Acts 8 Explanatory Notes

Here are explanatory notes on Acts 8. You can also follow my daily podcast commentary on Patreon, as well as YouTube videos on the Greek (see the bottom for links).

Acts 1
Acts 2
Acts 3
Acts 4
Acts 5
Acts 6
Acts 7

III. Samaria and Judea (Acts 8:4-12:25)
A. Persecution and Peace (Acts 8:4-9:31)
1. The Ministry of Philip (8:4-40)
a. Ministry in Samaria (8:4-25)

• 8:4-8. Here we have a general statement about Philip's ministry in Samaria, followed by a particular story.
• 8:4. As we saw in 8:1, it was not the apostles but likely primarily the Hellenistic believers who were scattered after the death of Stephen, and they now move out into the surrounding regions of Jerusalem with the gospel.
• This is the second part of Acts in keeping with Acts 1:8. Acts 8-12 tells us about the witness of the resurrection in Judea and Samaria.
• Samaria was viewed with condescension and disregard by Judeans and those in Galilee who followed the Judean sense of Israel's history. The Samaritans had their own version of the Pentateuch. They rejected the Jerusalem temple as the true temple of Israel. They were more "pluralistic" in the sense of correlating the God of Israel with the gods of other nations. They were arguably less distinctly Israelite in race.
• 8:5. Philip was one of the seven commissioned along with Stephen to provide ministry to the Greek-speaking church. He is never called a deacon but rather Philip "the evangelist" (21:8).
• He is proclaiming "the Christ," that is, the Messiah, the anointed one.
• There is a manuscript choice as to whether it is "a" city of Samaria or "the" city of Samaria, with "the" having perhaps a slight edge. It is not entirely clear which city is in view. Sebaste was the most prominent city in Samaria but also thoroughly secular. So it is not entirely clear where this event took place.
• 8:6-8. Here we see a pattern that is repeated several times in this section. The miracles performed by the evangelists and apostles result in people believing on the good news.
• 8:7. Here for the first time in Acts we see a continuation of Jesus' exorcist ministry in addition to his healing ministry.
• 8:8. The good news brings joy.
• 8:9-24. This is the story of Simon the sorcerer. The later church would come to regard him as the father of all heresy. However, in Acts itself we do not learn the eventual fate of this man.
• 8:9-11. A number of magical papyri have survived from this period, and they make it clear that magic was the poor person's religion of the ancient world. If you had a problem, someone who knew magic was available to help, much as the role a witch doctor plays in some cultures today.
• 8:9-10. Simon thought he was important, and no doubt a lot of people in Samaria thought he was too. 
• "The power of God who is called Great." Simon apparently was thought to manifest the power of the highest God. Perhaps this is an example of Samaritan syncretism, where God was equated with other kings of the gods like Zeus.
• 8:12. Meanwhile, Philip was preaching the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. The people believed in what Philip was proclaiming, that the rule of God was coming with Jesus as king.
• Both men and women were baptized in the name of Jesus, another example of Luke's attention to women as well as men.
•  8:13. Simon believed as well and was baptized, but we are surely about to find out that these elements to the equation are not enough. He believes with his head but not his heart. He has gone through the ritual motions, but his full allegiance is not with Christ. Perhaps he sees Jesus as just another power to add to the other powers he channels, not as the exclusive name by which all are saved.
• The miracles once again serve as an evangelistic tool.
• 8:14. One concern of Acts seems to be to legitimate the charismatic activities of people like Philip and Paul by subordinating them to the ministry of Peter as the central authority. So the central authorities, Peter and John go to Samaria, thus endorsing Philip's charismatic activity.
• 8:15-17. It is when Peter and John lay hands on the Samaritans that they receive the Holy Spirit. For Acts, as Paul, it is receiving the Holy Spirit that indicates a person is truly included into the people of God. 
• In that sense, it is a problem that none of them had yet received the Holy Spirit, even though they had faith and had been baptized. But they were not yet truly in. Baptism and faith are thus associated with becoming part of the new covenant people of God, but they are not the actual moment of entrance.
• 8:18-19. Simon apparently does not receive the Holy Spirit. He is still on the outside and, according to Christian tradition, would remain on the outside. He sees the power of the Holy Spirit as simply another tool to put in his toolbox. 
• He offers money to get the power. Like Ananias and Sapphira, he is trying to use money to advance in spiritual things but in the process reveals that his heart is not right with God (cf. Luke 16:13). 
• 8:20-23. Peter sternly rebukes him. Without realizing it, Simon has revealed a complete lack of understanding of what is happening. He has revealed a heart of bitterness and bondage to sin. His heart is not right with God. Peter implies he faces judgment if he does not repent for thinking it was in his power to control the power of God. 
• 8:24. Simon himself does not pray but asks instead for Peter to pray to God to avert his destruction. He seems to realize that he has no part in the God of Peter and Philip.
• 8:25. This summary statement indicates that at least part of the second phase of the mission in Acts has been accomplished. Peter and John have been witnesses to Christ in Samaria. 

b. Ministry in Judea (8:26-40)

• 8:26-40. The rest of the chapter relates Philip's ministry along the coast of Judea, thus fulling the rest of Acts 1:8, that the good news would be proclaimed in Judea and Samaria. 
• 8:26-27. An angel of the Lord instructs Philip to head toward Gaza, formerly a Philistine city. Here he meets the Ethiopian eunuch. 
• Given Luke's penchant in these chapters to point out the crossing of social boundaries, we probably should conclude that this man is truly a eunuch, thus someone who would be unclean according to Leviticus and not allowed in the holy camp of Israel in the wilderness (e.g., Lev. 21:20). Such a state would give a reason for Luke to include this story. 
• As a eunuch, he would not be allowed in the temple proper itself, yet Luke probably wants us to think of Isaiah 56:3-5. The implication is that the welcoming of a eunuch into the people of God is a signal of the end of times. We should probably assume he was a Jew, for the gospel has not yet crossed that barrier at this point in the story.
• "Eunuch" could of course merely be a title for a prominent position in service to Candace, the queen. He is clearly a person of great stature, even though he is a servant of the queen. Ethiopian Christianity today traces its origins to this individual.
• 8:28-29. He is reading from Isaiah 53.
• 8:30-31. Philip asks if he understands the passage. The angel has presumably brought Philip to this man to help him understand, an indication that God brings light to those who are seeking it.
• The eunuch is puzzled about the identity of the one to whom the chapter refers. This is understandable since the chapters leading up to 53 identify the servant with Israel. Yet in Isaiah 53, the servant suffers on behalf of Israel. 
• Originally, the text may have had in mind past Israel suffering for the Israel that is about to return from captivity. However, in a fuller sense, read with spiritual eyes, the passage can be read in light of Jesus' sufferings too.
• 8:32-33. The verses in question are Isaiah 53:7-8. Justice was denied Jesus and his life was taken away.
• 8:34-36. Philip opens the eunuch's eyes to a fuller sense to the passage and relates it spiritually to the sufferings of Jesus. Philip's message presumably culminates in something like Acts 2:38, for he immediately wants to be baptized. 
• 8:37. This verse is not in the oldest manuscripts of Acts. Indeed, it is not even in the majority of manuscripts of Acts. It likely entered into the manuscript tradition as a marginal note, expressing the assumption that the eunuch would have made a profession of faith before baptism. The numbering of the verses took place in 1550 and, when it was discovered that the verse was not likely original, it would have been too confusing to renumber them. Accordingly, the verse is missing from almost all modern versions of the New Testament.
• 8:38-39. So the eunuch is baptized, and we should assume that he receives the Holy Spirit. 
• The Spirit of the Lord strangely whisks Philip away after baptizing the eunuch, whose name we never learn in the text.
• 8:40. Philip continues to preach along the coastline of Judea, going as far north as Caesarea.

