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An Overview of Acts

1:1-6:7 – A description of the primitive church in Jerusalem, its early preaching, its common life, its spread, and its initial opposition. Notice how Jewish everything is, including the sermons, the opposition, and the fact that the early believers continue associations with the temple and the synagogues. The panel concludes with a narrative indicating that a division had begun between Greek speaking and Aramaic-speaking Jews.

6:8-9:31 – A description of the first geographical expansion, carried out by the Hellenists” (Greek-speaking Jewish Christians), to Greek-speaking Jews in the Diaspora or “nearly-Jews” (Samaritans and a proselyte). Luke also includes the conversion of Paul, who was 1) a Hellenist, 2) a Jewish opponent of the gospel, and 3) the one who was to lead the specifically Gentile expansion. Stephen’s martyrdom is the key to this initial expansion.

9:32-12:24 – A description of the 1st expansion to the Gentiles. Key moment is the conversion of Cornelius, whose story is told twice. (remember the OT narrative use of repetition to highlight something of importance). The significance of Cornelius is that his conversion was a direct act from God, who carried it out through Peter, the acknowledged leader of the Jewish-Christian mission (had God used the Hellenists – like Paul – the event would have been even more suspect in Jerusalem). Also included is the story of the church in Antioch, where Gentile conversion is now carried out by the Hellenists in a purposeful way.

12:25-16:5 – a description of the first geographical expansion into the Gentile world, with Paul in the leadership. Jews now regularly reject the gospel because it includes Gentiles. The church meets in council and does not reject its Gentile brothers and sisters, nor does it lay Jewish religious requirements on them. The latter serves as the key to full expansion into the Gentile world.

16:6-19:20 – Description of the further, ever westward, expansion into the Gentile world, now into Europe. Repeatedly the Jews reject and the Gentiles welcome the gospel.

19:21-28:30 – Description of the events that move Paul and the gospel on to Rome, with a great deal of interest in Paul’s trials, in which three times he is declared innocent of any wrongdoing.

Luke’s Purpose

Key to understanding Acts seems to be in Luke’s interest in the movement of the gospel from its Jerusalem-based, Judaism oriented beginnings to a worldwide, Gentile-predominated phenomenon. On the basis of structure and content alone, any statement of purpose that does not include the Gentile mission and the Holy Spirit’s role in that mission will surely have missed the point.

This interest in “movement” is further substantiated by what Luke does NOT tell us.

First, he has no interest in the “lives,” that is, the biographies, of the apostles. James (the son of Zebedee) is the only one whose end we know (12:2). Once the movement to the Gentiles gets underway, Peter drops from sight except in chapter 15, where he certifies the Gentile mission. Apart from John, the other apostles are not even mentioned, and Luke’s interest in Paul is almost completely in terms of Gentile mission.

Second, he has little or no interest in church organization or polity. The Seven in chapter 6 are not called deacons, and in any case they soon leave Jerusalem. Luke never tells us why or how it happened that the church in Jerusalem passed from the leadership of Peter and the apostles to James the brother of Jesus (12:17; 15:13; 21:18); nor does he ever explain how any local church was organized in terms of polity or leadership, except to say that elders were appointed (14:23).

Third, there is no word about other geographical expansion except in the one direct line from Jerusalem to Rome. There is no mention of Crete (Titus 1:5), Illyricum (Rom 5:19 – modern Croatia and Yugoslavia), or Pontus, Cappadocia (1 Peter 1:1), not to mention the church’s expansion eastward toward Mesopotamia or southward toward to Egypt.

All of this together says that church history per se was simply not Luke’s reason for writing.

Luke’s interest also does not seem to be in standardizing things, bringing everything into uniformity. When he records individual conversions there are usually two elements included: gift of the Spirit and water baptism. But these can be in reverse order, with or without the laying on of hands, with or without mention of tongues, and scarcely ever with a specific mention of repentance – even after 2:38. Such diversity could likely mean that no specific example is being set forth as THE model Christian experience.

Does that mean that Luke is not trying to tell us something by these various specific narratives?
Not necessarily. The real question is, What was he trying to tell his first readers?

With all this said, it does seem that much of Acts is intended by Luke to serve as a model. But the model is not so much in the specifics as in the overall picture. By the very way God has moved him to structure and narrate this history it seems probably that we are to view this triumphant, joyful, forward-moving expansion of the gospel into the Gentile world, empowered by the Holy Spirit and resulting in changed lives and local communities, as God’s intent for the
continuing Church.