INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS

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INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS
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General Characteristics of the book.

• Its placement in the New Testament.
• Its view of history.
• Its focus on Peter and Paul. It is striking that
  the book focuses on Peter and Paul and says so
  little about the rest of the apostles.

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Date of the book. Notice that the question of
authorship will affect how we view the date and
what arguments that we find appropriate. There
are three main proposals as to date
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Arguments for a date before AD 64.

• The absence of reference to important events that
  happened between AD 60 and 70.
• The absence of reference to the death of Paul.
• The attitude of the state toward the church.

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Arguments for a date between 70 and 85.

• The main reason for preferring this to an earlier
  date is the authors use of Mark.

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Arguments for a second-century date.

• It was thought that the tendency of the author
  to patch up the clash between Peter and Paul.
• The fact that both Acts 536 and Josephus refer
  to a rising under a Jew named Theudas has given
  rise to a theory that the author of Acts
  consulted Josephus.
• Some writers have found a relation between Acts
  and the second century Church fathers

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The purpose of the book of Acts.

• What methodology can we use to determine the
  purpose of this book?
• Analyze the introduction.
• Identify the historical or implied reader.
• Follow the plot.
• Observe the conclusion.
• Give weight to dominant themes.

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Theories about the purpose of Acts.

• Luke was writing just to provide the church with
  a record of its beginnings.
• Luke is writing history, but with the purpose of
  bringing certainty to the faith of Theophilus.
• Luke has an evangelistic purpose.
• Luke has an apologetic purpose.

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The historicity of the book of Acts has been
questioned

• Ancient historical standards.
• Comparison between Acts and other sources.
• The Speeches of Acts. Many scholars think that
  Luke is most untrustworthy when dealing with the
  speeches in the book of Acts.
• Evangelicals ask that Luke be evaluated using
  ancient standards

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Important Uses for the Book

• The book teaches us about the conversion of Paul
• The book teaches us about the journeys' of the
  Apostle Paul
• The book will often be helpful in pointing us to
  historical situations in which a particular book
  was written