Lord Jesus Christ in Acts

Verses within this Study.

1:1, 6, 11, 13, 14, Acts 16, 2:17, 21, 24; 20, 21, 22, 25, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 47; 3:6, 13, 13-Son, Acts 19, 20, 22, 26, 26-Son; 4:2, 10, 13, 18, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 33, 36; 5:9, 14, Acts 19, 30, 5:31, 40, 42; 6:14; 7:10, Acts 16, 18, 21, 29, 30, 31, 33, 37, 45, 49, 55, 56, 59, 60; 8:5, 12, Acts 16, 8:24, 25, 26, 35, 37, 37-Son, 39; 9:1, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 20-Son, 22, 27, 29, 31, 34, 35, 42; 10:4, 14, 36, 38, 48; 11:8, Acts 16, 20, 21, 23, 24; 12:1, 7, 11, 17, 20, 23; 13:2, 10, 11, 12, 21, 21-S, 22, 23-Saviour, 33, 33-Son, 47, 48, 49; 14:3, 23; 15:11, 17, 26, 35, 36; 16:1, 10, 14, 15, 18, 32; 17:3, 7, 18, 24, 27; 18:5, 8, 9, 25; 28; 19:4, 5, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17; 20:19, 24, 21, 35; 21:13, 14, 20; 22:8, 10, Acts 16, Acts 19; 23:6, 11, Acts 16; 24:24; 25:19, 13, 14, 24, 26, 26-King; 26:2, 7, 13, 15, Acts 19, 23, 26, 27, 30; 28:23, 31.

Click on the following links to jump to a section within the study of this Bible Book: Lord only, Jesus only, Christ only, Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Christ, Lord Jesus Christ, King, Son, Saviour

Acts gives us several doctrines of the New Testament.

The main role used is Lord. This book teaches that Jesus Christ is Lord (God).
This book teaches that God the Father made Jesus both Lord and Christ.
It takes all three roles of the Son of God (Lord and Jesus and Christ) to provide Biblical salvation. (This is in addition to the work by the Father and by the Holy Ghost).
Jesus Christ is the main identifier associated with salvation to emphasize the personal relationship with the Son of God in salvation. Jesus provides a personal ministry. Christ provides a personal ministry. But Lord is formal, non-personal and without respect of persons (1Peter 1:17-21).
Salvation of everyone requires them turning to the Lord (not Jesus).
Claims of salvation which reject the ministry of Christ (personal spiritual maturity after the initial profession) are not accepted by God. It's not if you prayed but if God answered the prayer with a 'yes' and God does not always do that.
Although Jesus had the role of Christ before the resurrection, the first time we see Christ being active in the life of a believer is in Acts after Pentecost.

In Acts, Lord is used by itself 76 times and it is used 110 times total (alone and with Jesus and/or Christ). Jesus is used a total of 68 times. Christ is used a total of 31 times. Lord is used more than Jesus and Christ combined and Jesus is used more than twice as often as Christ is used. From these numbers, it should be obvious that the main message of Acts is centered on God's role as Lord.

In addition, to the use of Lord, we see Lord Jesus Christ used 8 times to doctrinally prove that Jesus Christ is Lord. The main message of the book of Acts is the same as the main message of the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ is God and Lord. Both books end with a verse that uses Lord Jesus Christ because both books teach that true Biblically saved believers interact with the Son of God through all three roles.

Lord Only

Acts 1:6, 24; 2:20, 21, 25, 34, 39, 47; 3:19, 22; 4:24, 29; 5:9, 14, Acts 19; 7:30, 31, 33, 37, 49, 60; 8:24, 25, 26, 39; 9:1, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15, 31, 35, 42; 10:4, 14, 48; 11:8, Acts 16, 21, 23, 24; 12:7, 11, 17, 23; 13:2, 10, 11, 12, 47, 48, 49; 14:3, 23; 15:17, 35, 36; 16:10, 14, 15, 32; 17:24, 27; 18:8, 9, 25; 20:19; 21:13, 14, 20; 22:10, Acts 16, Acts 19; 23:11; 25:26

In Acts, Lord is used by itself 76 times and it is used 110 times total (alone and with Jesus and/or Christ). Lord is used more than Jesus and Christ combined.

The main message of Acts is centered on God's role as Lord. This role will not be properly understood unless the reader understands that power and authority go to the role, and not the person. Bill Clinton was the same person before he became President, while he was President, and after he was President. He sent U.S. forces into war while he was President but could not before or after that time. He is given the title of President after leaving office, but no longer has the power and authority. It is the same thing with the Son of God's role as Lord. Other than on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Son of God did not have/exercise His power and authority as Lord from His birth until His resurrection. Acts shows us that the man Jesus has taken back His power and authority as Lord and will never give them up again. I understand that many people have a religious problem with this statement, but the Bible supports this statement. In addition, they diminish the great sacrifice made by the Son of God for our salvation. It was a far greater sacrifice for the Son of God to become man when He gave up His power and authority that if He became man without making that sacrifice.

The use of Lord in Acts is more than all of the references to God in many of the New Testament books. Some of the uses of Lord are references to God the Father and some are to Jesus Christ, which tells us that they are equal. In addition, all uses recognize that the Lord has power and authority far beyond anything that we can question. All use of Lord show a formal non-personal relationship that emphasizes no respect (difference) of persons. This is a dramatic difference from the relationship that the believer has through the roles of Jesus and Christ. Both Jesus and Christ emphasize personal relationship and a major feature of the ministry of Christ is the variance between believers and over time.

The Son of God laid aside His own power and authority when He became Jesus (God in the flesh). He could not act as a frail human being while holding onto the power and authority of the role of Lord. He would not be just in paying for man's sins unless He did it in the weakness of man. Jesus did His mighty works through the power of the Holy Ghost. Then, as Peter tells us in 2:36, Therefore let all...know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus...both Lord and Christ. God could not makeJesus to be anything that He already was. Jesus had the position, but not all of the rights, power and authority of these two additional roles until after the resurrection.

In Acts we see that when saved men recognize the power and authority of the Lord (new role of Jesus), they are given access to that power and authority through the Holy Ghost. Acts is a transitional book where we see God use miracles and other things to show men that they are to recognize the Lordship of Jesus and go through Jesus and not go directly to God the Father.

Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord.

Acts 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

This is the first use of Lord in this book, and at this time the Apostles and other disciples did not completely understand everything involved in the role of Lord because they did not yet have the Holy Ghost. They knew and recognized that Jesus was Lord, but their years of seeing Him in His role as a man was affecting their dealing with Him even while they recognized that He now was acting in the role as Lord.

The answer to this question is gentle, but firm, and Jesus tells them It is not for you to know [things], which the Father hath put in his own power. Questions that they could ask Him in His role as Jesus were not supposed to be asked of the Lord. The first answer that they get from their Lord is that they must recognize the difference in approaching their Lord and approaching another man, even the man that is 'God in human flesh'. In this sentence, they used Lord in recognition of His power and position, but His answer was that they didn't have enough respect because they asked a question they had no right asking from someone who was truly Lord and God.

In the Gospels, especially in the Gospel of John, which presented Jesus as the Son of God, we find that Jesus answered questions for His witnesses but refused to respond to challenges to His authority. While we might not think of this as a challenge to His authority, His answer of It is not for you to know...which the Father hath put in his own power let us know that there are certain things that God will not tell us about because we have no say in them in any respect and he doesn't want us sticking our noses where they don't belong. For example, God's children receive some of the harshest punishment for judging other people. God has reserved judgment for His role as Lord and where we might get away with sticking our noses into the business of Jesus or of Christ, we don't want to mess with the things that God reserves for His role as Lord. The apostles used Lord in this verse to recognize His power and authority and He responded with none of your business. We can ask questions of our Lord, but we need to be ready to also receive this answer and if we do, we need to accept it and not repeat the question.

Home

Acts 1:24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

Acts 1:24 and Acts 1:25 form a single sentence which tells us that they prayed for guidance from the Lord but did not allow for His choice. This sentence can be divided by punctuation as:

And they prayed,
and said,
Thou,
Lord,
which knowest the hearts of all men,
shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
That he may take section of this ministry and apostleship,
from which Judas by transgression fell,
that he might go to his own place.

Acts 1:15-26 is all about the same incident. The associated notes for these verses should be considered together. This sentence contain the prayer that Peter led the church in when they thought that they could give God a choice as to who He would choose to replace Judas as an Apostle. But, as noted elsewhere, the choices that they gave God did not include Paul, who was God's actual choice. So, God chose to ignore their prayer. Here we see the second time that the church is using the title Lord, before they have the indwelling Holy Ghost. Again, they do not really understand all that is involved in the role of Lord and step into an area that they have no right to. They are trying to serve God in their own power and in their religion but it takes the Holy Ghost leading us for us to serve God properly and to keep us from stepping into those areas that the Lord reserves for Himself.

Home

Acts 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

The last reference to Lord in this book was Acts 1:24 where Peter led the church into religious error because they did not have the indwelling Holy Ghost. Between then and now, Pentecost has happened and the church has the indwelling Holy Ghost. Now, as then, Peter quotes scripture but this time he has totally different results. Now Peter sees the Lord save 3, 000 souls.

In this verse, Peter is quoting Joel 2:28-32 and telling them that the prophecy is fulfilled. Peter is acting as a herald. Kings and Lord used heralds to make official proclamations. Anyone who claimed to be a herald (and wasn't an officially appointed herald) could be killed for their act. God didn't kill Peter but honored his proclaiming that God had given the Holy Ghost to men and that the Jews could receive God's promise. Later on, God will let Peter act as official herald and extend the offer to half-Jew Samaritans and then to all of the world. This is the first time in the book of Acts where the title Lord is used properly. Previous attempts were done with the right heart, but without the power of the Holy Ghost. We need the indwelling Holy Ghost to properly use the title of Lord.

This verse is part of a much larger sentence (2:16-21). This part of the sentence tells us about the evidence that the Lord will produce when He is taking over rule of the entire world. While we have a partial fulfilling of this prophecy within the church age, it will be completely fulfilled at the return of the Lord. During the church age people can refuse to accept the Lord and they will not be immediately killed. However, prophecy makes it clear that when the Lord returns to rule that will no longer be an available option. That is, today saved people live among lost people. After the return of the Lord people will get saved or they will be killed the first time that they knowingly sin.

Lots of people claim to know, and interpret, prophecy but can not tell the differences in the various specific days mentioned in prophecy. Please see the note for 1Thessalonians 5:2-LJC about the phrase day of the Lord. The functional definition for this word is: 'includes the battle of Armageddon and the 'Sheep and Goat Judgment' where anyone who did not help the Jews during the great tribulation is cast into Hell'. Please also see the notes for Philippians 1:6-LJC and 1Thessalonians 5:2 about the phrase day of.

This verse is the first of eight references to Lord in the remainder of this chapter. In addition, there four references to Jesus, four references to Christ and nine references to God between Acts 2:20 and Acts 2:47. All of the related notes on Lord and/or Jesus and/or Christ should be considered together because this section of Acts 2 is all talking about a single subject. This section starts with Peter's Pentecost message and concludes with evidences of saved Jews submitting to the Lord. As noted for Acts 2:17 (under Son) , the true interpretation of this verse is that people who truly get Biblically saved submit to the Lord. Many people today want to claim salvation but don't want to have their lives produce the evidence that the rest of this book says that the first true Christians had.

Home

Acts 2:21 and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This verse is part of a much larger sentence (2:16-21). That note in the Book Study shows us how this sentence is divided by punctuation. In addition, the notes for 2:17 and for 2:20 also deal with the same sentence.

As the note in the Book Study shows, the equivalency of this sentence proves that true Biblical salvation results in a true spiritual (not religious) change that is visible to the world including the lost. When we call on the name of the Lord it is not just a one-time thing to get saved but the truly saved call on the name of the Lord throughout their saved life. This verse is a quote of Joel 2:32 and in this quote, Lord is reference is to God the Father. However, God the Father also accepts us applying it to the Son of God, as Peter does here.

This sentence is part of Peter's quote of Joel 2 which he uses as his text for his message at Pentecost. As explained in the note for the Book Study, part of this quote was for the 'Church Age' and part for the great tribulation, but this part of the sentence applies to both time periods.

There are certain interesting differences between the original in Joel and Peter's quote. As God sometimes does, He keeps the message the same but adds a little in in another place of the word of God. For example, in this instance, God changes delivered to be saved. There are some subtle differences between the definitions of these words but the main message is the same. When we are delivered from trouble, we get out of it. A lot of people believe the error that true Biblical salvation delivers us from the consequences of sin but does not necessarily deliver them from being in (controlled by) sin. However, God's messenger to Joseph said that and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Please notice that the angel did not say they would be saved from the consequences but from the sin itself. This is what is common about the definitions of delivered and saved.

In addition, we need to understand how the Bible uses the title of Lord in order to properly appreciate this verse. True believers have always recognized this verse as a critical verse on the doctrine of salvation, but rarely, in recent years, understood all of the Biblical significance.

God ignored prior prayers made in the name of the Lord (in Acts) that were not in line with proper use and proper respect of the difference between our position and that of our Lord. Jesus is 'God in human flesh' but we found many places in the Gospels where people regarded Jesus as 'just a man'. Therefore, many people regard 'a prayer to Jesus' to be 'a prayer to a man' who paid the price for their salvation but who they can also argue with if they don't like his commands to them. However, most people understand that the Lord is God and they don't have the power to fight God. Therefore, they will not argue with a commandment from the Lord like they will a commandment from 'just a man' who happens to be named Jesus.

People who say that this verse means the same thing as 'say a prayer to Jesus' are ignoring this critical doctrinal difference. They tell people to 'say a prayer to Jesus' and then get upset when the people come back later and say that they weren't really saved by that prayer. God understands the difference in their heart and refuses to save those who refuse to recognize Him as Lord. When we understand this difference, and how God refuses to answer prayers that are improperly presented to Him, we can start to see the error of those who claim that this verse means that God will save us if we 'say a prayer to Jesus'.

There is another critical difference. 1John 2:2 says And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He died as a literal physical man to pay for all of the sins of everyone. But, people still go to Hell and that is because they refuse to accept Him as their personal Lord. A judge can not wander into the court room, in his street clothes, snatch up the law books and start making changes if he remains righteous. God is always righteous. A righteous judge must put on his robe to show that he is acting within his role as judge. He must call court into session, have the court recorder make all actual changes to the law books, follow proper procedures with proper people present to do their own jobs. The same is true in Heaven because God is always righteous. God can only have the law books updated when He has court in session and He is acting within His role as Lord. 1John 3:4 tells us Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. Therefore, in order to blot out the record of our sin, He must act within His role as Lord. Only as Lord does He have the power and authority to change the Heavenly law books and when we call upon the name of the Lord, we are trusting Him to use the power and authority of that role in order to change Heavenly law books. And, that is why our sentence says call upon the name of the Lord and not 'ask Jesus to be your savior'.

This study has found that there is a major difference between the role of Jesus and that of Lord, even though both are roles of the Son of God. In the simplest explanation, the Son of God became a man named Jesus and other men disrespected Him, mocked Him, beat Him until He didn't look human and then crucified Him, buried Him and were sure that they were done with Him. People who 'say a prayer to Jesus' often feel, in their heart, that they are dealing with a man that's a little better than them. They believe, in their heart, that they can make Him do what they want and ignore His desires, just like the people that crucified did. The Lord, on the other hand, is best revealed by Revelation.

As pointed out in the study of that book, Revelation is singular and not plural. It reveals the person, not future events. The future events in Revelation are added into the Revelation of the person only when they reveal more about the person. (There is a place where John was told to not write down an event because it did not relate to revealing that Jesus Christ is Lord.).John went from addressing the Son of God as Jesus Christ, in the start of the book of Revelation, to addressing the Son of God as Lord Jesus Christ in the end of the book. When He comes back as Lord, NO ONE will treat Him as they treated Him in His role as Jesus. They will beg the rocks and mountains to hide them from His wrath. He will cut off their head for even the thought of sin. When people approach the Lord, they have a totally different attitude and action than when they approach Jesus and that difference reaches to the very center of their being. If the reader reviews the note for 2:17 under Son, they will see how even the sentence which encloses this verse makes this very difference in the proper interpretation of this verse.

Not only is there a difference in power between Jesus and the Lord, but there is a difference in position. Without going into all of the details, it is absolutely impossible for God to remain a righteous judge (Genesis 18:25; Deuteronomy 25:1; 1 Kings 8:32; 2 Chronicles 6:23; Job 9:15; Ecclesiastes 3:17; John 7:24; 2Timothy 4:8) if He dealt with ANY legal matter outside of the role and office of Lord. Since sin is a violation of God's Law (1John 3:4), God could not remain righteous if He dealt with the legality of sin within His role as Jesus since Jesus relates to people in a personal way. People who don't understand the principals of law might disagree with this statement because of their ignorance. But, if they verify it with an honest person who understands the principals of law, they will find that I am speaking the truth.

I could go on but will stop with one more point. The entire church checked their Bible and prayed in the name of the Lord (in Acts 1) and still ended up in error without the indwelling Holy Ghost. With the help of the indwelling Holy Ghost, they received totally different results when they approached the Lord this time. We need the Spirit of God to reveal the word of God to us or we will end up in error many times even thought we are trying to serve God. But the Spirit of God will not reveal the word of God to us when we refuse to acknowledge God the Son's position as Lord and accept that no matter how hard it might seem to be to believe what he says, He is always right.

Home

Acts 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

There are eight references to Lord, four references to Jesus, four references to Christ and nine references to God between Acts 2:20 and Acts 2:47. All of the related notes on Lord and/or Jesus and/or Christ should be considered together because this section of Acts 2 is all talking about a single subject. This section starts with Peter's Pentecost message and concludes with evidences of saved Jews submitting to the Lord. This note follows the note for 2:22 under Jesus.

This is the start Peter's second section of quoting scripture in his message on Pentecost. Peter has already told them that the men they see acting strange aren't drunk but that God fulfilled a Bible prophecy and gave them the indwelling Holy Ghost. He then told them that God did this because the man Jesus of Nazareth died with the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God (to pay the debt for our sins) and was raised from the dead by God. Peter is going to explain, after his quote, that Jesus is Christ because that is the prophesized sign of the man that would fulfill the role of Christ. However, Peter is also going to tell them that Jesus is also Lord in addition to being Christ. In order to do that, Peter is going to explain this quote of King David that caused the Jewish scholars all kinds of trouble.

Peter is going to show them that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. In order to get these Jews to agree with his proof, Peter first provides this quote from Psalms 16. Acts 2:25-28 is a slightly changed quote of Psalms 16:8-11. Peter's quote is not exactly what we find in Psalms 16 but we certainly see no objection presented by these Jews in Acts. Part of this difference may be that Psalms 16 is translated from Hebrew to English (in the KJV1611) and Acts is translated from Hebrew to Greek, where it is quoted by Peter, then the Greek is translated to English and the double translation does not work exactly the same as the single translation. However, that is not important because the message is the same from both sources and the slight differences are put there by God to increase our understanding. (That would require a detail analysis that I can not go into as p[art of this study.) We need to stick to the translation that God gave us in our language (English) and trust Him to provide us with the meaning that we need.

The Jews knew that King David did not go to Hell. Therefore, they know that Daved was not referring to himself in Psalms Acts 16:10 which says For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. They knew that thine Holy One was a reference to Christ but they had rejected the doctrine of the suffering and death of Christ. Therefore, this verse which told of the death (see corruption) of Christ and of His going to Hell (thou wilt not leave my soul in hell) really caused them a problem. Peter quotes it in Acts 2:34 and explains it in a way that no Jewish religious leader can dispute but which also shows their doctrinal error.

Here, Peter is using a quote that uses Lord for God the Father and says that God the Father will raise Christ from the dead and out of Hell.

Home

Acts 2:34 For David is not ascended into the Heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

2:34 and 2:35 form a single sentence that is divided by punctuation in the Book Study. In addition, that note has a lot of explanation about the fulfillment of this prophecy.

The Jews couldn't understand this prophecy before it was fulfilled because they only considered men's rules, especially men's religious rules. That's why men have so much trouble with prophecy today. We need to get the proper explanation from the Holy Ghost. In this verse, we see the explanation of prophecy, we see Jesus declared to be Christ and Lord, and we see Lord used for God the Father. This verse and prophecy disprove claims that Jesus is not equal to the Father as God.

Home

Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

This verse starts with For which means that it is giving the reason that the listeners can believe Peter's promise in the prior verse. You can't properly understand a reason unless you know what it is providing the reason for. Therefore, the prior verses, and their notes, are critical to understanding this verse. Peter preached his Pentecost message which ended in Acts 2:36. Acts 2:37 tells the reaction of the listeners after Peter proved to them that they were lost and on their way to Hell. Acts 2:38 tells Peter's instructions to them. (Please see the Detailed Note in the Book Study for what they had to do in order to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.)

Peter uses Lord in this verse because only the Lord has the authority to decide who will and who will not be saved and only the Lord can say who He will accept into His service in the spiritual warfare that is ongoing. Remember that true Biblical salvation involves a legal act in the spiritual court of God. There, the Lord has to blot out the record of our sin (violations of God's Law) and make us sons of God (John 1:12). But He only does this if we, by our own free will, agree to be led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14). It would not be righteous or legal for the Son of God to do these things in any other role outside of the role of Lord. As stated many other places, the Son of God does everything related to the Law in His role as Lord.

Home

Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

This verse is the conclusion of Acts 2 and of God's record of Pentecost. As the note for Acts 2:39 above explains, all of the verses from there through the middle of this verse tell us what evidence was shown in the lives of people who received salvation. This verse tells us how the Lord responds to true salvation. Unfortunately, many churches don't see this result from the Lord because they may get people to make professions, but the people making the professions often don't respond as we see people responding in Acts 2. This verse is the conclusion of this chapter and the reader needs to consider all related notes in order to understand this conclusion. In particular, see the note for Acts 2:39 above. Lord is used here because salvation involves legal matters that are done in the spiritual court of God and because it is the Lord Who is doing spiritual warfare against Satan and the forces of evil. As 2:39tells us, the Lordcalls people to join His army and saves those who answer His call. This chapter in no way supports professions coupled with an ongoing sinful lifestyle .

Home

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Acts 3:19-21 form a single sentence which is the start of Peter's altar call at the end of his second recorded message. This sentence is ourtlined and interpreted in the Book Study. Only the use of Lord, will be dealt with in this note. However, Everything in 3:12-26 ispart of the same message from Peter and should be considered together, with the matching notes. Please also see the note for Acts 3:20 about the use of Jesus Christ in this sentence.

Peter uses Lord, in this verse, as the ultimate authority in the universe. Add to this verse the answer from our Lord, in Acts 1:7, which says It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power and we know that Peter is using Lord to say we have no right to question His decisions.

Home

Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

Everything in 3:12-26 ispart of the same message from Peter and should be considered together, with the matching notes. All of the verses and notes for Acts 3and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts. Acts 3:19-21 form a single sentence which is the start of Peter's 'altar call' at the end of his second recorded message. This sentence is attached to that 'altar call' because it gives the reason (For) why Peter said some of the things he said there.

In Peter's 'altar call' he told them to Repent ye therefore, and be converted and as a result, God shall send Jesus Christ. This was explained in the Book Study note for 3:19-21 and, as explained there, we have to agree to submit to (obey) Jesus Christ or God will not save us.

In this verse, Peter says Here's why (For). That reason is Moses (the Law Giver) said that God promised A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up and God said him shall ye hear [submit to] in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. So Peter is telling these Jews that section of their Law was for them to submit to this prophet that the Lord your God raise up. In this verse, the Lord is referencing God the Father Who is to be obeyed without question.

Home

Acts 4:24 and when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to Godwith one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made Heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

All of the verses and notes for Acts 3and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts. In addition, Acts 4:24-25 is a single sentence which is be divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

In this verse, it can be argued that Lord is used for God the Father and for His power and wisdom as seen in creation. It can be argued that Lord is used for the Lord Jesus Christ because we are told that He actually did the work using the power of God the Father. And, certainly, king David meant God the Father when he wrote this Psalm. But, it can be argued that the application found in Acts is a prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, both arguments are valid. However, since the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father are always in agreement for everything, and since both were involved in creation, the distinction is not something worth arguing over, especially since neither side can be proven conclusively.

Home

Acts 4:29 and now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts. Acts 4:29-30 is a single sentence is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

Acts 4:23 tells us that Peter and John returned to the church and reported everything that happened to them. The church reacted by praising God and praying. In 4:24 through 4:28 they quoted scripture and declared their faith in the scriptures which showed them that Jesus is God's Christ. Then this verse starts out with and now, or based upon scripture and God given evidence and our faith, grant our requests. Notice that their requests are directed towards the Lord because the things that they are asking for come from God's role as Lord and do not come from any other role. The first thing that they do is turn the unbelieving religious leaders over to the Lord for judgment. They also leave that section of their prayer there and don't try to tell the Lord what type of judgment they think He should provide.

Home

Acts 5:9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husb and are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

A lot of people know about the account of Ananias and Sapphira (his wife). Many of them don't consider that this account actually starts in Acts 4. In the account, Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of land like other people in the church were doing. However, when the others sold their land , they gave all of the money to the church. Ananias and Sapphira lied about how much they received so that they could keep part of the money while they appeared to the church as if they gave all, just like others did. They wanted the appearance of being spiritual and led by the Lord while they really trusted their money and things of this world.

There is a lot said about this account, and a lot that I could write. However, this study is limited to the use of Lord and/or Jesus and/or Christ in the New Testament. In this verse, we are dealing with the use of Lord. However, this study is limited to the use of Lord and/or Jesus and/or Christ in the New Testament. In this verse, we are dealing with the use of Lord. However, this account, and the use of Lord are tied back into Acts 4 where there was a fight of the religious leaders against the church. The religious leaders were filled with pride and vanity and the outward show of religious righteousness. The church had specifically prayed for power from the Lord to prove to the lost that it wasn't religious righteousness but having the power that comes from a personal relationship with God. Ananias and Sapphira wanted the blessings that come from a personal relationship, but wanted it based upon vain religious show, which was what God was fighting against. In other words, Ananias and Sapphira committed treason and were stupid about it. They knew that the power came from the Lord and that the Lord judges the heart, but they somehow believed that they could fool the Lord with an outward religious show. Here we see judgment by the Lord with death as the result. Peter uses Lord because it is always through the role of Lord that God judges.

