RCS NT 06: Acts

The Reformation was a call to return with renewed vigor to the biblical roots
of Christian faith and practice. Still, for the Reformers, the truth of the
Bible could never be separated from the true community of God's people gathered
by his Word. In the book of Acts, they found God's blueprint for how the church
should participate with the Holy Spirit in accomplishing his purposes in the
world.
In the latest Reformation Commentary on Scripture, we watch as the diverse
streams of the Protestant movement converge on the book of Acts. As we return
with the Reformers to this vision of Spirit-filled community, we are given a
lesson in the nature of biblical reform from those who bore it out for the
first time.
Authors Esther Chung-Kim and Todd R. Hains present a vivid portrait of the
Reformers' views on the contemporary church's faithfulness to its God-given
identity and calling. The Reformers approached the narrative account of the
early church in the book of Acts from diverse viewpoints. Commentators like
John Calvin and the Swiss Reformed Heinrich Bullinger elaborated on the
theological implications of the text with a great deal of historical detail.
Others like reform-minded Catholic Johann Eck evoked episodes in Acts in
response to pressing concerns of the day. Sermons upheld notable characters in
Acts such as Peter, Stephen, Paul, Lydia and Apollos as examples of robust
faith and of life in Christian community. Anabaptists in their apologetic works
focused heavily on the necessity of believer's baptism. The commentators'
interactions range from irate disagreement to irenic concord, but all exhort
their readers not to dissolve the holy knot" of the plain history of Christ's " works and their lasting fruits. For them, Acts is certainly history, but it
cannot be mere history.
Editors: Esther Chung-Kim and Todd R. Hains.
Series: Reformation Commentary on Scripture.
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