1. “Caesarea,” The Biblical World, ed. Charles F. Pffeifer et al. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1966), 154.
2. Williams, Acts, 184.
3. Josephus, Antiquities, 20.8.7–9; Wars of the Jews 12.13.7;14. 4–5; in Josephus, Complete Works, 422–23; 483–84.
4. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 2.18.1; in Josephus, Complete Works, 492.
5. E. P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief; 63 BCE–66 CE (London: SCM Press, and Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992), 265. See ibid., 519 n. 34 for references regarding the recent debate.
6. Barrett, Acts, 501.
7. See comments on 1:15 for Luke’s use of “about” when referring to numbers.
8. See comments on 9:10.
9. See comments on 5:19.
11. On Joppa see comments on 9:36.
12. On tanners see comments on 9:43.
13. See 2 Kings 23:12; Neh. 8:16; Jer. 19:13; 32:29; Zeph. 1:5.
14. On “kosher” food laws, see Lev. 11 and Sanders, Judaism, 214–17.
15. Marshall does not think it is necessary to imply that Peter is referring to a divine being. The word kyrios can also mean “sir” (Acts, 185).
16. Barrett, Acts, 507.
17. Willimon, Acts, 96.
18. J. H. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1908), 1:125; cited in Robert Hanna, A Grammatical Aid to the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983), 208.
19. Polhill, who makes this point, does not identify these scholars (Acts, 255).
20. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 256.
21. Louw and Nida, 350.
22. Beverly Roberts Gaventa, From Darkness to Light: Aspects of Conversion in the New Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 113.
23. Williams, Acts, 189.
24. Gaventa, Darkness to Light, 116. She refers to the Ephesian Tale 1.1.3; 2.7; 12.1 in M. Hadas, Three Greek Romances, (Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1964).
25. Louw and Nida, 537.
26. Gaventa, Darkness to Light, 116. Five of these syn-compound words occur a total of six times here: synerchomai—went along (vv. 23, 27); syngkaleo—called together (v. 24); syngenes—relatives (v. 24); synantao—met (v. 25); synomileo—talking with (v. 27).
27. See Isa. 2:1–4; 66:18–22; Mic. 4:1–3; Zech. 2:11; 8:20–23; 14:16.
28. Peter O’Brien, “Paul’s Missionary Calling Within the Purposes of God,” In the Fullness of Time: Biblical Studies in Honour of Archbishop Donald Robinson, ed. David Peterson and John Prior (Homebush West, NSW: Lancer, 1992), 131–48.
29. For an exposition of this, see my Supremacy, 195–201.
30. See the discussion on “Applying the Book of Acts Today” in the Introduction.
31. Haenchen, Acts, 362.
32. Tannehill, Narrative Unity, 131.
33. Ibid., 128.
34. See Luke 3:21–23; 6:12–16; 9:18–22, 28–32; 22:39–46; Acts 1:14; 10:3–6, 9–18; 13:1–3.
35. Having believers over for fellowship and meals and having traveling Christians staying in our homes (see the discussions of 2:46 and 9:43). The fourth type of hospitality, having Christians over who have a special need, is described in the study of 18:26.
36. See also our comments on 10:48.
37. Alexander, Acts, 394.
38. Gooding, True to the Faith, 178.
39. See David Bentley-Taylor, Augustine: Wayward Genius (Grand Rapids: Baker, and London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980), 212.
40. For a discussion of ways God speaks to us today, see Joyce Huggett, Listening to God (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1986).
41. See David M. Howard, Student Power in World Evangelism (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1970), 65–72 (see comments on this in the discussion of Acts 13:1–3).
42. Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind (London: S.P.C.K., 1963; Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant, 1978).
43. Since originally writing this, I have found out that a couple belonging to this group has been wonderfully converted after leaving our neighborhood.
44. For practical guidelines on how to conduct such meetings, see John Chapman, Dialogue Evangelism (Sydney: Anglican Information Office, 1993).
1. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 260.
3. Arrington, Acts, 112–13.
4. Longenecker, “Acts,” 393.
5. Marshall, Acts, 191.
7. Note that Christ or Messiah means “anointed one.” On the significance of the anointing and use of Isa. 61:1 for the ministry of Jesus, see I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 183.
8. Lenski, Acts, 426.
9. Polhill, Acts, 262.
10. Longnecker, “Acts,” 393.
11. Louw and Nida, 413.
12. Barrett, Acts, 527.
13. Beverly Roberts Gaventa, From Darkness to Light: Aspects of Conversion in the New Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 119.
14. Barrett translates it as “those who represented circumcision” (Acts, 532).
15. Polhill, Acts, 266.
16. Barrett, Acts, 533. See also his comment on this on p. 491.
17. Harrison, Acts, 176.
18. Ibid., 182.
19. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 212. See also Polhill, Acts, 261–62; David Williams, Acts, 191, 193; and C. H. Dodd, “The Framework of the Gospel Narrative,” Expository Times, 43 (1932), 396ff., and The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), 46–47.
20. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 212–13.
21. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.1.1, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, and Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996 reprint), 1:414.
22. See my Crucial Questions About Hell (Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1991; and Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1994), ch. 12: “Why Should We Talk About Judgment,” and ch. 14: “Proclaiming the Message of Judgment.”
23. Peter Toon, Heaven and Hell (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1986), 29–46.
24. Reported in John T. Seamands, Daybreak: Daily Devotions from Acts and the Pauline Epistles (Wilmore Ky.: privately published, 1993), Feb. 16.
25. On the topic of those who have not heard, see the study on 4:1–22; see also my The Christian’s Attitude Towards World Religions (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1987), pp. 119–46; William Crockett and James Sigountos, eds., Through No Fault of Their Own: The Fate of Those Who Have Never Heard (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991).
26. Thomas C. Oden, John Wesley’s Scriptural Christianity (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 243.
27. What follows is a summary of some points in chapter 1, “The Decline of Hell,” in my book Crucial Questions About Hell.
28. Donald Bloesch, Evangelical Theology (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978), 2:211.
29. For a full discussion on proclaiming judgment today see chapter 14, “Proclaiming the Message of Judgment,” in Crucial Questions About Hell.
30. See the study of 6:8–7:53.
31. Bramwell Booth, Echoes and Memories (New York: George H. Doran, 1925), 27; cited in Warren W. Wiersbe and Lloyd M. Perry, The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching and Preachers (Chicago: The Moody Press, 1984), 185.
32. See also our discussions on 4:32–35; 15:25.
1. See comments on 8:4.
2. There is some question as to whether the original is hellënas, which translates “Greeks” (as in NIV), or hellënistas (as in the UBS4 text), which would read “Grecian Jews.” For a discussion on why we choose Greeks here, see Longenecker, “Acts,” 400–401.
3. J. McRay, “Antioch of the Orontes,” DPL, 23.
4. Ibid.
5. Bruce, Steps, 21.
6. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 7.3.3 (Complete Works, 591).
7. Bruce, Steps, 23.
8. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 226, citing M. Hengel, Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity, trans. J. Bowden (London: SCM, 1979), 101–2.
10. Luke used the words “good man” (aner agathos) to describe Joseph of Arimathea too (Luke 23:50).
11. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 194.
12. Marshall, Acts, 202.
13. On the significance of numbers in church growth see comments on 4:4.
14. Keener, BBC 354.
15. Bruce, Paul, 127.
16. See Bruce, Paul, 126–28; idem, Acts, NICNT, 227, n. 30.
17. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 274.
