Acts of Apostles in the Early Church 

The Acts of the Apostles is unique among the books of the New Testament. Christian leaders wrote accounts of Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection.

Only one, Luke, continued the story into the events of the following decades.

Paul and a handful of others wrote epistles to newly established churches throughout the Graeco-Roman world, most of the churches composed predominately of Gentiles.

Only Luke's book of Acts provides the historical context that enables us to understand so much in those letters.

Consider what we would not know if we did not have Acts to 'fill in the blanks' between the resurrection of Jesus and composition of Paul's epistles.

As the Gospels close, a small band of Jewish people are still reeling from the double shock, first Jesus' crucifixion and then his resurrection.

They abandoned Jesus when his enemies closed in, and after his execution they hid behind locked doors for fear those enemies should come after them as well.

Even when he stood among them in the body that bore the scars of his suffering and radiated the vitality of a new creation, still some doubted.

Yet he commissioned his crew to take his message to the ends of the earth, to recruit all nations to his cause.

He promised he would be with them, the Spirit of truth would come, and the Father's promise would clothe them with power. 

John the Baptist had promised a Coming One who would baptize with the Spirit, but as the Gospels close that promised awaits fulfillment.

The disciples' bewilderment and doubt were giving way to joy, but the next step is unclear.

If we didn't have Acts we would pass in our New Testaments from the last page of John to the beginning of Romans, and countless questions would arise.

Who is this Paul, who claims to have been called by Jesus as an apostle? He wasn't one of the Twelve, nor was he mentioned in the Gospels.

Paul's autobiography here and there make it clear he once persecuted people who believed the message that he now propounds with joyful abandon.

What turned Paul's life around?

How did there come to be a group of believers loyal to him in Rome?

What happened to the Eleven who stayed after the treachery of Judas?

Who made the decision to drop the covenant sign that distinguished God's people since Abraham's day?

When did the Spirit come, and how?

God gave us the book of Acts to do more than satisfy our historical curiosity.

Like all Scripture, its purpose is to inform and deepen our faith in Jesus Christ.

Acts does this, by letting us view how Jesus kept his promise to be with his church and build his church through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. 

In Acts we watch the risen Lord use apostles to lay the foundation of the church. and we discover the priorities that must shape the church today.