Acts has so long been called the account of the "birth and growth of the Church" that the statement has come to be accepted almost without question. Yet the Church, "which is His body", does not even appear in the first large portion of the book. And even though it does occupy an important place in the latter part of the book, it isn't called by its distinctive name even there. It's only in Paul's epistles that we learn that the Body had begun during the latter part of the Book of Acts.
Peter, who obviously dominates the scene in the first part of Acts, doesn't present Christianity at all, either in the popular or the Biblical sense of the word. What he presents is Judaism. The only difference between the apostles' position in the four Gospels and in early Acts was that which prophesied events had brought about. In early Acts the resurrection of the crucified King had become the burden of their message and the Holy Spirit had come in power to confirm their testimony. In fact, the kingdom which these apostles had proclaimed "at hand" during the Lord's earthly ministry, could now be offered (Acts 3:19-21). But even in Paul's ministry in the latter part of Acts (which was mainly to the Gentiles), the apostle went consistently to "the Jew first," so that throughout the book Israel is being dealt with.
I think Sir Robert Anderson sums it up rather well in his book The Silence of God:
In a word, if 'To the Jew first' is characteristic of the Acts of the Apostles as a whole, "To the Jew only' is plainly stamped upon every part of these early chapters, described by theologians as the 'Hebraic section' of the book. The fact is clear as light. And if any are prepared to account for it by Jewish prejudice and ignorance, they may at once throw down this volume, for it is here assumed that the apostles of the Lord, speaking and acting in the memorable days of Pentecostal power, were Divinely guided in their work and testimony.
It seems clear to me that the Book of Acts, far from being "the story of early-day Christianity," is from beginning to end the account of the fall of Israel. It explains, step by step, the transition from the prophetic program, in which salvation was to go to the Gentiles through Israel, to the new program, under which salvation was to go to the Gentiles apart from them.
(to be continued)
Peter, who obviously dominates the scene in the first part of Acts, doesn't present Christianity at all, either in the popular or the Biblical sense of the word. What he presents is Judaism. The only difference between the apostles' position in the four Gospels and in early Acts was that which prophesied events had brought about. In early Acts the resurrection of the crucified King had become the burden of their message and the Holy Spirit had come in power to confirm their testimony. In fact, the kingdom which these apostles had proclaimed "at hand" during the Lord's earthly ministry, could now be offered (Acts 3:19-21). But even in Paul's ministry in the latter part of Acts (which was mainly to the Gentiles), the apostle went consistently to "the Jew first," so that throughout the book Israel is being dealt with.
I think Sir Robert Anderson sums it up rather well in his book The Silence of God:
In a word, if 'To the Jew first' is characteristic of the Acts of the Apostles as a whole, "To the Jew only' is plainly stamped upon every part of these early chapters, described by theologians as the 'Hebraic section' of the book. The fact is clear as light. And if any are prepared to account for it by Jewish prejudice and ignorance, they may at once throw down this volume, for it is here assumed that the apostles of the Lord, speaking and acting in the memorable days of Pentecostal power, were Divinely guided in their work and testimony.
It seems clear to me that the Book of Acts, far from being "the story of early-day Christianity," is from beginning to end the account of the fall of Israel. It explains, step by step, the transition from the prophetic program, in which salvation was to go to the Gentiles through Israel, to the new program, under which salvation was to go to the Gentiles apart from them.
(to be continued)
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