New Testament 101: Acts

Acts is the second book written by Luke. In his first book, Luke told all that Jesus did and taught.  In Acts, Luke continues the story by describing some of the struggles the disciples faced as they tried to obey the command of Jesus “You will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria and everywhere in the world. (1:8)

So many different countries are mentioned in Acts that the book may seem to have been written only to tell about the spread of the Christian message.  But that is only part of the story.  After Jesus was taken up to heaven, one of the big problems for his followers was deciding who could belong to God’s people.  And, since Jesus and his first followers were Jews, it was only natural for many of them to think that his message was only for Jews.  But, in Acts, the Spirit is always present to show that Jesus came to enlighten both Jews and Gentiles and that God wanted followers from every nation and race to be part of God’s people.

There were many conflicts between Christians and Jews because most of the Jewish religious leaders of the time rejected Jesus’ message.

The most serious problems for the early church were a result of the disciples, at first, failing to understand that anyone could become a follower of Jesus -without first becoming a Jew.  This only began to change when Philip dared to take the message to the Samaritans (8: 7-25) and when Peter went to the home of Cornelius, a captain in the Roman army (10: 1-48).

Peter, while in Jerusalem, was instrumental in explaining the question of who could become a follower of Jesus when he argued that the Spirit of God was leading them to reach out to Gentiles as well as Jews with the good news of Jesus (15: 3-35).

The man who did most for the spread of faith was Paul and much of Acts tells about his preaching among the Gentiles.  He even took the message to Rome, the world’s most important city of the time (28: 16-31).

One of Luke’s main reasons for writing Acts was to show that nothing could keep the Christian message from spreading everywhere. 

 For two years Paul stayed in a rented house and welcomed everyone who came to see him.  He bravely preached about God’s kingdom and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one tried to stop him. (Acts 28: 30, 31)

Some highlights in Acts:

Telling the Good News in Jerusalem (1: 1-8. 3)
The Good News in Judea and Samaria (8: 4-12. 25)
Paul’s first journey to tell the Good News (13: 1-14. 28)
An important decision in Jerusalem (15: 1-35)
Paul’s second journey to tell the Good News (15: 36-18. 22)
Paul’s third journey to tell the Good News (18: 23 - 21: 16)
Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem (21: 17-23. 22)
Paul is taken to Caesarea (23: 23-26. 32)
Paul is taken to Rome (27: 1-18. 31)

Beryl