The Acts of the Apostles tells the tale of how Christianity kicked off in Jerusalem and then spread across various cities in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Roman Empire. This book was penned by the same person who wrote the third gospel, which is attributed to Luke, sometime between around 95 and 120 CE. Scholars refer to this combined work as Luke-Acts, and it’s actually the longest piece in the New Testament.
Purpose
The Jewish prophets had foreseen that the God of Israel would step in one last time to set up His kingdom on Earth. He would send a messiah to guide the people and bring back the nation of Israel to its original glory, just like in the Garden of Eden. Some non-Jews (Gentiles) who turned away from their old ways and worshipped God would also be part of this kingdom.
According to the gospels, Jesus said the kingdom was coming soon. But years went by without any sign of it happening. The book of Acts aims to show that what the prophets predicted was actually unfolding through the actions of the first Christian missionaries, including the disciples and Paul. It also serves as a follow-up to show how the events in Acts matched what Jesus talked about in Luke’s gospel.
Acts pulls from Jewish scriptures, prophetic books, and accounts of Paul’s journeys. Luke added specific details from Paul’s letters to the Gentiles, but there are some inconsistencies too. When there’s confusion, scholars usually trust Paul’s letters more. However, those letters don’t have specific dates, so Acts is used to map out the timeline of Paul’s travels and writings.
Acts (or praxeis apostolon in Greek) is seen as an ancient way of writing history, focusing on the stories of people and events. Historians were expected to craft speeches for key figures that fit their personalities. In Acts, there are 24 major speeches, and most agree that Luke is the one who wrote it.
The Structure of Acts
Both the Gospel of Luke and Acts kick off with a shout-out to a believer named Theophilus. Then, in Acts, it talks about Jesus hanging out with his disciples for 40 days before he heads up to Heaven. The disciples ask him if he’s going to bring back the kingdom of Israel, and he replies:
“It is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
(Acts 1:7-9)
This intro basically sets the stage for what happens in Acts. It tells stories about Peter and John spreading the word in Jerusalem and Judea, their mission in Samaria, and wraps up with Paul in Rome, which is considered the “ends of the earth.” Some think Acts was written in Rome, but that’s still up for debate. Just like in his gospel, Luke backs up his claims by connecting events to real historical figures. As Paul pointed out, these things weren’t happening in secret (Acts 26:26); they were unfolding in real history. Acts mentions actual Jewish kings and Roman officials too.
Pentecost (Acts 2)
Pentecost was an old Jewish festival called Shavuot, which means “weeks” in Hebrew. It was one of the three big pilgrimage festivals mentioned in the Jewish Scriptures. In Luke’s account about John the Baptist, he said that the messiah would baptize people with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16).
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?”
(Acts 2:1-8)
This whole thing about speaking in tongues led to what we now call glossolalia, which is practiced by many modern Pentecostal groups. When someone was taken over by a spirit or god, they would go into a trance and speak in a language no one understood. The cool part about this miracle of tongues is how it connected to people from different nations. The Greek word for tongues here actually means languages. The disciples were Galileans who spoke Aramaic, but the Jews from other places could hear them in their own languages.
Eventually, this idea of being possessed by the spirit merged with one of the earliest Christian rituals—baptism. In those early communities, the spirit was shown through real, physical miracles like speaking in tongues, prophesying, healing, and even raising the dead, which you can see in Paul’s letters.
Peter & John
Peter and John kept hitting up the Temple for daily prayers. One day, Peter healed a guy who couldn’t walk, and a bunch of people started believing because of it. The high priest and the Sadducees weren’t having any of that, so they told them to knock it off. When Peter and John didn’t listen, they got arrested and thrown in jail. But overnight, an angel showed up and helped them escape. This set the stage for how early believers faced persecution from the Jews throughout the rest of Acts, but they always had divine help to get through it.
Stephen
The book of Acts gives us our first glimpse into how early Christian communities were organized, especially with the appointment of deacons to handle practical stuff like distributing food and clothes to those in need. One of these deacons, Stephen, got arrested for supposedly speaking out against the Temple. During his trial, he pointed out all the times the Jews had ignored God. The Sanhedrin found him guilty, and he was stoned to death as punishment for blasphemy. Just before he died, he claimed to see a vision: “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:56). Back then, people often saw last words as messages from the divine. Stephen’s story serves to confirm that Jesus was now in heaven.
