Basics of the New Testament - Lesson 4

In this lesson, we’re going to look at the historical growth of the church through the ancient world, and so this is all about the Book of Acts. The very last thing that Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew is what we now call the Great Commission. He says this: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore…” (In other words, he has authority to do and authority to tell us to do whatever he wants to do, right?) “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…” Okay, and there’s two ways you do that, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (there’s your Trinity; there’s evangelism, pictured in baptism), “and teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you” (there’s discipleship; there’s sanctification, and frankly, that’s why we have Biblical Training, because it is our effort to teach people everything that Jesus ever taught). “and surely” Jesus concludes, “I am with you always to the very end of the age.” So as we carry out the Great Commission, we do so knowing that Jesus is with us. Okay, that’s the Great Commission.

When you start up in the Book of Acts, there’s the Resurrection, there’s a series of events where Jesus appears to people, and then he’s going to leave. In other words, the Ascension it’s called. They see Jesus go up into the sky. It was Jesus’s way of saying, “Okay, these post-resurrection appearances are done.” And right before he takes off he says—they want to know, “When are you coming back again?” And Jesus says, “That’s none of your business.” Okay, that’s God the Father’s decision. He says, “but you will receive power when the Holy—this is verse 8—but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” Okay, fulfillment of the prophecy of the new covenant; “…when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses…” Where? “…in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Okay, so what you have in Acts is a clarification, as you will, of the Great Commission, that you’re to go to all nations. You start in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and then to the very ends of the earth. And those are the three phases of the story of expansion of the church.

So, in chapters 1 to 7, they’re focused—Luke is—oh, and by the way, Acts is written by Luke, the same person who wrote the third gospel. So, in the first seven verses, Luke is focused on Jerusalem. The primary character is Peter. He was the head of the apostles, after all. And at this point, the church still feels very Jewish, that the church is the fulfillment, the culmination of everything the Jews were hoping for. And that certainly is true. But there’s not a lot of Gentile voices in this first section of the Book of Acts. And then you get to chapters 8 to 12, and this is the expansion of the Gospel into Samaria, the area up north and other places. Peter’s still the primary character. There’s other people involved, but it’s primarily Peter. And then in chapters 13 to 28, you have the expansion of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And now Paul becomes the main character, and the church becomes more and more Gentile. So, those are the three phases of the expansion of the church to the ancient world.

So, let’s look at a little more detail of those. Phase 1, Acts 1 to 7, focus in Jerusalem. We’re about probably 33 to 35 AD somewhere in there. I know that Jesus was born BC, that’s another issue. But there’s some really, really important issues/events that happened. The first is Pentecost. In Acts, chapter 2, they’re waiting. Jesus says, “Wait, the power will come upon you.” They’re all in a room, and the Holy Spirit descends on them. It’s like tongues aflame, and they hear it. And the visible manifestation of the coming of the Holy Spirit is tongues. They start speaking in languages they don’t know. That attracts attention. People from all around the world are in Jerusalem for Pentecost. So, we’re about 50 days after Passover, and they hear the disciples proclaiming the gospel in their own language. Well, yeah, that would get their attention, wouldn’t it? And so, you have the Holy Spirit coming. The power is now in us to live out what God has called us to do. It’s now written on our hearts, and not just on tablets of stone. And the new covenant is now fully in effect, all right?

During this time period, there is persecution, but it’s primarily Jewish persecution. There’s some fabulous stories along those lines. And then this part of Acts ends with an interesting story about Stephen. Now, Stephen is a Gentile name, even though this is primarily a Jewish context. But Stephen has been preaching, and he gets himself in trouble, and there’s a big crowd. And he goes in this rather—well, it’s a whole chapter—sermon, but there’s two things that he’s trying to get across. One, is the Jewish nation has always been rebellious. Yes, we know there’s always been a remnant of true believers, but for the most part he says, “You’ve been rebellious. Your whole existence, you’ve been rebellious. And oh, by the way, God does not live in your temple.” Okay, he’s hitting at two phenomenally central beliefs in Judaism, and in appreciation, they kill him. Okay, that’s the end of this first phase.