Home

Acts 5:14 and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

This verse is part of a larger sentence and part of an account which must be understood as a single unit in order to get the true doctrine of the account. The Detailed Notes in the book Study provide that explanation. Within that account and within this chapter, we read about religious leaders insisting that everyone obey their religious rules. And, we see God's Holy Ghost doing many miracles through the apostles to show God's approval on the doctrine which they gave from God. We also see God's Holy Ghost killing church members who lied to God's Holy Ghost. Therefore, what we have is a spiritual war between the opposing sets of religious rules with swift judgment upon traitors. And, all of this fits under God's role as Lord. So, the people who were truly saved were added to the Lord.

Home

Acts 5:19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,

In the ongoing account of the war between Satan (using religious authority and fleshly power) against the Lord (using the church) , Satan was using intimidation and fear while God was rewarding faith with miracles. Since intimidation and threats (Acts 4) didn't work against the apostles, Satan upped the cost and had the high priest...and the Sadducees...laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison (Acts 5:17-18). We are told the Lord's response to that in Acts 5:19-20. The Lord sponsored a jail break. Again, we need to look at the full sentence to understand the usage of Lord in this verse. Acts 5:20 says Go, stand and speak in the Temple to the people all the words of this life. This is definitely a command from the Lord.

Lord is used in this verse because the religious leaders (with Satan's prompting) were challenging the power and authority of the Lord and God uses His role as Lord when He exercises power and authority over the entire church. (He uses His role as Christ for power and authority in the personal lives of individual believers.) Since this is part of a challenge to the authority of the Lord and is an attack upon the entire church, God uses the angel of the Lord to do His work.

Home

Acts 7:30 and when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

All verses and notes for Acts 6 and Acts 7 should be considered together as they tell about a single event.

Acts 6 tells us about the church selecting deacons and that Stephen was one of them. Then we read about the testifying of Stephen which to religious intellectuals tried to dispute. They lost because Stephen relied upon the wisdom of God (Acts 6:10). Since they could not win a fair argument, they decided to murder Stephen and hauled Stephen before the Council for a trial. And, we read Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God (Acts 6:11). Starting in Acts 7, we read the answer from Stephen on charges that he blasphemed and Chapter 7 tells of his subsequent martyrdom.

With that background, we can now see that Acts 7:30-34 tell us what Stephen reports was God's instruction to Moses. In this single statement from God, Stephen uses Lord three times to doctrinally establish that the power and authority that they are dealing with is God the Father in His power and authority as Lord.

In his answer (starting at Acts 7:1), Stephen starts by rehearsing the history of the Jews in order to establish common ground. By the time he comes to naming their sins, the Jews have agreed to the point that they are backed into a corner where there is no reasonable way to deny their sin. Therefore, they react extremely unreasonably and murder the messenger.

Here, and in the next several verses, Stephen uses Lord to identify God the Father in His power and authority. Further, from Acts 7:1 until now, Stephen has been naming the Jewish patriarchs and telling of God's blessings on them for following God by faith. Stephen also told how Moses tried to do God's work in the flesh and ended up on the back side of the desert for 40 years. After God gave Moses an attitude adjustment, the top Jewish prophet-hero submitted to anything and everything demanded by the Lord (except when he struck the Rock after being told to speak to the Rock).

While the Jewish religious rulers believe that they are acting like Moses, Stephen is setting them up to prove that they are doing otherwise. In order to do that, Stephen uses Lord to emphasize the power and authority of God that is so far above us that we can't justify questioning any command from Him. In this verse, Moses submitted to the command delivered by an angel (messenger) of the Lord.

Home

Acts 7:31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

All verses and notes for Acts 6 and Acts 7 should be considered together as they tell about a single event.

Acts Acts 7:30-34 tell us what Stephen reports was God's instruction to Moses. In this single statement from God, Stephen uses Lord three times to doctrinally establish that the power and authority that they are dealing with is God the Father in His power and authority as Lord.

This verse and the next are two sentences with this verse and the first half of the next verse forming a single sentence which define Lord for us. They are divided by punctuation in the Detailed Noted of the Book Study.

Lord is the role of the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob that exercises authority and power and judgment. In addition, the next sentence (please see the note below) starts with Then (after God received the proper reaction from Moses) and tells us what the Lord said to Moses. Since section of these verses tell us Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold, it should be obvious that this is the proper reaction of anyone who is claiming the position of Moses. However, this Council refused to react that way and brought the judgment of God upon the entire nation.

Lord is used here for the power and authority of God the Father and leaders who refuse to trembled, and durst not behold when presented with the presence of the Lord can bring God's judgment upon themselves and all who follow them.

Home

Acts 7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

All verses and notes for Acts 6 and Acts 7 should be considered together as they tell about a single event.

Acts 6 tells us about the church selecting deacons and of the testifying of Stephen which the 'intellectuals' tried to dispute. They lost because Stephen relied upon the wisdom of God (Acts 6:10). Since they could not win a fair argument, Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God (Acts 6:11) and hauled Stephen before the Council for a trial.

Acts 7 gives us the answer from Stephen on charges that he blasphemed and tells of his subsequent martyrdom. In addition, Acts 7:30-34 tell us what God instructed Moses to do as reported by Stephen. In this single statement from God, Stephen uses Lord three times to doctrinally establish that the power and authority that they are dealing with is God the Father in His power and authority as Lord. Please also see the other notes for Acts 7:30-34, since they define the Lord for us and tell us the proper reaction that we should have.

In this section, we are told that Lord means the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. In addition, it tells us the reaction of Moses, which is an example of a proper reaction by us. It says Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Lord is used here for the power and authority of God the Father.

Next, please notice that this sentence has a colon, which makes Put off thy shoes from thy feet equivalent to for the place where thou standest is holy ground. While many religions today require people to remove their shoes when entering their church building, the true meaning is taken spiritually by many churches today. God would much prefer us to leave our shoes on and how Him due respect than to take our shoes off and disrespect His authority because we feel that the religious act was all that was required. Unfortunately, many religions which no longer takeoff their shoes also do not give God ant proper respect.

The requirement to respect God, and His power and authority, is the message that Stephen is leading this Council to. They claimed God's authority and refused to respect the wishes and messaged from the Lord. Where the Acts 7:30-33 dealt with the power of the Lord, this verse deals with His authority. The Lord told Moses to Put off thy shoes from thy feet as a sign that he respected the vastly greater authority of the Lord.

This is where Stephen starts to turn his message against the Council but they don't realize it. They think that Stephen is just rehearsing the history of the Jewish people. However, Stephen already showed how Moses had almost the top authority in the world as the son of Pharaoh's daughter (Acts 7:21). (Please see the note under Son.) All of that worldly authority did Moses no good. After this meeting with the Lord, Moses received authority from the Lord (as stated in this sentence). With authority from the Lord, Moses could accomplish what all of the authority in the world could not accomplish. This Council was relying upon their worldly authority and doesn't realize that Stephen is going to prove to them that they do not have the authority from the Lord that they claim to have.

Lord is the role of the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob that exercises authority and judgment. In the next sentence we see the Lord state that He is going to bring judgment upon Egypt and there is no other power in the world that could do what the Lord did to Egypt. In the next few verses we see Stephen remind these religious leaders that, in the day of Moses, other religious leaders challenged the authority of Moses and the Lord literally dropped them and their followers into Hell while they were still alive. He also reminds them of how the Lord killed a whole generation which refused to submit and obey. Stephen also goes on with several other illustrations of many times and ways that the Lord told His people to submit and obey and had to bring terrible judgment because of their refusal to submit and obey.

Today, we know that the Lord did the same things to the Jews living at that time. The message is the same today and yet people still won't listen. When we challenge the power and authority of the Lord, we bring judgment upon ourselves, our followers and our children.

Home

Acts 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

All verses and notes for Acts 6 and Acts 7 should be considered together as they tell about a single event.

Acts 7 gives us the answer from Stephen on charges that he blasphemed and tells of his subsequent martyrdom. In this verse, Stephen reminds them that Moses told them A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Just as Moses was rejected by the people and his authority was challenged by the religious leaders, so also would this prophet be rejected by the people and his authority was challenged by the religious leaders.

Stephen has used Lord four times so far (in his message that started at 7:1) to make it clear to these Jews that the Jews of Moses time had no say and could not question the Lord's choice for His leader (in fact God killed those that questioned God's choice). Just as the Jews of Moses time had not choice, so also will Stephen make clear to the Jewish leaders that they have no choice. When God said him shall ye hear (here and in Deuteronomy 18:15-22), God was not making a suggestion but was making a commandment, as these religious leaders knew.

Deuteronomy 18:18-19 says I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. These leaders understood that refusing to obey was a death sentence. Unfortunately, like many do today, they thought they could pick and choose which of God's promises to believe and which to not believe and thought that God had to go along with their choice. These leaders bring condemnation upon themselves and their followers, just as so many religious leaders have done through the ages.

Stephen uses Lord here to emphasize the power and authority of God the Father in this decision that people shouldn't even question.

Home

Acts 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

Stephen has made several points about how the religious leaders fought against the authority of the Lord all through Jewish history. Every time, the religious leaders were judged by God and suffered. Now in Acts 7:48-50, Stephen is going to quote scripture just before he tells this Council of religious leaders how the Lord is going to judge them just like He judged earlier religious leaders who refused to submit to the Lord.

Stephen quotes Isaiah 66:1-2, which is itself a reference to what God told David and Solomon. However, when Stephen quotes Isaiah he leaves out but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word (Isaiah 66:2b) and instead says Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. In Isaiah 66 we see the prophecy of the difference in judgment that those who are stiffnecked received from those who are of a contrite spirit. Quoting just the first couple of verses when the entire chapter was meant was a common practice at that time and these leaders would understand that Stephen was applying the rest of the judgment in Isaiah 66 to them.

The Jews of Acts 7 knew that their Temple was far less than what Solomon built, yet they insisted in believing that it did more for them than Solomon's Temple did for their fathers. God made clear that Solomon's Temple was far beneath Him in this quote from Isaiah 66. Therefore, the Temple that they prized was far below the Lord and not to be compared to a personal relationship with the Lord. Stephen is reminding them of their own prophets and kings who instructed them to prize the Lord high above any building. Again, Lord is used here for God the Father in His role of power and authority. This is the fifth time that Stephen uses Lord and from here he will accuse the religious rulers of rejecting the power and authority of the Lord.

Home

Acts 7:60 and he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. and when he had said this, he fell asleep.

This verse is the ultimate witness of Stephen's life where he paraphrases our Lord on the cross (Luke 23:34) when he says Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Obviously, in this verse as when Jesus cried it on the cross, Lord is referring to God the Father in all of His power and judgment.

Home

Acts 8:24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

This verse is the answer of Simon the sorcerer when Peter warned him of God's coming judgment upon him for his sin. Without going into all of the possible dispute about Simon's sin, we can say that he used Lord here because he recognized that God would be acting in His legal role when He judged Simon. Simon didn't want to be judged and respectfully recognized the Lord's proper role. Lord is used here because judgment is always done in the proper legal role of Lord.

Home

Acts 8:25 and they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

The they of this verse is Peter and John. This little sub-account started in Acts 8:14. The word of Jesus only occurs once in Matthew 26:75 and is a private word from Jesus to Peter. The word of Christ only occurs once in Colossians 3:16 and is specific instructions for spiritual growth after salvation. The word of God occurs 48 times (44 in the New Testament) while the word of the Lord occurs 255 times but only 13 of those are in the New Testament of which 8 are in Acts.

The word of the Lord is the God given Law that we are to obey, without question, if we are to be saved and if the saved person is to be right with God. When we consider that God included the account of Simon the sorcerer here, and that Peter had to correct a man who claimed to be saved and who had a wrong relationship with the Lord, I believe that what Peter and John testified and preached [as] the word of the Lord was 'Here's how to worship and serve the Lord properly' which, of course, is in spirit and in truth (John 4:21-24). The word of the Lord is used here to emphasize the proper way to relate to our Lord and God. Simon the Sorcerer was like a lot of people today that claim to be saved (or are actually saved) but refuse to recognize the correct legal relationship that they have with their Lord. This includes trying to 'buy' spiritual things with money or religious works.

Home

Acts 8:26 and the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

Acts 8:26-40 has Philip preaching again but he has different results tan he had in the beginning of the chapter. All of Acts 8 is related and all verses as notes should be considered together. However, at a minimum those in this sub-account should be considered as a group. The Chapter Summary provides an overview so that the reader can understand how all of this fits together.

Philip had started this church in Samaria. The Apostles had come and gone. Philip was apparently in charge and it was just at a time when the Samaritan church needed to grow spiritually, and the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip. Here, we see Philip responding properly since he went as told without any apparent questioning even though he many religious reasons to question this command. He did as ordered by his Lord instead of doing the religious 'right' thing.Philip left a new church full of newly saved people to go a long way away and bring the gospel to one man. However, that man was in a position to influence a whole country's beliefs. We need to trust our Lord to know more than we do. Here, Lord is used as the ultimate authority that we do not have a right to question. Many religious people would say that it is wrong for the preacher to leave when there is a response to the Holy Ghost like they had going on. However, it wasn't religion but obedience to the Lord which caused the spiritual growth.

Home

Acts 8:39 and when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

The Spirit of the Lord started this section of the account in Acts 8 by giving Philip a command in Acts 8:26. Philip obeyed and continued to do that job until the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. When we are given a job by or Lord, we are expected to continue it until He changes our orders. Lord is used here because that is the role that the Son of God uses to give us positions (jobs) in this life.

Home

Acts 9:1 and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

Lord occurs by itself 12 times in this chapter and once as Lord Jesus. Jesus occurs by itself 3 times in this chapter and once as Lord Jesus and once as Jesus Christ. Christ occurs by itself 2 times in this chapter and once as Jesus Christ. These numbers should make it obvious that this chapter deals with each of the roles of the Son of God, and touches on two combinations of roles, but is mainly concerned with God the Son's role as Lord. About 2/3 of the chapter is about the conversion of Paul and the last 1/3 is about further activities of Peter.

The first two verses, of this chapter, form a single sentence that is outlined and explained in detail in the Book Study. (Please see it fir those details.) This sentence explains the attitude and actions of Saul before his conversion.

Notice that this sentence starts with and Saul. We last saw Saul mentioned in Acts 8:3 which tells us As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Acts 8:4 starts with Therefore. It tells us the result of Saul making havock of the church when it says They that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word. The rest of Acts 8 tells us about what Philip did, as an example of what all of the church members were doing. Then, Acts 9:1 returns to the account (with the and Saul) that was being told in Acts 8:3.

Saul was part of the murder of Stephen in Acts 7. He went from a support position in Acts 7:58 to actively hunting down saints (in Jerusalem ) to arrest and have killed (Acts 8:1). There, he served the purpose of scattering them (Acts 8:1). The Lord had told them to take the gospel to the entire world (Acts 1:8) but they were staying in Jerusalem. Our Lord expects His commands to be obeyed and He does whatever is necessary to motivate His people to obey, including letting the enemy kill some so that the rest obey in order to get some protection.

Most so-called Christians of today would be safe from Saul but here we see the true definition of a disciple of the Lord. When the execution squad comes armed and killing, true disciples of the Lord are easy to identify. Those that claim to be a disciple of the Lord but can't be identified by the execution squad have really violated the Third commandment of Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11). When we claim to be Christians, we take the name of the LORD thy God. When we make an outward show of our Christianity but there is no true inward service from the heart that is taking take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.

All throughout Bible history God gave His people time to repent and obey but when they refused, He brought a judgment that is not forgotten. Rather than being judged by our Lord, we would be better off to obey and receive His blessings.

Home

Acts 9:6 and he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? and the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

This verse starts with and, which links it to the prior verse. Again, we see Lord used twice which doubles the requirement to establish doctrine. Here we see that power is exercised by the Son of God in His role as Lord. Saul was astonished because, according to his religion, Jesus was not the Lord. However, He was demonstrating the power of Saul's Lord. Further, Saul trembling because he knew that he had been slaying the servants of this Lord and he knew the punishment for wrongfully killing someone. Saul did not try to make excuses or defend himself, he just asked Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? When we think we are doing right and find out that we are doing wrong, our fleshly nature tries to make us give excuses and defend ourselves. The truly wise don't do those things because they only make things worse.

It is through the role of Lord that God gives men positions and here He is starting upon giving Saul the position to the Gentiles. We also see that the Lord had blinded Saul in a way that went beyond anything that fits within the laws of nature. Orders, with the force of Law and with a force beyond that of natural law, are given by God in His role as Lord.

Home

Acts 9:10 and there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. and he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

This is the first sentence in this sub-store about Ananias in Acts 9:10-17 and it has the first two (of 6) uses of Lord. Please see the other verses and associated notes for the full context.

As in Acts 9:6, we see Lord used twice. As is obvious from this account, Ananias had a really hard time believing what he was ordered to do. It wasn't just his life that was at risk but the lives of saints in several churches. Back in Acts 7 we saw the martyrdom of Stephen and the account closed with Saul holding the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen. By Acts 8:3 Saul was the main person arresting saints to have them killed for serving the Lord. Then starting in Acts 8:4 through the end of Acts 8 Luke takes a side trip to tell us how the church reacted to all of this persecution. In Acts 9:1 we return to the account of Saul with the chapter sytarting with and Saul. After that, almost every sentence in Acts 9 starts with and. One sentence is added on top of prior ones like one account of a building is added onto lower stories. The few sentences not starting with and start with other connecting words like But, Then and Now. So when we get to sentences like this one, we need to consider all that came before it in this account.

Lots of people like Ananias were serving God and witnessing and praising Him daily in the Temple or their local synagogue. They started getting persecuted in many ways including being martyred like Stephen. As much as people in other parts of Judaea and Samaria hated them (much like today), they moved to these places for safety. Now this fanatic is chasing them even into the outer parts of Judaea and Samaria. He very clearly plans to arrest and kill them. However, something happens to him. The saints are praising God for deliverance and Ananias gets called upon to restore sight to this murdering fanatic. Not the way to become popular around church. In fact, as a preacher, that's a good way to loose speaking engagements.

However, we, again, have a doctrinal use of Lord in this verse because Lord is used twice. When we get an order from our Lord, it is to be obeyed in spite of how little sense it makes to us. It doesn't matter if the command endangers our life and the lives of everyone that we know. We also see here why Saul was chosen instead on someone already in a leadership position within the church. Ananias was a prophet ( to him said the Lord in a vision), but he was passed over for the ministry to the Gentiles. It was probably due (to a large extent) because he questioned an order from his Lord. As much as Saul was against the Lord and His followers, when he personally met the Lord, Saul obeyed to the best of his ability and without question.

Home

Acts 9:11 and the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

This is the second sentence in this sub-store about Ananias in 9:10-17. Please see the other verses and associated notes for the full context.

Acts 9:11-12 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

This is the third time we see Lord in reference to Ananias. The And starting this verse directly adds this verse to what was said in the prior verse. There, Ananias said I am here, Lord. Please see the note above about that verse. In the second section of this sentence we read that Saul ...hath seen in a vision. The Lord told Ananias that He already answered Saul's prayer. The next sentence tells us the objection from Ananias. After the Lord has made a decision, we are wasting our time objecting to it and can bring the judgment of the Lord upon ourselves. Look at the difference in responses between believing Ananias to unbelieving Saul. Then consider the difference in how the Lord used each of them. Don't look down on Ananias, but look at your own life to see why the Lord doesn't use you more.

Home

Acts 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem :

This sentence is part of the sub-store about Ananias in 9:10-17. Please see the other verses and associated notes for the full context. Acts 9:13-14 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

This is the third sentence in this sub-store about Ananias and it is the fourth use of Lord. However, Ananias is not responding properly to the Lord. He is objecting to a commandment from the Lord based upon rumor and fear. We are to fear our Lord (Ecclesiastes 12:13) but we are not to fear what man can do (Proverbs 29:25). As a prophet (Acts 9:10) Ananias should have known this. He should have obeyed and trusted the Lord to keep him and others safe. However, trusting the Lord is easier said than done.

While Ananias said Lord, he did not really accept the position that the Lord deserves in a believer's life. In the next few verses we see Ananias obeying. While he didn't obey without question, he did obey and we have his name entered in the Bible. There are others who obeyed and didn't even get this much recognition.

Home

Acts 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

This sentence is part of the sub-store about Ananias in 9:10-17. Please see the other verses and associated notes for the full context.

Acts 9:15-16 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

This is the fourth sentence in this sub-store about Ananias and it is the fifth use of Lord. Here we see why the Lord chose Saul and does not choose most of His people. The Lord said I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.. Most people are not willing to suffer for their Lord. Paul suffered willingly and the Lord said he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. This account clearly, and doctrinally, teaches that our use by the Lord is in direct proportion to out trust and obedience to His commands. What is not directly said here, but what is taught in the Bible is that our reward is also in proportion to our willingness to suffer for [our Lord] name's sake.

Home

Acts 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

This verse starts out with Then because all of the things in this verse happened after Paul left Jerusalem.I believe that the religious Jews were mad at Peter, John and the others until they experienced Paul. Then, Peter, John and the others didn't seem so bad and they decided they could live with Peter, John and the others so long as God didn't bring Paul back. As for Peter, John and the others, I believe that they were glad for a break and started living right while avoiding direct confrontation with the religious Jews and while not offending God.

They were quietly growing the church. The important section is that they were walking in the fear of the Lord. That means they had stopped their sinning. They had been sinning by staying in Jerusalem. Now they had missionaries in Samaria and other places in Judaea and the church at Jerusalem was supporting these missionary efforts. However, later in Acts they need help from the missionary churches, which means they stopped being blessed by God. At this point though, we read that they were edified and they were multiplied.

The note for this verse, in the Book Study, explains the phrase the fear of the Lord and there is a separate Doctrinal Study on this phrase. Basically, this phrase means: 'an absolute knowledge that God will hurt me if I deliberately disobey His command'.

Home

Acts Acts 9:35 and all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.

Acts 9:31 through the rest of the chapter describe some actions by Peter during a time of rest. These verses also tell us how Peter ended up in Joppa at Simeon the Tanner's house, instead of Jerusalem, when God sent Peter to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. So, all of the notes on these verses should be considered together.

In addition, this verse starts with the word and, which directly ties it to the prior verse which tells us that salvation is by accepting there ministry of Jesus and the ministry of Christ. Where most religions have a problem accepting the ministry of Christ, the Jews have a problem accepting that the man Jesus dies for our sins and is 'God in human flesh'. However, all religious people need to accept that the Lord has higher power and authority than their religion and religious leaders.

Peter healed Aeneas just like he did the lame man in Acts 3. We don't know what number of people got saved to compare with Acts 3, but all of the people in two towns turned to the Lord (Acts 9:35). Unfortunately, many commentators say that the Bible must be wrong because they believe that it is not possible for God to do more than what man can do. Since it is not reasonable to expect a natural man to contact every person in two towns. However, it is quite possible for God to do that using a newly saved person who is highly motivated. This is especially true when you consider that he had kept his bed eight years. God definitely knows how to find highly motivated people. These commentators demonstrate the typical religious attitude towards the Lord. People believe religious leaders, like these commentators, and then wonder why they don't receive their own miracle when they need it.

This man in Lydda believed the Lord who spoke through Peter, he acted upon the commandment from the Lord and received his miracle, then he proved his thanks by going to everyone in his town and the next to say 'look what the Lord did for me. Come listen to the Lord's preacher'.

Peter worked miracles to prove that he represented a power greater than the Jewish leaders and religion. Peter then told them to submit to the Lord, not to his religious beliefs. It was the Lord who convinced them to accept the personal relationship that is provided by Jesus Christ. These Jews were first saved because they first accepted the power and authority of the Lord and they went on obeying their Lord.

Psalms 80:19 says Turn us again, of LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Notice that the turning is done by O LORD God and it happens before we shall be saved. In addition, Paul explained about the Jews in 2Corinthians 3:12-17. In particular, 2Corinthians 3:16 says Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. With the Jews in particular, they have to see salvation as coming from the Lord. They will believe on Jesus Christ only after they understand that this is a commandment from the Lord. That is what was happening in this verse.

Home

Acts 9:42 and it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord.

Acts 9:31 through the end (9:43) of the chapter describe some actions by Peter during a time of rest. These verses also tell us how Peter ended up in Joppa at Simeon the Tanner's house, instead of Jerusalem, when God sent Peter to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. So, all of the notes on these verses should be considered together. As the notes for these other verses point out, Peter worked miracles to show that the Lord had more power and authority than their religious leaders and religion had.

1Corinthians 1:22 tells us The Jews require a sign. Also, John 2:18 tells us that the Jews asked Jesus...What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things. This time the Lord used Peter to raise the dead and it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord. This is the same result that Jesus received after he raised Lazarus (John 11; John 12:11).

Several things could be noted about Tabitha but the most prominent is that she was known as Dorcas by those who knew her personally. Tabitha is the Hebrew form of her name while Dorcas is the Greek form. She lived in Joppa, which is supposedly on the Mediterranean, and therefore would have a substantial number of locals and a substantial number of foreigners in it. With this woman having both Grecian and Hebrew names, she would be well-known and well liked in both communities. Indeed, our text tells us she was well know for living a life which showed the Character of Jesus Christ. As we have seen several other places, this type of person is the type that usually receives a miracle from God.

As noted earlier, there was ongoing friction between the Grecian Jews and the Hebrew Jews with the Grecian Jews tending to be snobs. (The Grecians probably had more money and, since the Jewish religious leaders taught that the level of physical wealth showed the level of spirituality, the Grecians would believe that they were more spiritual.) However, While Dorcas had a Grecian name, she apparently was not a snob (according to the context). Again we see the person who received the miracle and (after receiving her miracle) went out and showed their thanks to the Lord by witnessing. However, we also see the Lord preparing Peter for opening the gospel to Gentiles. While the Hebrew Jews were considered lower class by most of the Roman Empire, they had their own prejudices (like most lower-class people tend to have). In Joppa Peter was surrounded by people who had all put aside prejudice. The Lord used these saints to prepare Peter for the next chapter where Peter is going to be required to set aside his own prejudices.

Home

Acts 10:4 and when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? and he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

The account of the salvation of the household of Cornelius is in Acts 10. Therefore, all verses and notes in this chapter should be considered together. The Lord has proven that He has greater power and authority than religious beliefs in this account about the salvation of the household of Cornelius.

Notice that our sentence uses a capitalized Lord. Although Cornelius saw an anger, he understood that the angel was just a messenger and that ther message was truly from God.

In this verse, Cornelius was responding to the appearance of an angel. We can definitely see a difference in his attitude and the attitude of others in the Bible and of most people today. He gave no argument. He responded with What is it, Lord? This is plain and simple. It recognizes the power and authority of the Lord. It expresses a submissive and obedient spirit. It starts the whole conversation with the right attitude and gets him an immediate response of comfort and peace because the first answer from the angel is Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

God said that his prayers were a memorial. That means God preserved them as a reminder of a good thing. Many people's prayers are ignored by God and God said that some people's prayers made Him sick. Read Isaiah 1. Think of the parable of the publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:10-14) and the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:16). Cornelius was saved and his household was saved because of his attitude before God.

