Acts

The book of Acts.

1. The Ascension

'given commands through the holy spirit' = something distinct from the baptism of the Holy Spirit which they're about to receive

3 - Jesus still had teaching for them after he rose from the dead. He still had to instruct them fully on what the kingdom of God was to look like. (As they're still expecting the kingdom of Israel to be restored v. 6) Still it seems like they weren't quite getting it until Pentecost. Only then - even though the apostles would make many mistakes - they would establish Christ's kingdom throughout the Mediterranean by preaching and faith, miracles, tongues, etc.

9-11: Ascension.

16: David's poetry was breathed in the speech of God's Holy Spirit.

20: Regardless of David's authorial intent, these verses are fulfilled - plerothenai - filled up, crammed up out of context - by God's providence and the acts of men in history, giving them a deeper meaning than we would have understood merely from reviewing the verses alone as exegetes in David's day.

21-26: Interestingly, we don't really hear much about Matthias afterwards and at no point is this casting of lots confirmed as the right decision on Peter's part. What happens after Pentecost is perhaps in contrast to this Acts 1 since of confusion.

2. Pentecost and Peter’s Sermon

1-13: Takes place as if it were a mass hysteria. We pride ourselves on our individuality, but nevertheless our bodies and nervous systems and hearts are connected to many others in various ways, and God can move not just through individuals but congregations.

Peter's Sermon - quotes Joel in a straightforward way; quotes David in a marvelous way - David couldn't fully fulfill the meaning of his own prophetic poetry, it would have to be David's heir who truly lived it out.

30-31: Peter interprets Psalm 16:10 as David having prophetic authorial intent.

33-36: Jesus is exalted in heaven at the right hand of God until all his enemies have been made a footstool.

37-41: The proper response to the gospel is to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Your sins forgiven, you receive spiritual gifts.

Peter tells us that the divine promise, the covenant blessings of God, are to all families: not just adults but their children; not just those near Jerusalem but the whole diaspora - I assume at this point Peter may still mean 'all Jews who are far off.' Even here Peter might not fully be emphasizing that God is truly calling ALL PEOPLES, as he has not yet had his vision of unclean foods being declared clean; nevertheless he is hinting at 'blessing all families on earth' by the end of the next chapter.

The Promise, the blessings that God has promised to the descendants of Abraham, is fulfilled in repentance, baptism, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

42-47:

Having inherited the Promises of God through faith, through the work of the Holy Spirit, what is left for us to do? Teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, prayers, signs and wonders, sharing our wealth in common, taking care of the needy, gratitude, praising God. That is it. That is the Christian life. We might not always have a huge temple to sit around with thousands of people doing this, but this is what your Sunday should look like and this is what your week should look like. Sometimes it's just peaceful and joyful; at a certain it can inspire conflict and persecution. Regardless that koinonia is what should mark our way of life.

47: 'the Lord added to their number'

Church growth people should focus on that phrasing. If they want more people, they should ask God to bring more people.

3. Healing the Lame Man

1-6: We don't have all the silver and gold needed to make all the poor people in the world rich. We can offer fellowship, and we can offer the name of Jesus Christ.

We should look upon the poor, and have them look at us.

8: Leap ye lame for joy!

15: 'You killed the Author of life' - WOW.

We are witnesses to resurrection from the dead. We keep the memory of what our forefathers in the faith witnessed first hand. And we witness to this day signs and wonders, repentance from sin, the gifts of the spirit - all of which, big or small, are life from the dead.

16: Faith in the name of Christ should be our first recourse for ailments and sickness. I'm medicine-skeptical - I wouldn't forbid it, there might be all kinds of wholesome treatments that are exactly what a sick or disabled person needs for their particular issue - but I just don't TRUST it to fix problems - first and foremost, we must trust in the name of Christ and seek our healing and healthiness from that.

17-21: Many interesting phrases here.

'Repent... that he may send the Christ appointed for you'

'times of freshing may come from the presence of the Lord'

'Jesus whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things'

22-23: Jesus is the New Moses.

Every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed

24-26:

Nationality and religion.

We are descended from prophets and from a covenant that God made with our forefathers. We are the offspring who will bless all the families of earth. This was true of Jesus' people in Judaea who believed in him, and it is true for Christians now, and it will be true in the future - our offspring are that covenant blessing to all mankind, as long as they are true heirs of Abraham by having faith.

Lineage is shaped not merely be sexuality and mate selection, blood and genetics, but also by the prophecies and covenants under which bodies of people carry on a cultural mission across centuries. Prophecy and covenant cultivates the stock of a people.

God sent Jesus to the Jews first, as a blessing to them to free them wickedness, and as a blessing to us - non-wicked jews being one of the best blessings mankind can receive.