You move into phase two. You move more up into Samaria, chapters 8 to 12, and what’s happening? Persecution is increasing. Eventually, Herod kills James (of Peter, James, and John fame). But what happens when you persecute the church? And this has always been true. It’s been true in Acts. It’s true through history. You persecute the church, it grows. It expands. It goes to new places. It’s really amazing to watch how the world thinks that persecuting Christians will destroy the church, and actually it emboldens the church, and it grows the church. And that’s what happens. And so we have Philip who goes up into Samaria, and it’s a very interesting conversation.

And then you have the story of Saul’s conversion. Saul was a rabbi. He was adamantly opposed to Christianity. He was doing everything he could to destroy it, and he was on his way up to Damascus, a city up north, to find Christians so he could imprison them. On the way, God appears to him, strikes him down, falls off his horse, and he goes blind. And the voice says, “Why are you persecuting me?” Paul says—Saul becomes Paul. Paul says, “Who is this?” “This is Jesus, the very person you’re persecuting. I just struck you down.” Again, gets his attention. Paul becomes a Christian, a follower of Christ, and very quickly starts preaching a Christian message.

This passage in Acts then ends with an incredibly important story about Cornelius. Cornelius was fully Gentile, okay? He liked the Jews. He helped them, but he was fully Gentile. You’ve got to understand the hatred that exists on the Jews’ part between Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles probably just thought Jews were strange. The Jews thought they were God’s people, and everyone else was, you know, damned or something, however you want to say it. And so there’s this incredible hatred and division, and certainly the Messiah would never go to Gentiles. So Peter’s in Joppa. He has a dream. A big net is dropped down full of unclean animals, according to Jewish law. Voice says, “Rise and eat.” And Peter says, “No, I’m not going to do that. I’ve never eaten an unclean animal.” And the voice from heaven, God says, “Don’t you dare call unclean what I’ve declared to be clean.” Again, as a Gentile, I am unclean to the Jews. I’m clean to God, okay? So he’s trying to figure out, Peter’s trying to figure out, what on earth was this all about? People from Cornelius come and say, “Please come and talk to Cornelius, who is a Gentile,” and that’s unclean. And Peter goes up, and he sees that God accepts Gentiles as well as Jews.

Here’s why this is so important. There’s a strong movement in the early church that you had to be a Jew in order to be a Christian. Okay, you had to go through the Jewish rituals and identify yourself with Judaism. Now, that’s all gone. And that’s really the first theological debate in the early church. And this story of Cornelius is saying, “You don’t have to be a Jew to be a follower of Christ.” That then opens the way for Paul’s ministry out to the rest of the world. And that’s phase three.

So that’s chapters 13 to the end of the book. And what happens is that Paul has a series of three journeys, mostly through what today is Turkey and Greece, that kind of area. He’s arrested at the end of his third journey. He’s in prison for a while. And he writes some books during that time we call the Prison Epistles. We’ll get to that later. He’s taken to Rome. And this is where Acts leaves the story. We’re about AD 62. He’s in a home, but he’s under arrest, preaching to anyone who listened to him as typical Paul, waiting for his trial. What we believe based on church tradition, and issues with 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, is that Paul was released, he was found not guilty. He was released, would have had a fourth missionary journey with Titus to Crete, but then was rearrested. And in AD 67, brought back to Rome, was tried, found guilty, and was beheaded. So this is that third phase of the expansion.

In terms of notable features, you have the persecution now is primarily Gentile. All right? You have a real emphasis on the Book of Acts that Paul is innocent. Acts was written for different reasons, but one was certainly to have a document to show Caesar, to show that Paul wasn’t a revolutionary in a political sense, and that he wasn’t guilty of the sins the Jews were saying that he had. But what you have then, in the end of Acts, is that you have Acts 1-8 fulfilled. Okay, the gospel has gone out from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth. And that’s the historical section of the New Testament.