This text is a part of the Distinctive Theology collection.
The Uniqueness of Acts
The e-book of Acts presents one thing distinctive within the Christian canon. It has no rival when it comes to a e-book spanning so many alternative lands. Its references to the Spirit far outpace every other work. It features as a hinge canonically, bridging the Gospels and Epistles. It recounts the beginning of the church age. And its content material has no parallel within the New Testomony.
A few of Paul’s letters correspond to one another, and the 4 Gospels overlap, however most of what’s present in Acts will be present in no different doc. With out Acts, there can be no account of fireside and wind at Pentecost. No description of Peter’s encounter with Cornelius. No narrative of the rise of the multiethnic church in Antioch. No story of Paul’s go to to Philippi, Corinth, or Ephesus, or of Paul’s trials in Jerusalem and Caesarea.
Acts can also be distinctive in that it could be our solely writing from a Gentile—along with the Gospel by Luke. Colossians 4:11–14 provides a robust, however not decisive, argument for Luke’s Gentile standing, since Paul lists Luke after these of the circumcision celebration.
The New Testomony is essentially written to take care of the Jew and Gentile dispute in mild of Jesus’s arrival. If that is what the New Testomony considerations, then it’s outstanding that 27 % of the New Testomony (Luke-Acts) comes from a Gentile thoughts, coronary heart, and quill.1
Observe Luke’s ordered narrative of occasions within the e-book of Acts to see how the early church grew “underneath the plan of God, centered on King Jesus, and empowered by the Spirit.”
Acts can also be unparalleled in that it recounts a brand new stage in Christian historical past: post-Jesus life. Every little thing (canonically) earlier than this has been both pre-Jesus or with-Jesus. Now not are readers or characters trying ahead to a Messiah, or following him on the dusty roads of Galilee. Now readers get a glimpse of Jesus’s followers as they search to be devoted to Jesus after he has departed.
The brand new group should work out easy methods to act now that Christ is gone. What has God instructed them to do? The place is the dominion? How will they reply to persecution and pressures? What’s the way forward for God’s individuals? How do they reside underneath the rule of Rome as a marginal and contested group?
Acts, as a novel a part of the canon, coming from a particular voice, lays out the unparalleled story of the early church to encourage the church to press on. It subsequently has a lot to say to the church in each era. As Erasmus wrote to Pope Clement VII in 1524, Acts presents “the foundations of the new child church . . . by means of [which] we hope that the church in ruins can be reborn.”2
In different phrases, Acts is a mannequin, a prototype, an exemplar for the renewal of the church. Luke, as a journey companion of Paul, saved his eye on the group of religion and so ought to any fashionable studying of Acts. This story is for greater than the individuals of God, however aimed primarily to encourage God’s individuals.
One can’t converse concerning the witness of the apostles with out relating it to the empowering of the Spirit.
The Acts of Whom?
Many declare Acts focuses on the Spirit. The Spirit is thus the first actor in Acts, making this the “Acts of the Holy Spirit.” Others declare it’s the phrase, which turns into virtually a personality in Acts with legs and arms. Others declare it’s the church. Acts exists to show us concerning the struggles of the early church. Others declare Acts is concerning the transition from Peter to Paul—in spite of everything, that is the Acts of the Apostles. Newer proposals give attention to the continued work of Jesus.
Parts of reality persist in every of those proposals. However fairly than claiming one outdoes the others, it’s higher to acknowledge all of them relate to 1 one other. Coherency and affiliation fairly than battle and antagonism unite these themes collectively. Too many suggest a special central theme, arguing previous each other, not realizing they’re arguing for a similar factor however from a special angle.
Profit, subsequently, exists in finding these themes in a logical and conceptual order. Quite than being disparate, these themes are a mosaic—the items match collectively. To place them misplaced does harm to our understanding as a complete.
The order, to no shock, is present in Luke’s narrative (cf. Luke 1:3). To place this one other means, one can’t theologize Acts accurately with out narratizing it. For instance, one can’t converse concerning the Spirit in line with Acts with out placing him within the body of the risen Christ. One can’t converse of Christ with out talking of the Father’s plan. One can’t converse concerning the witness of the apostles with out relating it to the empowering of the Spirit. On this means, Acts is most essentially concerning the mission of the triune God.
In Acts God the Father orchestrates; by means of Christ, who lives and guidelines; and within the empowering Spirit. The triune God stands on the head of Acts as a result of all issues are from him, by means of him, and to him (Rom 11:36). Acts is about God, the God who continues his mission to glorify himself by blessing the nations by means of his chosen individuals.
Notes:
- A number of early Christians additionally establish Luke as from Antioch. The Anti-Marcionite Prologue finish of second century; cf. “Anti-Marcionite [Gospel] Prologues,” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 1, ed. David Noel Freedman [New York: Doubleday, 1992], 262) describes Luke as “an Antiochene of Syria.” Some even argue “Lucius of Cyrene” in Acts 13:1 is Luke (cf. Rom. 16:21). If he’s from Cyrene, the north coast of Africa, then he possible had darkish pores and skin. Although that is arduous to substantiate, if true, Luke-Acts is the one work authored by a black Gentile. Whereas many fashionable students doubt this, as Paul elsewhere calls him Luke (Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24), it must be taken under consideration that the 2 most “Roman” books (Romans and Acts) name some obscure determine Lucius.
- Desiderius Erasmus, Paraphrase on Acts, trans. Robert D. Sider, vol. 50 of Collected Works of Erasmus (Toronto: College of Toronto Press, 1995), 4.
This text is tailored from The Mission of the Triune God: A Theology of Acts by Patrick Schreiner.
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