18. See Acts 2:17–18; 11:27–28; 13:1; 19:6; 21:9, 10–11.
19. Josephus, Antiquities, 3.15.3; 20.2.5 (Complete Works, 84; 416).
20. This way we do not need to identify the second visit spoken of in Gal. 2 with the Jerusalem Council, as many do. For a brief defense of this view see Longenecker, “Acts,” 405–6. For a more detailed defense, see F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 105–28.
21. See the discussion on “Applying the Book of Acts Today” in the Introduction.
22. Barclay, Acts, 88.
23. The preaching to the Ethiopian and at the home of Cornelius were special events involving direct guidance from God.
24. Bruce, Circle, 17.
25. See comments on 2:1–13.
26. For comprehensive studies on the gift of prophecy see David E. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983); Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today (Wheaton: Crossway, 1988).
27. See especially the comments on 1:1–8.
28. Grudem, Gift of Prophecy, 254–58.
29. Samuel Kamaleson, “The Local Church and World Evangelism,” Christ the Liberator (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1971), 158–59.
1. Members of the Hasmonean family instigated the Jewish revolt against the Greeks in 167 B.C.
2. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 233. Bruce cites an example of one of these attempts of his (see n. 4).
3. Williams, Acts, 212.
4. Barrett, Acts, 585. See ibid. for references from Jewish literature.
5. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 239. Among those suggested as Luke’s informants are John Mark and Rhoda.
6. Ibid., 238–39.
7. Longenecker, “Acts,” 413.
8. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 19.8.2 (Complete Works, 412).
9. Williams, Acts, 218.
10. Longenecker, “Acts,” 413.
11. Interestingly, the Greek of verse 24 is exactly the same as that of 6:7a (apart from the “and” at the start of 6:7a).
12. See comments on 1:14.
13. P. T. Forsyth, The Soul of Prayer (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint of 1916 edition), 82–87.
14. See verses 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 23.
15. Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 465.
16. D. A. Carson thinks that the angels in Matthew 18:10 are the spirits of little ones who have died. “Matthew,” EBC, 400–401.
17. Steve Saint, “Did They Have to Die?” Christianity Today (Sept. 16, 1996), 26–27. This article is from Martyrs: Contemporary Writers on Modern Lives of Faith, ed. Susan Bergman (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996).
18. Samuel Chadwick, The Path of Prayer (Kansas City: Beacon Hill, 1931), 68; quoted in Wesley L. Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 76.
19. Chadwick, Path of Prayer, 81–82; quoted in Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer, 76.
20. The above observation is taken from a talk on “Passion” given by Paul Borthwick to the staff of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka.
21. Quoted in Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer, 30.
22. Forsyth, Soul of Prayer, 81.
23. See Ruth Bell Graham, Prodigals and Those Who Love Them (Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family, 1991).
24. See Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer, 146–47, 178.
25. Alexander Whyte, Lord, Teach Us to Pray (New York: Harper, n.d.), 75; quoted in Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer, 77.
26. See 5:19; 8:26; 10:3–7; 12:7–11, 23; 27:23.
27. Cited in Billy Graham, Angels: God’s Secret Agents (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1986), 3.
28. Cited in Daily Readings from F. W. Boreham, selected and arranged by Frank Cumbers (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976), 320.
29. Saint, “Did They Have to Die?” 26–27.
1. See the discussion on verses 9–11.
2. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 214.
3. For an exploration of the prophetic ministry in relation to its creative content as in the ministries of the Old Testament prophets and Jesus, see Walter Bruggemann, The Prophetic Imagination (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978).
4. Stott, Acts, 216.
5. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 292.
6. Barclay M. Newman Jr., A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament (London: United Bible Societies, 1971), 175.
8. Codex Bezae (D) adds pantes (all) after “prayed” in verse 3, which Bruce regards as “probably a true interpretation” (Acts: Greek Text, 294). This would mean that the whole church fasted, prayed, and sent them off.
9. The quotations are from K. Hess, NIDNTT, 3:551–52.
10. Harrison, Interpreting Acts, 216.
11. Marshall, Acts, 216.
12. Longenecker, “Acts,” 419.
13. Ferguson, Backgrounds, 41.
14. M. N. Tod and R. A. Gwinn, “Cyprus,” ISBE, 1:842.
15. See 5:17; 13:45; 16:19–21; 17:5; 19:25–28.
16. Here it is not Saulos but the transliterated Hebrew Saoul that is used.
17. Tannehill, Narrative Unity, 161.
18. Carter and Earle, Acts, 175.
19. Shenk and Stutzman, Creating Communities, 35.
21. Cited in Living Quotations for Christians, ed. Sherwood Elliot Wirt and Kersten Beckstrom (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), 177.
22. Kenneth Scott Latourette, These Sought a Country (New York: Harper and Bros., 1950), 67; from David M. Howard, Student Power in World Evangelism (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1970), 67. Many of the facts in this story are from Howard’s book.
1. See 11:26, 30; 12:25; 13:1, 2, 13:7.
2. See 13:42, 43, 46, 50; 14:1, 3, 14, 20, 23; 15:2, 22, 35.
3. G. Walter Hansen, “Galatia,” BAFCS, 2:384.
4. W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1920), 94–97; cited in Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 251.
5. S. Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men and God’s in Asia Minor, vol. 2: The Rise of the Church (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 7; quoted in Hansen, “Galatia,” 386–87.
6. Gempf, “Acts,” 1086.
7. Leander E. Keck and J. Louis Martyn, eds., Studies in Luke-Acts (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), 26.
8. Stott, Acts, 225–26.
9. Gempf, “Acts,” 1086–87.
10. Cf. 18:6; 22:21; 26:20; 28:28; cf. Rom. 1:16.
11. Hansen, “Galatia,” 394–95.
12. Barrett, Acts, 658.
13. Gempf, “Acts,” 1087.
14. D. J. Williams, Acts, 240.
15. In verse 13 Barnabas’s name is not even mentioned.
16. J. Julius Scott Jr., “Theology of Luke-Acts,” EDBT, 496.
17. For Luke’s emphasis on the content of the evangelistic message, see 2:14–40; 3:12–26; 4:8–12; 5:29–32; 7:2–53; 8:32–35; 10:34–43; 13:16–41; 14:15–17; 15:7–11, 13–21; 16:31–32; 17:11, 22–31; 18:28; 22:3–21; 24:10–21; 26:2–27; 28:26–31.
18. Bruce, Circle, 19.
19. W. Y. Fullerton, F. B. Meyer: A Biography (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, n.d.), 37.
20. Elmer A. Martens, God’s Design: A Focus on Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981); Daniel P. Fuller, The Unity of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992); Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Toward an Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978); Erich Sauer, The Dawn of World Redemption: A Survey of Historical Revelation in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint); idem, The Triumph of the Crucified: A Survey of Historical Revelation in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint); Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954); Bruce K. Waltke with Charles Yu, Old Testament Theology: The Making of the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, forthcoming).
21. The story of how this was used in a tribe is vividly portrayed in two videos entitled, “Ee-Taow” (“It is true”) and “Now We See Clearly.”
22. For critiques of this approach to truth, see Paul Helm, ed., Objective Knowledge: A Christian Perspective (Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1987); Paul J. Griffiths, An Apology for Apologetics: A Study in the Logic of Interreligious Dialogue (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1991).
23. Sammy Tippit, The Prayer Factor (Chicago: Moody, 1988), 41; quoted in Paul Borthwick, Feeding Your Forgotten Soul (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 96.
