My Commentary on the Book of Acts
This is a work in progress so check back often:
       After some discussions with others there seems to be a need in some discipleship on the rest of the New Testament. The part I am talking of mostly are the Acts of the Apostles,
Pauline Epistles, the other Epistles of Christ’s brothers James and Jude and finally the book of Revelation.
When we first get saved we read the four gospels of the beginner Christian, Matthew, Mark,Luke and John. But there comes a time in all Christian’s lives a time to get off the baby food being spoon fed by Preachers. What I am talking about is the rest of the New Testament. Do you realize that only 1/4th to 1/3rd of the New Testament is the 4 gospels? Did you know that all church doctrine comes from that other part of the New Testament, mostly from Paul letters called the Pauline Epistles?
    yet most Preachers skip most of it quoting it when they do in a piece meal fashion completely ignoring the concept that they are letters and meant to be read in whole sittings just like letters. Paul’s letters are so often taught out of context (eisegesis) that most Christians are completely unawares what exactly is in these letters; that all church dogma comes from these important letters. If all church dogma comes from the Pauline Epistles don’t you think it might be a good idea to AT LEAST read them in whole settings with discussions to determine what they mean? You can start doing this today. How long do you think it takes to just read a letter? Do you think you could at least give God this miniscule amount of your time? This is not rocket science. God loves you very much and is speaking to you in these many letters when he breathed through the Apostles. Love them and read them and God will love you. Draw near to God and God will draw near to you. Why don’t you go and read one letter from God to you today, okay? God has written these letters to you and you do not even take the small amount of time required to read them. Get a pencil with a good eraser and write your notes in the margins of the bible. Put a question mark near an area you wonder about and an exclamation point where a part is well said. Read the letters from God breathed through the Apostles that are meant for you and be blessed!
    By the reading of the Pauline Epistles on a regular basis we are reading God’s words to the church as breathed through Paul.Â
    Do you know what the meaning of the word everyone calls us, “Christians?” Christians, according to Josephus, the Jewish historian, whose historical extra biblical eyewitness account of the destruction by the Romans under the Emperor Nero actually quotes Nero using the name “Christians,” in a derogatory term was as a description of those that followed the teachings of that crazy new sect, believers of eternal life, the Christ. Did you hear that? It was originally a derogatory term used by enemies of the church to describe the the people of the church. The literal meaning is “Christ-follower.”
How do we become a Christ-Follower or Christian? We do it by reading all of Christ’s 
words, the entire bible. Christ went around calling himself the Son of God the Father. When he prayed to God he called God His Father whom He had already seen. Christ claimed he only did what he had already seen His Father in heaven do. When Christ called Himself the Son, the Pharisees hollered blasphemy ripping their clothes. They did this because, to them, when Christ claimed he was the Son, that was the same as saying he was deity, he was God. One has to understand what had been going on for thousands of years before this. You see there was a big problem emperors had with cohesion of their governments. The problem is that people would constantly just leave and go start a city, and when they would leave one city that put that city at risk. If there are no people living in the city then you cannot have an Army and if you cannot have an Army your city was always vulnerable to the city next door that had a better stronger army because they had more people. Then they sometimes would just come in, kill all the men, enslave the women and raise the children as their own. So a lot of people early on, since the beginning, figured out that if they claimed they were the Son of 
God then people would stay and worship the emperor. So soon it became a regular thing for an Emperor to claim they were the Son of God, born of god, half man and half God. Usually men more then women but sometimes women would do the same. It would be much easier to get people to follow your orders if you were the Son of God. We see this happened in Egypt, Babylon, Greece with Alexander the Great whom claimed descendence from Zeus and Romans also did similar with Augustus and Ceaser claiming to be deity. So in the light of all this, when Christ claimed to be the Son of the Father in Heaven, Jews knew clearly, as all who heard it did, Christ was claiming deity. This is the main reason Christ was crucified.
Of course Christ proved he was deity by eyewitness testimony of over 10,000 witnesses, many of whom were against Christ as ardent foes at the beginning. Paul was one of them who constantly described himself as a Pharisee of all Pharisees, until Christ 
appeared to him, before his name was changed from Saul into Paul. Saul regularily dragged Christian men and women to prisons or to a place to be stoned to death. For this reason Paul constantly felt a major debt to God and the Christian community.  Many theologians believe Saul was present at the first Martyrdom recorded after Christ, that being of Steven the table wiper.
