 |  |
Acts 1: 1-14.
The former treatise.
A1 | B | 1. What the Lord began to do and teach.
C | 2. Until the day.
D | 2. Command to apostles.
E | 2. Taken up.*
B | 3. What the Lord continued to do and to teach.
C | 3. During forty days.
D | 4-9. Command to apostles.
E | 9-14. Taken up.
[* - The order of this section follows that of the Greek and not of the English translation.]
The next matter of great importance to all students of the Acts is the question of the
apostles concerning the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, and to this we shall address
ourselves in the next article, sufficient preparation having now been made.
#5.
The hope of the Acts and Epistles of the Period.
pp. 161 - 164
The question of the apostles in Acts 1: 6 regarding the restoration of the kingdom to
Israel, engenders other questions, as, What is the hope dominating the Acts of the
Apostles? or, Does the hope change at Pentecost, or subsequently? and, most important
for us who read, Is the hope of the Acts period the same as the hope of the church as
expressed in the epistles of Paul written during the same period? In other words, Can
there be one hope in Acts and another, different, hope in the epistles of the same period?
The answer to this question is vital to our understanding of the relation of the earlier
epistles of Paul to his later epistles of the mystery. If the hope of Israel persists
throughout the Acts, and if it embrace all the churches that were called into existence
during the Acts, then I Thess. 4: cannot express the hope of the church of the mystery,
for that would bring the hope of that church down to the hope of Israel, whether that hope
be heavenly or earthly. The matter is of such importance that no apology is needed for
thoroughness of investigation.
Let us proceed at once to the end of the Acts to discover whether a hope is there
expressed, and if so what hope it is. Undoubtedly, in Acts 28: 1-10 we have in full
force the signs of Mark 16: 17, 18. Among these are the taking up of serpents with
immunity from danger, and the laying on of hands for the recovery of the sick. As we
have said, these signs are found in operation in Acts 28: 1-10, where a viper, called a
"venomous beast", fastened on the apostle's hand. The experience of the islanders who
watched is a plain testimony of the miraculous nature of Paul's escape:--