Overview of the Book of Acts

So the overview of the week for this Sunday is the book of Acts or the Acts of the

Apostles. That's the full name. Luke is the author and this is basically part two since it picks up where the gospel of Luke leaves off.

The theme of Acts has been described as the history of the early church or first century missions.

It was written around 60 AD and this is the fifth book of the New Testament. Some have suggested that it be called the

Acts of the Holy Spirit since it tells the story of the Christian Church now empowered by the

Holy Ghost after the day of Pentecost and how the Christian message because of the

Spirit's work started to spread throughout the Roman Empire. Now the thing to know about the book of Acts is that it is a transitional book.

There is the transition from Old Covenant to New Covenant and there is the transition from Israel to now the church which is made up of mostly

Gentiles and the book addresses this question of how the Jewish Messiah could have a church that's mostly made up of non -Jews and of course the answer to that is that the majority of the

Jewish people and certainly their leaders rejected Jesus as their Messiah.

In the book of Acts it's mainly the Jewish authorities and the mob that's persecuting the

Apostles and because of that and because Peter and the rest of the Apostles remained in Jerusalem the

Lord then called Saul of Tarsus also known as Paul to be his disciple to the

Gentiles. Peter is the main figure in chapters 1 through 12 but Paul is the main figure after that chapters 13 through 28.

Luke is basically acting as a historian of the early church and Acts serves as a bridge from the

Gospels to the Epistles. So in conclusion the key verse of the book of Acts I would say is found in chapter 1 verse 8 where Jesus says to the disciples but you shall receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all

Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.