Home | Lessons | New Testament | Acts | Acts Lesson 20 – Chapter 8 and 9

Duration:

52:16

en Flag
Acts Lesson 20 – Chapter 8 and 9
Overview
Transcript
Slides

About this lesson

Acts is a map of the early church’s advance into the ancient world. Luke, the author, describes the theme of Acts as the Lord expanding his work “in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Taught by Tom Bradford.

Download Download Transcript

THE BOOK OF ACTS

Lesson 20, Chapters 8 and 9

In many ways Acts chapter 8 is a significant pivot point. Up to now all the activity concerning the knowledge and spreading of the Good News of the Gospel has taken place in the city of Jerusalem, has been strictly among Jews, and the focus of events has revolved around the works of the 12 Disciples. But the sudden, horrific and unjust stoning to death of the Believer Stephen (given full legal sanction by the Sanhedrin as overseen by the High Priest Caiaphas), marked the beginning of an open persecution against the Believing community of Jews in Jerusalem.

If we step back and consider what is happening here, it is helpful to realize that this persecution was upon one particular faction of Judaism (the Jewish disciples of Messiah Yeshua) by other factions of Judaism that didn’t agree with the Believer faction’s halakhah ; that is, some of the traditions and doctrines of the Believers were in disagreement with some, but not all, of the traditions and doctrines of other sects of Judaism. In fact the main point of disagreement was over the identity of the Messiah, and to a lesser degree the Messiah’s nature. We’re really not made aware of any other serious doctrinal disagreements (at least not up to now).

Labels are very tricky things that can on the one hand be useful, and on the other be dangerous. When we attach a label to a group or to a person, to a concept or to a doctrine it is done with the direct purpose of creating a kind communication shorthand, or perhaps a codeword of sorts. A label is designed to paint a quick, sometimes subconscious, mental image so the conversation doesn’t get bogged down in details. Labels often illicit knee-jerk emotional responses. Used enough, labels become stereotypes that are near to impossible to alter or correct later on. Because most Bibles will at this point in the New Testament label the Jerusalem Believers as “Christians” or label them collectively as “the Church” then there is a false picture created of Jews lining up against Christians; or of Judaism coming into violent opposition to Christianity. And of course when we think of Christians, Christianity and the Church we think of gentiles carrying Bibles under their arms, of the sign of the Cross present everywhere, of buildings with steeples outside and neat rows of pews inside, and of Nativity Scenes and Christmas trees. But we need to erase all of these thoughts because that is not at all what we are witnessing here in the Book of Acts, at any point. It is just the Bible translators’ misuse of these English labels that creates an inappropriate and historically false mental image that I want to spend a little time to straighten out.

I pointed out in prior lessons that to use the term “Church” in the Book of Acts to collectively label the followers of Yeshua is what is called an anachronism; that is, it is a term (even a concept) that didn’t occur until far later in history, at least a century after the Bible was closed up. So to read the term “Church” (as we think of it today) back into the Book of Acts creates a false impression. In a couple more chapters we’ll read in most English Bibles that it was in Antioch that the first use of the term “Christians” was coined. But in fact that, too, gives us the wrong impression. In the original Greek of the New Testament the term is christianos , so it is easy to see how the English word Christians was created from it. But christianos is taken from the Greek word Christos . As expertly explained in the Strong’s Concordance, Christos means anointed one and it is merely translating the Hebrew word mashiach , Messiah, into Greek. Thus the term Messianic means followers of Messiah. So originally whereas Messianics literally meant followers of the anointed one, so does christianos literally mean followers of the anointed one. So while the English word Christians is a reasonable translation, once again what comes to mind when we say Christians? Christian is a centuries old label; and when we think of Christians we subconsciously think of gentiles, crosses, churches, Christmas trees, choirs dressed in robes, and if you are Catholic you think of cathedrals, priests, the Virgin Mary and the Pope.

However the closest thing the Jewish Believers formulated as a label for themselves was The Way. Apparently other Jews referred to them at times as Notzrim and Natzratim, which translates best into English as Nazarenes, meaning people connected to Nazareth, Yeshua’s hometown. The point I’m desperate to help all of my Jewish and gentile brothers and sisters in the Lord to see is that everything that is happening to this point in the Book of Acts is taking place exclusively within the Jewish community. The Synagogue and all that went with it is at the center for Yeshua’s followers as it is with the other factions of Jews. The followers of Yeshua (The Way) were unique ONLY in the sense that their particular Rabbi was the crucified Yeshua who they also believed was the Messiah. But other Jewish factions didn’t agree with this, so they rose up against the members of The Way.

