Unlocking the Church in Acts

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What would the New Testament be like if the Book of Acts were omitted? After reading the four Gospels, the Epistle to the Romans would confound theologians and simple English Bible readers alike. The Book of Acts is not, as is constantly and incorrectly asserted, a record of the birth and growth of the Christian church. Instead, it is a record of the "apostasy of the favored nation," as stated by Robert Anderson in the "Silence of God".

The simple big question to ask when reading the Book of Acts is, at the Ascension (Acts 1:6-9), what did the Disciples know about the Christian Church?. The answer is: nothing! Except for the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10), the Jewish believers in Jesus spoke only to other members of the Jewish nation. Why? This question is answered by reviewing the common belief the Jewish people during Christ's life held about the role God had given the Jewish nation in human history. The Judaism of Christ's day taught that God's plan was to spread the ideals of the Torah throughout the world using teachers and preachers commissioned by God to spread His revelation to all the people of the world. Jesus never contradicted that idea. In fact, in His final message to the disciples he instructed them, "... that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Luke 24: 46-47.

Of course, almost every Christian church understands these verses as the "Great Commission" to the Christian church. Jesus did not call it that. In Luke 22, at the Lord's Supper, he told the disciples, "And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Luke 22:29-30. The message of Christ in the Gospels and in Acts to the disciples was a kingdom message - a message to the Jewish nation.

So, when did the Christian church begin and how did the incorrect idea that Acts is a record of the birth and growth of the Christian church arise? The facts recorded in Acts are graphically illustrated next:

The concepts involved can be understood graphically. Imagine a three-tiered set of boxes. At the top you have the Apostles' message. In the second tier, just beneath the Apostles, you have two boxes: one for Israel's message and one for the message to the Gentiles. Beneath those boxes, in the third tier, there are 3 boxes. One box is for the rejection of the Risen Messiah by the nation of Israel. The second is titled "Jesus

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