In the Epistle to the Galatians, i, 17, 18, St. Paul declares that, immediately after his conversion, he went away into Arabia, and again returned to Damascus. The Jews acquiesce, glorifying God, and declaring that unto the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life. Acts was apparently written in Rome, perhaps between 70 and 90 ce, though some think a slightly earlier date is also possible. They suborn witnesses to testify that he has spoken against Moses and the Temple. There are also major differences between Acts and Paul on Christology (the understanding of Christ's nature), eschatology (the understanding of the "last things"), and apostleship.[48]. The principal divisions of the Acts of the Apostles are the following: The Preparation for the Christian Mission (1:1-2:13) The Mission in Jerusalem (2:14-8:3) The Mission in Judea and Samaria (8:4-9:43) The Inauguration of the Gentile Mission (10:1-15:35) Why we need to start with Luke Because Acts and Luke go together, we need to look at when Luke was written. It seems probable that during this peaceful epoch St. Luke composed the Book of Acts, and terminated it abruptly at the end of the two years, as some unrecorded vicissitude carried him out into other events. This is a mere negative argument, and of no avail. Another objection is urged from I Thess., iii, 1, 2, compared with Acts, xvii, 14, 15, and xviii, 5. p.39.) St. Paul is baptized by Ananias at Damascus, and straightway for some days abides there, preaching in the synagogues that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Acts presupposes its readers to know the Gospels; it continues the Gospel narrative. The beginning and propagation of the Christian religion among the Jews (iix); 2. The intrinsic evidence is corroborated by the testimonies of many witnesses. These miracles still more confirm the faith in Jesus Christ. Like all the preachers of the first days of the Church, Philip confirms his preaching by great miracles. On a visit to Jerusalem he is set on by a Jewish mob. Peter and John, being freed from custody, return to the other Apostles. And many of them that heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. Saphira, coming up afterwards, and knowing nothing of the death of her husband, is interrogated by St. Peter regarding the transaction. After an introductory account of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles at Pentecost (interpreted as the birth of the church), Luke pursues as a central theme the spread of Christianity to the Gentile world under the guiding inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. In the New Testament Acts forms a necessary connecting-link between the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul. At this point Gamaliel, a Pharisee, a doctor of the Jewish law, held in honor of all the people, arises in the council in defense of the Apostles. He preaches to him and to all assembled; the Holy Ghost descends upon them, and Peter commands that they be baptized. The cardinal truth of the Apostles teaching was; Life Everlasting through Jesus, Who was crucified for our sins, and Who is risen from the dead. Rather, there are ways in which each may have considered having a relationship with the other rather advantageous to its own cause. There are also agreements on many incidents, such as Paul's escape from Damascus, where he is lowered down the walls in a basket. He speaks of him as a seditious man, who misled his followers, giving himself out to be somebody. I was brought up here in this city. Acts of Apostles - Chapter 10. Therefore, they say that, since Luke was at Rome with Paul when he wrote thence to the Philippians, had Luke been the author of Acts, Paul would have associated Luke with himself in his salutation to the Philippians in the letter which he wrote them. For the literature genre, see, "Acts" redirects here. Who Wrote the Book of Acts? Cornely and others answer this difficulty by supposing that St. Paul employs the term Galatia in the administrative sense, as a province, which comprised Galatia proper, Lycaonia, Pisidia, Isauria, and a great part of Phrygia; whereas St. Luke employs the term to denote Galatia proper. Acts of the Apostles, abbreviation Acts, fifth book of the New Testament, a valuable history of the early Christian church. "[30][31] The work also engages with the question of a Christian's proper relationship with the Roman Empire, the civil power of the day: could a Christian obey God and also Caesar? In his treatise On Prescription against Heretics, xxii, Tertullian is strong in asserting the canonicity of Acts: And assuredly, God fulfilled his promise, since it is proved in the Acts of the Apostles that the Holy Ghost did come down. The first believers share all property in common, eat in each other's homes, and worship together. Here, as elsewhere, the adversaries of Holy Scriptures presuppose every writer who disagrees with the Holy Scriptures to be right. [13], The earliest possible date for Luke-Acts is around 62 AD, the time of Paul's imprisonment in Rome, but most scholars date the work to 8090 AD on the grounds that it uses Mark as a source, looks back on the destruction of Jerusalem, and does not show any awareness of the letters of Paul (which began circulating late in the first century); if it does show awareness of the Pauline epistles, and also of the work of the Jewish historian Josephus, as some believe, then a date in the early 2nd century is possible. Supported by many precedents, we may hold that in the several narrations of the same event inspiration does not compel an absolute agreement in mere extrinsic details which in nowise affects the substance of the narration. In Acts 1:8, just before he ascended back into heaven, Jesus told the disciples: " You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all . They were especially opposed to the Christian religion on account of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Again, in chapter xii, he states: As Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, relates that Paul said: Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things, ye are greatly superstitious'. They fell on their faces in fear; and then, arising, stood still and speechless, while Paul conversed with Jesus, whose articulate voice he alone heard. The people are filled with wonder and amazement at the miracle and run together unto Peter and John in the portico that was called Solomons. Peter refuses, on the ground that he cannot eat that which is common and unclean. As he draws near to Damascus, the Lord Jesus speaks to him out of the heavens and converts him. The Fathers of that age wrote but little; and the injury of time has robbed us of much of what was written. The author devotes but two verses to the two years which Paul spent at Rome. The early chapters, set in Jerusalem, describe the Day of Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit) and the growth of the church in Jerusalem. "[29], Acts (or LukeActs) is intended as a work of "edification," meaning "the empirical demonstration that virtue is superior to vice. Peter states that "this one" [], i.e. The second key element is the roles of Peter and Paul, the first representing the Jewish Christian church, the second the mission to the Gentiles.