Australian College of Ministries
Student’s Name: Grant Mitchell
Student’s ID: C9901028
Item Of Work: Major Essay, 2500 words:
Discuss what place the narratives in Acts can and should have in forming theological and doctrinal positions.
Words: 2527
Worth: 60% of subject mark
Date Submitted:
Due Date: Monday 24th June 2000 (by extension)
Signed:_____________________________ Date:______________
Table of Contents
Table of
Contents...................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 3
Narratives...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Author's Intent............................................................................................................................................ 5
Expect to See Again.................................................................................................................................... 8
Past Only........................................................................................................................................................ 10
Scriptural Support.................................................................................................................................. 11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................... 13
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................ 14
Introduction
What we believe, and what we practice and experience in today's church has strong links to many forms of tradition. As a portion of Scripture, it is of great significance to determine what place Acts has in forming these traditions, these repeated actions. Particularly, we need to know what experiences in the narratives of Acts are merely descriptions of what has been, or what might occur again, and what are prescriptions of what we need to do and believe to function as the healthy and effective church of Jesus today. This is the search for doctrine and theology from the narratives of Acts.
Narratives
Witness, not just History
When approaching biblical narratives, including the Acts of the Apostles, we cannot treat them as merely history, but we need to listen to the witness of Scripture, listen to the story that it tells.[1] When we interpret what is written in Acts we cannot simply say that any portion is merely historical and has no place in forming theological or doctrinal statements. Acts is far more than a historical document, and as such we can up front say that it is valid to form teaching that affects today's church from the narratives we are given.
Interpretation
Further, the interpretation of a story emerges primarily from the story itself rather than from attempts to trace the process that brought the story into being or its history.[2] This means it is valuable, but not primary to understanding a narrative, to trace its background. The witness of Acts to the resurrection accounts is such an example. This is a major emphasis of the book, with references to Jesus' resurrection "peppered" throughout Acts (eg. 1:3-9, 2:24, 3:15, 13:30, 17:31, 26:23).[3] It is not critical to explore the history of the belief in resurrection of the Jews or the Gentiles, but it is critical to see the effect of the message of resurrection on the various audiences in the narrative.
Intent
The intent of the author of a narrative needs to be known, because ultimately the stories were written to do something to people - not just inform them - but to make what happened to the original audience happen to us.[4] The intent of Luke in writing Acts is so important in determining what doctrinal and theological statements can be made from the narratives of Acts that a whole section of this paper is devoted to it.
Audience
The meaning of a story is always provided by its audience.[5] The narratives of Acts were written to an intended audience, of whom Luke did not want critics or interpreters explaining his words. In understanding who the audience was, we can understand the significance of the teaching that Luke brings from the narratives of Acts. If we know that they are a people who know very little about the Jewish customs, then a passage such as the Jerusalem council's letter to the Gentile believers (Acts 15:1-29) can form strong doctrine concerning circumcision and obeying the law of Moses.
Macro-story and identification
Each individual biblical story, including the narratives of Acts, belong in the setting of the macro-story of the whole Bible. Thus understanding the place of using the narratives of Acts in forming doctrinal and theological statements needs understanding of the whole of Scripture, from beginning to end, with Christ at the centre.[6] Also, this macro-story, including Acts, is linked to our own story.[7] Luke has intentionally written of the life of the church as part of the larger story, of which we are a part. Thus, the narratives of the Acts will resonate with our own experiences, and speak even deeper things than doctrine or theology - they will speak from God to our own lives.
Author's Intent
Significance of Intent
The intent of an author in narrative literature will shape the way a text is read. In determining what place any particular portion of the narratives of Acts place in forming theological and doctrinal positions, and in fact what teaching is being communicated, the intent of Luke is most critical. Luke's intent will shape the way we ask our questions of the text.[8] This will mean attempting to understand what Luke was trying to communicate to the original audience, and allowing this intent to reflect on us. As Goldingay puts it:
The stories were written to do something to people, and our approach to interpretation needs to be able to handle… this aspect of them. It involves the possibility that what the story had the power to make happen to its audience will happen to us.[9]
Normative and Intent
It is also important to know the author's intent, because:
…unless Scripture explicitly tell us we must do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative way - unless it can be demonstrated on other grounds that the author intended it to function in this way.[10]
This is significant when looking at the narratives of Acts in forming doctrinal and theological positions. Luke's intentions in Acts will help determine if what is there is merely description of what has happened, or whether it is prescription of what can, or even should, be done or believed by others.
Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome
Knowing the big picture intent of Acts will help guide our understanding of the content. With the major focus of Acts as the story of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome as God's work through His people,[11] the emphasis we place on any narrative to make a doctrinal or theological position will be shaped by the content of the gospel, and the means God uses to move the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome. This is why Fee and Stuart are bold enough to state that,
…any statement of purpose that does not include the Gentile mission and the Holy Spirit's role in that mission will surely have missed the point of the book.[12]
The purpose of the book has a strong influence on making doctrinal positions.
Gospel changing lives and communities
Furthermore, Acts is a model of moving the gospel into the world to change lives and communities.[13] This use of Acts as a model means that the content of the narratives are examples of what might happen in today's church as we attempt to be like them, but it certainly does not indicate that the church needs to imitate any specific action. With only this understanding of intent, the narratives of Acts are open to a wide range of use in establishing doctrine.
Dynamic Nature
It is also important to continue to remember the dynamic nature of Scripture. There is a richness and diversity in God's word, especially in speaking different aspects of the narratives into different times and different cultures,[14] and the provision for the Spirit of God to speak His own intentions through the narratives of Acts. This point alone almost makes an essay like this pointless; we continually need to acknowledge that without the Spirit's illumination in the reader's mind, the narratives of Acts will be unable to shape anything, let alone doctrinal and theological positions. The Spirit of God shows the richness of God's word when He speaks different interpretations into different contexts.[15] What God will use from a narrative in Acts into the church in the USA may not be what God uses in the church in Australia.
Expect to See Again
Illustrations of experiences
The narratives of the Bible, including Acts, are sometimes stories that are illustrations of the experiences that the faith regularly involves.[16] This means that some of the narratives of Acts will be describing events and actions that we can expect to make doctrinal statements for or see actions repeated in today's church. Such an example (as controversial as it may be in today's church) is the occurrence of signs and wonders in today's church. Luke's description of the ministry of Paul and Barnabas at Iconium, stated:
So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
-- Acts 14:3
The two principal items authenticated by miracles here are the Lord Jesus and the message about the Lord Jesus.[17] In this light, this experience of miracles accompanying the proclamation of the gospel is an experience we can expect today.
Repeated patterns
Repeated patterns through the narratives of Acts will make a secondary purpose of a narrative, something the author may not have primarily intended, something worth repeating again today. In fact, there is often great freedom in the repeated pattern, as Luke is often not interested in standardizing things.[18] A good example of this is the experiences of people become Christians. Gaukroger highlights the four aspects that are commonly involved in this event: Repentance, Faith, Water Baptism, and the Power of the Holy Spirit.[19] However, the order of their occurrence, or even the mention of repentance, occurs differently in different places. Thus, there are common aspects we may expect to see today when people become Christians, but we can allow great freedom in some components of the experience.
Examples and Warnings
A text may have an illustration that is not its primary purpose, but the narrative serves as an example or warning to us in a different context.[20] Paul made comment on the narratives of the Old Testament in the first letter to the Corinthian church:
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
-- 1 Corinthians 10:11
This also applies to the narratives of Acts. However, care needs to be made in this area: precedent of the past may not necessarily establish a norm for specific action.[21] That is, the action or occurrence may be acceptable, but not necessary to see repeated. Such an example may be the gift of "tongues". Luke views it as a common external evidence of the Holy Spirit's activity, but not as an essential manifestation of the filling with the Spirit, strongly implied by its absence from Paul's conversion story (Acts 9:17-19).[22] Thus the gift of tongues may accompany a person experiencing the filling of the Spirit today (and we should be prepared to see it occur), but it may not necessarily occur.
