Are the Acts of the Apostles examples for us to follow?

Ane of the perennial questions most the nature of Acts is whether information technology isdescriptive orprescriptive—that is, whether Luke is just telling us what happened, or whether he is telling us what happened so that we might imitate it for ourselves. In other words, is Acts a particular story almost what God did, or is it besides (or instead) full general educational activity about the kinds of things God at present does in the new impunity of the Spirit? A couple of years ago, I attended a conference where i of the papers explored this question. The theme of the session was 'Reading Luke-Acts in the light of aboriginal historiography', that is, making certain we are reading it enlightened of the kind of expectations that Luke and his first readers would have had for these kinds of documents.

In relation to Acts, the presenter pointed out that, in the beginning century, there would have merely really been 1 purpose in the presentation of 'heroes' of a historical story—to offer them as function models. Readers would not have given this a 2d idea; the characters they read almost would clearly offer positive examples to be emulated. What, then, practise nosotros annotation about the Christ-followers and leaders of the church in Acts that we should model ourselves on? Nosotros were offered two main features.

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The first is to note that prayer is a dominant and recurrent theme, especially in the first half of Acts. Prayer or praying is mentioned 33 times in Acts; the majority, 23 occurrences, come in the first half and only 10 characteristic in the second half, of which only vi of these actually describe people praying. (Information technology is as if, having made his point in the start one-half, Luke stops worrying about reporting prayer in the second half!) Quite frequently, nosotros are just told that someone prayed, but we are not necessarily toldwhat they prayed—the words they used—whereas in the gospels we are usually told what the words are. Prayer features in a number of dissimilar ways:

• It is the regular addiction of Jesus' followers after his rise (1.xiv) and of all the believers (ii.42). They were in the habit of joining prayers in the temple (3.1), and was i of the primal tasks of the apostles (6.4). Individuals like Cornelius are marked out by their addiction of prayer (x.2).
• Prayer is primal in controlling (one.24) and particularly nearly the choice of leaders.
• Following this, prayer is too function of commissioning people for tasks, such as those who would serve (vi.six), Paul and Barnabas every bit they leave Antioch (13.3) and their own appointing of elders in the first Christian communities (14.23).
• Prayer is a get-go response to opposition or difficulty, on the part of those facing the difficulties (4.24) as well equally those concerned for them (12.5); it also includes praise (16.25).
• Prayer precedes or leads to detail healings (ix.40, 28.8).
• Finally, it also marks key moments and departures (20.36, 21.five).

If Luke draws our attention to this throughout Acts, then he presumably expects all Christians to exist so marked.

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Secondly, and not unrelated, is Luke'due south linguistic communication of people being filled with the Spirit. The Spirit himself is conspicuously a ascendant theme of Acts, non but in terms of how frequently the Spirit is mentioned, but much more than fundamentally because the outpouring of the Spirit following Jesus' ascension is the matter which leads to the constructive witness of the apostles and other disciples, in growing circles of influence 'in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth' (1.8).

But ten times, Luke specifically talks of people being 'filled with the [Holy] Spirit' or of individuals beingness 'total of the [Holy] Spirit'.

• All those gathered at Pentecost are filled with the Spirit (2.four)
• Peter is filled with the Spirit equally he preaches a second time (iv.8)
• Having prayed with disrespect in the face up of opposition, all the people are filled once more (four.31)
• Those who will look on tables should be full of the Spirit and wisdom (half-dozen.3), and Stephen stands out in this regard (6.five, 7.55)
• Saul/Paul is filled with the Spirit when Ananias prays for him (9.17)
• Barnabas is known as a man filled with the Spirit (11.24)
• Saul is filled with the Spirit as he confronts Elymas the wizard (xiii.9)
• The disciples are filled with joy and the Spirit, even in the confront of opposition (13.52)

This is specially meaning for two reasons. Beginning, this language occurs inappreciably anywhere else in the NT, coming five times in Luke (one.15, 1.41, 1.67, 4.i and 10.21) and one time in Eph v.18. The control in this concluding verse is a present imperative, having the strength 'Be continually, daily, filled with the Spirit, as a habit or affair of class'. Secondly, the notion of existence filled with the Spirit has been central to charismatic renewal movements of the terminal several decades, and was something I was taught from Eph 5.eighteen. And so it is important to notation the fact that Luke offers this is an aspect of Christian discipleship that nosotros should emulate in the account in Acts.

In add-on to these observations, I think I would also desire to note two other things which are recurrent features of the portraits in Acts which perhaps Luke would have us emulate:

1. It might sound rather obvious, but everyone who features, named or unnamed, at any level of leadership in the Christian communities, is involved in some sort of proclamation or explanation of the practiced news about Jesus.
2. Equally obvious is the fact that this proclamation consistently provokes opposition of ane kind or another.

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In my early days of Bible reading, I was introduced to something called the Swedish Bible written report method. In the version I was given, one of the questions was to identify from the passage 'A warning to avoid or an example to follow.' It looks as though Acts gives the states plenty of these! Just a terminal ascertainment is that, for Luke, these things don't come about by human being effort; they are an overflow of the piece of work of the Spirit. Tom Wright has observed that Paul never instructs his readers to go around telling their friends near Jesus—but it does appear to have simply happened.

(This material beginning posted in November 2014.)

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