True to the Faith Myrtlefield Expositions Myrtlefield Expositions provide insights into the thought-flow and meaning of the biblical writings, motivated by devotion to the Lord who reveals himself in the Scriptures. Scholarly, engaging, and accessible, each book addresses the reader’s mind and heart to increase faith in God and to encourage obedience to his Word. Teachers, preachers and all students of the Bible will find the approach to Scripture adopted in these volumes both instructive and enriching. The Riches of Divine Wisdom (NT use of OT) According to Luke (The Third Gospel) In the School of Christ (John 13–17) True to the Faith (Acts of the Apostles) An Unshakeable Kingdom (Letter to the Hebrews) Other books by David Gooding: The Bible and Ethics (with John Lennox) Christianity: Opium or Truth? (with John Lennox) Definition of Christianity (with John Lennox) How to Teach the Tabernacle Key Bible Concepts (with John Lennox) Windows on Paradise (Gospel of Luke) True to the Faith The Acts of the Apostles: Defining and Defending the Gospel David Gooding Myrtlefield House David Gooding has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. © Myrtlefield Trust, 1990, 1995, 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a re­ trieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying. In the UK such licenses are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are the author’s own transla­ tion. Scripture quotations marked jps are from The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1917 (now in the public domain). Scripture quotations marked kjv are from the King James Version (Authorised Version) of the Holy Bible. Scripture quotations marked neb are taken from the New English Bible, copyright © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press 1961, 1970. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked niv are from the Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved world­ wide. Scripture quotations marked rsv are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked rv are from the English Revised Version of the Holy Bible (1885). Italics within Scripture quotations indicate emphasis added. Cover design: Ben Bredeweg. Cover images: Codex Sinaiticus (01) Aleph Uncial MS showing Acts 26:6–7. The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts <http://www.csntm.org> has granted permission for this image to be used. The painting is from a public domain image of Trial of the Apostle Paul (Суд над апостолом Павлом) by Nikolai Bodarevsky (1875). The original is in the Regional Art Museum, Uzhgorod, Ukraine. First published in English 1990 by Hodder and Stoughton. Published by The Myrtlefield Trust, 180 Mountsandel Road, Coleraine, N Ireland, BT52 1TB. w: www.myrtlefieldhouse.com e: [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-874584-30-3 (hbk.) ISBN: 978-1-874584-31-5 (pbk.) ISBN: 978-1-874584-32-2 (PDF) ISBN: 978-1-874584-33-9 (Kindle) ISBN: 978-1-874584-34-6 (EPUB without DRM) 17 16 15 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 For Michael and Elizabeth Middleton Contents List of Tables x List of Abbreviations xi Author’s Preface xiii Introduction: Why Study Acts? 1 Section One: Christianity and the Restoration of All Things (1:1–6:7) Preliminary Observations 21 Movement 1: Christ’s Programme for the Restoration of All Things (1:1–4:4) 33 Movement 2: Opposition to the Programme (4:5–6:7) 97 Section Two: Christianity’s Worship and Witness (6:8–9:31) Preliminary Observations 127 Movement 1: The Gospel and Judaism’s Orthodox Worship (6:8–8:3) 134 Movement 2: The Gospel and Samaria’s Unorthodox Worship (8:4–25) 160 Movement 3: The Gospel of the Suffering Servant (8:26–40) 173 Movement 4: The Gospel of the Son of God (9:1–31) 179 Section Three: The Christian Theory and Practice of Holiness (9:32–12:24) Preliminary Observations 191 Movement 1: The Gospel Released from Jewish Social Isolationism (9:32–11:18) 197 Movement 2: The Gospel Freed from Jewish Administrative Centralism and Political Sacralism (11:19–12:24) 219 Contents Section Four: The Christian Doctrine of Salvation (12:25–16:5) Preliminary Observations 239 Movement 1: The Preaching of the Good News of Salvation (12:25–14:28) 245 Movement 2: The Discussion of the Terms of Salvation (15:1–16:5) 266 Section Five: Christianity and the Pagan World (16:6–19:20) Preliminary Observations 289 Movement 1: The Holy Spirit and the Powers of Darkness (16:6–40) 299 Movement 2: God’s Messiah and