Jensens survey of the old testament adam 426
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Acts history. Among other things, the chart
helps you see what emperor, procurator, and
high priest were ruling contemporaneously,
at any one time of Acts. For example,
identify the emperor, procurator, and high
priest ruling at the time of Acts 8, when the
church was scattered.
H. PURPOSES
Three words may be used to suggest the
overall grand purposes of Acts: registration,
vindication, edification.
1 . Registration. The written record of the
history of redemption makes up a substantial
part of both the Old and New Testaments.
The experiences of individual believers, as
well as those of the corporate people of God,
are registered in the Bible, thereby
demonstrating before the audience of the
ages that redemption is real, dynamic, and
worthy to be sought. God moved Luke to
record the narrative of the early church in
the Holy Scriptures in order to show the
church’s
relation (a)
to
the
past
(continuation) and (b) to the future
(propagation).
a. Continuation. Luke’s own words reveal
this aspect of the narrative. His purpose in
the third gospel was to record, like the
writers before him, the origins of
Christianity “To compile an account of the
things accomplished among us” (Luke 1:1).
The rst verse of Acts, by citing “all that
Jesus began … to do and teach” implies that
Luke intends to show how Acts continues the
story of Jesus as the ascended, exalted One
(Acts 1:2, 9).
b. Propagation. Throughout Acts the
thrust is one of extension, propagation,
multiplication, and advance. Externally, the
advance is from Jerusalem to Rome;
internally, it moves from a Jewish hearing to
a universal audience. All in all, the church
makes fantastic progress in its rst three
decades of life, and Luke accurately registers
this phase of its history.
2. Vindication. Acts was written soon after
the last event of its narrative. Why was there
no delay or waiting period, as with the
gospels? As we approach the question we
must recognize that although each book of
the Bible was written primarily for the ages,
its publication date was ordained by God so
that its message could ll a contemporary
need as well. A study of the times in which
Luke wrote reveals that Acts apparently was
given to the Roman world to let the history
and message of the church vindicate its claim
to divine origin. The church needed to make
clear to the Roman government that
Christianity was not to be associated with
Judaism, though both claimed the same God
and same Old Testament Scriptures. In fact,
Luke emphasized in Acts that the leaders of
Judaism considered Christians as heretical
and blasphemous, and that this formed the
basis for most of the persecutions of the
disciples of that day. There was a divine
purpose in such a clari cation of the
church’s identity at this time, for in just a
few more years rebellion of Jewish
authorities against the Roman Empire would
lead to war. That war would eventually
culminate in the destruction of Jerusalem
(A.D. 70) by the Romans. Thus Rome would
know that the Christians were not part of
any rebellion brewing against the Empire.8
The authenticity of Luke’s gospel is shared
by Acts because of the one author. And,
since Paul’s conversion and divine call were
reported by Luke in Acts, the message of
