Everett S Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures - Acts (Gary H. Everett)

《Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures - Acts》(Gary H. Everett)

Commentator

Gary Everett received his Master of Divinity (1992) and Doctor of Ministry (2015) degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as pastor for five years and taught in Bible college for ten years.

Since 1997, Gary has worked as the station manager of Lighthouse Television, located in Kampala, Uganda, an affiliate of Trinity Broadcasting Network. The station is owned by Calvary Cathedral International in Fort Worth, Texas, and the chairman of the board and president of Lighthouse Television is Dr. Robert B. Nichols.

Gary served seven years as the director of the Joyce Meyer Ministries outreach in Uganda. He now serves as the international director Andrew Wommack Ministries Uganda.

Study Notes is also available along with his sermons and teachings on his website

Gary was married to Menchu in 1996. They have four children, three of whom were born and raised in Uganda.

Introduction

STUDY NOTES ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

Using a Theme-based Approach

to Identify Literary Structures

By Gary H. Everett

THE BOOK OF ACTS

January 2013Edition

All Scripture quotations in English are taken from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Some words have been emphasized by the author of this commentary using bold or italics.

All Old Testament Scripture quotations in the Hebrew text are taken from Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: With Westminster Hebrew Morphology, electronic ed, Stuttgart; Glenside PA: German Bible Society, Westminster Seminary, 1996, c 1925, morphology c 1991, in Libronix Digital Library System, v 21c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp, 2000-2004.

All New Testament Scripture quotations in the Greek text are taken from Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition (with Morphology), eds.Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, M. Robinson, and Allen Wikgren, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (United Bible Societies), c 1966, 1993, 2006, in Libronix Digital Library System, v 21c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp, 2000-2004.

All Hebrew and Greek text for word studies are taken from James Strong in The New Strong"s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, c 1996, 1997, in Libronix Digital Library System, v 21c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp, 2000-2004.

The Crucifixion image on the book cover was created by the author's daughter Victoria Everett in 2012.

Gary H. Everett, 1981-2013

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form without prior permission of the author.

Foundational Theme - Justification Through Faith in Jesus Christ

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Song of Solomon ,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Structural Theme - The Eye-Witness Testimony of the Apostles that Jesus Christ is the Son of God

There is another that beareth witness of me;

and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

Ye sent unto John , and he bare witness unto the truth.

John 5:32-33

Imperative Theme - The Office of the Apostle

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:

and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria,

and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:8

His Church

(1) We'll hear him say, Oh, church devine,

I am your Lord and you are mine.

Because that you have stood the test,

You are the ones that I love best.

I died for you on Calvary's tree,

That you from sin could be set free.

What greater love could one empart

To helpless souls, to broken hearts.

(2) You cost me all that Earth could give.

I died for you that you might live.

I did it all because that you believed in me

And I in you.

And now My Church you are My bride.

I'll keep you ever by My side.

From you My church I'll never stray.

I'll love you through the endless day.

(3) And Song of Solomon , dear Church its worth it all

To trust His Word, obey His call.

You will never regret the choice you made

For you, dear Church, the price He paid.

Thares nothing more that one could do

No greatest love for Me and you.

I'm satisfied to wait on Him

And never shall my hope grow dim.

(4) Oh blessed Church you are His choice

And you will be through endless day.

Just listen to the Spirit's voice

Oh, blessed church look up and pray.

The end

"Oh, Holy Spirit, go with this song and bless whoever sings it as you did the one to which You first gave it.

All my love." Mother Everett.

(Flossie Powell Everett 1910-1987)

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS

Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures supports the view of the verbal, plenary inspiration of the biblical text of the Holy Scriptures, meaning that every word originally written down by the authors in the sixty-six books of the Holy Canon were God-breathed when recorded by men, and that the Scriptures are therefore inerrant and infallible. Any view less than this contradicts the testimony of the Holy Scriptures themselves. For this reason, the Holy Scriptures contain both divine attributes and human attributes. While textual criticism engages with the variant readings of the biblical text, acknowledging its human attributes, faith in His Word acknowledges its divine attributes. These views demand the adherence of mankind to the supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures above all else. The Holy Scriptures can only be properly interpreted by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, an aspect of biblical scholarship that is denied by liberal views, causing much misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

