Acts of the Apostles

Acts opens where Luke's Gospel ends. The risen Jesus presented Himself alive to the apostles by many proofs during forty days, told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, and said they would be His witnesses "in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:1–8). That sentence is the outline of the book. He was lifted up and a cloud took Him out of their sight, and two men in white robes asked why they stood looking into heaven (Acts 1:9–11).

At Pentecost the sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the house, tongues as of fire rested on each of them, and Peter stood with the eleven and preached from Joel and from David, and about three thousand souls were added that day (Acts 2:1–41). The first believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers (Acts 2:42). A lame man at the Beautiful Gate was healed, Peter and John were arrested, and Ananias and Sapphira fell dead after lying about the price of a field (Acts 3:1–10; Acts 4:3; Acts 5:1–10). The stoning of Stephen scattered the church, and Philip the Evangelist preached in Samaria and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 7:58–60; Acts 8:1–5, 26–39).

The book then turns on two conversions. Saul of Tarsus, later called Paul was struck to the ground on the road to Damascus and became the man who would carry the name before Gentiles and kings (Acts 9:1–16). Peter, on a rooftop in Joppa, saw a sheet let down and was sent to Cornelius the centurion in Caesarea, and while he was still speaking the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word, so that the circumcised believers were amazed (Acts 10:9–48). At Antioch the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26), and Herod Agrippa killed James son of Zebedee with the sword and imprisoned Peter, who was led out by an angel (Acts 12:1–11).

From Antioch, Barnabas and Saul were set apart by the Holy Spirit and sent out (Acts 13:1–3), and the rest of the book follows Paul through Cyprus, Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus, with Silas, Timothy, Luke, Priscilla and Aquila, and Apollos appearing along the way. The Jerusalem Council settled that Gentiles need not be circumcised to be saved (Acts 15:1–29). Paul was seized in the temple, spoke before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa appealed to Caesar, and survived shipwreck on Malta (Acts 21:27–33; Acts 24–26; Acts 27:39–44).

Luke ends without a verdict. Paul lived two whole years in Rome at his own expense, welcoming all who came to him, "proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance" (Acts 28:30–31). The last word of the book in Greek is that adverb: unhindered.