Christianity was

1. harmless (because some Roman officials had embraced it themselves)

2. innocent (because Roman judges could find no basis for prosecution)

2. lawful (because it was the true fulfillment of Judaism.)

1. In the OT God’s Spirit came upon certain people for special purposes o Prophecy o Write o Skills

2. In Judaism there arose the belief that the prophecy ceased in the early postexilic period

3. Judaism also expected a special outpouring of God’s Spirit at the coming of the messianic age

1. God’s cleansing work

2. God’s judgment on sin and an unbelieving world/refining work on his people

3. God’s glory and his presence with his people

1. They are the same – either both are estatic utterances or both are human lanuage

2. They are different –

  • Acts 2 refers to human languages, 1 Cor. 12 to  ecstatic tongues

  • 1 Cor. 12 may refer to human languages or ecstatic tongues, depending on the situation

  o Acts 2 Approach: miracle took place in hearing, not in speaking (teacher’s position)

  o Acts 2 Approach: miracle took place in speaking, not in hearing

1. Physical violence (persecution); crudest

2. Moral corruption (subversion); more cunning

3. Professional (distraction); subtlest

• The time between Christ’s first and second comings is a time of tension

• We live simultaneously in “this age” and “the age to come” (the overlap of the ages)

• We experience the blessings of “the age to come”, but will know the fullness of these blessings only at Christ’s return

• The term for this view is inaugurated eschatology

1. Jewish writers expected the resurrection of the dead to occur at the beginning of the age to come, yet in the NT Jesus was already raised as the “firstfruits” (! Cor. 15:20) or a kind of “down payment”

2. Jewish writers expected people to be justified (or not) at the last judgment, yet in the NT we have already been justified through faith in Christ (Rom. 3:21-26; 5:1; cf. Rom. 8:31-34)

3. Jewish writers expected Satan and his followers to be defeated at the beginning of the age to come, yet in the NT he has already been defeated decisively (Mt. 12:28; Col. 2:13-15)

4. Jewish writers expected an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the age to come, yet in the NT this outpouring has already taken place at Pentecost (cf. Eph. 1:13-14, where He is called “deposit”)

1. Reaching the Jewish world (2:42-6:7)

2. Breakthroughs in the lives of three key figures (6:8-9:31)

3. The gospel goes forth in Palestine-Syria (9:32-12:24)

4. Missionary journey #1 and the council at Jerusalem (12:25-16:5)

5. Enlarging the impact: Missionary journeys #2 and #3 (16:6-19:20)

6. From Jerusalem to Rome (19:21-28:31)

• Unity of heart and mind (v. 32a)

• Generosity to those in need (vv. 32b, 34)

• Power in Christian witness (v. 33)

• Centrifugal witness reaches out aggressively beyond the borders of the church to bring the gospel to an unbelieving world

• Centripetal witness draws people to individual believers and to the community of faith

1. They call out to the ‘Sovereign Lord” (v. 24)

2. They acknowledge his greatness as Creator of all things (v. 24)

3. They affirm that this opposition is a part of God’s plan (vv. 25-26)

4. They link the opposition they experienced with the opposition Jesus suffered (vv. 27-28)

1. “accredits” the speaker—demonstrating to his audience that he is sent by God and empowered by Him

2. grants the speaker boldness

3. people pay attention to the preaching of the gospel

4. confirms the truth to some people in the audience

1. Hebraic Jews = born in Jerusalem, spoke Aramaic (& Greek)

2. Grecian (Hellenistic) = Jews who were born in or grew up in the Diaspora who spoke primarily Greek

- Land - Stephen opposes “a veneration of the Holy Land that would leave no room for God’s further saving activity in Jesus” (Longenecker, 339) 

- beyond the borders of the land -

Law - Stephen affirms that the law pointed to Jesus as its consummation and goal -

Temple - Stephen teaches that God’s presence and His work cannot be confined to one place

- He emphasizes the importance of the tabernacle, which was mobile, as opposed to the Temple (7:44-47) - He stresses that God’s presence and His work is much bigger than the Temple (7:48-53)

- Separation of 10 tribes from Judah & Benjamin

- Assyrians conquered Samaritans, scattered them

- Intermarried

- Samaritans opposed rebuilding the Temple, built their own temple

1 Teachers were unordained nobodies, not rabbis – lay people

2. Message was an affront to Judaism – it wasn’t easy for Jews to see a carpenter as the culmination of their prophecy/as their Messiah

3. Christian ecclesiology scrapped temple and sacrifices

1. Religious position Atheism – they did not add Roman deities to their religion

2. Social life

 - Social misfits, objected the majority of Roman culture

3. Family Life Difficulty meshing life-styles

4. Intellectual scrutiny

 - Roman contempt for Eastern religions

 - Great ridicule of Christian beliefs

 - Jesus a lowly figure

1. Doctor, historian

2. Companion of Paul

3. Associate of Mark

4. Gentile Christian

1. Humble

2. Professional

a. writing

3. Missionary concern

4. Care for disadvantaged people

5. Prayer and praise

6. Loyal

7. Spiritual expectancy

8. Theologian of salvation

1. unqualified lay-people – had functions but no class

2. had no backing – kept them mobile, honest

3. international and cross-cultural

4. cohesive – unified cause, goal

5. very mobile –not burdened by possessions, etc.

1. a newly sensitized conscience with a tendency now towards repentance

2. a rudimentary understanding of who Jesus is and what he achieved for us

3. a determination to surrender our will to him

4. a changed life which flows from that encounter with Christ

1. adopted a flexible approach

a. addressed mind

b. addressed heart

c. challenged conscience

2. concentrated on the person of Jesus

a. fulfillment

b. the man

c. crucified

d. risen

e. reigning

f. contemporary

3. they offered a gift

a. forgiveness

b. the Holy Spirit

4. they expected a response – both cognitive and volition of the will

The Servant in Acts 8:32-33 and Isaiah 53:7-8

• The Righteous Remnant; suffers on behalf of the whole nation of Israel

• Jesus; suffers for our sins

• The Church; suffers in fulfilling its mission of preaching the gospel

The heart of the concept

• The servant is the one whose righteousness is ultimately crushed so that mercy might graciously be offered to others

Contrast briefly the “two stage initiation” in the Spirit of Roman Catholicism and Classic Pentecostalism with the “one stage initiation” in the Spirit

1. Two-Stage Initiation - Christian initation in two stages - 1) conversion and 2) the recieving of the Spirit.

- Catholicism

1. Baptism

2. Confirmation by a bishop (successor of the apostles)

- Pentacostalism

1. Conversion (human turn of repentence and faith) & regeneration (divine work of new birth)

2. Baptism in or of the Spirit (often associated with laying on of hands)

2. One-Stage Initiation - we recieve forgiveness and the Spirit together the moment we believe