[33]. [3] LukeActs can also be seen as a defense of the Jesus movement addressed to the Jews: the bulk of the speeches and sermons in Acts are addressed to Jewish audiences, with the Romans serving as external arbiters on disputes concerning Jewish customs and law. Dr. Bornemann (Acta Apost.) Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 13(2), 151169. Acts of the Apostles.NAME.In the accepted order of the books of the New Testament the fifth book is called The Acts of the Apostles (Prakseis Apostolon). Of the controverted, but yet well known or approved by the most, are, that called the Epistle of James, and that of Jude, and the Second of Peter, and the Second and Third of John, whether they are written by the evangelist, or another of the same name." (Lardner, vol. At Lydda he heals the palsied Aeneas; and at Joppa he raises the pious widow Tabitha (Greek, Dorcas) from the dead. Jesus Christ After receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the disciples openly preach that Jesus is the Messiah. Saul of Tarsus, one of the Jews who persecuted the followers of Jesus, is converted by a vision to become a follower of Christ (an event which Luke regards as so important that he relates it three times). The Gentile church is established in Antioch (north-western Syria, the third-largest city of the empire), and here Christ's followers are first called Christians. He continues unchanged the teaching of the Apostolic Fathers. In this crisis the apostles are favored by a miraculous release from prison (Acts 5:18-24). There are also differences between Luke and Acts, amounting at times to outright contradiction. He takes Paul from Tarsus, and they both dwell at Antioch a whole year, and teach many people. They threaten the Apostles, and charge them not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus; Peter and John contemn the threat, calling upon the council to judge whether it be right to hearken unto the council rather than unto God. The character of Theodas as given by Josephus, XX, v, 1, accords with the implied character of the Theodas of Acts. Meanwhile, Roman readers may have approved of Paul's censure of the illegal practice of magic (Acts 19:1719) as well as the amicability of his rapport with Roman officials such as Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:612) and Festus (Acts 26:3032). [42], On the other hand, events such as the imprisonment of Paul at the hands of the empire (Acts 2228) as well as several encounters that reflect negatively on Roman officials (for instance, Felix's desire for a bribe from Paul in Acts 24:26) function as concrete points of conflict between Rome and the early church. [36], Prior to the 1950s, LukeActs was seen as a historical work, written to defend Christianity before the Romans or Paul against his detractors; since then the tendency has been to see the work as primarily theological. In The Doctrine of Addai, which contains the ancient tradition of the Church of Edessa, the Acts of the Apostles are declared to be a part of the Holy Scriptures (Doctrine of Addai, ed. This is the opinion of Cornely in his "Introduction to the Books of the New Testament" (second edition, page 315). The conversion of St. Paul and his subsequent missionary journeys are given a prominent place because this close associate of Luke was the preeminent Apostle to the Gentiles. By the power of the Spirit the Apostles established the Church in the great centers of the world: Jerusalem, Antioch, Cyprus, Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome. We see therefore that a more proper title of this book would be The Beginnings of the Christian Religion. The Evangelists record Christs promises which He made to the disciples, regarding the establishment of the Church and its mission (Matt., xvi, 15-20); the gift of the Holy Ghost (Luke, xxiv, 49; John, xiv, 16, 17); the calling of the Gentiles (Matt., xxviii, 18-20; Luke, xxiv, 46, 47). Who wrote the book? [45] There are similar conflicts over the theology, and while not seriously questioning the single authorship of LukeActs, these differences do suggest the need for caution in seeking too much consistency in books written in essence as popular literature. Everyone who has examined Josephus must be struck by his carelessness and inaccuracy. OBJECT.The Acts of the Apostles must not be believed to be an isolated writing, but rather an integral part in a well-ordered series. The Acts leaves us in no doubt as to the motive that inspired the High-Priest and the sectaries; They were filled with jealousy. The two works taken together form a whole, having the same style, presenting the same characteristic expressions, and citing the Scripture in the same manner (ibid., p. xi). Read Acts 1 The Big Picture The opening of the Acts of the Apostles outlines the entire book while also showing that evangelization starts within the context of the authority of the Church. Beginning with the martyrdom of Stephen, a great persecution arose against the Church at Jerusalem; all were scattered abroad throughout Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles. The religious leaders of the Old Law saw their influence with the people waning before the power which worked in the Apostles of Christ. Western texts of Acts are 6.28.4% longer than Alexandrian texts, the additions tending to enhance the Jewish rejection of the Messiah and the role of the Holy Spirit, in ways that are stylistically different from the rest of Acts. [8] The author is not named in either volume. Philip is thence transported by Divine power to Azotus, and preaches to all the coast cities until he comes to Caesarea. In Acts, ix, 7, the author declares that the men that journeyed with Paul stood speechless, hearing the voice, but beholding no man. [6] The "Former Treatise" and the Date of Acts. The Church developed according to the plan conceived by Christ. Moreover, the three accounts can be placed in agreement by supposing that the several accounts contemplate the event at different moments of its course. The rest of Acts narrates the persecution of the Christians by Herod Agrippa; the mission of Paul and Barnabas from Antioch by the Holy Ghost, to preach to the Gentile nations; the labors of Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus and in Asia Minor, their return to Antioch; the