Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament and a valuable history of the early Christian church. Acts was written in Greek, presumably by the Evangelist Luke, whose gospel concludes where Acts begins, namely, with Christ's Ascension into heaven in what was described as a cloud.
The Gospel of Luke and Acts make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts which comprise more than a quarter of the New Testament. Acts is a continuation of the story of the Church and what became known as Christianity in the 1st century.
The early chapters describe the Day of Pentecost, followed by the work and the growth of the early Church in Jerusalem. Initially, it consisted mostly of Jews who were receptive to the message of Jesus as the Christ and His kingdom of charity and love. But there were factions in Judea who preferred the Corban of the Pharisees and the political and economic power of men like Herod and Caesar who called themselves both Benefactors and Fathers of the earth.[1]
There were many Jews who were against the followers of Jesus. Rejected by the Jews, under the guidance of the Apostle Peter the message is taken to the Gentiles. The later chapters tell of Paul's conversion, his mission in Asia Minor and the Aegean, and finally his imprisonment in Rome, where, as the book ends, he awaits trial.
Some have seen early Christians as a sect of the Jews while others see those who said they had no king but Caesar[2] became a lost sheep and therefore are called the synagogue of Satan.[3] While Christians were the true Jew because they followed the true King of Judea.[4]
Acts was read as a history of the early Church. However, the 17th century some biblical scholars began to suggest that it was incomplete and tendentious, even disharmonious, often projecting disputes between the teachings of Paul's letters and Peter's. They, men like Ferdinand Baur, even go so far as to suggest that the author of Acts had re-written history to present a united Peter and Paul and advance a single orthodoxy against the Marcionites.
Part of this controversy is the result of false teachings about the Gospel of Christ that has crept into the Modern Church. Acts and all the Epistles should always be measured and examned in the context of Jesus teachings.
- ↑ 1481 ~ἐθνάρχης~ ethnarches \@eth-nar’-khace\@ from 1484 and 746; ; n m AV-governor 1; 1
- 1) an ethnarch, one set over a people as ruler, but without the authority and name of a king
- Herod was called Ethnarch which was a term with the connotation of "father of the nation", a widely used as an epithet applied to some of the most influential political leaders of Hellenism. Paul uses the term in 2 Corinthians 11:32 "In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:"
- Likely originated in the middle east and is used three times (1 Maccabees 14:47 and 15:1-2),
- ↑ John 19:15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
- ↑ Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
- ↑ Acts 17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.