Lots of fools who have never seen an angel might claim that they would have reacted differently, but Cornelius is responding to the messenger of God as if he had the full power and authority of God behind his words. Many of us would see better things from God if we had the same attitude. Just consider the attitude of most people when God uses a man to send them a message. Cornelius did not argue or question but did as he was told to do after he verified that the message came from God (He saw in a vision [Acts 10:3]). Cornelius truly recognized the power and authority of the Son of God in His role as Lord.

Home

Acts 10:14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

The account of the salvation of the household of Cornelius is in Acts 10. Therefore, all verses and notes in this chapter should be considered together.

The Lord has proven that He has greater power and authority than religious beliefs in this account about the salvation of the household of Cornelius. Here, we see Peter saying Not so, Lord again (Matthew 16:22, Mark 8:33). However, God does not record another occurrence in the Bible and Peter is the main Apostle to teach about submission. In both of these incidents, Peter has to choose between a commandment from his Lord and deeply held religious beliefs that he had been taught from when he was a child. Personally, I believe that judging Peter is a very good way to motivate the Lord to provide a personal experience and the opportunity to prove how you will actually handle the situation. (Never mind how I received that attitude!)

Here, we see Peter recognizing the power and authority of the Lord by his mouth while rejecting it in his heart. By the time that Peter is confronted by the church in Acts 11, his attitude has been changed. Peter is an apostle but he still has to learn to obey the Lord without challenging His commandments. Indeed, the only questions that we should ask are for clarification so that we can better obey. Even our questions should not be the type that could be construed as challenges. Further, as Peter demonstrates, our position in this world does not change our need to learn this lesson. It only makes it more important for us to learn the more we can influence others.

Home

Acts 10:48 and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

The account of the salvation of the household of Cornelius is in Acts 10. Therefore, all verses and notes in this chapter should be considered together. In particular, this verse is the conclusion of the chapter and is based upon details which are different than other times that Peter preached and people received salvation. This verse is one example of why the context is so important. God does not change. The Bible does not change. Our circumstances change and how we apply the truths of the Bible has to accommodate the changes of life. Notice, the truths don't change, only the application of them.

Lord is used in this verse as the full authority in this world and in the church. When they were baptized in the name of the Lord, they were identified with, and accepted, the entire authority structure of the Lord, including that of Jesus Christ, the church, the apostles and the Bible.

Home

Acts 11:8 But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.

Peter used Lord in this verse for the God Whom we are to obey without challenge and Who will judge each of us personally for our obedience. Those people who contended with Peter were not really submitted to our Lord and we need to be wary of heir influence even today. THis doctrinal error is explained more in the note for the Book Study.

Home

Acts 11:16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

While Peter preached the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning (Acts 11:15). It's pretty hard for someone to say I'm saved because of this evidence while claiming that he exact same evidence does not prove someone else's salvation. People (they that were of the circumcision [Acts 11:2]) in the church is upset that Peter included non-Jews and Peter is answered that it wasn't him but the Lord Jesus Christ Who made that decision. (Please see the note on 11:17). Peter uses Lord eight times in this chapter, three times in this account (and no other role of the Son of God). (Acts 11:8, Acts 16, Acts 11:17) to emphasize that anyone who wants to fight about this thing will be fighting the Lord and not Peter. In the first use, we see the Lord correct Peter when he questioned a commandment from the Lord. In this verse and the next, Lord is used to emphasize the power and authority of our Lord over the church. The very next verse literally tells us that the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ and not God the Father.

When Peter says Then remembered I the word of the Lord, he is referring to Acts 1:5 which says For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. We also see this truth presented earlier in Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:26, John 1:33. Further, Acts 19:2-4 show us that a religious repentance (John's baptism) is not sufficient of salvation. Indeed, it also shows that baptism dos not save. Please see the note for Romans 6:3 in the Book Study on Romans, which provides links to every place in the Bible where baptism is used along with notes on those places in the Bible. That note gives the true Biblical doctrine for baptism.

The word of the Lord (occurs 258 times in 255 verses) is different from the word of God (occurs 49times in 48 verses). The word of the Lord is the God given Law that we are to obey, without question, if we are to be saved and if the saved person is to be right with God. We will all be judged by the Lord either at the Great White Throne judgment (Revelation 20:11) or at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10-11). This doctrinal truth has been dealt with numerous times throughout this study and any reader can find the explanation elsewhere. When we get to whichever judgment that we are going to, The word of the Lord is the standard that we will be judged against. Peter was emphasizing this judgment when he said what was I, that I could withstand God? (Acts 11:17).

Home

Acts 11:21 and the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.

This section of Acts 11 starts with Now in 11:19. That means after God used Peter to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Now God is going to send the gospel unto the uttermost section of the earth using this church at Antioch and Paul's missionary groups. This sentence is part of the account about the starting of the church at Antioch, which eventually sent out Paul as their missionary. In the verses about the initial start of the church at Antioch (11:19-24), Lord is used 4 times and Lord Jesus used once to clarify that each of these other uses of Lord mean Lord Jesus and not God the Father. All of the verses and notes for Acts 11:19-24 should be considered together.

This verse starts with and, which ties it to the prior verse. That verse and note are critical to understanding this verse. Lord is the role that the Son of God uses to appoint positions within the church and among men. Lord is also the role used for law and other items backed by the absolute authority of God. The Lord appointed these non-preachers to the position of missionary because they were willing to go even when their preachers (Apostles) stayed in Jerusalem. We see the appointment by the Lord in the phrase of and the hand of the Lord was with them. Notice that this is the first section of the sentence which is divided from the second (equivalent) section by a colon. That makes the hand of the Lord was with them equivalent to a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. This tells us that when we hear someone say that they are serving the Lord we can look for evidence that souls are not just making professions but are actually turned unto the Lord. That means submitted to the truths of the Bible.

This verse uses Lord for the absolute authority of God. It is God that adds souls to the church and God, in His role as Lord, over-rules religious traditions and rules. According to religious rules (which are even followed today), only anointed priests and preachers could bring someone to God and let them join the church. However, we see here that people turned unto the Lord based upon the word of non-preachers and the Lord honored their work. So, both sections of the sentence say that the Lord honored these non-preachers starting a church and bringing souls to salvation.

Home

Acts 11:23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

This section of Acts 11 starts with Now in 11:19. That means after God used Peter to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Now God is going to send the gospel unto the uttermost section of the earth using this church at Antioch and Paul's missionary groups. This sentence is part of the account about the starting of the church at Antioch, which eventually sent out Paul as their missionary. In the verses about the initial start of the church at Antioch (Acts 11:19-24), Lord is used 4 times and Lord Jesus used once to clarify that each of these other uses of Lord mean Lord Jesus and not God the Father. All of the verses and notes for Acts 11:19-24 should be considered together.

Acts 11:22 tells us that when the preachers at Jerusalem heard that some non-preachers had started a mission work in Antioch, and that the Lord had honored their work, they decided to send a preacher to become pastor of this new church. Please note that God did not call the mission work a Church until they had a properly ordained pastor from a proper mother church to properly organize according to God's order.

The Jerusalem Church sent Barnabas to be their pastor and this verse tells us about Barnabas. (Please see the note for Acts 4:36 under Son for details of every place that Acts talks about Barnabas.) Today we send out a preacher with his family to start a church in new areas and many of those churches never become self supporting and usually die out when the preacher moves on. Today, people are told to not leave their home church for any reason and if they do, make sure that they find a church that can feed them spiritually. However, the first church didn't expect everyone to remain spiritual babies all of their life. They expected everyone in the church to spiritually mature to the point that they could feed themselves and reproduce and help with the training of others.

When God sent these people to a city that didn't have a church, they didn't lay around crying for God to send them a preacher to start a church. They got busy and started winning souls and training the newly saved so that when the preacher came, there was already a body of believers for him to work with. They also didn't rely upon missionary support from the home church but taught new people about giving and were self-supporting from the start. Given the attitude of these non-preachers, God set them a good man to be pastor.

In this verse we see the primary action of a good pastor. He was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Unfortunately, too many preachers tell people to cleave to them and to the church, even when the church and/or pastor are going against the Lord. (Please see Romans 6:16.) Some churches and/or pastors tell people that they only have to make a profession and while it's a good idea to stop sinning and obey God, but they also teach that such a change really is optional. Barnabas told these people differently. To cleave unto the Lord means that you hang on tightly. That is only possible That is only possible if we obey James 4:8. (Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.).

Notice that James tells us that we must Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded if we are going to Draw nigh to God. That's what these people did what they turned unto the Lord (Acts 11:21). This is quite different from what we see in many churches today. Our spiritual growth is dependent upon our continuing, from the heart, the same way that we started when we first made our profession. By submitting to the Lord, this church was allowed to influence most of their world for the Lord through their missionary efforts which included Paul. But all of it started with the non-preachers having an attitude that they personally had to cleave unto the Lord and personally mature spiritually. They did not leave it all for the preacher and staff.

Home

Acts 11:24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.

This section of Acts 11 starts with Now in Acts 11:19. That means after God used Peter to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Now God is going to send the gospel unto the uttermost section of the earth using this church at Antioch and Paul's missionary groups. This sentence is part of the account about the starting of the church at Antioch, which eventually sent out Paul as their missionary. In the verses about the initial start of the church at Antioch (Acts Acts 11:19-24), Lord is used 4 times and Lord Jesus used once to clarify that each of these other uses of Lord mean Lord Jesus and not God the Father. All of the verses and notes for Acts 11:19-24 should be considered together.

This sentence starts with For and gives us the reason why Barnabas preached and extorted like he did. We also see the results of the preaching by Barnabas in the second half of this sentence. It says much people was added unto the Lord. (Please see the note for Acts 4:36 under Son for details of every place that Acts talks about Barnabas.)

It should be noted here that added unto the Lord is more than just making a profession. It also means submitting, trusting and obeying the Lord. The colon in this sentence indicates that adding people to the Lord is equivalent to being a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. Thus, we have the Biblical standard for measuring a preacher's spirituality: not just how many he gets to join his church but how many turn to the Lord in their heart with an attitude of obedience. Please see the note above for this difference. This verse uses Lord for all of the power and authority of God to order our everyday life and our eventual judgment.

Home

Acts Acts 12:7 and, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. and his chains fell off from his hands.

All of Acts 12 is a account about secular government persecuting the church in order to gain favor of religious fanatics. Please consider all of the verses and related notes for this chapter together. Each reference to the Son of God in this chapter is to His role as Lord.

We get an idea why Herod the king would start attacking the church in 11:27. A famine came to Judah and Jerusalem and those in the church were getting help from other areas that most people didn't get. This caused jealousy. The people looked to the government for help. The king couldn't or wouldn't help but used the jealousy and religious resentment against the church to shift the blame away from the government. Herod the king started saying that he couldn't help the people because of the Christians. This is a standard political ploy for trouble. Find a scapegoat and build up anger, resentment and hatred for the scapegoat. In this context, Herod the king vexed the church and killed James. After he found that blaming the church got some pressure off him, he took Peter. Herod delayed executing Peter while he built up the anticipation among the people (...the Lord hath...delivered me from all the expectation of the people of the Jews Acts 12:11). However, the Lord had a different idea and sent His angel. We also see why the Lord responded in Acts 12:5 which tells us ...prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.Here, we see Lord used for the power and protection of God for His people.

Home

Acts 12:11 and when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

The angel of the Lord set Peter free from prison but he thought it was all a dream (Acts 12:9) until the angel left him and Peter was come to himself. We see the same basic reaction by Rhoda and others at the prayer meeting in Acts 12:13-16.Even though they doubted while they prayed, the Lord honored their praying in what faith they had. Here, as noted above, Lord is used for the power and protection of God for His people.

Home

Acts 12:17 But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. and he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. and he desectioned, and went into another place.

Here, as noted above, Lord is used for the power and protection of God for His people. This is the third time in this account where Lord is used. Many people pray to Jesus or Christ for protection and then wonder why they don't get it. We need to approach God properly, especially when dealing with things related to His role as Lord. It is the Lord (not Jesus or Christ) that provides protection and Lord is used three times in this account to provide a doctrinal basis for this claim.

Home

Acts 12:23 and immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

After the Lord protected Peter, we see the Lord dealing with the king Herod. The church recognized the work of the Lord and honored Him for it. King Herod saw the work of the Lord and claimed the glory that belongs to the Lord. The subsection that deals with king Herod starts in 12:18 and goes through 12:24 with every verse starting with and except 12:24, which starts with But. Thus, all of these verses are connected together. The account shows us that the word of God [grows] and [is] multiplied after God lets sinful man do what he wants and then brings judgment upon the sinner. Proverbs and other places teach us to not worry when evil people seem to prosper because the Lord has not yet judged them. The Lord allows evil people to prosper so that all other evil people who are trying to hide their nature will be revealed. We want to avoid joining evil people when they seem to prosper. In this verse, we see the judgment of God, which is always done through His role as Lord.

Home

Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

Lord is used here because God always uses His role as Lord to appoint men to positions. Here, Saul and Barnabas were appointed to the position of missionary. (Please see the note for Acts 4:36 under Son for details of every place that Acts talks about Barnabas.)

Home

Acts 13:10 and said, of full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

Acts 13:6-12 are a single sub-account and should be considered together with their notes. Lord is used three times in this account to doctrinally establish that Paul and Barnabas were operating under the direction and protection of the Lord. (Please see the note for Acts 4:36 under Son for details of every place that Acts talks about Barnabas.)

Paul uses Lord here because the Lord is about to judge this sorcerer, false prophet, and Jew and God always does judgment in His role as Lord. Please also note that within this account we see God switch Saul's name to Paul.

Home

Acts 13:11 and now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. and immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

Acts 13:6-12 are a single sub-account and should be considered together with their notes. In this account, we are taught about the judgment of someone who perverted the right ways of the Lord (13:6). Lord is used three times in this account to doctrinally establish that Paul and Barnabas were operating under the direction and protection of the Lord. (Please see the note for Acts 4:36 under Son for details of every place that Acts talks about Barnabas.) Please see the note for 13:10 (above) which gives the context of this verse.

Notice that this sentence starts with and, which adds it to the prior sentence.In this verse, Paul is stating in detail what judgment the Lord will bring. This man was a false prophet, which means that that he was known as a seer and had visions from a god. The true God always matches judgment to the sin. Since his sin was giving false visions, God struck his physical vision so that other men would know that his claimed spiritual vision was not reliable. As noted above, God always does judgment in His role as Lord.

Home

Acts 13:12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.

Acts 13:6-12 are a single sub-account and should be considered together with their notes. In this account, we are taught about the judgment of someone who perverted the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:6). Lord is used three times in this account to doctrnally establish that Paul and Barnabas were operating under the direction and protection of the Lord. (Please see the note for Acts 4:36 under Son for details of every place that Acts talks about Barnabas.) Please also see the notes for this entire section, within the Book Study, because they give the context of this verse.

Here, as other places, we see God display power, judgment and government through His role as Lord. We also see (again) that God uses the things that a man understands to lead him to salvation. As a deputy, this man would understand government and all involved with it. As such, he would understand the doctrine of the Lord better than people not involved in government.

Home

Acts 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

The first recorded message by Paul is in Acts 13:14-41. The reaction of different people is reported following Acts 13:41 and includes acceptance by the Gentiles and rejection by the Jews.

In this verse we have Paul's statement to the Jews following their rejection of the gospel. Acts 13:45 says But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. They claimed to have a doctrinal difference when they really were filled with envy. When they ...spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming (Acts 13:45) Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said (Acts 13:46).

This verse starts with the word For and tells us why Paul said that the gospel, which was ordained for the Jews, was being given to the Gentiles instead. We see a principal here that we should heed. When God gives us a job and we won't do it, we don't stop God's work from being done. God will go around us and give the job to someone else. God then blesses them and judges us.

The Jews were to take God's world to the world. They kept it to themselves and thought it made them better than others. God set the Jews aside and went to the Gentiles. This is explained in Romans 3, Romans 11, Romans 15 and other places in the New Testament. See those verses and associated notes for more details on this doctrine.

Paul says that he and Barnabas received a commandment from the Lord because God always uses His role as Lord to exercise His authority. Also see notes on Acts 13:48 and Acts 13:49.

Home

Acts 13:48 and when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

Notice that this verse starts with and, which adds it to the prior verse. (Please see the note on Acts 13:47 above and the note on Acts 13:49 below for contextual considerations.) As noted for Acts 8:25, the word of God and the word of the Lord are not the same. Not only is Lord used three times in this section (basis for doctrine), but it says that the Lord gave command (Acts 13:47) and that the Lord saved (as many as were ordained to eternal life believed).

Also note that in Acts 13:7 the deputy of the country'desired to hear the word of God but was saved (in Acts 13:12) when he believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Notice the difference that the Bible makes between the word of God and the doctrine of the Lord. Lost people come to church to hear the word of God but get saved only if they accept it as the doctrine of the Lord. Again, in Acts 13:26 Paul preached the word of God to the Jews and they rejected it. Then in Acts 13:44 we read and the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. One more time we see lost people coming to eat the word of God. In Acts 13:45 the Jews again rejected the word of God but this verse says as many as were ordained to eternal life believed because they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord. That makes two times (sufficient for doctrine) in this chapter that we see lost people come to hear the word of God but only those who accept it as the [word/doctrine] of the Lord get saved.

As noted elsewhere, people are not Biblically saved by 'saying a prayer to Jesus' but by calling upon the name of the Lord. It is in God's legal role as Lord that he blots out the record of sins (violations of God's Law [1John 3:4]). Salvation is by the the [word/doctrine] of the Lord because Lord is the role that God uses for power, authority and all legal matters. The the [word/doctrine] of the Lord is the God given Law that we are to obey, without question, if we are to be saved and if the saved person is to be right with God and avoid punishment at the judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10-11).

Home

Acts 13:49 and the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

Notice that this verse starts with and, which adds it to the prior verses. (Please see the notes on Acts 13:47 and Acts 13:48 above.) The word of the Lord is specifically how to get saved, as already detailed in notes above. These preachers weren't just preaching their religious beliefs and weren't just preaching the word of God but were concentrating on salvation of souls and trust and obedience to the Lord. The word of the Lord is part of (not all of) the word of God.

Home

Acts 14:3 Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

Lord occurs 52 times between Acts 9:1 and Acts 17:1. Jesus occurs 15 times and Christ occurs 9 times. The Son of God is acting far more in His role as Lord more than any other role within this section of this book where we read about the Gospel being taken to Gentiles. Acts 9:1 started the account of the conversion of Saul and the Lord's use of Saul to reach the Gentiles. Over and over, in these chapters, we see religion people fighting against a personal relationship with God and we see the Son of God dealing with that fight through the power and authority of His role as Lord.

In the notes above for Acts 13:47, Acts 13:48 and Acts 13:49, the doctrinal difference between the word of God and the [word/doctrine] of the Lord was covered. In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were preaching the word of God to the Jews. Now they have realized the difference and now they are speaking boldly in the Lord. Back in Acts 13 where Paul and Barnabas preached the word of God to the Jews, they raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts (Acts 13:50). Now when they are speaking boldly in the Lord the reaction is and when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them (Acts 14:5). The very fact that devils who are motivating these people react stronger (demand death instead of persecution) shows how fearful they are of a more effective witness.

In this verse we see signs and wonders done by those speaking boldly in the Lord which shows that the Son of God uses His role as Lord for displaying power and authority.

Home

Acts 14:23 and when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

Please see the notes for 13:47, 13:48, 13:49 and 14:3 where the doctrinal difference between the word of God and the [word/doctrine] of the Lord was covered. Here we read that Paul and Barnabas commended them [every church] to the Lord, on whom they believed. As already noted, believing the word of God or 'saying a prayer to Jesus' is not how the Bible says to get saved. We have to believe on the Lord to get saved. That is to trust and obey the commandment from our Lord to have an ongoing personal relationship with Jesus Christ where we obey His commandments as law and not something we can talk to the man upstairs about.

In Acts 13 Paul and Barnabas preached the word of God and lost Jews raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts (13:50). Then in the start of Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas preached the [word/doctrine] of the Lord and lost Jews made an assault 'to use them despitefully, and to stone them (Acts 14:5). Then in Acts Acts 14:6-10, Paul performed a miracle to prove the provision of the Lord and lost Jews stoned him and left him outside the city (where the garbage heap was kept) thinking he was dead (Acts 14:19). Notice that as Paul and Barnabas become more effective for the Lord they suffer more at the hands of devil motivated lost people. However, even though the Lord allowed them to suffer for the gospel's sake, the Lord protected them because even a stoning couldn't kill Paul. Now imagine someone telling Paul 'I don't believe you' after he was stoned for his beliefs. The God of the Bible believes in put up or shut up (James 2:18, etc). I can't imagine anyone opening their mouth for doctrinal error after facing evidence that opening their mouth might get them stoned.

Paul and Barnabas ordained them elders in every church, and commended them to the Lord because their salvation and ongoing protection was in trusting and obeying the Lord. Again, we see the Son of God use His role as Lord for power, authority protection and appointing men to positions.

Home

Acts 15:17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Please see the note on 14:23 above and the other notes about the Lord in Acts 13 and Acts 14. As mentioned in those notes, the difference between those who received salvation and those who did not get saved was based upon whether they called [upon] the Lord or just heard the word of God with the doctrinal difference being whether or not they were willing to submit to the Lord. Those who refused to submit relied upon keeping religious ruled which led to the controversy and Jerusalem Council. In this verse, James is summarizing the conclusion of this Jerusalem Council. 15:15-17 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

In Acts 15:22-29, the rest of the Jerusalem Council agreed with James and wrote a letter to that effect, which is covered in the note for 15:26 under Lord Jesus Christ. (Please see that note for those details.)

In this verse, Lord is used for God the Father since it is quoting an Old Testament prophecy. However, it also applies to the Son of God who is exactly like God the Father in their roles as Lord and God the Father had turned Lordship of the church over to the Son of God.

Home

Acts 15:35 Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

Please see notes on other verses in Acts 15 as all are related being part of the same message. Contextual considerations require us doing this.

Acts 15 is all about the Council of Jerusalem dealing with the doctrinal error which claimed that sanctification comes from keeping religious rules. As pointed out in the note for Acts 15:26, this doctrine denies the ministry of Christ and denies the ministry of the Son of God as Lord. As Lord, the Son of God gives commandments with the power of Law that we will be judged for at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10-11). section of the commandments from our Lord is that we are to have an ongoing personal relationship with Christ and we are to obey the commandments from Christ as if they were Law, even when those commandments are personal and not given to other Christians.

Here, Paul and Barnabas continued to teach what the Lord had said was Law which included judgment, as opposed to what religious heritage demanded. (Please see the note for Acts 4:36 under Son for details of every place that Acts talks about Barnabas.) The Council at Jerusalem confirmed that the word of the Lord was to be taken above religious heritage when the two are in conflict. Again, we see the Son of God use His role as Lord for power and authority. The word of the Lord is the God given Law that we are to obey, without question, if we are to be saved and that the saved person is to continue to obey for the rest of their life, if they want to be right with God and avoid judgment for disobeying God's law.

Home

Acts 15:36 and some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.

As we have seen in all of the notes related to the word of the Lord in Acts, this is the section of the word of God which brings salvation and sanctification. The word of the Lord is commandments from God which we are to trust and obey because He has power and authority above all other beings and He will judge each and every one of us personally for our obedience to these commandments. As anyone who studies Paul's writing can see, Paul didn't preach a gospel of '123Jesus save me so that I can live for hell and go to a mansion in Heaven'. Things like Romans 6:16 make it very clear that Paul considered the word of the Lord to be something to be trusted and obeyed without argument to the Lord. This is what Paul and Barnabas preached. However, as shown in this chapter, saved people can, and unfortunately do, stray from obeying the word of the Lord. Therefore, Paul was concerned and wanted to check on the churches that he had started and see how they do.

(Please see the note for Acts 4:36 under Son for details of every place that Acts talks about Barnabas.)

Home

Acts Acts 16:10 and after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

Here, Paul was on his second missionary journey and had tried to go East through several different countries and the Holy Ghost kept telling him no (Acts 16:1-8). When Paul received this vision, he assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us. After the Holy Ghost told him no about going East several times, and he received a vision saying go West, he got the message. However, notice that Paul wasn't just 'sitting and waiting' on directions from the Lord, he was actively trying different ways to serve the Lord. Many people preach that we are to 'sit and wait' until the Lord gives us directions, but that is not the example that we find here. Further, we constantly see God passing over the person who is sitting and waiting while God does chose the one who is already busy. Notice in Acts 13:1 that God chose the most active of preachers that are named. In this verse we see the Lord giving directions to someone who is actively seeking to serve Him. We also see the Lord deciding where His gospel is taken and who will be saved.

Home

Acts Acts 16:14 and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

We see Lord used in this verse because it was the Lord who opened her hear'that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. Soul winners often don't realize (or ignore) the fact that Christ doesn't deal with people until after they are saved. Jesus is our Saviour, but so is God the Father and God the Son as Lord and as Christ because there are different aspects to our salvation that are handled by each of these roles. We've seen in this study where lost people sought salvation from Jesus and were not saved but have seen several places that say whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Psalms 116:4; Zechariah 13:9; Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13; please see the note for Acts 2:21 for further references).

We have also seen that there is a doctrinal difference between the word of God and the [word/doctrine] of the Lord. (Please se the notes for Acts 13:47, Acts 13:48, Acts 13:49 and Acts 14:3.) In each of these places and more we have seen the difference is that the Lord has the power to deliver the lost from the control of Satan and sin but the Lord requires us to swear allegiance to Him and to submit and to trust and obey.

Jesus is the weak human role of the Son of God and people don't mind turning to Jesus for salvation, when they would refuse to call on the name of the Lord because they believe that they can argue doctrine with Jesus. That is the difference and those who will not submit and obey without question are not saved. Where Jews in the synagogues argued doctrine with Paul, Lydia had a heart that the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. Because she was willing to submit to and obey the Lord from her heart, she was saved.

Home

Acts Acts 16:15 and when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. and she constrained us.

This verse starts with and, which adds it to the prior verse. (Please see the note above.) Here, Lydia challenged Paul with If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord. She had to leave her religious (Jewish) traditions and prefer the commandments of her Lord above those traditions, and provide visible evidence, before she could make this challenge. This is totally different from what we see from many professing Christians today who feel that they are very spiritual because they attend church regularly. That was what Lydia was doing before she was saved. If it was no crime to be religious but was a crime to display the true Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), she would be found guilty, unlike most professing Christians of today.

