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The Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles online

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Acts and the Gospel According to Luke are both, technically speaking, anonymous. The early church universally attests that Luke the physician authored both, but since the late 18th Century, some have advocated a questioning of this view. As mentioned, internal evidence is not specific as to the author, but we can see several characteristics of the author from a study of the text that enables us to narrow the possibilities. From this method, we see that the author is well-educated, knows his Greek OT Septuagint, thought a great deal of Paul, and was not an original Apostle or disciple but did participate in some of the events he narrated. From what we know of Luke, he fits well with these characteristics.

However, some question the early church acceptance of Luke, based on rather tenuous historical reasons and more solid theological reasons. I will only cover the theological reasons here.

Opponents of Lukan authorship argue that Acts presents us with a distorted picture of Paul. From the epistles, Paul is often seen as opposed to the Law of the Jews and unwilling to impose legal restrictions or advocate any form of legalism or works. This is contrasted with a Paul in Acts that agrees to impose ritual requirements on the Gentile believers (15:22-35), that circumcises Timothy (16:3) and that submits to Jewish purification rites (21:17-26). However, we see that such an assessment of Paul from the epistles as above is not quite accurate. Paul was against the Law of the Jews when it was claimed to be necessary for salvation - and that was his sole reason for a non-imposition of the law. He does teach that believers should not be a stumbling block to other believers (Rom. 14:1-15:13 & 1 Cor. 8-10), and when viewed in this light explains his agreeing to impose legal restrictions on the Gentiles, his circumcision of Timothy and submission to Jewish purification rites - all these were not done in order to secure salvation, but in order to allow for a more successful ministry or to remove a possible stumbling block.

It is also argued that Paul's teaching in Acts lacks trademark Pauline themes or content, such as a use of eschatological focus, the mention of a union with Christ and the salvation from sin that results. This is only true to a certain extent, and then can be explained with a few considerations. First, the book of Ephesians is often cited as being unpauline as, among other reasons, it fails to focus on eschatological (end-time) themes, which is the same criticism now leveled at Acts. Further, not all Pauline letters must have a focus on the same themes, and similarly not all of Paul's sermons must use similar content. Finally, we see that the vast majority of Paul's preaching in Acts is evangelistic, which is in great contrast to his writing to the churches and fellow ministers in the epistles, therefore the content would be expected to be varying.

In conclusion of this overview we see that there is no convincing reason to think that Luke isn't the author of Acts: the early church attests to it and there is no real reason to doubt it.

See also authorship discussion for Luke.

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Many students of the New Testament date the Book of Acts in different time-periods ranging from 62 AD to the mid-2nd Century, with many defining reasons. It seems, however, that the simplest explanation and date is also the most convincing. The book ends with events that occurred in 62 AD; following 62 AD, several memorable events occurred that it is hard to imagine Luke not incorporating into his narrative; events such as the deaths of Peter and Paul (mid 60's), the Jewish rebellion against Rome (66 AD), the persecution of Christians under Nero (64-65 AD), and the sacking of Jerusalem (70 AD). Further, Luke fails to mention the epistles of Paul, indicating that he published his work before the writings of Paul entered widespread circulation. This all indicates that Luke published before these events took place, in approximately 62 AD.

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