24. See the “Contemporary Significance” section of 6:1–7, “Leadership and the ministry of the Word.”
25. John R. W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait: Some New Testament Word Studies (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 30.
1. G. Walter Hansen, “Galatia,” BAFCS, 2:384.
2. Ibid., 393.
3. Ibid., 394. The story is reprinted in Boring, Hellenistic Commentary, 322–23.
4. Keener, BBC 362.
5. See Robert A Traina, Methodical Bible Study: A New Approach to Hermeneutics (Privately published, 1952, subsequently published by Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 154–55.
6. In our application of 4:23–31 we discussed the comfort that fellow Christians bring in times of persecution.
7. J. A. Alexander, Acts, 2:64.
8. Louw and Nida, 243.
9. Barrett, Acts, 686.
10. Carter and Earle, Acts, 202.
11. Shenk and Stutzman, Creating Communities, 172.
12. Cornelis Van Dam, “Elder,” EDBT, 198.
13. Ibid., 197.
14. See Rom. 15:31; 2 Cor. 1:11; Eph. 6:19–20; Phil. 1:19; Col. 4:3–4; 1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess. 3:1–2; Philem. 22 (cf. Heb. 13:18–19).
15. I am calling this “human righteousness,” which we know does not merit salvation in God’s sight.
16. Donald McGavran, Understanding Church Growth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 198–215.
17. A. W. Tozer, Born After Midnight (Harrisburg, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1959), 141–42.
18. Love Joy Peace, International edition (Singapore: Singapore Youth for Christ, 1993), 13–18.
1. Marshall, Acts, 242.
2. Ibid., 243–44.
3. D. R. Catchpole, “Paul, James and the Apostolic Decree,” New Testament Studies 23 (1976–1977): 428–44.
4. For a defense of this view, see Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 283–85; Marshall, Acts, 244–47; Longenecker, “Acts,” 444–47. See also the helpful charts in Scot McKnight, The NIV Application Commentary: Galatians (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 88–89. For a defense of the traditional view that Galatians 2 describes the Jerusalem Council, see Kistemaker, Acts, 533–36.
5. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 335.
6. Oscar Cullmann, Peter: Disciple-Apostle-Martyr, trans. Floyd V. Filson (New York: Living Age Books, 1958 [repr. of 1953 ed.]), 49–50.
7. Ibid., 336.
8. Harold Dollar, St. Luke’s Missiology, 97.
9. Martin Hengel, Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity (London: SCM, 1979), 125; cited in Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 291.
10. We have already commented on the return to the order of having Barnabas mentioned first (see comments on 13:13–52).
11. See Luke 5:24; 7:19–22; Acts 14:3.
12. Tannehill, Narrative Unity, vol. 2, 186.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid., 292.
16. Simon is the Hellenized spelling of the Hebrew name Simyon.
17. Robertson, Word Pictures, vol. 3, Acts, 229.
18. Tannehill, Narrative Unity, 2:187.
19. There are phrases from other Old Testament Scriptures too that expand the meaning of phrases in the Amos passage. “After this I will return” (v. 16) is from Jer. 12:15 and “that have been known for ages” is from Isa. 45:21.
20. Longenecker has answered the objections of Haenchen (“Acts,” 448) and others that the Hebrew James could not have used the LXX, and that therefore these are Luke’s ideas, and not James’s. He suggests the possibility that James was using a Hebrew variant of Amos 9:11–12 then current, and shows that it is plausible that such a variant existed (447).
21. Ibid., 446.
22. See the discussion in Dollar, St. Luke’s Missiology, 151–58.
23. It had a shrine in Daphne nearby, where cult prostitution was practiced. See the comments on 11:19–21.
24. See Dollar, St. Luke’s Missiology, 161.
25. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 342.
26. Ibid., 345.
27. Bruce, Steps, 41.
28. Stephen Neill, Creative Tension (London: Edinburgh House), 11.
29. Cited in Gene Edward Veith Jr., Postmodern Times (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994), 17.
30. Ibid., 18.
31. For a recent discussion of this see, Donald A. D. Thorsen, The Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience as a Model of Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990).
32. Campbell Morgan, Acts, 365.
1. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 302; Willaims, Acts, 272–73.
2. Longenecker, “Acts,” 454.
3. Marshall, Acts, 258.
4. See 2 Cor. 1:19; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1; 1 Peter 5:12. The NIV renders both the Greek Silouanos in these verses and the Greek Silas elsewhere as Silas.
5. Bruce, Circle, 28.
6. “Laying on of Hands,” BEB, 2:1317–18.
7. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 304; from R. W. Emerson, “Essays on Self-Reliance,” Essays, Lectures and Orations (London, 1848), 30.
8. For a discussion of what is meant by Phrygia and Galatia, see Longenecker, “Acts,” 457.
9. Longenecker sees, in the progression from “the Holy Spirit” to “the Spirit of Jesus” to “God” “an unconscious expression of the early church’s embryonic Trinitarian faith” (“Acts,” 457).
10. See 16:10–17; 20:5–21:17; chs. 27–28.
11. An important Western variant of 11:28, which records an incident in Antioch, supplies the first “we” passage of any text of Acts (Metzger, Textual, 391). Colin Hemer says, “It is possible that this reading reflects an early tradition which connected Luke with that city” (Acts, 312).
12. Bruce, Circle, 42.
13. Ibid., 43.
14. Stott, Acts, 253.
15. See “Fragments of Papias,” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark; and Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996 reprint), 154–55.
16. Eusebius, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, trans. G. A. Williamson, rev. and ed. Andrew Louth (London: Penguin, 1989), 49–50.
17. Bruce, Circle, 80.
18. See comments on 15:19.
19. William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, rev. ed. The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975), 124.
20. Eileen Grossman, Mountain Rain (Robesonia, Pa. and Sevenoaks, Kent: OMF Books, 1988).
1. Gempf, “Acts,” 1090.
2. Longenecker, “Acts,” 459. Longenecker cites Philo, Natural History, 4:23 here.
3. There has been some confusion over Luke’s words, “the leading [or first; protes] city of that district of Macedonia,” to describe Philippi. Amphipolis and Thessalonica had a more valid claim for that title politically. Bruce solves the problem by having “first” modify district rather than city (Acts, NICNT, 309–10). Keener thinks that Luke intended to say that Philippi was also a leading city along with Thessalonica, not the only leading city (BBC, 367–68). Longenecker opts for translating it as “the leading city of the district of Macedonia” and understands this expression as “an indication of Luke’s pride in his city” (“Acts,” 460).
4. Bruce, Steps, 32.
5. Boring, Hellenistic Commentary, 324; Ferguson, Backgrounds, 539.
6. Ferguson, Backgrounds, 546.
7. Stott, Acts, 263.
8. Ed Murphy, The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992), 325. This explanation is only suggested, not dogmatically stated, by Dr. Murphy and by Knowling, “Acts,” 347.
9. For a description of how what is literally “a spirit of the python” (pneuma pythona, v. 16), or “a pythonic spirit” (Bruce, Acts, NICNT), came to mean a spirit of divination, see the standard commentaries on Acts.
