Luke, “the beloved physician” addressed both his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles to a Roman official whose baptismal name, Theophilus, means “lover of God.” It is an encouraging thought that the reader of this book must be a lover of God also, or he or she would not read it.
“No King but Caesar” is a book on the Acts of the Apostles. Among other things Acts is a book of ancient history, a specialized discipline which the general reader has little time to study. But without this knowledge much that Luke writes about is not understood. To overcome this problem this book begins with an historical introduction to the Acts. As we progress in our studies we will supplement this with appropriate local history. This approach should effectively make the reader at home in the ancient world of two thousand years ago.
While Acts contains much secular history it is essentially a book of divine history, and is written from God’s viewpoint, not man’s. It occupies the same position in the New Testament that Exodus does in the Old. In the Old Testament Genesis is the book of beginnings; in the New Testament the gospels give us a new beginning, the Son of God’s love. In Exodus God redeems an earthly people from the slavery of Egypt but they respond by worshipping a golden calf; in Acts God redeems a heavenly people, the Church, from the world but, in the figure of its great apostle, it ends up captive in Rome. Exodus is a bridge to the teachings of the law and the prophets; Acts is a bridge to the Epistles and a stepping-stone to the Revelation.
Because Acts is a bridge to the Epistles, it is necessary to introduce doctrine in certain chapters of this book. This has been done lightly, for Acts is not a book of doctrine, due to its transitional nature. The principle followed in considering doctrinal matters is the same as that followed in describing the historical setting of events just enough to make the text understandable and no more.
But Acts is also linked to the Revelation, and an understanding of how and why this is so unlocks the meaning of the abrupt ending of the Acts. It makes the Book of Acts relevant to the last days and we are living in the last days. Acts forecasts what is to transpire in the future.
We use the term “historical imagery” throughout this book to convey this thought, for the Holy Spirit has so inspired the factual record as to suggest to us the form or likeness of future events. These future events are largely the subject of the Book of Revelation. Books on secular history differ sharply from Acts in this regard. If for example we consider an historical matter we can understand the development of events by tracing them to their roots, but we cannot take the beginning of a matter and predict its end with any degree of certainty. But God can, and this is only another assurance of the inspiration of Scripture. The reader should therefore expect to find interpretations of the historical imagery in Acts interpretations which agree with later historical developments. Verified in this way they cannot be classified as speculative theology.
The Holy Spirit is the directive force in the Book of Acts until Paul’s journey from Jerusalem to Rome. In Him we find energy, not spent aimlessly as so often in human affairs, but in accordance with a divine plan. This plan unfolds in a gradual transition from Judaism to Christianity, and then in the Westward march of Christianity. In time the Western countries became the seat of the public profession of Christianity, and even called themselves ‘Christendom’ i.e. Christ’s Kingdom. Because of this profession they were enlightened and privileged above the other nations of the world. Yet in the decade of the nineteen sixties a widespread giving up of the profession of Christianity began in the West. But to turn away from their true heritage the preaching of the Word which began in the time of the Acts and continues to this day is to turn from light to darkness and so invite the judgments of God spelled out in Revelation. These judgments largely though not entirely fall on the once privileged West. They open the way for the world kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ which will last one thousand years terminating in the eternal state. Seen in this light Acts is worthy of study today.
Now that we have covered the broad characteristics of Acts as we see them, a short word might be helpful on some of the features of this book. We have used the inductive method throughout, to distill Luke’s meaning from his use of words. This explains the comments about the appearance and disappearance of key words in the text. Scripture quotations have been liberally supported by references for any who may wish to consult the translation of their choice. Notes and Bibliography have been combined. Finally this work is an overview of the Book of Acts and its setting in history and prophecy.
The combination of the various considerations we have outlined has resulted in a book structurally divided into an historical introduction, twenty-eight chapters corresponding generally, although not entirely, with the twenty-eight chapters of Acts, and an Epilogue rounding out the prophetical design.
The writer now commends his work to the Lord for the edification of His people.
T.L. Mather
August 1982