The Dispensational Position of the Book
of the "Acts" This Is Appendix
181 From The Companion Bible.
- The
original title of the Book was probably simply "Acts"
(praxeis), as in Codex Sinaiticus (),
and there is no reason to doubt that it owes its human authorship to
Luke, "the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). Tradition from
very early times ascribes it to him. Eusebius (fl.
A.
D.
300) in his Ecclesiastical History says, "Luke ...
a physician has left us two inspired books ... one of these is his
gospel ... The other is his acts of the apostles which he composed not
from what he had heard from others (like his gospel), but from what he
had seen himself" (Bk. III, chapter 4).
- The
Book is a record of the "Acts" of the Holy Spirit through
"witnesses chosen before of God" (10:41) during the
period of the final offer to the children of Israel of national
restoration and blessing, on condition of national repentance and
obedience. In the Old Testament the offer was made by the FATHER, as Jehovah,
through the prophets (Hebrews 1:1), and was
rejected (compare Zechariah 7:12-14; etc). In the
Gospels the offer was renewed in and by the
SON, and was again rejected (Matthew 23:37-39; etc).
"Acts" records the third and final presentation by the
HOLY SPIRIT, and its final rejection by the Nation (28:25-28; Romans
11:25, etc). Of these
"chosen witnesses" no mention is made of
"works" done by any save those through Peter and John of
the Twelve, and later those through Paul.
- The
Structure (page 1575 in The Companion Bible) shows that
the Book consists of two main divisions (compare the Structures of
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc. in The Companion Bible),
each being divided in beautiful correspondence (see detail Structures in
The Companion Bible).
The FIRST portion,
consisting of the first twelve chapters (after the introduction
1:1-5), concerns the
"witness" (1:8) of the apostles
in Jerusalem, Judaea, and Samaria (Appendix 180).
Peter, the apostle of "the circumcision" (Galatians
2:7), is the central
figure, and this section ends with his imprisonment at Jerusalem
(A.
D.
44).
The S ECOND division, that
is to say, the last sixteen chapters, carries on the
"witnessing" "unto the uttermost part of the
earth" (comapre 1:8; Colossians
1:23), Paul being the
chief personage (Galatians 2:7). This division
terminates with his imprisonment at Rome in A. D. 61 (Appendix 180).
"Acts" was most probably published towards the end of that
imprisonment, that is to say, A. D. 62-63.
The period covered by the entire Book is therefore
as follows:
- From
Pentecost A. D. 29 to Passover
(12:3,
4)
A.
D.
44;
- From
Pentecost (?) A.
D.
46 to A. D. 61.
Consecutively, from A. D. 29 to
A.
D.
61 = 32 years (4 x 8 = 32. Appendix 10).
This must not be confounded with the whole period between the
Crucifixion, the climax of the national rejection of the Lord as
Messiah, and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, videlicet, from
A.
D.
29 to A. D. 69; that is, 40 years (Appendix 10).
- The
DISPENSATIONAL TEACHING of
"ACTS" is of profoundest import, and is significantly set
forth by the Structures; compare also Appendix 180.
In the earlier section, the
"witnessing" of the Twelve, as recorded from
2:5 to the end of
chapter 12, was to "Jews and proselytes" (2:10) alone;
"unto you (Jews) first" (3:26), etc. Their
subject was that Jesus ("the Nazarene")
IS the Messiah;
compare 2:31, 36; 3:18, 20; 4:10, 26; 5:42; 8:5, 37 (see Note);
9:20,
22.
At Damascus, after his "Conversion", Saul (Paul)
"preached (kerusso, Appendix 121. 1)
Jesus (see Note on 9:20) in the
synagogues, that He is the Son of God", and proved "that
this is very Christ", that is to say, Jesus as the Messiah. There
was no proclamation to Gentiles as such (see
11:3). The preaching
of the Word was to the Jews only (11:19), and to the
Gentile proselytes, that the crucified "Nazarene", Jesus,
was in truth the Messiah (see Note on 10:48). The duration
of this witnessing was about 15 years; see above and Appendix 180.
The second part of "Acts" records the apostleship of Paul,
and his "witnessing", which was to Jews and Gentiles
alike. He was the "chosen vessel" separated by the Holy
Spirit "to bear My Name before Gentiles and Kings, and sons of
Israel" (huion te Israel, 9:15). His
subject was "Jesus and the resurrection"
(17:18). Not, be it
marked, Jesus as Messiah, but Jesus (Saviour-God), raised from among the
dead, and made the federal Head of a new race of beings by resurrection,
as announced in Psalm 2:7, with which
compare 13:32-39, and see Notes.
This "witnessing" lasted the 15-16 years (see 3 above) of
the labours of Paul and those associated with him till the imprisonment
in A. D. 61. And to the Jew was given priority of hearing the message
(13:5, 14,
42, 43; 14:1; 17:1, 10, 17; 18:4, 7, 19, 26; 19:8).
- Throughout the whole period of the "Acts", the
witnessing was accompanied by the miraculous gifts promised (Mark
16:17,
18).
Compare 3:7,
8;
5:5, 10, 15,
16;
6:8; 8:6, 7, 13; 9:33-42; 11:28; 13:11; 14:8-10; 16:18; 19:6, 12; 20:9-12; 28:3-6, 8, 9. At the close
these gifts ceased, as is plain from the significance of Philippians
2:26 (A. D. 62);
1 Timothy
5:23 (A. D. 67);
2 Timothy
4:20 (A. D. 68). See Appendix 180.
Thenceforward, the privilege of proclaiming and
"witnessing" (Isaiah 43:10; 44:8, etc.) was taken
from the Jew, and "the salvation of God" (see Note on
Isaiah 49:6) was
"sent 1 to the
Gentiles" (28:28). The
proclamation is now by witnesses taken out from among "all the
Gentiles upon whom My Name is called" (15:17), including of
course the Jewish members of "the body".
- Having
now before us all the "sequence of fact" (comapre also the
Structure, page 1575, in The Companion Bible and Appendix 180),
we can trace "the progress of doctrine", the development
of dispensational teaching in Acts, as well as in the
complementary "Church" Epistles of Paul, and the
limitations of the strictly Hebrew Epistles (Appendix 180,
and Introd. Notes to each). Our Lord's words in John 16:12, 13, are precious,
and they are precise (see Note in loc.). The Gospels
record what the Lord "began to do and teach"
(1:1); after His
resurrection He continued "speaking of the things pertaining to
the Kingdom" (Appendix 112);
and after His Ascension the teaching is carried on by the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of the truth (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26), Who was to
guide (lead on) into "all the truth" (see Notes, John
16:12,13). During the
"Acts" period, believers were guided into much truth,
truth in advance of what had previously been revealed. They were
instructed in much that they had been unable "to bear"
before the coming of the Holy Spirit to instruct them. But not even yet
had they been guided into "all the truth". This was
reserved, and not permitted to be revealed, until the public proclaiming
of "the kingdom" had ended, after the close of the
"Acts". (See Notes on the Epp., specially Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians.) Then it was, at the commencement of
this present interim period during which "blindness in part is
happened to Israel" (Romans 11:25), that
"the church which is His body" (Ephesians 1:22, 23) began to be
formed "to the praise of the glory of His grace"
(Ephesians 1:6, and Note on
15:14). As above
stated, and as the facts show, this church did not begin
at Pentecost as is so commonly taught and believed.
NOTE
1 Sent = sent away;
Greek apostello. Implying the mission or commission
employed, and the power and authority backing it. (Appendix 174. 1).
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