The great Apostle Evangelist John knew this clearly and that is what he witnessed when he wrote this in John 1:1-18. John says Christ was there before john the baptist was there yet John the Baptist was born 6 months before Christ. John calls Christ “The Word,” that was there in the beginning when all things were created. Paul in Hebrews chapters 7 and 8 says Christ is our high priest of the New Covenant, making the Old Covenant obsolete, Hebrews 8:13. So being a Christ doesn’t involve just the reading of the 4 gospels, or in many Christian’s lives reading one of the four gospels. When Christ walks by we get up and follow Christ. We do not watch him walk by but call ourselves a Christ-Follower. Do you know how many people in our day and age call themselves Christians? With all the Hollywood trash being pumped at people and the commonality of the word Christian the word has lost its true. When someone calls themselves a Christian I do not know what that means. But when someone calls themselves a Christ-Follower it is concise and clear. A Christ-Follower follows Christ when Christ walks by. How about you, do you follow Christ or do you just call yourself a Christian? If you want to be a Christian be one, not in words only, but on each and every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, the mouth of Christ who was there in the beginning, creating everything. Christ was there in the beginning according to John, the Apostle Evangelist. We are to read God’s words, pray God’s words, quote God’s words and meditate on God’s words so our spirits grow like working out at the gym. So this extensive study will be for the areas many have never read, so we may grow stronger becoming intimately familiar with God’s words.
There comes a time to get off the baby’s milk and on to the meat of our spiritual growth. How can we witness to our family if we do not even know what is in scripture? So the purpose of this post is to give others a guide for spiritual growth. This will be sprinkled with commentary but is not really one as much as a lot of questions to encourage discussion among your fellowship groups. Â Check back often as this will be added to almost daily, thus being changed almost daily as we all walk through the New Testament, assembling together, growing strong in spirit together as the Lord Jesus Christ intended.
It is best to probably trace Paul’s life and conversion (from Saul) while you you read his letters. Start with the first 4-5 chapters of Acts of the Apostles. Pay close attention to 1:13-14, 1:26. Think of these questions. Who were James and Judas? Why were these the first instances we hear of Christ’s brothers James and Jude, or his mother Mary joining Christianity? Consider Mark 3:21 and Mark 3:31-34, Mark 6:3-5, John 7:1-10 & go back to Acts 1:13-14 and read again, meditate asking these questions: Where Jesus brothers James and Jude followers of Christ, saved, before their prayer in Acts ? Did they suspect they were putting Christ’s life in danger when sending him to the Temple for celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles? Why did Christ insist on going incognito ? Many , (and I), believe they were never saved until AFTER the resurrection in Acts. So consider these things carefully and it all makes great discussion in your bible study. You could spend a couple of sessions on this alone. If someone doesn’t do their reading before the meeting make sure you lovingly admonish and scold them , then encourage and teach them the importance of each person’s role as a piece of a giant puzzle for all to grow and learn. Without that piece everyone in the group will fail to see the whole beautiful picture of what God is really saying, teaching.
At the end of every session give out short assignments of exegesis study to each person in the study to extract truth in short pieces. Have one person find out when the letter was written by Paul and do the first 3 verses with commentary, another person the next three and so on so on. Each person reports what they found at the next session before the reading of those verses and the open discussion. Just some ideas.
Who wrote the book of Acts? Theologians really do not know since no author claims authorship. Many think Paul because Paul comes across in the book very well. Whoever did write it did it for Theophilis according to Acts 1:1. When we compare this to Luke 1:1-4 we see that Theophilis was an elder that was asking the Christian community to come together and document things in book form for the churches and spread of the gospel to the gentiles.
Week 2 or 3rd week—
Then read the first 5 chapters Acts and discuss what happened, letting each person give own view what happened.
Week 4 & 5–
Read Galatians 1:1-2:21–Think of these questions: How long after Christ appeared to Saul, blinding Saul, before Paul was actively Preaching? Should Christians mature before they start actively preaching the gospel to everyone they meet? Does this mean they shouldn’t witness to anybody? How long did the disciples follow Christ night and day extensively learning before they preached? Did they receive special attention answering their questions by Christ dealing with issues they had trouble with? Did the early church read bits and pieces of the Pauline Epistles or read them like letters in front of the congregations as letters are read, whole letter read in one setting. Hint, see Colossians 4:16 and see how the early church read these letters. Since the early church read the letters this way why do church Pastors constantly quote only 1-2 verses and build whole church doctrine around these 1-2 verses??