Lest you think this sort of thing as concerns Jews and Judaism is unique to the New Testament, I assure you it is not. A large modern day Jewish sect called Chabad has gone through a painful, fairly recent, split. The leader of the Chabad Lubavitch faction was a much beloved Rabbi named Schneerson. He passed away from natural causes in 1994. But some among his faction declared him to be the Messiah, and say that he is not really dead as we commonly think of death; rather he is in hiding and sometime soon will resurface. This claim has caused a contentious split of Chabad among those who declare Schneerson as the Jewish Messiah versus the majority who don’t. Using the terms we have recently learned, the split in Chabad is over halakhah ; Traditions or Oral Torah. The Oral Torah of the main faction of Chabad says that the Messiah has not yet come; the Oral Torah teachings of the Lubavitch faction of Chabad says that the Messiah has appeared, is gone but will soon reappear, and he is Rabbi Schneerson. So I think God has given modern day Believers a very good way to better understand the background and sense of the issue that was causing the persecutions of members of The Way in Acts chapter 8, if only we’ll pay attention. Again: the issue with the death of Yeshua, the death of Stephen, and now the general persecution of Believing Jews in Jerusalem was over disagreements concerning halakhah ; Oral Torah, Traditions, doctrines.

You will notice as we move along that as fervent as the persecution of Jewish Believers was by the other Jewish factions, there was never the thought expressed that the Believers had somehow abandoned Judaism, stopped being Jews, or were forming an entire new religion. The Believers did not even isolate themselves, as did the Essenes, and the Essenes were perfectly accepted as Jews even if their brand of Judaism didn’t sit all that well with most of the other brands of Judaism. There are so many valuable lessons of application to learn from this, but I’d like to focus on just one because it is especially relevant to our time. It is that among those who call ourselves Christians or Messianics, no matter what faction or denomination, we need to display love towards one another. Because if indeed we all count on Yeshua for redemption, then we all share one Spirit; God’s Spirit. That doesn’t mean that we can’t strongly disagree on doctrines and traditions, call one another on the carpet, leave one denomination or faction because we think they are on the wrong track, and then join another that we think is more correct. No matter which group a Believer belongs to, if they hold to Yeshua (Jesus) as the true and only Savior, and Son of God, who is Himself God, then we are brothers and sisters in the faith. We should never behave in such hateful ways towards one another like these factions of Judaism in Jerusalem did in the Book of Acts who are in such disagreement with a couple of doctrines of this Messianic Judaism faction that it breaks out into outright persecution and hatred.

I’m not speaking of tolerance; I’m speaking of love. I’m not speaking of validation of wrong theology in order to be inclusive, or compromising of principles to find a humanly comfortable middle ground. I’m speaking of our own attitude and behavior. I constantly speak out against several erroneous theological principles that are characteristic of the mainstream institutional Christianity of the 21 st century, especially as regards a bent against Israel and the belief that the Torah is only for Jews. But I sure don’t disagree on every point, nor do I say that those who do not believe precisely as I do are not Christians because of this disagreement. Rather my goal is to encourage my brothers and sisters in the faith (Jew and gentile) to return to the truth of God’s Word and to accept it for what it says; to abandon weak manmade doctrines that are not in accordance with Scripture, and to live by God’s laws and commandments that Christ says we are obligated to do, and will not change in the least until the heavens and earth pass away.

So in Acts chapter 8, we find that those Jewish followers of Yeshua who were under threat of persecution from their fellow Jews fled Jerusalem for other parts of Judea, and also to the Galilee and somewhat surprisingly to Samaria. I say “surprisingly” because the people of Samaria were seen universally by Judaism as ungodly, unclean hybrids who were neither Jew nor gentile; a people to be shunned, and a place to avoid. And for Jews of that era, even though Samaria originally formed the heartland of the Promised Land, at the moment Samaria was acknowledged as foreign and so its residents were foreigners. This is not because of any declaration by Rome, but because of a declaration by Judaism. This was because the Samaritans practiced what the Jews considered to be a perverted form of Torah-based religion, with their holiest place being Mt. Gerizim, and their Priesthood having no connection to Levites or to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Thus we find the disciple Phillip, a Hellenist Jewish Believer, going to Samaria and (once again, surprisingly) having success in bringing the Gospel to those who would seem the least likely to want to hear anything from a Jew: the Samaritans. No doubt news of this success startled the 12 Disciples in Jerusalem and probably out of skepticism they dispatched Peter and John to see for themselves. And, indeed, there were a number of Samaritans that Peter and John judged had accepted Yeshua as Savior. But then, last week, we addressed the sensitive issue of the Holy Spirit, and when and how the Holy Spirit indwells a Believer. For in Acts chapter 8 we see that even though the new Believers of Samaria had accepted Christ, and been baptized, they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. John and Peter arrived, laid hands on these Samaritans and so the Spirit came upon them. And yet in other places in the Bible, we’ll find that the sequence is faith in Christ with instantaneous indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In other passages, the Holy Spirit doesn’t come until water baptism. And in yet other places the Holy Spirit comes after coming to faith but before immersion.