Notice that she had to prove that she was faithful to the Lord before she was allowed to do any great work for the Lord such as help start a ministry. However, after she proved to be faithful to the Lord, then she was allowed. Notice that I say 'allowed'. This verse says and she constrained us. Having a church in your house is very inconvenient, and expensive and imposing and other things. It didn't matter if she was sick or wanted to tae a vacation. It didn't matter how much the 'snotty nosed bus kids' made a mess. It obviously didn't matter about any of these things because she constrained us.

Webster's1828 defines constrained as 'Urged irresistibly or powerfully; compelled; forced; restrained; confined; bound; imprisoned; necessitated'. When we honestly consider the great impositions and problems to her life in this world, and consider the effort that she went to in order to get those problems, it should be easy to accept that she believed that the Lord would give her great rewards for eternity that she would not receive any other way. This type of understanding only comes to those who experience the rewards of being faithful to the Lord. (Please see the note for Romans 6:3 in the Book Study on Romans, which provides links to every place in the Bible where baptism is used along with notes on those places in the Bible. That note gives the true Biblical doctrine for baptism.)

Home

Acts Acts 16:32 and they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

Please see the notes for 13:47, 13:48, 13:49 and 14:3 where the doctrinal difference between the word of God and the [word/doctrine] of the Lord was covered. Please also see the note for Acts 16:31 which this verse is added onto.

The word of the Lord is the God given Law that we are to obey, without question, if we are to be saved and if the saved person is to be right with God. As a jailer, the person that Paul was preaching to would understand the principals of law and understand what Paul meant by Lord. Further, those who were in his house would also understand this principal because he would not have advanced to be the head of the jail unless he lived by this principal, which means he would also live by it in his own home.

This verse starts with and, which means it is added unto what came before. In the note for Acts 16:14 (please see it) it was mentioned that Paul avoided problems with the Jewish religious leaders by going to this meeting at the river instead of going to the synagogue. However, Satan wasn't going to be put off from interfering with the gospel and sent a possessed girl to torment Paul and Barnabas (Acts 16:16-18). (Please see the note for Acts 16:18 under Jesus Christ.) As a result, Paul freed the girl from the devil and her masters lost their source of income. They started a riot, had Paul and Silas beat and throne into the prison. Of course, being the type of missionaries that they were, at Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God (Acts 16:25). This resulted in God sending an angel to break the prison and the jailer deciding to kill himself rather than face the torture that would result from all of the prisoners escaping. However, the Lord kept all of the prisoners in an open prison and that was enough to make this jailer understand that he was dealing with the power of God. Once he understood Whom he was dealing with, he joined the winning side. Would that more people did the same instead of telling a lie about receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and then keeping serving the world, their flesh and devils.

Home

Acts 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and earth, dwelleth not in Temples made with hands;

Verses 17:24 through 17:28 form a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

Acts 17:22-31 has Paul's message to the religious lost at Athens. Acts 17:32-34 has the reaction to Paul's message. The Detailed Note, in the Book Study, has considerable doctrine explained which is presented in the sentence which this verse belongs to. In addition, the next verse (see below) is also part of the same sentence and says that men should seek the Lord. That is, they should search for, and try to please, the most powerful being and not waste their time trying to appease lesser beings. Paul also indicates that the Lord is near and that those that find the Lord will be happy, even though many don't actually find the Lord. This implies the warning of dying lost and facing the judgment of the Lord if we do not truly seek the Lord. Please see the note below for more details.

In our current verse, we are told that the true God controls all of Heaven and earth. (He is Lord of Heaven and earth.) And, that He is not limited to a particular building (dwelleth not in Temples made with hands), like they believed their gods were limited.

Paul uses Lord in this verse for the most powerful being that exists (God) and that wee are to obey without question.

Home

Acts 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Please see the note on 17:24 above. That verse and this verse are in a single sentence, which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

Since we have no power to object to what the Lord wants us to do, and since the primary thing that the Lord wants us to do is seek the Lord, we should understand what the Bible means by this phrase. It tells us the results of obeying this command and the results of disobeying.

Paul uses Lord in this verse for the God that we are to seek to know and obey with our whole life. God expects us to do what he means by seek the Lord and will punish those who do not do what he means by this phrase.

Home

Acts 18:8 and Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

Again we see that it takes believing on the Lord to overcome false religion, especially among Jews. Please see the note for Acts 18:5 and the note for Acts 18:9, below for more details on this account and verse. (Please see the note for Romans 6:3 in the Book Study on Romans, which provides links to every place in the Bible where baptism is used along with notes on those places in the Bible. That note gives the true Biblical doctrine for baptism.)

Notice that he believed on the Lord. This means that he believed the Old Testament scriptures which told him what the Lord required. And, it means that he understood and obeyed the Lord even when it went against popular religious traditional doctrine. In addition, all his house believed. Unlike many of today, he ruled all his house and he made sure that they understood the same scriptures as he understood so that they also believed.

Home

Acts 18:9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

Verses 18:9-10 form a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

One of the reason that Lord is used here is because the Lord wanted obedience without challenge and Paul understood that he could object and question Jesus or Christ but not the Lord. In addition, Lord is used here because these people were saved but remained spiritually immature. If they were maintaining their ongoing personal relationship with Christ or following the example of Jesus they would have become more spiritually mature. However, before 1Corinthians was written, many of them were acting like tax-cheats who insist that they are good citizens because they haven't done time. Like many people of this type, they over-reacted when they were made to see how the sinner made them look to others. However, the change in tone of 2Corinthians shows that many of them actually did mature spiritually.

In this verse, Lord is used because it is through the role of Lord that God established governments and as Lord he had established a government which would prevent the persecution that Paul had experienced elsewhere. Lord is also used because God had much people in this city and we are saved by calling upon the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13; also see those notes for further references) and not by 'saying a prayer to Jesus' or obeying rules that supposedly come from Christ. (Calling upon the name of the Lord means: 'Trusting in His power and authority as the greatest power and authority that exists anywhere'.) Finally, Lord is also used in this verse because it is the Lord Who tells us where to go and how to minister, as the Lord did with Paul in this verse.

Home

Acts 18:25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

Acts 18:28 tells us that Apollos changed his preaching after being corrected by these non-preachers. (Please also see the note on Acts 18:28). In this verse, Lord is used for God the Father of the Old Testament who gave us the way of the Lord. Please see the note for this verse, in the Book Study, for links to where this phrase is used in the Bible. In all 4 gospels we see the message of John the Baptist, whose basic message was Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Most Jews, and many people today, think that the way of the Lord is religious rules as found in the Mosaic Law and 10 commandments. However, notice that John said make his paths straight. This is speaking about a person. That is, make the way to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ straight and not through all of the winding requirements of religion.

Further, John 14:6 tells us Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. So when this verse says that Apollos was instructed in the way of the Lord, it means that he was instructed in what the Jewish religion taught was the way of the Lord but he had not met the person Who is the way of the Lord. We see many similar people today who make more than one profession. We can only hope that their final was a profession of a personal relationship with the Lord, Who is our true Saviour.

One interesting fact, pointed out by a preacher, is that, in the Book of Acts, Jesus is presented as Saviour only twice but we find the title of Lord 110 times in 102 verses. The true doctrine which turned the world upside down was that Jesus is truly Lord Jesus Christ.

Home

Acts 20:19 Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:

2Acts 0:18-21 is a single sentence which divided by punctuation In the Book Study. Please also see the notes for Acts 20:21, Acts 20:24 and Acts 20:35 which are part of this section. In particular, please see the note on 20:21 because it is part of the same sentence as our current verse.

Paul uses Lord, in this sentence, as the God who has authority to order us to do anything, including giving our life for Him. In this sverse, Paul says how he served the Lord as part of his testimony and he was calling on the elders of Ephesus to verify his testimony. This verse says that Paul served the Lord and knew that he would be judged by the Lord. Before he went to that judgment, he made sure that these elders of this church had nothing against him that he might have to answer for. We should do likewise.

Home

Acts 21:14 and when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.

This verse is tied to 21:13, which is part of Paul's answer. Please also see the note on 21:13 under Lord Jesus. In that verse, Paul stated that he was willing to suffer and die for the Lord. People were trying to persuade him to consider the consequences and Paul's basic answer, as seen in this verse, was that consequences of this life were not to be considered when they opposed an order given by our Lord. Matthew 6:10; 26:39, 42; Luke 11:2; 22:42 all teach us to submit to the will of the Lord even in the face of torture and death. Our Lord Jesus gave us the example of how to submit to the will of the Lord. Please see the Section called Sequence of the Betrayal of Jesus in the the Study called Gospel Time Sequences for the prophecies of Jesus Christ being betrayed. Please see the Sections called Harmony, Prophecies and Prophecies Fulfilled, in the Study called Significant Gospel Events, for references to verses related to the suffering of Jesus Christ. Please see the Section called Appearances of Jesus Christ After the Resurrection, in the the Study called Gospel Time Sequences, and several Sections in the Study called Significant Gospel Events, for the prophecies of Christ rising from the dead.

Home

Acts 21:20 and when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

Acts 21:20-21 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

Starting in Acts 21:15, we read about Paul arriving in Jerusalem for the last time. Here, he is reporting to all the elders of the Jerusalem church all that God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry (Acts 21:20). The response from the elders is in Acts Acts 21:20-25. The rest of the book of Acts tells us the various consequences that resulted from this decision. Among other results God allowed the Temple to be destroyed a short time after this decision so that these saved but spiritually immature Jews would understand that they were to stop keeping the religious section of the Mosaic Law. In addition, God allowed the destruction of this church because they insisted upon keeping religious traditions even after God made it clear that those religious traditions were to be stopped.

This church did not repent of their error of supporting compromise and suffered judgment from the Lord as a result. Our lesson hers is that we can not make God the Lord of some sections of our doctrine while refusing to submit in other areas of doctrine and expect to not be punished. We also can not support and keep in our midst people who teach doctrinal error without also being judge with them for their doctrinal error. Lord is used in this verse as the role that God uses to exercise His power and authority. If we do not submit to everything that God says through that role, we will be judged for it at some point.

Home

Acts 22:10 and I said, What shall I do, Lord? and the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

Here, Paul is reciting his conversion experience from Acts 9. Please also see notes on verses related to Paul's conversion in Acts 9. Some people preach on the differences between the three reciting of Paul's conversion, but they are not relevant to this study. Basically, Paul's reciting all agree with each other but different facts are emphasized based upon the circumstances that Paul found himself in and the type of audience that he was addressing. As seen throughout Acts and Paul's writings, he believed in obeying his personal Lord without question or objection.

Acts 21 tells of Paul going to Jerusalem and reporting to the church there all that the Lord had done. (Please see the note for Acts 21:20 above.) The church demanded that Paul go to the Temple and do a religious thing in order to satisfy the religious demands of spiritually immature members. They should have taught those members what the Lord had proved was His will and told them to grow up, but they compromised instead. As Paul was obeying their command, Acts 21:27 tells us and when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,. There is reason to believe that Paul was there only at the command of the elders of the Jerusalem church, but we can't know for sure. We do know that shortly after this God brought judgment upon all of Jerusalem, including this church.

Regardless of that, when these religious fanatical Jews started a riot with their lies, God sent word to the local authorities (Acts 21:31) Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them. Like most authorities, they sought to end the problem as quickly as possible by arresting Paul (21:33) but then they tried to find out what happened. When the local authorities couldn't calm things down (21:34-37) Paul got permission to speak and God calmed the crowd down long enough to hear Paul's testimony (21:40 - 22:22). When Paul's testimony used the word of God to prove that their religious doctrine was in error, these people refused to submit to the Lord of all creation and starting rioting again. While we can see their error by 'hindsight', we can also see many people making the same error today. When they stand and before God in judgment and God brings this incident up, it will be impossible for these people to claim that God never told them the truth of how to be saved. They will not be able to deny that they personally rejected God's truth in favor of man's religion. Unfortunately, many people today will have the same truth proven against them by God. What's worse is that many of God's children are committing this same error even while they have the Spirit of God to show them the truth.

This verse is part of Paul's testimony to this riotous crowd of Jewish religious fanatics. He started out by letting them know that he was like them by speaking unto them in the Hebrew tongue (Acts 21:40) and calling them Men, brethren, and fathers (Acts 22:1) and claiming to be a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia (Acts 22:3) and claiming the best religious education yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, (Acts 22:3) and claiming to be a like fanatic was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. and I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women (Acts 22:3-4) and claiming the most accepted legal witness As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders (Acts 22:5) and claiming legal documentation to verify his claims from whom also I received letters unto the brethren (Acts 22:5). With all of these credentials, they would have a hard time refusing to listen, once they heard Paul's credentials. God made then shut up and calm down long enough to decide Paul was their kind of religious hero and they became quiet and listened to him. That's when Paul's testimony changed from the direction they expected it to go and Paul essentially proved that the Lord demanded different actions than what their religion expected. In Acts 22:6-7 Paul told of the kind of miracle and 'vision' that they were all familiar with. By the way, today most preachers use a non-Biblical definition for 'vision' when they preach. What they preach as a 'vision' is what the Bible calls hope. In the Bible, vision means a Word from God. In 1 Samuel 3:1 tells us and the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision. After God gave Samuel His Word, 1 Samuel 3:15 tells us and Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision. 1 Samuel 3:17 says What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? Between these, it should be easy to see that the Bible equates the word of the LORD / the LORD hath said unto thee to vision. In addition, the most used verse is Proverbs 29:18. Unfortunately, most people have been taught to follow the devil's example and only use the first half of this verse while leaving out section so that they can change the meaning. Proverbs 29:18 says Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. 'The' means 'there is only one and here it is' (John 14:6). Therefore, in Proverbs 29:18 the people who perish are the ones with no vision. The opposite of no vision (due to the colon followed by but) is he that keepeth the law. Of course, we have to have the word of God in order to keepeth the law.

Returning to our account, Paul related a miracle and 'vision' is a way well understood by these fanatical religious Jews. 1Corinthians 1:22 tells us For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. We don't seek the same type of proof as the Jews seek because we are Greeks. However, God did give these Jews the type of proof that they sought. Where Paul reacted properly to God's proof, these fanatical religious Jews rejected God's proof. Thereby, they proved to be like all that killed their own prophets and the Son of God. They deliberately rejected what they were proved to be a Word from God in favor of their religious beliefs. Unfortunately, there are many religious people who do the same today. More than once I have shown people many verses which prove their religious doctrine to be wrong and show them the correct doctrine and show them the advantages of the correct doctrine. While they can not dispute all of the proof that I show them, many have told me that what I showed was the meat and most people could only handle milk so God wanted them to continue teaching error that was accepted by milk loving immature Christians (1Corinthians 3:1-9). That's what these people did here and they brought great judgment from the Lord upon themselves, their children and all that were in their 'ministry'. This verse used Lord for the role of God that demands complete obedience and that brings judgment upon the disobedient.

Home

Acts 22:16 and now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Here, Paul is reciting his conversion experience from Acts 9. He does it again in Acts 26. Please also see the notes on verses in chapter 9 and 26 about Paul's testimony. Please also see the note for 22:10 (above) for more details about this testimony and Paul's use of Lord in it. Some people preach on the differences between the three reciting of Paul's conversion, but they are not relevant to this study. As seen throughout Acts and Paul's writings, he believed in obeying his personal Lord without question or objection. Here, Paul says he was told to call on the name of the Lord. Please see the note for Luke 13:35 about the phrase the name of the Lord. If the reader searches these verses they will find that the name of the Lord is associated with joining the side of the Lord in the spiritual warfare. He provides protection and all things that a lord is responsible to provide. We provide service, submission, loyalty and all that a soldier and servant owe to their Lord. Included in these verses is the command to not take the name of the Lord in vain, which means 'don't claim to be on the Lord's side while you live for the world, the flesh and the devil'. When Paul was told to be baptized, and wash away thy sins he understood that these things did not save him but provided the proof that he was saved and not some liar. If we really are saved we will want to be identified with our Lord (be baptized Please see the note for Romans 6:3 in the Book Study on Romans, which provides links to every place in the Bible where baptism is used along with notes on those places in the Bible. That note gives the true Biblical doctrine for baptism.) and we will want to stop our personal sinning (wash away thy sins). Paul submitted and obeyed to the extent expected and had an effect upon all around him as a result. Unfortunately, many claim to have called on the name of the Lord today, but their refusal to do what is really meant by that phrase prevents their having any effect for the Lord that they claim.

Home

Acts 22:19 and I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:

Acts 22:19-20 is a single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as:

Paul confessed his sinful actions.

And I said,
Lord,
they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:

Paul confessed his sinful attitudes.

and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed,
I also was standing by,
and consenting unto his death,
and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

Here, Paul is reciting his conversion experience from Acts 9. He does it again in Acts 26. Please also see the notes on verses in chapter 9 and 26 about Paul's testimony, especially 22:8 under Lord Jesus and 22:10 and Acts 16 above. As seen throughout Acts and Paul's writings, he believed in obeying his personal Lord without question or objection.

In 22:17 Paul starts telling about a second 'vision' that he received which relates to the rejection of his testimony by the Jews. In this second 'vision', the Lord told Paul that the Jews will not receive thy testimony concerning me (22:18). The Jews knew, but rejected, prophecies that told of God extending His Kingdom to the Gentiles. They also rejected the prophecies which said that God would take it from the Jews. These things really upset them because they did all of their religious activities to get the Kingdom and these prophecies (essentially) told them that they wasted their lives. In addition, the prophecies also said that the despised Gentiles would get what they believed was theirs by right of birth. In addition, this mob was gathered and started in their riotous behaviour by Jews which were of Asia (Acts 21:7). They were some of the first Jews who were reminded of prophecy saying they would loose the kingdom (Acts 13:14-47) and that the Lord told Paul I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles (Acts 22:21). They have been trying to kill Paul for obeying the Lord ever since Acts 13.

Paul telling these fanatical religious Jews about his conversion is one thing. However, in this second version he is telling them that their Lord told him to turn against the Jewish religious leaders and against what they were relying upon to save their soul. (The Jews who started this riot are not Biblically saved.) In addition, he is reminding them that he used to be the most fanatical of their group. If he could be turned then they had no guarantee that they couldn't be turned and that destroyed any assurance that they believed they had. After all, they weren't relying upon God but were relying upon their own religious efforts with the belief that the greater the religious efforts the greater assurance of salvation and reward. When the most fanatical of them got turned, that shook their assurance. However, what really pushed them over the edge was hearing that their Lord had chosen the hated Gentiles over them. Acts 22:22 says and they gave him audience unto this word. They thought they had religious justification for racial prejudice and Paul just told them that God disproved of their racial prejudice. Many religions believe that their religion justifies racial prejudice. However, the true Lord of the whole world is no respecter of persons and never approves of racial prejudice. (We find the phrase no respecter of persons in: Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:25 and 2:1. Also explained in the notes for Romans 14:10-LJC; Romans C7S3 and Romans C10S13. Please also see Romans C10S13 about the phrase no difference in people).

Home

Acts 23:11 and the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

This verse follows Paul's causing a split in the Temple Council by saying that he was called into question because of the resurrection. Paul had reason to be afraid for his life. He was assured by the Lord because it is the Lord that protects us when we are doing His will.

Home

Acts 25:26 Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my Lord. Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, of king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to write.

A lower-case lord is used in this verse to identify Caesar as having a position (in human government) above the Roman governor who is speaking. This is the only lower-case lord used in the book of Acts. In this chapter, the governor (Festus) is passing a problem 'up the line' but getting another government official (king Agrippa) to also sign the papers so that he can be blamed if there are any problems from above. In Acts 24:26-27 we find that Felix left Paul bound because Paul did not pay a bribe and Felix was willing to shew the Jews a pleasure. Then Festus took over the position of governor (Festus came into Felix' room [Acts 24:27]) and left Paul bound. Since he wasn't sure what to do with Paul that wouldn't cause problems, he told the problem to king Agrippa when he visited. Notice that he is wise in how he does this because Acts 25:23 tells us that king Agrippa came in with great pomp. This was not a problem for king Agrippa and Proverbs 26:17 tells us He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. Grabbing a dog by the ears is a good way to get bit. However, even people in high positions can be fools. For a short time with great pomp, king Agrippa allowed himself to be set-up to take the blame if anything went wrong. We don't know what happened within the human government as a result of lower level officials not resolving this matter, but it is pretty well agreed that in God's government, king Agrippa was found wanting and is believed to never have got things right so that he could avoid the Lake of Fire (Revelation Acts 19:20; 20:10, 14-15). This verse uses lord for a human ruler but also shows us that when we are dealing with a human lord, we need to be concerned about God as Lord because a human lord represents Him.

Home

Jesus Only

Acts 1:1, 11, 14, Acts 16; 2:22, 32; 3:13, 26; 4:2, 13, 18, 27, 30; 5:30, 40; 6:14; 7:45, 55; 8:35; 10:38; 13:33; 17:7, 18; 19:15; 25:19; 28:23

Jesus is used in Acts to identify a man, to identify the role of 'God in human flesh' and both. In general, lost people consider Jesus to be just a man. Saved people consider Jesus to be 'God in human flesh'. However, in Acts, saved people sometimes use Jesus to identify the man when they are starting to witness to a lost person. In each of these cases, they are reasoning with the lost person to convince them that Jesus is more than a man and is in fact 'God in human flesh'. The Bible does not call Him Lord Jesus until after the resurrection. That is when He used His own power as God. Before His death, He used the power of the Holy Ghost for all of His miracles. Click here for all of the Verses that use Jesus and here for the Summary on the name / role of Jesus.

Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, of Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Our sentence uses the name of Jesus for the literal physical man' who began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up and also did the other things in our sentence, which is thefirst four verses.

Home

Acts 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven.

Acts 1:10 and the first section of 1:11 is a single sentence while the second section of 1:11 is another sentence. Together they tell us about the angels delivering a message from God to the church. These sentences can be divided by punctuation as:

The physical 'God in man' named Jesus will physically return to Earth as promised by God through His messengers known as angels.

How the angels appeared.

And while they looked stedfastly toward Heaven as he went up,
behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel;

What the angels said.

Which also said,
Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into Heaven?

The physical 'God in man' named Jesus will physically return to Earth the same way as He went.

this same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into Heaven,
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven.

In this message, the angels say this same Jesus or 'this same physical man'. However, we know that He is coming back in the power and authority of the Lord God. Therefore, we have another verse, like many others in Acts, which tells us (doctrinally) that the man Jesus is also Lord God. We also know that He is physically different from us and no longer has the corruption of death in His body since He has to be still physically alive after over 2, 000 years in order to return and this same Jesus. 1Corinthians 15 and other places promise those who are saved (and some contend meet additional requirements of service) to return to this Earth with Him. Those who return with Him shall be like Him. That means they also will have bodies which do not have the corruption of death.

We have seen as the very beginning of this book that the church is promised the Holy Ghost to help them while they live on this Earth and are also promised rewards after their death for letting God work through their lives. Some claim that the true title of this book is 'The Acts of the Apostles' and others claim that it is 'The Acts of the Holy Ghost'. What is clear is that these people acted differently after they received the Holy Ghost and their lives proved that the Son of God was their Lord. People today claim to have the same doctrine and promises as these people but don't have the same fruit from God in their lives. Somebody has been lied to or is playing the fool and I doubt that it is God.

This verse uses Jesus for the physical man who lived in the flesh by the power of the Holy Ghost and was our example. These people in Acts went out and lived a life that showed that they followed His example. If we want their promised rewards, we also have to live a life that follows the example of Jesus.

Home

Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

This verse also tells us about the humanity of Jesus by mentioning His mother and brethren. Some churches teach that all mention of the brethren of Jesus means spiritual brethren or that the brethren are other sons of Joseph that were from a prior marriage. Such teaching is a lie. It is used to try and deny the truth in order to eliminate Biblical evidence that Mary had children besides Jesus. The doctrine that Mary is some 'eternal virgin' and 'mother of God' that never sinned is a lie as shown by Luke 1:46-47 and Matthew 12:46-50 and Mark 3:31-35 and other verses. The Bible clearly names other children of Mary (Matthew 13:55-56; Mark 6:3) and says that she had sons (plural) and daughters.

While there is good evidence that these brethren of Jesus were not saved before the resurrection, their presence here shows that they were saved during the 40 days between the resurrection and ascension.

This verse uses Jesus to show that 'God in human flesh' was completely human who had a physical mother and physical brethren. While Mary was His physical mother and gave Him His physical body, she was not the 'mother of God' because she could not give Him His Divine nature. The Holy Ghost was His physical father and gave Him His divine nature.

Home

Acts 1:16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.

This verse is the start of Peter's speech that led people to chose a replacement for Judas Iscariot, which they had no right to do and which God ignored. (THe rest of the chapter is part of the same report on this incident.) The associated notes for these verses should be considered together.)

Think about it. We can't choose who will be ambassador but the president/government makes that choice and the only say we have in it is if they choose to listen to us. Jesus prayed all night before choosing those that God the Father told Him to choose. This is another area that God reserves for His role as Lord.

Notice that God chose to overlook Peter's error at this time but in the middle of the book of Acts we stop hearing about Peter and start hearing about Paul. This would have been about the time that Peter started preaching the error of keeping the Mosaic Law for sanctification. The point is that errors which God overlooks in our spiritual infancy can have considerable consequences if done later in our spiritual life. We want to be very careful that we do not step into some area that God has reserved for Himself while we try to do the work of God.

In this verse, Peter mentions that men took Jesus and crucified Him. That is, they took the physical human man named Jesus and physically crucified Him. Men will not do the same to the Lord when He returns. Other verses (Romans 5, etc), that I won't go into at this time, tells us that since man sinned, it had to be a man who paid for sin in order for God to remain a righteous judge and righteously wipe away sin. This verse reminds us that Jesus was a man when He paid for our sins.

Home

Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

This verse is part of the first sentence of Peter's Pentecost message after quoting the prophet Joel. He quoted Joel to explain that the people filled with the Holy Ghost were not drunk but had received the blessing that was foretold to come through Christ. Peter then uses this answer and quote as a basis for his message that God hath made that same Jesus...both Lord and Christ. In this verse, we are told that Peter used Jesus of Nazareth to emphasize that He was a was a literal physical man.

Verses 2:22 through 2:24 is a single sentence that gives the outline for Peter's proof that Jesus is Lord and Christ. That was the end of Peter's message and he did not give an invitation, like preachers do today, but God's Holy Ghost still made the listeners ask Men and brethren, what shall we do?.

Please also see the notes for 2:30 and 2:31 under Christ for those details.

