How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, Session VI
The Book of Acts: The Problem of Historical Precedent
A teaching by
based
upon the book by the same title,
written
by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart
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INTRO:
A. REVIEW of 1st week’s class
1. the need to
interpret:
whenever we read anything:
we are interpreting as we go
2. Goal of interpretation: to get to the plain meaning of the text
…so
we can hear what God wants us to hear in it
3. Working definition of scripture:
“The Bible is the Word of God, expressed in
human words in history.”
4. 2 essential tasks of interpretation
a. exegesis: deciphering what it meant there and then
“What
was the intended meaning of the original writers to their original audiences?”
b. hermeneutics: bridging from the there and then to the here
and now
“How
does the original meaning apply to us?”
B. Review of 2nd week’s class: Bible translations
1. 3 approaches of translators:
a. formal equivalence
–
b. functional equivalence –
c. free translation –
2. My vote:
Functional Equivalence
C. Review of
3rd & 4th weeks’ classes: The
Epistles
1. exegesis: primary task: to reconstruct whatever it was
the situation
à intent of writer
2. hermeneutics:
a. use common sense
b. Distinguish
between teachings that are emphatic & central, vs. teachings that are situational & peripheral.
c. Exercise charity
when interpreting
D. Last week:
Old Testament Narratives
1. Allow narratives to be just that: stories
Do
not turn stories into moral plays or into direct teachings
2. Narratives may illustrate a doctrine taught
elsewhere
3. In the final analysis, God is the hero of all
biblical narratives.
E. Today:
The Book of Acts
I. The Particular Issues with Acts
A. Acts is a narrative text and, as such,
everything we said about OT narratives is equally true of Acts.
B. BUT:
Acts presents some particular challenges to us
1. Most especially the fact that as an account
of the lives of the first Christians and first churches, it commonly
has been treated as a model
for contemporary church life.
WE commonly treat the actions of those
believers as normative patterns for us to emulate
p.
108 – “We regularly look back to the church and Christian experience in the first century either
as the norm to be restored or the ideal to be approximated.”
Accordingly,
many times one will hear it said, “Acts plainly teaches…”
2. In fact, many divisions between denominations
exist due to people treating Acts as normative:
infant baptism vs. believers’ baptism
baptizing in name of F,S,HS, vs. baptizing in name of Jesus
(UPC)
polity:
congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian
Lord’s supper:
weekly? monthly?
election of deacons
communal property
even snake handling!
3. But is that how narratives like this should
be applied?
C. The key issue for Acts remains as for all
other texts:
1. Intention of the Spirit-inspired author.
What
is or are Luke’s intentions for writing the Book of Acts?
2. Accordingly, we must do Exegesis …and then
Hermeneutics
….so…
II. The Exegesis of
Acts
A. Why read Acts?
1. for historical study of the first Christians,
to be sure
2. MORE:
to learn God’s will for our lives
B. Acts as History
1. Luke is a Gentile
2. Writes Acts in the same style of
historiography typical of the Greek era.
a. i.e., written in
part to give an historical record
b. BUT: written all the more to ENCOURAGE or
ENTERTAIN AND to INFORM, MORALIZE of OFFER AN
APOLOGETIC
(apologetic = NOT apology but = DEFENSE)
3. AND is influenced by OT narrative writing
style
Luke
has a strong command of the Greek version of OT (LXX)
4. Luke’s writing style is very lively (as
typical of the others)
AND
carries forward a particular message:
the work of God as a continuation of the work of God in the OT
and in the gospel of Luke
5. HENCE:
When reading Luke’s history, one must always be asking,
“What is Luke’s theological bent or emphasis in shaping
the material this way?”
6. This is crucial, but difficult to answer
In
order to get to the WHY of the book we have to start by asking the WHAT of the book.
C. Read!
1. same as before: read through à jot down impressions of situation
2. read again:
asking “Why is he saying/reporting these things?”
D. An Overview / Outline of Acts
1. one outline: key characters:
Ac
1-12 –
Ac.