The Message of the Book of Acts - The book of Acts is one of the most amazing records of mankind ever written. One commentator describes it as the incredible story of how God used such unlikely people to overcome such enormous obstacles using such simple means to achieve such astounding results. The impact of the early Church shook the known world of its time. J. B. Phillips says that in no comparable period of human history has "any small body of ordinary people so moved the world that their enemies could say, with tears of rage in their eyes, that these men ‘have turned the world upside down!'" 1]

1] J. B. Phillips, The Young Church in Action [on-line]; accessed 9 July 2010; available from Internet, "Preface"; cited by William MacDonald, The Acts of the Apostles, in Believer's Bible Commentary, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub, 1995), in Libronix Digital Library System, v 21c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp, 2000-2004), "Introduction."

This book serves as a master plan for any ministry to follow in achieving world evangelism. It also serves as a bridge between the testimonies of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ found in the Gospels and the ministry of the Holy Spirit of sanctification for the believer found in the Epistles. It is priceless in the fact that it is the only record that we have of the birth and beginning of the early Church in Jerusalem during its first thirty years. This record provides us the historical context in which the New Testament epistles were written.

The book of Acts also helps us to understand how the message of salvation made its transition from a Jewish culture into a universal message for all of mankind. We know from the testimony of Peter in Acts that this transition did not come easy. As a result of the Gospel being made available to all people, it provides us with the divine pattern of church order and growth and ministry that all people are to follow if we want God to work in our midst as we share the Gospel to a lost and dying world.

Why did God choose to record the missionary efforts of Paul the apostle to a greater degree than that of the other apostles of Jesus Christ, for they, too, went out and performed mighty signs and wonders in His name? Early church history tells us that they went to Alexandria and as far as India. Perhaps it is because Paul's life was the most faithful testimony of the grace of God and of the endurance and commitment to fulfill the Great Commission; or, perhaps because Western Civilization was built upon Christianity from the region that Paul ministered, whose faith and work laid the foundation for the Christian faith of this great civilization upon which we live today. Although the work of other apostles seems to find itself in the ancient past, Paul's efforts forever changed the face of Europe, which eventually embraced Christianity and carried the Gospel into our modern world. The development of Europe based upon Judeo-Christian beliefs became the foundation of what is called today "Western Civilization." This civilization has forever changed the face of societies around the world.

Introductory Material- The introduction to the book of Acts will deal with its historical setting, literary style, and theological framework. 2] These three aspects of introductory material will serve as an important foundation for understanding God's message to us today from this divinely inspired book of the Holy Scriptures.

2] Someone may associate these three categories with Hermann Gunkel's well-known three-fold approach to form criticism when categorizing the genre found within the book of Psalm: (1) "a common setting in life," (2) "thoughts and mood," (3) "literary forms." In addition, the Word Biblical Commentary uses "Form/Structure/Setting" preceding each commentary section. Although such similarities were not intentional, but rather coincidental, the author was aware of them and found encouragement from them when assigning the three-fold scheme of historical setting, literary style, and theological framework to his introductory material. See Hermann Gunkel, The Psalm: A Form-Critical Introduction, trans. Thomas M. Horner, in Biblical Series, vol 19, ed. John Reumann (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1967), 10; see also Word Biblical Commentary, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker(Dallas, Texas: Word Incorporated, 1989-2007).

HISTORICAL SETTING

"We dare not divorce our study from understanding the historical setting of every passage of Scripture

if we are going to come to grips with the truth and message of the Bible."

(J. Hampton Keathley) 3]

3] J. Hampton Keathley, III, "Introduction and Historical Setting for Elijah," (Bible.org) [on-line]; accessed 23May 2012; available from Internet.

Each book of the Holy Scriptures is cloaked within a unique historical setting. An examination of this setting is useful in the interpretation of the book because it provides the context of the passage of Scripture under examination. The section on the historical setting of the Luke -Acts will provide a discussion on its historical background, authorship, date and place of writing, recipients, and occasion. This discussion supports the early Church tradition that the Luke the Evangelist wrote Luke -Acts in Rome while Paul was in his first Roman imprisonment during the early 60's as a legal brief to defend Paul in court.