Patrons only

• The Case of the Missing Verse (Acts 8:37)

Podcasts on the English of Acts 8

• Acts 8:1b-8 Podcast
• Acts 8:9-17 Podcast
• Acts 8:18-25 Podcast
• Acts 8:26-33 Podcast
• Acts 8:34-40 Podcast

Videos on the Greek of Acts 8

• Acts 8:1b-8 Greek
• Acts 8:9-17 Greek
• Acts 8:18-25 Greek
• Acts 8:26-33 Greek
• Acts 8:34-40 Greek

Acts 6 Explanatory Notes

We move on to Acts 6 after finishing notes on the first five chapters. You can also follow my daily podcast commentary on Patreon, as well as YouTube videos on the Greek (see at the bottom for links).

Acts 1
Acts 2
Acts 3
Acts 4
Acts 5

3. Move into Hellenistic Judaism (6:1-8:3)
a. The dispute over widows (6:1-7)

• 6:1. A dispute arises within the earliest church. We have already seen a problem within the church in terms of Ananias and Sapphira. However, this was not a dispute. This was a couple who were (visibly) in the church but not truly (invisibly) in the church. 
• Now we see the first conflict between individuals who are all truly believers. There will always be conflicts within the church because we are human. The story thus gives us some insights on how to go about our conflicts.
• As growth takes place in churches and in fact in any collection of people, we should anticipate conflicts arising.
• The conflict is between Aramaic-speaking Jewish believers ("Hebrews") and Greek-speaking Jewish believers ("Hellenists"). There were far more Greek-speaking Jews in the world at the time of Christ than Aramaic-speaking ones. In fact, there were more (Greek-speaking) Jews in part of the city of Alexandria than in all of Jerusalem.
• Greek was the lingua franca of the Roman world, much as English is today in the world. Jews had been scattered throughout the world for hundreds of years prior to Christ. "Diaspora Jews" traced to the early 500s BC with the Babylonian captivity, a time when Jews also emigrated to Egypt.
• The dispute has to do with the distribution of food to widows. First, we are not surprised that the church took care of its widows. There were no safety nets for such individuals if they did not have family to take care of them.
• Apparently, the Aramaic-speaking community was doing fine taking care of their own widows, but they were not taking care of Greek-speaking widows in the church. We can imagine the kinds of excuses made--1) not our responsibility but yours, 2) latent prejudice--(immigrant) Greek-speaking widows aren't as important as the (native-born) Aramaic-speaking ones, 3) simply oversight (out of sight, out of mind).
• 6:2. The disciples call a meeting to address the problem. This is good, rather than let things fester below the surface.
• There does seem to be a bit of defensiveness on the disciples' part. "We have more important things to do than serve tables." It's true that preaching the word of God was their primary responsibility, but there nevertheless seems to be a failure of leadership taking place here.
• 6:3. The people choose a committee to take care of the problem. There are a number of good insights here. First, the people are empowered. Second, the apostles delegate, which is always good when a leader cannot get it all done. The people will nevertheless be under the authority of the apostles.
• 6:4. Now the apostles can focus on their primary function--prayer and preaching.
• 6:5. The people like the proposal and appoint seven men. There are some curious aspects to this event, however. The men chosen are all Hellenistic. That is to say, this is not a committee appointed to take care of all distribution to widows in Jerusalem. It is a group to take care of the Hellenistic widows. In other words, the leaders simply seem to be authorizing the Hellenists to take care of themselves. 
• They are to be full of faith and the Spirit.
• We don't have enough details to know whether this simply passes the issue off (not our business) or whether it is truly empowering a community to take care of itself.
• We don't actually see these individuals serving tables and this passage never calls them deacons. Rather, we see Stephen and Philip as evangelists, which suggests that there was more missing in the Hellenistic church than food distribution.
• Nicolaus is a proselyte from Antioch, perhaps suggesting that there are already churches in Antioch. Nicolaus represents a step toward the Gentiles.
• 6:6. The laying on of hands is an ordination of sorts, practiced by the church ever since when individuals are commissioned to serve.
• 6:7. The number of believers continues to spread and multiply. We had 3000 on the Day of Pentecost (2:41), 5000 after the healing of the lame man (4:4), then a large number (5:14). In this case, the spreading crosses a distinct social barrier--it now multiplies among Greek-speaking Jews.
• A number of priests believe. These are not likely the higher level priests but lower level priests like the father of John the Baptist had been. One wonders if any of these were Essenes.

b. The ministry of Stephen (6:8-15)

• 6:8. Stephen shows his evangelistic fervor by preaching boldly among Hellenistic Jews. Since he is full of the Holy Spirit, these include wonders and signs like those Peter and John had done, and Jesus had modeled before them. 
• Stephen gets in more trouble than Peter had. This could either be a climax of conflict and/or also the possibility that he was more edgy or confrontational in his preaching. Interestingly, it is the Hellenists who seem scattered in 8:1, not the Aramaic-speaking apostles.
• 6:9. Stephen's audience and opposition come from Hellenistic synagogues, possibly two: 1) one that is the Synagogue of the Freedman, including Alexandrians from Egypt and Cyrenians from Cyrene and 2) one of Jews from Cilicia and Asia. It is perhaps worth noting that Paul was from Cilicia and may have had a connection with the second synagogue (if there are two alluded to here).
• 6:10-11. Stephen seems to prevail in argument about Jesus, so they shift to underhanded tactics.
• Their false accusation is that Stephen is speaking against Moses and God. This is a straw man, as often happens. A caricature of his real position is created to raise anger and incite emotional furor.
• 6:12. They are so successful that they get him before the council. Perhaps the council saw him as an easier target than the apostles had been.
• 6:13-14. There may be an implicit comparison between Stephen and Jesus here. Luke would know of Mark's indication that false witnesses were brought against Jesus (Mark 14:56-57) and Luke mentions false charges as well (Luke 23:2).
• The false charge is that Jesus would destroy the temple and change the customs of Moses. Jesus does predict the destruction of the temple in Luke 21, but he does not say he will do it himself. Rather, the Romans would, an irony perhaps not lost on Acts' audience.
• Acts maintains that Jewish believers continued to keep the Law of Moses (e.g., Acts 21:20-24).
• 6:15. Stephen has the face of an angel. Acts makes it clear that he is the one in the right here, with heavenly approval.

Podcasts on the English of Acts 6
Acts 6:1-7 podcast
Acts 6:8-15 podcast

Videos on the Greek of Acts 6
Acts 6:1-7 video on Greek
Acts 6:8-15 video on Greek

Acts 5 Explanatory Notes

Previously on Acts:

Acts 1
Acts 2
Acts 3
Acts 4

Now here are my notes on Acts 5, with the video links at the bottom. You can follow my daily podcasts on Acts on Patreon.

