Acts: the Journey Continues
What has come to pass in the years between Jesus’ ministry and that of Luke’s audience?
·
Christianity has become a distinct entity Acts
11:25-26
·
The Christian movement is no longer understood
solely in a Palestinian context.
·
It can no longer be assumed that a Christian is
a Jew
·
The role of Jerusalem and the apostles has now
passed on to others Acts 20:18-38.
Acts functions to bridge the gap between the experience of
the Lukan community in the mid-eighties and the ministry of Jesus and the first
apostolic preachers. The Lukan community are invited to see that the form of
Christianity they are familiar with came into being with God’s blessing and
guidance.
Lk 24:44-49 informs the reader that there is plenty of action
yet to come and Acts 1:8 gives the geographical programme to be followed as the infant Church expands
from Jerusalem to Rome Acts 28:14.
The mood is triumphant as the infant Church overcomes
rejection, misunderstanding and persecution. Every obstacle is surmounted or
provides the springboard for the expansion of the Gospel message. Luke 20:17-18
speaks not only of the stone that was rejected Ps 118:22-23 but a stone that
will crush those who fall upon it! (c.f .Acts 4:11). As Cadbury observed
“ The vindication of Christ and the Christian
movement is a pragmatic motive frequently visible, especially in the Acts of
the Apostles. The story is told as of a movement which constantly enjoys every
manner of divine guidance and approval. At every turn its partisans are
triumphant and its enemies, whether Jew or Gentile, confounded. “ Cadbury, The
Making of Luke-Acts, 1927.
·
Persecution leads to the spread of the Gospel
Acts 8:1
·
Opposition is nullified by conversion Acts
8:9-24; Acts 9:1-9 or by death Acts 12:20-23 (c.f. 12:1-5)
·
Israel’s rejection of the Gospel message will
lead Paul to the Gentiles Acts 13:47; 18:6; 28: 26-28.
Luke Timothy Johnson has noted how the triumph of the
mission in each new territory is marked with the overcoming of evil powers.
·
In Jerusalem Ananias and Sapphira are struck
dead for taking Satan into their hearts 5:1-11
·
In Samaria Simon Magus is rebuked for requesting
the power of laying on of hands 8:9-24
·
In Cyprus Simon Bar Jesus is struck with
blindness 13:4-12
·
In Philippi a slave girl with the power of
divination is silenced 16:16-18
·
In Asia Minor the sons of the Jewish priest
Sceva are humiliated 19:11-20
·
In Malta Paul is the victim of snakebite and
survives 28:1-6.
Apostles such as Peter and Paul roam Acts’ stage as characters
of mythic and heroic proportions. Divine approval is displayed in a number of
ways:
·
Liberation by divine intervention
Acts 5:19 The Apostles
Acts 12:7
Peter
Acts 16:25-34
Paul and Silas
·
Signs and wonders are worked through them
Acts 5:12 Apostles
Acts 14:3 Paul and Barnabas (c.f. Acts 19:11-19 where others seek to use
their power)
·
They are knocked down but never out Acts
14:19-20
·
Paul is a great orator able to silence hostile
crowds with a wave of his hands
Acts 21:40 c.f. 21:31,35;
17:22-31 (c.f. 2 Cor 10:10)
·
Working miracles
Acts 3:1-10; 9:32-35,36-42 Peter
Acts 8:4-8,13 Philip
Acts 13:10-12; 14:8-11; 20:7-12
Paul.
A glowing portrait of the early church is painted as it
grows and flourishes
·
Acts 1:15
120
·
Acts 2:41 3,000
·
Acts 4:4 5,000
·
Acts 21:20 Many thousands.
Fitzmyer has drawn attention to major summaries are inserted
into the narrative framework in Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35; 5:12-16; 6:7; 9:31;
12:24; 16:5; 19:20 (see also Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:1; 11:21,24; 14:1) which lead
the reader to appreciate that it is God’s word which is the hero of Luke’s
second volume, a word which will not be silenced or muzzled so as to come back
to God without fulfilling its purpose. These summaries are supplemented by
minor summaries in Acts 1:14; 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20 and 28:30-31.