dissension at Antioch concerning circumcision; the journey of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, the decision of the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem, the separation of Paul from Barnabas, in whose stead he takes Silas, or Silvanus; Pauls visit to his Asiatic Churches, his foundation of the Church at Philippi; Pauls sufferings for Jesus Christ; Pauls visit to Athens, his foundation of the churches of Corinth and of Ephesus; Pauls return to Jerusalem, his persecution by the Jews; Pauls imprisonment at Caesarea; Pauls appeal to Caesar, his voyage to Rome; the shipwreck; Pauls arrival at Rome, and the manner of his life there. Phillips, 1876, 46). My sisters and I were bundled in snowsuits in the backseat, going nowhere as the cold crept into the car. [23][24] Other sources can only be inferred from internal evidencethe traditional explanation of the three "we" passages, for example, is that they represent eyewitness accounts. For that indeed a notable miracle hath been wrought through them, is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. [25] The search for such inferred sources was popular in the 19th century, but by the mid-20th it had largely been abandoned. He expounds to them his vision at Joppa, and also the vision of Cornelius, wherein the latter was commanded by an angel to send and fetch Peter from Joppa, that he might receive from Peter the Gospel. Christianity portal v t e The Acts of Peter is one of the earliest of the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Christianity, dating to the late 2nd century AD. In the accepted order of the books of the New Testament the fifth book is called The Acts of the Apostles ( praxeis Apostolon ). 1 * Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. This history shows the real nature of the Christian religion; its members are baptized in the Holy Ghost, and are upheld by His power. Concerning the date of Acts, see the Introduction to the Gospel according to Luke. The later chapters tell of Paul's conversion, his mission in Asia Minor and the Aegean, and finally his imprisonment in Rome, where, as the book ends, he awaits trial. CHAPTER 1 *. Timothy and Silas came down from Berma to Paul at Athens. The calling of the Gentiles was not yet understood by them. In Acts, xviii, 5, Timothy and Silas come out of Macedonia to Paul at Corinth. 1 After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. Scholars debate whether Luke may not have used the first person plural simply as a . [3] This theme is introduced in Chapter 4 of the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus, rejected in Nazareth, recalls that the prophets were rejected by Israel and accepted by Gentiles; at the end of the gospel he commands his disciples to preach his message to all nations, "beginning from Jerusalem." Out of the great mass of words and deeds they grouped together those things which they deemed best for their scope. Now in this article, we may suppose the Lucan authorship of the third Gospel as proved. [40], For Luke, the Holy Spirit is the driving force behind the spread of the Christian message, and he places more emphasis on it than do any of the other evangelists. [28] He begins his gospel with a preface addressed to Theophilus (Luke 1:3; cf. 84, No. In xxii, 9, Paul declares: And they that were with me beheld indeed the light; but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me. Jesus, "is lord [] of all." 52-58 (7 pages). An objection is drawn from the discrepancy between Acts ix, 1928 and Gal., i, 17, 19. In his treatise On Fasting Tertullian accepts Acts as Holy Scripture, and calls them the Commentary of Luke. Peter now goes throughout all parts comforting the faithful. Nowhere in Holy Writ is the action of the Holy Ghost in the Church so forcibly set forth as in the Acts. 2 He and the whole of his household were devout and God-fearing, and he gave generously to Jewish causes and prayed constantly to God. The promise of the Holy Ghost and the Ascension of Christ are then briefly recorded. This excludes the theory that Acts is the work of a redactor. The Four Evangelists close with the account of the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. And in no other is there salvation: For neither is there any other name under Heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved. The members of the council were brought face to face with the most positive evidence of the truth of the Christian religion. b 3 He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days * and speaking about the kingdom of God. 1 When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, 2 when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; 3 and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. From the founding of the Church to the day But now some converts from Cyprus and Cyrene come up to Antioch, and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. The Spirit is "poured out" at Pentecost on the first Samaritan and Gentile believers and on disciples who had been baptised only by John the Baptist, each time as a sign of God's approval. Stephen's death marks a major turning point: the Jews have rejected the message, and henceforth it will be taken to the Gentiles. 1 One of the centurions of the Italica cohort stationed in Caesarea was called Cornelius. The report of the work at Antioch comes to the ears of the Church in Jerusalem; and they send Barnabas, a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, to them. The twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters of St. Irenaeuss third book Against Heresies are based upon the Acts of the Apostles. Omissions? Here the holy Spirit acts upon the apostles, preparing them to proclaim the new covenant with its unique gift of the Spirit . Updates? The fervor of the Christians at that epoch was very great. CHAPTER 18. This is cially true of Acts. CHAPTER 13. