:4 LXX; cited in Beverly Roberts Gaventa, From Darkness to Light: Aspects of Conversion in the New Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 57–58.
9. Acts 22:8 has “Jesus of Nazareth.”
10. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 159.
12. C. G. Jung, Contributions to Analytical Psychology, trans. H. G. and C. F. Baynes (1945), 257; cited in Williams, Acts, 123.
13. A. C. McGiffert, A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, rev. ed. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1906), 119–209; cited in Gaventa, Darkness to Light, 53.
14. Ladd, Theology, 404.
15. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 158. See S. Kim, The Origin of Paul’s Gospel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982); A. F. Segal, The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1990).
16. This explanation is from Craig Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 297.
17. F. F. Bruce, 1 and 2 Corinthians, NCBC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 142.
18. Gaventa, Darkness to Light, 59.
19. Ibid., 66.
20. K. Stendahl, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976).
21. For a concise discussion on this debate see, J. M. Everts, “Conversion and Call of Paul,” DPL, 156–63.
22. Marshall, Acts, 171. Marshall, however, calls these dreams.
23. Polhill, Acts, 253. See 9:10, 12; 10:3, 17, 19; 11:5; 16:9–10; 18:9; 27:22–26.
24. Gaventa, Darkness to Light, 61.
25. Ibid.
26. Bruce, Steps, 13.
27. Most of the details on Tarsus are from ibid., 6–8.
28. See the arguments of Sir William M. Ramsay, The Cities of St. Paul (New York: Armstrong, 1908), 88; cited in Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 162.
29. On “saints” see comments on 9:32.
30. Gaventa, From Darkness to Light, 63.
32. While this is not obvious in the NIV rendering, it seems to be the correct interpretation.
33. On this see Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 191–92.
34. Ibid., 193.
35. Louw and Nida, 453.
36. Daniel P. Fuller, in an unpublished commentary on Galatians.
37. Galatians says he went to Syria and Cilicia. Tarsus is in Cilicia and Syria is on the way.
38. Ernest Weekley, An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (New York: Dover, 1967), 1:357.
39. Hugh T. Kerr and John M. Mulder, Famous Conversions (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), ix.
40. C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1955), 228–29.
41. This is the rendering of Peter O’Brien, in Commentary on Philippians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 417.
42. D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 556.
43. Clements, The Church That Turned, 137.
44. Stott, Acts, 176.
45. Ogilvie, Acts, 170.
46. Gaventa, From Darkness to Light, 92.
47. The significance of this has been discussed in the study on 4:1–22 and 14:1–28.
48. G. Lyttleton, Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul (London, 1747), paragraph 1; cited in Bruce, Paul, 75.
49. Daniel Fuller, Hermeneutics (Pasadena, Calif.: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1974), VIII–13.
50. Rebecca Parker, Sadhu Sundar Singh: Called of God (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1918), 16.
1. F. E. Hamilton and R. L. Harris, “Saints,” ZPEB 5:217.
2. “All” is a hyperbole referring to a large number of people.
4. A compilation of rabbinic teaching and interpretation made during the third through sixth centuries A.D.
5. Kiddushin 82b; cited in J. C. Trevor, “Tanned . . . Tanner,” ISBE, 4:726.
6. See also 10:48; 16:15; 18:3, 18, 26; 21:8, 16; cf. 28:7. The other three types are discussed in the studies on 2:46; 10:1–33; and 18:26. See the entry on hospitality in the index.
7. Ferguson, Backgrounds, 82.
8. J. C. Pollock, Shaftesbury—The Poor Man’s Earl (London: Falcon Booklets, 1961), 3.