In this sentence, Peter uses Jesus of Nazareth to make it very clear that he is talking of a literal physical man who did not have religious approval but Who was approved of God.

Home

Acts 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

In particular, see notes for Act 2:30 and Act 2:31 as they directly feed this verse and are critical to proper understanding of this verse.

God resurrected Jesus just like king David prophesied that God would do with Christ and the hundred and twenty disciples, who were demonstrating the spiritual gift of tongues were witnesses to the resurrection. Therefore, the Jews not only had the witness from so many people but all of those people were also demonstrating the power of God in their lives, which meant that God backed their witness. To reject the witness from these people was to reject the witness from God.

Peter has quoted scripture and used common religious knowledge of the Jews to remind them that King David was a prophet. As a prophet, King David had prophesied the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The Jewish religion couldn't explain the scripture that Peter used because it was denting that they would kill God's Christ and resurrection isn't possible without a death first. So Peter shows them the failing of their religion to properly interpret the scriptures, thereby eliminating any argument based upon the conclusions of religion. Peter also shows them that God had raised Christ from the dead as prophesied King David. He now states what the disciples were witnesses to. That was that God has raised the man Jesus from the dead. Peter is using these statements as steps in his argument that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Jesus is used here to name the literal physical man.

Home

Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

This verse clearly, and doctrinally, declares Jesus to be the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God in human flesh. However, there is more here. All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts. In addition, Everything in 3:12-26 ispart of the same message from Peter within this account and all of the verses within Peter's message should be considered together, with the matching notes. (Everything that is in Lord is also in Son because Lord is a role of the Son of God.) Peter is doctrinally telling these Jews, in a way they understand because of their Jewish religion, that Jesus is also God's Christ because even unlearned and ignorant (Acts 4:13) Jews understood that God's Christ was the Son of God (Matthew Acts 16:16; 26:63; Mark 1:1; Luke 4:41; John 6:69; 11:27; 20:31).

There is additional information for this verse is in the note under Son. Please see it also.

Home

Acts 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

This verse clearly, and doctrinally, declares Jesus to be the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God in human flesh. However, there is more here. All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts. In addition, Everything in Acts 3:12-26 is part of the same message from Peter and all of the verses within Peter's message should be considered together, with the matching notes. In particular, the specific interpretation of this verse, and its placement within this study, are noted in the Book Study Detailed Note for Acts 3:13.

Not only does this verse tell us that Jesus is the Son of God, but it also tells us that God the Father raised Him from the dead. Jesus is the only person ever raised from the dead without God working through a man to do so.

Next, our verse tells us that God raised Him for our benefit and to bless us. However, that blessing is in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. If we refuse to turn away from our own iniquities ('lifestyle sins'), then we are rejecting, or abusing, God's blessings.

Home

Acts 4:2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

Acts 4:1-2 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts. The notes for Acts 3 deal with Peter's message which resulted in more souls being saved than were saved at Pentecost. Acts 4 deals with the reaction of the religious leadership to the obvious working of God.

This verse very definitely uses Jesus to note the human (man) qualities of the Son of God.

This verse (as all of the verses in New Testament do) uses Jesus for the literal physical man Who was/is 'God in human flesh'. The church understood and preached that the man Jesus was God in the human flesh. The lost people, especially the lost religious people, agreed that Jesus was a man, but disagreed that He was God in the human flesh. Today, many people will agree that Jesus is a man, but we need to verify, and not just assume, that the Jesus they are talking about is also 'God in human flesh'. Since this verse is talking about the religious leaders Being grieved, it uses Jesus for the name of a specific man.

Home

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

This verse uses Jesus because there was a real visible change in the lives of people that had been with Jesus. The note in the Book Study explains this verse.

Home

Acts 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts.

This verse uses Jesus because it is the way that lost men insisted upon identifying Him while they denied that He was/is 'God in human flesh'. We need to be careful that others mean the same thing as we do when we use Jesus.

Home

Acts 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

This verse uses Jesus to identify the man known as Jesus of Nazareth. But, more than that, it declares Jesus to be 'God in human flesh'.

4:27 and 4:28 form a single sentence in the middle of a prayer / praise that the church made after Peter and John reported everything involved in Acts 3 and Acts 4.

In 4:26, the church stated that their prayer was directed to the Lord (God the Father), which makes thy holy child Jesus to be a doctrinal statement that the man Jesus is God the Son in the flesh. In addition, this sentence is one of the places in the Bible that people go to in order to claim that God predestines people to do evil and go to Hell. The truth is that God determines that certain actions will happen. People fight to be the person to fulfill those roles. Blaming God for something like this is like blaming God for someone dying after they jump from a vast height and splatter their brains on the ground. Yes, God made the Law of Gravity but that person chose to violate it and it is his fault for making that choice. section of this verse says that the people of Israel did this thing. However, those in this prayer meeting are part of the people of Israel. Therefore, some of the people of Israel chose to not partisipate, which shows that they had a choice.

Home

Acts 4:30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts.

This is part of the same sentence as 4:29. Please see the note for 4:29 for the details on this verse.

Home

Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

In this verse, Peter uses Jesus to identify the physical man that these religious leaders insisted was only a man. He also did it in the middle of a six point proof that the Spiritual is greater than the physical, which also proved that Jesus is 'God in human flesh' and not 'just a man'.

Home

Acts 5:40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

The Apostles were caught in an escalating fight between the forces of Satan (high priest and religious rulers) and the forces of God (church) that started at Pentecost (in the book of Acts). The religious rulers were caught by surprise with Pentecost and wrote it off as a fluke. However, they started fighting back with the miracle that Peter and John did. That account started in Act 3 and even though the religious rulers were afraid of the people, they were so mad at the Apostles that they wanted to kill them (5:33). One of their number, Gamaliel, was more in touch with the people and convinced the rulers to take a less active role in the fight unless they found themselves fighting against God (5:39). They finally agreed to do as this verse says and vent their anger and frustration with just a beating and not with death. They then repeated the prior (ignored) commandment that they should not speak in the name of Jesus. Again, these rulers used Jesus to identify a man whom they insisted was 'just a man' regardless of all of the evidence from God (signs and wonders [5:12]) and all of the quoted scripture. The lesson is clear. The religious man has no objection to our spiritual life so long as it does not result in a witness in this world that they can't explain away. When they couldn't explain away the miracles of Jesus, they killed Him. They could have partially explained away the miracles of the Apostles except for the fact that they kept linking them to the man Jesus and His ministry. A bunch of independent people doing similar things is easier to handle than the same people joined in a common cause. The world has far less trouble with independent fanatics than it has when those fanatics are part of a church. We will have more of an impact on this world when we join together with other men of like faith and action. However, we have to be prepared to suffer in this world, as these believers said in their prayer that they were willing to suffer. (Please see the note for 4:29 under Lord.)

Home

Acts 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

We see a truth in this verse. Stephen was accused of saying that Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place. This place was the physical building that was supposed to house God, Who is a Spirit. Our body is just 'clothing' (2Corinthians 5:1-4) for our soul and spirit. These Jews used Jesus of Nazareth to refer to the physical man while disregarding the soul and spirit within it. Religious men always emphasize the physical and honor the building while ignoring the spirit within the place. What Jesus of Nazareth had proved and Stephen was repeating was that the physical is only a covering for the spiritual and that the spiritual is far more important than the physical. If you destroy the physical then the Spiritual (God) can restore it. However, if you let the spiritual be destroyed, the physical can do nothing for the spiritual.

This verse uses Jesus of Nazareth for the physical man Who had His body destroyed and then restored by God's Holy Spirit.

Home

Acts 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

This verse is one of the two places that Stephen uses Jesus and he does not mean Jesus of Nazareth but means Joshua. However, a significant section of Stephen's argument is to draw parallels between Jesus of Nazareth and historical Jewish heroes. Joshua led the campaign to gain the Promised Land and get the Jews out from under God's judgment while they wandered in the wilderness. So, Jesus is used here for Joshua in a deliberate parallel to Jesus of Nazareth. Our Jesus gets us out from under God's judgment (gets us out of condemnation to Hell and the Lake of Fire) and leads us into a true Christian walk (Today's Promised Land).

Just as the Jews that followed the leadership of Joshua were blessed and those that disobeyed were punished by God, so also is the saved person blessed or punished by God for how well they obey the example of Jesus as they live in the flesh. Please also see the note for Hebrews 4:8, which also uses Jesus for Joshua and equates living in the Promised Land to the rest from the Lord. In Hebrews, as I have claimed here, some of God's people entered and some were not allowed to enter based upon if they lived their claimed faith or not. This verse says our fathers...brought in with Jesus to point out that they entered the Promised Land only if they followed their Jesus. Even so, we will only enter our Promised Land if we follow the example of our Jesus.

Home

Acts 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into Heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

Acts 7:55-56 are the same sentence which are divided by punctuation in the Book Study on Acts. Acts 7:54-60 tells us of the reaction of the council to having their sin made clear to them. Instead of getting right with the Lord, they martyred His messenger Stephen.

Here we read that Jesus was on the right hand of God which means He is in the position of our Lord. In Mark 12:35-35 Jesus quoted Psalms 110:1 to show these same religious leaders that they were wrong in the authority they tried to steal from God. (Often when someone quotes just the first part of a chapter in scripture they assume that their audience understands that they mean the entire chapter.) Psalms 110 talks about the reign of God's Christ and these Jewish religious leaders understood that Jesus was applying the entire Psalms 110 to them. They understood that God told His Christ to rule thou in the midst of thine enemies (Psalms 110:2) and The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath (Psalms 110:5). They could not be qualified as religious leaders without knowing and understanding this Psalms and understand the message that they were the ones that The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through. Now Stephen quotes this Psalms, when he says Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. and tells them that the Jesus Whom they crucified is The Lord at thy right hand. They had to understand that they might kill the messenger of the Lord but the day was coming when they would stand before Him and he would judge them.

In addition, Stephen says that he ...saw...Jesus standing on the right hand of God and the next verse tells us that Stephen said . I see...the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. So, we have a definition from while Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost. Stephen tells us that Jesus is the Son of man. This means that Jesus is 'God in human flesh' who is physically in Heaven on the right hand of God.

Home

Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

Acts 8:26-40 has Philip preaching again but he has different results from those he had in the beginning of the chapter. All of Acts 8 is related and all verses as notes should be considered together. However, at a minimum those in this sub-account should be considered as a group.

This verse starts with Then because it comes after a question by the Ethiopian eunuch. When Philip got to this man, he was reading about the suffering of Christ in Isaiah 53. (Please see the Sections called Harmony, Prophecies and Prophecies Fulfilled, in the Study called Significant Gospel Events, for references to verses related to the suffering of Jesus Christ.) Since Jesus was the man who suffered for us, and that was where the eunuch was reading, Philip started from where he was at.

As explained in the Book Study, Philip was a deacon and the Samaritans did not get saved because Jesus only gave the apostles the right to open the door of salvation to half-Jews and to Gentiles. Therefore, peter and John had to go to the Samaritans before they could receive God's Holy Ghost. However, the door was already open for this half-Jew Ethiopian.

In addition to that legal spiritual change, we also see that Philip preached the same Gospel but with different details and a different emphasis. The Samaritans and the Ethiopian had different perspectives and different knowledge of scripture. But both needed true Biblical salvation. That is why the same Gospel was preached but with different details and different emphasis.

Philip preached unto him Jesus. However, notice that this is different than when he preached Christ unto the Samaritans (Acts 8:5) and Philip received a different result. Instead of preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 8:12) and all of the blessings that Christ would bring, Philip preached a chapter which tells about our suffering Saviour and ends with the reward that God gave Him (Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong) because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12). Instead of just preaching the blessings, Philip also preached (this time) the cost and the difference in the message produced different result.

Since Philip was a deacon from the church at Jerusalem, and Peter had just helped Philip's church, we can conclude that what Philip preached about Jesus was the same as Peter preached. (Please see Peter's two prior messages in Acts 2 and Acts 4 with their related notes.) Just like Peter did, Philip would have shown the eunuch how the man Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah and, therefore, was the Christ, was Lord and 'God in human flesh'. He showed that God rewards our service, but punishes lack of service. Please also see the note for 8:37 under Jesus Christ about the confession of the Ethiopian eunuch.

Home

Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Acts 10:36-38 is a single sentence which is divided and explained in the note for 10:36 under Lord Jesus Christ. Please see that note for the majority of the explanation of this verse.

In this verse, Peter tells us that the man, Jesus of Nazareth had power from God through the Holy Ghost. The religious Jew (and many today) only looked at the fact that Jesus was a man. Peter gives us the evidence that He had the Holy Ghost and, therefore, God was with him. This verse tells us something that some Christians have a hard time accepting. Jesus did not do His works with His own power as the Son of God but did them through the Holy Ghost, which He gave to us also. The Son of God set aside His own power and authority when He became man. (Please see the note for Acts 2:36.) Many people continue to sin and claim that it is not possible to stop sinning. When Jesus (our standard) is pointed out to them, they claim that Jesus was 'God in human flesh' and, therefore, could do what we can't do. While this is true, Jesus did not use His own power as God. If He did, then God would not be righteous in applying His death as payment for our sins (See Romans 5 and associated notes) and there would be no reason for the Father to give Jesusthe Holy Ghost. Jesus lived sinless in the flesh by the power of the same Holy Ghost that is given to us. Here, Peter uses Jesus of Nazareth to point out His humanity and the fact that as a man, Jesus of Nazareth relied upon the Holy Ghost and not His own power as the Son of God when He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Home

Acts 13:23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

This verse is part of the first recorded message by Paul which started in 13:14 and goes through 13:41. Paul repeats the history of the Jews and, in the process, tells them that the man Jesus fulfilled God's prophecies about the Savior that would come through the line of David.

Home

Acts 13:33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

13:32-33 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

In this sentence, the name of Jesus is used as 'a literal physical man who physically dies and was physically resurrected'. And, the context of this verse gives us the doctrinal significance to us. Please see the Book Study for all of the context.

Home

Acts 17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

Acts 17:6 and 17:7 form a single sentence os divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

Their claimed reason, for their objection, is: that (Paul preached) there is another king, one Jesus. As we see constantly in the Bible, the religious lost person tries to change a spiritual truth into a physical truth and deny the spiritual. Jesus, as 'God in human flesh' is our spiritual King. We find the same claim made by the Jewish religious leaders against Jesus in the gospels (Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 18 and John 19). As we are told in Luke 23:1-4 and John 18:29-38, there is no conflict between the spiritual kingdom of Jesus and the worldly kingdoms of men. In fact, Romans 13:1 and Titus 3:1 and 1Peter 2:13-14 all tell us to submit to the government officials in this world. Therefore, this claim by these religious people is a lie.

Paul preached the truth and they understood, but denied, the spiritual truth. These Jews used Jesus for 'just a physical man' and deliberately rejected the spiritual truth that Jesus is God in physical flesh. They also challenged His right to tell them what to do and to judge them. We find in this sentence that they claimed that He is another king (of this world) in order to deny His spiritual Kingship. That is also one of the reasons that 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians concentrate upon the role of Lord and the rewards that we will receive from our Lord when we are judged by Him if we remain faithful. The people left to deal with these Jews which believed not needed to know about His Lordship in order to counter the doctrinal error that they taught.

Home

Acts 17:18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange God's: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

THe details and doctrine of this verse is explained in the note for the Book Study.

In this verse, we have the worldly wise people calling the gospel preacher a babbler. We have worldly religious people calling Jesus a strange god. In both cases, they denied that Jesus is 'God in human flesh' and declared Jesus to be just a man or at most a devil (strange god). Notice thatwhile the details are different, this report is like earlier reports in this chapter with religious peopleand philosophers claiming that their thoughts are greater than the truth from God

Notice that Paul preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection but they denied the reality of the resurrection because they treated it as an intellectual curiosity in this verse. The resurrection is not just some 'intellectual curiosity' but is one of the main things that makes Christianity different from all other religions, as far as the lost people can understand. Without the resurrection, there is no evidence that Jesus is more than any other God-touched prophet. The resurrection is one of the main evidences that Jesus is actually 'God in human flesh'.

Even though they only saw the gospel as another intellectual philosophy, Paul was willing to give the gospel to all who would listen. He would sow seed even knowing that much of the ground was hard hearts (Matthew 13:1-53; Mark 4:1-23 and Luke 8:1-18). Please also see the note for Acts 17:24 for the details of Paul's message.

Home

Acts 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

Acts Acts 19:13-20 is one of several short accounts in Acts 19 about the start of the church at Ephesus. This account describes how God made a distinction between the name of Lord Jesus and the name of Jesus. It also shows the difference between a personal relationship with the Son off God and having religion. The results of this section was the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified and the section ends with So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

In this account, some religious Jews presumed to claim the power of Paul, simply because they (assumed that they) had the same religion (Judaism). Please also see note on Acts 19:13 about this account, along with the related notes in the Bo0ok Study. As explained there, these Jews didn't understand that Jesus was 'God in human flesh' and assumed that Jesus was just a man and that they could claim the power from Lord Jesus without making Him their personal Lord. However, that devil knew the difference and devils today know the difference. They know that God will do nothing to protect those that claim the name of Jesus but do not have the right to do so because they lack a personal relationship with Him.

Notice that in this verse, we are told that the evil spirit called the Son of God Jesus and not Lord Jesus. An evil spirit will not recognize the Son of God as Lord until it has to. When this evil spirit identified the Son of God as just Jesus (not as Lord Jesus) it was denying His Lordship just like these vagabond Jews were. Most people who use the name of Jesus while denying His Lordship don't realize that they are acting like an evil spirit even if they are saved. Please consider that the Book of Acts uses Saviour only twice but uses Lord 110 times in 102 verses. The main theme of this book is not about Jesus being our Saviour but His being Lord.

Since Jesus rose from the grave, He has been Lord Jesus (Acts 2:36). One of the reasons that Acts emphasizes Lord more than any other New Testament book (with the possible exception of Revelation) is that the early church had to learn and teach others that Jesus was no longer just Jesus but is now Lord Jesus and we will suffer consequences from denying His Lordship.

This verse uses Jesus because this evil spirit recognized that Jesus is 'God in human flesh' but denied His Lordship by refusing to acknowledge Him as Lord Jesus.

Home

Acts 25:19 But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

Here, the Roman governor named Festus is talking to King Agrippa about Paul and the controversy with the Jews. In his statement, the lost Festus uses Jesus to identify a physical human man. But being a typical politician, his statement of the facts are a lie designed to make him look good. Remember the account which is spread across several chapters of Acts. Read them and the associated notes if you want more details than presented here.

God had used Peter to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. The saved Jews didn't want anything to do with Paul and Barnabas brought Paul to the church at Antioch of Syria, which was the first church in the uttermost section of the earth (Acts 1:8). From Antioch, Paul was sent to the Gentiles with the gospel and the first place that he went was the area called Asia (at that time). The Jews there tried to kill Paul and continued to chase him from city to city trying to kill him. In Acts 22:20-23 tells us that the Jews listened until Paul told them that the Lord had told him Desection: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. That's when they started to riot again and showed that their true hatred of Paul was because was the representative of the Lord Who had turned from the Jews (and their religion) to Gentiles with a personal relationship with Him. In addition, there were a lot of saved Jews who believed in salvation by faith and sanctification by the Law (Acts 21:20). The lost Jews who hated Paul had convinced these saved Jews who were zealous of the law to help them against Paul. Like religious fanatics today, they ignored consequences to others around them and were convinced that God would bless their hatred. After starting a riot and demonstrating that they were unreasonable fanatics a couple of times, the Roman captain was warned that they planned on killing Paul while he was guarded by Roman soldiers. That, of course, required them also killing the soldiers and would have brought an army upon Jerusalem, but they didn't care. The Roman captain sent Paul to (Acts 23:23) to stop the fanatical Jews because that was under a different governor and the fanatical Jews would be killed there. The governor didn't kill Paul but left him bound (Acts 24:27) because Paul refused to pay a bribe and he was willing to shew the Jews a pleasure. Acts 24:27 also tells us But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix' room and the first section of Acts 25 tells us about the Jewish leaders trying to manipulate this second crooked politician into sending Paul back to Jerusalem where the fanatical Jews were still ...laying wait in the way to kill him (Acts 25:3). Since Paul knew the score, when this bought politician asked Paul if he was willing to go back to Jerusalem, where the fanatical Jews would kill him and then pay off the crooked politician. Paul answered I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest (Acts 25:10). Festus knew that Paul was calling him on his crooked dealings when Paul said as thou very well knowest. A few days later king Agrippa and Bernice came unto to salute Festus. Like all crooked politicians, Festus made sure that this other politician (who could hurt his career) heard the account with his 'spin' and this verse is part of that sectionial-truth account. Since this is a sectionial-truth cover-up for a lying politician, it should be obvious that Jesus, Who is the Truth (John 14:6), would be misrepresented. In this misrepresentation, Festus insists that Jesus is just another human man who is part of a local superstition. Festus denied that Jesus is the Christ and, unless he changed and the Bible didn't report the change, he went to hell for that doctrinal error (John 17:3; Acts 17:3; Romans 6:23; 1Timothy 1:15; 2:5; 3:13; 2Timothy 1:1; 2:10; 3:15; 1John 2:22; 3:23; 4:2-3; 5:1; 2John 1:7).

Home

Acts 26:9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

This is part of the account about Festus passing the problem of what to do with Paul to king Agrippa, who will be the one blamed if the lord of Festusgets upset. Please also see the notes for Acts 25:19 under Jesus and 25:26 under Lord for more details on this account. Starting in Acts 26:1 we see Paul's answer to king Agrippa. This verse uses king for a role in human government. Like most human kings found in Acts, king Agrippa is corrupt and more concerned about receiving praise of men than he is in his eternal destiny.

Here, Paul is reciting his conversion experience from Acts 9. He does it again in Acts 22. Please see the notes on related verses in chapter 9 and 22. In this chapter, Paul is talking to king Agrippa, who knows of the man named Jesus and of all of the controversy about Him with the Jews because they have caused several riots. Kings make sure they know about things that will cause their subjects to riot. Paul is using this statement as an opening to his personal conversion in order to bring king Agrippa to accepting the Lord. As an opening, Paul tells Agrippa that he used to believe the same about the man named Jesus as king Agrippa does. In this verse, Jesus is used for the physical human man who proved that He is God in human flesh.

Home

Acts 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.

This verse is part of a section telling of the last testimony from Paul to Jews where he tells them that God has turned from them to the Gentiles because they refused to turn from their wrong religion to the God that is above all. Starting in verse 28:22, almost every sentence starts with And, which shows that they are all connected. In the next verse (28:24), it says that some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. There would be no disagreement about if a man named Jesus existed. However, 'God in human flesh' would cause disagreement and 'God in human flesh' could be shown out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets. This verse uses Jesus for 'God in human flesh' because the law of Moses and the prophets both taught that God would come in human flesh. However, that went against their traditional religion and traditional interpretation of the scriptures. We have the same thing today. This study has literally thousands of verses interpreted in context according to proper rules of grammar and sentence structure. It interprets literally every verse in the New Testament that deals with the major names / roles of the Son of God. Yet for all of this evidence, people who claim to believe the Bible and allow it to correct their theology still insist that they can use Jesus and Christ interchangeably and that it is doctrinal error to say that the Bible uses these roles in different ways.

Home

Christ Only

Acts 2:30, 31; 8:5; 9:20, 22; 24:24; 26:23

The book of Acts gives us verses that show that, doctrinally, Christ is a role and not a name. As a role, Christ can not be interchanged with the name/role of Jesus. Acts also gives verses that, doctrinally, show that Jesus is Christ. Christ is used in Acts for the role of the Son of God that fulfilled Old Testament prophecies and for the Role of the Son of God that is used to fulfill promises from God to believers. Click here for all of the Verses that use Christ and here for the Summary on the name / role of Christ.

Acts 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

Acts 2:30-31 is a single sentence. Please see the note in the Book Study for how it is divided by punctuation and for more explanation about it.

This is the first reference to Christ in the book of Acts. Here Peter preached, and the Jews accepted, that God's promise to David was that Christ would come from David's loins. (The word Messiah is the Hebrew word that matches the Greek word of Christ.) Further, the full promise to David, from God, was only partially fulfilled in Solomon. Since it was not completely fulfilled, the Jews understood that there was another physical descendent from David who would fulfill this prophecy. Therefore, the interpretation used by Peter and accepted by the Jews that the physical son (seed) of David that would have an everlasting kingdom is Christ. That's why Matthew and Luke include their genealogies. Matthew (the tax collector - legalist) gives us the legal descent that comes through Joseph and Luke (the physician) gives the physical descent through Mary. The Jews knew and understood this doctrine quite well. They accepted it and were looking forward to the fulfillment of it. That's why the genealogies in Matthew and Luke are so important to show the Jews when witnessing to them.

Please see the Prophecy Fulfilled Section of the Doctrinal Study called Significant Gospel Events about prophecies that Christ would be a physical descendent of king David and would sit on his throne forever.

Since the term Christ was known and used by the Jews, but they did not know who the man was, they understood that Christ was a title of a special position with special promises from God and that Christ is not a name. (Since Christ does not occur in the Old Testament, and some of the Old Testament prophecies about Christ are not referenced in the New Testament, identifying all of those prophecies can be difficult.)

The next reference, to Christ, is also in this same sentence and it also tells us that Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled. However, that quote is something that caused problems for Jewish doctrine. We will deal with that problem in the next note. Here we see Peter starting at a point of agreement and getting his listeners to agree with him before moving to a point of disagreement.

Although the Gospels occur in the Bible before Acts, they were not written until after Peter preached this message. And, even though the Gospels record people declaring their belief that Jesus was the Christ, those incidents were done in the privacy of the apostles. This is the first (chronological) public declaration that Jesus was the Christ. It came after the apostles received the Holy Ghost. The fact that this declaration coming immediately after their receiving the Holy Ghost demonstrates the effect of true salvation. In addition, all saved should also have a similar demonstration of a God-caused change, by the Holy Ghost, if they are truly saved.

In this first mention of Christ, in the New Testament, we find the fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. The disciples boldly proclaimed a doctrinal truth that could get them killed and which had them hiding before they received the Holy Ghost. People that claim to be saved and have the Holy Spirit, but are afraid to proclaim it do not match the evidence that we find here.

Home

Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Acts 2:30-31 is a single sentence. Please see the note in the Book Study for how it is divided by punctuation and for more explanation about it.