Weeks 6 & 7-
Read Galatians 3:1-14 week 6 and attempt to answer these questions in your group. Why did Paul call them the foolish Galatians? what or whom is the Apostle Paul preaching against? Does Paul sound upset? What is Paul upset about exactly? How does Paul define righteousness and what is the example he uses? What is required to become a child of Abraham? What verse tells how the Gentiles are Justified? ( Hint-verses 8 &11) What verses in another letter written by Paul goes well with verses 8 &11? (Hint Romans 10:9 & 4:1-5). What is the next thing promised after we are Justified? Is it possible to get unjustified after one is justified by God? In other words is it possible to become unsaved once saved by God? So this is the doctrine of Justification.
Justification
    When we are justified that is when we are saved. We are saved by faith when we ask God to forgive us for our sins asking God in sincerity and humbleness to forgive us sending Jesus into our hearts and to save us.
    We are saved by God’s Son Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb sacrifice for the sin of the world. If we are saved that means we cannot be unsaved.
    For example when the Apostle Peter sinned three times he was still justified and still saved, only needing forgiveness but still saved. if Peter had died of a sudden massive heart attack upon hearing the rooster crow as prophesied by Jesus, not having a chance to repent, would still go to Heaven even though his soul was soiled from sin. We are not saved by works. we do not justify ourselves, rather God justifies us when we say the prayer of salvation for all past sins and all future sins. we are saved by our Savior Jesus Christ and we are to follow Christ the rest of our lives the best we can. We do not go on at that point to live a sinless life but we are to do the best we can, read our bibles, assemble with others that are saved, repent and pray regularly. But when we are saved we are saved for all past, present and future sins. This is the proper doctrine of Justification as scripture teaches.
    When we get saved it is at that point that God writes our name in the Book of Life. It is at that point we are JUSTIFIED. It is at that point we are saved. We do not work our way to heaven by following the law, any mosaic law. we are justified by faith and faith only. Salvation is by faith. Our works are like filthy rags to God for we are incapable of working our way to heaven. The purpose of the Law was to highlight the problem of man’s incapability to actually follow the law. The purpose of the law is to show we cannot follow the law and need a solution. That solution was a gift from God that if we humble ourselves and ask God for help, to save and rescue us, God would do it if we recognized his Son Jesus Christ as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. God did exactly that.
John 3:16 NIV
    For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, (Or his only begotten Son in KJV), that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.Â
Here are some comments when I posted this on my other blog you might find interesting to stimulate conversation and bible study:
 This is good. You pose some good questions for the beginner scholar to seek while reading. Posted 7/5/2012 5:50 PM by Aloysius_son – delete – block user – recommend – reply
|
 @Aloysius_son – Well, I just tried to remember the things I have learned and struggled on my own spiritual journey trying to show them shortcuts. I have read the bible so many times over I do not even know how many times. My main bible has so much writing in the margins as notes to remind me later of my thoughts, of my wonders, and of things to be sure to check and think of. Some of them I come back later and erase, some I leave there, unresolved as thoughts that remind me of younger years. The point being it IS a journey. I also read just about all the rest of the so-called Holy Books just to have a better idea of what is in them and as a tool in witnessing. Nothing even comes close to the bible as far as divine wisdom. I’ve read the Koran and many of the Hadith. Talk about a bunch of nonsense. It’s like all poetry with a bunch of political statements like conquer these people, kill all the men and enslave the women, and if they do not submit behead them and all this nonsense. There is absolutely nothing in the Koran or Hadiths that is from God. 100% of it is from Satan and demonic influenced. The book of Mormon is also a bunch of confusion that means nothing. Both these CULTS require a person that is an elder to stand over them telling them what it means. That is the difference between these two books of men and the bible. The bible is self explanatory in that it requires no elder to stand over you and tell you what laws and regulations you are supposed to follow. But THESE others require a worship of regulation and the law. They are a return to the law, both of them. In Islam you must submit and pray five times daily at a certain hour, certain time, in a certain way, after you do hand washing rituals, and on and on and on. There is no personal relationship with God, only a personal relationship with the elder teaching you. Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses similar. One has to go door to door contacting a certain amount of people, for a certain time, on a certain day, in a certain way, being watched over by a certain elder, never spending time with the people they meet, always in a hurry to get to the next one. Salvation by law, that is what all religions other then Christianity are. Instead of receiving holiness and forgiveness from God they put white clothes on, holiness clothes, they cut their hair a certain way, a holiness way, all by appearance on the outside. They never deal with the real sin, of being unworthy to follow the law. Do I detect a little Catholicism there? maybe? God Bless, Brother RobertLeeRE Posted 7/5/2012 9:15 PM by RobertLeeRE – delete – recommend – reply
|
|
@RobertLeeRE – I could tell that you have dedicated much of your life toward the pursuit of divine knowledge and scriptures by your writings. More so than even I. I must agree with you, none other of the Holy books really does compare to the Holy Bible, in completeness, wisdom or understanding. I found the Book of Mormon one of the most difficult as thoughs of “hoax” and “copycat” continually ran through my mind, still there were some fundamental truths burried within, most likely to keep it acceptable and allow the con to work more effectively. No offense intended to my many Mormon friends. There are those of them who truly do desire oneness with the Divine Father and believe their faith to be the correct vehicle for arrive at it. Many individual Muslims, Hindu’s and Jews also desire to be one with the Holy Father and dedicate themselves to that end as best as is humanly possible within the confines of their culture. I often try to pry open the minds and hearts of the ignorant by proposing Biblical scripture as one of many alternatives and hope that when they begin to explore it openly and honestly, that they will discover for themselves how beautiful the Word truly is. Posted 7/6/2012 4:34 PM by Aloysius_son – delete – block user – recommend – reply
|
 @Aloysius_son -Some people are put off by any kind of stand for truth. Posted 7/6/2012 6:49 PM by RobertLeeRE
 – delete – recommend – reply |
 Very good post! I do believe the reason the word tells us those lukewarm shall be spit out is because they do more damage blaspheming the name of Christ. When we claim we are Christians our walk should manifest Christ’s nature. I do know we are each a work in progress, but until we do as the word states forsake it all we will continually be serving two masters.
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Posted 8/18/2012 2:34 PM by Lewis1122 – delete – block user – recommend – reply
|
|
@Lewis1122 – Exactly. They violate Revelation 22:18-19 which clearly warns we are not to add to or take away from God’s words, and if we do, there are consequences that bear out. It is true none of us are perfect and that Sanctification is a life long process of following God, practicing holiness and repentance. But we are not to change God’s words calling truth falsehood and falsehood truth. This is the issue at hand. We are not to violate Revelation 22:18-19. this should be a warning to all Christians who desire to teach. So many teach but so few are actually called. God Bless, Brother RobertLeeRE Posted 8/18/2012 8:46 PM by RobertLeeRE – delete – recommend – reply
|
|
@RobertLeeRE – Agreed! As that which is within us is made pure that which is without will manifest it for all to see. In the mean time we resist the devil and he shall flee, we force our actions into obedeince. Posted 8/22/2012 4:03 PM by Lewis1122
– delete – block user – recommend – reply |
|
@Lewis1122 – It is good to have another brother in Christ on Xanga here to assemble with, without having to constantly correct because they do not even have the most basic scriptural understanding. Amen to that.
 Posted 8/22/2012 9:53 PM by RobertLeeRE
– delete – recommend – reply |
 Amen! Wonderful Post you have here….God Bless!!
Posted 8/23/2012 1:05 PM by ellie1945 – delete – block user – recommend – reply
|
|
@ellie1945 – Thank-you and nice to have you visit. When your on my home page all the links to my writing are on the left side when you scroll down. There are also some important research links for easy access to some Christian Classics. Posted 8/23/2012 1:19 PM by RobertLeeRE – delete – recommend – reply
|
 I really like the fact you emphasized the whole book I have always believed in context.To read the at one sitting purposely is good concept, the question is do you believe this to be practical considering many short attention spans and time constraints?
