Acts is the story of the spread of Christianity across the New Testament world. It is theological history that records the story of the Holy Spirit working through the church to carry the gospel to the world. (Grasping God’s Word)
Reminders of handling Acts
Luke and Acts are two volumes of a single work.
Acts can be divided up into two sections
- Acts 1-12: Christian mission to the Jews (Peter)
- Acts 13-28: Christian mission to the Gentiles (Paul)
Guidelines for Reading Acts:
One must read to determine what is normative (practices from the early church we should use today) or descriptive (practices that are not necessarily to be repeated or used today).
- Look for what Luke intended to communicate to his readers.
- Look for positive (to be imitated) and negative (to be avoided) examples in the characters of the story
- Read individual passages in light of the overall story of Acts and the rest of the NT.
- Look to the rest of Acts to clarify what is normative.
- Look for repeated patterns and themes.
