Setting the Stage A. An approximate chronology of Acts: The Ascension (Acts 1) 30 AD - Matthias chosen by Lot (Acts 1:12) 30 AD - The Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost (Acts 2) 30 AD - Peter heals and preaches (Acts 3) 30 AD - Peter and John arrested and released (Acts 4) 30 AD - Believers share all (Acts 4:32) 31 AD - Deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) 30 AD - Apostles preach and heal (Acts 5:11) 31 AD - Stephen’s speech, stoning, and death (Acts 6, 7) 31 AD - Saul persecutes the Church (Acts 8) 31 AD - Philip in Samaria (Acts 8:3) 31 AD - Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:9) 31 AD - Philip and the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26) 34 AD - Saul’s conversion (Acts 9) 37 AD - Peter preaches to the Gentiles (Acts 10, 11) 42 AD - Barnabas sent to Antioch (Acts 11:22) 42 AD - Peter led from prison by the Angel (Acts 12) 44 AD - Herod Agrippa dies (Acts 12:20) 48 AD - Paul’s First Missionary Journey (Acts 13) 48 AD - Paul preaches in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:14) 48 AD - Paul and Barnabas in Iconium (Acts 14) 48 AD - Paul and Barnabas in Lystra and Derbe (Acts 14:8) 48 AD - Paul and Barnabas return to Syrian Antioch (Acts 14:21) 48 AD - Return to Syrian Antioch (Acts 14:24) 48 AD - The Council at Jerusalem (Acts
Burridge’s book, What are the Gospels? A Comparison with Greco-Roman Biography, to make his point clear. It is definitely a worthy way in which to view Acts. He states that Richard provides a table in his Appendix that list the main proper nouns in Acts. Of course, Saul/Paul is mentioned numerous times; however, according the Walton, “‘God’ occurs more times, both in general and in the nominative case in particular.”
The book of ACTS was important back in the time after Jesus' death, up to the present day. The foundation of Christianity is what we believe from the effect of Jesus giving up His life for our sins. Luke wrote ACTS to make sure the Christian doctrine was followed the right way. There are 3 basic insights that came to my mind when studying ACTS. The first main insight to me was the Ascension of Jesus Christ, Acts 1:9-11 (pg 197, 198).
1) Explain the role of a support worker in the health and social care profession. A support worker is someone who provides support to individuals and families who are in need of help practically and motinally. Support workers help people who have mental health problems as well as disabilities and learning difficulties. The main aim of a support worker id to basically help clients to learn to live as independently as possible by identifying and helping residents in their particular areas of need.
In the book of Acts, the author prepares his readers for a historic transformation of Christianity. The author successfully does this by incorporating the recruitment of two different men. Between the two men, the most dramatic recruit was that of Saul. Saul was a zealous Pharisee who was devoted to chastising Christians and destroying the up and coming movement (Harris, 2014). While traveling to persecute Jewish believers on the Damascus Road, Saul was blinded and had an encounter with the Lord.
Saul, who is also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul continued to spread the gospel “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News (Roman 1:1). Paul not only spread the gospel around the world but Paul also wrote most of the epistles found in the Bible, in the New Testament. Paul's mission was expanded to Rome where Christianity spread very quickly. Christian faith was founded in Italy, the heart of the Roman Empire.
Acts ends abruptly with Paul imprisoned in Rome, waiting to bring his appeal before Caesar. Why is Acts so Important? Acts is the only biblical book that chronicles the history of the church immediately after Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior’s ascension.
In the book of Acts, Luke makes it clear that the leaders of the Jerusalem church and the missionaries who first helped carry “the new way” into the larger world beyond the Jewish capital to Greece and Rome did so with the same divine spirit that Jesus led his teachings (Harris, 2014). This level of dedication to spread Christianity, otherwise referred to as “the new way”, was necessary because even though these leaders had no interest in political interference, “the new way” would directly clash with current Greco-Roman tradition (Harris, 2014). Luke focuses on a select few leaders in the book of Acts even though he specifically mentions eleven of them (Harris, 2014). These select few apostles represent the leadership that began the spreading
The Book of Acts and the and the Epistle to the Galatians document the existence of the first Christian community based in Jerusalem. It is believed that only several hundreds of Jews followed Jesus and his teaching, within 10 years of Jesus, the apostles spread Christianity from Jerusalem to Galilee, Damascus or Rome. The earliest Christianity is seen as a sect within Judaism, continuing some of the Jewish tradition and developing its own identity, this development is described in the Book of Acts that is now a part of the New Testament. Two pictures of the ministry in Palestine are possible. One appears more straightforward and has a tradition in the Catholic Church, but is probably more contrived, pointing at the leadership of the twelve
While nobody can be completely sure who the author is, he seems to “sign” his name in the first verse of the book by stating: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus” This is usually the way that he starts the books that he has written. Other examples include: (Cor 1:1, Col 1:1, Gal 1:1, and the above example, Eph 1:1) Ephesians, along with Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, are known as the Prison Epistles. These books acquired their name because, at the time of their writing, Paul was incarcerated in Rome sometime during the years AD 60-72. We know that he was imprisoned during this time due to verses in the book of acts that confirmed him being guarded during those years (Acts 28:16, 28:30, and 28:31).
The book of Acts is undoubtedly a continuation of Luke’s account about what happened next when Jesus ascended to heaven before his disciples. Luke was both a careful and reliable investigator of the facts highlighted within the composition and also an eye-whiteness of some events which he could account himself in giving precise details about. The descent of the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost Day marked a pivotal point throughout the book.
I have not taken the time to include the writings of the book of Acts in this book so it is going to be absolutely necessary that you read the chapters in the Bible as we discuss them in this writing. This is by no means a complete analysis of the book of Acts but more of an outline, a conversation starter that could lead to many other discussions about the many topics in this first account of "The Church". Luke begins with referring to the gospel of Luke, so certain things are implied. Among them, words like gospel, church, apostles and the kingdom of God . Nowhere do we have concrete proof that Luke wrote the gospel of Luke but it does seem like he wrote this account.
There are only two major figures: Peter (one of the Twelve Apostles) is prominent in nine or ten chapters, and Paul (who is called and apostle only twice) is prominent in seventeen chapters. The only other figure in Acts who gets lengthy treatment is Stephen, who is not designated an apostle.” The Acts of the Apostles, at a glance looks like history, but Luke the author of Acts is not interested in chronological order. For Luke, God is divine chronology. Luke is interested in the involvement of God in the human experience.
Besides Jesus, Paul, who called himself as an Apostle, was influential in the beginning of Christianity. People even claimed him as the “founder of Christianity”. Paul was the one that brought Jesus’s message to the world. He went on three missionary journeys, and the fourth journey to Rome in order to spread Christian faith and the development of its various institutions. In addition of his responsible of geographically and culturally expanding Christian movement, he also extended it as well as ethnic lines.
The author is referenced several times in the New Testament starting in the book of Acts and finally in the book of Mark was probably written in Italy, and perhaps even Rome. This book has 16 chapters and is the shortest book of the four gospels. However, the details of the events and miracles of Jesus in this book are