Intellectual honesty demands of us to not cherry pick and choose but one of these several different examples of Holy Spirit indwelling as the only legitimate one. However most denominations have indeed picked one and demands that others been seen as heresy. The lesson to take from this is that God is not formula driven. There is no precise sequence of faith, baptism, and indwelling of the Spirit that is authorized by God, or demanded by Him, with other sequences being prohibited or to be judged as not genuine. Rather it seems to be circumstance driven and somewhat flexible.

And now before we move on to the final verses of chapter 8, let’s recall the issue of the Samaritan magician named Shimon (Simon in English). He, too, accepted the Gospel. However upon viewing Peter and John call down the Spirit of God into Believers, he was so impressed that he wanted to have that same ability so he offered money to the disciples to be taught how. Peter sternly rebuked him, such that some Bible commentators claim that Simon was excommunicated. There is nothing in this passage that makes any such suggestion. And any thought that Simon wasn’t saved just because he didn’t instantaneously drop his misguided beliefs for the true beliefs stated in God’s Word, is actually the norm for most anyone at any time, including up to our modern era. We can believe long before we understand more than the most basic principles of salvation. And these deeper, and necessary understandings are to be the next step for all Believers; but it doesn’t happen overnight, and it takes time and effort.

So the bottom line so far in Acts chapter 8 is that for the first time the Gospel is being taken outside of the Holy Land, and even being taken to those who don’t practice Judaism, and many are coming to faith. And we also see how an ordinary disciple, Phillip, (not one of the 12 leaders) is now being focused upon as doing great miracles and bringing many of the least likely to Christ. Let’s see what Phillip does next.

RE-READ ACTS CHAPTER 8:25 to end

Peter and John teach the Samaritans about God’s Word to give some firm foundation to their new faith in Messiah Yeshua and then they return to Jerusalem. Recall that this task of teaching God’s Word as well as witnessing for Messiah, is what the 12 disciples agreed was their true calling and what they ought to spend all their time doing. This points up that regular congregation members (like Phillip) do not have to be Bible scholars or experts in theology to take the Good News to those who need to hear it. In fact I think that the best protocol is for the congregation to evangelize to individuals, and for the leaders to teach and mature the new Believers. Effective evangelizing is almost always one to one and relational as opposed to informational; but teaching can be (and usually is) most effective in a one-to-many environment. Why? Because God has equipped every Believer to take the Good News to non- Believers. But only some have been given the gift and responsibility of teaching. An angel now instructs Phillip to journey back southward to the road that goes between Jerusalem and Gaza. Gaza was at one time one of the 5 major city-states of the Philistines; however it was destroyed just after 100 B.C. and was not rebuilt. So by the time of Christ Gaza was more of a general location than a specific city or town. That said in this era the water well at the ruins of Gaza was still operating, and it was one of the few water sources available before entering the Sinai desert. Very likely the road to Gaza from Jerusalem was a way to access the Via Maris trade route that more or less followed the Mediterranean Coastline. It went all the way south to Egypt, and thus when we hear of this Ethiopian eunuch that Phillip would witness to, who was on his way home, he would naturally take the Via Maris to get there.

This Ethiopian was a dignitary in the employ of the Kandake of Ethiopia; not of Candace the Queen of Ethiopia as many Bibles have it. Kandake is a title, and it denotes a particular dynasty of royalty over Ethiopia. It was a dynasty of female rulers: Queens. Ethiopia was located south of Egypt and is what the Bible calls Kush. These dark-skinned people were descendants of Ham’s son Kush, thus the Biblical name for the place.