In Peter's message he has quoted scripture that the Jews knew and understood and scripture that the Jews knew but did not understand. He is now telling them the scripture which they didn't understand prophesied of the resurrection (and therefore death and burial) of Christ. In John 11:17 we are told that Lazarus was lain in the grave four days and John 11:39 tells us by this time he stinketh. Matthew 12:40; Matthew 26:61; Matthew 27:40, Matthew 27:63; Mark 8:31; 14:58; 15:29; and John 2:19-20 all tell us that Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights. Thus we know when corruption sets into flesh (after 3 days but before 4 days are complete) in Judea.

Actually, thprior point is a side note because the main point that Peter was making was that David gave prophecies which were accepted by the Jews as coming from God and that made David a prophet (Acts 2:30). Since he was a true prophet of God, everything that he prophesied had to be 100% accurate. (A prophet who made an error proved he was not from God and was to be killed according to Old Testament commandments from God.) 'therefore, David's prophecy that Christ would be taken from Hell and raised from the dead had to be 100% accurate and these Jews knew this fact.

They could not deny Peter's assertion of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption because of the way that Peter tied these two prophecies together and pointed out that they both came from David and no Jew would deny that David was a prophet of God. In Acts 2:25-28 Peter quoted from Psalms 16:8-11. Here, Peter is tying that quote in with another from David (that they accept and look forward to) and making it clear that they must accept that Christ was raised from Hell and the dead. Once they are forced to accept this truth from the Bible, Peter is going to tell them that This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

Please see the note for 2:32 under Jesus) and go on from there and tell them that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ (see the note for 2:36 under Lord Jesus Christ). We see here how Peter combines scripture that was accepted with scripture that was rejected in order to get his listeners to accept the truth.

Please see the Section called Appearances of Jesus Christ After the Resurrection, in the the Study called Gospel Time Sequences, and several Sections in the Study called Significant Gospel Events, for the prophecies of Christ rising from the dead.

Christ is, doctrinally, shown to be a position (role) and not the name of a person by this verse. Christ is also, doctrinally, shown to have gone to Hell for us and to have been resurrected.

Home

Acts 3:18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

All of the verses and notes for Acts 3and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts. In addition, Everything in 3:12-26 ispart of the same message from Peter within this account and all of the verses within Peter's message should be considered together, with the matching notes. The note for 3:13 under Jesus has the outline for Peter's message.

This is part of the second message from Peter that is recorded in Acts. Although Christ is not used in the Old Testament, the Jews in Jerusalem understood the term and understood that it was a role (position) that would have a special man fill. God also gave signs in prophecy so that the people would know who God's Christ was. Peter is repeating the words of Jesus in Luke 24:44. Please see the Section called Sequence of the Betrayal of Jesus in the the Study called Gospel Time Sequences for the prophecies of Jesus Christ being betrayed. Please see the Sections called Harmony, Prophecies and Prophecies Fulfilled, in the Study called Significant Gospel Events, for references to verses related to the suffering of Jesus Christ. Please see the Section called Appearances of Jesus Christ After the Resurrection, in the the Study called Gospel Time Sequences, and several Sections in the Study called Significant Gospel Events, for the prophecies of Christ rising from the dead. In this verse we see Peter telling these Jews that he [Jesus] hath so fulfilled the prophecies about Christ and these prophecies are all ones that no one would willingly fulfill unless they truly were God's Christ. This is part of Peter's proof that Jesus is Christ, which is part of Peter's presentation of the gospel. As we see many places in the New Testament, a person must accept that the literal physical man named Jesus is God's Christ or God will not save them. That is part of the evidence that a person accepts God's Word above what makes sense to them when they consider this world through a natural man's thinking.

Home

Acts 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.

Acts 8 starts with the scattering of the church due to the persecution that came after Stephen was martyred. As section of this scattering, we have this verse. In Acts 1:8 Jesus instructed ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost section of the earth. They had testified in Jerusalem, as has been reported between 1:8 and now. Now the church members will testify in all Judaea, by being scattered, and Philip will testify in Samaria. The rest of Acts tell of testimony unto the uttermost section of the earth.

There was a Philip who was an Apostle (Matthew 10:3, etc). There was a Philip who was one of the deacons (Acts 6:5). The Philip of this chapter was the deacon and the notes within the Book Study explain why. Basically, an apostle could open salvation to half-Jews but a deacon could not. The Samaritans did not get truly saved until Peter and John went there (Acts 8:14).

When the apostles laid ands on these believers of Samaria, they not only submitted to the authority (foundation of the apostles) but they also were identified with the church which was suffering persecution. They weren't just looking for health and welfare.

This verse uses Christ for the role that the Son of God uses to change people after they are initially saved and causes them to mature spiritually.

Home

Acts 9:20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

This verse uses Christ for the name of the Old Testament Messiah.

Home

Acts 9:22 But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

This verse uses Christ for the personal relationship of the New Testament.

Home

Acts 24:24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

Felix heard Paul preach about the personal relationship that is available through the ministry of Christ. Notice that the next verse tells us And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. Righteousness, temperance, and judgment are not given at our initial profession but are given through our ongoing personal relationship with the Son of God through His role as Christ. Back in Acts 24:22 we were told Felix...having more perfect knowledge of that way. This means that Felix had heard the gospel, understood at least the basics of Christianity and, therefore, knew some Christian preacher or church member. Acts 24:25 goes on and tells us Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. 24:26 tells us He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul. So, we see in Felix the same reaction that many so-called Christians have today. They are looking for money and material blessings, and believe that their relationship to one of God's people will make them OK before God. However, they tremble when the truth is told to them because the truth also speaks of judgment. This verse uses Christ for the role of the Son of God that provides a personal relationship to God and demands a change in our lives after our initial profession. Our judgment will be based upon the evidence that we allowed Christ to change our lives. That evidence will be mainly how much Righteousness (letting God's right acts to be done through our lives) and temperance (control our sin nature) is evident in our life after our initial profession. Felix failed the test of mammon (Matthew 6:24-34; Luke Acts 16:10-13).

This verse uses Christ for the role of the Son of God that changes our lives through spiritual maturity that is evidenced by the Righteousness and temperance that He brings into our lives.

Home

Acts 26:23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

Here, Paul is testifying to King Agrippa. He has told of his own conversion experience from Acts 9. He is now telling what he preached that caused the uproar. Verses 26:22 and 26:23 form a single sentence separated by a colon that makes them equivalent. In 26:22 Paul says that he only preached what could be proved from the Old Testament. In this verse, Paul gives more detainls of that preaching. Therefore, Christ is used in this verse for fulfilling Old Testament prophecies.

Home

Jesus Christ

Acts 2:38; 3:6, 20; 4:10; 5:42; 8:12, 37; 9:34; 16:18

As seen throughout the New Testament, Jesus Christ is used in conjunction with salvation because it requires accepting the personal ministry of Jesus and the personal ministry of Christ. Any claim of salvation that denies either ministry is not Biblically correct and any claim of salvation that rejects the personal nature of either ministry is not correct. Biblical Salvation also involves God the Father, the Holy Ghost and the Son of God in His role as Lord, but those aspects of salvation are not evident to other people. Several of the verses in Acts are doctrinal verses that prove this claim. The ministry of Jesus is that He paid for our personal sins. People who are trying to earn their own way to Heaven by good works are not Biblically saved. The ministry of Christ is to provide individual, personal relationship to God and to provide spiritual growth after profession. Those that claim salvation but have no evidence of spiritual growth, after a reasonable time period, are to be treated as being still lost. Those who claim that they have spiritual growth because of keeping religious rules do not have Biblical evidence of a personal relationship through Christ. Click here for all of the Verses that use Jesus Christ and here for the Summary on the name / role of Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This verse is often taken out of context and used for the doctrinal error that says that you have to be baptized to be saved. You can not get that conclusion if you consider the context. (Please see the note for Romans 6:3 in the Book Study on Romans, which provides links to every place in the Bible where baptism is used along with notes on those places in the Bible. That note gives the true Biblical doctrine for baptism.

Please see the note in the Book Studyfor very important doctrine said in this verse.

Peter uses Jesus Christ here to deliberately link the ministry of Jesus (paid for our sins [Romans 3:26]) to the ministry of Christ (provides individual, personal relationship to God and spiritual growth after initial profession) in the Bible's stated first instance of New Testament salvation. This is a doctrinal verse that proves that we need both ministries of the Son of God (as Jesus and as Christ) to be Biblically saved and that any claimed salvation that denies either ministry is not Biblical.

In order to receivethe promise of this verse, we must agree to live differently and be identified with Christ Who changes our lives. Unlike some churches today, Peter preferred no profession to one that would not be lived. This is made clearer in the note for 2:39 under Lord, which gives the reason (For) Peter's command in this verse. Please see that note.

Home

Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

The next account that we are told in Acts, after Pentecost, is in the entire chapter of Acts 3. Therefore, all of those verses, and their related notes, should be considered together.

This is the second time that Peter uses Jesus Christ in the book of Acts. The first time (Acts 2) Peter proved that salvation was in accepting a personal relationship with Jesus Christ of Nazareth that results in a changed life. Now God is going to use Peter to prove that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is sufficient for all of our needs. This man needed the ability to walk in order to provide properly for himself and others. After 40 years of forced sitting, he not only walks and runs and jumps this day but there is every reason to believe that he continued to do. His life was changed by Jesus Christ of Nazareth and there is every reason, based upon what we see of his reaction in this account, to believe that he went on and became a productive member of society.

As seen in the note on the first mention of Jesus Christ in Acts, Peter is requiring this man to accept that Jesus is the Christ. Again, Peter uses Jesus Christ of Nazareth so that there is no confusion about which Jesus Peter is talking about. Peter is clearly talking about the literal physical man named Jesus who came from Nazareth and that everyone was talking about because of the crucifixion. In addition, Peter doesn't have to explain to this man that Jesus is Christ, as Peter had to do on Pentecost. So, we can conclude that this man had heard the gospel, and understood it, and received salvation at this time. If he had already been saved, then the church would have been taking care of him (2:45-47) and he would not be begging at the Temple. If he didn't get saved, he would not have drawn such a large crowd for Peter to preach to, especially considering the possible personal consequences. (Please see the note on Acts 2:38 for these considerations.)

Home

Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

Acts 3:19-21 form a single sentence which is the start of Peter's altar call at the end of his second recorded message. This sentence is ourtlined and interpreted in the Book Study. Only the use of Jesus Christ will be dealt with in this note. However, Everything in 3:12-26 ispart of the same message from Peter and should be considered together, with the matching notes. Please also see the note for Acts 3:19 about the use of Lord in this sentence.

In this sentence, Peter refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Peter has already made it clear that when he said Jesus he meant Jesus of Nazareth (3:6). Further, these Jews have no problem with the term Christ, even though it did not appear in the Old Testament. The Jewish scholars had already coined the phrase to identify a role that would be fulfilled by only one person in all of human history. That person's name wasn't known, but many of the special rights and responsibilities that he would have were prophesized. We also saw in Peter's previous message (see note on Acts 2:36) that the Jews accepted Peter's statement that Christ is Lord, which makes Christ God. So here, in this second presentation of the gospel by Peter, we see him demanding that these Jews accept that Jesus is Christ (God). Again, in Acts, we see a doctrinal verse tying the gospel to both roles of the Son of God: the role of Jesus and the role of Christ.

Home

Acts 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

In Acts 2 we find the account of Pentecost, which caused a disturbance, but which the Jewish religious leaders were not prepared for. So, they apparently did nothing. Then in Acts 3 and 4, Peter and John again cause a disturbance by performing a miracle which drew a crowd of about 5,000 men plus women and children. (See notes on all verses in Acts 3 and 4).

Now, the Jewish religious leaders decided that they didn't like what could happen to them personally if a lot of people believed what was being preached by Peter and John. So, the religious leaders had Peter and John arrested and threw them in jail over night to try and intimidate them. The leaders then gathered all of their impressive religious big wigs to intimidate these unlearned and ignorant men (4:13) and ask them By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?

Instead of being intimidated, we see in Peter's answer when he addresses not only the leaders but all the people of Israel. Even though the religious leaders will reject the gospel, Peter goes ahead and presents it for the other Jewish people who will hear the testimony of the trial. Acts 4:8-12 contain Peter's full answer to the question put to him, and the full answer needs to be considered as a unit.

Peter answered by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to the question from the religious rulers. So, we see that the people in the early church understood the Biblical meaning of by the name of to mean by the power of. We see this in many other places, but this is a convenient place to note this doctrinal definition.

Many of those people often ignore that the name...whereby we must be saved is Jesus Christ and not just Jesus. 4:10-12 are in a single answer and 4:10 specifies the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. In addition, Peter quotes an analogy from the Old Testament where the life of God's people is compared to a building. Given building techniques of that day, everyone understood that a significant building, such as the Temple, took decades. They understood that God used this analogy for a long term relationship, which is the ministry of Christ after our initial profession of having received the salvation paid for by Jesus (Romans 3:26). These Jewish religious leaders also understood Peter's clear statement that the Christ was Jesus...of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead. As with every other usage in Acts, Jesus Christ is used to link the ministry of Jesus to the ministry of Christ and present the combination as the basis of salvation.

Home

Acts 5:42 And daily in the Temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

This is the final statement of the account that began in Act 3 where the religious rulers started working for Satan and tried to do everything they could to stop the Apostles and church from preaching that the man Jesus was God's promised Christ and that there is salvation in accepting both ministries (not just one without the other). At this time, the church was teaching correct doctrine and being effective for God. Satan lost the direct attack and will try a different type of attack in the next chapter. In this verse, they were teaching Jesus Christ as the gospel and the way of true salvation and they had refused all attempts by the religious rulers to separate Jesus from Christ. The religious rulers were willing to argue about Christ but refused to accept that Jesus was God's Christ. Many religions today preach salvation in Jesus while claiming that the ministry of Christ (ongoing personal relationship that results in spiritual maturity) is optional. That is not what the early church preached. Notice that this says they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ in the Temple, and in every house. In the Temple was where they were preaching to lost people and getting people saved. However, in every house was where the church was meeting. These people had an ongoing personal relationship that was maintained with teaching and preaching daily.

Home

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

There is a separate study on the Kingdom of God which Jesus said started after John the Baptist (Luke 16:16) and is in us (Luke 17:21) and requires obedience which yields fruit (Matthew 21:43). Please see the note in the Book Study, and the note for the kingdom of God, in order to understand the true doctrine of this sentence and how it fits within the context.

This is the current ministry of Jesus Christ in detail. We need the ministry of Jesus for the Kingdom of God to be in us and we need the ministry of Christ to bear fruit. There is far more involved in the ministry of Jesus Christ and far more involved in the Kingdom of God but Philip preached that you can't get one without the other. Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God are strongly linked.

Our sentence says that Philip preached the name of Jesus Christ. That means that he preached 'the power and authority of Jesus Christ' to make people part of the kingdom of God. No one else has that power and authority. And, when you change your citizenship, in the physical reality or the spiritual reality, you are vowing to change your loyalty to the new kingdom. Thus, when Jesus Christ makes someone part of the kingdom of God, they are expected to have a changed spirit which displays the character of God. They are expected to stop acting like devils, who ruled their prior spiritual kingdom.

Home

Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Acts 8:26-40 has Philip preaching again but he has different results than he had in the beginning of the chapter. All of Acts 8 is related and all verses as notes should be considered together. However, at a minimum those in this sub-account should be considered as a group.

Here we see a Biblical test for believing that someone is Biblically saved. This account started at Acts 8:26 and we find the confession of the saved man here and after this we see the evidence of salvation.

Philip followed the orders of the Lord, went to the person the Lord directed him to and preached the gospel. From his heart, this eunuch said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He didn't personally know who Jesus was but trusted the Bible and when shown the truth, submitted to it. Again, we see the Bible use Jesus Christ for true salvation because true salvation is seen in the ministry off both roles of the Son of God. He didn't just believe that Jesus died for his sin and then do a religious act of getting baptized. He confessed that the Son of God is both Jesus and Christ. He confessed belief that the man ('God in human flesh') named Jesus died for his sin and that the Son of God would have an ongoing personal relationship with im as Christ.

Those that only trust in a profession without any evidence of a changed life (Jesus only) and those that trust in evidence without admitting that Jesus died for their sin (Christ only) are both missing the Biblical requirement for true salvation. The Son of God became 'God in human flesh' when He became the man named Jesus and died to pay for our sins. However, God does not apply that payment to our personal legal record, and blot out the record, unless we receive Him (John 1:12) which means that we have a personal relationship with the Son of God through His role as Christ. We can believe that this eunuch was saved because, from his heart, he said that he accepted the Son of God in both of the roles that deal with our salvation. In addition, Acts 8:39 concludes about the eunuch with and he went on his way rejoicing. This is evidence of truly receiving the Holy Ghost.

Home

Acts 9:34 And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately.

After a time of expansive growth comes a time of solidifying and preparation for the next conflict. Acts tells us of the time starting from when Jesus went to Heaven. Then we had Pentecost followed by Peter and John starting a healing ministry and the religious Jews attacking and persecuting the church. They thought they had the upper hand until the Lord turned their number one bully boy, Saul, against then and made him an extremely zealous and troublesome preacher of the gospel. They backed off for a season to lick their wounds and figure out what to do next. The church started quietly expanding and building up the church. Acts 9:31 through the rest of the chapter describe some actions by Peter during this time of rest. These verses also tell us how Peter ended up in Joppa at Simeon the Tanner's house, instead of Jerusalem, when God sent Peter to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. So, all of the notes on these verses should be considered together. In this verse, Peter is on his way to Joppa and stopped at Lydda (Acts 9:32).

Peter used Jesus Christ in this verse because the healing promised was the result of a personal relationship with the Son of God that comes with salvation. As seen throughout the New Testament, Jesus Christ is used in conjunction with salvation because it requires accepting the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of Christ (by the believer) to get Biblical salvation and any claimed salvation that denies either ministry is not Biblically correct.

Home

Acts Acts 16:18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

Paul uses Jesus Christ as the combination of the ministry of Jesus and of Christ which is evidence of true Biblical salvation. This verse also uses Jesus Christ to identify the true most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. As explained below, the message that this devil possessed girl was giving could be misconstrued into a false profession which made people believe they were saved when they were not.

Home

Christ Jesus

Acts 17:3; 18:5, 28; 19:4

Each of these verses provide doctrinal evidence that the man Jesus is Christ. That is, Jesus, as 'God in human flesh' fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about Christ, which proved that He is Christ and that current promises from God to believers through Christ come because Jesus paid the price to become Christ and make these blessings available to us. Click here for all of the Verses that use Christ Jesus and here for the Summary on the name / role of Christ Jesus.

Acts 17:3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

Acts 17:1-3 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the note for the Book Study

Acts 16 ended with Paul and company leaving Philippi. Acts 17 starts with them going to the Temple in Thessalonica. So, we have the start of a new account based in Thessalonica.

The first section of this sentence (17:1) tells of them passing through towns until they came to a place where was a synagogue of the Jews. The second, equivalent, section of the sentence (17:2-3) tells us what Paul preached and how long he preached. Therefore, we know that the first section of the sentence tells us that they kept traveling until they got a chance to preach. The second half tells us what Paul preached.

In this sentence, we are told that Paul started with the scriptures (17:2) and preached from what these Jews understood (Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead). So, we see that the first use of Christ in this sentence is for the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. The semi-colon, and the and, tells us that Paul preached in two steps. First he got these Jews to see that, according to the scriptures, Christ must needs have suffered. Once he got them to agree with that truth, then Paul preached that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. Notice that this phrase in present tense with the word is. Paul used Jesus for the man who was crucified and raised from the dead, which also makes Jesus 'God in human flesh'.(This study has shown that every place that the Bible uses Jesus, this definition applies.)

So when Paul said that the risen 'God in human flesh' named Jesus is Christ, Paul is talking about a current role of the Son of God. Our interaction with Christ through an ongoing personal relationship is how we are to receive the things that come from God. In plain language, the only way that these Jews (or we) will receive any of the promises from God that come through Christ is by accepting that the man Jesus is 'God in human flesh' and also has the role of Christ. So, this second use of Christ, within this sentence is the role of the Son of God that provides current blessings to believers.

If we remember Peter's message at Pentecost (Acts) this second usage is really an expansion of the promise that God made through Joel. Therefore, indirectly, all that we receive from the Son of God through His role as Christ is also a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Home

Acts 18:5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

There is more doctrine for this verse explained in the note for the Book Study.

In the prior verses we saw that Paul reasoned with the Jews in the Synagogue, like other times, but that he tried a soft approach. However, this verse tells us that Paul was pressed in the spirit. That is, Paul's spirit felt the need to become more effective. And, Paul felt pressed to become more effective when his companions caught up with him. As a side note, as seen in Athens and here, even Paul was less bold and less effective when by himself and was more effective to the Lord when supported by other believers.

This verse then tells us that Paul preached that Jesus was Christ. That is, (as supported by all other similar verses in Acts) that the man Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Christ, which these Jews knew quite well. Given the reaction of these Jews, and as seen elsewhere in Acts, we can conclude that Paul went on the prove, from Scripture, that as Christ, Jesus must also be 'God in human flesh' and that the personal promises from God to man through Christ are only obtainable to those that accept that Jesus was Christ.

The next verse (18:6) is added to this one with by starting with the word And. It tell us of a major change in Paul's ministry when it says And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. Paul will still try to reach the Jews and, as we read in his writing such as the epistle to the Romans, his heart's desire was still to reach the Jews.

In the past he started with the Jews by preaching at the synagogues and only went to the Gentiles after being run out of the synagogues. Now Paul will go to the Gentiles and to churches the Lord started through his ministry and bypass the Jews. We find that the Jews had an even more violent opposition to Paul's ministry because of this. It is one thing to fight with someone. It is a greater insult to them if you ignore them as if they were too far beneath you to be bothered fighting with them. That is how these Jews took Paul's refusal to fight with them.

Home

Acts 18:28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

Acts 18:27-28 is a single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as:

The brethren did what they could to help Apollos in his missionary/evangelistic efforts.

And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia,
the brethren wrote,
exhorting the disciples to receive him:

Apollos did the missionary/evangelistic work that he promised to do.

who,
when he was come,
helped them much which had believed through grace:

This is the missionary/evangelistic work that Apollos promised to do.

For he mightily convinced the Jews,
and that publickly,
shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

All of Acts 18 is about Paul establishing the church at Corinth with Acts 18:24-28 being a sub-account about the doctrinal correction and possible salvation of Apollos. (Please see the note on 18:25 for more details on this truth). Where Apollos was preaching the Laws of God the Father in the Old Testament (Acts 18:24-26), he now preached salvation through Jesus Christ. In 18:1-2 we read that Aquila [and] his wife Priscilla joined Paul. In 18:5 we are told that ...Paul'testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. (Please see that note for more on the phrase Jesus was Christ). Therefore, Aquila [and] his wife Priscilla heard Paul's preaching. In 18:18 we are told that Priscilla and Aquila went to Ephesus with Paul. So we have a non-preaching couple who were spiritually mature enough to join Paul's missionary team. Remember that back in 15:37-39 Paul split with Barnabas over John Mark who Paul insisted wasn't spiritually mature enough, even though he was a preacher. Then in 18:19 we are told that Paul left Priscilla and Aquila with the church at Ephesus. Now in 18:24-28 we read about this eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures who shows up and starts preaching doctrinal error. 18:26 tells us whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. After they got done, we have our current verse which tells us this eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures changed his preaching to shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. From this we can learn several things.

Priscilla and Aquila were non-preachers who corrected the doctrine of the preacher. A preacher who will not receive correction from non-preachers is a fool.
Apollos was a spiritually mature enough preacher that he swallowed his pride and accepted doctrinal correction from the non-preachers (including a woman) that God chose to use.
Priscilla and Aquila were taught by Paul but they would not be able to correct a preacher who was mighty in the scriptures by quoting my preacher or my church/religion. Paul taught them the scriptures and they put their reliance upon the scriptures, not on the teaching of Paul. Thus, they were able to show scriptures to this preacher and he could accept correction of his doctrine from the scriptures and not from religious doctrine.
Priscilla and Aquila learned their doctrine well enough to prove it and they learned how to prove it (Luke 14:19; John 6:6; Acts 9:22; 24:13; 25:7; Romans 3:9; 12:2; 2Corinthians 8:8, 22; 13:5; Galatians 6:4; Ephesians 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1Timothy 3:10; Hebrews 3:9). [Proving doctrine and proving how to prove doctrine are two different things.] Since Paul was gone, they couldn't say talk to my preacher or my preacher says. Later, God sent them to Romeand other places to help start a missionary church before Paul got there. Many preachers tell non-preachers Don't move to a city without first verifying that there is a doctrinally sound church for you to go to. Priscilla and were the type of church member that God could send to a city with no church and expect them to start one even though there was not a preacher available, just like God did in Acts 11. Instead of telling immature Christians to make sure they can be fed the milk of the Word, preachers need to tell them to grow up spiritually and go out and start churches so that when the preacher gets there a church already exists.

We see in this sentence that Apollos received support because of his doctrine and not just because he was a persuasive preacher. As seen in other verses in Acts, Apollos was preaching that the man Jesus was actually 'God in human flesh' who fulfilled the prophecies which proved that He was Christ. He also preached that as Christ He provides the personal promises from God to saved people today.

Home

Acts 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

Acts 19:4 can only be properly understood within the context of the account that started at Acts Acts 19:1 and goes through Acts 19:7 and especially in conjunction with Acts 19:5. Please also see the note for that verse in this Study and in the Book Study on Acts.

In Acts 18 Paul went to Corinth and preached salvation and Priscilla and Aquila were saved and became spiritually mature. (Please see the note above). Paul took them with him to Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19) and left them there while he traveled on. While Paul was gone, Apollos showed up preaching the things of the Lord and the baptism of John (Acts 18:25). Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and straightened out his doctrine (Acts 18:26). Then Apollos went on to Corinth (Acts 19:1) in Achaia (Acts 18:27). Meanwhile, back in Acts 18:21, Paul had promised but I will return again unto you, if God will when he sailed from Ephesus. So, in Acts 19:1 Paul keeps his promise and returns to Ephesus and finds these 12 men who, apparently, followed the erroneous doctrine that Apollos preached before he was corrected. Now, Paul corrects that same doctrine with these men. They, obviously, tried to obey what they were taught (. 19:1-7) and were obviously trying to serve God. Therefore, God honored their faith and sent Paul to correct the error in their doctrine.

This study has found that Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus are the most common references to the Son of God because the Biblically saved relate personally to the Son of God through both roles of the Son of God. As shown in this sentence, Biblical salvation is not available any other way. The doctrinal difference between the use of Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus is that Christ Jesus is used when the emphasis is on spiritual growth after salvation. Christ is used by itself if only some saved receive the blessing after spiritual growth. Christ Jesus is used when all saved are expected to grow spiritually after profession and the blessing is received only after the growth. Jesus Christ is used for blessings to all saved get at the start of their salvation, before spiritual growth, but which increase with spiritual growth.

