This article is part of the Distinctive Theology series.
The Uniqueness of Acts
The book of Acts offers something unique in the Christian canon. It has no rival in terms of a book spanning so many different lands. Its references to the Spirit far outpace any other work. It functions as a hinge canonically, bridging the Gospels and Epistles. It recounts the birth of the church age. And its content has no parallel in the New Testament.
Some of Paul’s letters correspond to each other, and the four Gospels overlap, but most of what is found in Acts can be found in no other document. Without Acts, there would be no account of fire and wind at Pentecost. No description of Peter’s encounter with Cornelius. No narrative of the rise of the multiethnic church in Antioch. No story of Paul’s visit to Philippi, Corinth, or Ephesus, or of Paul’s trials in Jerusalem and Caesarea.
Acts is also unique in that it might be our only writing from a Gentile—in addition to the Gospel by Luke. Colossians 4:11–14 gives a strong, but not decisive, argument for Luke’s Gentile status, since Paul lists Luke after those of the circumcision party.
The New Testament is largely written to deal with the Jew and Gentile dispute in light of Jesus’s arrival. If this is what the New Testament concerns, then it is remarkable that 27 percent of the New Testament (Luke-Acts) comes from a Gentile mind, heart, and quill.1
Follow Luke’s ordered narrative of events in the book of Acts to see how the early church grew “under the plan of God, centered on King Jesus, and empowered by the Spirit.”
Acts is also unparalleled in that it recounts a new stage in Christian history: post-Jesus life. Everything (canonically) before this has been either pre-Jesus or with-Jesus. No longer are readers or characters looking forward to a Messiah, or following him on the dusty roads of Galilee. Now readers get a glimpse of Jesus’s followers as they seek to be faithful to Jesus after he has departed.
The new community must figure out how to act now that Christ is gone. What has God instructed them to do? Where is the kingdom? How will they respond to persecution and pressures? What is the future of God’s people? How do they live under the rule of Rome as a marginal and contested community?
Acts, as a unique part of the canon, coming from a distinctive voice, lays out the unparalleled story of the early church to encourage the church to press on. It therefore has much to say to the church in every generation. As Erasmus wrote to Pope Clement VII in 1524, Acts presents “the foundations of the newborn church . . . through [which] we hope that the church in ruins will be reborn.”2
In other words, Acts is a model, a prototype, an exemplar for the renewal of the church. Luke, as a travel companion of Paul, kept his eye on the community of faith and so should any modern reading of Acts. This story is for more than the people of God, but aimed primarily to encourage God’s people.
One can’t speak about the witness of the apostles without relating it to the empowering of the Spirit.
The Acts of Whom?
Many claim Acts focuses on the Spirit. The Spirit is thus the primary actor in Acts, making this the “Acts of the Holy Spirit.” Others claim it is the word, which becomes almost a character in Acts with arms and legs. Others claim it is the church. Acts exists to teach us about the struggles of the early church. Others claim Acts is about the transition from Peter to Paul—after all, this is the Acts of the Apostles. More recent proposals focus on the continued work of Jesus.
Elements of truth persist in each of these proposals. But rather than claiming one outdoes the others, it is better to recognize they all relate to one another. Coherency and association rather than conflict and antagonism unite these themes together. Too many propose a different central theme, arguing past one another, not realizing they are arguing for the same thing but from a different angle.
Benefit, therefore, exists in locating these themes in a logical and conceptual order. Rather than being disparate, these themes are a mosaic—the pieces fit together. To put them out of place does damage to our understanding as a whole.
The order, to no surprise, is found in Luke’s narrative (cf. Luke 1:3). To put this another way, one cannot theologize Acts correctly without narratizing it. For example, one can’t speak about the Spirit according to Acts without putting him in the frame of the risen Christ. One can’t speak of Christ without speaking of the Father’s plan. One can’t speak about the witness of the apostles without relating it to the empowering of the Spirit. In this way, Acts is most fundamentally about the mission of the triune God.
In Acts God the Father orchestrates; through Christ, who lives and rules; and in the empowering Spirit. The triune God stands at the head of Acts because all things are from him, through him, and to him (Rom 11:36). Acts is about God, the God who continues his mission to glorify himself by blessing the nations through his chosen people.
Notes:
- A few early Christians also identify Luke as from Antioch. The Anti-Marcionite Prologue end of second century; cf. “Anti-Marcionite [Gospel] Prologues,” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 1, ed. David Noel Freedman [New York: Doubleday, 1992], 262) describes Luke as “an Antiochene of Syria.” Some even argue “Lucius of Cyrene” in Acts 13:1 is Luke (cf. Rom. 16:21). If he is from Cyrene, the north coast of Africa, then he likely had dark skin. Though this is hard to confirm, if true, Luke-Acts is the only work authored by a black Gentile. While many modern scholars doubt this, as Paul elsewhere calls him Luke (Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24), it should be taken into account that the two most “Roman” books (Romans and Acts) call some obscure figure Lucius.
- Desiderius Erasmus, Paraphrase on Acts, trans. Robert D. Sider, vol. 50 of Collected Works of Erasmus (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995), 4.
This article is adapted from The Mission of the Triune God: A Theology of Acts by Patrick Schreiner.
