The OG on the Book of Acts

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On Mondays, for the next few months I will write an Interruption in summary of one book of the New Testament. Today it’s the OG version (Old Guy—that’s me) of the Book of Acts.

The Book of Acts is formally entitled The Acts of the Apostles, which bothers me because the book mostly features the Apostle Paul.  

Some commentators believe the name should be The Book of Acts of the Holy Spirit, but the preeminent role after Jesus is the church, and Jesus commissioned all of us to go in the power of the Spirit to make disciples of all nations.

If I named the book, I’d call it The Book of Acts of the Gospel. Let’s consider the primary verse in Acts…

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8, ESV).

Everything about the Book of Acts focuses on the gospel being preached.

In the Book of Acts, we find…

• The first time the Gospel was preached to the Jews (Acts 2).
• The first time the Gospel was preached to the Samaritans (Acts 8).
• The first time the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles (Acts 10).
• The first time the Gospel was preached in cities around the Roman Empire (Acts chapters 13—24).

There are miracles in Acts. My favorite is Peter and John healing a lame beggar in Acts 3, and from this miracle, Peter preached his second sermon, resulting in five thousand new believers.

Acts 9 describes the miraculous conversion of the Apostle Paul, who had been providentially prepared by God to become a missionary to the Gentiles. (See Interruption #1247.) 

And in Acts 20:32, Paul preaches… 

Now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance…

The phrase “word of his grace” appears in this verse.  

Paul was certainly saved by grace, spoke about it in Acts, and then fully developed his theology of grace in the Book of Romans, where he uses the word twenty-one times. The Pauline-taught concept of grace—not found in any other religion—is the gospel.

As Romans 3:23-24 reads… 

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift. . .  

The Book of Acts has an abrupt ending. 

For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him (Acts 28:30-31, NLT).

The Book of Acts/Spirit/Gospel leaves us hanging, almost as if there is a sequel. And there is—we continue the Book of Acts by taking the gospel to the nations.