2. Early Church Life (4:32-5:42)
a. All things in common (4:32-37)
b. An exception to the rule (5:1-11)

• 5:1-11. In contrast to the righteous story of Barnabas, these verses give us the unrighteous story of a husband-wife couple, Ananias and Sapphira.
• 5:1-2. These verses present the problem. Ananias and Sapphira did as Barnabas did. They sold some land and they gave some to the Jesus-community. But they held some of the value back. As we will see in a moment, they seem to have lied about the amount.
• 5:3-4. Peter exposes the problem to Ananias. It is not that he only gave part of what he sold. It is that he lied about it. Peter indicates that he has tried to lie to the Holy Spirit... which of course you can't.
• Peter indicates that Satan had filled Ananias' heart. This can never happen without the cooperation of human will. 
• 5:5-6. Here is the consequence. Ananias immediately dies and is carried out and buried. Understandably, a great fear comes on all those who hear of this event.
• The judgment of Ananias and soon his wife suggest that God continues to judge in the New Testament. The Old Testament may emphasize the "wrath of God" a bit more than the New Testament, but the judgment of God is in the New Testament as well.
• In my theology, God's justice in such cases does not change the eternal destiny of someone. That is to say, God knew that neither Ananias or Sapphira would actually make it into the kingdom. I suppose someone might also argue that they were saved "as it were by fire" (1 Cor. 3:15), a punishment without eternal consequence.
• God's justice is more often 1) redemptive, to get a person back on track, or 2) protective, to protect people from evil.
• 5:7-10. The parallel now happens to Sapphira, his wife. About three hours later, she comes in. Peter asks her a question to which he already has the answer. She lies. She dies and is carried out like her husband.
• 5:9. Ananias and Sapphira are "testing" the Spirit of the Lord." This is not a bet one wants to take. The whole world is "naked and exposed" before God's eyes (Heb. 4:13).
• 5:11. A great fear comes over the church and anyone who hears. Of course those who are in Christ need not fear (cf. 1 John 4:18). But the holiness of God is fearsome, in the same way that you would take care when you stand next to an elephant. 

c. Signs and wonders (5:12-16)

• 5:12. The apostles continue to do signs and wonders under the power of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus did, just as Paul will do.
• The apostles continue to meet in Solomon's Portico in the temple, on the outer east side of the temple complex, in the Court of the Gentiles.
• 5:13. The awe factor is real. The crowds consider them to be of God and accordingly stand their distance.
• 5:14. We see more multiplication in the church. On the day of Pentecost there were 3000 (Acts 2:41). After the lame man there were 5000 (Acts 3:4). Now a number isn't given. It is a multitude and it included women as well. 
• 5:15-16. As with Jesus, those who were sick are brought to Jesus, including those from surrounding villages. Interestingly, they apparently have enough faith that even coming under Peter's shadow led to healing.
• The mention of unclean spirits indicates that Peter and the apostles also cast out demons as Jesus had.

d. Before Sanhedrin again (5:17-42)

• 5:17-18. Once again, the Sanhedrin jails the apostles for the night, intending to deal more sternly with them the next day. This verse seems to confirm that the high priest and the priestly leaders of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees. They were jealous of the apostles.
• 5:19-21a. In what will not be the last time, an angel delivers Peter and the other apostles from prison. They are instructed to go back to the temple and continue preaching "words of this life." At daybreak, they continue.
• 5:21b-25. The Sanhedrin convenes and realizes that the apostles are not in the common jail any more. The high priest, the Sanhedrin, the council of elders are ready, but the apostles are not there.
• 5:23. The guards are even present, but the apostles are just gone.
• 5:25. Then they get word on where the apostles are. They are back in the temple preaching.
• 5:26. The captain and the guard and his servants now go to get them gingerly. They don't force them because they are afraid of getting stoned by the people, which shows how popular they have become.
• 5:27-28. The high priest asks the question. Why haven't you obeyed our orders? Why are you continuing to preach in this name? The high priest infers that the apostles are trying to bring guilt for Jesus' death on them. They of course are not trying to do this. In fact, they have already indicated that the leaders of Israel crucified him in ignorance (3:17).
• 5:29-32. This is Peter and the apostles' response. Of course only one person would speak at a time, so probably we should picture Peter speaking.
• 5:29. Again, echoing Socrates' answer to the Areopagus (Apology 29d), Peter indicates that they will obey God rather than mortals.
• This is a clear indication that obedience to authorities is not an absolute. There are exceptional situations. The definition of an absolute is "no exceptions."
• 5:30. The resurrection is again the key point of all the sermons in Acts, except for Stephen's sermon in Acts 7.
• The mention of hanging on a tree may be an allusion to Deuteronomy 21:23, which Paul uses in his argument in Galatians 3:13.
• 5:31. Following the resurrection is the exaltation, which is the enthronement of Jesus as Messiah (2:36), Lord (2:36), and Son of God (13:33). Here he is also called "leader" and "savior." 
• Notice that at this point Peter is thinking of the corporate restoration of Israel and the forgiveness of its sins. 
• 5:32. The apostles are witnesses to these things. That is what apostles are--individuals who give witness to the resurrection, which they have personally seen. The Holy Spirit witnesses to it as well through the signs and wonders he empowers.
• 5:33. The Sanhedrin is predictably enraged. They want to kill them.
• 5:34-39. Before the Sanhedrin can follow through, one of their members, a Pharisee has the apostles removed from the room and warns the council. 
• 5:34. The Pharisee in question is Gamaliel, a well-respected teacher of the Jewish Law. 
• Gamaliel the Elder is well-known from Jewish tradition. There were two schools of Pharisees, the schools of Hillel and Shammai. The School of Hillel tended to be more deterministic, tolerant, and lenient. The School of Shammai was more militant and strident. We see the "fatalistic" flavor of the School of Hillel in this passage (which might have sounded a little Stoic to a Greek audience). Later Jewish tradition would come to suggest that Gamaliel could have been a grandson of Hillel. 
• Acts says that Paul studied "at the feet of" Gamaliel (22:3). In general, however, the pre-Christian Paul had more the flavor of the School of Shammai than the School of Hillel.
• 5:35, 38-39. Gamaliel's basic premise is that God can fight his own battles, while it is impossible to fight God and win. If the Jesus movement is of God, they will not be able to stop it no matter how hard they try. But if the Jesus movement is not of God, God will stop it himself. There is of course a flaw in Gamaliel's argument, namely, that God sometimes leads his people to action and stops evil through his people. Nevertheless, this is the right word for the Sanhedrin at that moment, and the book of Acts implicitly endorses it.
• 5:36-37. Gamaliel gives two examples. The first is Theudas. Interestingly, Josephus places Theudas in the 40s under Cuspius Fadus. This would actually be about ten years after the scene in Acts. Some have suggested this is intentional--Acts is writing for the point not the exact chronology. Others suggest there was another Theudas or that Josephus made a mistake.
• The second revolutionary mentioned is Judas the Galilean, who was active around AD6. Both movements were defeated by the Romans.
• 5:40. The Sanhedrin surprisingly listens to Gamaliel. They beat the apostles, command them again to stop preaching in Jesus' name and set them loose.
• 5:41-42. Meanwhile, the apostles count it a privilege to be dishonored in the name of Jesus. Like the Beatitudes, they are blessed in relation to God's kingdom at the same time that they are dishonored in the world.
• 5:42. But they continue to preach the word and meet in the temple. They continue to meet in homes and teach. They obey God and disobey the word of mortals.