10. Louw and Nida, 763.
11. Brian Rapske, Paul in Roman Custody, vol. 3, BAFCS, 123–29.
12. Ibid., 127.
13. Ibid., 127.
14. Gempf, “Acts,” 1092.
15. Marshall, Acts, 273.
16. Ibid., 274.
17. Note that the first person plural (“we/us”) stopped at 16:17, after which Paul and Silas took center stage.
18. Shenk and Stutzman, Creating Communities of the Kingdom, 58.
19. See the study on 9:31–43.
20. John Koenig, New Testament Hospitality (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 85–123.
21. William G. Morrice, Joy in the New Testament (Exeter: Paternoster, 1984), 91.
22. Morrice’s translation in Joy in the New Testament, 97.
23. For a fuller discussion on this see comments on 25:1–26:32.
24. J. Waskom Pickett, Christian Mass Movements in India (Nashville: Abingdon, 1933).
25. J. T. Seamands, “J. Waskom Picket, 1890–1981—Social Activist and Evangelist of the Masses,” Mission Legacies, ed. Gerald H. Anderson, et al. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1994), 352.
26. Donald A. McGavran, Understanding Church Growth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 298.
27. Ibid., 302.
28. Stott, Acts, 268, quoting A. N. Triton, Whose World? (Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1970), 48.
29. Arthur F. Glasser, “China,” The Church in Asia, ed. Donald E. Hoke (Chicago: Moody, 1975), 171.
30. See the discussions on 9:31–43 and 10:1–33.
31. See the discussion on 9:31–43.
32. See Karen Burton Mains, Open Heart—Open Home (Elgin, Ill.: David C. Cook, 1976).
33. From Juan Carlos Ortiz, Disciple: A Handbook for New Believers (Orlando: Creation House, 1995), 36.
34. This attitude is similar to that of Gamaliel, which (as noted in comments on 5:33–40) was not necessarily correct, though it did help the fledgling church.
35. I would recommend Mark I. Bubeck, The Adversary: The Christian Versus Demon Activity (Chicago: Moody, 1975); Murphy, Handbook for Spiritual Warfare; Timothy M. Warner, Spiritual Warfare: Victory Over the Powers of This Dark World (Wheaton: Crossway, 1991).
36. On this see Murphy, Handbook for Spiritual Warfare, 326.
37. John Piper, The Purifying Power of Living by Faith in Future Grace (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah, 1995), 30–49.
38. Piper regards this verse to be one of the most important verses in the Bible for Christian living (ibid., 110–18).
1. Longenecker, “Acts,” 469.
2. Ibid.
3. On the problems in Rome, see F. F. Bruce, New Testament History (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, reprint of 1969 ed.), 295–300.
4. David W. J. Gill, “Macedonia,” BAFCS, vol. 2, Graeco-Roman Setting (1994), 416.
5. Luke had earlier probably stayed on in Philippi (see our comments on 16:40).
6. See 17:2, 17; 18:4, 19; 19:8, 9; 20:7, 9; 24:12, 25.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. I. Howard Marshall, “Inter-Faith Dialogue in the New Testament,” Evangelical Review of Theology, 13, 3 (July 1989): 199. BAGD (185) states that this word refers to “lectures which were likely to end in disputations.” G. Schrenk (“διαλέγομαι,” TDNT, 2:94–95) does not leave room for that interpretation.
11. Williams, Acts, 294.
12. D. W. Kemmler, Faith and Human Reason: A Study of Paul’s Method of Preaching As Illustrated by 1–2 Thessalonians and Acts 17, 24 (Leiden: Brill, 1975), 35. Cited in Larkin, Acts, 245.
13. Schrenk, “διαλέγομαι,” 2:94.
14. My discussion of these two words has been influenced by A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures, vol. 3, Acts, 267–68.
15. Williams, Acts, 294–95.
16. See 17:4; 18:4; 19:8, 26; 26:28; 28:23, 24; cf. 2 Cor. 5:11. It appeared six times in Acts before chapter 17, but 17:4 is the first time it appears in connection with Paul’s evangelism.
17. Louw and Nida, 423.
18. In this context proskleroo can mean something like “ ‘to throw in one’s lot with’ or ‘to identify themselves with’ or ‘to become a part of the same group as’ ” (Louw and Nida, 449). Zerwick and Grosvenor, on the other hand, take it as a “theological passive” (Analysis, 407), that is, a passive used in order to avoid directly naming God as agent (Zerwick, Greek, 76). This would yield the meaning, “were allotted to Paul and Silas by God.”
19. Harrison, Acts, 276.
20. This “may” implies that discussion is not basic but is almost always helpful.
21. See Bruce, Paul, 363–66.
22. Bruce Steps, 35.
23. The churches established in Macedonia still exist, almost twenty centuries after Paul’s painful visits.
24. Though Celsus’ book has not survived to this day, a large portion of its contents are found in Origen’s comprehensive response to it, Against Celsus. See H. Chadwick, Origen: Contra Celsum (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1980).
25. Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1983), 51.
26. This view received further impetus from the writing of Adolf Deissmann earlier in this century (see his Paul, a Study in Social and Religious History, trans. William E. Wilson [New York: Harper and Row, 1957]).
27. Meeks, First Urban Christians, 73.
28. Ibid., 77–80.
29. Ibid., 73.
30. David W. J. Gill, “Acts and the Urban Élites,” BAFCS, vol. 2, Graeco-Roman Setting, 117.
31. See the discussions on 6:1–7 and 12:25–13:12.
32. For an attempt to do this see my Supremacy.
33. For example, see Wesley Ariarajah, The Bible and People of Other Faiths (Geneva: World Council of Churches, and Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1985), 61–71. For a defense of the validity of apologetics within interreligious dialogue, see Paul J. Griffiths, An Apology for Apologetics: A Study in the Logic of Interreligious Dialogue (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1991).
34. John R. W. Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1975), 69. For helpful discussions on dialogue see Stott, Christian Mission, 58–81; Glasser and McGavran, Contemporary Theologies, 215–19.
35. I am grateful to my colleague Ivor Poobalan for alerting me to this point. For more on this type of dialogue, see Stephen Neill, Salvation Tomorrow (London: Lutterworth, 1976), 22–43; E. Stanley Jones, Christ at the Round Table (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1928).
36. See Stott, Christian Mission, 74–79. Stott cites helpful insights here from Bishop Kenneth Cragg’s book The Call of the Minaret (London: Lutterworth, 1956).
37. In Glasser and McGavran, Contemporary Theologies, 231.
38. John Stott, Decisive Issues Facing Christians Today (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1990), 46.
39. For a discussion of issues involving persuasion see my The Christian’s Attitude Toward World Religions (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 1987), 147–59.
40. “Preface” to Sermons on Several Occasions, vol. 1 (1746), from John Wesley, ed. Albert C. Outler (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1964), 89.
41. Oletta Wald, The Joy of Discovery (Minneapolis: Bible Banner, 1956). This book is a helpful guide to inductive Bible study (see also Oletta Wald, The Joy of Teaching Discovery Bible Study [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1976]). One of my teachers, Robert A. Traina, has written a more advanced book that describes inductive study, entitled Methodical Bible Study (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985 [reprint]).
42. See the discussions on 6:1–7 and 12:25–13:12.
1. “In 46 B.C. . . . the whole of Greece, under the name of Achaia, was transformed into a Roman province; this was divided into two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia, in 27 B.C.” (J. E. Harry, “Achaia,” ISBE, 1:30).
2. Bruce, Steps, 36.
3. Keener, BBC 372.
4. Ibid.
5. Bruce, Steps, 36.
6. Louw and Nida, 763.
7. This description is gleaned from Bruce, Steps, 38, and David W. J. Gill, “Achaia,” BAFCS, vol. 2, Graeco-Roman Setting, 445.