I. Historical Background: The Relationship of Luke and Acts

Most scholars believe that the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts were originally written as a two-part work, and circulated as such until the late first or early second century. At that time, the first volume was collected into the four Gospels, with the book of Acts left as a separate, fifth book of the New Testament. It was perhaps at this time of separation that Acts received its descriptive title as the "Acts of the Apostles." The Gospel of Luke records the events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ while the book of Acts can be viewed the first recorded history of the early Church.

A. Internal Evidence-There is much internal evidence that allows us to link these two books of the Holy Bible to a single author:

1. The Preface- We can find some evidence of single authorship within the prefaces to these two books. Goodspeed tells us that the preface to Luke's Gospel can serve as an introduction to both volumes, 4] with the preface to the book of Acts making a reference to the Gospel of Luke and with both prefaces being addressed to the same Theophilus.

4] Edgar J. Goodspeed, An Introduction to the New Testament (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1937), 181.

Luke 1:3, "It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,"

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

These two prefaces reveal that the purpose of this two-volume work is to record the development and spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth. In addition, the preface of the later work claims common authorship to the former work, the Gospel of Luke. Both use the first person singular to introduce both books.

2. Continuity- Both books have continuity with one another. Goodspeed also explains that Jesus' closing remarks in Luke 24:44-49 tell us that there is more to this story in the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the Gospel closes before developing this important part of the history of the early Church. When Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel to all nations beginning at Jerusalem ( Luke 24:47) and to tarry in Jerusalem unto they be endued with power from on high ( Luke 24:49) He is making a clear reference to the contents of the book of Acts. 5] Since the Gospel of Luke does not reach this goal of spreading the Gospel, we must rely upon an additional volume to fulfill our Lord's commission. Thus, the book of Acts opens with the fulfillment of power coming from on high and closes with the fulfillment of the spread of the Gospel to Greco-Roman world of its day. Thus, the author clearly links these two writings in an unmistakable way.

5] Edgar J. Goodspeed, An Introduction to the New Testament (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1937), 181-182.

3. Vocabulary and Literary Style-Luke and Acts are closely related in vocabulary, syntax, and style. Plummer tells us that if one compares special, peculiar, and characteristic words, phrases and constructions found in the two writings, he would see the same literary peculiarities.

a) Vocabulary

(1) For example, Adolf Harnack says the temporal use of the Greek word ώςis used forty-eight times in Luke -, Acts , while not being used a single time in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. 6] He says that there are forty-nine verbs found in Luke -Acts that are not found in Matthew ,, Mark , and John. 7]

6] Adolf Harnack, Luke the Physician: Author of the Third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, trans. J. R. Wilkinson, in Crown Theological Library (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908), 40.

7] Adolf Harnack, Luke the Physician: Author of the Third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, trans. J. R. Wilkinson, in Crown Theological Library (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908), 20.

(2) William Hobart lists three hundred thirteen (313) Greek words in his index that are either unique to Luke -Acts or they are used in "a medical sense" unlike the other Evangelists. 8]

8] William Kirk Hobart, The Medical Language of St. Luke (London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1882), 299-305.

(3) The phrase "kingdom of God" is used frequently throughout both books.

(4)Philip Schaff tells us that there are about fifty words common to Luke -Acts that are not found anywhere else in the New Testament. 9]

9] Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol 1(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1955), 725.

(5)The Greek word for "grace" ( χαρις) does not occur at all in Matthew and Mark , while being used in John's Gospel four times in a single passage ( Acts 1:14-17). However, it occurs eight times throughout Luke's Gospel and seventeen times in the book of Acts. It is also a word that is peculiar to the Pauline epistles, being used hundreds of times.

b) Literary Style

(1) Both books show a polished style of Greek that none of the other New Testament books equal.

(2) Both books have similar styles, such as placing emphasis on individual characters in the narratives.

4. Theme and Structure - These two books have common themes as well as common structures. One simply can compare the descriptions used, the arrangement of passages, and the author's points of view and see that they are similar in these respects.

a) Theme

(1) The preaching of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Acts is based upon the events of Luke's Gospel. Both books attempt to bridge the gap between Jews and Gentiles. Luke and Acts present the Gospel as a message for all people.