Patrons Only (now public)

• Gamaliel

Podcasts on the English of Acts 5

• Acts 5:1-11 podcast
• Acts 5:12-16 podcast
• Acts 5:17-26 podcast
• Acts 5:27-32 podcast
• Acts 5:33-42 podcast

Videos on the Greek of Acts 5

• Acts 5:1-11 video
• Acts 5:12-16 video
• Acts 5:17-26 video
• Acts 5:27-32 video
• Acts 5:33-42 video

Acts 4 Explanatory Notes

Previously on Acts:

Acts 1
Acts 2
Acts 3

Now here are my notes on Acts 4, with the video links at the bottom. You can follow my daily podcasts on Acts on Patreon.

b. The Aftermath (4:1-31)

• 4:1. They prayed. The Spirit came. They received power (cf. 1:8). They then witnessed in other languages with boldness as an expression of that power. In Acts 3 they heal a lame man as an expression of that power.
• Now come the reactions. One reaction is growth--three thousand on the Day of Pentecost (2:41). Another reaction is opposition, and we see it begin here in Acts 4.
• The priests, captain of the temple, and the Sadducees check up on them. The Sadducees were a group most known in the New Testament for not believing in resurrection. They tended to be priestly and very upper class. They tended to form the ruling class in Jerusalem, and the high priest seems often to have been Sadducee in this era. The Sadducees thus seem to have been collaborators with the Romans, not least so that they could remain in power.
• 4:2. The Sadducees would be annoyed at the preaching of resurrection not just because they did not believe in resurrection but because resurrection implied the upheaval of the current world order. Resurrection implied the overthrow of the existing powers by an apocalyptic breaking of God into history. It was a revolutionary doctrine, as N. T. Wright has recognized.
• Perhaps even more concerning is that they were gaining traction with the people. Insurrection is always something that ancient leaders watched carefully and often feared. The Romans were particularly hard on unapproved public gatherings and so, as in the case of Jesus, the leaders of Jerusalem would have been keen to keep things from escalating to where the Romans would get involved.
• 4:3. They put them in jail for the night to break up the momentum of their popularity and interrogate them the next day.
• 4:4. But the movement is growing immensely. Their number is now about 5000. Notice the language of faith. 
• 4:5-6. We meet the interrogators. It is possibly a smaller subset of the larger Sanhedrin. Annas is called high priest here, but more likely Caiaphas is officially high priest (AD17-36). Annas is his father-in-law who officially held the high priesthood from AD6-15 but continued to hold great influence. John and Alexander seem to be of the same priestly family. Elders and scribes are also there.
• 4:7. The question they ask is simple. On what authority, by what name have they healed the lame man.
• 4:8-12. This is Peter's response. The third sermon of sorts although it is rather short. 
• 4:8. A key observation is that Peter is full of the Holy Spirit, giving him boldness and authority in speech.
• 4:9-10. The name by which the lame man was healed (in Greek, "has been saved") is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Peter reminds them that this was the man that they put to death. 
• More importantly, he is the one whom God raised from the dead. This is the key point of all the sermons but Stephen's (who doesn't get to finish the sermon). Note that God is the active agent, Jesus the object.
• 4:11. An allusion to Psalm 118:22. Also quoted in Matthew 21:42. Jesus is the stone that the leaders of Jerusalem rejected, but God had made him the cornerstone, the Messiah.
• 4:12. A key verse of Christian soteriology. There is no other path to salvation but Christ. Jesus is the only name under heaven by which one can be saved.
• 4:13. Peter and John did not have a formal education. They were agrammatoi, unlettered, untrained in Greek. They were idiotes, formally untrained. But they had been with Jesus. Some of course take these words to mean that they did not know Greek and/or were illiterate.
• The ancient world was an oral world not a literary one. Being illiterate was thus the norm and did not mean one wasn't intelligent. The memory in an oral culture is much greater than that in a literary culture.
• 4:14-16. There was no plausible deniability of what had happened. So they needed to strategize what to do. They did not want the movement to spread, but couldn't lie about what had happened.
• 4:17-18. They decided simply to command them not to speak in Jesus' name any more. For many, this tactic might have worked. The high priest and council had great power and no doubt would have normally been fearsome to a common person.
• 4:19-20. Full of the Holy Spirit and boldness, Peter and John cannot obey. They must obey God. They are apostles, whose very meaning is to witness to the resurrection of Jesus. 
• There could be an allusion here to the trial of Socrates where he says, "Men of Athens, I respect and love you, but I shall obey god rather than you" (Apology 29d).
• Notice how often "Peter and John" have been mentioned as speaking. Obviously they are both not talking at the same time saying the same words. Peter is probably the one literally speaking and no doubt John agrees with what he is saying. It may imply, however, that these are not the exact words said. Perhaps more words were said (including words by John). This is the gist of what was said, likely abbreviated.
• 4:21-22. They release them. The best they can do is threaten them and speak sternly to them. The man was over 40 years old. Everyone knew who he was and who he had been.
• 4:23-31. These verses give the response of the believers.
• 4:23. They return to "their own." They are not of the sort of the priests and leaders.
• 4:24-30. They pray. That is their response. They pray "together."
• 4:25. They reference Scripture, through which the Holy Spirit speaks to them.
• 4:25-26. This is a quotation of Psalm 2:1-2. At the time, David was understood to be the author of this psalm, although in terms of the original meaning, this psalm was probably an enthronement psalm, a psalm for the enthronement of a king.
• The psalm addresses a situation where outside political forces oppose the king anointed by the LORD, in this case Jesus.
• 4:27-28. Here they apply the Scripture. Herod, Pontius Pilate and other Gentiles gathered against Jesus, God's holy servant (pais again, entailing a likely allusion to Isaiah 53).
• 4:28. Acts uses deterministic language fairly often, which we have to process theologically in terms of the whole counsel of God in Scripture. However, in this case he is speaking of the overall plan of salvation, which certainly was predetermined by God.
• 4:29-30. The prayer ends with a petition for boldness and for an empowerment to continue to perform signs and wonders.
• 4:30. The miracles are authorized by Christ. They are done "in the name of Christ," who is once again called pais, servant, alluding perhaps to Isaiah 53. There could be the implication that the righteous suffering of Jesus authorizes the performance of miracles.
• 4:31. They are filled with the Holy Spirit again, indicating that being filled with the Spirit is a repeatable event, especially when one is in need of power to face a particular event or challenge. 
• Signs accompany the filling, and boldness is the chief manifestation here of the power that comes from the Spirit.

2. Early Church Life (4:32-5:42)
a. All things in common (4:32-37)

• This paragraph again summarizes the nature of the life of the earliest church (cf. also 2:42-47). It is perhaps a somewhat idealized picture. In keeping with the nature of ancient history writing, it is not merely reporting but reporting with a moral. The "evaluative" perspective of Acts wants the reader to see this description as good and as something to be emulated.
• 4:32. They are of one heart and soul. 
• The church treats their possessions like a healthy family would. They share their possessions.
• 4:33. The apostles continue to give witness to the resurrection, which again is what an apostle is in Acts, someone to whom the risen Christ has appeared and commissioned to go as a witness to the resurrection.
• There is great favor on them all... or perhaps great grace. The first suggests that they were favored by the people. The second suggests that God was giving them great power. Both are probably true.
• 4:34-35. Acts probably wants us to see this as the way the church would ideally function. There should be no needy in the church when those who have excess help out those who have fallen on hard times. Perhaps Luke wants Theophilus to think this way too, since he is likely someone of some wealth and status.
• Certainly history has also proved that it does not go well for millennial communities whose persons of means divest themselves of all their property (often because they believe the Lord is immediately going to return). Similarly, it does not well to develop an unnecessary dependence among the needy. It does not contradict Acts for those who can to continue to generate resources for the community, nor to expect the needy to work as part of the community (e.g., 2 Thess. 3:10). Luke does not say that this model must be enacted exactly in every time and place.
• 4:35. The apostles seem to have served as the roundhouse for the proceeds of sales and distribution. 
• 4:36-37. Here we are introduced to Barnabas, who gives us a specific example of what was happening in the church. His example is considered entirely positive, and he is depicted entirely positively in the book of Acts and almost entirely positively in Paul's writings.
• 4:36. Barnabas is apparently a name the apostles have given him, "son of encouragement." He will bear out this name in the story of the early church. 
• He is a Levite, originally from the island of Cyprus. His point of origin presumably played a role in the itinerary of the first missionary journey in Acts 13.
• 4:37. He owned a field, sold it, donated it, in keeping with the familial, communal nature of the earliest believers.

