Acts was written by Luke between 63 and 65 A.D. It is a history of the first thirty-three years of Christ at the right hand of God. It is a revelation of the hidden drama of redemption through the Holy Spirit.
It is not man. No men but Stephen or Barnabas received a word of eulogy. Paul is seen working quietly as a common man.
All greatly used men in the New Testament are roots out of dry ground. Their weakness is never covered. They are there, God-used, but ever falling into the reason realm. Neither Peter nor Paul have an apology. They are seen without a halo. Their faults and failings are written down, but are used of God. They are common men used for the most uncommon work.
The three key instruments unveiled in the book of Acts are: The Word, the name, and the Holy Spirit. We will study the Word in this lesson, followed by the name and the Holy Spirit in proceeding lessons.
THE WORD IN THE BOOK OF ACTS
The Word holds a unique place in the first thirty-three years of church history. It is a suggestion of the place the Word should hold in the church through the entire dispensation.
Acts 2:41: “They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls.” This is unique. They that received the Word—not the doctrines, nor the teachings, nor a creed—but the Logos.
Acts 4:4 has another suggestion, “But many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” It doesn’t say that they heard the apostles, but that they heard the Word.
Acts 6:2: “And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God, and serve tables.”
How early they learned the place of the Word!
Acts 6:4: “But we will continue steadfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word.”
These were untaught men, fishermen. The Spirit had unveiled to them the place and dignity of the Word.
The seventh verse staggers one: “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Here is another striking sentence: “The word…increased.”
The Pauline Revelation had not yet been written; the four Gospels had not yet been written. All they had was the Old Testament. The Word that is increasing and growing upon the hearts of the people is the new truth about Jesus.
Did you notice the last clause? “And a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Christianity was called “the faith” as early as that.
Acts 8:4 tells us that there had been a great persecution. Stephen had been stoned to death. Saul of Tarsus was laying waste the church, entering into every house and dragging men and women out and committing them to prison.
In the first of this fearful persecution, Acts 8:4 declares, “They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word.”
I heard an outstanding evangelist the other night, and he only quoted two passages of Scripture in his entire address. He told experiences, anecdotes, and kept the audience intensely interested, but God had no place in it.
“Now when the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John” (Acts 8:14).
Philip had gone down to Samaria, and a revival had taken place. There is not a word of eulogy about Philip; only some men at Jerusalem had heard that Samaria had received the Word of God. Then it tells how they baptized the converts and laid their hands upon them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:25 So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
The Word holds a new position.
Acts 10:44 is the story of the Gentiles receiving Christ. Up to this time, only Jews and Samaritans had accepted Christ. God appeared to Peter in a dream and unveiled to him that he was going to give the glad tidings to the Gentiles: “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word.”
Then the Jews had to acknowledge that the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit in the same manner that they did when they first believed on the day of Pentecost. But the Spirit came upon them that heard the Word. That did the work.
Acts 11:11 Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, 3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!”4 But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying:
15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.
You see two elements at work. Peter had preached the Word, the Gentiles had accepted Christ, and the Holy Spirit fell on them.
The Jewish believers in Judea were still governed by sense knowledge, were ruled by the old covenant with its law, priesthood, and sacrifices.
You can see in the nineteenth verse how they took the Word abroad: “They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews.”
What a struggle there was between the men who wanted to adapt Christianity to Judaism and those who saw that Christianity was a new covenant and a new relationship with God.
The Pauline Revelation had not yet been given. They knew nothing about the new creation, the new covenant teaching, the substitutionary work of Jesus, the body of Christ, and Christ’s marvelous ministry at the right hand of the Father. The believers were living in the realm of the senses very largely. They witnessed the marvelous miracles and they believed because of them.
Acts 13:5–7 is the story of the Bible school at Antioch. They had several teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. I have often wished that I might have had an opportunity to sit under those teachers.
The Spirit had separated Saul and Barnabas to send them out into evangelistic work.
The seventh verse has a striking message. The proconsul had been entertained by a sorcerer, a prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus. “The same called unto him Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.”
You notice that he did not desire to hear Barnabas and Saul, but the Work of God. Then came one of Paul’s great miracles. Read carefully the next paragraph.
In the twenty-sixth verse, at the conclusion of Paul’s address at Antioch of Pisidia, he said, “Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us is the word of this salvation sent forth.” You can see how they honored the Word above everything.
In the forty-fourth verse it says, “And the next sabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God.” That stirred mighty persecution on the part of the Jews, as described in these verses. Read on to the fifty-second verse, which is striking: “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
In the midst of persecution, often in hunger, they went from village to village, to preach the Word.
Acts 14:3. For the first time the Word is called the “word of grace.” It makes us almost jealous as we read the story of their mighty ministry. How we would like to see it again!
Acts 14: 4 But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. 6 When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ 10 Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. 11 At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. 12 Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, 14 who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.’ 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.
This is Paul’s first missionary journey, and all the equipment that he had was the Word.
