ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (Acts of the A-pos' des) (1) Title and Order. This is the title of one of the canonical books of the New Testament, the fifth in order in the common arrangement, and the last of those properly of an historical char acter.
(2) Contents. Commencing with a reference to an account given in a former work of the sayings and doings of Jesus Christ before his ascension, its author proceeds to conduct us to an acquaintance with the circumstances attend ing that event, the conduct of the disciples on their return from witnessing it, the outpouring on them of the Holy Spirit according to Christ's promise to them before his crucifixion, and the amazing success which, as a consequence of this, attended the first announcement by them of the doctrine concerning Jesus as the promised Mes siah and the Saviour of the World.
After following the fates of the mother-church at Jerusalem up to the period when the violent persecution of its members by the rulers of the Jews had broken up their society and scattered them, with the exception of the apostles, through out the whole of the surrounding region ; and after introducing to the notice of the reader the case of a remarkable conversion of one of the most zealous persecutors of the church, who aft erwards became one of its most devoted and suc cessful advocates, the narrative takes a wider scope ar:d opens to our view the gradual ex pansion of the church by the free admission with in its pale of persons directly converted from heathenism and who had not passed through the preliminary stage of Judaism (Acts i-viii).
The first step towards this more liberal and cosmopolitan order of things having been effected by Peter, to whom the honor of laying the foun dation of the Christian church, both within and without the confines of Judaism, seems, in ac cordance with our Lord's declaration concerning him ( Matt. xvi :18), to have been reserved, Paul, the recent convert and the destined apostle of the Gentiles, is brought forward as the main actor on the scene (Acts ix). On his course of
missionary activity, his successes and his suf ferings, the chief interest of the narrative is thenceforward concentrated, until, having fol lowed him to Rome, whither he had been sent as a prisoner to abide his trial, on his own appeal, at the bar of the emperor himself, the book abruptly closes, leaving us to gather further in formation concerning him and the fortunes of the church from other sources (Acts x-xxxiii).
(3) Authorship. Respecting the authorship of this book there can be no ground for doubt or hesitation. It is unquestionably the production of the same writer by whom the third of the four Gospels was composed, a•; is evident from the introductory sentences of both (Comp. Luke with Acts i A), That this writer was Luke there is abundant evidence to show. With regard to the book now under notice, tradition is firm and constant in ascribing it to Luke (Ireincus. Adv. Ha.r. lib. i. c. 31; ill:14; Clemens Alexandr. Strom. v. p. 588; Tertullian, Adv. !ilarcion. V. 2; De !chin. c. to; Origcn, apud Euscb. Hist. Ec cles. vi:23, etc. Eusebius himself ranks this book among the 11. E. iii :25).
From the book itself, also, it appears that the author accompanied Paul to Rome when he went to that city as a prisoner (xxviii). Now, we know from two epistles written by Paul at that time, that Luke was with him at Rome (Col. iv :14 ; Phil. 24), which favors the supposition that he was the writer of the narrative of the apostle's journey to that city.
(4) Dogmatical Objections. The only parties in primitive times by whom this book was re jected were certain heretics, such as the Mar cionitcs, the Severians and the Manicheans, whose objections were entirely of a dogmatical, not of a historical, nature; indeed, they can hardly be said to have questioned the authenticity of the book ; they rather cast it aside because it did not favor their peculiar views.