Voice of Renewal/Lay Education

Among the reading suggestions for those planning to attend the VOTF convocation in July is the New Testament’s Acts of the Apostles. The Voice of Renewal Working Group is offering an excellent guide for individual, as well as group, study.

A sample excerpt from the on-line discussion:

[For convenience, all references are to the online Bible.]

Suggested Approach: Read Chapter 1 in Acts of the Apostles, then read the commentary below. When you finish, perhaps read Chapter 1 again.

Chapter 1 in the Acts of the Apostles seems to our modern eyes and ears a straightforward narrative about how the apostles regrouped following Jesus' death and resurrection.

But Luke intends his careful construction to be much more. He is affirming the legitimacy of the apostles as witnesses and teachers, and linking them directly to Jesus. He is foreshadowing the Pentecost. He is naming the work the apostles will undertake, confirming the fulfillment of prophecies, and marking the continuity between Israel and the church. Not content with those tasks, Luke also reintroduces the apostles and establishes Peter's primacy.

Luke does all this with relatively simple prose that packs multiple meanings into almost every phrase. To illustrate his methods, our review of Chapter 1 cites connections and themes in each verse; for other chapters our commentary will focus more on general themes than on this verse-by-verse analysis.

As he begins Acts (1:1-2), Luke connects the Jesus of his third gospel directly to the apostles in a way that also reports on Jesus' ascension and identifies the Holy Spirit as the one through whom Jesus acts:

"In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen."

The next phrase (Acts 1:3) asserts that it is the risen Jesus who appeared to the apostles, proved his identity, and continued teaching them:

"He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God."

Interestingly, this reference to 40 days of teaching differs from Luke's own timeline in the third gospel, where he set the Ascension on the evening of Easter Sunday (Luke 24: 36-53). In keeping with his new purpose in Acts, Luke chooses a more-symbolic number, a number consistent with other Biblical periods of preparations, and gives sacredness to the emergence of the church after the ascension.

Verses 4 and 5 continue this carefully constructed linkage. Jesus tells the apostles not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for "the promise of the Father" -- that is, the Holy Spirit -- who will baptize them as John once baptized with water: a foreshadowing of the Pentecost that at the same time identifies Jesus as the fulfillment of John the Baptist's prophecy and John as the herald of the church.

Luke then uses verses 6 through 8 to cover the central question believers must have asked upon Jesus' death: What do we do now?

The Voice of Renewal/Lay Education Working Group recently posted on its Yahoo list site a study package on "Origins of the Church." The package is designed to help lay people conduct an adult education program focusing on the milieu in which Jesus lived and taught, the development of early house churches, and the slow emergence of the "new" Christian church. The package includes overviews and study questions for seven sessions, tips on conducting sessions, and a timeline chart for the writings ultimately gathered into the New Testament. For more information, contact Donna B. Doucette (dbdoucette@yahoo.com) or Anne Southwood (southwood2@aol.com) or send an email message to VOR_VOTF-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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