Acts1:8

by Timothy Fortune

A thesis statement is what I think of when I read Acts chapter one verse eight. In one sentence, you have the entire book of Acts summed up. This verse is like a miniature outline of what is about to come in the following chapters. Just as Jesus came to fulfill the promise of the Old Testament and we have record of this in the four Gospels, Acts bares witness of the pouring out and working of the Holy Spirit, which was promised by Jesus. In one sense, Acts is the beginning of what is still continuing today, because the same Holy Spirit that was poured out on the day of Pentecost is still working and moving in our generation.

The disciples were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem praying on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them (Acts 2:1&2). This bares witness to what was said in Acts chapter one verse eight, “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Immediately following that, we see Peter standing up and giving a sermon where about three thousand people believed and were added to the church (Acts 2:14-41). Also in this passage, Luke takes the time and effort to record the growth of the early church; this is only one of the places that Luke mentions the addition of believers. Acts chapters three through seven shares how the message was preached through out Jerusalem, which is the fist place mentioned in Acts chapter one verse eight.

Acts chapters eight through twelve shares, in the same order given by Luke in chapter one verse eight, the witness of Jesus as Christ in Judea and Samaria. Chapter eight opens with the persecutions that broke out after the stoning of Steven, and the scattering of the church, leaving only the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1-5). Those in the church that left Jerusalem went into the surrounding areas, taking with them the good news of the Gospels. Philip went to a city in Samaria proclaiming Jesus as the Christ. Not only did Philip preach, but also, miraculous miracles and signs were performed by him (Acts 8:4-6). Many believed because of Philip’s preaching. Continuing in these chapters, one learns of the conversion of Saul (Acts 9:1-31), Peter’s ministry in Judea (Acts 9:32-11:18) and the Antioch church (Acts 11:19-30), giving testimony of the spread of the Gospel to Judea and Samaria.

In the remainder of the book of Acts, we see the taking of the message of Jesus as Christ to the ends of the earth. The main theme in these chapters deals with the taking of the Gospel to outside regions by Paul through his three missionary trips. His first trip is seen in chapters thirteen through verse twenty-eight of chapter fourteen. This first journey took Paul into the land of Cyprus, Pamphylia, and the regions of Lyconia. His second missionary trip, which lasted some three years covering nearly three thousand miles, took him into Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and Corinth (Elwell 242). Paul’s third journey is found in Acts chapter eighteen starting with verse twenty-three and ending in chapter twenty-one verse fifteen. The final chapters share the taking of the message into Rome by Paul. All of this Luke wrote to tell of how the Gospel was going to the ends of the earth, as Acts chapter one verse eight describes.

Luke shares with us in the book of Acts the accounts after the ascension of Jesus into heaven. The book gives us the earliest events that surrounded the church and opposition that was a causative factor in the spreading of the Gospel out of Jerusalem into other regions. The conflict that the early church encountered did not stop or hinder their preaching of the Gospel. The opposite actually took place; it fueled those who were believers and caused them to take a bold stance for what they believed in, even at the expense of their own lives. Luke doesn’t really give an ending to the book because it is still being lived out today. We are still taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth proclaiming Jesus as the Christ and the only way one can be saved.