The Bible in a Year

New Testament

Acts 3 to Acts 17
Special 2 Week Easter Edition
Read this coming week:
Mar 28 Num 35‐36, Ps 80, Acts 3 Mar 29 Deut 1, Ps 81, Acts 4 Mar 30
Deut 2‐3, Ps 82, Acts 5 Mar 31 Deut 4, Ps 83, Acts 6 Apr 1 Deut 5‐6, Ps
84, Acts 7 Apr 2 Deut 7‐8, Ps 85, Acts 8
Apr 3 Deut 9‐10, Ps 86, Acts 9 Apr 4 Deut 11‐12, Ps 87, Acts 10 Apr 5
Deut 13‐14, Ps 88, Acts 11 Apr 6 Deut 15‐17, Ps 89:1‐29, Acts 12 Apr 7
Deut 18‐20, Ps 89:30‐52, Acts 13 Apr 8 Deut 21‐22, Ps 90, Acts 14 Apr 9
Deut 23‐24, Ps 91, Acts 15 Apr 10 Deut 25‐27, Ps 92, Acts 16 Apr 11 Deut
28, Ps 93, Acts 17

Reading Questions
For next week’s readings answer the following:
• Acts 3 – Who is with Peter when the lame beggar
is healed?
• 4 – What does the Council demand of Peter and
John?
• 5 – What is Gamaliel’s answer to this upstart cult
of Jesus followers?
• 6 – Why were 7 men chosen to serve?
• 7 – What does most of Stephen’s speech detail?
• 8 – Who are the two groups of people that Philip is
ministering to?
 • 9 – What is the name of the man who helps Paul
after he is blinded?
• 10 – How does Peter know it is ok to baptize
Cornelius and his family?
• 11 – In what city where the followers of Jesus first
called “Christians”?
• 12 – Who killed James?
• 13 – How does Paul reason with his fellow Jews?
• 14 – Which Greek gods are Barnabas and Paul
likened to and why?
• 15 – What is the decision of the Jerusalem council
and why is it important?
• 16 – Why do Paul and Barnabas split up?
• 17 – How does Paul reason with Gentiles?

The Acts of the Apostles – A

storied history & retelling
The Acts of the Apostles seems to fit very well with the
genre of a certain kind of history that would tell the
combined story of a city and its most important
inhabitants. This sort of story seems to bounce around
from figure to figure in order to give a larger picture of
what is going on in the city.

Luke appears to be writing his history of the earliest

years of the Christian church within this genre, but
Luke’s history may also be catching Gentile readers up
on some other history that they might have missed.

As you walk through the Acts of the Apostles, note how

many times the Old Testament is alluded to or directly
quoted. It may be a possibility that Luke is including all
of this Old Testament information in a Greek styled
document so that the Gentile readers (which we find are
being included into God’s plan).

In both cases, Luke’s Acts of the Apostles is a historical

piece which seeks to explain God’s character through
the ways that He interacts with man. As we go through
Acts, it may be good for us also to consider God’s
history in our lives, and what He may be retelling in us.

Luke joins the party

At first it may appear minor, but in chapter 16 of the
Acts of the Apostles Luke begins use of the 1st person
collective (we/us). It appears that here we find
evidence of when Luke joined Paul and gained the
information necessary in order to write his history.
Seemingly, after Paul and Barnabas part ways, Paul
takes on Timothy as well as a few other fellow workers –
including Luke, a Gentile physician who must have
come in handy.

It is not necessarily the case that Luke is present in all

of the stories after 16, but it is seemingly probably that
chapter 16 is the first time that Luke traveled with Paul.

Luke’s extensive knowledge about the apostles and

their actions, combined with Luke’s already established
scholarship and research into his books (such as the
Gospel of Luke), broadens the imagination of the
reader. You can surely imagine what the interviews
must have been like between Luke and the apostles as
he asked what it was like for Peter to heal the blind
beggar or to inquire of the apostles what it was like to
be beaten by the Sanhedrin for speaking the name of
Jesus.

May we too, through the Acts of the Apostle, join the

party of the apostles who followed Jesus with their
whole heart and will be with Him in eternity in the
Resurrection.
Happy Easter to you and
yours! There will be no Bible
study on April 4th (Easter
Sunday), we will begin again
on April 11th.
Please don’t throw this away. If you’re not going to use it, leave it for
someone else to use.