Links
Exodus linked with Acts – 40 days and 50 days; deliverance from bondage of Egypt and the Law; the 3,000 slain or saved; Bezaleel and believers filled with the Spirit; increase, multiply, fruitful; Moses and Paul (both received blueprint); Acts 12 and Passover background (gates yield like Red Sea, Pharaoh and Herod slain).
Luke – author
The Perfect Man and His growth; growth and development of the Church. Note the parallels – birth, favor, hostility, imprisonment at the end.
Layout – several different outlines:
A. Peter (chs. 1-12) / Paul (chs.13-28)
- Sermon (ch.2) / Sermon (ch.13)
- Lame healed (ch.3) / Lame healed (ch.14)
- Sorcerer (ch.8) / Elymas the sorcerer (ch.15)
- Influence of shadow (ch.15) / Influence of handkerchief (ch.19)
- Worshiped (ch.10) / Worshiped (ch.14)
- Raised (ch.9) / Raised (ch.20)
- Prison (ch.12) / Prison (ch.28)
B. Progress Reports of the Acts
2:47; 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20; 28:30-31
C. David Gooding’s Division
- Christianity and Restoration of All (1:1-6:7)
- Christianity and Spiritual Worship and Witness (6:8-9:31)
- Christianity and Sanctification (9:32-12:24)
- Christianity and Doctrine of Salvation (12:25-16:5)
- Christianity and the Secular World (16:6-19:20)
- Christianity and the Sovereign God (19:21-28:31)
D. The Common and Perhaps Simplest Outline
- Jerusalem – Institution of the Church and the local church
- Judea – Influence of the gospel on others
- Samaria – Invasion of the gospel into new areas
- Uttermost Parts of the Earth
A is based on persons; B is based on growth; C is based on doctrinal progress; D is based on geographic spread of the gospel. Reminds us that the Book of Acts is historical, geographic, doctrinal, dispensational.
Location
Follows the Gospels and answers:
- Matthew – Will the King reign?
- Mark – Is the work of the Servant hindered?
- Luke – Is grace frustrated?
- John – Will the Son be honored?
Locale
There is the overriding prominence of the Roman world, but we see the Jewish world as well as the Greek world intersecting here. This society did not believe in resurrection – Athenians scoffed at it; Sadducees did not believe in it; Agrippa thought it incredible. Epicureans believed that everything was made of atoms and held to a theory of evolution. So the doctrine which the early evangelists proclaimed was not popular. Yet Paul did not water down divine truth.
Light
- Transition from Israel to the Church
- Handbook on Evangelism (22 sermons)
- Dynamic for Church Order and Practice
- Seed Plot for the Epistles
Language
- Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit
- In the OT, God is prominent
- In the Gospels, Christ is actively intervening
- Acts and Present Age – Spirit of God intervening and present on earth; we see His activity, authority, adequacy for the great work of world evangelism.
Lessons
- Christ: His resurrection (7x), His Redemptive Work (exclusive), His Reign (8x)
- Church: Pattern, Prayer (20x), Preaching, Problems and the blessing when they were resolved spiritually
- Christian: Prison scenes, Potential, Prayer (1:14,24; 2:42; 3:1; 4:24-31; 6:4,6; 7:59; 8:15; 9:11,40; 10:9; 12:5,12; 13:3; 14:23; 16:13,16,25; 20:36; 21:5; 22:17; 27:35; 28:8)
