'Dear Theophilus, In my first book, I set forth everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up into heaven after having given, through the Holy Spirit, his instructions to those he had chosen as apostles...'
...so begins the book of Acts, which we begin today as part of our reading of the Bible in a year. Extraordinary: we have already finished the Gospels. The book of Acts marks a new stage in the message of Christ. Jesus, after His resurrection and thus the completion of the work of redemption, presents Himself several times to His disciples and leaves them instructions. The last being to wait in Jerusalem until they receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the power of God that will allow them to become witnesses of Jesus. On the day of Pentecost, this is what actually happened.
This book is a fascinating account of the deeds, actions, and words of the apostles thus endowed with the Holy Spirit. They gain in boldness, they gain in authority, and they explode into the world of the time a message hitherto confined to Israel. The world will never be the same again. A seismic shift takes place, a new faith is born where an old faith comes to fulfillment. Luke the physicist, author of the Gospel of Luke, physicist and friend and traveling companion of Paul records for posterity the birth and growth of the church.
A new optimism, a new passion, a wonder at each discovery of God's plans, like Peter facing Cornelius and his people, amazed at what even the Gentiles could receive The Holy Spirit. Gradually the customs and habits change, conversions multiply, the church takes shape, misunderstandings and persecutions intensify, and questions of doctrine become clearer. And in all this God The Holy Spirit in action, to teach, defend, lead His church, in action, acting with power.
The world is discovering ordinary men doing extraordinary works, missions, healings, resurrections; men and women willing to go to the end, even at the cost of their lives, to bear witness to Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles, some would prefer to say the Acts of the Holy Spirit, because He is the main protagonist, is a mirror held up to us to see ourselves as God wants us to be; this church is us, it is what we are called to be and do in our century.
I hope you enjoy reading it.
This is certainly the book that has changed my life the most. It is especially the fascinating story of Paul that touched me the most, because I was like him in a way 10 years ago. He was known for persecuting Christians: he approved of stoning and had men, women and children thrown in prison! But when Jesus reveals himself to Paul in a light that blinds him for 3 days, the latter converts and preaches until he is almost stoned in turn. For my part, I have never executed Christians, but 10 years ago almost to the day, I was an atheist and I persecuted all believers with mockery, slander or sometimes indifference but the day I began to read the Gospel and more particularly the Acts of the Apostles, my life was turned upside down in a few days. Like Paul, faith has taken hold of me to the point of preaching to everyone about this Jesus whom I had so despised in the past. I am pardoned and I wish everyone to have the same experience! Read! It's fascinating!