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Acts 1:1–5
“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen” (vv. 1–2).
When we think of the work that Jesus performed for the sake of our salvation, we often think of His earthly ministry and particularly His death and resurrection. In many ways, this is appropriate. Two thousand years ago, important aspects of Jesus’ work were completed once for all. For example, Jesus died once for sinners, never to be sacrificed again, since His atoning death on Calvary perfects all those for whom He died (Heb. 10:1–18).
What Jesus did in His ministry, death, and resurrection purchased our salvation once for all, but His work to save His people did not end in every respect when He returned to heaven. He has continued to act since then to save His elect people. Luke tells us as much in the opening of the Acts of the Apostles when he says that his “first book”—the gospel of Luke—“dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). Thus, his second book will describe what Jesus continued to do after the conclusion of Luke’s gospel. So the title “The Acts of the Apostles” is from one perspective not entirely accurate. To be sure, the book of Acts tells us what the Apostles said and did, but as the twentieth-century biblical scholar F.F. Bruce writes in his commentary on Acts, Luke’s “second volume will be an account of what Jesus continued to do and teach after his ascension—no longer in visible presence on earth but by his Spirit in his followers.” The Acts of the Apostles really describes the acts of the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit, in and through His Apostles.
Luke’s gospel ended with the ascension of Jesus (Luke 24:50–53). At the beginning of Acts, Luke backs up to the time right before the ascension. He briefly summarizes our Lord’s ministry, death, and resurrection and takes us to the forty-day period between Jesus’ rising from the dead and His return to the Father. During those six weeks or so, Jesus proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to His Apostles that He is alive in body and soul.
During those forty days, Luke tells us, Jesus told the Apostles to remain in Jerusalem until they received the Father’s promise, who is the Holy Spirit Himself (Acts 1:4–5). John the Baptist had told the people that Jesus would baptize God’s servants with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus had told them that the Father would give the Spirit to all who ask in faith (Luke 3:1–22; 11:13). The time was at hand for those promises to be fulfilled.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
As we look at the history of the early church in the book of Acts, let us remember that it is ultimately the history of God’s work through His people to send the gospel to the ends of the earth. That work continues today as Christ blesses His church with the Holy Spirit so that we can make disciples of all nations. All the good that the church accomplishes collectively and that believers do individually is ultimately the work of God.
For further study
- Genesis 12:1–3
- Isaiah 52:1–12
- John 14:26
- Galatians 2:20
The bible in a year
- Genesis 1–2
- Matthew 1