2 | Invitation to Luke–Acts
is towards Jerusalem, the center of Jewish national life. In the second
volume, the movement is away from Jerusalem to other nations,
closing with Paul proclaiming the kingdom of God in Rome, the capital
of the empire.
Compared with other national histories of the time, which often
contained twenty or more volumes, Luke’s is short. Each of its two
volumes covers about 30 years. Like other historians of his day, Luke
provides an outline of important events and stocks it with details from
the sources available to him: letters, speeches, songs, travel accounts,
trial transcripts and biographical anecdotes. (Luke had access to these
as a co-worker and traveling companion of the apostle Paul.)
The first volume, the book of Luke, begins with a preliminary
section that introduces the main themes of the whole work by telling
the story of Jesus’ early life. This book then has three main sections:
: The first one describes Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, the northern area
of the land of Israel (pp. 12–25).
: The second section presents a long journey to Jerusalem, during
which Jesus teaches and answers questions about what it means to
follow him (pp. 25–44).
: The third describes how Jesus gave his life in Jerusalem and then
rose again to be the Ruler and the Savior of the world (pp. 44–56).
The second volume, the book of Acts, has six parts. Each one
describes a successive phase in the expansion of the community of
Jesus’ followers outward from Jerusalem. The divisions between them
are marked by variations on the phrase, The word of God continued to
spread and flourish.
: In the first phase, the community is established in Jerusalem
and becomes Greek-speaking, enabling it to spread its message
throughout the empire (pp. 57–66).
: In the second phase, the community expands into the rest of
Palestine (pp. 66–73).
: In the third phase, Gentiles are included in the community along
with Jews (pp. 73–78).
: In the fourth part, the community intentionally sends messengers
westward into the populous Roman province of Asia (pp. 78–84).
: In the fifth phase, these messengers enter Europe (pp. 84–90).
: In the final phase, the community reaches all the way to the capital
of Rome and into the highest levels of society. God’s invitation is
thus extended to all nations (pp. 90–106).