It is clear that this eunuch believed in the God of Israel, as he had been in Jerusalem to worship. In his royal chariot, he was reading the scroll of Isaiah when Phillip spotted him. It may not seem so on the surface, but there is no doubt a divine pattern is being established here, and it is interesting to me how Phillip is the one that is setting it. A eunuch is a castrated male. There were a number of reasons for this castration, but none of it had to do with any kind of punishment. Rather it prevented marriage, which kept his loyalty squarely upon the person whom he served. And it limited him to any other kind of vocation as well as marking him for life. Often removing the male genitalia was for religious purposes especially when serving a female god or ruler. We must remember that at least from a Biblical viewpoint, castration is seen as mutilation and wrong. For one thing, it means that this man will never have offspring; his bloodline will end. In the most ancient Hebrew way of thinking that means no afterlife is possible, since in some mysterious way one’s afterlife is at least partially contained in his children.

But a mutilation of the genitals is also seen as an affront to life itself since fruitfulness in the form of producing offspring is not possible. Even more, a castrated man may not become an Israeli national citizen because Deuteronomy says this: CJB Deuteronomy 23:2 “A man with crushed or damaged private parts may not enter the assembly of ADONAI. This issue arises because a man cannot fulfill his role in the Abrahamic Covenant to reproduce; thus that man cannot be part of Israel.

As concerns the religion of the Hebrews, a castrated male is very limited in where he can worship and in which rituals he can participate. It is likely that if this eunuch was permitted to enter the Temple Mount at all, it was in the Court of the Gentiles; or more likely he was prohibited from the Temple area altogether and only came to a Synagogue. That would explain his interest in Isaiah as that was a Synagogue favorite particularly in this era. Thus there is no doubt that this Ethiopian eunuch had not converted to Judaism and become a Jew because he wouldn’t have been allowed to; rather he was a God-fearer. He was a gentile who worshipped the God of Israel. So what we see is that Phillip has been dealing with those whom Judaism customarily wanted little to do. He was dealing with outcasts and those that normative Judaism looked down upon to one degree or another; first the hated Samaritans, then a sorcerer, and now the castrated male gentile. And what did Phillip do? He brought these outcasts into the Kingdom of God. What a hope, and what a God-pattern is shown to us. There is no one low enough, broken enough, wretched or ruined enough that Yeshua cannot heal their spirit and bring them into His Kingdom. There is no heritage or race that is excluded. Submit to Christ, and God accepts us.

As is typical of Luke, he says that the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) directed Phillip to go up and join the eunuch on his chariot. Was this a voice Phillip heard, or some kind of internal unction? We’re not told. But when Phillip inquires of the man what it is that he’s reading, and if he understands it, it is clear that the eunuch does not. He says someone needs to explain it to him.

We’re given the excerpt from Isaiah that the eunuch is reading and it is from Isaiah 53. The words of Isaiah 53 that we see quoted in Acts chapter 8 more resemble the Greek Septuagint version rather than the Hebrew Tanakh version. This would make sense since few outside of the Holy Land could read or speak Hebrew; however Greek was widely known. And of course this is a Messianic prophecy that the eunuch is reading, which would be most difficult to grasp if one had not grown up in a Jewish culture. But even then, the Synagogues had various interpretations of its meaning, the most accepted being that this suffering servant who was humiliated and denied justice was referring to Israel as a whole and not to an individual.

Acts 8:32-33 CJB 32 “He was like a sheep led to be slaughtered; like a lamb silent before the shearer, he does not open his mouth. 33 He was humiliated and denied justice. Who will tell about his descendants, since his life has been taken from the earth?” The eunuch sees that the plain reading of this passage indicates an individual so he wonders if Isaiah is speaking about himself or is it someone else? This gave Phillip the opening he needed. He of course informed the man that this was speaking of Messiah Yeshua and he explained the matter and the Ethiopian believed.

It is the Ethiopian, not Philip that seems to raise the issue of immersion. The eunuch obviously had spent sufficient time among Jews and studying the Bible that he was familiar with the mikveh and immersion in water. The way the eunuch asks the question is like this: “Is there anything that should prevent me from being immersed?” This no doubt was something he had run into before due to his condition of being castrated and being gentile; it may well be that he had not been allowed to immerse and was wondering if now he could.

