Acts

Acts. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Acts is attributed to Luke, author of one of the gospels. The gospels focus on the life of Christ, but Acts focuses on the apostles as they established the church. Much of the book tells of the missionary journeys of Paul, and Luke indicates that he accompanied the apostle on some of those journeys.

In his gospel, Luke described the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus, made several appearances to his disciples, sometimes large groups of them, until His Ascension. Luke shows that the resurrection of Jesus was central to Christianity from the beginning, being preached by Peter immediately after Pentecost and by Paul repeatedly wherever he went.


Peter was a leader of the apostles and he is prominent in the early chapters of the books. During this time, the growth of the church was concentrated in Jerusalem until the persecution led to its dispersion. This dispersion, along with a vision God gave Peter, was the beginning of the gospel being carried to non-Jewish people, Gentiles, and the growth of the church in that sector.

With the shift to Gentiles, the book turns from Peter to Paul. Paul was a Jewish scholar and a leader of the prosecution of the church. His conversion is described in Acts. He was appointed by the other apostles to be a missionary to the Gentiles and rose to become one of the great teachers in the church.

Paul took three missionary journeys. In the first, he established or encouraged churches in Asia near the Mediterranean Sea. His second journey revisited some of these churches and expanded into Greece. His third trip focused on Ephesus, a major economic center of the Roman Empire.

His preaching in Ephesus, and the growth of he church there, lead to conflicts with the temple of Diana. In Ephesus, Paul begins to feel the call to carry the gospel to Rome. Before he goes, he revisits Greece and Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was also a place of conflict for Paul. He was welcomed by the church there, which celebrated the work he had done among the Gentiles, but he came into conflict with Jewish leaders. These men captured him and took him to Roman officials wanting to have him put to death. These Roman leaders were too scrupulous of their laws to laws to execute Paul on shaky charges that they probably saw as a sectarian conflict amongst the Jews, but some were willing to do a favor a keep him out of the way. This eventually lead Paul to appeal his case to Caesar, a right he claimed as Roman citizen, and he was sent to Rome under military guard.

Paul spent a couple of years as a prisoner in Rome, though he had great liberty and was allowed to preach and teach there. Paul was probably acquitted after a couple of years in Rome and received better treatment that he would later when, as a prisoner again, he wrote his letters to the churches.

Acts may come off as a biography of Peter and Paul. It is really a picture of the great commission in action as the church began preaching and making disciples first in Jerusalem (Peter), then the nearby districts (shifting from Peter to Paul), and finally to the entire known world (Paul’s missionary journeys).

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Holy Bible (especially the Gospels (especially Luke))
Fathered by God by John Eldredge
Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller
The Joy of Supernatural Thinking by Bill Bright

First Timothy

First Timothy.  The Holy Bible.  New King James Version.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

The Bible includes two letters from Paul to his protégé, Timothy.  Timothy traveled extensively with Paul on his missionary journeys and sometimes served as his messenger.  Timothy is mentioned in several of Paul’s letters and in the book of Acts.

At the time of this letter, Timothy was serving as a pastor at Ephesus.  Though there were many Christians in Ephesus, they met in small, home-based groups.  In this sense, Timothy was more a pastor to pastors.  Paul wrote to him with encouragement and instruction.

Paul opens his letter with a theme that occurs in many others: doctrinal purity and false teachers.  Then, as now, there were people who wanted to draw followers, fame and fortune to themselves and found an opportunity in religion.  They presented themselves as scholars discriminating the finer points of the law and engaged in disputations.  Mostly, they sold what was selling and lived immorally, making excuses for themselves.  Paul encouraged his disciple to stick to the Gospel he had received.

Because of this, Paul gave instructions about who would make suitable leaders in the church.  These were to be mature, of good character, with orderly lives, especially in their family.

Speaking of family, Paul was very concerned about relationships, especially how Christians relate to each other.  He wrote about who Christians should treat each other.  He discussed how pastors and congregations should relate.  He wrote about charity to the poor.  He gave direction to masters and slaves, husbands and wives, parents and children.

Though he doesn’t address it directly in this letter, you can see in his discussion of relationships Paul’s vision of authority and submission in a context of loving relationships.  God is the model and source of all authority.  Of course, no human rules with the absolute authority of God; human authorities are trustees and agents of God, in the church, government and family.  God not only rules, He loves.  Jesus Christ suffered agony and death to atone for our sins and give us everlasting life with Him.  No one can repeat what Christ did, nor is it necessary, but his sacrificial love and submission to His Father are a mode for human rulers.

On the flip side, we are all to submit to God.  This submission to God is a model of our submission to authorities, who are all appointed by God.  We love, reverence and obey authorities just as they love, care for and thoughtfully lead us.  The notion of submission is unpalatable to many, but it is possible, even good, in the context of God’s love and authority working through people.

Paul’s love for Timothy comes through the letter.  The terms of affection, the concern for his health, the encouragement to face problems with calm faith, the reminders of friends and family break up the teaching sections.  Paul himself was a model for the things he was teaching Timothy.  Paul was an authority and Timothy served him for years.  Paul was also a loving friend who cared about his wellbeing and success.   As both an authority and one under authority, Timothy had a good teacher in the apostle.

Paul also wrote

Colossians

First Corinthians

Galatians

Philippians
Romans
Second Corinthians

Second Thessalonians

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Ephesians

Ephesians. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus from prison. Some think this letter may have been a circular intended for several churches because of the lack of personal greetings that are common in Paul’s other epistles. His theme is far from imprisonment. He writes of liberty, unity, and harmony.

In other letter, the apostle to the Gentiles addresses the error of some Jewish converts that one must convert to Judaism and keep the law and traditions of that religion as part of converting to Christianity. Paul reiterates that the law can only condemn sinful people who don’t keep in every regard; we are dependent on the grace of God, executed in Christ, if we want to be rescued from death and live a new life that is pleasing to God. Freedom from the law is not a license to behave immorally; it’s a new way of living where we are governed by love instead of rules and the Holy Spirit living in us empowers us to do good instead of all the evil things that previously enslaved us.

Because all Christians are partakers of the same grace, both Jews and Gentiles, the church should be unified. It is God’s plan that we should be in relationship with our fellows in Christ, helping each other, working together, and loving one another. There may be a distinction in Jewish heritage and history, but all Christians have the same faith whatever their background.

Grace and unity in the church should be characterized by harmonious relationships. Paul addresses how Christians related to each other and in this letter he specifically addresses marriage, family, and work relationships. In relationships, Christ is our model. The way he treats us, he held nothing back and even suffered a painful, humiliating death to rescue us, should inform the way we treat others, especially those who are under our authority or vulnerable because the don’t have the protectors in life that others may have. As we love others we should also respect others, especially those God has put in our lives for our provision, protection, and upbringing.

In a nutshell, the message of Ephesians is let love rule. This is the broken, partial, conditional, imperfect love that typifies human relationships. It is the perfect, pure love of God, love we can hardly understand. It is love we firs receive from God. God living in us makes us able to share this love with others. Paul doesn’t directly refer to Jesus’ statement that the brotherhood of believers would be recognized by their love for each other, but the notion runs through the letter.



Paul also wrote
First Corinthians
Galatians (216)
Romans
Second Corinthians

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Deuteronomy
Genesis

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