Page 27 - New Testament Survey Student Textbook

Study Section 3: Acts: The Beginning and Growth of the Church

3.1 Connect.
Often times, we enjoy privileges and benefits of the sweat and blood of the passionate,
dedicated, sacrificial, and hard-working men who go before us without realizing their input and
purpose. As a result, we kill their cause, we silence their cry, we take for granted the fruit of
their labor. This is why we need to know and appreciate history. The book of Acts gives us the
history of the birth of the church, the sacrifices, attitudes, and goals of our founding fathers.
Looking at their lives and obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit will teach us how we can live as
Christians in the 21 Century.
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3.2 Objectives

1. The student shall be able to identify the author of the book of Acts.

2. The student shall be able to locate when the book was written.

3. The student shall be able to discuss the recipients of the book.

4. The student shall be able to restate the structure of the book of Acts.

5. The student shall be able to recite the themes and purposes to which the witnesses testified.

6. The student shall be able to react to the impact of the book of Acts.

7. The student shall be able to name the key passages in Acts

8. The student shall be able to recite the key words of the book of Acts

9. The student shall be able to recite key verses in Acts

3.3 Acts of the Apostles

Author: Luke, the physician and traveling companion of Paul, wrote two vol. Luke-Acts.
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External Evidence: early and unchallenged from 2 c. to end of the 19 c.
Muratorian Canon; Irenaeus Adv. Haer. 3.1; 3.14.1-4; anti-Marcionite prologue to Luke;
Clement of Alexandria Strom. 5.12; Tertullian Adv. Marc. 4.2; Eusebius H.E. 3.4; 3.24; 15.

Internal Evidence
The author is anonymous. However, Lk 1:1-4 and Acts 1:1 indicate a two-volume work by one author,
using same vocabulary and style. The LXX quoted; knowledgeable traveler; a well-educated Gentile?
Christian, not an eyewitness or apostle. The “We-passages” indicate that the author was a participant in
part of the narrative (16:10-17 [Troas to Philippi]; 20:5-21:18 [Philippi to Miletus to Jerusalem]; 27:1-
28:16 [voyage to Rome]). Luke is mentioned in Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24 (later 2 Tim 4:11). Luke was
present in Rome with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment, which concludes the last we-passage.

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