Acts

This book is the second volume of a unified two-part work that we today call: Luke-Acts.  Volume 1, the Gospel of Luke, is about what Jesus began to do and teach, volume 2, the Book of Acts, is then about what Jesus continued to do and teach through the Spirit.  While different apostles appear in these stories, Jesus is the one unifying the whole story from the beginning to the end, personally or through the Spirit.  So this book is just as appropriate to be known as: the Acts of Jesus and the Spirit. 

The book of Acts begins with the risen King Jesus instructing His disciples about life in His Kingdom.  He promises that the Spirit will soon come and immerse them in His personal presence, and this fulfills the hope from the Old Testament prophets: that in the Messianic Kingdom, God’s presence in the form of His Spirit would come and live among His people in a new temple, and transform their hearts.  And so, Jesus says, when this happens, the Spirit will empower His disciples to be His witness in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, till then end of the earth.  

Then Jesus is taken up into the sky.  It is an image drawn from the book of Daniel (Ch. 7).  It shows how Jesus is now being enthroned as the Son of Man, who is vindicated after His suffering and now shares in God’s rule over the world. 

Acts is a story about Jesus leading His people by the Spirit to go out into the world, and invite all nations to live under His reign.  It begins with the message spreading in Jerusalem, into the neighbouring regions of Judea and Samaria, full of non-Jewish people, and then out to all of the nations into the ends of the earth. 

Acts - Part 1 - Ch. 1-12

The first part of the story starts during the time of Pentecost when Jewish pilgrims from all over the ancient word gather together in Jerusalem.  The Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples as a great wind, and something like fire appears over the disciples’ heads.  Together, they start announcing and telling the Gospel in languages they didn’t know before.  But all the people gathered there understand perfectly.  

To better understand the significance of the Pentecost, it is crucial for us to know the Old Testament roots of all these images.  The wind and the fire are direct allusions to the stories about God’s glorious fiery presence, filling the tabernacle and the temple.  It also connects to the prophetic promises that God would come and live by His Spirit in the new temple of the Messianic Kingdom.  So here, God’s presence comes to dwell, not in a building, but in His people.  Luke is saying that the promised new temple is not a building but Jesus’ People.  It is from here God reunifies all the tribes of Israel and God’s good news about His reign will go out to the nations, as promised by the prophets.  

And so the Apostles keep calling the Israelites to accept Jesus as the Messiah, and a lot of people respond, forming new communities of generosity, worship and celebration.  However, Luke shows how Jesus’ People quickly faces hostility from the Jerusalem leaders.  While the new Jesus’ community appears to fulfill the purpose, through their radical generosity, that God always intends for the Jerusalem Temple, to be a place where heaven and earth meet, where people encounter God’s generosity and healing presence.  The Jerusalem leaders are not too happy about it.  In Ch. 6 and 7, we see the church facing the first wave of persecution starting with Stephen.  After Stephen was murdered by the Jerusalem leaders, they launched a wave of persecution against Jesus’ followers that drives most of them from the city.  Paradoxically, Luke shows that the Spirit turns this tragedy into a mean which Jesus’ people are sent into Judea and Samaria. 

Jesus Movement then becomes a multi-ethnic international movement.  It starts with Philip’s mission into Samaria, then the conversion of Saul of Tarsus - the sworn enemy and persecutor of Jesus’ followers, who is later known as Paul.  Paul becomes a passionate advocate of Jesus.  Next is the story of Peter having a vision about how God accepts non-Jewish people as worthy.  Peter is led into the house of a Roman soldier and witnesses the Spirit came upon them as powerfully as He does to the Jewish disciples back in Ch. 2. 

 At this point, churches start to form in different places.  We are told that Barnabas, a Jewish leader from the Jerusalem church, along with Paul are leading the church community in Antioch, the largest city in that part of Roman Empire.  It is also the first multi-ethnic church in history.  

Acts - Part 2 - Ch. 13-28

The Spirit prompts the Church to send Barnabas and Paul on a missionary journey, which opens up a new section of this book.  It begins with the stories of Paul and his co-workers traveling to different cities around the Roman Empire announcing the good news that Jesus is King.  

The first mission is into the interior of Asia Minor, found in today's Turkey.  It ends with an important meeting of the Apostles in Jerusalem.  The second mission is through Asia Minor going into the ancient Greece.  Finally, the third mission is through the same territory, concluding with Paul’s journey back to Jerusalem. 

Luke highlights that wherever Paul enters a new city, he always goes to the Jewish synagogue to share the Gospel of Jesus.  However, not everyone welcomes this, some even throw him out as a dangerous rebel.  

Through Paul’s journey, he discovers that some Jewish Christians in Antioch were claiming that unless non-Jewish people become Jewish by practicing circumcision, the Sabbath, obeying the Kosher food laws, they cannot be belonged to Jesus.  It leads to an important council in Jerusalem.  Then, it is confirmed that Jesus is not only the Jewish Messiah but also the risen King of all nations.  And so membership is not based on ethnicity or following the law of the Torah, but simply on trusting Jesus and following His teachings.  

Along this line, it is expected that in such a multi-ethnic environment, the next theme Luke wants us to see is the clash of cultures between the early Christians and the Greek and Roman worlds.  Pauls announces Jesus as the one true God and the King of the world, revealing other gods and idols as powerless and futile.  It is a subversive message to the Roman understanding of the world.  The story of the multi-ethnic, monotheistic Jesus communities did not fit into any cultural boxes known to the Roman people.  Paul is then accused of being a dangerous social revolutionary.  It also leads to tensions between Christians and this culture.  

Another theme that Luke repeats is how Paul and the Christians are constantly being accused of rebellion and even treason against the Roman Emperor.  Because of this, Paul gets arrested repeatedly.  When we may think that all this prison time would be a setback for Paul, the Spirit orchestrates everything for good.  The imprisonment gives Paul time to write his most important apostolic letters such as Ephesusians, Colossians, Philippians.  These letters become the way his missionary legacy is carried on long after he dies.   Eventually, Paul is transferred as a prisoner to Rome and ends up in house arrest in Rome where he hosts regular meetings reaching Jews and Gentiles.  The final words are about how Paul is announcing the Kingdom of God and boldly teaching all about the Lord Jesus unhindered (28:31). 

The unified work of Luke-Acts shows us how God’s Kingdom is on earth as in heaven through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection; through the coming of His Spirit to empower the church to bear witness from Jerusalem to the end of the Earth. It also shows us what it means by sharing the good news in word and in action.  All these are possible only by trusting in the power and the guidance of the Spirit to lead the way forward.