Christ is also used for the personal relationship with the Son of God after salvation. Philippians 3 warns about saved people who were the enemies of the cross of Christ (based upon their walk [Philippians 3:18-19]) because they were trusting in religious fleshly works (legalism) instead of a personal walk that is directed by Christ through the Spirit of God.

In this sentence, Paul told them that that they should believe on...Christ Jesus. He uses believe as an action verb. As noted for Acts 19:5, these Jews understood that they were making a legal spiritual covenant. Paul used Jesus to clarify that they were making a covenant with the Son of God who had become flesh as the man Jesus. Paul used Christ to clarify that their covenant involved a personal relationship with the Son of God that would result in their personal spiritual growth and would not be them just doing legal religious acts. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5) in recognition that they were making a legal covenant that would be enforced by the court of God and that they would suffer consequences if they made a fraudulent oath. They understood that as Lord, the Lord Jesus had the right to tell them what to do, to judge their obedience and reward or punish their obedience of disobedience. The use of the different titles in these sentences (19:4-5) is doctrinally important to salvation because it makes the difference in whether or not these people (and others) had the Holy Ghost and salvation.

Home

Lord Jesus

Acts 1:21; 4:33; 7:59; 8:16; 9:5, 17, 27, 29; 11:20; 19:5, 10, 13, 17; 20:24, 35; 21:13; 22:8; 26:15

The phrase Lord Jesus (without Christ added) is used once in Luke, 13 times in Acts, twice in Romans, 3 times in 1 Corinthians, 3 times in 2Corinthians, once in Galatians, once in Ephesians, once in Philippians, once in Colossians, 3 times in 1 Thessalonians, once in 2 Thessalonians, once in Philemon, once in Hebrews and once in Revelation. The occurrences in Acts far exceeds usage in any other book and the phrase is used at least once in each book written to a specific church, with Revelation written to several specific churches and Hebrews written to the scattered Jewish church. Some places the context appears to be that Lord Jesus is used to mean the ultimate human leader. However, in Acts, Lord Jesus is used to doctrinally say that Jesus is Lord and God and to emphasize that they do not mean God the Father, as could be mistaken if they used Lord by itself, especially when the context indicates that they were preaching to Jews. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus.

Acts 1:21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

Acts 1:21-22 is a single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as:

Peter tells the religious (not Biblical) requirements to be an apostle.

Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
Beginning from the baptism of John,
unto that same day that he was taken up from us,
must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

In the Gospels and in Acts, Peter is the first leader in fortune and in folly. In Act 1:4, which is part of the opening sentence of this book and the introduction of the theme, we read that Jesus...commanded them that they should...wait for the promise of the Father. Here, Peter is acting like lots of preachers do today. He is claiming to be following the Lord Jesus, and leads the church into folly. He leads the church to present the Lord Jesus with a choice between two men. However, neither man was the choice of the Lord Jesus, since Paul was His choice. If they had left the option of neither of these, they would have received that answer. However, since they only gave Him a choice between two wrong answers, God left them to their foolishness and ignored their choice. We see that in the fact that nothing more is said about Matthias, while several places in the Bible provide plenty of proof that Paul was an Apostle. While their choice named Matthias was not mentioned again, the rejected man named Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus has a relative who is mentioned in Acts 15:22-23.

This verse starts with Wherefore which means it is based upon the prior verse where Peter referred to Psalms 69:19-28 Psalms 109:8 and where David called upon God to bring judgment. (This verse is also in context with all that was said in Acts 1:15-26 and the associated notes for these verses should be considered together.) The judgment of Judas Iscariot and the choice of His replacement definitely belongs to God's role as Lord. Peter recognizes this fact by using Lord Jesus then promptly refuses to consider the implications of that title. Unfortunately, men repeat the same mistake today and have not learned the lessons that God put into His Bible.

Lord Jesus is used here in recognition that the church, including Peter, recognized that the man Jesus was in fact Lord (God). However, giving positions in the church is reserved for the Lord. When we take His office into our own hands, at best God ignores it and at worst, someone is judged. This is the first time in Acts that Lord Jesus is used. Until now, all references to the Son of God are about His humanity (Jesus) except one where the church called Him Lord and were rebuked for asking a question that they had no right to ask. (See note on Acts 1:6). Even though Peter is using Lord Jesus in recognition that Jesus (man) is Lord (God), Peter has not yet received the indwelling Holy Ghost and does not really understand God the Son's role as Lord. Thus, he leads the church to try to do something that God has reserved for His own role as Lord. While God ignores this error at this time, a future error of the same type brings judgment from God.

Home

Acts 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

This verse is part of the response from God that is seen after the church prayed in faith. All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts.

The emphasis of this sentence is the combined title of Lord Jesus. The Bible does not use this title until after the resurrection. He had to set aside His power and authority as Lord in order to be born, live, and die as a literal physical man. Only after the devils took Him into Hell did He take back His own power and authority, bind Satan and all devils, lead the Old Testament saints up to Heaven and send us God's Holy Ghost. We are to obey Him as our Lord. We are to follow His example as Jesus. (Please see the Study called What Did Jesus Do?) He dedicated His life to doing what God the Father told Him to do and we are commanded to follow His example and dedicate our life to taking the Gospel to the world.

Home

Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

Acts 7:55 tells us But he...saw...Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7:56-60 tells us Stephen's witness of what he saw. Stephen said ...Behold, I see the Heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit... Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.. Notice that Stephen say Jesus but called Him the Son of man when reporting to the Jews.

While preaching to religious men who rejected the fact that God came in the flesh, Stephen reported that the man Jesus was in Heaven standing on the right hand of God. That position is always a position of power in the Bible, and the Jews understood that. Further, when Stephen talked directly to the Jesus that he saw, Stephen addressed Him as Lord Jesus and as Lord. The references to the Son of God as Jesus and as Lord are covered in other notes. This note is pointing out that, at the time of his death, and as he knew he was going to immediate judgment by God, Stephen used Lord Jesus specifically to link these two roles.

As part of his dying statement, Stephen testified that Jesus was 'God in human flesh' by calling Him the Son of man. Stephen also directly linked that Son of man to the position of Lord when he reported seeing the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. This provides a doctrinal basis for saying that the Bible uses Lord Jesus for the combination of the roles of the Son of God known as Lord and as Jesus. We also see here that not everyone needs to fear the judgment of God. Stephen went to Heaven expecting eternal rewards for the life he lived here. If we spend or lives here serving the Lord Jesus, we can look forward to judgment as a time of reward.

Home

Acts 8:16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

Acts 8:14-17 is a single sentence with 8:16 being an included qualified sentence. In other words, 8:16 can not be properly interpreted outside of the outer sentence. It is divided by punctuation in the note for the Book Study, which also provides other considerations.

As explained in the note for the Book Study, The word only means that Christ was not included in their 'identification' by baptism. They agreed to obey the Lord. They agreed to follow the example of Jesus for 'how to live in the flesh to please God'. (Please see the Doctrinal Study called What Did Jesus Do?). However, they were not 'identified' with the role of Christ, which provides our spiritual maturing after initial salvation. The truly saved can not lose their salvation but they can lose their assurance. And, if they refuse to participate with the role of Christ, They will not have that assurance.

Home

Acts 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Acts 9 has Paul's conversion experience. Paul is reciting his conversion experience in Acts 22 and Acts 26. As you can readily see, this verse does not really use the phrase Lord Jesus but it uses Lord and Jesus in the same verse. Therefore, it is grouped, in this Study, with verses which use Lord Jesus.

Lord is used twice in this verse to establish, doctrinally, who is talking and through which role. Notice that the Lord said, I am Jesus. There is NO possible ambiguity about the fact that the God of power said that He was Jesus. This is not God the Father, who was still in Heaven when the Son of God took on flesh, became 'God in human flesh' and took the name of Jesus. There was absolutely no doubt in Saul's mind that he was talking to the God of power when he was knocked from his horse by a light.

Even today, men can't put that kind of power in light beyond science fiction fantasies. When Saul said Who art thou, Lord? he understood that he was addressing a person, because he specifically was picked out of all the men traveling together. (A non-thinking power can not target a specific person. Such targeting requires intelligence.) In addition, the power displayed ended any question about Saul fighting this power or about it being less than the power of God. Finally, Saul understood that it took far more control and judgment to use light to just knock him from his horse than it would have to blast him into ashes.

Saul understood that he was dealing with intelligence and power beyond his understanding. Saul was sure that he was doing the will of God when God knocked him off his horse. God does the same to others only they are not wise enough to ask Who art thou, Lord? Instead, many people curse God for interrupting their plans. In addition, most religious people insist upon continuing to follow their religion faithfully instead of trying to find out what power was able to overcome the god that they thought they were serving.

Saul had enough sense to realize that this Lord who made him fall to the earth while he thought he was serving God was not in agreement with what he was doing. The first thing that he did was find out Who made him fall to the earth. Then he thought about the answer that he was given. Anyone who has ever had a heat rash should understand it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. All you can do is put a balm on it. However, a Bible study of the word balm shows that it is a man made medicine that does not really do what is needed (Genesis 37:25; Genesis 43:11; Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 46:11; Jeremiah 51:8; Ezekiel 27:17).Paul understood that there was nothing he could do to fight this Lord. Therefore, Saul repented (truly changed) instead of seeking a religious balm.

Since Saul was on his way to arrest, persecute and kill followers of the man Jesus, there was also no mistake Who this Jesus was. Here we see Saul change his mind from believing that Jesus was 'just a man' to the belief that Jesus was 'God in human flesh'.

Home

Acts 9:17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

This is the fifth sentence in this sub-store about Ananias in 9:10-17 and it is the sixth use of Lord. Please see the other verses and associated notes for the full context.

Supposedly, six is the number of man. Here we see the two different attitudes by religious men towards their Lord and the different results. Ananias did what his Lord told him to do, but still added his own section into his obedience. Notice that Ananias said the Lord, even Jesus. Ananias wanted to be sure that Saul understood that the Lord who was restoring Saul's sight was the Jesus that Saul had been persecuting. Many of us do the Lord's commandments at least a little in the flesh. As a result, Ananias got to see God work in another's life. However, Saul had clearly accepted commandments from the Lord as something to be accepted without question. When his Lord told him that He was Jesus, Saul fasted and prayed and looked at his beliefs to see what had to change to bring his personal beliefs in line with what was revealed to him by his Lord.

As we see in the next few verses, Saul accepted the truth, replaced his former beliefs with what his Lord revealed to him, and immediately acted upon the truth. Saul changed his opinion from the belief that Jesus was 'just a man' to the belief that Jesus was 'God in human flesh'. Because of his personal trust and obedience, Saul received a miracle and was used greatly by God.

The lesson here is that it doesn't matter who is in the church before us or what position they have. God will deal with each of us based upon our personal response to commandments from our Lord.

This is also the seventh time that the book of Acts has doctrinally said that Jesus is Lord and God. I believe that Acts teaches this truth more than just about any other book although it can be argued that Revelation makes the consequences of this truth clearer.

Home

Acts 9:27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

We have a simple lesson here. Listen to what honest godly men say but verify it because they might be deceived or mistaken. We do not want to pass on error (and the consequences of error) because we failed to do 'due diligence'. However, I believe the proper interpretation of had spoken to him is the Lord...had spoken to him (Paul). When Paul had received his doctrine from men, he was killing saints. When he received his doctrine from the Lord he was helping saints. We need to be sure that people receive their doctrine from the Lord and not from men or religions.

Home

Acts 9:29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.

This sentence is talking about Saul after his conversion and after he had to slip out of Damascus because Jews were trying to kill him for preaching that Jesus was the Christ. When Paul then went to Jerusalem, the church didn't trust him until after Barnabas spoke up for him and testified that Paul received his doctrine from the Lord.

Now we find that Paul spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians. This verse deliberately connects disputed against the Grecians with spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus because these Grecians directly challenged the authority of the Lord Jesus all throughout history. The Grecians were Greek speaking (non-Hebrew speaking) Jews. Because they were Jews, they had all of the rights to the Temple and Jewish religion but they had a different upbringing and culture. Since all were section of the Roman Empire, they had Roman values. The Roman Emperor kicked all of the Jews out of Rome during the time of Paul's ministry. Shortly after this time (recorded in Acts) the Roman army will destroy the Temple. Even at the time of Paul's conversion, the Jews were looked down upon as ignorant superstitious people by the rest of the Roman Empire. Therefore, these Grecians would be raised to think of themselves as 'more sophisticated' and better educated than other people includingother Jews.

These were the same people who disputed with Stephen in Acts 6:9 and they included Alexandrians who produced the corrupt 'Alexandrian Manuscript'. Alexandria was the city that had the most worldly college of the day and 1Corinthians Chapters 1-4 makes it clear that the 'worldly wise' think they are better than others but God proves them to be fools. The corrupt 'Alexandrian Manuscript' and those that try to claim that it is 'better' are taking the argument that these Grecians lost when disputing with Paul and the Lord Jesus. These Grecians would consider themselves to be more sophisticated, wise and generally better than others.

That's why they raised the stink in the early church that led to creating deacons (Acts 6:1). In addition, to other things that motivated their pride, the fact that Paul had turned from being their 'point man' to supporting the 'heretics' and then out-argued them really hurt their pride. Because Paul proved that they weren't better than others, they went about to slay him.

This sentence has one colon, which normally makes the two sections equivalent. In addition, after the colon is the word but, which makes the Equivale4n Sections polar opposites. That is, these Grecians who were trying to slay Saul were trying to destroy all preaching about the Lord Jesus. (Remember that these Grecians were lost proud Jews living in Jerusalem and considering themselves to be better than other Jews and definitely better that the heretics identified as saints.) These Grecians were willing to accept God the Father as Lord. They were willing to accept that Jesus was a man, but they were not willing to accept that Jesus was Lord. And, they clearly understood that Saul's claim was that Lord Jesus was 'God in human flesh' and that the man named Jesus was God to Son.

This verse uses Lord for God in all of His power and authority. It uses Jesus as 'God in human flesh'. Paul first preached Christ...is the Son of God (see note on 9:20). He then proved that this is very Christ (see note on 9:22), meaning that Jesus is Christ and, therefore, the Son of God. Now Paul is being more clear and plain and preaching that Jesus is God and Lord. There may have been some Jews that thought Christ was a lower position than the Lordship of God the Father. However, when Paul preached Lord Jesus he clearly told these Jews that the man Jesus, whom they crucified, had as much authority and power as God the Father since both were Lord. Paul not only preached that, but he proved it using the scriptures that they were dependent upon.

Home

Acts 11:20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.

This sentence is part of the account about the starting of the church at Antioch, which eventually sent out Paul as their missionary. In the verses about the initial start of the church at Antioch (Acts 11:19-24), Lord is used 4 times and Lord Jesus used once to clarify that each of these other uses of Lord mean Lord Jesus and not God the Father. All of the verses and notes for [Acts 11:20, Acts 11:21, Acts 11:23 and Acts 11:24] should be considered together.

After God had Peter establish that the gospel was to go to the Gentiles, the church stayed at Jerusalem and only reached Jews. In fact, instead of praising God right away for opening the gospel to the Gentiles, some in the church accused Peter of heresy (Acts 11:1-18) because he went against Jewish religious traditions which were added to God's law. Even after they praised God, they refused to act on God's lead that went against their religious traditions. They were not obeying their Lord, even while they called Him Lord. He had clearly told them to take the gospel to the entire world (Act 1:8; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15).

So, God brought persecution to scatter the church, but only the non-preachers went out and took the GXospel to the world. It should be noted that those who refused to obey later had to have help to keep from starving. So, what we have in this verse is non-preacher missionaries preaching the gospel wherever God took them and getting blessed by God for it. They were obeying their Lord, but since they were still dealing only with Jews (spake unto the Grecians), these missionaries were using Lord Jesus to distinguish from God the Father as Lord. As with other verses in Acts, this verse establishes that the early church preached that the man named Jesus was Lord and that salvation was available by recognizing that Jesus is Lord and is not available to those that 'say a prayer to the man named Jesus'.

Home

Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This verse is a continuation of Acts 19:4 and the context of both verses is explained in the note for Acts 19:4 under Jesus Christ. Please see it. Please also see the Study on Baptism, which provides links to every place in the Bible where baptism is used along with notes on those places in the Bible. That note gives the true Biblical doctrine for baptism.

Lord Jesus is used without including Christ 32 times of which 13 are in Acts. That's over 40%. Those usages are in: Luke 24:3; Acts 1:21; Acts 4:33; Acts 7:59; Acts 8:16; Acts 9:29; Acts 11:20; Acts 19:5, Acts 19:10, Acts 19:13, Acts 19:17; Acts 20:24, Acts 20:35; Acts 21:13; Romans 10:9; 5:5; 1Corinthians 6:11; 11:23; 2Corinthians 1:14; 2Corinthians 4:10, 2Corinthians 4:14; Galatians 6:17; Ephesians 1:15; Philippians 2:19; Colossians 3:17; 1Thessalonians 2:15; 1Thessalonians 4:1, 1Thessalonians 4:2; 2Thessalonians 1:7; Philemon 1:5; Hebrews 13:20; Revelation 22:20. As has been pointed out elsewhere, Jesus is not called Lord Jesus until after the resurrection. That is explained in the note for Acts 2:36. Basically, most of the usages in Acts are where the apostles are dealing with Jews who wanted to deny that Jesus is 'God in human flesh' and needed to be reminded that they will be judged by this Lord Whose authority they were challenging.

The context and report of these non-saved disciples is explained in the note for Acts 19:4. While they had repented and were trying to serve God the Father, they had not turned to a personal relationship to Christ Jesus. With their background as Jews who had more training than most, which made them disciples, they understood from Paul that the Holy Ghost would be given so that they could have a personal relationship with the Son of God that fits within the Biblical use of Christ Jesus. However, receiving that relationship required them to accept, and publicly acknowledge, that Lord Jesus was their personal Lord and God in addition to God the Father. That's why they were baptized ('identified with') in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This verse uses Lord to emphasize that they understood that they were making a legal spiritual covenant (salvation). It uses Jesus to clarify that they understood that they were not making it with God the Father but with the Son of God who had become flesh as the man Jesus. Between this verse and the prior one, we have all three main roles of the Son of God mentioned in regards to the salvation of these men. As with many other places in this study, we again see that true Biblical salvation involves all three roles of the Son of God and any professed salvation that rejects any of the roles is not Biblically true.

Home

Acts 19:10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

Each reference to Lord Jesus in Acts 19 is related to every other reference and the notes on each should all be considered to get the proper doctrine of this name in this chapter.

The Chapter summary, in the Book Study, reports what each sub-section of this chapter is telling about. In the sub-section which this verse is part ofPaul had been disputing with the Jews in the synagogue. However, when the unbelieving Jews proved they had a closed mind, and they spake evil of that way before the multitude, Paul separated from them .

Often we have people who claim they want to dispute, but they then insist that everyone listen to all they say while cutting off and drowning out the voices of all opposition. That is what would have happened in the synagogue (Acts 19:8-9) but not in this school. The result of allowing the word of the Lord Jesus to have equal say with religious doctrine is that people will talk about the word of the Lord Jesus while they ignore or ridicule most religious doctrine. The end result was that the word of the Lord Jesus was heard by all they which dwelt in Asia.

This verse uses Lord Jesus the same way as Acts 19:5 did. That is, the church didn't just spread the word of God, since people can leave out sections and claim that what they do spread is the Word of God the Father. Of course, God the Father said This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him (Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; Mark 1:11; Mark 9:7; Luke 3:22; Luke 9:35; Luke 20:13; 2Peter 1:17). If people obeyed this command, then they would be spreading the word of the Lord Jesus as section of the word of God. However, when people spread the word of God and exclude the word of the Lord Jesus, they are disobeying God the Father and following the example of the Devil when he tempted Jesus (Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:2) by quoting scripture but leaving out section of it (Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:10-11). That is what the unbelieving Jews in the synagogue did and they were ignored by all they which dwelt in while Paul and others who were preaching the word of the Lord Jesus had their preaching spread by others.

The word of the Lord is the God given Law that we are to obey, without question, if we are to be saved and if the saved person is to be right with God. Since God the Father hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ, the word of the Lord that we are to obey is the word of the Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus is used here to emphasize that commandments from Jesus carry as much power and authority as those from God the Father and the physical man who is 'God in human flesh' is our Lord who tells us what to do and will judge each of us for our obedience and disobedience.

Home

Acts 19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

Each reference to Lord Jesus in Acts 19 is related to every other reference and the notes on each should all be considered to get the proper doctrine of this name in this chapter. As with every other reference in this chapter, Lord Jesus is used to emphasize the distinction from God the Father as our Lord.

Each of these accounts teaches a different doctrinal principal. The first account taught that just doing religious activities, such as repenting and getting baptized, won't get you saved. Salvation is a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The second account taught that we need to make clear what Lord we are talking about and need to include all that is in the word of God. Certainly no false god can save anyone, but in the second account we see that even going to God the Father won't work. They must go to the Lord Jesus. Now in this third account, we see that using the name of the Lord Jesus isn't some religious magic words. And, in fact, it can be very dangerous to claim a relationship that you don't have. We also see here that these fools didn't understand the difference between the names Lord Jesus and Jesus. They knew that Paul and the people in the church that had power were using the name Lord Jesus. Acts 19:11-12 says And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:. The word And, in that verse, means that it was added onto their doing what was necessary to make all they which dwelt in heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:10).

The vagabond Jews of this verse weren't saved and weren't involved in the work that God was rewarding with miracles. There was no way that they were submitted to the Lord Jesus and yet they presumed to call upon His power without His permission. We know that they were relying upon their religion because this verse calls them vagabond Jews and Acts 19:14 says they were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests. Since Paul was run out of the synagogue, Sceva would have been one of the main people to do that, since he was chief of the priests. His sons would have the same character and belief as him, since the Bible only uses sons for such a relationship. As their father believed, they thought their religion gave them the power to order God around.

Religion often believes that doing some physical religious act somehow/magically forces God to sit up and do tricks that they demand. As in this account, they saw others getting miracles from God. They denied the requirement of an ongoing personal relationship and insisted that their religious activities was all that was required.I may provide for the needs of some family member but that doesn't mean that some stranger and enemy of my family has the right to make demands of me. The same is true about God. When these vagabond Jews presumed upon the power of the Lord Jesus, that they had no right to, the Lord Jesus gave these devils freedom to do as they wish to these vagabond Jews.

When these vagabond Jews said We adjure you by Jesus, they did as many religious people do and refused to acknowledge the difference between Jesus and Lord Jesus. A lot of saved people try to call on the name of Jesus and don't get their prayers answered because they don't understand that it is through the role of Lord, and not through the role of Jesus, that the Son of God displays His power. Look at the notes on the book of Revelation. The emphasis of the whole book is that Jesus Christ is Lord and that power is exercised through the role of Lord.As seen in this verse, these Jews understood the distinction that was being made between Lord Jesus and God the Father as Lord. What they didn't understand was that Lord Jesus was equal to God the Father as Lord. They would never dare try this trick using the name of God the Father as Lord since the Jews had learned to respect the power of God the Father. Apparently, they also learned better than to treat the name of Lord Jesus so causally. Unfortunately, too many people today have to experience almost the same thing before they learn this lesson instead of learning it from the Bible.

Home

Acts 19:17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

This account started back in Acts 19:11 with God doing special miracles by the hands of Paul. Some religious vagabond Jews thought that the personal relationship that is salvation was just the result of some religious activity, such as 'saying a prayer to Jesus'. They tried to order God around and command the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:13) and He let one man who was possessed by an evil spirit to cause seven men to run out of that house naked and wounded (Acts 19:16). That account is what this verse is added to by starting with the word And. Further, when it says this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus, which means that God made sure that everyone knew about this incident.

As this verse says, the result was and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. As explained in the note for Acts 19:13, the difference between the name of Jesus and the name of the Lord Jesus is recognizing His Lordship in a personal way. Those who refuse to acknowledge His Lordship have no right to call upon His power or protection. Therefore, the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified because He made it clear that His protection extended to those people who belonged to Him and obeyed Him as their personal Lord.

As with every other reference in this chapter, Lord Jesus is used to emphasize that Jesus is Lord and has equal power and position to God the Father as Lord. However, Lord Jesus is different than God the Father as Lord. The start of this verse (And this was known) is referring back to the prior account, which is covered in the prior note. Before Paul came to Ephesus, Jesus was not recognized as Lord (in Ephesus). Further, the religious Jews who recognized God the Father as Lord refused to acknowledge Lord Jesus and suffered the consequences. Today, many who claim the name of Jesus make the same mistake. Paul showed the people of this city and region that Jesus had the power and position of Lord which was equal to God the Father.

In this summary, people were turning from witchcraft and other curious arts (devil powers) to submit to the Lord Jesus. As with most other references in Acts, this verse tells us that people, especially those that are Biblically saved, recognized that Jesus has the power and position of Lord (God). Notice that the next verse (Acts 19:18) says And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Today people refuse to confess the Lord Jesus and many want His power and protection while refusing to have deeds which prove that He is truly their Lord. In addition, many refuse to stop their sinning or accept financial loss like Acts 19:19 says people did. The Bible clearly teaches that the results that we get are directly related to our obedience in: Job 4:8; Psalms 126:5; Proverbs 22:8; Hosea 10:12; John 4:36-37; 2Corinthians 9:6; Galatians 6:7-8. However, When they were showed that the difference in result is due to a difference in their deeds they refuse to accept the truth from God's Word.

This verse tells us that the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified because those who claimed the name of Jesus truly recognized Him as Lord in a personal way. They understood that He is to be obeyed without question if we want His power, protection and provision. They also understood that he will judge each and every one of us personally for our deeds (1Peter 1:17; Revelation 20:12-13). Therefore, as the next sentence says, And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

Home

Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

This verse is part of Paul's testimony which is outlined in the note for 20:21 under Lord Jesus Christ. It is also section of Paul's last face-to-face message to the elders at Ephesus, which is found in Acts 20:17-38. (Please also see the note for 20:35 [below] which is part of this section.)

This verse starts with the word But, which connects it to prior sentences and goes in a different direction. The prior sentence tells of the warning that Paul received about how he would suffer if he went to Jerusalem. Paul's answer to that warning is this verse. While much could be argued about this subject and verse, this study will limit statements to the use of Lord Jesus in this verse. Here, Paul uses Lord Jesus as a combination of Lord and Jesus.

It is the Lord who appoints men to positions, especially to ministry positions within the church. We see this in Paul's statement is so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus. He expected his Lord to reward him for obedience in spite of all that he would suffer as he served his Lord.

