This time, i would like to approach this matter from a slightly different perspective. As regards its authorship, it was certainly the work of luke, the beloved physician comp. Recently discovered in the durham cathedral library, j. Paul lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of god and teaching about the lord jesus christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Wagner has won me over and has stirred in me a fire to spread the gospel of jesus christ. As a companion to his twovolume luke commentary, fitzmyers acts commentary is readable and useful for scholar, pastor or layman. The book of the acts new international commentary on the new testament bruce, f. The acts of the apostles, fifth book of the new testament, a valuable history of the early christian church. The anchor bible format begins with a fresh translation followed by a comment on the text and then a notes section for exegetical detail. Calvin is regarded as one of the reformations best interpreters of scripture. First of all luke mentions the fact that acts is the sequel to the gospel of luke written around 5560 ad, and therefore must have been written later. Acts is the second book in the history that luke wrote.
The book of acts, which continues the narrative that luke began in his gospel, is especially important because it was the first written history of the christian church. Peter is not mentioned in acts after the account of the council. It will be of great value to pastors as well as students and their professors. There are a number of good commentaries on the book of acts. Acts baker exegetical commentary on the new testament. While there are some areas of great detail of the acts of the apostles, many times you must use cross references to the gospels of matthew, mark, luke and john as well as some other epistles in the new testament to get the full picture of what. The book of acts, also called acts of the apostles, does not specifically identify its author. Acts is a fastmoving historical account of the first three decades of the church. Commentary on acts is an impressive commentary, containing some of calvins most important views. Acts 18 commentary, one of over 110 bible commentaries freely available, this commentary, filling six volumes, provides an exhaustive look at every verse in the bible. Socialscience commentary on the book of acts social science commentary malina, bruce j. The acts of the apostles often referred to simply as acts, or formally the book of acts, is the fifth.
Commentary on the book of acts of the apostles by matthew. The book of the acts new international commentary on the new. Verse 1 luke referred to his gospel here as my first book. The book will therefore have been written only after the end of this time. Acts overview mcgarveys original commentary on acts. For assurance of our own salvation, we can compare our own conversion experience with those in acts. Top 5 commentaries on the book of acts ligonier ministries. Acts free bible commentary on the book of acts in easy english. Secondly luke at the end of acts luke mentions pauls twoyear imprisonment in rome. The tradition from the earliest days of the church has been that luke, a companion of the apostle paul, wrote the books of luke and acts colossians 4. With authors such as joseph addison alexander, frederick denison maurice, william owen carver, and c. Bruces revised study on the book of acts is a contribution to the new international commentary on the new testament.
Like ben witheringtons previous commentary conflict and community in corinth, this commentary breaks fresh ground in providing a detailed social and rhetorical analysis of the book of acts. Bruce rylands professor of biblical criticism and exegesis, university of manchester, england introduces this exellcent commentary on the book of acts with a fitting discussion on the canonicity of the new testament, aptly noting that marcions canon did not compel them to create the canon of holy scripture which has ever since, with minor variations, been accepted. With bible gateway plus, you gain instant access to a digital bible study library, including complete notes from the niv cultural backgrounds study bible and the new bible commentary. The book of acts provides a bridge for the writings of the nt. Classic commentaries and studies on the acts of the.
The classic commentaries and studies on the acts of the apostles collection 30 vols. Why does the book of acts end in such a lame manner. Staggs commentary focuses on lukes purposes in writing acts. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of god. The purpose of the book of acts is governed by the jews response to peter and paul. Matthew henry 18 october 1662 22 june 1714 was an english commentator on the bible, who published his works in 1706, sixvolume exposition of the old and new testaments 17081710 or complete commentary, provides an exhaustive verse by verse study of the bible, covering the whole of the old testament, and the gospels and acts in the new testament. The following are the five that i have found to be the most helpful. He cites an encyclopedia entry which he believes best represents the book. Acts is the book that reveals the power of the church. There are several major themes in acts, and here let us consider three of them. If you love the adventure and drama of acts as i do then this is a must read.
Best commentaries and books on acts logos bible software. This versebyverse bible study and commentary of the acts of the apostles the book of acts or simply acts is indepth but uses plain language that everyone can understand, as well as a format that will engage you. This is the best kept secret among greekbased nt commentaries. Therefore, when a church begins to dwindle, lose its power, and turn dull and drab in its witness, it needs desperately to get back into the spirit, expectation, knowledge and teaching of the book of acts. Acts 18 commentary matthew henrys complete commentary. Lightfoots commentary on the acts of the apostles is a landmark event of great significance to both church and academy. The first, covering acts 1 through 14, is available as either a paperback or kindle ebook at. The book of the acts new international commentary on the. Prepared by some of the worlds leading scholars, the series provides an exposition of the new testament books that is thorough and fully abreast of modern scholarship yet faithful to the scriptures as the infallible word of god.