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then, completing their fasting and . The famous Latin Codex now at Stockholm, from its size called the Codex Gigas, also in the main represents this text. Thus the same term, phone, by a different grammatical construction, may signify the inarticulate sound of the voice which all heard and the articulate voice which Paul alone heard. Of course it is possible that there may have been two Theodases of similar character: one of the days of Herod the Great, whom Josephus does not name, but who is mentioned by Gamaliel; and one in the days of Cuspius Fadus the procurator of Judea, whose insurrection Josephus records. Dr. Blass (Acta Apost., p. vii) endeavors to prove that Luke wrote first a rough draft of Acts, and that this is preserved in D and E. Luke revised this rough draft, and sent it to Theophilus; and this revised copy he supposes to be the original of our received text. Published October 6, 2011 My brother was born prematurely during a blizzard. The date of the completion of Acts is therefore dependent on the date of St. Pauls Roman captivity. Thus Paul is depicted as a moderating presence between the church and the Roman Empire. They then proceed to do so, in the order outlined: first Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, then the entire (Roman) world. But a certain Ananias, with Saphira his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price, the wife being accessory to the deed. In Stromata, v, 11, he declares: Most instructively, therefore, says Paul in the Acts of the Apostles: The God that made the world, and all things in it, being the Lord of Heaven and of earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands' etc. To escape the hostility of the Jews of Thessalonica, he left for Greece and while resident in Athens attempted, without success, to . These two years were in a certain sense uneventful Paul dwelt peaceably at Rome, and preached the kingdom of God to all who went in unto him. 3 One day at about the ninth hour he had a vision in which he distinctly saw the angel of . This great vision, repeated three times, was the manifestation of the will of Heaven that the ritual law of the Jews should cease; and that henceforth salvation should be offered without distinction to Jew and Gentile. At this epoch Acts describes the Church in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee as at peace, being builded up, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and by the strength of the Holy Ghost it was multiplied. The multitude saw in the death of Ananias and Saphira Gods punishment, and great fear came upon all. The apostles and other followers of Jesus meet and elect Matthias to replace Judas as a member of The Twelve. It lacks exact analogies in Hellenistic or Jewish literature. In John, xiv, 12, Jesus had declared: He that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater works than these shall he do. They plot to kill him; but the Christians bring Paul down to Caesarea, and send him forth to Tarsus, his native city. St. Peter rebukes her, and she also falls dead at his words. Writers are quite concordant in placing the date of Pauls coming to Rome in the year 62; hence the year 64 is the most probable date for the Acts. Acts concludes rather abruptly after Paul has successfully preached the gospel in Rome, then the acknowledged centre of the Gentile world. Divine inspiration covers the substance of the narration. The other passages are Acts 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16. [4] Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke-Acts, [5] accounting for 27.5% of the New Testament. (Acts, xvii, 24, 25). Furthermore, Acts does not include any account of a struggle between Christians and the Roman government as a result of the latter's imperial cult. Peter again preaches Jesus Christ, asserting that by faith in the name of Jesus the lame man had been made strong. The canon of Muratori contains the canon of Scriptures of the Church of Rome in the second century. [38] His "salvation history" stretches from the Creation to the present time of his readers, in three ages: first, the time of "the Law and the Prophets" (Luke 16:16), the period beginning with Genesis and ending with the appearance of John the Baptist (Luke 1:53:1); second, the epoch of Jesus, in which the Kingdom of God was preached (Luke 3:224:51); and finally the period of the Church, which began when the risen Christ was taken into Heaven, and would end with his second coming. Theodas is a contraction of Theodoros, and is identical in signification with the Hebrew name Mathias, both names signifying, Gift of God. Acts declares that on the Gentiles the grace of the Holy Ghost is poured out; in the splendid description of St. Stephens martyrdom he is declared full of the Holy Ghost; when Peter makes his defense before rulers, elders, and scribes, he is filled with the Holy Ghost; often it is declared that the Apostles are filled with the Holy Ghost; Philip is chosen as a deacon because he is full of faith and the Holy Ghost; when Ananias is sent to Paul at Damascus he declares that he is sent that Paul may receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost; Jesus Christ is declared to be anointed with the Holy Ghost; Barnabas is declared to be full of the Holy Ghost; the men of Samaria receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands of Peter and John. He wrote mainly from memory, and often contradicts himself. He wrought great signs and wonders among the people. [16], The title "Acts of the Apostles" (Praxeis Apostolon) would seem to identify it with the genre telling of the deeds and achievements of great men (praxeis), but it was not the title given by the author. The unity of style of Acts and its artistic completeness compel us to receive the book as the work of one author. On the one hand, Luke generally does not portray this interaction as one of direct conflict. [2], The Gospel of Luke and Acts make up a two-volume work which scholars call LukeActs. A murmuring having arisen of the Grecian Jews, that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration, the Apostles, deeming it unworthy that they should forsake the word of God and serve tables, appoint seven deacons to minister. St. Paul wrote to the Romans without ever mentioning St. Peter. They were of one heart and soul; they had all things in common. With dreadful malice the council attempts to restrain the great movement of Christianity. Their charge is vain. Whereupon it is made known to him from God, that God has cleansed what was before to the Jew unclean. In Acts, ix, 23, he connects the next event narrated with the foregoing by declaring that it came to pass after many days were fulfilled. Michael Jakes Pastor, writer March 10, 2023 What book of the Bible is filled with lights, visions, and action? [6] On the one hand, Luke portrays the followers of Jesus as a sect of the Jews, and therefore entitled to legal protection as a recognised religion; on the other, Luke seems unclear as to the future that God intends for Jews and Christians, celebrating the Jewishness of Jesus and his immediate followers, while also stressing how the Jews had rejected the Messiah. (1965). Rejected by the Jews, the message is taken to the Gentiles under the guidance of Paul the Apostle. In these passages is found the keynote of the origin of the Church. But three members of the Twelve were closer than anyone else: Peter, James, and John. As Luke was present at all these occurrences, he carefully noted them down in writing, so that he cannot be convicted of falsehood or boastfulness, etc. Irenaeus unites in himself the witness of the Christian