Past Only
Repeating the framework
The narratives, particularly the speeches, in Acts fulfill a function of repeating over and over again the framework of the Christian faith as understood by Luke and his Church.[23] This implies that some portions of Acts are describing what the Christian faith involved in the past, and what is key to the faith's existence. These areas of Acts can have a strong place in forming theological statements, but not necessarily statements of action. Such an example is in Paul's speech before the Areopagus:
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
-- Acts 17:25
From here we see Paul describing God as the one who gives all things to men, the one true provider. This statement does not allow us to say, "I won't serve God because he doesn't need anything." This is neither the intent of the statement, nor the key to understanding this statement of the framework of the Christian faith.
Events on which the faith is based
Similarly, the story of what God has done in the Church in Acts recounts once-for-all events that are the foundation and object of the faith.[24] That is, some parts of Acts have implications for the present, but are essentially events that are past and have happened once for all. The selling of possessions and having all things in common by the newborn Jerusalem church (Acts 2:44-45, 4:32-35) is such an event. This model of church life seems to be something arising out of the heart of this specific church, because no such communal life is described for any of the Gentile churches.[25] Rather, Luke seems more interested in showing that the different churches brought their own distinctive stamp to the life of the church.[26]
Scriptural Support
Similar Themes
When interpreting Acts it is helpful to do so in light of other passages of the same theme. Having an entire book inspire by a single divine author allows us opportunity to see if the writer explains a difficult point in another place.[27] The gift of prophecy is exhibited many times in Acts, particularly through Agabus (Acts 11:28, 21:10-11). It is helpful to see its application in these first settings, but we also know that Paul encourages its use in the church (1 Cor. 14:1).[28] This passage of Paul's with a similar theme to those of Luke's gives us opportunity in today's church to allow the exercising of the gift of prophecy.
Repeated Pattern in NT
Certain practices or patterns can be repeatable in today's context when that pattern is repeated within the New Testament itself.[29] Thus, prayer was not only a significant part of the spiritual lives of the early church (Acts 2:42), a corporate expression of worship (Acts 3:1, 16:13), and for other things such as protection and boldness (Acts 4:24-30),[30] but prayer has a significant part in the teaching of other parts of the New Testament. Jesus teaches praying for enemies (Mat. 5:44), and its significance in personal worship (Mat. 6:6). Paul often asked for prayers for the advancement of the gospel (Eph. 6:19-20, Col. 4:3, 2 Th. 3:1), and James speaks of the importance and power of prayer (Jas. 5:13). Prayer has a repeated pattern in the New Testament, which allows us to see the way it was used in Acts as allowing for doctrinal positions.
Harmony with teaching elsewhere
Certain narratives in Acts describe events that do not see repeated patterns, either in Acts or elsewhere in the New Testament. However, if the event is in harmony with what is taught elsewhere in Scripture,[31] there is good motivation to make doctrinal or theological statements from the narrative. Seeing the new Jerusalem church meet on a daily basis (Acts 2:46) does not lay down a precedent for making today's church meet on a daily basis - there is no pattern of this anywhere else in the New Testament. However, the need to meet together regularly is a principle in harmony with teaching by the writer of Hebrews (Heb. 10:25). Today's church is free to meet together on any day, and regularly to allow the fellowship of believers gathered together.
Conclusion
The place of narratives, that is stories, have often been doubted as having significance for anyone other than the people who are mentioned in the story. However, when it comes to biblical stories there is a rich expanse of purpose and use that they have for today's church. Luke has crafted more than the history of the church. The narratives of Acts display some experiences that are once-for-all, some that we can expect to see repeated again today, and many experiences that are in harmony with other portions of Scripture. With careful and prayerful use, the narratives of Acts have various uses in forming theological and doctrinal positions.
Bibliography
Deere, Jack. Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1993.
Fee, Gordon D., and Stuart, Douglas. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 2nd edn. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1993.
Gaukroger, Stephen. The Book of Acts: Free To Live. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1993.
Goldingay, John. Models For Interpretation of Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995.
Jervell, Jacob. The Theology of the Acts of the Apostles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Milne, Bruce. Know the Truth, 2nd edn. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1998.
O'Neill, J.C. The Theology of Acts in its Historical Setting, 2nd edn. London: SPCK, 1970.
All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright Ó 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.