Paul
Luke mentioned that Paul was there when Stephen was stoned. That day marked the start of heavy persecution against the church in Jerusalem, causing everyone except the apostles to scatter throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1). Paul was actively going after early Christians, getting them arrested and even voting for their execution. He went to the high priest to get warrants to arrest believers in Damascus.
One of the most well-known tales from Acts is about Paul on his way to Damascus:
… as he was … approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
(Acts 9:3-6)
After being blinded, Paul was healed by a believer in Damascus, who helped him with both his physical and spiritual sight, and then baptized him.
However, there are some historical issues with Luke’s account of Paul:
- In his letters, Paul acknowledged that he persecuted the church but never explained why or how he did it.
- It’s curious why the apostles were allowed to stay in Jerusalem while other believers had to flee.
- Luke didn’t really explain why early believers deserved the death penalty since claiming to be the messiah didn’t break the Law of Moses.
- It’s unlikely that the high priest had the power to issue an arrest warrant in another city; that’s typically something only Roman officials could do.
The main point of this story is to show how the movement spread beyond Jerusalem.
God-fearers & Peter
God-fearers, who were Gentiles that respected and honored the God of Israel, played a significant role in Luke’s writings. He describes them with terms like “devout” and “pious,” highlighting that they had taken the first step toward embracing the God of Israel. In the Roman Empire, synagogues weren’t exclusive places; Gentiles could freely attend services and events. A lot of Gentiles found Jewish teachings appealing, and it’s likely that they first encountered the teachings of Jesus in these synagogues among the God-fearers.
Interestingly, evidence of God-fearers was found in the ruins of a synagogue in Aphrodisias, Turkey. An inscribed pillar revealed the names of donors to the building, many of whom were Greeks identified as God-fearers, and they also contributed to public libraries and other structures.
The first mention of God-fearers comes from the story of Peter and Cornelius, a centurion who was a God-fearer himself. Both Peter and Cornelius experienced visions at the same time, and afterward, Peter baptized everyone in Cornelius’ household. Peter later emphasized in Acts 15:9 that through faith, God has made no distinction between them and us when it comes to purifying hearts.
The Apostolic Council
Between Acts 10 and Acts 15, we see the mission spreading geographically, but there’s a surprising twist with Antioch. Up until this point, the missionaries were mainly talking to Jews, but then some guys from Cyprus and Cyrene started chatting with Hellenists (or pagans) about Jesus, and a ton of them ended up believing and turning to the Lord (Acts 11:20-21).
In Acts 15:1, some folks came down from Judea and told the brothers, “You can’t be saved unless you get circumcised like Moses said.” Luke doesn’t explain why some Pharisees thought full conversion was necessary. The prophets didn’t ask Gentile believers to go through that. So, they called a meeting in Jerusalem, which turned out to be the first Apostolic Council, and there would be more councils in the years to come.
James, who was Jesus’ brother, made the call:
Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those gentiles who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from sexual immorality and from whatever has been strangled and from blood. For in every city, for generations past, Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every Sabbath in the synagogues.
(Acts 15:19-21)
Back in the 1st century CE, food that was considered polluted by idols was an issue because meat sold in public markets often came from leftover sacrifices at temples. During religious festivals, those leftovers were shared with the community. Jewish people looked down on this meat, so they often had their own butchers to avoid that idolatry. Plus, there was a law that required animal blood to be drained before it could be sold or eaten.
As for sexual immorality (pornea), it covers a lot of ground in the scriptures—like incest, unchastity, adultery, and prostitution. These kinds of illicit relationships were often listed as vices among the nations and show up in Paul’s letters too. The rules about purity and impurity from Leviticus were meant to be followed at the Temple in Jerusalem, but since Acts was written after the Temple’s destruction, the guidelines from Acts 15 could still be followed by Gentile believers in their daily lives.
Luke’s Apologia to Rome
So, the term apologia basically means an explanation or defense. Julius Caesar, during his campaigns in the East, brought Jewish mercenaries into the Roman army to help solidify Rome’s power. When he got back to Rome, he pushed through some laws that allowed Jews to keep practicing their traditions without having to join in on the state religions of Rome. However, these laws also made it clear that Jews had to follow Roman laws and couldn’t recruit outside their synagogues or mess with Roman customs—doing so would be seen as treason.