Purposes of the book of acts reformed bible studies. The commentary is well organized, and it is easy to navigate to a particular section or point of discussion. Socialscience commentary on the book of acts social science. The apostles were commanded to go to jesus was presented alive acts 1. As a second volume to lukes gospel, it joins what jesus began to do and to teach 1. This document has been generated from xsl extensible stylesheet language source with renderx xep formatter, version 3.
Introduction the defense offered by steven in acts 7 has confused interpreters as much as any passage in the book of acts. Written in a readable style, with more detailed interaction with scholarly discussion found in the various excursuses, this commentary draws on the best new insights from a number of. After rising from the dead, jesus met with his disciples and followers, giving convincing proofs that he was alive. Where appropriate, an even more technical commentary is provided. A word list at the end explains words with a star by them.
The book of acts is a letter addressed to one man, theophilus. The book of acts also called acts of the apostles begins where the gospel of luke left off. Acts commentary matthew henry commentary on the whole. Acts one provides a brief, but powerful look at christs ascension into heaven. In those two years, luke had plenty of time to research and write his gospel and the book of acts. This was an important revision 1990 of a very old commentary by bruce from the 50s. Strange details in stephens defense xenos christian fellowship. Acts concerns the very vital period in christian history between the resurrection of jesus and the death of the apostle paul, the time when christian ideas and beliefs were.
This commentary has been through advanced checking. Read acts commentary using commentary critical and explanatory on the whole bible. Steve walton, london school of theology this commentary on acts is a worthy complement to darrell bocks fine commentary on lukes gospel. Luke recorded three rejections by the jews to peter and the apostles associated with him to the message of repentance and proclamation of the kingdom. Frank stagg in his commentary, the book of acts, the early struggle for an unhindered gospel, asserts the purpose is primarily the movement of the message about jesus the gospel from a strictly nationalistic judaism to a universal message for all humans. Commentary on the book of acts bible study lessons. In this book, the principles of the exchanged life not i, but christ is. What started out as a hard read continued in blessing after blessing. In the latter portion of acts, luke recorded three rejections of the jews to pauls overtures of salvation.
Their cost had been fifty thousand pieces of silver, but they rightly suffered the loss of this rather than selling the books to others. Any new copy ordered directly by selecting its main listing on amazon will be the latest revision, dated 31120. Particularly striking is that in many places in acts, when luke evidently joins the company of paul during his travels, the narrative stops saying that they did such and so, and says that we did such and so see acts 16. We read of the evangelistic methods and message of the early apostles and preachers 3.
Actively changing through the spirit is a bible exposition through the book of acts tracing the powerful kingdom plan being put into effect by the power of the holy spirit. Luke records many examples of conversion in the book of acts e. But believers now confess their unholy association with these things, with many bringing their books and publicly burning them. Our story starts off where the gospel of luke left offjesus is back now that hes resurrected, jesus decides to hang out and chat with his disciples whom luke calls apostles for forty days. It traces the first decades in the history of the church after the resurrection of christ, focusing in particular on the work of peter and paul. Ancient books were generally written on papyrus scrolls. By its opening words the acts of the apostles is linked in the clearest way with the gospel of luke. Before ascending into heaven, jesus commissions his disciples to. He frequently offers his own translations of a passage, explaining the subtleties and nuances of his translation.
It is properly therefore not the history of the acts of the apostles, a title which was given to the book at a later date, but of acts of apostles, or more correctly, of some acts of certain apostles. Acts 1, new international version niv the bible app. T he book of acts in the bible, written around 6263 a. The same theophilus is addressed, and in the first chapter the story is resumed just at the point where the gospel left off, save that a few extra details are given of the lords words after his resurrection, and the account of his ascension is repeated in a somewhat. Study the bible online using commentary on acts and more. Acts 22 commentary matthew henrys complete commentary. An easyenglish bible version and commentary 2800 word vocabulary on the book of acts. Includes articles, maps, commentary, powerpoints, pdfs, podcasts, etc. Acts free bible commentary on the book of acts in easy. The design of luke, in writing acts, was to supply, by select and suitable instances, an. Read acts commentary using matthew henry commentary on the whole bible concise. Carefully transcribed and edited, these texts give us a new appreciation for lightfoots contributions to biblical scholarship. Written in the late 19th century, commentary on the acts of the apostles is a versebyverse look at acts, which mcgarvey believed many theologians had misunderstood before. Some of you will recognize that i have written on the book of acts before.