8. See Knowling, “Acts,” 365.
9. Keener, BBC 824.
10. Ibid., 372.
11. Ibid., 831.
12. Stott, Acts, 280–81.
13. John Chrysostom, “Homilies on the Acts,” 233.
14. See comments on 17:1–15.
15. Conrad Gempf, “Paul at Athens,” DPL, 52.
16. Gill, “Achaia,” 447.
17. Gempf, “Athens,” 52.
18. Cited in Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 380.
19. See Hemer, Acts, 117.
20. Gempf, “Athens,” 51.
21. Note that Paul had adopted the same strategy in Lystra, where he presented God as the living God who is the Creator of everything (14:15).
22. Keener, BBC 374–75.
24. From the fourth century B.C. writer Aratus of Soli in Cicilia (see Boring, Hellenistic Commentary, 328).
25. Keener, BBC 373.
26. Paul’s ministry in Athens is the basis for much of my book, The Christian’s Attitude Toward World Religions (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 1987). Much of the material below is found there.
27. This is the verdict of M. Dibelius in “Paul on the Areopagus,” Studies in the Acts of the Apostles, ed. H. Greeven (New York: Scribners, 1956), 57–63 (cited in Gempf, “Athens,” 52).
28. Keener, BBC, 374.
29. See Stott, Acts, 281.
30. Elsewhere I have shown that this general revelation consists of “reminiscent knowledge” (which can be traced to God’s original revelation to humanity), of “intuitional knowledge” (which arises from the fact that humans are made in the image of God and that vestiges of that image still remain even in fallen humanity), and of “inferential knowledge” (which is traced to the knowledge of God that is revealed in his creation). See my Christian Attitude, 103–13; Bruce A. Demarest, General Revelation: Historical Views and Contemporary Issues (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), 227–62.
31. F. F. Bruce, First Century Faith (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1977), 45.
32. John Wesley, Explanatory Notes, 464.
33. Raimundo Panikkar, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism: Towards an Ecumenical Christophany, rev. ed. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1981), 168.
34. N. B. Stonehouse, Paul Before the Areopagus and Other New Testament Studies (London: Tyndale, 1957), 19.
35. Gempf, “Athens,” 52.
36. See comments on unfolding God’s plan for humanity in the study on 13:13–52.
37. See discussion of 2:14–41.
38. See discussion of 2:14–41.
39. See discussion of 10:34–11:18.
40. Stott, Acts, 281.
41. Ibid.
42. See discussion on 12:25–13:12.
43. Constance E. Padwick, Henry Martyn: Confessor of the Faith (New York: George H. Doran. n.d.), 152.
44. The modern Urdu language.
45. Stephen Neill, Crises of Belief (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1984), 10.
46. On this, see my Christian Attitude, 91–102.
47. For more on contextualization see the discussions of 6:8–7:53 and 19:8–41.
48. See the studies on 2:14–41 and 16:11–40.
49. This is the title of a book by Carl F. H. Henry (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994).
1. The above description of Corinth has been gleaned from Bruce, Steps, 41–42; Longenecker, “Acts,” 480; S. J. Hafemann, “Letters to the Corinthians,” DPL, 172–73.
2. Longenecker, “Acts,” 479.
3. Bruce, Steps, 44.
4. On this expulsion see comments on 17:1–10.
5. See Polhill, Acts, 383.
6. See comments on 17:2–4.
7. See the discussion of 16:11–40
8. This word is translated “constrains” or “compels” in 2 Cor. 5:14: “For Christ’s love compels us.”
9. See the discussion in Zerwick and Grosvenor, Analysis, 412.
10. Robertson, Word Pictures: Acts, 296.
11. Louw and Nida, 413.
12. Longenecker, “Acts,” 483.
13. On house churches, see discussion of 2:42–47.
14. Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 544.
15. David W. J. Gill, “Acts and the Urban Élites,” BAFCS, vol. 2, Graeco-Roman Setting (1994), 109–13.
16. Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT (1987), 4.
17. Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1983).
18. Craig Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 20. Blomberg explains that these richer members may have acted as “patrons,” who considered the poorer members as their “clients,” thus perpetuating the class structure that was prevalent in Corinth.
19. See the discussion on 16:11–40.
20. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 349. On this see Gooding, True to the Faith, 316–21.
21. Hemer, Acts, 168–69.
22. See Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 357. Bruce directs us to 11:27, which says that a group of prophets “came down” to Antioch from Jerusalem.
23. On Paul’s vow see the comments in Longenecker, “Acts,” 488.
24. See also 20:34; 1 Cor. 4:12; 9:3–18; 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8; cf. 2 Cor. 11:7.
25. This is hardly a problem in today’s church. Even volunteers are sometimes paid for their services, and the concept of making great personal sacrifices for the sake of the gospel, though part of the basic biblical lifestyle, is becoming less and less popular.
26. See the discussion on 4:23–31.
27. R. J. Song, “Promises,” NDCEPT, 695.
28. Ibid., citing John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.12.
29. Statistical evidence for this is given in Gene Edward Veith Jr., Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994), 17–18. As an occasional visitor to the West, I must say that I am amazed at the risks some Christians take in their relationships with those of the opposite sex. They seem to be quite oblivious to the warnings in the Bible about caution in this area.
30. See Don Hamilton, Tentmakers Speak (Glendale: Regal, 1987); Ruth Siemens, “Tentmakers Needed for World Evangelization,” Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, eds. Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, rev. ed. (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1992), D–246–54; J. Christy Wilson Jr., Today’s Tentmakers (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 1979); Tetsunao Yamamori, God’s New Envoys (Portland: Multnomah, 1987).
31. Siemens, “Tentmakers,” D–247.
32. Ibid., D–249.
33. Ibid., D–247.
34. See the section on “importance of evangelism” in the index at the back.
35. See comments on 4:23–31.
36. F. W. Boreham, The Last Milestone (London: Epworth, 1961), 36.
1. See the photograph in Bruce, Steps, 45 (which is also the cover photo).
2. Ibid., 46.
3. Longenecker, “Acts,” 493.
4. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.3.4, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996 reprint), 416.
5. The city is mentioned in 6:9; 27:6; 28:11, but not in connection with Christians being there.
6. The Septuagint (LXX) had been translated there around the third century B.C.
7. Bruce, Circle, 52.
8. Metzger, Textual, 466.
9. In his letters, Paul uses the more formal name Prisca (though the NIV renders it as Priscilla).
10. Bruce, Circle, 45.
11. Gempf, “Acts,” 1096.
12. On the affirmative, see Arrington, Acts, 191; Stronstad, Charismatic Theology of St. Luke, 68–69. On the negative, see Longenecker, “Acts,” 493; Stott, Acts, 304.
13. Stott, Acts, 304.
15. Longenecker, “Acts,” 493.
16. This statement inspired the title for Donald G. Miller’s book on preaching, Fire in Thy Mouth (Nashville: Abingdon, 1954). Cited in Donald E. Demaray, Preacher Aflame (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972), 16.
17. The other three types are evangelistic (2:42–47; 10:1–33), hosting traveling preachers (9:43; 16:15), and hosting informal fellowship and house churches (2:42–47).
18. Some say much later, while others say almost immediately after being baptized (with the laying on of hands).
19. See discussion on 1:1–8.
20. Ibid.
21. W. E. Sangster, Power in Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1958 [repr. 1976]), 87.
22. Ibid., 89.
23. Stephen Neill, The Supremacy of Jesus (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1984), 55.
24. Cited in Demaray, Preacher Aflame, 14.
25. Sangster, Power in Preaching, 90.
26. These references are gleaned from David and Ruth Rupprecht, Radical Hospitality (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1983).