Fast forward to 66-73 CE, when the Jews revolted against the Roman Empire. We know about this time mainly because Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian, wrote about what sparked the Great Jewish Revolt in his book Antiquities of the Jews. During the 40s, 50s, and 60s, there were quite a few clashes between Jews and Greeks in different cities. Interestingly, Luke didn’t mention any of this drama in his account of Paul’s travels. Instead, he always talked about the kingdom of God in a future sense, as something prophesied, rather than as a political threat to Rome. In the gospels and Acts, the blame for Jesus’ trial and crucifixion was placed on opposing Jews.
Luke didn’t touch on the negative aspects of idolatry that the prophets talked about. On the other hand, Paul did speak out against traditional idolatry in his letters, telling people to steer clear of it (like in 1 Corinthians 10:14). But in Acts, Paul never really slammed the gods directly. Instead, his speeches highlighted that these useless practices (like the silly sacrifices to gods in Lystra mentioned in Acts 14:15) wouldn’t lead to the kind of salvation Luke believed in, which was all about forgiveness of sins.
More Affairs
Rejection & Innocence in Acts
Luke took inspiration from the way prophets were treated when he talked about rejection. At first, God’s prophets were respected and honored, but things changed once they started warning people about doom and destruction due to their sins. By the 1st century CE, there were stories floating around that all the prophets of Israel had died as martyrs. Luke’s accounts of Paul in different cities painted him as a classic prophet, facing his fair share of struggles and hardships.
He established a recurring theme where Paul would get mixed reactions in synagogues and towns. Whenever Paul entered a city, he’d hit up the synagogue first to share the good news, and at first, people would be receptive. But by the next day, things would start to shift, leading to tension, persecution, and eventually getting kicked out of the synagogue. Any riots or disturbances usually stemmed from jealous Jewish folks. After being pushed out, Paul would announce he was taking his message to the Gentiles. And then it was rinse and repeat in the next city: synagogue first, then getting expelled.
During Paul’s journeys from around 46-63 CE, it was often the ‘jealousy of the Jews’ that sparked civil unrest and led to his arrests, not because he was preaching against idol worship. When the Jews saw how many people were flocking to hear Paul, they got envious (Acts 13:45). What were they jealous of? The Greek word zilia refers to resentment towards someone seen as better, and with all those crowds, it seemed like Christians were winning over more pagan converts than the Jews were. Plus, Judaism wasn’t really into missionary work.
Every time Paul found himself arrested, local authorities or magistrates ended up declaring him innocent of any wrongdoing. For instance, in Acts 18, there’s a scene where he’s on trial before Gallio, the proconsul in Corinth. The local Jews accused him of convincing people to worship God in ways that went against the law (18:13), specifically Roman laws. In this case, and in front of other officials, Paul was cleared of any charges related to Julian legislation. The real issues with the new movement were just internal disputes among the Jews.Luke mentioned that Paul was a Roman citizen, even though Paul himself didn’t bring it up in his letters. Being a Roman citizen came with some serious perks, like the right to a fair trial and the ability to appeal decisions all the way to the emperor. This is how Paul ended up making his way to Rome (which was considered the ends of the earth back then). Once he got to Italy, he was placed under house arrest while waiting for his appeal. But the cool part? He still had the freedom to carry on with his mission:
He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
(Acts 28: 30-31).
So basically, even right in the middle of the Empire, Paul wasn’t accused of going against Roman traditions.
Despite Peter, James, and Paul being such big figures, Luke didn’t mention their deaths in Acts. We only hear about Peter and Paul’s martyrdom later on in stories from the 2nd century CE, during Nero’s rule (54-68 CE). It’s a bit puzzling, but it’s interesting that Acts doesn’t talk about any persecution or executions by Rome.
The Legacy of the Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles is super important because it’s basically the first history of Christianity. It gives us a ton of info about the different Jewish, Gentile, and pagan beliefs and practices from the 1st century CE. But there’s a downside: Luke’s take on how Jews persecuted believers got even more intense in the 2nd century CE. After Christianity split from Judaism, early Church leaders used this to create what’s known as Adversos Literature, painting Jews as the enemies of Christians. So, Acts ended up being used as evidence that, just like in the 1st century, Jews were still out to get Christians in the Roman Empire.
