Who wrote Acts, and when?
Luke, the physician and companion of Paul. About AD 62–80.
Acts is the second volume of a two-part work that begins with Luke's Gospel; both are addressed to Theophilus and share the same style and concerns. Church tradition identifies the author as Luke, the physician who travelled with Paul, and the “we” passages in the later chapters, where the narrator joins Paul's journeys, support this. Most scholars agree that the same person wrote both books; some accept the identification with Luke, others leave the author unnamed. The date is debated. Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome around AD 62 and says nothing about his death, so some think it was written then. Many others date it to the 70s or 80s AD, after the Gospel of Luke was complete.
Who was Acts written to?
Theophilus and Gentile readers, continuing the account begun in Luke’s Gospel.
Acts is addressed to Theophilus, the same reader as Luke's Gospel, and through him to Gentile Christians across the Roman world. These were people in a young movement that had spread far beyond its Jewish roots, and they had questions. How did a Jewish Messiah come to have Gentile followers? Was the church a threat to Rome? Why had most Jews not believed? What happened to the apostles, and how did Paul, who once persecuted the church, come to lead its mission? Luke's readers needed to know that the church's spread was God's doing, guided by the Spirit and foretold in Scripture, and that Christians could be loyal citizens even while proclaiming a king other than Caesar. Acts answers those questions by telling the story.
What was happening at the time?
Acts picks up where Luke ends. Jesus ascends, the Spirit comes at Pentecost, and the church explodes into life in Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, then across the Roman world through Peter and above all Paul. Luke traces how a Jewish movement became a multi-ethnic church, and how the gospel reached the capital of the empire despite prison, riots and shipwreck.
Why was Acts written?
To show the unstoppable spread of the gospel by the Spirit’s power and the church’s witness to the ends of the earth.
Acts was written to show how the gospel spread from Jerusalem to Rome by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to give confidence that this movement was from God. The outline is set out in chapter 1, where Jesus tells his followers they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The book follows exactly that path. Along the way it shows the Spirit poured out at Pentecost, the first church sharing life together, Gentiles welcomed without becoming Jews, and the gospel surviving prison, riots and shipwreck. Acts wants readers to see that nothing can stop God's plan and to take up the same witness. In the wider story of the Bible, Acts links the Gospels to the letters, since Paul's journeys here are the background to most of what follows.
How to read Acts today
Read chapters 1 and 2 first for the ascension and Pentecost, which set the tone for everything after. Then read chapter 9, the conversion of Paul, and chapter 10, where Peter learns that Gentiles belong. After that, read straight through and keep a map handy; many Bibles include one for Paul's journeys. Watch the pattern: the gospel is preached, some believe, opposition follows, and the church grows anyway. Notice how many speeches there are, and read them as summaries of what the first Christians actually said about Jesus. Do not force every event in Acts into a rule for how churches must operate today; Christians differ on which patterns are meant to be repeated. Acts is history first. As you read, pray for boldness to speak about Jesus, and for the same Spirit who filled the first believers to work in you.
The key verse in Acts
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Passages worth knowing in Acts
- Acts 2
Pentecost
The Spirit comes; three thousand are baptised.
- Acts 7
Stephen’s speech and death
The first martyr, with Saul watching.
- Acts 9
Saul’s conversion
The persecutor meets Jesus on the Damascus road.
- Acts 10
Peter and Cornelius
God shows no partiality; Gentiles receive the Spirit.
- Acts 15
The Jerusalem council
Gentiles saved by grace without the law.
- Acts 17
Paul in Athens
The unknown God made known.
- Acts 27–28
Shipwreck and Rome
The gospel preached unhindered in the capital.
The main themes of Acts
- The Holy Spirit
- Witness
- The growth of the church
- Jews and Gentiles together
- Persecution
- God’s sovereignty
An outline of Acts
| Section | Chapters |
|---|---|
| The church in Jerusalem | 1–7 |
| Judea and Samaria | 8–12 |
| Paul’s missionary journeys | 13–21 |
| Paul’s arrest and journey to Rome | 21–28 |