Acts, Part One

Introduction and Chapters 1–12

Youngmo Cho, Hyung Dae Park

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781725245433
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

This book is one of the many commentaries on the book of Acts. In other words, it does not deal with a unique topic but one that borders on banality, yet of utmost importance. Without doubt, it will suffice its role of moving one step closer to a complete understanding of the complex picture that Luke drew. This commentary has been written by two Asian scholars with different theological backgrounds and thus will provide an unprecedented perspective. This commentary pays attention to the historical background and to the narrative, theological, and rhetorical texture of the text in Acts. In particular, the periodical essays at the end of sections or chapters--"Fusing the Horizons"--reflect on what the text means for the new covenant community in terms of its theological message, application, and community and spiritual formation. This is one of the many notable characteristics of this commentary. Moreover, this is an approachable and readable commentary by anyone who is interested in Acts.

Acts 1

The Beginnings

Jesus’ farewell statement to his disciples and his commissioning narrated by Luke seem to imply the intention to display the empowered witness starting from Jerusalem. Though the gospel was destined also for the Gentiles, it had to be announced to the Jews first.101 Hence, Jesus, while staying with his disciples, ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem. Luke’s Gospel depicts the development of Jesus’ ministry, which starts from Galilee (Luke 4–9) then to Judea and Samaria (10–19) and culminates in his crucifixion in Jerusalem (20–24); the account of the missions under the power of the Holy Spirit reveals that the spread of the gospel following Jesus’ resurrection was to progress in a different manner: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). Acts 1–5 are concerned with the disciples’ ministry to the Jews in Jerusalem.102 The next four chapters, Acts 6–9, report on their ministry in Judea and Samaria. From this geographical development, one already sees the fulfillment of the ministry envisioned by Jesus in Acts 1:8. As Luke elaborates in the subsequent chapters, we are introduced to the impact of the gospel beyond the horizons of the region—in Syria, Asia Minor, and Europe. However, the first followers of Jesus and those who had first received and believed in the witness of the apostles were the Jews, especially those who held an eschatological and messianic faith.

It may be of paramount importance to outline the setting and political situation of the time of Jesus’ life and ministry. History informs us that Jesus grew, ministered, died, and resurrected during the tumultuous time of Roman control over Palestine. This was during the reign of King Herod the Great, his son Herod Antipas, and others according to their rise to the throne. Several factors resulting from this unpredictable political setting made the Jews uneasy about various aspects of their social and religious lives. On the one hand, their discomfort was due to the rough rule of the Roman imperial despots who had little regard for the Jewish national sentiment. On the other hand, Greek influence probably rendered the maintenance of purity of the Jewish race, religion, and cultural practices almost impossible. In addition, the vulgar language spoken then was not purely and consistently Hebrew even among Jews themselves. Such was the social environment in which the apostles were to witness. The good news of the resurrected Jesus would eventually cut across the entire region and through those cultural differences. It had to penetrate the diversity of social, religious, and political strands. As we will see later, the witnessing of the apostles aimed not only at announcing personal salvation of those who would believe in Christ but also at bringing a thorough social transformation at the same. The purpose of the Lord, communicated in his commissioning instruction, was therefore a new era for Jews, Samaritans, and even Gentiles to become a unified humanity by faith.

Jesus’ Instruction and Commission (1:1–8)

The first two verses, dubbed the “prologue,”103 or the first five, considered as the “introduction,”104 are eloquent about many things that display how Acts is a continued narrative of the story that started with the former book (logos).105 Whether we consider these verses a prologue or introduction, the truth is that their double role of being prefatory and resumptive remains evident. Luke prefaces the acts of the apostles (Acts 1:2) as a second episode of “the things that have been accomplished among us” (Luke 1:1) not by Jesus himself this time but by his apostles. The verses are at the same time a summary because they are a concise recapitulation of the episode concerning what Jesus had accomplished while he was with them during his earthly ministry and after his resurrection. The question on how Jesus’ ministry impacted his contemporaries finds its answer in his witness by word and deeds. The same sort of ministry is implied in the commission statement in which he promised power to the disciples that would qualify them as witnesses. This implication will be discussed further in detail later in this section.

Many scholars agree on the possibility that Luke’s prefacing formula within his prologue or introduction is not his own invention. Several other contemporary works used a similar prefacing formula. The Greek writer Herodotus, known as the “father of history,” Thucydides, the first Greek scientific historian, and Flavius Josephus, a first-century Romano-Jewish historian, are just a few of those who used this formula; despite the lengthy period that separated their respective generations, they all contributed toward a convention found in Greek historical writers.106 Though the writer of Acts may not have regarded these writers as his role models, a certain sustained tradition can be however seen, at least in the prefacing wording.107 Nonetheless, the idea of writing in sequences is unique to Luke; even if Luke follows the existing convention in addressing his work to a named reader, the intended readers would also be able to identify with Theophilus, who needed a clarification of Jesus’ words and deeds. While Luke’s writings reflect certain characteristics of his contemporaries, he still remains unique by the fact that his writings show particularities in many senses.

In Acts 1:1–8, Luke focuses on Jesus Christ instructing and commissioning his disciples. Essentially two things matter for the resurrected Jesus during a particularly important period (post-resurrection and pre-ascension) of his earthly works:

1. Enhancing his followers’ faith as a way of establishing strategies for his Kingdom manifestation

2. Defining the mission of the Kingdom messengers

The first two verses (1–2) set a refreshing background of Jesus’ earthly ministry episode: all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up, after he through the Holy Spirit had given instructions to the apostles whom he had chosen.108 Luke then connects this past episode to the next, the post-resurrection one. Here, three facts in 1:1–3 combined historically and spiritually display irrevocable prerequisites that the disciples would possess; these would be essential for them to be qualified as witnesses of the messianic Kingdom. During this time, therefore, Jesus would address serious questions of the ministry that he had to continue in absentia.

For the disciples to be witnesses with a firm faith that they would live by or die for, they first needed Jesus to present himself to them alive after his sufferings by many convincing proofs (Acts 1:3). Jesus’ arrest, prosecution, co...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Acts 1: The Beginnings
• Acts 2: The Pentecostal Event and Peter’s Pentecost Speech
• Acts 3: The First Healing Miracle and Peter’s Mighty Speech
• Acts 4: The First Persecution and Brave Witnesses
• Acts 5: Ananias and Sapphira, the Apostles, and Gamaliel
• Acts 6: The Appointment of the Seven and the First Martyr among Them
• Acts 7: Stephen’s Speech and His Honorable Death
• Acts 8: The Gospel of Jesus Expands beyond Jerusalem
• Acts 9: A Historical Figure’s Conversion/Call and Two Miracle Stories
• Acts 10: Peter’s New Challenge for Gentile Mission
• Acts 11: Peter’s Action Depended and Ratified and the Base of Mission in Antioch
• Acts 12: Peter’s Deliverance and Herod’s Death
• Bibliography