13-28 – Paul
2. another
outline: verse: Acts. 1:8 – geographical overview
3. Best outline:
a. clued by summary
verses: 6:7;
b. at each point, the
story pauses to tie itself together before taking in
a new direction
c. impact: book is in 6 sections
beginning in Jewish Jerusalem with
…it
ends in Gentile Rome with Paul as leader
à indeed
…clearly
is its goal
E. The actual outline
1. 1:1 – 6:7 – the primitive church in
everything is Jewish:
the preaching, the institutions (temple & synagogues),
ends with beginning of rift between Greek-speaking and
Aramaic- speaking believers
2. 6:8-9:31 – First geographical expansion
led by Greek-speaking, Hellenistic Jewish believers
Paul’s
conversion (a Greek speaking Jew)
Stephen’s
martyrdom
3.
key event: conversion
of Cornelius
(story is told twice!)
--and
led by PETER, a truly Jewish leader
--hence
had more credibility than if by Paul, or other Greek- speaker
also the story of
Paul
now the emerging key leader
Jewish believers accept the Gentiles and frees them of
Jewish rules
à helping bring expansion to
entire Gentile world
5. 16:6-19:20 – expanding mission into Gentile
world
repeatedly Jews reject gospel and
Gentiles welcome the gospel
6. 19:21-28:30- on to
description of Paul’s journey to
including extensive outline of Paul’s trials
…3
times declared innocent
à the one critical common
denominator in each chapter:
The
work of the HOLY SPIRIT
…the driver …the hero …the
leader …the force!
F. Luke’s intent
1. Focus on the movement of the gospel
…orchestrated
by Spirit
…from
…from
Jewishness to Roman context à worldwide movement
a.
NOTE: Luke does not show any interest in
biography:
no mention of most apostles after first chapter
drops
b. Luke gives very
little info about church structure
Gives
no explanation for the succession of
no explanation of church offices
c. no mention of
other movements geographically to other regions of
the world
2. Luke is not interested in standardizing
patterns or paradigms
conversions include water and HS
BUT
order of salvation is different in almost every case
3. Luke PROBABLY is setting forth a model for
the church
…but
one
a. led and empowered
by the Holy Spirit
b. reaching out to
the world
c. and doing so
without hindrance
G. An exegetical sampling: pp. 114-118
III. The Hermeneutics of
Acts
SO How do
these narratives serve as historical precedents for today’s church?
A. Some general principles
Thesis: (p. 118-19) – “Unless Scripture explicitly
tells us we must do something,
what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative (i.e., obligatory)
way—unless it can be demonstrated on other
grounds that the author intended it to function in this way.”
B. On the formation of doctrines
1. 3 categories of doctrine:
a. Christian theology
b. Christian ethics
c. Christian
experience and practice
2. 2 sources of such doctrines
a. primary: derived from explicit propositional teachings
b. secondary: derived incidentally, by implication or
precedent
3. When we are talking about precedent matters,
we are almost always dealing with matters of Christian
experience and practice
For
example:
The
Christian practice of sharing the Lord’s supper is taught
explicitly:
Jesus commands it, the Acts and Epistles attest to it.
BUT: The frequency of sharing in the supper is
based on tradition and precedent.
C. Principles of interpretation of precedents
(p. 121)
1. “The Word of God in Acts that may be regarded
as normative for Christians is related primarily to what any
given narrative intended to teach.”
2. “What is incidental to the primary intent of
the narrative may indeed
reflect an inspired author’s understanding of things but it does not have the
same teaching value as what the narrative was intended
to teach.”
3. Any
potentially precedent-setting event in Acts could have normative
value only if it was clearly the intent of the author to be establishing a precedent AND it is explicitly and consistently followed and taught
elsewhere by the apostles.
4. Although it may not have been the author’s
primary purpose, biblical narratives can have illustrative
value
e.g.,
when the walls of the prison fell down and the apostles remained there to care for the other
prisoners
5. Some biblical precedents may be repeatable
patterns, but may not become normative
e.g.,
having all thing$ in common: yes;
killing anybody not subscribing to that: no
NOTE:
repeatable if Bible is consistent
repeatable if Bible appears to applaud it as a good thing
repeatable if not culturally conditioned
…or
if so, needs to be translated into our culture
CLOSING:
Acts is a dynamic
book about the power of a church in the power of the Holy Spirit …about a church that is
evangelistic, joyful, and unstoppable.
When read on
the level of the author’s intent …to give witness and to point all churches
everywhere and in every time to such a model for the church …it is a MOST dynamic book!!!