Author : Keith Sharp
Bible Survey : Lesson Nineteen (Acts)
Shortly before Jesus Christ ascended to His Father He had commanded His apostles “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the” baptism with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5). He had previously promised not to leave them as orphans but to send the Holy Spirit to replace Himself as their Helper (John 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-15).
They asked Him if He would restore the kingdom to Israel at that time. He would not give them a time line, but He gave them the key to know when the kingdom would be established by coupling the beginning of the kingdom with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them. In harmony with the Great Commission, their job was to be witnesses of His resurrection from Jerusalem “to the end of the earth.”
While the apostles waited in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they selected Matthias to take the place of Judas as an apostle.
Jerusalem
Ten days after the Lord went back to heaven, on the day of Pentecost, when many thousands of Jews were gathered in Jerusalem from around the world, the Holy Spirit did indeed come upon the apostles. The apostle Peter took the leading role as speaker. He proved to His audience that Jesus is the Lord by appealing to the evidence of the miracles Christ performed, His fulfillment of prophecy, and His resurrection from the dead, of which the apostles were witnesses. He commanded them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Those “who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand” became disciples of Christ.
This band of disciples all remained in Jerusalem and were taught daily by the apostles. They worshiped together regularly and gave their money to the apostles to share with the disciples who were in need.
On that memorable Pentecost, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the powerful preaching of the gospel, and the faith and obedience of three thousand souls, the gospel of salvation through Christ was first preached, the kingdom of God was established on earth in the hearts of those who accepted the gospel message by faith, repentance, confession, and baptism, and the church of Christ, His body of saved people, was begun.
From that point on, for the following thirty years recorded in the book of Acts, we read how the gospel was carried by apostles, prophets, and evangelists to the whole world, how many people became disciples of Christ, and how the church – those who were saved – lived, worshiped, worked, and were organized.
At first the disciples were confined to Jerusalem. There, through the preaching of the apostles, their number grew spectacularly. They overcame threats and persecution by the Jewish council and sin and social divisions within.
Stephen aroused opposition from a synagogue of Jewish proselytes through his preaching. They brought him before the council to be tried on false charges. His defense, in which he proved to the Jewish rulers that they were continuing Israel’s history of rebellion against God by rejecting Christ, so enraged the Jewish leaders that these respected jurists became an angry lynch mob. They rushed Stephen outside the city and stoned him to death. A highly respected young Jew named Saul of Tarsus took part in this horrible crime by holding the coats of those who cast stones at Stephen.
Judea and Samaria
After the death of Stephen a great persecution of the disciples by the Jews broke out in Jerusalem. Saul fervently took the lead in trying to eradicate all disciples of Jesus.
All the disciples except the apostles fled Jerusalem, many undoubtedly returning to their far away homes, carrying the gospel with them to these remote places. Luke, the author of Acts, relates how, at this time, the gospel was spread to Samaria, Ethiopia, throughout Judea, and to Antioch, the third largest city in the Roman Empire.
As Saul was on his way to Damascus to arrest disciples and return them to Jerusalem for trial, the Lord appeared to him in a vision. He instructed Saul to go into Damascus to be told what to do. The Lord sent Ananias to Saul, and Ananias instructed him, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Saul not only became a disciple, he also became an apostle of Christ. He turned his fervor from trying to destroy the church to being the most zealous apostle.
The disciples to this point were all Jews or Jewish proselytes. They had not understood that salvation through Christ is for all people. So the Lord sent Peter to Cornelius, a godly Roman centurion, to preach the gospel to him, his family, and his friends. The Holy Spirit came upon this Gentile audience in the same manner He had come upon the apostles on Pentecost. Thus, the disciples learned that God accepts all people of every nation, race, and language on the same basis, and that we must do the same.
The church in Antioch was now growing. Barnabas and Saul began working together here teaching the disciples. It was at this time in Antioch that disciples of Christ first received the name “Christians.”
Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great who sought to kill the infant Jesus, was at this time King over Judea. He decided to please the Jews by persecuting disciples of the Lord. Thus he killed the apostle James. When he saw this pleased the Jewish people, he arrested Peter, intending to have him murdered during the Passover celebration. But an angel of the Lord released Peter from prison. After this Herod died a horrible, disgusting death.
To the End of the Earth
Paul’s First Journey
As Saul, Barnabas, and other prophets were teaching in Antioch, the Holy Spirit instructed them to send out Barnabas and Saul. They traveled to Cyprus and preached across that island. Here Saul began to be called “Paul.” Then they traveled to Southern Asia Minor, to Antioch of Pisidia, preaching to both Jews and Gentiles there, and at Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Everywhere Paul and Barnabas preached, unbelieving Jews persecuted them.
After the preachers had been in Derbe, they returned through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, and appointed elders in each church. The organization God has given to His people is independent, local congregations with elders overseeing each church.
Paul and Barnabas then returned to Antioch of Syria from where they had been sent out and reported their work to the church.