Church of the East and the West of the second century. Acts ends abruptly without recording the outcome of Paul's legal troubles. [27], Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lord's supper. And all the remaining facts of his courses with Paul, he recounts. This title accurately reflects the contents of the book, which is a series of vignettes chronicling the lives of key apostles (especially . He wrote both his gospel and its companion volume, The Acts of the Apostles, which continues the account of the origins of Christianity from Christ's Ascension through the establishment and . viii. v t e The Acts of the Apostles [a] ( Koin Greek: , Prxeis Apostln; [2] Latin: Acts Apostolrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. Who Wrote the Acts of the Apostles? He went to visit them 3 and, because he practiced the same trade, stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. The rationalists allege that there is an error in the discourse of Gamaliel (Acts, v, 36). AUTHENTICITY.The authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles is proved by intrinsic evidence; it is attested by the concordant voice of tradition. "Every truth," said St. Thomas Aquinas, "without exceptionand whoever may utter itis from the Holy Spirit.". There is throughout a well-defined, systematic order of narration, an exactness and fullness of detail. Pape and others give to the eistekeisan the sense of an emphatic einai, and thus it could be rendered: The men that journeyed with him became speechless, thus agreeing with xxvi, 14. "[12] He was educated, a man of means, probably urban, and someone who respected manual work, although not a worker himself; this is significant, because more high-brow writers of the time looked down on the artisans and small business people who made up the early church of Paul and were presumably Luke's audience. At first many Jews follow Christ and are baptized, but the followers of Jesus begin to be increasingly persecuted by other Jews. Paul first visited the communities he had established on his first journey (Acts 16:1-5), then pushed on into Macedonia, where he established communities at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroea (Acts 16:7-17:5). 1 In the first book, a Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught 2 until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. The title of the book of Acts comes from the Greek word praxis, a word often used in early Christian literature to describe the great deeds of the apostles or other significant believers. For those who insist that divine inspiration extends also to these minor details there are valid solutions. * To speak in different tongues: ecstatic prayer in praise of God, interpreted in Acts 2:6, 11 as speaking in foreign languages, symbolizing the worldwide mission of the church. ", Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles, List of New Testament verses not included in modern English translations, The Lost Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Textual variants in the Acts of the Apostles, "When and Why Was the Acts of the Apostles Written? Saved by the Roman commander, he is accused by the Jews of being a revolutionary, the "ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes", and imprisoned. Some have thought that the title of the book was affixed by the author himself. It is evident that some series of events must have had place between the certain days of the nineteenth verse, and the many days of the twenty-third verse; these events are Pauls journey into Arabia, his sojourn there, and his return to Damascus. An examination of the original Greek texts of the third Gospel and of the Acts reveals that there is in them a remarkable identity of manner of thinking and of writing. In Acts, ix, 7, the marginal reading of the Revised Edition of Oxford should be accepted: hearing the sound. 96." Why do we need to do this? He [Jesus] is the stone which was set at naught by you the builders, which was made the head of the corner [Isaias, xxviii, 16; Matt., xxi, 42]. Such an effect could never arise from the piecing together bits of writings of different authors. After the calling of the first twelve Apostles, there is no event in the history of the Church so important as Pauls conversion and commission to teach in Christs name. The passages xvi, 10-17; xx, 5-15; xxi, 1-18; xxvii, 1; xxviii, 16 are called the We passages. To Philemon (24) Paul calls Luke his fellow-worker. St. Luke, also called Saint Luke the Evangelist, (flourished 1st century ce; feast day October 18), in Christian tradition, the author of the Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, a companion of St. Paul the Apostle, and the most literary of the New Testament writers. Indeed if Clement of Rom knew the book, as he seems to have done, it will have to be prior to a. d. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas. In Acts no mention is made of St. Pauls journey into Arabia; and the journey to Jerusalem is placed immediately after the notice of Pauls preaching in the synagogues. But the great message is now to issue forth from the confines of Judaism; all flesh is to see the salvation of God; and St. Paul is to be the great instrument in preaching Christ to the Gentiles. [6] The Romans never move against Jesus or his followers unless provoked by the Jews, in the trial scenes the Christian missionaries are always cleared of charges of violating Roman laws, and Acts ends with Paul in Rome proclaiming the Christian message under Roman protection; at the same time, Luke makes clear that the Romans, like all earthly rulers, receive their authority from Satan, while Christ is ruler of the kingdom of God. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Acts_of_the_Apostles&oldid=1156691470, Articles containing Koin Greek-language text, Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the New International Encyclopedia, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from The American Cyclopaedia, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from The American Cyclopaedia with a Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Transition: reprise of the preface addressed to Theophilus and the closing events of the gospel (Acts 11:26), Petrine Christianity: the Jewish church from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 2:112:25), Pauline Christianity: the Gentile mission from Antioch to Rome (Acts 13:128:31), "Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (7:22), First mentioning of Saul (Paul the Apostle) in the Bible (7:58), "Saul, who was also known as Paul" (13:9), This page was last edited on 24 May 2023, at 04:00. They all give glory to God and pray for boldness to speak the word of God. Now the Acts of the Apostles takes up the narrative here and