Where they found the water to immerse we don’t know. But wherever it was it met the requirement of it being Living Water (meaning the source of the water had to be water that moved, like the ocean, a river, or a spring). And since Phillip and the eunuch entered the water together the source was of reasonable size. Upon immersion of the unnamed eunuch, we are told that Phillip was suddenly snatched away, his job here completed. The Greek word used for snatched away is harpazo , the same word we find in 1Thessalonians 4 that speaks of Believers being caught up into the air to meet Christ in the clouds. So what happened here was a miraculous and unexpected act of God; Phillip didn’t just quickly leave the scene on his own. Phillip suddenly finds himself in Ashdod near the Mediterranean Sea. There he continues to proclaim the Good News and journeys town by town northward about 50 miles to Caesarea (this is speaking of Caesarea Maritima), which was an impressive and bustling port city that had been greatly improved by King Herod. There he would have met people from every sort of nationality and religion.

Let’s move on to Acts chapter 9.

READ ACTS CHAPTER 9 all

After our being briefly introduced to Paul at the end of chapter 7, the story now turns back to him in chapter 9 and he becomes the focus. I said in the introduction to the Book of Acts that it is critical that because almost all Church doctrine comes from Paul, so we must learn who Paul is before we are properly equipped to read and decipher his God-inspired letters. And that while his Epistles like Galatians, Romans, Corinthians and so on indeed give us Paul’s theology, they don’t tell us who he is, why he thinks like he does, and most importantly what his terms mean to him. We’ll find that information only in the Book of Acts. And without that and some other information about Synagogues and Judaism in general, it is not possible to correctly interpret much of what Paul says. And what we find is that he is a Diaspora Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia. Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin, a tribe that Judah had centuries earlier absorbed and so those of Benjamin were called by the same name as those of the tribe of Judah: Jews. But it is also interesting to note how after all this time, at least some Jews continued to also identify with their original tribal family heritage even when they lived outside of the Holy Land.

So while I’ve spoken on Paul before, let’s review a little and I’m going to add more information. The 2 names he goes by in the New Testament are Paul and Saul, or more correctly Sha’ul , the same name of the 1 st king of Israel who was from Paul’s tribe of Benjamin, King Sha’ul. Paul is Latin, Sha’ul is Hebrew. Since Latin and Greek were the primary languages of the Roman Empire, then it is not surprising that Paul would have an alternative Roman name. What we can be sure of is that his given name was Sha’ul and not Paul because in Acts 13 we read: 9 “Then Sha’ul, also known as Paul, filled with the Ruach HaKodesh…..” So Paul was an assumed name that he used sometimes because it more fit his life as a Diaspora Jew.

Paul’s hometown of Tarsus was quite large: around ½ million population. It had a sizeable Jewish community with many Synagogues. Paul’s first language was Greek, but he also spoke Hebrew and Aramaic because Hebrew and Aramaic were similar and it was typical of highly educated Jewish scholars to know both languages since the many Jewish religious documents contained both Aramaic and Hebrew script. The Church Father Jerome, who lived in the late 4 th and early 5 th centuries A.D. claims that Paul’s family lived for a time in Gush Chalav in the Galilee; but as the result of war they migrated to Tarsus where Paul was born.

Paul specifically says that he was born into Roman citizenship, something that was not usual for Diaspora Jews. So his father was a Roman citizen by some means. Since Paul will use that Roman citizenship to his advantage let’s see just what that bought him. First, the benefits of being a Roman citizen covered virtually every aspect of life. Everything from judicial sentences to tax penalties was less for citizens than for non-citizens. Class also mattered; the higher classes of Roman citizens used different courts than the lower classes, and the higher classes were more or less presumed innocent while the lower classes were generally presumed guilty. It seems pretty clear from what we read of Paul’s encounter with the court system that he knew his way around the judiciary, and could demand an audience with a king or very high Roman official to personally look at his case. There is little doubt that Paul’s family had status.

As Rabbi Joseph Shulam cleverly observes, one of the most enviable rights that a Roman citizen had that others didn’t was the right to appeal a court decision. Further a citizen was protected against unjust private or public arrest, and he couldn’t be punished, tortured, incarcerated or executed by local judicial authorities. Thus we see that when Paul was arrested for speaking the Gospel he was eventually taken to the highest authority in Rome when he lets it be known that he is a Roman citizen and demands his rights. Paul was used to privilege in his life, and it didn’t end when he became an Apostle.