4. Peter and John First Arrested

How do people respond to the Gospel? Annoyance.

11: Psalm 118.

12: There is no other name under heaven given among men by which wem ust be saved.

14-17: You can't argue against the power of God.

17-18: What is the full meaning of 'speaking in a name' - to speak on behalf of, to teach about, to have his name on us?

20: The power of God is inconvenient for the established. Our job is simply to speak of what we have seen and heard. Have you personally seen the power of God to heal, by the name of Christ, in your life and in others? I have. I must speak of it.

24: Corporate prayer, quoting Scripture to God,

27: In this chapter, both the priestly leaders (10) and the secular leaders, Herod and Pontius Pilate, Gentiles and Israel, are charged by the apostles of gathering against Christ.

29-30: God heals; we speak with boldness.

31: 'the place was shaken'

It's not in our power to shake a place, but where Christians gather, the place will shake.

32-37: Two thousand years later, how is this koinonia to continue? Is Christian commonwealth to be mediated through the church administration? Through state welfare programs? Are there other ways for it to function?

5. Ananias & Sapphira; the Apostles Arrested & Freed

1-11: One of the most bizarre episodes in the early church, but maybe it helps us understand better what the expectation was. Per verse 4, the believers were free to do whatever they wanted with their property, but the 'laying at the apostle's feet' perhaps conferred some kind of special honor or status, a kind of ceremony where you showed your full commitment to the church by giving all you have.

It seems Ananias and Sapphira wanted the full honors but still wanted to keep some serious savings.

'testing the spirit of the Lord' - seeing what you can get away with. God help us - is that not what all of us Christians do when we sin?

Personally, I think it wouldn't be a bad practice to reinstate this kind of ceremony, where people can give up all their possessions to the church to share with the needy and those in debts. But, correspondingly, there should probably be a special honor that we give to such people.

Separate point - Mortal Discipline - there can be a swift mortal judgment that comes upon those within the church due to their deep sin, though we can still have hope in their resurrection; I think likely many suicides in the church are in this category.

10: Sometimes the job of a young man in the church is to carry out the bodies.

12: Specifically the hands of the apostles were doing wonders - we shouldn't expect all believers to perform the same miracles, though I have heard some in the charismatic tradition expect it of all, especially of pastors. While I'm not a strict cessationist, there's no indication from the apostles that all believers, though all receiving the same Holy Spirit, were going to be doing the same signs and wonders.

15: the shadow of Peter - no matter how corrupt the Roman church may become, much like how the needy sought out Peter's shadow, the power of Christ can work even through the most incidental inheritance of his apostles' work! A shadow stretching across 2000 years could still heal, founded on faith.

17: Arrested once again.

18-20: Angels were actively intervening in the early church, being described several times in Acts as freeing the apostles from prison. Not that I want to get too gushy about "re-enchantment," but we should likewise expect to be served by angels - or even to serve them! - I think our casual cultural materialism blinds us from this. Host big parties expecting angels (or their human equivalents) to drop by.

27-32: God brought Jesus into the heavens 'to give repentance to Israel.'

The presence of the Holy Spirit is the witness to the truth of these claims.

God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey... we presume, those who obey by believing in Jesus.

33-39: Fun history lesson.

How do we know if we are the ones who might be found opposing God?

40-42: It is an honor to receive dishonor and beatings on account of the name of Christ. If you fail to preach and teach about Christ, you might miss a chance to receive some dishonor on that account.

6. Choosing Seven Leaders

Stephen is distinguished from other believers by how many signs and wonders he did.

7: Temple priests were converting to Christianity - 'obedient to the faith.'

The Gospel is a command that one obeys by believing.

8-15: The synagogue (or synagogues) of these expatriate groups are much more zealous of rabbinism.

15: The faces of Christians become angelic, when full of wisdom and the Spirit.

7. Stephen’s Martyrdom

Stephen retells the story of the Old Testament and the patriarchs.

19: 'shrewdly' here involves strict demographic control

While we must be more innocent than Pharaoh, not shedding innocent blood, this is the scale of craftiness we need to have with our enemies.

20: Moses was 'beautiful in God's sight.'

22: 'instructed in the wisdom of Egyptians'

30: the burning bush was an angel in the flame

38: The law of Moses was 'living oracles.'

39: 'in their hearts they turned to Egypt'

51-53: After all this history, Stephen goes ape mode. For thousands of years, YOU KEEP DISOBEYING GOD AND KILLING THE INNOCENT!

One of the hardest martyrdoms of all time.

54-58: In contrast to the believers laying their worldly possessions at the feet of the apostles, the witnesses lay their garments at the feet of Saul.

59-60: And even after that rebuke, he still calls for their forgiveness.

8. Philip in Samaria

1-3: Persecution by Saul.

