April 10th, 2021

You probably know that the season of Easter continues after Easter Sunday, and perhaps you also already know that, during the Easter season, the first of the three readings for each Sunday comes from the book of Acts instead of the Old Testament. This will continue until the Day of Pentecost, when the second reading, instead of coming from the Epistles, will come from the second chapter of Acts.

The Old Testament is certainly an important part of the Bible, but the book of Acts is also important. The title of this blog, ‘A Sabbath Day’s Journey’, meaning a short ‘journey’ with a few words of scripture, is a phrase that comes from the book of Acts. And that description, in a way, connects both testaments together.

The decision for the early church to start writing the New Testament was certainly a significant one. They just experienced the One who, as promised, would crush the serpent’s head [Genesis 3:15]. This was also the One who would follow the messenger, John the Baptist, the ‘way-preparer’ [Malachi 3:1]. The entire Old Testament, basically from beginning to end, spoke of this Jesus, this Savior. How could they NOT write something down?

Imagine, though, if one chapter in Acts would have the following description:

And the remaining apostles all got together and decided that Matthew should write one account about Jesus, that Mark—with the help of Peter—should write another, etc.

I think that, with such a text, there would be too much of a focus on both the apostles and the writers. And the texts would end up becoming history lessons.

There is, instead, a lot of focus on action in Acts. That point should be clearly made, despite how obvious that may be from the title. But, along with that, there is a correspondingly small focus on writing. And the combination of both those things, working together, may help the reader or listener to focus ultimately on Jesus.

The book of Acts, actually called the Acts of the Apostles, may also be thought of the Acts of the risen and ascended Lord among his people. To be more specific, the final words of the book describe this happening in Rome through the mouth of Saint Paul: He was…

proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness unhindered [Acts 28:31].

The way in which the Acts of the Apostles has a small focus on writing may be an interesting aspect upon which to contemplate. In today’s society, communication by actions is seen as more important than communication by words. It may be helpful to see the great value in words once again, and, in this case, the value of written words. You may have a lot of thoughts in your brain, but when there’s a thought that you are willing to take the time and write it down, that action makes that thought quite important. And although there are a few written words in front of you, they are important, and all words are very important. They were very important, literally, from day one.

The book of Acts starts out with an interesting focus, not on writing, but definitely on Jesus. Here is a somewhat-literal translation:
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The first word I made concerning all things, O Theophilus, which the Jesus began both to do and to teach, until which the day having given orders to the apostles, whom he chose, through Holy Spirit, he was taken up…[Acts 1:1-2].

The Gospel according to Luke, according to the above statement, is only a word that describes what Jesus BEGAN to do. This is similar to the Gospel according to Mark with its description at the start of the ‘beginning of the gospel’. This two-fold emphasis on Jesus and the beginning of his work may be the reason that there are so many emphases on various actions and so few on writing within Acts.

Here is a very brief overview of written things in Acts (but perhaps you would like to study this more on your own):

There, of course, is an obvious emphasis on the writings of the Old Testament. This is seen almost immediately in Acts 1[:16] with a fulfillment of something in the Old Testament. In 1:20, Peter says that something is WRITTEN in the Psalms. (A lot of the other quotations from the Old Testament are described in SPOKEN terms. See Acts 2:16, 25, 31, 34; 3:18, 22; 4:25, etc.) Again, with the speech of Stephen to the Sanhedrin, there is talk about what was written in the prophets, specifically Amos [Acts 7:42], and Saint Paul makes the same point in his word of exhortation, the first of his quotations, this time also from the Psalms [Acts 13:33]. The next time a written Old Testament passage is given is during the Jerusalem Council, and James is quoting from the prophets, again from Amos [Acts 15:15].
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Another obvious emphasis is when letters are included within the text of this book. This happens twice within this book. The second time this happens is at Acts 23:25, and it is interesting that, right before the letter, there is this phrase: ‘…writing a letter, having this pattern….’ I would suggest you not trust the content of THAT letter! The first time is the most famous time, at the Jerusalem Council, and there is no indication there this is a pattern or type [see Acts 15:23]. At the Jerusalem Council is where they are dealing with the gospel, and that is a most-important topic.