Delve Into Luke-Acts & Paul's LettersSample

DAY ONE – LUKE-ACTS

Luke and Acts are two volumes of a single historical work. Beginning with the life and ministry of Jesus, they trace the history of the community of his followers down to the author’s own day, sometime after the middle of the first century AD. 

Luke wrote this history to serve several important purposes. First, since the community of Jesus’ followers was growing in size and influence throughout the Roman Empire, it was important to reassure Roman officials that Jesus’ followers were good citizens— people who were reasonable, peaceful, and charitable. In the second half of Acts, Luke provides specific evidence of this by recording how one of their leaders, Paul, was legally declared innocent and harmless on several occasions. It’s likely that Theophilus, Luke’s literary patron who sponsored and circulated his work, was a Roman official himself, since Luke addresses him in his opening dedication as “most excellent Theophilus,” using a title customarily reserved for these officials.

But Luke also refers to Theophilus as someone who has been instructed about Jesus’ life and teachings. Luke says he wants him to know that what he’s been taught is trustworthy. He no doubt wishes the same for the friends, many of them followers of Jesus, with whom Theophilus will share his work. And so Luke–Acts also has a message for readers within the believing community. 

At a time when it was thought that the gods might withdraw their favor from one people and transfer it to another (and conceivably abandon the second group as well, at some point in the future), Luke–Acts shows that God is unchanging and can be trusted completely. It does this by documenting how God kept a promise made to the people of Israel by sending them Jesus as their long-awaited “Messiah” or Savior. It then shows that when many Israelites believed in Jesus, but the nation as a whole did not, God used this occasion to invite non-Jews (known as Gentiles) to follow Jesus as well. Luke’s history thus demonstrates that the extension of God’s blessings to people such as Theophilus and his friends doesn’t represent a fickle change in plans; it’s the masterful fulfillment of a plan God has been pursuing over the ages. 

This theme is introduced at the very beginning of the book of Luke. In her song, Mary says that God has “helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” But then Simeon says that the salvation God has sent in Jesus will be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” The theme runs all the way through both volumes, until at the very end of Acts, Paul challenges a Jewish audience by saying, “I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” 

PRAYER: Lord, please open my eyes to the story of Your only Son – His life, death, resurrection and ascension.