27. Groups like International Students Incorporated and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship are trying to change this statistic and are performing a great service on university campuses.
28. Quoted in Rupprecht, Radical Hospitality, 11.
1. See 9:27, 28; 13:46; 14:3; 18:26; cf. 26:26.
2. The only possible exception is 14:3, though we take King Agrippa (26:26) to be a Jew.
3. See the discussion on 17:1–15 for comments on these two words.
5. Bruce, Steps, 50.
6. See comments on 3:1–26.
7. Bruce, Paul, 291.
8. Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians, Power and Magic (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989), 39. Cited in Ed Murphy, The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992), 345.
10. Ibid., 368.
11. Murphy, Handbook for Spiritual Warfare, 349.
13. Keener, BBC 379.
14. C. E. Arnold, “Ephesus,” DPL, 252.
15. Keener, BBC 380.
17. Bruce, Steps, 49.
18. A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973, repr. 1963 ed.), 90 (he cites Strabo, Geography, 14.1.42).
19. This is carefully documented in A. N. Sherwin-White’s Roman Society and Roman Law (ibid., 83–92). See also Hemer, Acts, 120–24.
20. “There is fairly copious evidence about [the office of city clerk] at Ephesus and other cities of Asia minor” (Sherwin-White, Roman Society, 86).
21. Differing explanations have been given for the appearance of the plural “proconsuls” here. See Hemer, Acts, 123; Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 379.
22. Hemer, Acts, 123.
23. See Sherwin-White Roman Society and Roman Law, 84.
24. Ibid.
25. Murphy, Handbook for Spiritual Warfare, 341–43.
26. Gempf, “Acts,” 1096.
27. See discussion on 4:36–5:11.
28. Keener, BBC 379.
29. On the question of our attitude to the state, see John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1986), 298–309.
30. One of the most eloquent spokespersons for the primacy of truth in recent times has been a man who has had ample experience in ministering to human need in India and Britain, Bishop Lesslie Newbigin. See his books The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans and Geneva: WCC Publications, 1989); Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans and Geneva: WCC Publications, 1991); Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995).
31. See Acts 6:6; 8:17; 9:12; 13:3; 19:6; 28:8.
32. Note that the public destruction of idols in the Old Testament was with a people who had clearly been given God’s Word about the evils of idolatry.
33. Ed Silvoso, That None Should Perish (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1994), 50. Cited in Wagner, Blazing the Way, 170.
34. On this, see my book Spiritual Living in a Secular World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 46–56.
1. Though Titus is mentioned thirteen times in Paul’s letters, including a letter addressed to him, he does not appear in Acts. Presumably there is a reason for this omission, but no one seems to be sure what it is.
2. Wagner, Blazing the Way, 187. Romans was written during Paul’s three-month stay in Greece (actually Corinth), where he went after leaving Macedonia (v. 2).
3. Keener, BBC 382.
4. Longenecker mentions these two options (“Acts,” 506).
5. See also John 20:19, 26; 1 Cor. 16:2. The Jewish way of reckoning days had a day starting at sunset, whereas the Roman system had the day beginning at midnight. Thus, this meeting may have begun on Saturday night (if the Jewish system was used) or on Sunday afternoon (if the Roman system was used).
6. “On the Lord’s own day gather together and break bread and give thanks, having first confessed your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure” (Didache 14:1, in Apostolic Fathers, 267).
7. Keener, BBC, 383.
8. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 425. The word appears in v. 9 also.
9. Longenecker, “Acts,” 509.
10. Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 426.
11. The other five are in Luke 7:11–16; 8:49–56; 24:6; John 11:43–44; Acts 9:36–42.
12. Alexander, Acts, 232.
13. “The farewell discourse is a genre present throughout Scripture (Gen. 47:29–49:33; Deut. 31:14–33:29; Josh. 23:1–24:30; 1 Sam. 12:1–25; 2 Kings 2:1–14; Matt. 28:18–20; John 13–17; 2 Tim.; 2 Peter. . . .). The departing leader’s life is reviewed as an example for imitation and an apologetic for his conduct. There are warnings concerning future dangers to the faith, exhortations to faithfulness and God’s benediction in an affectionate, sorrowful, prayerful farewell” (Larkin, Acts, 292–93).
14. Keener, BBC, 383.
15. Both have autobiographical sections (vv. 18–27, 33–35; 1 Tim. 1:12–16; 2 Tim. 2:8–10; 4:6–18) and both emphasize the importance of example (Acts 20:18–27, 31, 33–35; 1 Tim. 4:12; Titus 2:7), of finishing the race (Acts 20:24; 2 Tim. 4:7), of hard work (Acts 20:18–21, 35; 2 Tim. 2:6), of suffering (Acts 20:22–25; 2 Tim. 1:8, 12; 2:3, 9–10; 4:6), of impending trouble (Acts 20:22–25; 2 Tim. 4:6–7), of communicating a body of truth carefully (Acts 20:20, 26–27, 32; 1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 2:2, 15), of false teachers coming from within the church (Acts 20:29–31; 2 Tim. 4:3–4), of being on guard against certain people (Acts 20:30–31; 2 Tim. 4:14–15), of the importance of leaders looking after their own lives (Acts 20:26; 1 Tim. 4:7, 15–16; 2 Tim. 2), of tears of concern (Acts 20:19, 31; 2 Tim. 1:4), of the primacy of the ministry of the Word (Acts 20:20, 26–27, 32; 1 Tim. 4:13–14; 2 Tim. 4:2), of the ability of the Word to help keep people in the faith (Acts 20:32; 2 Tim. 3:16–17), etc.
16. Daniel L. Akin, “Overseer,” EDBT, 586.
17. I originally planned to do two separate studies on this chapter. But I found that these two themes were equally found in both sections. As a result, I was forced to opt for one long study on the whole chapter.
18. The issue of evangelizing Jews will be discussed in more detail in our study of 28:16–31.
19. Calvin, Acts 14–28, 168.
20. See the discussion on 3:1–25; 19:8–41.
21. Bruce, Circle, 8–9.
22. On this see my book Leadership Lifestyle: A Study of 1 Timothy (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 1985), 15–25.
23. On lingering and this type of friendship in general, see my Friendship, esp. 28–35.
24. On burnout see, Donald E. Demaray, Watch Out for Burnout: A Look at Signs, Prevention and Cure (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983); D. G. Kehl, “Burnout: The Risk of Reaching too High,” Christianity Today (Nov. 20, 1981);Archibald Hart, “Recovery From Stress and Burnout,” Pastors at Risk, H. B. London Jr. and Neil B. Wiseman, ed. (Wheaton: Victor, 1993), 157–72; John A. Sanford, Ministry Burnout (New York: Paulist, 1982).
25. See Hart’s comments in “Recovery From Stress and Burnout,” 59–60, 68–69.
26. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2d series, ed. H. Wace and P. Schaff (New York: Christian), 10:53; cited in Thomas C. Oden, Classical Pastoral Care, vol. 1, Becoming a Minister (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 13.
27. See the studies on 1:1–8; 2:42; 6:1–7; 17:1–15.
28. A. W. Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship? comp. and ed. Gerald B. Smith (Camp Hill, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1985), 78.
29. See George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and the American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism: 1870–1925 (Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1980).
