Why is the book of Acts in the Bible? I think a simple answer to this question can help us in a number of ways. First, it will help us tremendously when reading the book of Acts and the rest of the Apostolic writings to understand them in the way that they were originally understood. Second, and more importantly, it helps give us clarity on the mission that was given to the first believers – and thus to US!
There are two mistaken views of the NT which are very common in our day. The first is the liberal agenda of higher criticism, which attempts to discredit it and it’s claims. The second, while conservative, is somewhat superstitious in regards to the NT. This second view sometimes presents the NT as special by minimizing the role of human experience in writing it. Almost like the commandments handed down to Moses, things like the book of Romans are sometimes viewed as if they were handed to Paul on stone tablets.
God’s inspiration of the Scripture can rightly be seen both in His influence on the writers, as well as His influence on those men who chose to collect certain writings into a NT cannon. So, this is how we understand why the books of the NT were placed together, and why the book of Acts was included in it.
The motivation to include the book of Acts in this group of writings that would make up the NT cannon was very simple. During the first coming of the Messiah He choose a small group of men, gave them understanding of the OT Scriptures (Luke 24:45), and then sent them out to proclaim the Gospel in light of His Sacrifice and promised return. After several generations of believers, much like a massive communal game of ‘telephone’, the message began to loose some of its clarity. The message of the Gospel and nature of the commission grew somewhat ambiguous, and were subject to various explanations.
So, God inspired an idea of putting a book written by Luke, one of Paul’s companions, in the group of documents. The book is basically the story of the men (mainly focused on Paul) who lived with Jesus before and after His resurrection, and who heard directly from the Master’s lips what the Gospel was. When the Messiah Himself decided to wait to ascend to the Father for 40 days so that He can explain the nature of the Gospel and the Kingdom in great detail to these men, I REALLY want to know what they heard!
This is why I find the book so valuable! We still have so many voices inside of the church claiming to have radically differing gospels and radically differing missions. When I hear them, my question is simple. Is the message and mission that they are preaching clearly found in the book of Acts? If so, listen, learn, and go! If not, I cannot take the message seriously. A different mission usually means a different message, and a different message doesn’t lead to life.
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