THE BOOK OF ACTS

THE BOOK OF ACTS AND
THE PAULINE EPISTLES Mints International Seminary
Dr. Donald F. Ritsman, D.Min.
STUDENT MANUAL
14401 Old Cutler Rd Miami, FL 33158 786.573.7001 www.mints.edu
TABLE OF CONTENTS LESSONS One: An Introduction to the Book of Acts
Pages 3-19 Two: An Overview of Acts
Pages 20-38 Three: The Gospel Comes to Galatia and the Epistle to the Galatians
Pages 39-56 Four: The Gospel Comes to Macedonia,
and the Epistles to the Thessalonians
Pages 57-75 Five: The Gospel Comes to Achaia and the Epistles to the Corinthians
Pages 76-100 Six: The Gospel Comes to Rome and the Epistle to the Romans
Pages 101-120 Seven: The Prison Epistles
Pages 121-141 Eight: Philemon and The Pastoral Epistles
Pages 142-157 Excursuses Excursus One: An Annotated Outline of the Epistle to the Romans
Pages 158-183
Excursus Two: A Brief Outline of the Epistle to the Ephesians
Pages 184-187
Excursus Three: A Brief Outline of the Epistle to the Colossians
Pages 188-191
Excursus Four: A Brief Outline of the Epistle to the Philippians
Pages 192-194
Excursus Five: The Christological Passages of Col. 1:15-20; 2:9-10
Pages 195-197
Excursus Six: An Exposition of Philippians 2:6-11
Pages 198-201
Excursus Seven: A Brief Outline of the Epistle of 1st Timothy
Pages 202-207
Excursus Eight: A Brief Outline of the Epistle to Titus
Pages 208-210
Excursus Nine: A Brief Outline of the Epistle of 2nd Timothy
Pages 211-214
Bibliography Page 215
Lesson One:
An Introduction to the Book of Acts THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BOOK The New Testament scholar, Merrill C. Tenney, writes, Between the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church as it
emerged into the full current of history there is a tremendous gap.
How did it happen that the followers of Jesus, who were obscure
provincial Galileans and Judeans, became world figures? ... How did
preachers who, [in the estimate of the Jewish leaders], were
"uneducated and untrained men" (Acts 4:13) make such an impact upon
the world that they created an entirely new culture that reshaped the
face of all western civilization? ... How is the teaching of the [New
Testament] epistles related to the teaching of the Gospels? How did it
happen that a movement that began among Jews, that centered in a
Jewish Messiah, and that was founded on the Jewish Scriptures, became
a religion adopted largely by Gentiles, as it is today?[1]
Tenney goes on to assert that all the questions he has raised, and more,
are answered by the Book of Acts, it being the only existing link between
the ministry of the Lord Jesus and the teaching contained in the epistles
of Paul and the other New Testament writers. Indeed, the Book of Acts is
the bridge between the Gospels and the Epistles. It is to this book of New
Testament Scripture that we now give our attention. The Acts of the Apostles, as it came to be called in about the middle of
the second century, is the second of two volumes dedicated to a certain
Roman nobleman named Theophilus. The work has traditionally been attributed
to that early Christian physician and companion of the Apostle Paul whom we
know as Luke[2]-the first volume of his two-volume work is the Gospel that
bears his name. It appears that originally these two volumes circulated together as one
complete and independent work. But soon, at about the end of the first
century or the beginning of the second-quite soon, in fact, after the
appearance of the Gospel of John-the four canonical Gospels were gathered
together into one collection and began to be circulated as the fourfold
Gospel. Consequently, the first volume of Luke's two-volume work became
detached from the second, with that first volume now becoming attached to
the works of the other three Gospel writers. At about the same time that the four Gospels were gathered together to form
one collection, another collection of Christian documents was also taking
shape, that being a collection of the epistles of the Apostle Paul. These
two collections-The Gospel and The Apostle, as they were called-would come
to make up the greater part of the New Testament Scriptures. But there
would prove to be a gap, a lapse in continuity, between these two
collections, were it not for the second volume of Luke's two-volume work,
the volume we know as The Book of Acts. As noted previously, the Book of Acts plays an indispensible part in
relating the Gospels to the Epistles, not only those of Paul, but, to a
