Acts: 5
The final part of Luke’s story of the apostolic church focuses on Paul’s Journey to Rome (19:21-28:31).
Paul gets the sense from God’s Spirit that he needs to go to Jerusalem and then to Rome (Acts 19:21): the capital of the Roman Empire—indeed, the entire eastern world at that time! After traveling through Macedonia, Greece, and other locales, he comes to Ephesus, where he tearfully bids farewell to the Ephesian congregation (20:17-38). It’s a poignant account; clearly Paul loves this church and they love him; both parties feel that this will be the final time they see each other (Acts 20:36-38). One of the things Paul warns his people about is the rise of false teachers: beware of these wolves in sheep’s clothing (Acts 20:29-30). Clearly, this is something the other NT books warned about (e.g., Matt 7:15-20; 1 John 2:18-20).
Other Christians are getting the sense that Paul’s trip to Jerusalem will be a dangerous one: Agabus the prophet, who had earlier prophesied about a famine in Jerusalem (11:27-29), prophesied that hard times would await Paul in Jerusalem (21:11-14). While the brothers and sisters assume this means Paul shouldn’t go (21:12), Paul thinks otherwise, and goes. Upon his arrival he is arrested by the Jews there. After he is arrested he offers his defence to the people (21:27-22:21). His defence includes his testimony: he shares how he came to Christ (22:1-21). The Jews view Paul as a threat b/c of his testimony: a zealous persecutor of the church now becomes 1 of its greatest spokesmen! So, they plot to kill him. Things look bleak for Paul, but God encourages him: he tells him that it is his will for Paul to take the gospel message to Rome; so his life will not end in Jerusalem, regardless of the plots and threats (Acts 23:11).
After another trial Paul is imprisoned again, this time in Caesarea, where he offers another defence (23:23-26:32): on the one hand, he appeals, as a true blue citizen of Rome, to Caesar (25:11-12)—thus ensuring his ticket to Rome. On the other hand, he shares his testimony (26:2-23; for the 3rd time in Acts). Question: Why do you think Luke records Paul’s conversion story 3 times?
A funny thing happens on the way to Rome: the ship on which Paul was traveling crashes and gets shipwrecked for 3 months! Once again, God encourages Paul that this is not the end of the line b/c it is his will for him to testify in Rome; so God makes sure that Paul gets there in one piece (Acts 27:23-24)!
So Luke’s story ends with Paul in Rome (28:14-31). Remember how Jesus described the church’s mission about how the gospel would proceed (Acts 1:8)? It would begin in Jerusalem and end in the “ends of the earth.” Well, Rome was the capital and the most powerful city in the “ends of the earth.” Mission accomplished!
In Rome, Paul begins preaching to the Jews there (27:17-24), but b/c they (rather predictably) reject his message, he turns to the Gentiles (27:25-31). In identifying the roots of their rejection Paul quotes Isa 6:9-10. This is probably the most quoted OT text in the NT (it’s also quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Romans). This text was important to the earliest followers of Jesus as an apologetic against non-believing Jews. Question: In what way would this passage serve as a defence against Jews?
In moving the plot to Rome Luke’s thus ends his account with an “inclusio,” i.e., a literary bookend: in 1:3 Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God; in 28:31 Paul now preaches about the kingdom of God. With that I’ll conclude my overview of the big book of Acts. Let’s turn to some themes and motifs in Acts. Not surprisingly, since Acts is the 2nd part/volume to Luke, many of these themes also appear in the Gospel.
One theme revolves around promise—fulfilment: God’s ancient promises and their fulfilment in Jesus. This theme runs through the various speeches/sermons. Another theme concerns the progress of salvation history; viz., God’s salvation begins with the Jews—it goes to them first—and only after that, does it proceed to the Gentiles (cf. Rom 1:16). Of major importance to Acts is the Holy Spirit. As I mentioned earlier, the “Acts of the Apostles” is really the “Acts of the Holy Spirit,” for he is the one who directs church on its mission. The mission begins only after the Spirit’s coming (chap. 2); God’s preachers are described as being “full of” or “filled with” the Spirit (e.g., Peter [4:8]; the believers as a group [4:31]; Stephen [6:10; 7:55-56]; Paul [13:9]). The church “expands” its borders ethnically and geographically only at the Spirit’s direction (e.g., a Jewish proselyte [8:26-29]; a Gentile household [10:9-34]; Gentile communities [13:2-4]; Europe [16:6-10]).
The spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome is significant in Acts. Luke takes great pains to describe how exactly the gospel makes its way to Rome and why. Of course the speeches/sermons are important. They all have a similar tone to them: God’s promises have been fulfilled in Jesus, as evident by the Jewish scriptures; Jesus is the messiah by virtue of his miracles and his resurrection from the dead; he will come again to judge the earth; therefore, everyone must repent and be baptized as a sign of their faith in Jesus. Another theme is church leadership. This begins with the choosing of Mathias to replace Judas (1:12-26), and continues with the appointing of deacons (6:1-6); leadership was often prophetic in character (11:27-30; 13:1-3); church leadership was crucial to legitimizing the mission to the Gentiles, and that the Jerusalem church was the lead congregation among the apostolic communities (15:1-31); and finally, leadership involved the reception and practice of apostolic tradition (20:17-35).
That’s all I’ll say about Acts. I’ll leave the rest to the commentaries. Next up: we get away from stories and get into letters!