In the fifteen chapter, we have the council in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas had gone up to Jerusalem to tell the story of what God had done through them among the Gentiles as well as among the Jews.
Acts 15:6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
What confidence those men had in that “word of the gospel” (verse 7)!
Acts 15:35 Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
Division Over John Mark
36 Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”
This is Paul’s second ministry journey. They are going back over the towns where they have preached to comfort and strengthen the converts. They left an assembly in every community.
It takes us almost a generation in a heathen country before a church is established. It is not that the disciples were brighter, smarter men. It wasn’t because the crucifixion and resurrection were only a few years past. It was because the Word held a place in their ministry, the name of Jesus held a place we have never given it, and the Holy Spirit held a place of Guide and Director that He has never been given since that day.
The Word brought conviction; the name gave them their credentials in miracles; and the Holy Spirit unveiled Jesus to the listeners as the Word was expounded.
Acts 16:6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.
You notice who governed the disciples—the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t the time to go into Asia. Things were not ready. They had an opportunity to unveil the Word in the towns where the Spirit guided them.
How it thrills the heart to realize that there was a superintendent guiding the men. He is still in the earth. This is His day of ministration.
In the thirty-second verse is a story of Paul in Philippi. He had cast a demon out of a girl, thus causing trouble. He and Silas had been arrested and locked in prison. Their backs had been scourged. Their hands and feet were in stocks, yet they had been singing and praising the Lord. The prisoners had been listening to them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison house were broken, “and immediately all the doors were opened; and every one’s bands were loosed” (verse 26). The jailer awakened out of sleep, saw the gates open, and thought the prisoners had escaped. He was going to kill himself rather than be killed by the Roman authorities, but Paul and Silas spoke to him and told him that none had escaped.
He said unto them, “What must I do to be saved?” (verse 30). “And they spake the word of the Lord unto him, with all that were in his house” (verse 32). The caretakers and the prisoners all heard the Word, and in that jail a church was organized.
Acts 17:11 is a beautiful Scripture. This was a Jewish audience that held the Old Testament; and instead of treating them as the people in Thessalonica, they accepted the Word. What tremendous effect God’s Word had!
Acts 18:11 is an account of Paul at Corinth. He taught the Word there a year and six months.
Acts 19:10–20 tells us of Paul at Ephesus, one of the greatest ministries of his life. The ninth and tenth verses say that he had been reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus, and that this had been going on for two years.
Verses 17–20 give us a picture of the prevailing Word: And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Many also of them that had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. And not a few of them that practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed.
In Acts 6:7 we saw the Word increase. In 12:24, the Word grew and multiplied. But here, the Word so mightily grew that it prevailed over the great city of Ephesus.
When the Word is given its place today in the assemblies and churches, it will produce the same kind of results. You understand that up to this time, the Pauline Revelation had not yet been written. First and Second Corinthians had not yet been written. Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians—the great body of truth—had not yet been written to the church,
There are three phases of the Word. We have the Word incarnate in the flesh. (See John 1:14.) Next, we have the spoken Word in the book of Acts. Then we have the written Word that takes in the entire New Testament, but especially the Pauline Revelation.
So, we have the “incarnate,” the “spoken,” and the “written” Word. But the Word in the lips of Jesus was the Father’s Word that was given to men through His Son. It was the healing Word, the miracle-performing word.
The Word preached by the apostles was the living Word, the live-giving Word, the recreating Word, the miracle-performing Word.
The Word given to us by the Holy Spirit through the apostles’ lips (this would include the epistles) is not only a written Word, but it is a living Word; it is a life-giving Word; it is a healing Word; it is a prevailing Word; it is a God-indwelt Word.
In the lips of men of faith, the Word is filled with faith, filled with love, filled with grace, filled with the very nature and life of God.
What a privilege it is to have in our lips this living Word, this life-giving Word.
God is love and God is light; but God is also a faith God; so when He gives us His nature in the new birth, there comes with that a measure of faith to every one of us.
However, that life has to dominate us. It has to be sustained and fed with the Word; and as we act on the Word and live in the Word, faith grows in us.
Believing, you understand, is acting on the Word. Faith is having acted on the Word.
HOW MUCH DO YOU REMEMBER?
- Who wrote the book of Acts? During what years was it written?
- What three spiritual instruments are unveiled in this book of Acts?
- What is the difference between the Word as expressed by the original “Logos,” and mere doctrines, teachings, or creeds?
- What should be the place of the Word in our churches today?
- Give five references in Acts showing the Word working through the apostles.
- Why were the Jewish believers against the expounding of the Scriptures to the Gentiles?
- Give a brief summary of Paul’s first and second missionary journeys.
- What did Paul and Silas speak unto the jailer who wanted salvation?
- What are the three phases of the Word? Explain.
- Choose the chapter or episode in Acts that reveals the most to you from this lesson, and write a few paragraphs of explanation or personal thought on it.