Patrons video (now available)

• Temple Leaders
• Barnabas

Videos on the English of Acts 4

• Acts 4:1-18
• Acts 4:19-37

Videos on the Greek of Acts 4

• Acts 4:1-4
• Acts 4:5-8
• Acts 4:9-11
• Acts 4:12-14
• Acts 4:15-18
• Acts 4:19-22
• Acts 4:23-26
• Acts 4:27-31
• Acts 4:32-34
• Acts 4:35-37

Acts 3 Explanatory Notes

For about 13 weeks now I have been studying Acts. Here are my notes and videos on the previous chapters covered:

Acts 1
Acts 2

[I am changing my format a little starting this week. I will be doing daily podcasts (Monday through Friday) on the English translation of a chapter a week of Acts. These will be available to everyone on my Patreon site. Then the equivalent videos will be available on YouTube for everyone showing the Greek from which I am translating, possibly with a little extra engagement with the Greek at the end. Finally, I will continue my deeper dive material on Saturdays for patrons only (i.e., those who donate at least $5 a month to the cause on Patreon).]

Here are some notes on Acts three, with the video links at the bottom.

B. Manifestations of the Spirit in Jerusalem (3:1-8:3)
     1. The Healing of the Lame Man (3:1-4:31)
          a. The Healing (3:1-26)

1) The Event (3:1-10)

• Acts 3 is a consequence of the Spirit coming in Acts 2. They have spoken boldly as a result. They received the ability to speak in other languages on the Day of Pentecost. Now the power of the Spirit (cf. 1:8) that leads to witness will show itself in a miraculous sign. Such signs were understood to demonstrate the endorsement of God and entailed an implicit comparison with Jesus (cf. 2:22). Just as Jesus did signs through the power of the Spirit, now Peter and John would perform signs through the power of the Spirit.
• 3:1. The continued use of the temple by the Jerusalem apostles seems significant. They do not preach against the temple. Acts 21:24 seems to imply that they continued to sacrifice there. In general, it seems unlikely that they as yet understood Christ's death to imply the finality of sacrifices. Christ's death probably at this point was only stood to have the power to reset the spiritual state of contemporary Israel, not to atone for the sins of the whole world as we find finally in Hebrews.
• Notice again the significance that prayer plays in Luke's theology.
• 3:2. Those who were unable to fend for themselves, such as this lame man, had to rely on the generosity and grace of others for their survival. This man lives off the "acts of mercy" or alms that are given to him at the temple.
• There is some debate as to which entrance Luke has in mind by the "Beautiful Gate." Most scholars opt for the Nicanor Gate that separated the Court of Women from the Court of Israel. However, traditionally it is identified with the more outer Shushan Gate.
• 3:3-5. The normal exchange takes place between a beggar and someone entering. Peter and John are mentioned as a unit, although Peter does all the talking. The fact that Peter speaks to him makes the lame man think they are going to give something to him.
• 3:6. This verse has often been used as an indictment of a church that has become affluent but lacks spiritual power. A legend is especially told of an exchange between Thomas Aquinas and the Pope in the thirteenth century. The Pope remarks to Thomas that the church no longer need say it lacks silver and gold. Then Thomas responds, "But can we still say rise up and walk?"
• 3:7-10. The man is healed, a consequence of the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2. 
• 3:8. The response of the man is appropriately to praise God. They continue into the temple to worship.
• 3:9-10. The people recognize him and see the sign. They are filled with wonder and amazement. 

2) The Sermon (3:11-26)

• 3:11. As on the Day of Pentecost, the people come together to see and inquire about the powerful event that has taken place. People come "together," which seems to happen often in this part of Acts.
• Solomon's Portico seems to be the part of the temple in which the Jesus followers will gather regularly. This was on the eastern side of the Court of the Gentiles.
• 3:12-26. The rest of the chapter is the second sermon of Acts, also delivered by Peter.
• 3:12-16. In the first half of the sermon, Peter explains what has happened.
• 3:12. Peter makes it clear that they have not performed this miracle on the basis of their own power or godliness. 
• 3:13. God has performed the miracle in order to glorify Jesus. There is a sense of the continued vindication and legitimization of Jesus by God. 
• Peter and John are addressing Jews, and God is identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the fathers of Israel. This comment implies again the continuity of what God has done through Jesus and what he was doing with Israel in the past.
• The use of the word pais suggests that Isaiah 53 and the suffering servant is in the background here.
• 3:13-14. By contrast, they handed him over. They denied him, even though Pilate would have released him. They asked for a murderer instead and in effect killed Jesus (3:15).
• 3:14. Jesus is the "holy and righteous one." Although it is not clear, Richard Hays would like to think that Romans 1:17 is thinking of Jesus as the "righteous one will live because of his faithfulness" in Habakkuk 2:4.
• 3:15. Jesus is called the "author of life," an implication of his resurrection for Luke.
• God raised Jesus from the dead. This is the climax of all the sermons of Acts, except for Stephen's sermon, which was ended abruptly.
• The apostles are witnesses of the resurrection. This is in fact what an apostle is, someone who witnessed the resurrection who is sent to give witness to that event.
• 3:16. Faith in the name of Jesus is the mechanism that has brought the power of healing to this man. The name is the source of power. Jesus' name authorizes the miracle.
• 3:17-26. This is the second half of the sermon, in which Peter tells them how they should respond to the event.
• 3:17. More than once in Acts, the idea is presented that God is willing to overlook the ignorance of the past, as long as the audience responds in repentance (cf. 17:30). Interestingly, Peter even suggests that the rulers of Israel even acted in ignorance.
• 3:18. The theme that these events were all part of God's foreknowledge and plan is mentioned, a common theme in the sermons of Acts. Isaiah 53 seems to have been a key text for Acts foretelling Jesus' sufferings.
• 3:19. Here is the course of action the crowd needs to take (cf. 2:38). They need to repent. The "you" is plural, perhaps suggesting especially a corporate repentance of Israel here. 
• 3:20. The result will be times of refreshing will come. It is quite possible that these words are directed at Israel. If Israel will corporately repent, then God will restore the kingdom to Israel, as the disciples inquired in 1:6. 
• Intrinsic to this refreshing is the sending of Israel's Messiah, the Christ, back from heaven. If Israel will return to God, God will send Jesus back to reign on earth and Israel will experience a time of restoration and "refreshing" (cf. Rom. 11:26-27). Unfortunately, as the book of Acts moves forward, the Jews increasingly reject the good news.
• 3:21. The plan is for Jesus to wait in heaven at God's right hand until the appropriate time for this restoration to take place.
• 3:22-23. Peter understands Deuteronomy 18:18-19 to be a prophecy of Jesus. (It is sometimes speculated that when the Book of the Law/Deuteronomy was discovered during the reign of Josiah in 2 Kings 22:8, this passage could have been understood to be about him.) John 6:14  and 7:14 also seem to identify Jesus with this passage (cf. John 1:21, 25). Did John know Acts?
• Peter's version of the quote does not follow either the Hebrew or Septuagint text exactly.
• Peter's sermon seems to connect the verses in Deuteronomy with the later reign of Jesus after he returns from heaven.
• 3:24. Peter invokes prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament, starting from Samuel. It is not clear whether he means Samuel's anointing of David as king or whether he means the book of Samuel. 2 Samuel 7:14 for example is taken in a spiritual sense to foreshadow Jesus in Hebrews 1:5. Most of the Scripture fulfillments in relation to Jesus are OT passages taken in a "fuller sense."
• 3:25. As in Paul, Acts 3 sees in Genesis 12:3 a foreshadowing of the good news reaching the Gentiles. Peter perhaps foreshadows that as well in this verse. All the families of the earth will be blessed because of the covenant God made with Israel.
• 3:26. The good news is "to the Jew first" (cf. Rom. 1:16), and Israel is first to get a chance to turn from its wickedness. God blessed them by sending his "servant" Jesus to them first. 
• God raised Jesus, his "servant." Once again, the word for servant/son here (pais) evokes the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