lesser extent, those of the other New Testament writers as well. On the one
hand, Acts forms the sequel to the Gospels-as Luke himself states it, in
his first treatise he covered "all that Jesus began to do and to teach" up
to the time of His ascension (Acts 1:1-2a); the implication is that now, in
his second treatise, Luke will cover all that the Lord Jesus continues to
do through the ministry of His apostles and Church as they are empowered by
His Holy Spirit (Acts 1:2b). On the other hand, Acts provides the narrative
background against which the epistles of the Apostle Paul can be more
readily understood. Furthermore, and even more importantly, Acts provides
clear and convincing evidence in support of the apostolic claim Paul makes
for himself in his epistles. In about the middle of the second century the Book of Acts was to serve yet
another important function. On that occasion the book enabled the early
Church to combat and refute the false teaching of a heretic named Marcion
(circa 85-160 A.D.). In about the year 144 A.D. Marcion began to promulgate
in Rome a revolutionary doctrine, maintaining that Christ had revealed an
entirely new religion, completely unrelated to anything that had preceded
His coming, (in particular, the revelation imparted to Israel in the Old
Testament Scriptures). Marcion further asserted that Paul was the only true
apostle of Christ, the only one who faithfully preserved this new religion
in its purity, (again, "uncontaminated" by the Old Testament or any Jewish
influence). In support of his heretical teaching, Marcion introduced his
own canon of Scripture, which was limited to a "revised" edition of the
Gospel of Luke and most, though not all, of the Pauline epistles. The publication of this pseudo-canon became a stimulus to the Church at
Rome, as well as to the Church throughout the Empire, to provide a true
canon. As F.F. Bruce notes, Marcion's pseudo-canon "did not compel [the
churches] to create the canon of Holy Scripture that has ever since ...
been accepted by the Church, but it did compel them to define that canon
with greater precision."[3] Stimulated by the Marcionite heresy, the Church
made clear that it recognized the New Testament Scriptures as being the
compliment and the completion of the Old Testament revelation imparted to
the covenant nation of Israel. Furthermore, the true record of Jesus'
earthly ministry, ("all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day
he was received up [into heaven via His ascension]"), was preserved in all
four of the Gospels that had been recognized from the beginning, not just
an abbreviated version of the one attributed to Luke. Here is where the
Book of Acts came to play a significant role, precisely because it
presented itself as the sequel to Luke's Gospel, (a Gospel accepted by
Marcion himself), having been written by the same author that produced the
first volume of this two-volume record of the continuing ministry of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thus it was that the Book of Acts was recognized as having greater
importance than ever: not only did it connect the New Testament Gospel with
the Old Testament Scriptures, (the first half of Acts strongly emphasizes
the Jewishness of the early Church, indeed, reveals that the New Testament
Church is the true continuation of the Old Testament covenant community),
but it also testified to the validity of not only Paul's apostleship, but
also that of Peter and the rest of the twelve (with the obvious exclusion
of Judas Iscariot). In the words of F.F. Bruce, "The pivotal position of
Acts in the Christian canon was now appreciated as it could not have been
before." A token of that appreciation is evidenced by its placement in the canon
from that time forward, being inserted immediately after the four Gospels
and immediately before the Pauline Epistles. The Church's recognition of
the significance of Acts is also seen in the name it bestowed upon this
second part of Luke's two-volume work, it became known as The Acts of the
Apostles. (The title, The Acts of the Apostles [plural], may have been
intended to assert that the Church recognized not only Paul, but also the
rest of the apostles as being true apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ). This
"official" title of the book first appears in the Anti-Marcionite Prologue
to the Third Gospel, a document to be dated some time between 150 and 180
A.D.