Paul was a Pharisee because Paul’s family was a family of Pharisees; something rare outside of the Holy Land. However if his family had migrated some years earlier from Galilee to Tarsus as Jerome claims, then joining the party of the Pharisees while in the Galilee and then continuing to consider themselves as practicing Pharisees even while living in the Diaspora makes more sense.

This Series Includes

  • Video Lessons

    57 Video Lessons

  • Audio Lessons

    57 Audio Lessons

  • Devices

    Available on multiple devices

  • Full Free Access

    Full FREE access anytime

Latest lesson

Help Us Keep Our Teachings Free For All

Your support allows us to provide in-depth biblical teachings at no cost. Every donation helps us continue making these lessons accessible to everyone, everywhere.

Support Support Torah Class

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 1, Introduction Today we cross a bridge; the name of that bridge is the Book of Acts. The dictionary definition of a bridge is: “A structure carrying a road or a path across an obstacle such as a river or a ravine.” The obstacle we…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 2, Chapter 1 In our introduction to the Book of Acts last week, one of the several reasons that I highlighted for deciding to teach this New Testament book (besides the fact that the Holy Spirit led me to do so), was because it forms…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 3, Chapter 1 continued Since we are early in our study of the Book of Acts from a Hebrew Roots perspective, I’d like to take just a few minutes to recap what we covered last week. We’re going to be going quite deep in Acts,…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 4, Chapters 1 and 2 Today we will complete Acts chapter 1 and move into chapter 2. We ended last time as Peter emerged as the spokesman of the young Messianic movement. In fact it is probably fair to say that as of the time…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 5, Chapter 2 continued Before we pick back up with Acts chapter 2 (which we still won’t complete today) and the dawn of a new age brought about by the arrival of “what the Father promised” (the Ruach HaKodesh ), let’s summarize what we discussed…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 6, Chapter 2 continued 2 Let us continue today in Acts chapter 2. We’re spending an inordinate amount of time in this chapter because there is an inordinate amount of information contained here concerning one of the most monumental events in human history: the arrival…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 7, Chapters 2 and 3 We’ll close out Acts chapter 2 and open chapter 3 today. But first as is our custom, let’s quickly review our previous session. One of the most memorable features of the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell Believers on…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 8, Chapter 3 continued Last week we concluded chapter 2 and began chapter 3 of Acts. And what we observed was that when we take these verses within the context of the 2nd Temple Judaism of Jesus’s era, and understand what the cultural mindset and…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 9, Chapter 3 continued 2 Before we move on in Acts chapter 3 with our discussion of the cripple who was healed by the power of Yeshua through Peter and John, let’s recall what we learned in our last lesson. We talked about the relationship…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 10, Chapters 3 and 4 We’ll continue to go at a measured pace through Acts chapter 3 and on into chapter 4 because there are so many theological implications that pass right by us if we don’t. And when they do come up it behooves…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 11, Chapter 4 We spent a goodly portion of our previous lesson in Acts creating a kind of diagram to understand just who the various players were in our story, what their titles and positions meant, and what the general social and religious conditions of…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 12, chapters 4 and 5 Keep your Bibles handy; we’re going to be doing a lot of reading today in both Testaments. Depending on who does the counting, the New Testament consists of somewhere between 45% and 55% Old Testament quotes. In other words, the…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 13, Chapter 5 I hope you are enjoying the Book of Acts as much as I am enjoying presenting it to you. In our Introduction to Acts I said that this book is the vital bridge from the Old Testament to the New, and I’m…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 14, Chapter 5 continued Amidst the incredible outpouring of God’s Spirit through the miraculous works and deeds of the disciples, what we see in Acts Chapter 5 is a rising level of tension and conflict between the followers of Yeshua and the local Jewish Temple…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 15, Chapter 6 We are going to explore some topics today that are as relevant to helping us to understand the Book of Acts as they are challenging to stay focused and to digest. We’re also going to discuss things about the Jewish religious institution…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 16, Chapter 6 continued Ready to get a little “heavy duty” today? I hope so. As we opened Acts chapter 6 last week it was prudent that we take the time to explore some ancient Jewish cultural issues in order for us to better understand…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 17, Chapter 7 The final words of our last lesson were meant to prepare us for today’s teaching in Acts chapter 7. Here we find Stephen, full of grace and power, standing before the Sanhedrin with a mob of angry Jews wanting to lynch him…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 18, Chapter 7 continued We are well into Stephen’s speech of Acts chapter 7, which will end in his death by stoning. His speech is essentially a recounting of Israel’s record of unfaithfulness towards God, and being stubbornly resentful towards God’s prophets, beginning with the…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 19, Chapter 8 We have a wide variety of issues that are going to come up today in Acts chapter 8 that I think you’ll find interesting. Last week we concluded Acts chapter 7 with the stoning death of Stephen, the first disciple of Christ…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 20, Chapters 8 and 9 In many ways Acts chapter 8 is a significant pivot point. Up to now all the activity concerning the knowledge and spreading of the Good News of the Gospel has taken place in the city of Jerusalem, has been strictly…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 21, Chapter 9 We began Acts chapter 9 last week but I purposely postponed getting too deep into the Scripture passages to instead focus our attention on the person of Paul; or better Sha’ul , which was his given Hebrew name. Paul is the English…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 22, chapter 9 continued Acts chapter 9 began with the fierce heretic hunter, Paul, determined to help eradicate this new sect of Judaism that called itself The Way, but whom the other Jewish factions called the Notzrim . But by halfway through the chapter Sha’ul…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 23, Chapter 10 Acts chapter 10 is one I have been looking forward to teaching for some time. It gets into an important subject that causes significant tension between Christians and Jews, and within Christianity and Messianic Judaism; it is the issue of whether the…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 24, Chapter 10 continued It is said that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So I suppose for me as a Hebrew Roots Bible teacher, Acts chapter 10 looks like one of those places in the Bible that needs to be attacked