Patron videos (now public)

• The Beautiful Gate
• Prophet Like Moses

Videos on English of Acts 3
Acts 3:1-13
Acts 3:14-26

Videos on Greek of Acts 3
Acts 3:1-3
Acts 3:4-6
Acts 3:7-8
Acts 3:9-11
Acts 3:12-13
Acts 3:14-15
Acts 3:16-18
Acts 3:19-21
Acts 3:22-24
Acts 3:25-26

Acts 2 Explanatory Notes

For about 12 weeks now I have been studying Acts. Here are my notes and videos on Acts 1.

And now my notes and videos on Acts 2.

II. Acts 2-7 Jerusalem
A. Acts 2 The Coming of the Spirit

• 2:1. We can assume from Acts 1:14 that these believers have been praying as important context for the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is also significant that they are "together." That is, they are unified.
• 2:2. The word for spirit (pneuma) is related to the word for wind (pnoe). Spirit is something that is blown. The metaphor of "filling" is frequently used with the Holy Spirit, like a cup that is filled.
• 2:3. The idea of tongues of fire is attested by Philo at the event of the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai and we can find in some places an association between Pentecost and Sinai. It is thus at least possible that we should hear new covenant overtones to the Day of Pentecost.
• 2:4. A number of expressions are used in Acts for the event that takes place here--being "filled" with the Spirit, being "baptized" in the Holy Spirit, "receiving" the Holy Spirit. These would all seem to be synonymous expressions. 
• Being filled with the Holy Spirit is an initiatory experience in the book of Acts. That is to say, a person has not truly become part of the people of God until he or she has received the Spirit. This baptism in the Spirit is the means by which one's past sins are cleansed (cf. Acts 15:9). 
• Within the narrative world of Luke-Acts, this event is the fulfillment of Luke 3:16. That is to say, we would introduce foreign elements into Luke's story if we insert John 20:22 here. In the story world of Luke-Acts, this is the first time that the disciples receive the Spirit.
• For Acts, Paul, and Hebrews, receiving the Holy Spirit is the initiatory experience for a Christian. Faith (Paul), repentance (Luke), and confession (John) are important precursors to inclusion in the people of God, but they are not the borderline per se. "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they are not his" (Rom. 8:9). The Holy Spirit is a seal indicating God's ownership of us (2 Cor. 1:22). He is the earnest of our inheritance, serving both as a down payment and guarantee of our salvation (2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5). 
• One is thus not a Christian unless you have received the Holy Spirit, and if you have received the Holy Spirit, you are a Christian. Therefore, in the narrative world of Luke-Acts, the Day of Pentecost is the birth of the church. 
• The primary manifestation of receiving the Holy Spirit is power, as indicated in Acts 1:8. The first manifestation of this power is speaking in languages. These would seem to be human languages in Acts 2. The word for utterance here seems to suggest divinely revealed messages.
• 2:5-6. We should picture this crowd as an overwhelmingly Jewish crowd. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem was a feature of the Judaism of the day, thus the picture of Diaspora Jews from all over the Roman Empire coming at some point to the temple. The volume of the noise from the rushing wind must have been quite spectacular.
• 2:7-11. In these verses we get a sense of how many nations were represented in Jerusalem on feast days. This cross-section of Diaspora Judaism will serve as a conduit for the Jesus movement spreading throughout the world. 
• 2:7. We get an overtone that Galileans were not particularly thought of as likely to speak in so many different languages.
• 2:8. This verse clearly indicates that the languages spoken were human languages and that the use of tongues here served the purpose of evangelism. Although the other instances of tongues speaking do not indicate the nature of the tongues, Acts 2 may tip the scales toward them being human languages in the other instances too.
• Acts never indicates that tongues always accompanied receiving the Holy Spirit. The believers at Samaria are not said to speak in tongues in Acts 8, nor is Paul said to in Acts 9. 
• 2:11. The content of what they were saying seems to have been the "great works of God."
• 2:12-13. There seem to be two basic reactions to the event. Some are perplexed and want to know more. Others immediately reject the spiritual nature of the event and propose that the men are drunk. In other words, some have ears to hear and others do not.
• 2:14-36. This is the first and most important sermon in Acts, giving Peter's response to the crowd. We call the basic gospel message of this sermon the "kerygma," that which is preached. 
• We probably shouldn't think of this sermon as a verbatim. It would be in keeping with the practices of ancient history writing for Luke to summarize, paraphrase, even at times create material for such speeches (cf. Thucydides). 
• 2:14-21. The main parts of the sermon each begin with a word that addresses the crowd. The first is "Men, Jews, and all those dwelling in Jerusalem."
• 2:15. Peter first rejects the claim that they are drunk. It is only 9 in the morning. There may be some implied parallel between being filled with the Spirit and being drunk with wine (Eph. 5:18).
• 2:16-21. Peter offers by contrast that the event is the fulfillment of the words of Joel 2. In the prophets, the Day of the Lord was a day of the Lord's judgment, one that could occur as often as needed. Acts presumably relates this to the Day of the Lord, the final judgment. In that sense, the entire age of the church is syncopated into this moment.
• Language of the moon darkening and the sun turning to blood is eclipse language. It is not clear that Luke foresees a literal eclipse at some time but this is apocalyptic language. He may actually be saying that the Day of Pentecost fulfilled the thrust of those signs.
• 2:17-18. These are key verses indicating that the age of the Spirit is one in which both men and women will preach. Preaching is often a form of prophesying, that is, speaking forth the word that the Lord has given to a particular group of people, a divine utterance. Prophecy is much more "forth-telling" than it is "fore-telling." The Spirit is the great equalizer, and since men and women possess the Spirit in full measure, there is no spiritual activity that is limited to a certain gender or type of person. "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. There is not male and female" (Gal. 3:28).
•  2:21. One of the main themes of Acts is that anyone can now call on the Lord, and anyone who does will be saved. Luke also uses deterministic language but these two types of language should not be connected philosophically as in Calvinism. In keeping with the fatalism of the day, Luke assumes that those who are called have been chosen by God and yet also believes that the gospel is for everyone and anyone merely need call upon God to be saved.
• 2:22-35. These verses focus on Psalm 16:8-11, which Luke uses in conjunction with Psalm 110:1 to indicate that Jesus' resurrection is also the fulfillment of prophecy, just like the day of Pentecost.
• 2:22. Luke's Christology focuses on the empowered humanity of Jesus. In this verse, for example, Jesus is said to be a man whom God endorsed by empowering him to do signs and wonders through the Holy Spirit. In this sense Jesus the man gives us an example of what is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:23. One feature of the sermons of Acts, of which this one is the most important and central one, is that the enemies of Christ did not prevail. Jesus' death was in accordance with the foreknowledge and plan of God.
• 2:24. The climax of every sermon in Acts except one (Stephen's sermon--he is stoned to death before he can get to this part of the sermon) is the statement that "God raised him from the dead." Notice again that the agency is that of God the Father rather than Jesus himself.
• 2:25-28. Here is the quote of Psalm 16. 
• 2:25. The Greek version of Psalm 16:8 differs a little from the Hebrew. The Hebrew reads, "I put the LORD" but the Greek reads, "I foresaw." While Peter might have known some Greek, it seems more likely that he would have spoken Aramaic on the Day of Pentecost, suggesting that Luke is at the very least making Peter's sermon conform to the text in which his audience would have read the psalm. 
• More importantly, this different wording leads Luke's Peter to see these words as a prophecy by the psalmist, understood to be David, rather than a statement about the psalmist himself, as it likely was in its original meaning.
• 2:26. The version Luke's Peter quotes in 2:26 also follows the Septuagint with the expression "in hope" rather than the likely Hebrew, "securely." 
• 2:29-31. Now Peter gives a spiritual interpretation of the psalm. The original psalmist was likely expressing his confidence that God was going to save him from dying. Luke's Peter takes the psalm spiritually to mean that God would not leave the Messiah dead.
• 2:32. An apostle is of course someone who is sent, but in Acts the apostles were sent with a very clear task to give witness to the resurrection. In the vast majority of cases in the New Testament, an apostle is someone to whom the risen Christ has appeared, who has been sent to witness to his resurrection, which means to witness to his Lordship.
• 2:33. There are a number of places where the Gospel of John seems to echo themes in Acts, making us wonder if John had read Acts. Here we see a theme that John will develop in the later part of John. Jesus ascends to heaven and then sends the Holy Spirit.
• 2:34-35. Here we have a foundational interpretation of Psalm 110:1 for the early church, one that may have been central to early Christian understanding of the resurrection. Jesus' resurrection is understood to be a cosmic enthronement whereby Jesus is exalted to God's right hand in the highest heaven. 
• The key to this interpretation is to see "my Lord" as David referring to the Messiah. In the original meaning, the psalmist was probably referring to an earthly king. In the spiritual interpretation, YHWH speaks to the Messiah.
• 2:36. Here is the final climax of the sermon. Jesus has been enthroned as Lord and Messiah. God "has made him." They crucified him. God enthroned him. The timing of the enthronement in context is post resurrection. Thus we might say that Jesus was heir apparent up to this point, but then is seated on the throne after his resurrection, ascension, and exaltation. This is the "session" of Christ.
• 2:37-41. Here we have the response to Peter's sermon. We should note that the boldness of Peter to preach is one of the manifestations of the power that has come on him because of the filling of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:37. The crowd has the response. Upon realizing that they have participated in the crucifixion of their own Messiah, they want to turn and see restoration.
• 2:38. This verse unfolds how to call on the name of the Lord. First one repents or turns from one's self-destructive path. Repentance is a major feature of Luke's theology (as opposed to Paul's, who hardly mentions it). Then one believes or exercises faith. The crucial moment, however, is when one receives the Holy Spirit. This is the moment when one actually becomes part of the people of God, is cleansed of one's past sins, and is going to be saved on the Day of the Lord.
• 2:39. The promise is first for the Jews. In Acts 10 we will learn it is for the Gentiles as well.
• 2:40. By contrast, the generation of which they are a part is "crooked" and destined for destruction.
• 2:41. About 3000 people respond positively to the message and join the Jesus movement.
• 2:42-47. These verses give us an idyllic picture of the earliest church, and Luke wants us to see this picture as the ideal. He is not merely describing the early church. The evaluative point of view of Acts is entirely positive toward this picture.
• 2:42. This community involves teaching and teaching by the apostles. The source of their teaching is presumably the Holy Spirit, although they have also been apprentices of Jesus.
• Community life involves fellowship (koinonia) and prayer. The importance of fellowship should not be underestimated. The breaking of bread suggests a level of mutual approval and intimacy.
• 2:43. The apostles performed miracles, which brought a fear at the seriousness of the power of the Spirit. It is interesting that it is not suggested that all the believers performed miracles.
• 2:44-45. There was a communal aspect of the early church. Those who had more possessions than they needed sold them and gave them to others who had need. The sense probably is not that they sold everything, although it is possible that some did. Those who think the Lord will return immediately or soon sometimes rashly do such things. The sense is probably more that they shared their excess with those in need. In other words, the early church behaved as a family, and they helped each other out accordingly.
• 2:46. They continued to pray at the temple. We get no sense that they realized the temple was going to be destroyed. Indeed, if Acts 21:24 suggests they continued to participate in the sacrificial system, perhaps implying that they did not yet understand the full scope of Christ's atoning death.
• Again we see the centrality of fellowship and eating in each other's homes. The church is a new family.
• 2:47. New people were being saved daily. The sense is not one of "progressive salvation," as if we are gradually being saved. Rather, people were being saved daily, one by one, salvation event by event.
• They also held favor with the people. Under peaceful circumstances, non-believers should respect and admire believers for their wholesome and peace-loving nature.