Posted 9/30/2012 5:53 PM by New1E13_15 – delete – block user – recommend – reply
|
 @New1E13_15 – As a Minister I really believe there is a huge weakness today in the Body of Christ, and that weakness is mostly context. There are so many bad Preachers that are not emphasising context, and of course the elders that never hold them accountable because they also do no understand the context of the scripture. This has resulted in a whole generation of Christ-followers that are completely unaware of what the bible is actually saying. In trying to understand prophecy context is even more important than any other discipline of theology. I think of it as two different spiritual muscles we ought to excercise on a regular basis. Posted 10/1/2012 4:38 AM by RobertLeeRE – delete – recommend – reply
|
|
Shalom Bro. Robert, The reason why lots of Preacher skip over Acts is because they believe that it has no bearing for this time period, and that speaking in tongues is not for this age.
But it is. Also did you know there are something things the Assembly (Church) has for doctrine comes straight from the Hebrew Scriptures. Also I am sure that you know the Apostles, taught straight to the people out of the Hebrew Scriptures because there was no other Scriptures at that time. We really need to study the whole of the Scriptures in other to understand it. Bro. Doc Posted 10/21/2012 3:01 PM by BroDoc –
|
 @BroDoc – Brother, thank-you for blessing me with you visit today. yes, I agree with you wholeheartedly. And it is not just that. I find there are many Preachers that simply do not even touch the surface of the whole teaching that is in scripture. This initially became quite upsetting to me when I started reading the bible regularily on my own. I started finding all kinds of things that contradicted their teaching. Now it has almost become an obsession of mine to bring this experience to others. In this commentary on the Acts of the Apstles I am truying to pose questions to make the beginning student think recieving revelation form Holy Spirit. God bless, Brother RobertLeeRE Posted 10/21/2012 10:12 PM by RobertLeeRE
|
 You know Bro. Robert why they are upset? It is because they can give you some doctrine that is not Scriptural.
This preacher gets upset when people are not following in the Scripture what I am saying from the KJV. I want them following and if I make a mistake I want it corrected. I believe in following the whole of the Scripture and not just the doctrine of self. Being also the Apostle and Presiding General Overseer of our Organization I have to be very careful to preach the truth. But for the most part Acts isn’t preached because letting the Spirit have control is something lots of preachers do not want because they will not have control. Have a blessed evening. Bro. Doc Posted 10/21/2012 10:25 PM by BroDoc
|
 @BroDoc – I hear ya brother, I go to the typical church and cannot even talk with the typical person there about scripture because they are completly unaware to what actually is and is not in the bible. So, I get ya. Also the reason they do not preach out of the book of Acts is the same as not preaching Paul’s Letters, it contradicts the doctrine they preach. So they preach only things that line their pockets with gold, THAT is things that get people to open their wallets. But, you know there comes a time to Preach church dogma and when they ignore these books they can get away with anything because all church doctrine comes from these books. They might quote a verse and teach it out of context but that is not the same thing. God Bless, Brother RobertLeeRE Posted 10/22/2012 12:44 AM by RobertLeeRE
|
|
Bro. Robert, I have a point blank question too ask. If this is the case where you attend. Why are you still going there? Do you not think it is time for you to find a more Scripture believing Assembly that preaches the whole truth?
You will find out that this preacher is bold and will tell it just like it is. But since they are not preaching really anything, but feel good subjects it is time too move on. Bro. Doc Posted 10/22/2012 12:07 AM by BroDoc – delete – block user – recommend – reply
|
|
@BroDoc – I think people get set in thier ways and do not like to switch churches when they should. Preachers complain about this all the time when the real reason is it is their fault. People leave when they are not being fed the gospel many times. they leave for other reasons also. Sometimes it is the Elders putting too much pressure on the Pastor to NOT teach the gospel because it is offensive to them. And there are other reasons.
Posted 10/22/2012 1:22 AM by RobertLeeRE – delete – recommend – reply
|
Of course, if you have any questions on the prior weeks study comment and I will answer back for all to see.
God bless,
Brother RobertLeeRE
Here are some of my other commentaries
My Commentary On the Book of Zechariah Part Two
My Commentary on the Book of Acts and the Epistles of the Apostles
My Commentary on the Book of Zechariah Part Three
My Commentary on the book of Zechariah Part One by RobertLeeRE
Pingback: Justification: The Race Won by Staying in the Race
Pingback: A Study on the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Epistles