with…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 25, Chapter 10 conclusion We are still in Acts chapter 10. And while we’ll finish it today, the issues that surface from its God-inspired words are most challenging and profoundly important to our faith; so we’ll keep on hacking away at it to try to…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 26, Chapter 11 Before we begin Acts 11, I want to take a breather to summarize the high points of our study up to now so that we don’t get too swamped in facts and new terms and lose our way. But before I do…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 27, Chapters 11 and 12 Acts chapter 11 explains that after the incident with Cornelius and his household (when the Holy Spirit fell in a Pentecost-like event upon this group of gentiles), that Peter went back to Jerusalem where he faced a barrage of questioning…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 28, Chapter 12 We just barely got into Acts chapter 12 last week, and the first thing we see mentioned in the chapter is that Herod Agrippa is now the King of Judah. The chapter will end with his death. His grandfather Herod the Great…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 29, Chapter 13 As we concluded Acts chapter 12 last week, the focus that had been mainly on Peter and the goings-on in the Holy Land now shift to Paul and to the foreign lands that were home to the majority of Jews. We have…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 30, chapter 13 continued We’ll continue today in this rather long chapter 13 of the Book of Acts, although we won’t quite finish it. There is much to be learned from this chapter about the person of Paul, and about the formation of the Gospel,…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 31, Chapters 13 and 14 At Pisidian Antioch (there were many Antiochs), Paul said this to the synagogue congregation he was addressing as recorded in Acts 13:38 and 39: Acts 13:38-39 CJB 38 “Therefore, brothers, let it be known to you that through this man…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 32, chapters 14 and 15 Our study of Acts chapter 14 today puts us at the halfway point in our study of Acts, but it also essentially completes the contextual background for understanding what comes next in pivotal chapter 15. So we’ll look at a…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 33, chapter 15 In a typical English Bible translation the first 14 chapters of Acts contains about 12,400 words. Chapters 15 – 28 (the end of the book) usually contain about 12,500 words; so indeed where we sit today as we study this pivotal 15…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 34, Chapter 15 continued As we continue in our study of Acts chapter 15 we’ll find ourselves taking a few detours much as we did when studying the Torah. This is necessary to address issues and subjects that are subtly woven into the fabric of…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 35, Chapter 15 continued 2 As we continue our examination of Acts chapter 15, I’ll remind you that we are spending an inordinate amount of time here because this chapter is so crucial to a correct understanding of our faith. But this chapter is also…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 36, Chapter 15 continued 3 Last time we looked closely at Acts chapter 15 verse 20, where the supreme leader of The Way, Yeshua’s brother James, says this referring to the new gentile Believers living in Antioch: Acts 15:20 CJB 20 Instead, we should write…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 37, Chapter 16 Today we will study Acts chapter 16, which is often called Paul’s 2 nd missionary journey. Before we do, I want to take just a short time to sum up what we learned from Acts 15 as it will significantly affect the…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 38, Chapter 16 continued The significance of Acts chapter 16 is that it is what scholars call Paul’s 2 nd missionary journey, and in it we see Paul extending the geographic and ethnic range of his Gospel message beyond the areas where Jews had substantial…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 39, Chapter 17 Last week in Acts chapter 16 we saw that Paul and Sila were arrested in the town of Philippi and thrown in jail accused of inciting a riot. It took a miraculous action of God (an earthquake) to free them before any…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 40, Chapters 17 and 18 We are in Acts chapter 17 and last week we ended our study with defining the belief systems of two groups that Paul encountered in Athens: the Epicureans and the Stoics. These two groups in no way passed for religions…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 41, Chapter 18 We continue in the Book of Acts chapter 18 as we see how Paul continued the expansion of the Yeshua movement into places more and more distant from its birthplace in Judea and Galilee. In this chapter we are told about Paul…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 42, Chapters 18 and 19 We have been following Paul’s missionary journeys, where he is taking the Good News to the many foreign nations of the Roman Empire (starting with the many Jewish communities) that the Messiah that the Jews had been waiting for has…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 43, Chapter 19 We just got started in Chapter 19 of Acts last week when we ran out of time. We have much to discuss today that comes from what is written in this chapter; things that most of us have perhaps not considered. The…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 44, Chapters 19 and 20 It is eye-opening to notice that up until the 19 th chapter of Acts, actual behavioral changes of new Believers coming to faith in Yeshua has not been something we’ve seen. Rather Luke’s focus has been about how Paul and…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 45, Chapter 20 Acts chapter 20 finds Paul leaving the tense situation of Ephesus after being caught up in a riot started by the Silversmith guild over his teaching about idols not being real gods. What is important to remember about this event is what…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 46, Chapters 20 and 21 We have a little more to cover to complete Acts chapter 20 and then we’ll move immediately into chapter 21. Paul is in Miletus, a province of Asia, which is a few miles south of Ephesus. He doesn’t think that…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 47, Chapter 21 We continue in The Book of Acts, which is our necessary primer to give us the context and background for understanding everything that comes in the New Testament following the Gospels (and especially for understanding Paul’s letters). Acts 21 has brought Paul…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 48, Chapters 21 and 22 We’ll continue in Acts 21 and then finish up in Acts 22 today. When we left Paul he was in Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot after spending many years of establishing Believing congregations in Macedonia and Asia. He had just begun…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 49, Chapter 23 Back in Acts chapter 19 we read this: Acts 19:21 CJB 2 1 Some time later, Sha’ul decided by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and then go to Yerushalayim. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 50, Chapters 23 and 24 This is our 50 th lesson in the Book of Acts. We’ve been at this for a year and the reason for the deliberate pace has, I hope, become apparent. We’ve taken many detours to carefully examine the explosive rise…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 51, Chapter 24 As we continue with Acts chapter 24 (and we’re going to go into depth in chapter 24 today due to some seriously important faith issues in these passages), we find Paul standing before the Roman governor, Felix, in the provincial capital city…