30. See Donald W. Dayton, Discovering an Evangelical Heritage (New York: Harper and Row, 1976).
31. Some great evangelical scholars did emerge at this time, however, like B. B. Warfield and J. Gresham Machen. See Machen, The Origin of Paul’s Religion (New York: Macmillan, 1921; repr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973); idem, Christianity and Liberalism (New York: Macmillan, 1923; repr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans); idem, The Virgin Birth of Christ (New York: Harper and Row, 1930; repr. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974); Warfield, Works of Benjamin Warfield, 10 vols. (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1927–1932). See the reprint, Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, ed. Samuel G. Craig (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1948).
32. See Carl F. H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948).
33. See Edward John Carnell, An Introduction to Christian Apologetics: A Philosophic Defense of the Trinitarian-Theistic Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948); idem, A Philosophy of the Christian Religion (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1952; repr. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980).
34. See George M. Marsden, Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987).
35. For the anticharismatic view see John F. MacArthur Jr., Charismatic Chaos (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992). For a response and defense of the charismatic position see Gary S. Greig and Kevin N. Springer, The Kingdom and the Power (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1993); Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993).
36. See Harold Lindsell, The Battle for the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976).
37. See from different perspectives, David F. Wells, No Place for Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993); Mark A. Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).
38. Roger Nicole, “What Evangelicalism Has Accomplished,” Christianity Today (Sept. 16, 1996), 31–34.
39. See, for example, Gal. 1:6–9; 1 Tim. 1:3–10, 18–20; 4:1–16; 2 Tim. 1:12–14; 4:3–5, 14–15; 2 Peter 3:16–18.
1. Louw and Nida, 331.
2. Thomson, “Studies in the Acts of the Apostles—22,” n.d., 88.
3. Craig S. Keener, BBC, 385.
4. See Gempf, “Acts,” 1099.
5. Eusebius, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, 3:31, 39, trans. G. A. Williamson, rev. and ed. Andrew Louth (London: Penguin, 1989), 94 and 103.
6. See Isa. 20:2; Jer. 13:4–11; 19:1–15; Ezek. 4–5.
7. Longenecker, “Acts,” 520.
9. For an analysis of this, see the discussions on 6:1–7; 10:1–33; 12:25–13:12.
10. In Luke’s Gospel we see a similarly prominent place given to women; see Luke 1:7, 25, 27; 4:38–39; 7:11–17, 36–50; 8:1–3, 40–56; 10:38–42; 13:10–17; 18:1–8; 21:1–4; 23:55–56; 24:1–11 (cf. Robert H. Stein, Luke, NAC 24 [Nashville: Broadman/Holman, 1992], 50).
11. See 1 Cor. 11:12–16; 14:34–36; 1 Tim. 2:8–15.
12. See 1 Cor. 7; Eph. 5:21–33; Col. 3:18–19; Titus 2:1–6; 1 Peter 3:1–7.
13. William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Dallas: Word, 1993), 349.
14. See Ruth A. Tucker, The Christian Speaker’s Treasury: A Sourcebook of Anecdotes and Quotes (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989), which has many good items relevant to women.
15. Bramwell Booth, Echoes and Memories (New York: George H. Doran, 1925), 27. Cited in Warren W. Wiersbe and Lloyd M. Perry, The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching and Preachers (Chicago: Moody, 1984), 185.
16. See Daniel Yankelovich, New Rules: Searching for Self-fulfillment in a World Turned Upside Down (New York: Random House, 1981).
17. John R. W. Stott, “Theological Preamble,” Co-operating in World Evangelization, ed. Keith A. Price (Wheaton and London: Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 1983), 10.
18. The Island (March 22, 1997), 9.
1. See Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.7.6; Wars of the Jews, 2.13.5; in Josephus, Complete Works, 422, 483 resp.
2. Keener, BBC, 389.
3. Ibid.
4. See Gen. 43:23; Ex. 3:13, 15, 16; 4:5; Deut. 1:11, 21; 4:1; 6:3; 12:1; etc.
5. See for the idea 2 Sam. 23:3; Isa. 32:1; 53:11; Zech. 9:9.
6. The possible inference that verse 16 teaches baptismal regeneration is contradicted in our discussion of a similar statement in 2:38.
8. The information on scourging is from ibid., 420–21.
9. Bruce cites evidence for the fact that “this form of bribery reached scandalous proportions under Claudius” (Acts, NICNT, 421).
10. Longenecker, “Acts,” 530. This would answer Haenchen (Acts, 640), who discounts the historicity of this passage on the grounds that it was “naive” to think that the commander would take Paul to the council.
11. This is an ambiguous statement. Luke “could refer either to his having his chains removed, or to his being released from confinement in order appear before the Sanhedrin. The latter seems more likely, since the removal of his chains is implied in 23:29” (Polhill, Acts, 467 n. 61).
12. The significance of this claim will be discussed in the next study.
13. See Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 2.17.6, 9 (in Josephus, Complete Works, 491, 492 resp.).
14. On Ananias’s character and acts, see Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.9.2, 4 (in Josephus, Complete Works, 424).
15. Ramsay, BRD, 90–95.
16. Longenecker, “Acts,” 531.
18. See our discussion of that passage.
19. See Gen. 12:3; 1 Kings 8:41–43; Isa. 2:2–4; 11:9–10; 42:1–7; 66:18–20; Dan. 7:14; Joel 2:28; Zech. 2:11; 8:20–23; 14:16–17.
20. Willimon, Acts, 169.
21. This was discussed at length in our comments on 9:1–31.
22. See the discussion of Peter’s vision for the place prayer has in opening us to God’s direction.
23. For more on God’s comfort through visions, see the study on 18:1–22.
24. Cf. also 16:37: When he was unjustly beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, he protested the action without meekly leaving after his (and Silas’s) release.
25. From A. Skevington Wood, Captive to the Word. Martin Luther: Doctor of Sacred Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), 72.
26. See Gordon R. Lewis’s analysis of the “traumatic effects” of these attacks on Edward John Carnell in Handbook of Evangelical Theologians, ed. Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 332.
27. See Jim Bakker, I Was Wrong (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996).
28. See Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 2, Ante-Nicene Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1952, repr. 1910 ed.), 48.
29. This point was made in a lecture on John Wesley’s method of pastoral care by Dr. Allan Coppedge at the Ministers’ Conference at Asbury Theological Seminary in February 1989.
1. Tacitus, History, 5.9. This quotation and the other information on Felix is from Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 436–37.
2. Luke calls it “Herod’s praetorium” (praitorion being a technical term for the commander-in-chief’s headquarters; see Bruce, Steps, 54).
3. Bruce W. Winter, “Official Proceedings and the Forensic Speeches in Acts 24–26,” BAFCS, vol. 1, Ancient Literary Setting, 305–36.
4. Gempf, “Acts,” 1102.
5. Ibid.
6. The Western Text includes a statement of complaint against the commander in Jerusalem, which is included as a footnote in the NIV (v. 7): “[We] . . . wanted to judge him according to our law. But the commander, Lysias, came and with the use of much force snatched him from our hands and ordered his accusers to come before you.” The standard Greek New Testament does not include the text (see Metzger, Textual, 490). Bruce thinks that, considering its tone, it may be a genuine statement (Acts, NICNT, 441).
7. Winter, “Forensic Speeches,” 327.
8. Gempf, “Acts,” 1103.
9. Louw and Nida, 663.
10. Kistemaker, Acts, 846.
11. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.8.9 (Complete Works, 422–23).
12. See Robert M. Grant, Greek Apologists of the Second Century (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1988).
13. The facts on Wilberforce come from Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1979), 370; John Pollock, Wilberforce (Herts and Belleville, Mich.: Lion, 1986 repr.), 177.