Controversy Over the Law
After Paul and Barnabas had been at Antioch a long time, some men came there from Jerusalem teaching that Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. This would have made the church just another Jewish sect, and it was the most important issue the beginning church faced. Paul and Barnabas disputed with these men, but the brethren at Antioch sent them to Jerusalem to see what the apostles and brethren in Jerusalem taught. The apostles and elders of the church in Jerusalem came together to discuss the matter, then, along with Paul and Barnabas, and after the other side presented their views, gave their conclusion and the reasons for it to the congregation in Jerusalem. The apostles, elders, and church agreed that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised or keep the law but that they had to abstain from the sinful Gentile practices of fornication and idolatry. They sent a letter with this proclamation by apostolic authority to other congregations. This letter, contained in Acts 15:23-29 and sent out about A.D. 50, is probably the earliest portion of New Testament Scripture.
Paul’s Second Journey
Soon after Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, they decided to set out on another preaching trip. They strongly disagreed over whether they should take John Mark, so they decided to work separately. Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus, whereas Paul and Silas set out by land through Syria and Cilicia.
As Paul and Silas journeyed through Iconium, young Timothy joined them. In Troas the physician Luke, author of Luke and Acts, entered the traveling company.
By divine call, they passed by several areas in Asia Minor and sailed across the Aegean Sea to Philippi in Macedonia. The evangelists preached in Philippi, the first recorded example of the gospel being preached in Europe, and began a congregation there and in Thessalonica and Berea. Then they traveled into Achaia, where Paul preached in Athens and then in Corinth, where he remained a year and a half. From there Paul journeyed to Jerusalem, then returned to Antioch of Syria.
Paul’s Third Journey
Paul did not remain in Antioch long but soon retraced his steps through Galatia and Phrygia strengthening the disciples. He came to the great Asian city of Ephesus and remained for over two years. From there he went through Macedonia and Greece again.
On this third journey Paul was taking a contribution from Gentile congregations for the needy Christians in Jerusalem. This would encourage the Jewish disciples to love their Gentile brethren.
Then the apostle sailed back across the Aegean and stopped first at Troas, then at Miletus. At Miletus he summoned the elders of the church at Ephesus and delivered to them a stirring address that summarized the work of elders and of preachers.
Though he was warned by prophets that he faced imprisonment in Jerusalem, Paul pressed on to Tyre, Ceasarea, and finally Jerusalem. There he and the messengers of the churches delivered the contribution from Gentile churches to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
Prison in Jerusalem
Unbelieving Jews used the occasion of Paul being in the Temple with other Jews to incite a riot and to try to kill Paul. Paul was rescued by Roman soldiers, but, though Paul tried to appeal to the Jews by relating on the guard house steps his own witness to Christ, they would not listen, but continued to riot, and the Roman commander put Paul in prison.
The following day the commander took Paul before the Jewish council, hoping to learn why they wanted to kill Paul. But this august body dissolved into a shouting match between factions, and the commander had to rescue Paul again.
Prison in Caesarea
The Roman commander learned of a desperate attempt to assassinate Paul, so, under heavy guard, he took Paul by night to the Roman headquarters at Caesarea. There Paul appeared before the Roman governor Felix and defended himself from the accusations of Tertullus, a lawyer hired by the Jews.
Felix deferred a judgment and later heard Paul speak concerning the faith. He conversed often with the apostle, hoping to receive a bribe for Paul’s release. Of course, Paul wouldn’t do this, so after two years, when Festus replaced Felix as governor, Paul was still in prison.
Festus tried to gain favor with the Jews by asking Paul to go to Jerusalem for trial. Paul knew this would mean his death, so he exercised the right he had as a Roman citizen, and appealed his case to Caesar himself.
Festus now was obligated to send Paul to Rome to appear before Caesar, but he was in the embarrassing situation of having no charges to send with him. He was then visited by King Agrippa, son of Herod Agrippa I who had murdered the apostle James, and Agrippa’s sister, Bernice. Festus knew King Agrippa understood the affairs of the Jews, so he asked the king to hear Paul, to which King Agrippa agreed.
To this noble audience the apostle simply related the story of his own conversion to Christ and even appealed to King Agrippa to become a Christian.
Journey to Rome
Paul the prisoner was sent by ship across the Mediterranean Sea toward Rome for trial. The ship encountered a fierce winter storm and, after many days of hopeless drifting, was wrecked on the island of Malta. In fulfillment of an angelic promise to Paul, all 276 passengers were saved. After three months Paul was put aboard another ship to Italy.
Prison in Rome
Paul was given special privileges as a prisoner in Rome and allowed to live in a rented house with a Roman guard. He spoke to the chief Jews of the city, received visitors, and even managed to convert some within the Roman guard and the household of Nero, the Emperor at that time.
After two years imprisonment in Rome, the inspired history of Acts comes to a close. By this time the Christians had fulfilled the Great Commission and had taken the gospel to the world (Mark 16:15; Colossians 1:5-6,23).
