The Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament, which tells the story of the establishing the Christian church and the spread of its holy message on the territory of the Roman Empire. It is considered to be the cornerstone in the history of Christianity (Schmemann, 120).
Purpose: to provide a history of the early Christian church. The emphasis of the book is put on the importance of Pentecost and witnessing Jesus Christ`s deeds. Acts tells the story about the apostles witnessing Christ's miracles in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and it is aimed to send the message to the rest of people in the world. The book of Acts also highlights the importance of obedient behaviour and those changes, which take place as a result of knowing Christ. There are also many allusions to those who ignored the truth which was told by the disciples about Jesus Christ (Schmemann, 135).
Key verse(s) and themes:
Context:
Audience: The Book of Acts was written to be read aloud to groups of Jesus-followers.
Issues addressed: The book of Acts tells the history of the Christian church and the spread of Jesus Christ`s gospel, as well as the opposition to it.
The Book of Acts shed much light on the history of the Christianity in the very beginning and the way community needs to behave in order to respond to group, individual, personal, and spiritual needs (Lössl, 93).
The Book of Acts shows us the very beginning of the Christian movement. The Book is often named transitional as it is kind of bridge between the Gospels and the Epistles, the historical link that joins the life of Christ with the spread of the Christian church — every important detail from the first days of the Christianity. The Book of Acts tells that the Christian faith has roots in history (Lössl, 95).
The Book of Acts teaches all of us not to focus on material values and personal goals, but to respond to common goals of the community, within which everyone will have help and support. It teaches us that all the power and resources should be used for the sake of the community, aimed at seeing God’s kingdom in every-day life as well as being worthy part of God’s new world (Lössl, 98).
The Book of Acts started the long history of Christianity, which is still developing. Being the cornerstone of Church history, it tells the story about how the first Christian community was created in Jerusalem and how it was persecuted by the authorities, and finally the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome. The first church was governed by the Apostles, but then the number of disciples became bigger and the cares of ruling the community became bigger as well, so special people were chosen to help. The greatest value of early Church was unity in love, as well as today, which is also the final aim of Christians` life. In its further development the early Church had a break with Judaism and took its place in the Greco-Roman World. All of these further events and development was possible because of the very Book of Acts and people believing in what is written there (Lössl, 100).
References
Lössl, J.(2010).The Early Church: History and Memory. A&C Black
Schmemann, A. (1963).The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy. Holt, Rinehart and Winston