Gentile Politics, Religion and Philosophy (17:1–34) 331 Movement 3: God’s Messiah and the New People of God (18:1–28) 370 Movement 4: The Holy Spirit and the Name of the Lord Jesus (19:1–20) 383 Section Six: Christianity and the Defence and Confirmation of the Gospel (19:21–28:31) Preliminary Observations 395 Movement 1: The Defence of Nature-Worship and the Defence of the Church of God (19:21–21:16) 414 Movement 2: The Gospel to be Judged by its Respect for Conscience (21:17–23:11) 432 Movement 3: The Gospel to be Judged by its Attitude to Morality and the Law (23:12–24:27) 455 Movement 4: The Gospel to be Judged by its Message for Caesar and the World (25:1–26:32) 466 Movement 5: Nature’s Storms and the Kingly Rule of God (27:1–28:31) 482 viii Contents Appendices 1: Is Christianity Essentially Anti-Semitic? 499 2: If Acts is a Carefully Structured Literary Work, Can it still be Regarded as Historically Reliable? 503 Bibliography 515 Publications by David Gooding 519 Scripture Index 525 Index of Greek and Hebrew Words 539 General Index 541 ix Tables 1. Concluding Summaries of Major Sections of Acts 12 2. Outline of Section One: Christianity and the Restoration of All Things (1:1–6:7) 28 3. Outline of Section Two: Christianity’s Worship and Witness (6:8–9:31) 133 4. Outline of Section Three: The Christian Theory and Practice of Holiness (9:32–12:24) 196 5. Outline of Section Four: The Christian Doctrine of Salvation (12:25–16:5) 244 6. Major Episodes of Section 5 296 7. Thought-flow of Section 5 297 8. Outline of Section Five: Christianity and the Pagan World (16:6–19:20) 300 9. Outline of Section Six: Christianity and the Defence and Confirmation of the Gospel (19:21–28:31) 406 Abbreviations JPS Jewish Publications Society KJV King James (Authorised) Version NEB New English Bible NIV New International Version RSV Revised Standard Version RV English Revised Version Author’s Preface An expositor of the Acts of the Apostles, however far down in the chain of communication, cannot escape the vibrant force of High Command’s directive, given originally to the twelve apostles: ‘Go . stand . speak all the words of this life’ (5:20). The risen Lord who commissioned them, lives still. His objectives are the same, his vigour undiminished. The Holy Spirit, who led the apostles in their definition of the essentials of the Christian gospel in the apostolic age, still expects from all followers of the living Lord the same loy­ alty to those same essentials. Time has not worn down the words of this imperishable life, nor dimmed the hope they proclaim, nor reduced their relevance to our modern world, which in spite of its sophistications comes more and more in outlook and behaviour to resemble the first-century world in which Christianity was born. Under the ever-increasing flood of modern scientific and technolog­ ical discoveries, people’s capacity to retain a knowledge of the past grows understandably less and less. Their outlook is thus in dan­ ger of becoming historically parochial, and their grasp of historical, essential Christianity so insecure that they could, all unwittingly, come to regard as the Christian gospel forms of Christianity from which the very heart has been cut out. It is the author’s hope that this fresh study of the Acts will help many a reader to capture, or if needs be to recapture, the glory, wealth, the hope, and wonder of the gospel that the risen Lord still proclaims to the world through Luke’s inspired work. Preface The book is not written for experts in New Testament scholar­ ship, but for the general, intelligent, and thoughtful public. It is based on the conviction that Acts is reliable history, though for the reasons given in Appendix 2, it has not been thought necessary constantly to discuss the question of historicity. Three works have been my constant resource: Professor I. Howard Marshall’s Acts; Professor F. F. Bruce’s The Book of the Acts, revised edition; and Colin J. Hemer’s immensely learned volume, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History. Worthy of special mention is the de­ lightfully fresh, accurate, and vigorous translation of his own that Professor Bruce made for the revised edition of his commentary. Many excellent commentaries on Acts have concentrated on Luke’s record of the spread of the Christian gospel and have sup­ plied their readers with geographical, archaeological, and historical information helpful for elucidating and illustrating Luke’s record.