‘Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; Acts and Romans follow on,’ goes the children’s song which teaches us the books of the Bible in order. The book of Acts, following on from the 4 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is the sequel to the Gospels that precede it and the background to the Epistles (letters) that follow it. Written by Luke, a doctor (Col 4:14) and travelling companion to Paul on many of his missionary journeys recounted in Acts, it forms the sequel to the Gospel bearing his name: Henry J. Cadbury reminds us that Acts is ‘neither an appendix nor an afterthought’; it forms, with the gospel, ‘a single, continuous work.’ John Stott reminds us that ‘in Luke, we read about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. In Acts, we read about what Jesus continued to do and to teach after His ascension, especially through the apostles. Thus, Jesus’s ministry on earth was followed by his ministry from heaven, exercised through His Holy Spirit by His apostles.’ Because of this, the title of the book (often called ‘Acts of the Apostles’) has often been described as ‘Acts of the Holy Spirit’; John Stott suggests the longer, more accurate (if more cumbersome!) title ‘the continuing word and deeds of Jesus by His Spirit through His apostles.’
It’s always a mystery, how God’s sovereignty and our free will work together, how Christ lives through us (see Gal 2:20). To emphasise God’s sovereignty can minimise the role people play in spreading the gospel – and Acts shows us a whole catalogue of people witnessing to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to great effect, seeing the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem throughout the whole world as far as Rome in a matter of thirty years. To emphasise people’s efforts without acknowledging the tremendous, transformative power of the Holy Spirit again leaves us lopsided. All throughout the book, we see how it was the power of the Holy Spirit which thrust people out to witness and how the signs and wonders performed were the confirmation of the message of salvation proclaimed by the apostles (see Acts 1:8, Mark 16:20, Acts 5:12, 42). God has chosen to work in partnership with people (see Phil 2:12-13), a mystery still to us all, but one which Acts demonstrates as powerful and effective. God’s plan is for the church to witness to the works God has done in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. In a nutshell, that’s what it’s all about – now, as much as then!
