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The Beginnings!!
Genesis 1:1...THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD...
Matthew 1:1...THE BEGINNING OF GENEOLOGY
John 1:1 THE BEGINNING OF Jesus AS A MAN
Acts 1:1...THE BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH
In this precious book we can find the
beginning of:
1. The promise of the Holy Spirit...
2. The beginning
preached...
of
the
First
Sermon
3. The beginning of the First day of the
week...
4. The beginning of the Holy Spirit as a gift...
5. The beginning of the End...
To answer this question let’s see some points…
1.“THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES”
NASB, RSV)
(KJV, NKJV,
2.“ACTS OF THE APOSTLES” .....(NEB)
3. “THE ACTS”....(ASV)
4. “ACTS” .... (NIV)
“History of Christian Origins”
“History
of Christian Origins”
At the of end of the 1st, Century and at
the beginning of the 2nd, the books were
separated!
Becoming:
The term Acts of the Apostles is both too broad and too narrow. It is
too broad because the book does not tell of the acts of all the apostles.
It is too narrow because, other than Peter and Paul, the main
characters in the book are not apostles at all. Rather they are
“ORDINARY” Christians doing their best to spread the GOSPEL:
Christians such as Stephen, Phillip, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Apollos,
Aquila and Priscilla.
Peter = Petra
A small rock
Peter covers from chapters 1 to
12,
Andrew his brother...John 1:40-42.
A fisherman from Galilee... Matthew 4:18-19
A pillar in the church in Jerusalem... Galatians 2:9
Opened the door for the gentiles... Acts 10
Peter the preacher at Pentecost...Acts 2.
Paul =Small
In stature
Paul covers from Chapters 13
to the end of the book.
A very important man in Jesus’
redemption plan, for human kind. Jesus
was in need of a man with the caliber of
Paul.
The Blasphemer...
1 Timothy 1:13
13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a
persecutor, and an insolent man; but I
obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly
in unbelief.
One of the most mistreated apostles for Jesus’ sake. He established
many churches during his ministry. When we talk about Corinth,
Galatians, Collose, Fillipi, Thessalonica, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium etc we
think of Paul. Paul the traveler and also the eloquent man who spread
the power of the Gospel to the end of the world in those days, Rome.
Paul the Pharisee and Doctor of the law, Paul the man who spoke 3
languages, Paul the well educated man at the feet of Gamaliel...
Then besides Peter and Paul we have some
men who worked very hard in the
beginning, in order to spread the gospel to
all people. These men are:
Stephen. Phillip. Barnabas. Sylvanus. Timothy.
Apollos, Priscilla and Aquila.
Acts 1:1...The former account I made, O
Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do
and teach,
Luke 1:3... it seemed good to me also, having
had perfect understanding of all things from
the very first, to write to you an orderly
account, most excellent Theophilus,
Do we have any internal evidences to
prove that Luke is the writer?
Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-21:18;
27:1-28:16.
Luke was present during Paul’s journey to Rome. Acts 27:2; 28:16.
Other testimonies outside of the Bible, or secular
writers as Tertulliam, Irenaueus Clement of
Alexandria, men who lived during the last part of
the second century, they all named Luke as the
Author of Acts…
The Author was a Doctor, a Physician. We know
this by the way Paul refers to him in Colossians
4:14
He was a very pleasing man to be around
with, Paul called him “beloved” in
Colossians 4:14.
That implies that
he had a pleasing personality.
Who was this
Theophilus?
Theophilus is a compound Greek word theos (God) with
either philos or philia which means love or lover. The name
can either mean “one who loves God” or “one who is loved
by God”
Acts 23:26... ... “to the most excellent governor
Felix: Greetings”
Acts 24:3... “we accept it always and in all places,
most noble Felix,
Acts 26:25...“I am not mad, most noble Festus, but
speak the words of truth and reason.
Luke 1:1-4 indicates that Theophilus was a Christian.
(perhaps a relatively new one) and that Luke determines to
write an orderly account of the life of Jesus and the early
days of the church, so Theophilus “might know the exact
truth about the things [he had] been taught”
Luke has a historical purpose
Luke and Acts are not merely accounts of history, but they do
have a strong historical thrust as they tell of the life of Christ,
and the history of the early church.
Luke had a Christological purpose.
In Acts 1:1 Luke referred to his previous volume as “the first account I
composed,...about all that Jesus “began” to do and to teach. “Began” may
simply be an auxiliary verb, but many commentators believe (and I agree)
that the implication is that the second volume tells “about all that Jesus
continued to do and to teach.” In almost the whole book, Luke exalts the
Name of Jesus above every other name.
Luke has a mission in purpose.
Acts 1:2 notes that Jesus Ascended “after He had by the Holy Spirit
given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. The mission is to
go out and preach the Gospel to every creature...This, we call the
great commission. We will see this in almost the whole book of
Acts.
The book is historical.
We must not lose sight of this important point, Jesus is working
among his children, Jesus will keep his promises, so, the purpose
of Luke is to keep us informed about everything that Jesus does
and says...
We cannot be sure of the exact date, but it is
my opinion that the book was completed in
late AD 62 or early AD 63.
This would be at the end of the two years
mentioned at the end of the book. Why am I
saying this?
1. Luke presented Rome and Romans in a good light. This would seem
strange if he wrote the book after Rome burned in AD 64, and Nero’s
persecution of the Christians had already begun.
2. Paul did not think he would see the Ephesians
elders again (cf. Acts 20:38). Apparently, he did
seem them again (1 Timothy 1:3).
3. It was not written after AD 70. This was a great tribulation for many
Jews living in Jerusalem when the Roman Empire headed by General
Titus the son on Vespasian came to Jerusalem and destroyed almost
everything, fulfilling the prophesy of Jesus about the destruction of
Jerusalem. Luke does not mention anything about this event.
Rome for sure is one of the places. They stayed in
Rome for a long period of Time. We know that
Luke traveled with Paul to Rome and that he
probably stayed with him, until the end of Paul.
(Acts 27:1; Philemon 23)
As we get ready to study one of the most fascinating
books of the Bible, let’s keep in mind that the purpose
is not just to know the events that happened in those
days, but to look for the message, the lesson, that we
can learn as a church. If we can learn from the book of
Acts and be a strong church for Jesus, then we have
accomplished the purpose, the reason, why I started
preparing this book.
My purpose with this book is to study it very carefully
and to take our time in the most important event that
we will see in it... We are planning to Study the book
in a Hermeneutical way. That is “verse by verse, word
by word, and phrase by phrase”.
At the end, of course, we will apply the lesson for our own
benefit and into our own circumstances. We are going to
entangle ourselves into 28 chapters of one of the books that has
been studied more than any other book.
My prayer to my Father in heaven is that He can send blessings
upon us as we enter the Text so that we can give the appropriate
interpretation. We will speak were the Bible speaks and keep
silent were the Bible is silent. We are not planning to speculate. If
we don’t have the answer for something we will continue, but
we are not going to stay and formulate any speculations of the
book in any of its chapters.
May the Lord bless to receive the lessons from this book...