Day 1

Readings and Thoughts for Sunday, February 3, 2008

Acts 1:1-5 The Promise of the Holy Spirit

It is interesting to compare the first words of Acts with the first words of the Gospel of Luke, which was written by the same person. Both books are addressed to “Theophilus,” which could be a real and specific person by that name or may be meant to signify any number of those who are “God-lovers” as the name means (theo = God + philus = lover). Perhaps this book is addressed to you!

In Luke, the author promises “an orderly account” based on eye-witness descriptions of the ministry of Jesus. The author himself (we’ll call him Luke) does not claim to be an eye-witness to the life of Jesus, but rather to have completed a thorough investigation into it, “from the very beginning.” The purpose of his effort? “So that you will know the truth.” The first verse of Acts tells us that this book is a continuation of Luke, so we should expect another “orderly account” that has been carefully researched, if not directly observed by the author. (In later chapters, the author is, apparently, an eyewitness to the ministries and travels of Paul, but we’ll get to that in a few weeks.) The Gospel of Luke tells us the story of Jesus’ life through his ascension; Acts will tell us the story of all that happens to Jesus’ followers after he ascends into heaven. If we read Acts with a view back toward Luke, we will see many parallels between the ministry of Jesus in the Gospel and the ministry of the Apostles in Acts – what Jesus has taught during his lifetime, his followers are now to do in his name.

Twice in these first few verses, Luke mentions the Holy Spirit. First, he says that Jesus gave instructions to the apostles “through the Holy Spirit.” Then he quotes Jesus as telling them “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” In the Gospel of Luke there are 15 references to the Holy Spirit, more than in the other three gospels combined. In Acts the Holy Spirit is mentioned 42 times! One result we can expect from the study of this book is a better understanding of God’s presence and work in the Holy Spirit.

What image or story best describes how you understand the Holy Spirit?


Acts 1:6-11 The Ascension of Jesus

The Gospel of Luke ends and The Acts of the Apostles begins with the very same scene – Jesus ascending into heaven. In Luke, the ascension seems to take place at the end of Easter day, the very same day Jesus’ rose from the dead (Luke 24). In Acts, however, we learn that Jesus continued to appear to believers during forty days (Acts 1:3). The forty days reminds us, of course, of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan and the forty years the Israelites spent in the wilderness after leaving Egypt.

The last words of Jesus are not recorded precisely the same way in Luke and Acts, either. In both, however, Jesus tells his followers to wait. “Stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5). “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). Jesus does not leave them without providing a clear assurance of his continuing presence in a new form, which is the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel of John also tells of this presence of the Holy Spirit, to be expected by the disciples only after Jesus’ departure from earth: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).

Do you recall a time when an important leader or mentor left your life and you had to carry on without him or her?

Introduction to the Book of Acts

What is Acts About?
“The Acts of the Apostles” is the story of what happened to the disciples from the time Jesus ascended into heaven and through the establishment of the early church. “Acts” simply means “deeds.” Acts is also very much the story of the Holy Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit that empowers the disciples (followers) of Jesus to become apostles (ones sent out) for Jesus. Peter and Paul are the main characters of this book, although there are several others with interesting stories. About 10 chapters of the 28 in Acts focus on Peter, and 17 or so focus on the ministry of Paul.

Who Wrote Acts?
Acts is an anonymous book – the work itself does not tell us who wrote it. Luke and Acts, however, were written by the same person. We know this because the language and style of the books are so similar. We also know this because the books themselves tell us so. Both are addressed to “Theophilus,” which means “God lover” and the introduction to Acts (1.1-2) refers back to the author’s previously written book about the life and ministry of Jesus.

Just because Luke’s name is now on the gospel doesn’t mean that Luke was the author of Luke-Acts. In fact all of the gospels are given their names by tradition, and not by evidence in the text itself. It wasn’t until the latter half of the 2nd century that church leaders began attributing the Gospel and Acts to Luke, a character mentioned three times in the New Testament as a companion of Paul and as a physician (Philemon 24; Colossians 4:14, and 2 Timothy 4:11).

Whether or not the author was named Luke or was a companion of Paul, there are several things that are evident about him from the Biblical text. For one thing, the beautifully written Greek tells us the author was well-educated and perhaps a native Greek speaker. We know from the relatively accurate details he provides about numerous places in Palestine and the Roman Empire that he was well-traveled. The author writes with enough detail on physical and medical issues that he may have been a physician, but didn’t write so much about them that it is obvious that he was. Likewise, from details included in his writing the author is clearly very well-versed in Jewish tradition, and yet he makes a few critical errors about that tradition that suggest he was not raised in it. Some scholars have interpreted this to mean that the author was probably a Greek convert to Judaism before he became a Christian.

For the convenient purpose of this study, I will refer to the author of Luke-Acts as Luke.

Why Read Acts?
¨ Because it is full of interesting and exciting stories about daring deeds.
¨ To know what happened to the disciples after Jesus ascended.
¨ To know what the church was like in its earliest days.
¨ For background information on Paul, who wrote so much of the New Testament.
¨ To understand the Holy Spirit.
¨ To see how powerfully God works through ordinary people.