4-8: Unclean spirits mentioned. Wasn't mentioned in Jerusalem; more of a problem, along with magicians, out among the Samaritans?

9: People practice magic out of a desire for greatness, but instead they should seek to be mighty in word and deed like Moses.

13: Magician believes and is baptized.

14-25: There's a long medieval tradition of Simon Magus and Peter battling it out like rivals, sorcery being overcome by the power of God, but the biblical passage seems to indicate sincerity on Simon's part.

The gift of God cannot be obtained with money.

We must repent of our wicked and erroneous intentions.

Simon asks that the apostles would pray on his behalf.

26: Angels guide them to interact with particular individuals of other ethnic groups.

What a singularly portrait: an ethiopian eunuch puzzling over Isaiah 53 in his chariot; just a situation that seems completely unlike anything else in ancient literature that I know of.

34: Exegetical questions some bother to argue about thousands of years later.

39: Unclear if this is some kind of supernatural translation or if he is 'carried away' in the same manner that he was led by the Spirit into the desert.

9. Conversion of Saul

2: warrants, essentially?

The appearance of Christ brings blindness, terror. His glory is too great.

10-19: Very interesting how the Lord tells Ananias that Saul has already seen Ananias healing him in a vision already; Ananias argues with the Lord anyway.

A chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, children of Israel.

Laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit.

26: Incredible verse.

26-31:

Saul preaches so boldly for Christ that they send him out of town lest he be killed like Stephen was.

For a time the church was being spread apart from persecution, but having absorbed its main persecutor, it returns to peace.

32-35: Aeneas is presumably a Roman.

36-43: Tabitha is raised from the dead at the word of Peter.

Keep this in mind when it comes to theological error... Peter was led astray into hypocrisy of Judaizers after literally raising people from the dead. You can have the power of the spirit, be doing signs and wonders, and be wrong about what needs to be taught and practiced.

10. The Vision of Cornelius

3: Angels help facilitate the networking of believers.

The clear vision of Cornelius is contrasted with the perplexing and wondrous vision of Peter's.

28-29: Because of the work that Christ has done, there no longer has to be an ethnic separation between God's people and all other peoples. The Jews were set aside for a long time to be sanctified from the unclean nations, to prepare for the coming of Christ. Now that Christ has ascended, everyone is going to become God's people.

30: the angel had 'bright clothing' - very interesting

34-43: Compare and contrast the nuances of this gospel presentation with the other gospel presentation given by Peter in chapter 2.

38: Jesus of Nazareth was the Anointed One.

His ministry? Doing good, 'healing all those oppressed by the devil.'

40-41: Jesus appeared to a selection of witnesses, not to all of Jerusalem, who ate and drank with him - no mere vision.

42: Jesus, having risen from the dead, has been appointed by God as JUDGE of all living and dead.

43: Those who believe in him will receive forgiveness and not have to face judgment for all the wrong they have done.

44-48: The Holy Spirit is poured out on Gentiles. They begin to speak in tongues and praise God.

Baptism now is not just for Jews but for gentiles as well.

Baptism described but not communion in Acts?

11. The Vision of Peter

1-18: Peter retells what just happened. We the Gentiles have also been granted that repentance that leads to eternal life.

19-20: Most of those scattered from Jerusalem earlier had just been sharing the Gospel with other Jews; a few spoke to the Greek-speaking Jews as well.

21-26: Antioch booms full of believers; Barnabas and Saul go to Antioch, which becomes for a long time one of the great centers of the church along with Jerusalem and Rome.

The disciples are finally given the name Christian.

27-30: ?

12. James Killed & Peter Arrested

Herod finally gets involved. Kills James.

6-11: Angel once again rescues Peter from Prison.

20-24: So awesome. Thus always to those who attempt to obstruct the faith.

13. Paul and Barnabas Sent Out

4-12: Overwhelming the magician with the power of the Holy Spirit, striking him blind.

Interesting how a magician is judged with blindness, while Christians (like Ananias and Saphira) are judged with death.

13-16: Just interesting from a liturgical context - after reading scripture, funny to get put on the spot for an impromptu guest sermon.

21: the kingship of Saul was 'forty years' like the forty years in the wilderness.

23: Jesus is the promised offspring of David.

26-27: They fulfilled the utterances of prophets because they did not understand themselves to be the villains.

Psalm 2 reference.

"I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David' - inheritance of an eternal throne?

David, dying, could not fulfill the promise of this Psalm, but Christ could.

38-39: The law of Moses could not free us from our sins; through Christ we have forgiveness proclaimed, so we must believe to receive that freedom.

44: The next sermon - the whole city is there. Ha!

45-47: The Jews are filled with jealousy at the presence of crowds and of Gentiles.