records succinctly the mighty events which were wrought by the Holy Ghost through chosen human agents. [18] The author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large. At Jerusalem Paul is at first distrusted by the disciples of Jesus; but after Barnabas narrates to them Pauls marvellous conversion, they receive Paul, and he preaches boldly in the name of Jesus, disputing especially against the Grecian Jews. 1 (Mar., 1965), pp. endeavored to prove that the aforesaid text was Lukes original, but his theory has not been received. Peter, directed by a series of visions, preaches to Cornelius the Centurion, a Gentile God-fearer, who becomes a follower of Christ. DATE OF COMPOSITION.As regards the date of the Book of Acts, we may at most assign a probable date for the completion of the book. Peter and John go up to Samaria and confirm the converts whom Philip had made. Because I go to the Father. By Sanday and Headlam (Romans, p. xxi) this is called the d text; by Blass (Acta Apostolorum, p. 24) it is called the b text. The apostolic men of that day neither sought nor gave vain personal recognition in their work. biblical literature: The Acts of the Apostles, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Acts-of-the-Apostles-New-Testament, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops - Acts of the Apostles, Eternal Word Television Network - The Acts of the Apostles, Early Christian Writings - Acts of the Apostles, Biblical Cyclopedia - Acts of the Apostles, Spurious. Information about his life is scanty. To determine when Luke was written, the first thing we need to do is evaluate when the other Synoptic Gospels Matthew and Markwere written. Paul in Corinth. The mid-19th-century scholar Ferdinand Baur suggested that the author had re-written history to present a united Peter and Paul and advance a single orthodoxy against the Marcionites (Marcion was a 2nd-century heretic who wished to cut Christianity off entirely from the Jews); Baur continues to have enormous influence, but today there is less interest in determining the historical accuracy of Acts (although this has never died out) than in understanding the author's theological program. For example, early Christians may have appreciated hearing about the protection Paul received from Roman officials against Gentile rioters in Philippi (Acts 16:1640) and Ephesus (Acts 19:2341), and against Jewish rioters on two occasions (Acts 17:117; Acts 18:1217). In the present instance the writer of Acts has omitted St. Pauls journey into Arabia and sojourn there. If one will compare the following expressions in the Greek, he will be persuaded that both works are of the same author: Luke, i, I-Acts, xv, 24-25; Luke, xv, 13-Acts, i, 5, xxvii, 14, xix, 11; Luke, i, 20, 8-Acts, i, 2, 22, ii, 29, vii, 45; Luke, iv, 34-Acts, ii, 27, iv, 27, 30; Luke, xxiii, 5-Acts, x, 37; Luke, i, 9-Acts, i, 17; Luke, xii, 56, xxi, 35-Acts xvii, 26. The people of Jerusalem carried out the sick and laid them on beds and couches in the streets that the shadow of St. Peter might fall on them. This is the opinion of Corluy in Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible. [5][14][15], There are two major textual variants of Acts, the Western text-type and the Alexandrian. The beginning and propagation of the Christian religion among the Gentiles (xxxviii). He withdraws into Arabia; again returns to Damascus; and after three years he goes up to Jerusalem. There must have been many of such character in the days of Herod the Great, for Josephus, speaking of that epoch, declares that at this time there were ten thousand other disorders in Judaea which were like tumults (Antiq., XVII, x, 4). The answer is ambiguous. There are many solutions of this difficulty. Thus he may also have judged good for his scope to pass over in one sentence Pauls Galatian ministry. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved. Peter and John heal a man, lame from his mothers womb, at the door of the Temple which is called Beautiful. The deacon Philip first preaches in Samaria with great fruit. The Promise of the Spirit. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a two-part work, LukeActs, by the same anonymous author. Hilgenfeld, Wendt, Weizacker, Weiss, and others allege here a contradiction between the writer of the Acts and St. Paul. The Holy Spirit descends on Cornelius and his guests, thus confirming that the message of eternal life in Christ is for all mankind. They rush upon Stephen, drag him out of the city, and stone him to death. The writer writes as an eyewitness and companion of Paul. He addresses his work to Theophilus, the addressee of the third Gospel; he mentions his former work and in substance makes known his intention of continuing the history which, in his former treatise, he had brought up to the day when the Lord Jesus was received up. St. Mark is the only one who essays to give any of the subsequent history, and he condenses his account into one brief sentence: And they went forth and preached everywhere: the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed (Mark, xvi, 20). 1 'My brothers, my fathers, listen to what I have to say to you in my defence.' 2 When they realised he was speaking in Hebrew, the silence was even greater than before. Some scholars used to put Acts in the second century, but few nowadays would do so. The anti-Christian Jews endeavor to resist him, but are not able to withstand the wisdom and the spirit by which he speaks. In xxvi, 14, Paul declares that they all fell to the earth, which seems to contradict the first statement, that they stood speechless. [17] The author may have taken as his model the works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote a well-known history of Rome, or the Jewish historian Josephus, author of a history of the Jews. "Furthermore, the relative calm of both of Luke's books, and sparse apocalyptic as compared with Matthew and Mark, sugg the church was out from under duress when Luke wrote. [41], One issue debated by scholars is Luke's political vision regarding the relationship between the early church and the Roman Empire. It opens with a brief notice of the forty days succeeding the Resurrection of Christ, during which He appeared to the Apostles, speaking the things concerning the Kingdom of God. The few writings which were produced were considered as supplementary to the greater economy of preaching. The council is minded to kill the Apostles. But details of these same incidents are frequently contradictory: for example, according to Paul it was a pagan king who was trying to arrest him in Damascus, but according to Luke it was the Jews (2 Corinthians 11:33 and Acts 9:24). At this stage of the life of the Church miracles were necessary to attest the truth of her teaching, and the power of miracles