Articles
Book of Acts short Intro
Book of Acts
It used to be that you could always find Acts in a brother's bible by simply looking at the side of it while closed - the 'dirty' edge ended at the end of Acts. Things have changed with the generations. Perhaps older generations were overly studied in Acts and understudied in the letters. Yet prepared with such knowledge of the conversions in Acts they went everywhere and made disciples.
Acts is the story of how the church spread amidst the paganism of Rome and the opposition of unbelieving Jews. It is not a history of the church as such in that it leaves out so much. Most the lives of the apostles are not chronicled. It doesn't tell the story of the church in Africa and the far East. It does give us insight as to 'what was surely believed' by the first brethren (cp. Luke 1:1-4).
There are several ways of studying / outlining the book. You can take Acts 1:8 as a basic outline: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Jerusalem is covered in chapters 1-7, Judea and Samaria in 9-12, and the end of the earth in chapters 13-28.
The book also has been divided into two sections - Peter (1-12) and Paul (13-28) with the observation that Paul's story is introduced in chapter 9. Others have catalogued the sermons and speeches.
Jesus told them: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19-20). They did and He was with them. Hugh DeLong
