Acts o the Apostles

The Acks o the Apostles (aften cried Acks, juist) is the fift beuk in The New Testament o the Christian Bible. It tells o the history o the first thritty or sae year o the Kirk efter the daith an raisin up o Jesus.

(Aw Biblical quotes in this airticle haes been taen frae W.L Lorimer's translate.)

Componin

Scriever

Early kirk tradeetion threapit that baith Acks an The Gospel o Luke wis scrieved bi the same chiel, a doctor cried Luke. Atweel the stylistic, linguistic an theological seemilarities atween the twa leids the feck o modren scholars grees that they wis baith wrate bi the same body - tho whither or no he is the Luke o tradeetion isna certain.

Date an steid o componin

Maist scholars hauds that Luke scrieved baith o his volumms atween 80 an 90 AD, tho it canna be tauld exackly whan. Acks maun hae been wrate efter Festus becam procurator aboot 59 AD (see Acks 24 an 27) an aiblins efter the faw o Jerusalem in 70 an aw. Christian scrievers wis quotin frae an alludin tae Acks bi the meedle o the seicont century AD, sae it maun hae been duin afore then.

There is awmaist naething in Acks tae gie an answer tae the quaisten o whaur it wis componed. Suggeestions that haes been pitten forrit haes includit Achaia, Macedonia, Antioch, Ephesus, Caesarea an Rome.

Luke's soorces

Like as no, Luke drew frae baith written an oral soorces whan he componed Acks. It is implee'd that he vaiged wi Paul due tae his uiss o the wird "we" whan descrivin some pairts o Paul's vaiges, but this coud be a leeterar device, raither nor an actual threap that he wis there. In aither case, he haes aseemilate the styles o whitiver his soorces wis intil his ain disteenctive style that gars it near impossible tae e'en jalouse whit they wis.

Style

Luke scrieves in guid, eddicate Greek that he varies lippenin on context. Fer exemplar, in the first twa chaipters, he scrieves anent the Kirk in a Jewish contex; Luke uises a style o Greek that resemmles that o The Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translate o The Auld Testament. Housome'er whan he descrives Paul's speech tae the Athenians, he taks on a mair pheelosophical style, referin tae relevant pheelosophical trends o the day.

Ootline

Acks haes three main pairts tae it that tells o the history o the Kirk as it grew ootward frae Jerusalem in its first thirty year or sae, culminatin in the arrival o Paul in Rome.

The oreegins o the Kirk in Jerusalem

Efter a cutty prologue tae somebody cried Theophilus (ane that luves God - this coud be Luke's patron or a code name for the Kirk), Luke tells o some kythins o Jesus til his follaers efter his raisin up frae the deid, an then o his gangin up tae the lift. Afore he gangs he hechts til thaim that the Haly Speerit will come tae aid thaim in their darg:

"...the Hailie Spírit will come on ye an gíe ye pouer, an ye will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem an in aa Judea an Samâria an tae the faurest bound o the yird." (Acks 1:8)

The Apostles gangs back til Jerusalem an draws cavels for tae wale Matthias as the replacement for Judas Iscariot, wha wis deid. Whan the Jewish feast o Pentecost cam, the Speerit daes atweel kythe amang the Apostles that spaeks in mony leids, an Peter addresses a fell thrang o fowk. This day is aften seen as merkin the foondation o the Kirk, an it frae this day that the darg o the Apostles stairts. The first twal chaipters o Acks centres on the Kirk in Jerusalem, wi Peter as the heidmaist feegur. Maugre o the opposeetion o the Jewish heidmen, seen in sic pairts o the beuk as the killin o Stephen, the first Christian mairtyr; the Kirk is seen tae growe.

The transeetion tae Gentile meesion

The Kirk begoud as a Jewish muivement, but pairt o Jesus's meenistry haed been amang the Gentiles (nane-Jews), an syne it cam tae pass that the muivement leukit tae rax furth o its Jewish base. Acks records this happenin in chaiper aicht, whan Philip tells the Gospel message tae an Ethiopian offeecial, an bapteezes him in a river.
The transeetion conteenas in chaipter ten, whan Peter is gien a veesion o God tellin him tae eat fuid that unner Jewish law, is unclean. Peter repones:

"Na, na, Lord: ne'er in aa my born days hae I eatit ocht profaun or onclean!"

Than the voive spak til him a saicond time: "What God hes made clean, caana ye profaun!"

This incident acks as a catalyst for the mission tae the Gentiles - syne God wis nou jaloused tae hae includit nane-Jews amang his fowk.

The meesionary vaiges o Paul

Efter the conversion o Paul, he becam the heidmaist warker in the meesion tae the Gentiles, an ane o the heidmaist leaders o the Kirk. The lave o the beuk is taen up wi upcasts o Paul's three meesionar vaiges. In thir, he aye gaes tae the Jewish community in ilka toun an clachan he veesits, for tae gie thaim the Gospel, an efter gangs til the Gentiles. He seems tae hae haed mair success amang the Gentiles, tho some Jews becam Christians an aw. Maugre o opposeetion frae Jewish an Gentile offeecials, he helps tae stairt an upbig the Kirk in mony airts furth o Jerusalem, an owersees the makkin o a netwark o sorts atween thaim.
Paul retours tae Jerusalem efter his third vaige, an efter a stoushie there wis taen intil custody. See here for mair anent his reest an daith - Acks records anerly until his arrivin in Rome, but it is jaloused that he wis execute there.

Fremmit airtins

• The beuk o Acks (in Inglis)
• Catholic Encyclopaedia page anent the Acks Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
• Twa-three airticles anent the beuk Archived 2007-12-21 at the Wayback Machine