Acts Studies

Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

:2. Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

Did you realize that Acts is a sequel to Luke? Both Luke and Acts are written to Theophilus (Luke 1:1-4), mostly likely by Luke. The book of Luke is the "former treatise....of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up." Then Acts tells what Jesus did after that, through the Holy Spirit working in His apostles.

Acts 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

"His passion" refers to Christ’s suffering and death. His resurrection from the dead is a well documented fact. See I Cor 15:3-8.

Acts 1:3 summarizes Luke 24:13-45. In those 40 days of intense Bible study, Christ opened their understanding of the Old Testament scriptures. Before that, as late as Luke 18:31-34, the disciples did not even know that Christ would die, and certainly didn’t understand why. (Then what do you think was the content of the gospel they preached in Luke 9:6?) But after 40 days of teaching, they understood Old Testament prophecy and knew what to expect next.

For us also, some knowledge of Old Testament prophecy is essential to understand Acts 1-7. So be sure to at least read the references I give, and hopefully a whole lot more on your own.

Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

In the kingdom, God’s blessings will flow out to the world from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1,2) So the disciples were to wait for things to start in Jerusalem. What is "the promise of the Father" they were waiting for?

Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (Ghost is another word for spirit)

Why did John baptize with water? That answer is in the Old Testament. Israel will be a nation of priests (Ex 19:5,6; Is 61:6) in the kingdom that John proclaimed to be at hand. (Mat 3:1-7) Priests were required to wash in water before entering the presence of God. (Ex 30:17-21) So everyone who believed that the King and the kingdom was about to come, got baptized. (Luke 7:29,30)

The promise of the Father is the baptism with the Holy Ghost. The coming of the Holy Ghost was promised in the Old Testament, and by Jesus. (Mat 3:11; John 7:38,39; 14:16,17,26 & 16:7,13)

To really understand what this baptism is, let’s carefully read Ezekiel 36:24-28. When God gathers Israel to be His people again, He will use water as a symbol of cleansing from false religion, (that is what John the Baptist was doing.) and then He will put His Spirit*, that is, His way of thinking, in them. This will cause them to keep His judgments. (See spirit* and baptism** below.)

God’s laws came with terrific blessings and curses. (Deut 28; Lev 26) Israel couldn’t keep God’s laws, so they got the curses. But when God puts His thinking in them, they will keep His laws effortlessly and reap all the glorious benefits. This baptism with the Spirit is what will make the new covenant work and make peace on earth possible. (Is 11:9; 59:20,21)

Now read Jeremiah 31:31-34. God’s law will be written on that new heart that He will give Israel. But also notice that both the old and the new covenants are made with Israel and Judah, not with us Gentiles. (Rom 9:4) Also notice that verse 34 has never happened, so this new covenant cannot be in effect yet.

How does all that relate to Acts? Because Jesus said they would receive this power to think like God in just a few days! (Luke 24:49) Did they?? We’ll soon see as we read on in Acts.

Ghost and spirit come from the same Greek word, which Strong’s Concordance describes as "the rational soul, mental disposition, ...mind". .

In I Cor 2:10-16, notice that a spirit can know, reveal, search, teach, discern, judge and instruct. A spirit is the mental thinking capacity, it has nothing to do with emotion, or feelings. See also that there is one kind of spirit that men have, and another kind that God has. In verse 16, the word "mind" is used interchangeably with spirit. See this in Rom 7:25 and 8:1 also. Check this out further, if you like, by looking up "spirit" in your concordance and read for yourself what a spirit does. Example John 14:26.

**What does the word "baptize" mean? Baptize is a Greek word that is difficult to translate. It means to totally identified with, to be completely immersed into or overcome by something.

There are numerous different kinds of baptisms in the Bible. Verse 5 speaks of two of them. The water baptism was a ceremonial cleansing which totally identified them with Christ and the new covenant. The baptism of the Holy Ghost was when the Holy Ghost totally takes over their thinking and actions as Ezekiel describes. Another way it is phrased is to be "filled with the Holy Ghost". (Acts 4:31) When they are filled with the Spirit’s thinking, there is no room left for any human thoughts or mistakes.