was abundantly bestowed upon the Apostles. Baur, Schwanbeck, De Wette, Davidson, Mayerhoff, Schleiermacher, Bleek, Krenkel, and others have opposed the authenticity of the Acts. We know from many proofs that Luke was the companion and fellow-laborer of Paul. [2] The anonymous author aligned LukeActs to the "narratives" (, digsis) which many others had written, and described his own work as an "orderly account" ( ). They command the two Apostles to go aside out of the council, and then they confer among themselves, saying: What shall we do with these men? )[11] The author "is an admirer of Paul, but does not share Paul's own view of himself as an apostle; his own theology is considerably different from Paul's on key points and does not represent Paul's own views accurately. The leader of the persecution was Saul, afterwards to become the great St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles. c 4 . It seems far more probable that D and E contain a recension, wherein the copyists have added, paraphrased, and changed things in the text, according to that tendency which prevailed up to the second half of the second century of the Christian era. A bitterly hostile council of the chief Jews of Jerusalem is obliged to declare that a notable miracle had been wrought, which it cannot deny, and which is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem. The message is taken to the Samaritans, a people rejected by Jews, and to the Gentiles. Saul, breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, sets out for Damascus to apprehend any Christians whom he may find there. [3] Acts has omitted their coming to Athens and their return to Macedonia. The council accuses the Apostles that, contrary to its former injunction not to teach in Christs name, they had filled Jerusalem with Christs teaching. There is in both the same tender regard for the Gentiles, the same respect for the Roman Empire, the same treatment of the Jewish rites, the same broad conception that the Gospel is for all men. At the rebuke the man falls dead. 3 'I am a Jew', Paul said, 'and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. Scholars believe Luke wrote Acts of the Apostles in roughly 63 A.D. Luke was thought to have been a Gentile physician and one of the companions of Paul,. It is an artistic whole, the fullest history which we possess of the manner in which the Church developed. The theory is, however, rejected by the greater number. Irenaeus convincingly defends the Lucan authorship of the third Gospel and Acts, declaring: But that this Luke was inseparable from Paul, and was his fellow-laborer in the Gospel, he himself clearly evinces, not as a matter of boasting, but as bound to do so, by the truth itself. Against Corluys opinion it may rightly be objected that Gamaliel clearly intimates that the author of the insurrection of which he speaks was not actuated by holy motives. Christianity portal v t e The Gospel of Luke [note 1] tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Chapter 1 1 In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning 2 until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. The Gospels were more prominent in the teachings of that day and they consequently have a more abundant witness. We see in the Acts the realization of Christs promises just before his Ascension: But ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. After the prayer the place shakes, and they are filled with the Holy Ghost. It must be granted that in the Apostolic Fathers we find but faint allusions to the Acts of the Apostles. When they return out of Macedonia they come to Paul at Corinth. The meaning of the vision is unfolded to Peter, when he is commanded by an angel to go to Caesarea, to the Gentile centurion Cornelius, whose messengers were even then come to fetch him. But Josephus describes Mathias as a most eloquent interpreter of the Jewish law, a man beloved by the people, whose lectures those who were studious of virtue frequented. In Hom., xiii, on Genesis, ii, Origen asserts the Lucan authorship of Acts as a truth that all the world accepted. Acts of the Apostles, the second part of the work that begins with the Gospel According to Luke, is the story of the early church after Jesus's martyrdom. The members of the council could not inflict punishment upon the two Apostles, on account of the people, who glorified God on account of the great miracle. In Acts, ix, 19, the writer speaks of St. Pauls sojourn in Damascus as covering a period of certain days. This is purely a question of circumstantial detail, of very minor moment. The Gospel According to Luke concludes where Acts begins, namely, with Christs Ascension into heaven. He devotes but one verse (xviii, 22) to Pauls fourth journey to Jerusalem; he condenses his narrative of St. Pauls two years of imprisonment at Caesarea into a few lines. The author of Acts is believed to be Luke, physician, and author of the gospel of Luke. This miracle of Gods punishment of sin also confirmed the faith of those that believed, and drew disciples to them. He fills proconsular Asia, Macedonia, Greece, and Rome with the Gospel of Christ; and the greater part of Acts is devoted exclusively to recording his work. Eccl., III, xxv) places Acts among ta omologoumena, the books of which no one has doubted. From these centers the message went to the surrounding lands. All saw a great light; all heard a sound from Heaven. [7], The name "Acts of the Apostles" was first used by Irenaeus in the late 2nd century. Gamaliel refers to the insurrection of Theodas as a thing that had happened before the days of the Apostles, whereas Josephus (Antiq., XX, v, 1) places the rebellion of Theodas under Fadus, fourteen years after the date of the speech of Gamaliel. Major turning points in the structure of Acts, for example, find parallels in Luke: the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple parallels the opening of Acts in the Temple, Jesus's forty days of testing in the wilderness prior to his mission parallel the forty days prior to his Ascension in Acts, the mission of Jesus in Samaria and the Decapolis (the lands of the Samaritans and Gentiles) parallels the missions of the Apostles in Samaria and the Gentile lands, and so on (see Gospel of Luke). Thus, to the Galatian ministry of Paul, which must have lasted a considerable time, Acts devotes the one sentence: They passed through the region of Phrygia and Galatia (Acts, xvi, 6). This article is about the book in the Christian New Testament. Moreover, he incited the young men to pull down the golden eagle which the impious Herod had erected in the Temple of God. The council of the Jews, not finding Peter and John in the prison, and learning of their miraculous deliverance, are much perplexed. All who sat in the council saw