Patrons videos (now available)
Tongues
Hermeneutics of Psalm 16 and 110:1
Spirit-Fillings in Acts

Videos on English of Acts 2
Acts 2:1-13
Acts 2:14-23
Acts 2:24-36
Acts 2:37-47

Videos on Greek of Acts 2
Acts 2:1-2
Acts 2:3-4
Acts 2:5-6
Acts 2:7-11
Acts 2:12-13
Acts 2:14-15
Acts 2:16-17
Acts 2:18-19
Acts 2:20-21
Acts 2:22-23
Acts 2:24-25
Acts 2:26-28
Acts 2:29-30
Acts 2:31-33
Acts 2:34-35
Acts 2:36-38
Acts 2:39-40
Acts 2:41-42
Acts 2:43-45
Acts 2:46-47

Explanatory Notes on Acts (chapter 1)

I have completed explanatory notes on Romans, Galatians (see also here), Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Hebrews. I have been doing videos on Acts now for five weeks going verse by verse in Greek and doing overviews on Sundays. Links to those videos for Acts 1 are at the bottom. Now that I am done with Acts 1, here are some written explanatory notes.

Acts 1: Introduction
A. Preface
1:1-5

• 1:1. Acts has the same recipient as Luke, Theophilus. He is called "most excellent Theophilus" in Luke, possibly suggesting that he is a Roman official or certainly someone of importance. 
• We wonder if he is a patron who commissioned Luke to write this two volume series. Such works were of course meant for broader consumption and brought honor to the patron.
• Luke told about the things Jesus began to do and teach, possibly suggesting that Acts will tell us things that Jesus continued to do and teach through the Holy Spirit.
• 1:2-3. We now hear about forty days between Jesus' resurrection and ascension, a unique feature in Acts. We do not even get the impression of forty days in Luke 24. 
• During these days he presented convincing proofs of his resurrection to his followers.
• 1:4. They are told to stay in Jerusalem. The centrality of Jerusalem to the mission is a key feature of Acts.
• 1:5. Within the world of Luke-Acts, the Holy Spirit has not yet come. (We might think of John 20:22 as John's version of Pentecost). The coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is thus the fulfillment of Jesus' promise in Luke 3:16. In the story world of Acts, therefore, we should not think of the disciples as yet filled with the Holy Spirit.