As Acts unfolds there are four gifts of the Spirit
·
Acts 2:1-13 Jerusalem
·
Acts 8:14-17 Samaria
·
Acts 10:44-48 Peter’s visit to Cornelius
·
Acts 19:5-7 Paul in Ephesus
This depicts the gift of the Spirit progressively spreading from
the first Christians in Jerusalem (devout Jews), to Samaritans, (heretical
Jews) and then to Gentile converts whose connections with Judaism are
clear c.f. Acts 10:2,4,22, and finally,
to the Gentiles of Ephesus. This development follows the geographical framework
provided in Acts 1:8 which speaks of the message spreading from Jerusalem,
Samaria and to the end of the earth.
While the overall movement of Acts is outward from Jerusalem the reader needs to pay
attention to the fact that Jerusalem continues to play a critical role.
·
8:14 Samaria receives the gift of the Spirit
after Jerusalem sends Peter and John
·
11:1-18 Peter reports in Jerusalem concerning
Cornelius and his household
·
11:29-30 Famine relief is sent to Jerusalem
·
12:25 Paul and Barnabas return to Jerusalem
·
15:2 Paul
and Barnabas are appointed to go up to Jerusalem to resolve the question of
circumcision of Gentile Christians
·
18:22 Paul visits Jerusalem at the end of
another missionary journey
·
19:21 Paul plans to visit Jerusalem and then go
on to Rome
·
20:16 Paul is trying to arrive in Jerusalem to
celebrate Pentecost
·
21:13 Paul is prepared to die in Jerusalem
·
25:1 Governor Festus meets Paul in Jerusalem
While Acts generally gives an idyllic picture Luke does not
hide the fact that there were problems within the Christian movement itself:
·
Acts 5:1-11 Ananias and Sapphira
·
Acts 6:1 Hellenist widows neglected
·
Acts 11:1-3 Peter criticised
·
Acts 15:1-2 debate about circumcision
·
Acts 15:36-41 separation of Paul and Barnabas.
Problems still had to be addressed:
·
what was the relationship of Jewish and Gentile
Christians?
·
what was the relationship of the Christian
movement to the people of Israel?
·
what was Israel's status now?
·
how were Christians to see themselves in the
context of the Roman empire?
·
how to deal with the memory of Paul and the
charges that he had undermined Jewish Christianity?
Howard Clark Kee stresses the apologetic purpose of Acts and
the various stategies adopted by the author of Acts:
·
Exposition of the scriptures for a Jewish
audience and those Gentiles on the fringes of the synagogue (see the six
missionary speeches in 2:14-36, 38-39; 3:12-26; 4:8-12; 5:29-32; 10:34-43;
13:16-41 found in the first half of Acts)
·
Stressing the connections between God’s plan and
the wisdom of Greco-Roman philosophers (Acts 14:14-18; 17:22-31)
·
Continuing to argue that Jesus, and those who
follow him, are not a threat to the Roman Empire (see the defence speeches of
Acts 24:10—21; 26:2-23,25-27).
By the conclusion of Acts Paul
has brought the message of Jesus to the heart of the Roman empire and the
Jewish leaders have fulfilled the prophecy of Is 6:9-10 concerning Israel’s
hardness of heart. Whether Luke sees there to be no further mission to Israel
will continue to be debated but it is sure that the message of Jesus now goes
to the Gentile world Acts 28:28 (see Acts 13:44-47). The episodes of Cornelius
Acts 10-11 and the Council in Jerusalem Acts 15, combined with the success of
Paul’s missionary activity show the message of Jesus is for Jew and Gentile
alike. In the context of a Roman world suspicious of sedition and insurrection
the early Christians are portrayed as law abiding citizens. The declarations of
Jesus’ and Paul’s innocence in the Gospel and Acts (Lk 23:4,14,22 Acts 23:9; 25:25; 26:31), and
the generally benign depiction of Roman authorities, indicate that Luke is
concerned to show Christians are no threat to the empire. Paul’s story is
presented in such way to demonstrate that his message of a circumcision free
Gentile mission is firmly intended by God.
