Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 1. Conflict with the people ch. 26
  This section consists of four parts: a summary of Jeremiah's Temple Sermon (vv. 2-6), the prophet's arrest and trial (vv. 7-16), the elders' plea for his life (vv. 17-19, 24), and the incident involving Uriah and his executio...
• Revelation about the church 16:18-20
  16:18 "I say to you"(cf. 5:18, 20, 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44; 8:10) may imply that Jesus would continue the revelation the Father had begun. However the phrase occurs elsewhere where that contrast is not in view. Undoubtedly it ...
• 1. The setting and the warning about being misled 21:5-9 (cf. Matt. 24:1-6; Mark 13:1-6)
  21:5 Luke did not mention that Jesus gave this teaching on Mt. Olivet exclusively to His disciples (Matt. 24:1-4; Mark 13:1-5). His omission of these facts created continuity in his narrative and connected this discourse with...
• Structure
  Longenecker identified five phenomena about the structure of Acts that the reader needs to recognize to appreciate what Luke sought to communicate."1. It begins, like the [Third] Gospel, with an introductory section of distin...
• Outline
  I. The witness in Jerusalem 1:1-6:7A. The founding of the church 1:1-2:461. The resumptive preface to the book 1:1-52. The command to witness 1:6-83. The ascension of Jesus 1:9-114. Jesus' appointment of a twelfth apostle 1:1...
• 2. The command to witness 1:6-8
  The key to the apostles' successful fulfillment of Jesus' commission was their baptism with and consequent indwelling by the Holy Spirit. Without this divine enablement they would only have been able to follow Jesus' example,...
• 5. The birth of the church 2:1-41
  The Holy Spirit's descent on the day of Pentecost inaugurated a new dispensation in God's administration of the human race.78Luke featured the record of the events of this day to explain the changes in God's dealings with hum...
• Peter's exhortation 2:37-41
  2:37 The Holy Spirit used Peter's sermon to bring conviction, as Jesus had predicted (John 16:8-11). He convicted Peter's hearers of the truth of what he said and of their guilt in rejecting Jesus. Their question arose from t...
• The arrest of Peter and John 4:1-4
  In chapters 4-7 there is a series of similar confrontations with each one building up to the crisis of Stephen's death and the persecution that followed. The first four verses of chapter 4 conclude the incident recorded in ch...
• Gamaliel's wise counsel 5:34-40
  Gamaliel's advocacy of moderation is the main point and reason for Luke's record of the apostles' second appearance before the Sanhedrin. Whereas the Sadducees "rose up"against the apostles (v. 17), Gamaliel "rose up"against ...
• 4. Internal conflict 6:1-7
  The scene shifts back to life within the church (cf. 4:32-5:11). Luke wrote this pericope to explain some administrative changes that the growth of the church made necessary. He also wanted to introduce the Hellenistic Jews w...
• 1. Stephen's arrest 6:8-7:1
  6:8 Stephen was full of grace (cf. cf. 4:33; Luke 4:22) and power (cf. 2:22; 4:33) as well as the Holy Spirit (vv. 3, 5), wisdom (v. 3), and faith (v. 5). His ability to perform miracles seems unrelated to his having been app...
• 2. Stephen's address 7:2-53
  As a Hellenistic Jew, Stephen possessed a clearer vision of the universal implications of the gospel than did most of the Hebrew Jews. It was this breadth of vision that drew attack from the more temple-bound Jews in Jerusale...
• The Abrahamic Covenant 7:2-8
  Stephen began his defense by going back to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, and to the Abrahamic Covenant, God's foundational promises to the Jews.7:2-3 Stephen called for the Sanhedrin's attention addressing his hea...
• Stephen's view of the temple 7:44-50
  Stephen effectively refuted the general charges that he blasphemed God and Moses (6:11; cf vv. 2-16) and spoke against the Law (6:13; cf. vv. 17-43). He next addressed the charge that he spoke against the temple (6:13). The c...
• Stephen's accusation 7:51-53
  Stephen concluded his defense by indicting his accusers. They had brought charges against him, but now he brought more serious charges against them.In his first speech to the Sanhedrin, Peter had been quite brief and forthrig...
• 3. Stephen's death 7:54-8:1a
  Stephen's speech caused a revolution in the Jews' attitude toward the disciples of Jesus, and his martyrdom began the first persecution of the Christians.Luke recorded the Sanhedrin's response to Stephen's message to document...
• B. The ministry of Philip 8:1b-40
  Luke next featured other important events in the expansion of the church and the ministry of another important witness. Philip took the gospel into Samaria and then indirectly to Ethiopia, one of the more remote parts of the ...
• 2. Philip's ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch 8:26-40
  Luke recorded this incident to show the method and direction of the church's expansion to God-fearing Gentiles who were attracted to Judaism at this time. This man had visited Jerusalem to worship, was studying the Old Testam...
• 3. The church at peace 9:31
  Notice that "church"is in the singular here. This is probably a reference to the Christians throughout Palestine--in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria--not just in one local congregation but in the body of Christ. Saul's departure ...
• The supernatural deliverance of Peter 12:1-19
  "Peter's rescue from prison is an unusually vivid episode in Acts even when simply taken as a story about Peter. Because it is not connected with events in the chapters immediately before and after it, however, it may seem ra...
• Paul and Barnabas' return to Jerusalem 15:1-5
  15:1 The men from Judea who came down to Antioch appear to have been Jewish Christians who took the former view of Christianity described above. They believed a person could not become a Christian without first becoming a Jew...
• The riot in the temple 21:27-36
  21:27-28 The Jews from Asia, possibly from Ephesus, were obviously unbelievers. They charged Paul with the same kind of crimes the unbelieving Jews had accused Stephen of committing (6:11, 13-14). The Jews permitted Gentiles ...
• Paul's defense before the Sanhedrin 22:30-23:10
  "The irregular structure of Luke's account of Paul's defense before the Sanhedrin evidently reflects the tumultuous character of the session itself. Three matters pertaining to Luke's apologetic purpose come to the fore: (1) ...
• 2. Qualifications for deacons 3:8-13
  Paul continued his instructions concerning order in the life of the local church by setting forth qualifications for the deacons. He did this to insure Spirit-directed assistants for the elders.3:8-10 "Likewise"(v. 8) indicat...