B. Getting Ready for Mission
1:6-26

• 1:6-11. These verses present the ascension of Jesus to heaven, forty days after his resurrection.
• 1:6. These verses make it clear that the disciples had been expecting a political messiah. They did not expect Jesus as messiah to die, nor did they expect the resurrection. But now that he was resurrected, they returned to their former understanding. Was Jesus now going to restore Israel as a free political entity?
• 1:7. Jesus does not contradict their expectation, only their timing. Luke-Acts seems to view this current age as the "time of the Gentiles" (cf. Luke 21:24), much as Paul seems to view this current phase of history in Romans 9-11. It is not time for Jerusalem to be free in God's economy.
• 1:8. This is arguably the key verse of Acts. On the one hand, it basically maps the rest of Acts. They witness in Jerusalem in Acts 1-7, in Judea and Samaria in Acts 8-12, and to the ends of the earth (=Rome) in Acts 13-28.
• The key manifestation of the Holy Spirit in Acts is "power," especially power for witness. What they are witnessing to is the resurrection of Christ, and an apostle in Acts, more than anything else, is someone to whom the risen Christ has appeared bodily and who has accordingly been commissioned to go and testify to his risen lordship.
• The power they receive manifests itself in boldness, in the performance of miracles, and tongues on several occasions at the moment of receiving the Holy Spirit.
• 1:9. God meets us where we are so that we can understand. Our understanding is always partial and generally fallen. Accordingly, God's revelation is usually partial and accommodates our understandings. The truth of God is always bigger than our understanding, so revelation tends to the metaphorical and figurative, so it can point beyond itself. Most of us cannot make ourselves believe that the world is flat and that heaven is straight up through layers of sky, yet this was the worldview of the disciples. Jesus meets them within their understanding. He ascends and when he is out of their sight, presumably transfers to whatever dimension heaven is in.
• 1:10-11. The two men, presumably angels, predict the second coming of Christ, which we still await.
• 1:12-26. These verses deal primarily with the replacement of Judas in the ten days between Jesus' ascension and the Day of Pentecost.
• 1:12-14. The disciples return to Jerusalem from Mt. Olives, the location of Jesus' ascension.
• 1:12. A sabbath's journey was about a half mile. The Mount of Olives was directly east across the Kidron Valley from the Eastern Gate, with the temple immediately inside. 
• 1:13. Here we have Luke's second listing of the disciples. It differs from Matthew and Mark's list in having Judas son of James instead of Thaddeus (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18).
• 1:14. Two of the special emphases of Luke are indicated in this verse. First, Luke pays more attention to the role women played in the Jesus movement and the early church. Second, Luke emphasizes the role that prayer played in the life of Jesus and the early church.
• 1:15-26. Here we have the replacement of Judas proper.
• 1:15. The canonical New Testament texts remember Peter as the lead apostle. Here he takes the lead on the replacement of Judas.
• Although it is tempting to see this upper room as the Cenacle you can visit today, that part of Jerusalem was thoroughly burnt when Rome burned the city in AD70. It is thus unlikely to be the precise structure, at least not in its current form.
• Luke suggests that the kernel of the early church consisted of about 120 people in Jerusalem. A room big enough to hold this many people would need to be the home of a fairly wealthy person. This home could be that of John Mark's parents, Mary and perhaps Cleopas.
• 1:16. Peter understands David to have written the psalms. This was the understanding of the time and God met the early church within this understanding. Internal evidence suggests that David did not write all of the psalms that have that heading, as we will see in 1:20. This is not the point of the revelation here, however, but rather the cultural understanding within which the revelation came.
• More important is the fact that the Holy Spirit is the one through whom revelation comes. The Holy Spirit has revealed to Peter that God wants them to replace Judas.
• 1:18-19. Luke's account of what happened to Judas and the blood money differs a little from Matthew's. Both agree that Judas received money from betraying Jesus. Both agree that the money was used to purchase a field called Akeldama. Both agree that Judas met a gruesome end. 
• However, in Matthew 27:3-10, Judas tries to return the blood money and the chief priests buy the field. Then Judas hangs himself. In Acts 1, Judas buys the field, falls headlong, and his bowels gush forth. The impulse to harmonize is probably misguided. There was room for some artistic license in ancient history writing and we can actually miss the inspired point if we don't let narratives stand as they are. If varying accounts are easily coordinated, by all means do it. But when it requires going well beyond what the texts actually say, it is best to let each stand alone. 
• 1:20. The Lord spoke to Peter, Luke, or someone in the early church through Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8. As is always the case, these psalms had an original meaning in their original context. The New Testament authors then hear the Holy Spirit give an extended or spiritual meaning to the words that goes beyond the original meaning.
• In the case of Psalm 69, an original psalm of lament and imprecatory psalm was widely read by the early Christians in relation to Jesus. However, in Psalm 69:5, the psalmist speaks of the wrongs he did, making it clear that the original meaning was not about Jesus, since Jesus was without sin. Yet several verses from the psalm were applied to Jesus by the early Christians, such as the "zeal for your house" verse (69:9) and the vinegar of 69:21. Like the Holy Spirit does to many Christians today, he "quickened" these verses to the early Christians in relation to Christ, even though the original psalm was not about Christ. 
• Further, the internal evidence of the psalm more likely suggests an original context in the late 500s BC rather than the time of David. The cities of Judah were not destroyed in the time of David (69:35), nor was the house of the Lord built yet (69:9). But we can easily see a Haggai or Zechariah having zeal for God's house and for the rebuilding of Judah around the year 516BC.
• In one translation of Psalm 109:8 (NRSV), the person whose place is being called for replacement is not that of the wicked person. Rather, the wicked are calling for the place of the righteous to be replaced. None of these observations should bother us, although they are a much needed corrective to the standard evangelical insistence that the Holy Spirit only speaks through the original meaning of biblical texts. The Holy Spirit, it would seem, is far more a holiness or Pentecostal interpreter than a neo-evangelical one!
• 1:21-22. The qualifications for a replacement for Judas are that the person must have been with Jesus from the time of John's baptism. The apostle Paul thus did not qualify. There was an innermost circle of apostles, the twelve, in which Paul did not fit. 
• Of course we must also keep in mind the principle that "description is not prescription." That is to say, Acts may be describing what Peter thought--describing what happened--without prescribing this definition for an apostle. It would seem, however, that this is Luke's perspective, the "evaluative point of view" of the book of Acts at this point.
• 1:23-26. They cast lots to decide on the replacement, and it falls on Matthias. Here is probably a point where we would all agree that description is not prescription. Casting lots may be how they decided such things but we probably should not use that method, unless Luke means simply to say that they voted.
• 1:23. This is the only place where these two individuals are mentioned, a reminder that we know only the tiniest bit of the life of the early church.
• 1:24. We note again the importance of prayer in Acts.

Patron Videos (now public)

• Luke's Eschatology of Israel and messianic expectation at the time of Christ
• Zealots
• Luke's hermeneutic of Psalm 69 and 109
• Psalm 109:6

Videos on English of Acts 1
Acts 1:1-5
Acts 1:6-11
Acts 1:12-17
Acts 1:18-20
Acts 1:21-26

Videos on Greek of Acts 1
Acts 1:1
Acts 1:2
Acts 1:3
Acts 1:4
Acts 1:5
Acts 1:6
Acts 1:7
Acts 1:8
Acts 1:9-10
Acts 1:11
Acts 1:12
Acts 1:13-14
Acts 1:15
Acts 1:16
Acts 1:17
Acts 1:18
Acts 1:19
Acts 1:20
Acts 1:21-22
Acts 1:23
Acts 1:24
Acts 1:25
Acts 1:26