As the second book Luke addressed to Theophilus (see Luke 1:3), Acts may originally have had no title. The Greek manuscripts title it “Acts,” and many add “of the Apostles.” The Greek word translated “Acts” (praxeis) was often used to describe the achievements of great men. Acts does feature the notable figures in the early years of the church, especially Peter (chapters 1–12) and Paul (chapters 13–28). But the book could more properly be called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles,” since His sovereign, superintending work was far more significant than that of any man. It was the Spirit’s directing, controlling, and empowering ministry that strengthened the church and caused it to grow in numbers, spiritual power, and influence. 

—John MacArthur  

Source: Copyright 2022, Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission. This Grace to You article originally appeared here at gty.org.

Acts is a historical account of how the resurrection of Jesus changes everything through the birth of the early church.

—Justin Holcomb

Source: Content taken from Acts: A 12-Week Study by Justin S. Holcomb, ©2014. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 

Addressed to a certain Theophilus, about whom nothing is known, the book of Acts records the early history of the Early Church (see Acts 1:1). Beginning with the Ascension of Jesus to heaven, Acts traces the explosive growth of messianic Jewish Christianity in Jerusalem and the land of Israel—with healing signs and wonders confirming the preaching of the gospel—and then its spread also to non-Jews (Gentiles) in Judea, Samaria, Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece and, eventually, Rome. The leading figure in the first chapters is the apostle Peter, who delivered the anointed message on the day of Pentecost, explaining the powerful move of God’s Spirit on the original 120 messianic Jewish believers (see Acts 2). The greater part of the book, however, is devoted to the experiences of the apostle Paul and his companions during their missionary journeys. The book of Acts provides a useful background for study of the letters in the remainder of the New Testament.  

—Henrietta Mears 

Source: This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. 

The narrative [of Acts] describes acts, not committee meetings or study conferences. Miracles are happening; lives are being transformed; the world is being turned upside down. In the space of one generation, a little company of Jesus’ disciples with explosive force sweeps from Jerusalem to Rome and develops from a small sect into a universal church. Nothing can defeat them—not the beatings of swaggering tyrants, not the cunning of embittered religious rulers, not the internal struggles of discontented members—but like a mighty army with banners, they move out to disciple the nations in the name of their risen and reigning Lord. 

—Robert Coleman

Source: Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Discipleship. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2020.

The Lord Jesus Christ was the theme of the preaching of the early church. He is the theme of the Gospel of Luke. He is the theme of the Acts of the Apostles. This is the tragic thing that has been forgotten at the present time. “What we need,” people say, “is the application of his teaching.” But it is not. What you need is to know him and to come into a relationship with him. You do not start with his teaching—you start with him. This is the message: “All that Jesus began both to do and teach.” Our Lord himself said to his disciples, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8). He was sending these men out to preach. He said, “You are not simply going to preach my teaching. You are going to preach about me.” As you read the book of Acts, you will find that our Lord’s disciples always preached “Jesus and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18). They went to people and told them about this person. This was the whole of their teaching. You never find them starting with the political or social situations. They said, “Listen, we have something to tell you about a person whose name is Jesus.”  

—Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Source: Content taken from Acts: Chapters 1-3 by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, ©2013. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 

Here’s my one sentence summary of the book of Acts. Jesus, whom God raised from the dead and who lives as King in heaven, is actively at work in the world by his Holy Spirit through the suffering and witness of his church to bring the good news of forgiveness and eternal life to the ends of the earth. 

—Joe Jones 

Source: Joe Jones, quoted from his message, “God’s Counterintuitive Way of Getting the Gospel to the Ends of the Earth,” from the series, The Unstoppable Gospel: Acts on Acts 27:1-28:31, preached at New Covenant Bible Church on August 28, 2022.

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Jesus’ statement of the Great Commission in Acts 1:8 is the key text in this book, highlighting the two main themes of Acts: The Holy Spirit and witness. Jesus’ disciples will become witnesses only after the Holy Spirit comes on them. Jesus then gives the geographical sequence in which the task of witnesses will be carried out—they will begin with Jerusalem, then move to Judea and Samaria, and culminate with witness to fit ends of the earth. This sequence provides an outline for the book of Acts.  

—Ajith Fernando  

Source: Taken from The NIV Application Commentary: Acts by Ajith Fernando Copyright © 2010 by Ajith Fernando. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

God is clearly central to the gospel’s expansion. He is at the heart of the gospel message and, through the Holy Spirit, he is responsible for its remarkable growth. The gospel expands not through human strength but through the power of God over significant barriers of geography, ethnicity, culture, language, gender, wealth, persecutions, weaknesses, suffering, sickness, and imprisonments. Many of these barriers appear so inviolable that, when the gospel is preached to a new segment of society, riots ensue. But Acts makes clear that no one is beyond the scope of God’s saving power, nor is anyone exempt from the need for God’s redeeming grace.

—Justin S. Holcomb

Source: Content taken from Acts: A 12-Week Study by Justin S. Holcomb, ©2014. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 

While you have one writer and essentially one history starting with the beginning of the gospel of Luke and ending with the end of the book of Acts, one great sweeping history, it is clear that it is the Holy Spirit’s design to split these into two volumes because there is such a dramatic change between the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. And that dramatic change primarily occurs in the transformation of the Apostles… What strikes you is that the Gospel of Luke concludes with bewildered Apostles, a fearing Apostles, hiding Apostles, confused Apostles, reluctant preachers of Christ. Yes, the resurrection, of course, energizes them and yes early in the book of Acts we read the history of the coming of the Holy Spirit, that explains, of course, a great measure of the transformation of these Apostles. But when you shut down the Gospels, you still wonder what the future of these men will be, whether they will be bold, or whether they will be cowards. 

…The dramatic transformation of these men from the “O you of little faith” association, from the struggling, fearful disciples that we’re so familiar with, to these emboldened, empowered, courageous preachers who hold back nothing, has occurred because of one other critical reality. And it is this, for the first time they now understand the Old Testament. They understand the big picture. They understand that the plan of redemption that God has set in motion, all the way back at the beginning of the Old Testament after the Fall of man is working out through Jesus Christ. We could say, “Yes, the resurrection emboldened them, yes, the coming of the Holy Spirit empowered them.”  But it was also this grasp of the reality of redemption history and the understanding of the Old Testament. It wasn’t until after the resurrection that they understood the Old Testament, and by that I mean that they understood that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament. 

—John MacArthur 

Source: Copyright 2023, Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission. This Grace to You article originally appeared here at gty.org.

Luke wrote his Gospel to show what Jesus began to do and to teach when he was on earth. He wrote his Acts to show what Jesus continued to do and to teach after his resurrection, through the agency of the Holy Spirit in a handful of dedicated people whose message became irresistible. God is still engaged in this dynamic enterprise. He has not given up on us. That is why the study of the Acts remains so important. If those first Christians could accomplish so much in so short a space of time with such skimpy resources, what might the worldwide church today accomplish if only it was prepared for the vision, the faith and dedication they exhibited?  

—Michael Green  

Source: Green, Michael. Thirty Years That Changed the World: The Book of Acts for Today. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004.

Christianity is a phenomenon of history. It is a fact. The Christian church is one of the most vital facts in the total history of the world. We cannot understand that history without bringing in the story of the church… Only one thing can account for the phenomenon of the Christian church and this amazing history that has continued through the centuries, in spite of the world, the flesh, and the devil and the malignity of men and of hell, and it is the explanation given in the book of Acts.  

—Martyn Lloyd-Jones  

Source: Content taken from Acts: Chapters 1-3 by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, ©2013. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.