Topic: Summary of Acts

During the month of April, New Life will focus on reading through the book of Acts. For the next four weeks, I will focus on some of the special aspects of this letter written by Luke to Theophilus.

Acts is the only biblical book that chronicles the history of the church immediately after the ascension of Jesus. Luke provides us with a valuable account of how the church was able to grow and spread out from Jerusalem into the rest of the Roman Empire. In thirty years, a small group of frightened believers in Jerusalem transformed into a worldwide movement of people who had committed their lives to Jesus Christ. Acts ends with Paul on the verge of taking the gospel to the highest government official in the land, the Emperor of Rome.

Acts can be divided into two sections. The first section deals primarily with the ministry of Peter in Jerusalem and Samaria (Acts 1–12) and the second follows Paul on his missionary journeys throughout the Roman Empire (Acts 13–28). Acts describes the spread of the gospel geographically and culturally.

It records the transition from taking the gospel to an exclusively Jewish audience with Peter preaching to a small group in the Upper Room, to the gospel going out among the Gentiles primarily under the ministry of the apostle Paul. The transition is best illustrated by Peter’s vision in which he heard a voice telling him, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” (10:15). This led Peter to then share the gospel with many Gentiles. The lesson of Acts is that God wants His message of hope and salvation to extend to all people, “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (1:8).

In virtually every chapter, apostles such as Peter and Paul powerfully present the gospel to individuals and groups of people. The apostles portrayed in Acts shine with evangelistic zeal, showing a striking transition from the often-misguided disciples of the Gospels. Clearly the apostles’ faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus produced a noticeable change in their hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Allow Acts to encourage you to walk more closely with God so that you will make Christ’s name known with the boldness and the zeal of the apostles.

See you Sunday,

Dr. Scott Kallem