14. See the writings of Justin, Tertullian, Ignatius, and in 1 Clement (see Grant, Greek Apologists, 66–67).
15. Carl F. H. Henry, Twilight of a Great Civilization (Westchester: Crossway, 1988); Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987).
16. Henry, Twilight of a Great Civilization, 27.
17. On proclaiming judgment see my Crucial Questions About Hell (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994), 125–80.
18. See Charles Colson, Born Again (Old Tappan, N.J.: Chosen, 1976).
1. See Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 453, for the background of this privilege.
2. Josephus, Antiquities, 20.7.3 (Complete Works, 420–21).
3. Ibid., 15.9.4 (Complete Works, 335).
4. H. W. Hoehner, “Herod,” ISBER, 2, 697.
5. Harrison, Acts, 397.
6. Kistemaker, Acts, 884.
7. Keener, BBC, 398.
8. See Bruce, Acts: Greek Text, 501, for a list of occurrences.
9. Daniel P. Fuller, Hermeneutics (Pasadena: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1974), VIII.9.
10. See further the discussion of 9:1–31; Seyoon Kim, The Origin of Paul’s Gospel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982).
11. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 470, n. 44.
12. See the study on 2:14–41.
13. Ladd, Theology, 363.
14. Ibid.
15. See 17:4; 18:4; 19:8, 26; 26:28; 28:23, 24; cf. 2 Cor. 5:11.
16. See comments on this word in the study of 17:1–15.
17. There has been some disagreement within the church on this issue, which will be discussed below.
18. George Eldon Ladd, I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 43.
20. For an attempt to explain these two sides in evangelism, see J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1961).
21. See, for example, C. Samuel Storms, “Prayer and Evangelism Under God’s Sovereignty,” The Grace of God and the Bondage of the Will, vol. 1, Biblical and Practical Perspectives on Calvinism, ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995), 215–31.
22. This description is from Earle E. Cairns, An Endless Line of Splendor: Revivals and Their Leaders From the Great Awakening to the Present (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 1986), 130.
23. Kellsye M. Finnie, William Carey: By Trade a Cobbler (Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1986), 32. Finnie says that we do not know for certain whether such a statement was really made.
24. Bruce Winter, “1 Corinthians,” NBCTCE, 1164.
25. Ibid.
26. See Shenk and Stutzman, Creating Communities of the Kingdom, 64–65; they refer to a book by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge (New York: Harper and Row, 1985), which argues that to be successful in business, vision is essential.
27. See the discussion on 1:1–8.
28. See Shenk and Stutzman, Creating Communities, 65.
29. Charles Hummel, The Tyranny of the Urgent (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1967).
1. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 475–76.
2. J. Smith, The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul (London: Longmans Green, 1848, 4th. ed. 1880); cited in E. F. Harrison, Acts, 412.
3. Hemer, Acts, 132–58.
5. Eusebius, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, 3.36, trans. G. A. Williamson, rev. and ed. Andrew Louth (London: Penguin, 1989), 98.
6. Hemer, Acts, 134.
7. Ibid., 137.
8. Ibid., 138.
9. Ibid., 141.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., 143.
12. Ibid., 144. Hemer has a long list of references from first-century literature.
14. Ibid.
15. Smith, Voyage, 126–28; cited in Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 489.
16. Hemer, Acts, 149.
17. Ibid., 152.
18. The Maltese spoke a Phoenician dialect. It seems that the word barbaros came out of the fact that the speech of foreigners sounded like “bar-bar” to the Greeks. The word need not carry a pejorative meaning. See the article by F. D. Gealy in IDB, 1:354.
19. This would be possible in a small but densely populated island like Malta (see Hemer, Acts, 153).
21. See Hemer, Acts, 154, for an attempt to explain this.
22. Longenecker, “Acts,” 566.
23. Ibid., 568.
24. Keener, BBC, 405.
25. Longenecker, “Acts,” 567.
26. R. I. Prevo, Profit With Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987).
27. See the discussions of 4:23–31; 7:54–8:4; 28:16–31.
28. See the “Contemporary Significance” section for various leadership features Paul demonstrated here.
29. See Haenchen’s comments in Acts, 708–11.
30. Ibid., 709.
31. Harrison, Acts, 422.
32. See the discussion on 12:1–24, where I noted how in the terrible riots that engulfed our land in 1983, some Christians testified to miraculous deliverances that glorified God and others faced arson, looting, and death.
33. Haenchen, Acts, 709–10.
34. There was an Indian peace-keeping force in northern Sri Lanka at the time.
35. The sections within quotes are from Ingvar Haddal, John Wesley: A Biography (Nashville: Abingdon, 1961), 50–51.
36. Barclay, Acts, 186.
37. Ibid., 188.
38. The report on this article was related to me by Indian Christian leader, Dr. Samuel T. Kamaleson.
1. Haenchen, Acts, 726–32.
3. Hemer, Acts, 157; Williams, Acts, 452.
4. Gemph, “Acts,” 1107.
5. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 509; Marshall, Acts, 425.
6. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 509–10.
7. E.g., E. M. Blaiklok, J. Munck, F. V. Filson, D. Guthrie, A. J. Mattill, B. Reike, E. F. Harrison, J. A. T. Robinson, R. E. Longenecker, C. Gempf. See the full list in Hemer, Acts, 367–70.
8. For a discussion on the last days of Paul, see Bruce, Paul, 441–55.
9. Ogilvie, Acts, 357.
10. Gempf, “Acts,” 1107.
11. J. D. Douglas ed., Proclaim Christ Until He Comes: Calling the Whole Church to Take the Whole Gospel to the Whole World (Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1990), 445.
12. This, of course, does not mean that Christians should be blind to the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, a good many of whom are Christian.
13. See Allan R. Brockway, “Learning Christology Through Dialogue With Jews,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 25 (1989): 351.
14. Gerald H. Anderson, “Theology of Religions and Missiology: A Time of Testing,” The Good News of the Kingdom, ed. Charles Van Engen, Dean S. Gilliland, and Paul Pierson (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1993), 206 (italics his).
15. Ibid., 207.
16. On this see David H. Stern, Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel (Jerusalem: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1988). Stern is himself a messianic Jew.
17. See Christian Witness to the Jewish People, Lausanne Occasional Papers. No. 7 (Wheaton, Ill.: Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 1980); David F. Wells, Turning to God: Biblical Conversion in the Modern World (Grand Rapids: Baker; and Exeter: Paternoster, 1989), 97–109; Moishe and Ceil Rosen, Witnessing to Jews: Practical Ways to Relate the Love of Jesus (San Francisco: Jews for Jesus, 1998).
18. Bruce, Paul, 424.
19. See Paul Tournier, Creative Suffering (London: SCM, 1982).
20. These facts come from Ernest W. Bacon, Pilgrim and Dreamer, John Bunyan: His Life and Work (Exeter: Paternoster, 1983), 111–18.
21. Starting with affirming the Great Commission and follow-up in the 1940s Glasser traced successively the following emphases: church growth and anthropology, the struggle for a holistic gospel, and the charismatic movement and the Holy Spirit (“The Evolution of Evangelical Mission Theology Since World War II,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 9 [January 1985]: 9–13). See also Paul G. Hiebert, “Evangelism, Church and Kingdom,” and J. Robertson McQuilkin, “An Evangelical Assessment of Mission Theology of the Kingdom of God,” in The Good News of the Kingdom, 153–61 and 172–78 respectively.
22. See comments on 20:1–38.
23. See discussion on 17:1–15.