Jensens survey of the old testament adam 427
Bạn đang xem bản rút gọn của tài liệu. Xem và tải ngay bản đầy đủ của tài liệu tại đây (117.97 KB, 4 trang )
Paul’s letters (“The Apostle”) was thus given
a strong acceptance. Furthermore, Acts
provided evidence of the apostleship of
other New Testament writers, such as Peter
and James. So in a real sense Acts served as
the pivotal book of the New Testament. At
the same time it must be recognized that
this vindicative purpose of Acts was not one
of the main reasons it was written.
3. Edification. The primary purpose of Acts
must have been edi cation, for it was
inspired and written to pro t for teaching,
reproof, correction, and instruction in
righteousness — a ministry of edifying of
the church of God. A soul may learn how to
be saved from Acts, but the book was
written primarily for the believer’s
instruction in how to live and serve God.
Your study of Acts should be geared to
learning what the book teaches about
Christian living and the mission of the
church of which you are a part. And the
fruits of studying Acts are multiplied when
it is studied in connection with the epistles
of the New Testament, for which it provides
the setting and background.
III. SURVEY
A. PREPARING TO SURVEY
Recall your study in Chapter 1 of the
complex environment of Christianity in the
rst
century.
Three
major
forces
(combinations of such things as culture,
religion,
knowledge,
and
tradition)
controlled the environment that formed the
life and makeup of the peoples described in
Acts. Those three forces were the Jewish,
Greek, and Roman elements.9 The following
summary will help you visualize that setting
of the three decades covered by Acts.
(Recall Chapter 3.)
Judaism was one important element of the
culture. Negatively, it was known for its
false sects, its hard and impenetrable
traditions, its rejection of Jesus as the
Messiah, and its zealous patriotism.
Positively, it stood for a belief in one God,
the Old Testament Scriptures as the
revelation of God, a search for salvation, the
salting in uence of a believing remnant, a
sense of destiny, and a faithful attendance at
the worship services of the Temple in
Jerusalem and the synagogues scattered
throughout the Empire.
Hellenism was another ingredient that
vitally a ected the environment. Among its
major contributions were a philosophical
spirit of inquiry that invaded its many
religions, an attractive culture that sought
the good and the beautiful, and, above all,
its vernacular (Koine) Greek language, the
universal communication medium of the
Roman world by which the gospel was
spread quickly and efficiently.
T h e Roman Empire gave the church
political and governmental advantages. It
guaranteed law and justice in hostile
situations; it provided roads, bridges, and
seaways for travel; and it promoted an
underlying religious tolerance of the new
religion of Christianity.
Before beginning your survey study, think
of answers to this question, “Why might God
have wanted a book like Acts to be a part of
the canon of Scripture?”
B. FIRST READING
Scan the book of Acts in one sitting. You
may choose to read only the rst verse of
