Receiving the Power of the Holy Spirit

"But . . .you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The words of the Lord Jesus in the first chapter of Acts serve as an outline of the Book:

• The Apostolic Witness in Jerusalem (1-6)
• The Apostolic Witness in Judea and Samaria (6-9)
• The Apostolic Witness to the End of the Earth (9-28)

However, more importantly, this verse serves to show how the Apostles were able to do the supernatural works recorded in the Book. The Book is commonly referred to as the Acts of the Apostles. Others have proposed to name it the Acts of the Holy Spirit. However, it perhaps should be called the Acts of the Apostles by the Holy Spirit, or to be complete, the Acts of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. One common hermeneutical mistake that is made in interpreting Acts is to think these events are normative of the Christian experience. There is much that believers can take from the Book regarding Christian living. However, we ought to note that the entire Book is describing what God chose to do to supernaturally birth and establish the church which has been "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone" (Eph 2:20).

Some today refer to themselves as apostles. Ironically, not even those discipled by the Apostles themselves used that title of themselves. This Sunday, we'll continue in Chapter 1 and see how important the early church considered the office of the apostle to be.