A little bit about the Acts of the Apostles

Understanding the Book of Acts
By Kelli Mahoney
Updated on September 06, 2017

The book of Acts is an important book for understanding the actions of the apostles, mostly Paul and Peter, after Jesus’ ascension into Heaven. It is an important book in understanding how we can be directed by the Holy Spirit and the role of Jesus’ lessons in our lives. This is the story of Christianity’s beginnings and how evangelism played a role in the spread of faith around the world.
 

Who Wrote the Book of Acts?

It is widely believed that the book of Acts is the second volume in Luke’s gospel. While the first volume was what happened while Jesus was here on earth. It described the past. It described Jesus’ story. However, in Acts, we learn more of how all the lessons inherent in Jesus’ time with His disciples came to influence their lives after He ascended into Heaven. Luke, most likely, was a highly educated gentile. He was a physician who was believed to either be a very close friend to Paul or even Paul’s doctor.
 

What Is the Purpose of the Book of Acts?

There seem to be several purposes of Acts. Like the gospels, it presents a historical account of the church’s beginnings. It describes the founding of the church, and it continues to put an emphasis on evangelism as we see the church’s teachings grow around the world. It also gives gentiles a reason for possible conversion. It describes the way people fought against the other prominent religions and philosophies of the day.

The Book of Acts also goes into principles of living. It describes persecutions and specific situations that we even face today as we evangelize and live our lives in Christ. It gives examples of how Jesus’ promises came to fruition and how the disciples faced persecution and hardships head on. Luke describes the great devotion of the disciples to Jesus.

Without the Book of Acts, we would be looking at a far shorter New Testament. Between Luke and Acts, the two books make up a quarter of the New Testament. The book also provides a bridge between the gospels and the epistles that will come later. It provides us with a contextual reference for the letters we will read following.

How Acts Guides Us Today

One of the biggest impacts of the book of Acts is that it gives us all the hope that we can be saved. Jerusalem, at the time, was primarily made up of Jews. It shows us that Christ opened up salvation to all. It also shows that it was not just a chosen group of men that would spread God’s word. The book reminds us that it was not, in fact, the apostles that lead the way in converting gentiles. It was believers that had run from persecution that brought the message of salvation to non-Jews.

Acts also remind us of the importance of prayer. There is a reference to prayer 31 times in this book, and prayer is present before almost any significant event described by Luke. Miracles are preceded by prayer. Decisions are preceded by prayer. While much of Acts is descriptive rather than prescriptive, in this particular way, we can learn a lot about the power of prayer.

The book is also a guide to the church. Many of the principles of church-growing are found in this book. There are basic ideas that are still practical today present in his book, especially in the depiction of how the church teaching spread from Jerusalem to Rome. It demonstrated that God’s hand is in everything and that Christianity was not the work of men, but the world of God.

Mahoney, Kelli. “Understanding the Book of Acts.” Learn Religions, Aug. 27, 2020, learnreligions.com/know-your-bible-the-book-of-acts-712731.

Week 3: Reflections on the Resurrection – May 8, 2022 

During the Easter season, Sermons That Work is pleased to present reflections from bishops of The Episcopal Church on the resurrection of our Lord. Check back each week for a brief exploration of how Jesus Christ’s rising from the grave changes everything. To listen to this reflection, scan the QR code on this page and subscribe to the Sermons That Work podcast.

Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe” (John 20:27).

Jesus’ hands, feet, and side remain wounded as he appears to his first followers after his resurrection. He has risen from the dead yet remains wounded. What is the Holy Trinity telling us with this not insignificant detail? This is Jesus, after all, who made lepers clean, gave hearing to a man born deaf, and sight to one born blind. Jesus fed the multitudes, walked on water, calmed the storm, and raised the dead. Jesus healed the centurion’s servant without even stepping foot in his yard. Jesus, who in so many ways showed that his power was unlimited, does not heal himself.

Jesus comes back still bearing humanity’s marks on his flesh. If Jesus rose healed over, nice and neat, we could be tempted to see the cross as less significant. We could decide that suffering, particularly suffering and sacrifice for others, holds no meaning for us. Instead, we see how far the compassion of the Holy Trinity extends. Compassion means “suffering with.” Jesus had compassion for Thomas whose doubts had overtaken his faith. Jesus offers Thomas the proof the disciple needs to understand that, though Jesus died, he has truly risen from the grave.

For me, the most astounding part of these wounds is that it reveals Jesus as vulnerable. The literal meaning of vulnerable is “able to be wounded.” God the Son was fully human as well as fully divine, and so able to be wounded. He was wounded by humans for the sake of humanity. This matters to our day-to-day lives, as we are called to live our bodily, daily existence, transformed by the Christ who is present with us in our suffering and loss. Jesus, who felt the pain of what humans did to him, knows suffering. Jesus, who experienced abandonment on the cross, knows that pain – and yet will never abandon you.

To love is to make oneself vulnerable. Jesus’ vulnerability shows the depths of God’s love for all humanity. The Holy Trinity could have remained outside of creation as a righteous judge. Instead, God entered the creation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. A necessary part of being one of us is emotional and physical vulnerability. People could and did reject him and put him to death. Yet Jesus did not give up on loving us, even when the cost of that love was death on a cross.

Whatever you are facing, you have alongside and within you a loving God who understands fully. Ask Jesus to touch your wounded life with his hands that still bear the marks of what we humans did and yet remain open, reaching out with love and healing.

This reflection, titled “Touch My Hands and Side”, was written by the Rt. Rev. Frank Logue. Logue is the bishop of the Diocese of Georgia. He previously served as the church planter for King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland, Georgia, and as canon to the ordinary of the diocese he now serves as bishop.