The thoughts and note material given on these pages are only a possible suggestion of the meaning, they must not be taken as inspired, however they are prayerfully prepared and compared with other similar material. There are many ways in which God’s Word can be analyzed and none must be taken in place of the Word of God itself.

The Acts of the Apostles.

WRITER. The Acts of the Apostles does not mention the writer but was probably Luke because of the usage of "we" in some passages which suggested that it was Paul’s companion Luke.
It is thought that Luke’s Gospel and The Acts may have originally been one work but later circulated as two. The title "Acts," as we know it,did not appear until the 2nd century A.D.
The Gospel of Luke tells what Jesus "began both to do and teach." In the Acts, the story of what Jesus continued to do and teach through His Holy Spirit in the new Church.

DATE. The writings of Acts ends with details of Paul’s earliest ministry in Rome, A.D. 65, so the material must have been written at or near that time.

The events recorded in "The Acts" covers a period of 32 years.

Themes: This book records the return to heaven of the Lord Jesus, then the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Peter’s use of the ‘keys’and opening the kingdom to the Jews at Pentecost, and then to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius; the beginning of the Christian church and the conversion and ministry of Paul.

The Holy Spirit fills the scene. As the presence of the Son, exalting and revealing the Father, is the great fact of the Gospels, so the presence of the Spirit, exalting and revealing the Son, is the great fact of the Acts.

Acts is in two main parts:
1) Acts 1:1 - 9.43) This first section is centered on Peter with the city of Jerusalem as the center, this initial ministry being to the Jews.
The Jews had been given a covenant with God (Jehovah) already, but when Jesus came as the Christ they had not expect a Messiah like Jesus, did not realize who He was and so rejecting him.
Peter’s preaching at Pentecost, therefore, was directed to that problem, and the need for repentance (i.e. "a changed mind").
One major problem with the Jewish nation was the apparent failure of the Old Testament promises concerning the Davidic kingdom, this was explained by the promise that the Messiah kingdom would be set up at the return of Christ Acts 2:25-31; Acts 15:14-16.
When the Jews turned to persecuting the apostles and finally in the stoning of Stephen, they were sending a message to God "We will not have this man to reign over us."
2) From Acts 10 Paul tends to become the center of the action. He reaches out to the Gentiles, a new center is made at Antioch, As "strangers from the covenants of promise" Eph 2:12, all a Gentile had to do was to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" to be saved.

Acts is not really a history of the early church as Luke never reported upon the Jewish Churches outside Jerusalem or how the message reached Rome or Egypt. Also only 3 of the original Apostles, Peter James & John are included in the story. In fact it leaves many questions, such as what happened to Peter after the conversion of Cornelius, or what happened to Paul after his conversion in Tarsus.
The story basically concerns the growth of the church from Jerusalem to Rome via Samaria, Antioch and Asia.

The letter is broken up as follows:

The beginning of the church Acts 1:1 - 2:47

The church in Jerusalem Acts 3:1 - 5:42

.The church is forced to move out to Palestine Acts 6:1 - 12:25

.The church expands into Asia and Europe Acts 13:1 - 21:17

.The church at Rome Acts 21:18 - 28:31