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Introduction to the Acts of the Apostles

Doctor Luke wrote the first church history as a sequel to his gospel. He did not himself give the name “Acts of the Apostles” to his work, but the name came later. In a certain sense, the name is misleading, because in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke by no means tells us about the activities of all the apostles, but focuses on Peter and Paul. But even these two are not the main characters of Acts. The real purpose of the book is to describe the work of the Holy Spirit in spreading the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the world.

Luke tells us about the events between 30 and 60 AD. We understand that the account cannot be completely detailed—if the text were evenly distributed, there would be about one chapter per year—but Luke focuses on describing certain important events. At times, even long periods of time are omitted or described very briefly (compare Acts 19:10-12).

Luke has told about the gospel spreading in one direction: from Jerusalem to Europe; instead, other directions – the East, Africa and the North – are left aside.

We could divide the Acts of the Apostles “geographically” like this:
Acts 1-7 - Events in Jerusalem
Acts 8-12 - Events in Samaria, Galilee and Syria
Acts 13-14 - First missionary journey – Cyprus and present-day eastern Turkey
Acts 15: 1-33 - Jerusalem meeting
Acts 15:34-18:18 - Second missionary journey – present-day western Turkey and Greece
Acts 18:19-21:27 - Third missionary journey
Acts 21:27-26:32 - Paul's imprisonment in Palestine
Acts 27-28 - Sea voyage to Rome

Thus, by the end of the Acts of the Apostles, the gospel has reached the center of the world at that time, Rome. It is good for Luke to end his description there.

Luke apparently wrote the Acts of the Apostles in the 70s or 80s. The place of writing is a matter of speculation.

The end times begin

Luke divides salvation history into three periods:

1. The time of promise and expectation

- from creation to the coming of Christ to earth
- the Savior promised by God, the Messiah, was expected
- the Old Testament tells

2. The center of time, God on earth

- the promises are fulfilled
- the time of Jesus' earthly ministry
- the Gospel of Luke tells

3. The time of the end, the time of the church, the time of the Holy Spirit

- from Pentecost to the second coming of Jesus
- the time of the world mission, the time of preaching the gospel
- the Acts of the Apostles tells the beginning

These periods are followed by a fourth period – which, however, is no longer strictly salvation history: the time of heavenly bliss and final salvation, or eternal perdition.

When we read the first chapter of Acts, we stand at the crossroads of the second and third chapters. Only in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles is Pentecost and the beginning of the time of the Holy Spirit told.

So we are not starting to study some boring history book, but we are beginning to learn how the Holy Spirit of God spread the gospel of salvation from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. That work is still ongoing, so we can say that we are living in Acts chapter 29.