Inter-Varsity Press

Contents

Series preface

Author’s preface

Introduction

Reassurance concerning God’s purposes: the purpose(s) of the book of Acts

Excursus: assumptions concerning authorship, audience and interpreting Acts 23

1 Living ‘between the times’: the kingdom of God

The sovereignty of God

The kingdom of God

The continuing reign of the Lord Jesus

Suffering: the fullness of the kingdom has yet to come

Conclusion

Excursus: an expositional outline of Acts

2 The hope of Israel: the resurrection and the arrival of the last days

Resurrection hope

Resurrection in Luke’s Gospel

Resurrection in Acts

Jesus’ death and the resurrection in Acts

Preaching the gospel in Acts

Table 1: Major evangelistic speeches in Acts

Conclusion

Table 2: Verbs used in Acts to describe the action of apostolic preaching

Table 3: Summary descriptions of the message preached in Acts

3 Israel and the Gentiles: the kingdom and God’s promises of restoration

Kingdom restoration and Israel? (Acts 1:6–8)

Pentecost and ‘all Israel’ (Acts 2)

Samaria and the restoration of Israel (Acts 8:1–25)

Outcasts and the restoration of Israel (Acts 8:26–40)

The Servant who restores Israel and brings salvation to the Gentiles (Acts 13:47)

The rebuilding and restoring of David’s fallen tent (Acts 15:13–18)

Conclusion

4 The promise of the Father: the gift of the Holy Spirit

The prophetic hope of the Spirit

The kingdom of God and the promised eschatological gift of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit is bestowed by the risen and exalted Lord Jesus

God’s empowering presence

A restored people of God

One people of God

Faith, repentance, baptism and the reception of the Spirit in Acts

Conclusion

5 The end of an era: the temple system and its leaders

The debate about the temple in Acts

The Davidic King, the last days and the temple (Acts 1 – 3)

The temple, temple leadership and Jesus’ universal authority (Acts 3 – 5)

Stephen, the temple and Jesus (Acts 6 – 7)

Conclusion

6 The end of an era: the law is no longer the direct authority for God’s people

The debate about the law in Acts

Jesus: the one to whom the law pointed has now come

Apostolic leadership and authority

Sensitivity to Jewish beliefs about the law

Conclusion

7 Concluding summary

Author’s preface (extract)

The richness of God’s Word is amazing. The book of Acts, in particular, is full of challenge, encouragement and comfort. In studying Acts I have been amazed again at God’s faithfulness, the kindness and power of the risen Lord Jesus, the enablement and transforming work of the Spirit sent by Jesus, and the privilege of receiving the good news of God’s saving grace in Christ. Although I hope this book may make some contribution to the academic study of Acts, my main goal is to help believers who read, teach or preach through the book of Acts to see Luke’s ‘framework’ of God’s kingdom and the reign of Christ more clearly and to rejoice in, be encouraged and reassured by, and proclaim the good news of God’s saving purposes in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. …

Introduction (extract)

What major themes, issues or debates come to mind when someone mentions ‘the book of Acts’ to you? The answer to this question in everyday conversations about Acts inevitably includes a cluster of issues related to anything from the charismatic movement (speaking in tongues as a sign of receiving the Spirit, baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second blessing), church government and practice (congregational versus presbyterian church government, the responsibilities of deacons, infant/household baptism versus baptism of believers, baptism as a condition of salvation) to missionary methods (whether or not we should follow the same strategies). It seems that, at the popular level at least, Acts is still used more for answers to debates that were not necessarily prominent in Luke’s aims than listened to for Luke’s own emphases.

My aim in this work is not to address all of these debates but rather to offer a framework for interpreting the book of Acts so that the major themes highlighted by Luke may be identified and related to the book of Acts as a whole. One of the areas of focus for the New Studies in Biblical Theology series is ‘the articulation and exposition of the structure of thought of a particular biblical writer or corpus’. It is within this area that I seek to make a contribution. This book will especially highlight Acts as an account of the ‘continuing story’ of God’s saving purposes. Luke intends his work to be read in the light of OT promises and the continuing reign of Christ. Acts is best understood, therefore, in this ‘biblical-theological’ framework that highlights the move from the OT to what the kingdom of God looks like now that Christ has come, died, risen and ascended to the right hand of the Father. It is in this light – the continuing reign of Christ in the inaugurated kingdom of God – that Luke’s own emphases on themes such as the saving purposes of God, suffering and opposition as the gospel spreads and local churches are established, the resurrection of Christ, Israel and the Gentiles, the Holy Spirit, the temple, law and apostolic authority are better understood and integrated. Although various studies have drawn attention to these themes, my aim is to highlight the ‘inaugurated kingdom of God’ as the organizing framework for integrating Luke’s overall emphases in Acts.

This framework, however, is not merely of theoretical or antiquarian interest. Luke emphasizes the continued outworking of God’s purposes for a reason. The rest of this chapter will show briefly that understanding Luke’s stated purpose helps us to see how we should approach Acts. A brief excursus at the end of the chapter will summarize my assumptions in this book concerning matters of authorship, audience and interpreting Acts. Those familiar with these matters of standard NT introduction may skip the excursus at the end of this introduction and continue with the biblical-theological material in chapter 1. …

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