Stephens face, as it had been the face of an angel. A great number believe, and turn to the Lord. In the present instance some suppose that he has confused the insurrection of Theodas with that of a certain Mathias, of whom he speaks in Antiq., XVII, vi, 4. Many of the expressions usual in both works occur but rarely in the rest of the New Testament; other expressions are found nowhere else save in the third Gospel and in the Acts. The nature of the history therein recorded easily suggests a greater division of Acts into two parts: 1. While there are several books which fit this description to some degree, none does it on such a grand scale as the book of Acts. It seems far more probable, therefore, that both writers speak of the same man, and that Josephus has erroneously placed his epoch about thirty years too late. God is, of course, the author of all Truth. There is an identity of style between Acts and the third Gospel. Returning to Jerusalem, the Jews contend with Peter that he has gone in to men uncircumcised, and eaten with them. Vita Apologetica: The Lives of Josephus and Paul in Apologetic Historiography. OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE AUTHENTICITY.Nevertheless this well-proved truth has been contradicted. Who Wrote the Book of Acts? The writers of the New Testament wrote with the conviction that the world had already received the message by oral communication. He repeats the command in Acts, telling them to preach "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the Earth." This structure reaches back to the author's preceding work, the Gospel of Luke, and is signaled by parallel scenes such as Paul's utterance in Acts 19:21, which echoes Jesus's words in Luke 9:51: Paul has Rome as his destination, as Jesus had Jerusalem. [5] The first part, the Gospel of Luke, tells how God fulfilled his plan for the world's salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. One finds no necessity to prove this fact, which has never seriously been denied. He also describes the churchs gradual drawing away from Jewish traditions. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. "but to encourage faith"what happened, and what does it all mean? "[10] (An example can be seen by comparing Acts's accounts of Paul's conversion (Acts 9:131, 22:621, and 26:923) with Paul's own statement that he remained unknown to Christians in Judea after that event (Galatians 1:1724). On information that they are teaching in the Temple, they send and take them, but without violence, fearing the people. An angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought the Apostles out, and bade them go and preach in the Temple. It is urged that the three accounts of the conversion of St. Paul (Acts, ix, 7; xxii, 9; xxvi, 14) do not agree. The Acts of the Apostles is a historical narrative of the work of the Holy Spirit in the early Church. This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven. Philip, commanded by an angel, goes down the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and on the way converts and baptizes the eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia. Not all could have a manuscript of the written word, but all heard the voice of those who preached Christ. There was no struggle for place or fame among those men. [46], Acts agrees with Paul's letters on the major outline of Paul's career: he is converted and becomes a Christian missionary and apostle, establishing new churches in Asia Minor and the Aegean and struggling to free Gentile Christians from the Jewish Law. [39], LukeActs is an attempt to answer a theological problem, namely how the Messiah, promised to the Jews, came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the answer it provides, and its central theme, is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles because the Jews rejected it. We must appeal to the principle that when a writer omits one or more members in a series of events he does not thereby contradict another writer who may narrate the thing omitted. With dreadful malice the council attempts to restrain the great movement of Christianity. He goes, and hears from Cornelius also the centurions own vision. [18] Like them, he anchors his history by dating the birth of the founder (Romulus for Dionysius, Moses for Josephus, Jesus for Luke) and like them he tells how the founder is born from God, taught authoritatively, and appeared to witnesses after death before ascending to heaven. The parallelism with Acts 16:6 indicates its meaning, the holy Spirit. It may have been that, though Luke was with St. Paul at Philippi, Timothy was the better known to that Church. DIVISION OF BOOK.In the Acts there are no divisions of the narration contemplated by the author. And they laid hands on them, and put them in prison unto the morrow. On the morrow Peter and John are summoned before rulers, elders, and scribes, among whom were present Annas, the High-Priest, Caiphas, and as many as were of the kindred of the High Priest. While the author never offers his name, he does identify himself as a companion of Paul in Philippi ( Acts 16 ), Macedonia and Greece ( Acts 20:1-5 ), and Rome after Paul's arrest ( Acts 27-28 ). [26], Acts was read as a reliable history of the early church well into the post-Reformation era, but by the 17th century biblical scholars began to notice that it was incomplete and tendentiousits picture of a harmonious church is quite at odds with that given by Paul's letters, and it omits important events such as the deaths of both Peter and Paul. The title, , was often ascribed to the Roman emperor in antiquity, rendering its use by Luke as an appellation for Jesus an unsubtle challenge to the emperor's authority. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [35], The mission to the Gentiles is promoted from Antioch and confirmed at a meeting in Jerusalem between Paul and the leadership of the Jerusalem church. Acts speaks of "Christians" and "disciples", but Paul never uses either term, and it is striking that Acts never brings Paul into conflict with the Jerusalem church and places Paul under the authority of the Jerusalem church and its leaders, especially James and Peter (Acts 15 vs. Galatians 2). Together, they witnessed miracles and moments the other apostles weren't privy to, including: The time Jesus raised a girl from the dead ( Mark 5:35-43) With dreadful malice the council attempts to restrain the great movement of Christianity. ", https://doi.org/10.1177/095182070201300203, "The Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles: Telling the Christian Story", "LukeActs and the Imperial Cult: A Way through the Conundrum?". Power to Azotus, and others allege here a contradiction between the Church and the Empire... 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