    THE BOOKS OF ACTS Lesson 52, Chapters 24 and 25 Our last lesson dealt primarily with Paul’s defense to the ludicrous legal charges made by the Sanhedrin, as the trial was being held in front of Governor Felix in the provincial seaside capital of Caesarea Maritima. What made the charges…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 53, Chapters 25 and 26 In Acts chapter 25 Paul is standing before the new governor of Judea, Festus, who has been joined by King Agrippa and his sister Bernice. This is not a formal trial, per se. It is more an informational gathering; it…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 54, Chapter 26 We’ll begin at verse 9 of Acts chapter 26 today. So open your Bibles there. At the picturesque seaside port city of Caesarea Maritima, the provincial capital for the local region including Judea, Sha’ul is standing before Governor Festus, King Agrippa and…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 55, Chapter 27 There’s something about a sea story that has captivated listeners and readers since there were ships to challenge the awesome power and mystery of the great deep, and survivors to tell their harrowing tales. People who have never been on a boat…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 56, Chapters 27 and 28 Today we will arrive at the final chapter of the Book of Acts. Although it seems like the entire book has been mostly about Paul, the first half of Acts actually focused mostly on Peter and the Yeshua movement in…

    THE BOOK OF ACTS Lesson 57, Chapter 28 End of Study Today we bring the Book of Acts to a close. It has been a long odyssey and when we complete chapter 28 I’ll briefly review and summarize the book. When we concluded last time, Paul was in the presence…