However, it was Jesus Who personally trained Paul like He trained all of the other Apostles (Galatians 1:15-19). In addition, it is Jesus Who shows us how to live in this world to please God in his flesh. (Please see the study called What Did Jesus Do?.)

While we are to have joy in this life, we will not keep it if we do not finish [our] course which we receive from the Lord Jesus. In addition, the prior verse told us that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. This verse tells us that we are to have joy while facing bonds and afflictions. John 1:4 lists 16 attributes of joy; John 15:11 has links to everywhere where the New Testament mentions joy. Joy is different from happiness. Joy is 'a spiritually based sense that we will be blessed by God for enduring current circumstances in a way that brings God glory'.

The ministry which Paul received came from both roles of the Son of God. As Lord, the Son of God gave Paul his course and ministry and promised rewards for successful completion. As Jesus the Son of God gave the example for us to follow. When faced with bonds and afflictions, I believe Paul thought the actions of Jesus Who knew the prophecies of His own suffering, betrayal and death.

Home

Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

This verse is part of Paul's testimony which is ooutlined in the Book Study note for Acts 20:21. It is also section of Paul's last face-to-face message to the elders at Ephesus, which is found in Acts 20:17-38. (Please also see the note for 20:24 [above] which is part of this section.)

Here Paul uses Lord Jesus as our ultimate human leader Who is 'God in human flesh restored to power and authority'. This commandment comes with all of the power and authority of our Lord, Who is also God. However, it also comes with the understanding of human weakness provided by Jesus. He knows and understands our weakness and fleshly desire to provide for the flesh through covetousness. He also understands that God made Biblical Law called 'sowing and reaping' that is more reliable than the laws of nature. Because of the faith required to overcome the weakness of the flesh, especially when it comes to giving and receiving, God provides extra blessings to those that obey their Lord Jesus in this area.

Home

Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

People disagree on whether Paul was in the Lord's will or not when he went to Jerusalem the last time. Some say that the warnings from the Holy Ghost show that Paul was not following the Lord's will. Others say that Paul was following the Lord's will and that the Lord was using Paul's life as an example of how we are to obey our personal Lord even when it means persecution and death. That is, Paul obeyed in spite of repeated warnings that obedience would result in bad consequences. I personally believe that it is sinful pride to claim to know more about Paul's leading than he personally knew, especially since most of our teaching on how to follow our Lord comes from Paul.

Regardless of anyone's opinion, Paul, in this verse, states that he believed that he was following the orders of our ultimate human leader: the Lord Jesus. Remember that our Lord Jesus is 'God in human flesh' Who has taken back all of His power and authority as God. He will judge each of us for our personal obedience to His commands. He understands the weakness of the flesh and provides trails to prove the righteousness of rewards that he gives for all eternity. If He gives me and you the same trial and I fail the test while you pass it then I can't claim that He is unrighteous when He puts you above me for all of eternity.

In addition, Lord Jesus is used here in regard to bringing salvation to the Jews. All through the book of Acts, Jews had to turn away from their religion and turn to the Lord by accepting that Jesus was the Christ. The only way that they could accept that the man Jesus was really 'God in human flesh' and had died to pay the debt for their sins was when they turned to the Lord and accepted that His word was Law above their religion. Paul is going to witness to the Jews at Jerusalem and give the only sign that will reach some of them: martyrdom. Remember, it took the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7) in order to set Paul up to accept his own salvation. Further, in Acts 22:20 Paul admits his own participation in the murder of Stephen. This actually fits with principals that we find in the Bible like the law of sowing and reaping and Matthew 7:1 (Judge not, that ye be not judged). It took martyrdom to win Paul and he was required to pay the same price to win others.

We need to be careful of what price we demand before we accept a truth from God. Thus, Lord Jesus is used in this verse for our ultimate human leader Who can demand our death to advance His Kingdom. It is also used for the salvation of the Jews because that is what Paul was seeking even with all of these warnings and that is what others were telling him wasn't worth his life. This verse is tied to Acts 21:14, which is part of Paul's answer. Please also see the note on 21:14.

Home

Acts 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Here, Paul is reciting his conversion experience from Acts 9. He does it again in Acts 22 and Acts 26. Please also see notes on verses related to Paul's conversion in Acts 9, Acts 22 and Acts 26. Some people preach on the differences between these three reciting of Paul's conversion, but they are not relevant to this study. As seen throughout Acts and Paul's writings, he believed in obeying his personal Lord without question or objection.

Here, we are clearly, and doctrinally, told that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord. There can be no doubt that Jesus of Nazareth is talking about a literal physical man. Also, given the events which caused Paul to address Him as Lord, there can be no doubt that Lord is God in all of His power.Further, since Lord is a legal role, the Lord is the God who will judge us. Paul had enough wisdom to fear this Lord who would literally knock him on his rear. Please see that note for 22:10 under Lord for more on the consequences of disobeying our Lord. Unfortunately, many religious people are not so wise as we see later in this chapter (22:22-23). This verse doctrinally teaches that Jesus of Nazareth is 'God in human flesh' and Lord.

Home

Acts 26:15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

Here, Paul is reciting his conversion experience from Acts 9. He does it again in Acts 22. Please see the notes on related verses in chapter 9 and 22. In this chapter, Paul is talking to king Agrippa, who knows of the man named Jesus and of all of the controversy about Him with the Jews because they have caused several riots. Kings make sure they know about things that will cause their subjects to riot. He also understood that when Festus said he had to give an explanation to his lord that he was talking about Caesar, who was also over king Agrippa. Therefore, when Paul uses Lord in this verse, he had to think of his position in relationship to the Lord of all creation.

Paul is using Lord in this statement as to bring king Agrippa to accepting the Lord as over him. As we see in further verses, king Agrippa understood, but rejected, Paul's message. While king Agrippa may have rejected the truth, Paul made it clear to him that the man named Jesus was God and Lord of all creation.

Home

Lord Christ

Acts 4:26

Please see the note below. This verse uses Lord for God the Father and Christ for God the Son and doctrinally tells us that Christ is a position given by God the Father to God the Son. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Christ and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Christ.

Acts 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts.

Since the context of 4:26 is that Lord and Christ are two different persons, and since that is part of the same praise as 4:24, we can conclude that Lord, in both verses, is not the Son of God but must be God the Father. Christ is only used for the Son of God. Therefore, this verse is not really Lord Christ referring to a single person of the Trinity but is referring to two of the three persons in the Trinity.

This verse is part of a quote of Psalms 2 which is part of the prayer recorded after Peter and John were arrested for doing God's work and then set free. Please see the note for 4:24-25, in the Book Study, for the outline of this prayer and provides the context of this verse.

This verse is a paraphrase of Psalms 2:2 and uses Christ where Psalms 2:2 uses the word anointed. As has been noted several other places, Christ is not found in the Old Testament but was accepted by the Jews for a role that the Son of God would fulfill which had several other titles in the Old Testament.

Acts 4:27starts with For and shows us why this Psalms was quoted. Acts 4:27continues with of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed. When we see that they changed anointed in Psalms 2:2 to Christ in Acts 4:27 and then added that Jesus was God's anointed holy child we see that they are claiming, in their prayer, that Jesus is God's Christ. When we include the faith that we are acting upon while we pray God blesses. They stated in their prayer, as noted for Acts 4:24, that they expected to suffer physically for their stand of faith that Jesus is God's Christ. That stated plan, of acting upon faith, resulted in the response from God that we see recorded in 4:31-33.

As also noted for Acts 4:24, the Jews had a practice of only quoting the first couple of verses when they meant the entire Psalm. Psalms 2 continues with prophecies about God's Son, who is also God's Christ. Psalms 2 includes prophecy about when Christ will return as King of the Earth. God the Father's king would not be the Father but is the Son as stated in Psalms 2:12 and is also Lord as stated in Psalms 2:10-11. Also, Psalms 2:7 says Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee, which tells us that God the Father's Son would be born (begotten) and that the Christ is the Son of God.

This praise service at the end of Acts 4 has many more doctrinal items, and the way that they quoted of Psalms 2 shows us that they included all of Psalms 2 and not just sections of it. In this verse we see Lord used for God the Father and Christ used for the Son of God and for the fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalms 2.

Home

Lord Jesus Christ

Acts 2:36; 10:36; 15:11, 26; 20:21; 28:31

The book of Acts provides us doctrinal verses which prove that our salvation and entire life after profession involve each and every role of the Son of God and that we do not have a true salvation if we reject any of the roles of the Son of God. Lord Jesus Christ is used in Acts for each and every role of the Son of God used together to provide true Biblical salvation. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus Christ and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

This verse uses the name of Jesus to identify a literal physical man who was crucified and died to pay for our sins. It also says that God the Father made Jesus both Lord and Christ. This verse in Acts, and others, tell us that Jesus did not have the power and glory of the Lord (except at the Mount of Transfiguration and the one time that He proved that He had power to forgive sin) until after the resurrection when God the Father made...Jesus...both Lord and Christ.

The note for this verse, in the Book Study, has an extensive explanation of the doctrine in it. Please see it.

We can not just interchange Lord, Jesus and Christ within this verse, or anywhere else in the Bible, and be doctrinally correct. If we switch the positions of any of these roles in this verse, we change the doctrinal statement. Therefore, this verse doctrinally shows that these are different roles that can not be interchanged at will. At the same time, this verse recognizes that it takes each and every role of the Son of God to provide true salvation.

Home

Acts 10:36 The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)

Acts 10:36-38 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study for Acts.

The account of the salvation of the household of Cornelius is in Acts 10. Therefore, all verses and notes in this chapter should be considered together. It starts out telling us about Cornelius and about his being instructed to send for Peter. The account then switches to Peter and God preparing Peter. In both cases the men had to be willing to do as told. If Peter had not been willing to obey, God would have found another to do the job, as we see elsewhere in the Bible, but that is not the lesson for today.

Acts 10:36-43 tells us a summary of what Peter preached to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius. The note in the Book Study explains the details of the complex sentence which this verse is part of. In the sentence, we are told that we must accept Jesus Christ as Lord of all if we want the peace of God and peace with God.

Home

Acts 11:17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?

Acts 10 tells about God saving the Gentile household of Cornelius. Acts 11 tells us Peter's recounting the incident to the church. Since God deliberately put it into the Bible twice, we can know that God established it for doctrine. Further, this phrase of Peter's (what was I, that I, that I could withstand God?) is referenced in the notes for Acts 11:8 and Acts 11:16. With all of the rest of Peter's answer, this phrase is the summary. This should also be our defense when others contend with us. However, that requires us to find out what is the will if God for us personally before we act.

Here Peter is reporting the salvation of Gentiles to the church. He uses all three roles in recognizes that it takes each and every role of the Son of God to provide true salvation. Peter also says that it is God the Father Who gives the Holy Ghost (the like gift). This study has found that the Bible calls God the Father our Saviour, God the Holy Ghost our Saviour and each of the roles of the Son of God our Saviour. Just as a father and a mother are each a parent but perform different functions of the role of Parent, God the Father, God the Holy Ghost, and each role of the Son of God perform different functions in the salvation of our soul.

Peter also uses all three roles to remind the other church members who they are dealing with and what they might loose if they chose to challenge God the Son's rights in any of those roles. What the Bible truly teaches, and what the early church understood, was that while salvation gets us out of hell and into Heaven, and that we can't loose that, there are also a whole lot of conditional blessings that are also available. They understood that fighting against the Son of God within His role as Christ or His role as Lord could loose them blessings in this world and eternal blessings. God the Father has made Jesus Christ our Lord and expects us to trust and obey Him without question. Peter did just that and when it offended the religious beliefs of they that were of the circumcision, Peter gave an answer which can be summarized as what was I, that I could withstand God?

Home

Acts 15:11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

This is the third usage (in Acts) of all three roles of the Son of God (Lord Jesus Christ) and it is again by Peter and again in relation to salvation. Specifically, at the Council of Jerusalem which was convened to dispute the doctrinal requirements of salvation. Notice that Peter doesn't say they shall be saved, even as we but puts it in the opposite order (we shall be saved, even as they). God is subtly dealing with religiously righteous people that want to look down on the salvation of others. It is all done by God and we have no basis for pride (Ephesians 2:8-10). God is providing a doctrinal statement in the book of Acts by making the three most important events about the doctrine of salvation all recognize that it takes each and every role of the Son of God and that true Bible salvation is not found in one role at the exclusion of any other. This doctrine has been covered in many notes within this study and those notes can be easily found by looking at the verses which use all three roles of the Son of God (Lord Jesus Christ). Therefore, it will not be repeated in this note. However, a couple of other items of doctrine need to be covered.

Home

Acts 15:26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This verse is telling us that the Church of Jerusalem entrusted the truth of the doctrine of salvation to men who had hazarded their lives for the belief that salvation requires all three roles as opposed to those men who taught doctrinal error that excluded one role or another when it came to salvation.

Home

Acts Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

This verse is the doctrinal verse used by many soul winners to tell people how to get saved. However, many don't consider the context. Yes, they recognize that Paul and Silas were in jail and talking to the Philippians' jailer. What many don't recognize is that they were there because a devil-possessed girl had followed them around and told the truth. She had cried These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

As stated in the note for Acts 15:26, the testimony of the messenger makes a difference in the perceived truthfulness of the message. As also explained in the note for Acts 16:18, this message from this devil possessed girl could be misconstrued into a false profession. Therefore, this devil-possessed girl was telling the truth, but interfering with the true salvation message being accepted. Because of the interference, Paul cast out her devil and she couldn't prophesy any more.

Her masters were mad at the loss of the money and had Paul and Silas beat and thrown in jail. When God shook the jail and set everyone free, the jailer had no problem believing in the power of the Lord and did not want to challenge Him. When the prisoners didn't escape when they could, the jailer had no problem believing in a life changing Christ. As a jailer, he understood the substitutionary ministry of Jesus, especially since he would personally have to be a substitute for any escaped prisoner. But mainly this jailer would understand the role of the Lord. As the jailer, he was in charge of a prison and part of the government which dealt with people who challenged the authority and power of his government. Part of his job was to correct these wrong perceptions. He would have had to deal with many wrong perceptions and would understand what was wrong with each. Therefore, when he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, he understood that he had to submit, trust and obey and that this was an ongoing relationship that he couldn't walk away from after swearing an oath.

Paul used each role of the Son of God in this doctrinal verse for salvation, and the jailer understood each role, the difference between each role and how each role was required for true salvation. We can be positive of this because Paul added the little phrase of and thy house. Paul was sure that this man understood well enough that he not only would believe for himself but would be able to explain it to everyone in his house and would do so. A rebel would not last long in the house of a jailer in Paul's day. Please also see the note for Acts 16:32 which is added to this verse.

Home

Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

This verse is part of the sentence which is explained in the note for Acts 20:19 under Lord. It is also part of Paul's last face-to-face message to the elders at Ephesus, which is found in Acts 20:17-38. (Please also see the notes for Acts 20:24 and Acts 20:35 which are part of this section.)

In this sentence, Paul is summarizing what He preached, and how he preached at Ephesus. He is calling the elders of the church of Ephesus as witnesses to his preaching as the last thing he does with them. He tells them that they shall see my face no more (Acts 20:25). Verses Acts 20:18-19 tell of the conditions that Paul preached under, and how his life backed his preaching. Verses Acts 20:20-21 tell what Paul preached which includes faith towards each and every role of the Son of God. No one can read the rest of Paul's message in this chapter, or his other writings, and honestly claim that Paul believed in a salvation that denied any of the roles of the Son of God. Paul lived and preached a salvation that is a relationship, not a religion. Here, Paul specifically states that our salvation and our relationship to the Son of God must include each and every role of the Son of God.

This verse says that Paul preached repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He is deliberately using God to represent God the Father and using our Lord Jesus Christ to represent the Son of God and Paul is telling us that we have different responsibilities to each. In addition, Paul is saying that he preached faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. This is different than the faith of the Son of God. Some people have started preaching about our needing His faith so much that they are almost denying our needing our own faith. In truth, we need both.

Paul started out this section calling these elders of the church at Ephesus (20:17) as his witnesses. They could not witness what they had not seen. Therefore, can be seen and witnessed to by others. Further, as we have seen here, true faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ is our faith. It can't be toward if it is from (of) Him.

Home

Acts 28:31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

28:30 and 28:31 form a single sentence and conclude the book of Acts. It tells us how Paul ended his life and how each of us should end our lives. There's a whole message here, but I will only outline.

Paul dwelt...in his own hired house: he paid his own way and wasn't a burden on others.
Paul received all: the gospel is for all and we should exclude none.
Paul was Preaching the kingdom of God: that is trust and obedience to the things that God tells us, in the Bible, instead of what some man tell us.
Paul was teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ: he taught everything about each and every role of the Son of God and didn't neglect ant section.
Paul taught with all confidence because he had received the truth directly from his personal Lord and not from some other preacher, no matter how godly the preacher was. When our faith is in a man and his message, we can not have all confidence.
Paul had no man forbidding him because he was willing to pay any price, and had paid all price, including torture and death, to preach the truth.

The true message of the church, as presented in Acts, is that our salvation, which is supposed to be all of our life's work, involves all three roles of the Son of God and we can't ignore or neglect any one of them. To claim that it is all 'done, done, done' rejects the role of Christ is doctrinal error that can cause someone to believe they are saved while they end up in the Lake of Fire (Revelation Acts 19:20; 20:10, 14-15). To claim that it is all based upon anything that we do is to reject the role of Jesus is doctrinal error that can cause someone to believe they are saved while they end up in the Lake of Fire (Romans 3:26). To claim that God has to accept any doctrine other than what He wrote is to reject the role of Lord and puts that person in the position of those that Jude preaches against. The main message of the book of Acts is the same as the main message of the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ is God and Lord and those who would have the all of rewards must be more than saved. Notice that Paul preached about the kingdomGod in relationship to those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is found in Matthew 6:33; 12:28; Acts 19:24; 21:31, 43; Mark 1:14-15; 4:11, 26, 30; 9:1, 47; 10:14-15, 23-25; 12:34; 14:25; 15:43; Luke 4:43; 6:20; 7:28; 8:1, 10; 9:2, 11, 27, 60, 62; 10:9, 11; 11:20; 12:31; 13:18, 20, 28-29; 14:15; Acts 16:16; 17:20-21; 18:16-17, 24-25; Acts 19:11; 21:31; 22:16, 18; 23:51; John 3:3, 5; Acts 1:3; 8:12; 14:22; Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31; Romans 14:17; 1Corinthians 4:20; 6:9-10; 15:50; Galatians 5:21; Colossians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:5. It should be obvious that this is an entire study on it's own, especially when you consider the need to separate it from other kingdoms mentioned in the Bible. However, two of the main verses to remember about the of are John 3:3 which tells us Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdomof and 1Corinthians 4:20 which tells us For the kingdomGodis not in word, but in power. These and other verses make it clear that only saved (be born again), but not all saved (but in power), will enter the kingdom of God.

Home

King

Acts 7:10, 18; 12:1, 20; 13:21, 22; 17:7; 25:13, 14, 24, 26; 26:2, 7, 13, Acts 19, 26, 27, 30

Every use of king in the book of Acts is talking about a human in a position of human government. Click here for all of the Verses that use King and here for the Summary on the name / role of King.

Acts 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

This verse is part of the witness of Stephen which led to his martyrdom by religious fanatics who insisted upon people keeping their religious rules and rejected a personal relationship with the Son of God. All of Acts 7 is a single unit and needs to be considered together for contextual reasons. In it, Stephen uses a summary of the history of the Jews to preach the Gospel. Please see the Chapter Summary and the Detailed Noted, in the Book Study, in order to understand His sermon. It has several Old Testament references, and other things, which are explained there.

This verse uses king of Egypt to show that the Jews were under the laws of the world before God led them out by great power. After God led them out, those who sought to go back to living under the laws of the world were destroyed by God. Stephen related their history to the gospel and the lesson is the same for us. God will destroy us if we seek to return to the rule of a king of this world.

Home

Acts 7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.

This verse is part of the witness of Stephen which led to his martyrdom by religious fanatics who insisted upon people keeping their religious rules and rejected a personal relationship with the Son of God. Please see the other verses and associated notes for Acts 7, especially the notes for 7:37, 45, 49, 55, 56, 59 and 7:60. Those notes show how Stephen went from the history of the Jews to the gospel. Please also see the note above about the king of Egypt. While we may be comfortable under a king of this world for a while, there will always be new rules from another king which will turn us into slaves (addicted to sin). After God frees us, our flesh tries to make us forget the new king and remember the king that was good so that we will return to the slavery of sin (Hebrews 11:25). If we do return, God will destroy us (Hebrews 4:3). We need to use the terrible circumstances of this life to learn the consequences of sin and to teach them to others so that they know that no matter how well they like the king of this world, there will always be another king to arise and make us slaves.

Home

Acts 12:1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.

Just as we saw in the two prior uses of king (in Acts) for a worldly rules, we see the worldly king making rules to hurt those who are trying to obey their Heavenly King. The religious Jews said that Jesus was a worldly king and used that to get Him killed by the Romans (Matthew 27:11, Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:2, Mark 15:9, Mark 15:12, Mark 15:18, Mark 15:26, Mark 15:32; Luke 23:2, 3, 37, Luke 23:38; John 18:33, John 18:27, John 18:39). As Jesus told Pilate, His Kingdom is not of this world. His Kingdom does not conflict with just kingdoms and rules of this world. It is only in conflict with sin which will eventually destroy all kingdoms of this world.

Home

Acts 12:20 And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king'schamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king's country.

The verse before this one says that Herod killed a bunch of his guards because they highly displeased him when they didn't stop God from doing what God wanted. So, these other people who were responsible for lots of people that Herod could hurt or kill came to him and did whatever they could to be his friends so that he didn't hurt their people. If we are going to make friends of a king of this world, we have to be prepared to deal with unreasonable fits of anger and death threats because the king of this world is displeased with us over things completely out of our control.

Home

Acts 13:21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.

Please see the note for this verse under Son. God's people had God for a King and God was reasonable but not visible. God gave them what they demanded. A visible unreasonable human king of this world. This verse is part of Paul's message to the Jews at the start of his first missionary trip. The format of his message is similar to that of Stephen in Acts 7, where Paul agreed that Stephen should be killed for his message.

Home

Acts 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

After the Jews had to live with the worldly king that they demanded from God, God gave them a king who was a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. The difference in these two worldly kings is why we need to pray for God to give us godly rulers and when we get ungodly kings, we need to pray for their salvation. This verse is part of Paul's message to the Jews at the start of his first missionary trip. The format of his message is similar to that of Stephen in Acts 7, where Paul agreed that Stephen should be killed for his message.

Home

Acts 17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

Please see the note for this verse under Jesus.

Home

Acts 25:13 And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesareato salute Festus.

This is part of the account about Festus passing the problem of what to do with Paul to king Agrippa, who will be the one blamed if the lord of Festusgets upset. This verse uses king for a role in human government. Like most human kings found in Acts, king Agrippa is corrupt and more concerned about receiving praise of men than he is in his eternal destiny. Please also see the notes for Acts 25:19 under Jesus and 25:26 under Lord for more details on this account. Please also see the various notes for Acts 25 and Acts 26 under King as they all relate to this account. Through this account we see king Agrippa addressed as king repeatedly because his entire worth was based upon his position among men. He gained less than the whole world, and lose his own soul (Matthew Acts 16:26; Mark 8:36; Luke 9:25).

Home

Acts 25:14 And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix:

Acts 25:14-15 is a single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as:

Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king in a way that put the blame on Felix for not solving the problem.

And when they had been there many days,
Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king,
saying,
There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix:

Festus told the king that lower level government officials were demanding a resolution.

About whom,
when I was at Jerusalem,
the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me,
desiring to have judgment against him.

As we often see in bureaucracies, nothing got done without pushing. In this case, Felix refused to do anything and when they received a new governor, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews pushed for a resolution. Since the new governor could put the blame on the guy who was gone, he did just that but also convinced his boss to make the decision. According to this account, he spent several days building up the ego of his boss (with great pomp [Acts 25:23]) and then asked him to resolve a 'little thing'.

Home

Acts 25:24 And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer.

In this verse we see Festus making a formal announcement at the start of procedural hearing. The prior verse (25:23) tells us that the accused (Paul) was there but the accusers (the chief priests and the elders of the Jews [25:15]) weren't because their accusations had already been put on record. In addition, we see that Festus wisely made sure that there were many reputable witnesses (with the chief captains, and principal men of the city [25:23]). We also see a statement of the problem: lower government officials demanding Paul's death (25:24) and that Festus found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him (25:25) but that Festus had no certain thing to write unto my lord (25:26). We can not give a problem to our boss without identifying the problem and why we can't solve it. Festus should have let Paul go because there was no legal reason to hold him. However, doing so would cause riots be the Jews, which might cost him his job. Acts 27:32 tells us Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar. As we see said here, there was no legal reason to continue to hold Paul since they agrees that This man might have been set at liberty. However, he was being held because Felix was willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound and Festus didn't want the responsibility of making a decision which would cause the Jews to riot. In addition, he didn't want the responsibility of sending a problem to Caesar that he should have solved. So now Festus can claim that king Agrippa had given him a ruling that because Paul appealed unto Caesar, Festus could not let Paul go and if Caesar was upset at having to make the final decision. Caesar would blame king Agrippa. In the end, king Agrippa let pride of position make him into a fool and those of us with positions need to avoid doing the same.

Home

Acts 25:26 Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, of king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to write.

Home

Acts 26:2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:

Acts 26:1 has a sentence in it and the start of a sentence which goes through Acts 26:3. The first sentence of Acts 26:1 is:

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself.

Acts 26:1-3 is a single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as:

Paul answered for himself.

Then Paul stretched forth the hand,
and answered for himself:

Paul said he was happy to answer for himself.

I think myself happy,
king Agrippa,
because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:

Paul said he was happy to answer for himself because king Agrippa was known to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews.

Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews:

Paul asked king Agrippa to hear his whole answer (hear me patiently).

wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.

This verse uses king for a role in human government. Like most human kings found in Acts, king Agrippa is corrupt and more concerned about receiving praise of men than he is in his eternal destiny. Please also see the notes for Acts 25:19 under Jesus and 25:26 under Lord for more details on this account and this verse. Starting in this sentence we see Paul's answer to king Agrippa. As he does each time he is reported as talking to someone, Paul includes testimony for the Lord. Please notice that Paul addresses king Agrippa by his title six times in this chapter. Paul was aware of prickly pride and wanted to avoid having his testimony for the Lord be rejected because of distractions by offended pride. As the witnesses for our Lord, we need to put aside our own human concerns (as much as possible) while dealing with the concerns of others so that the message from our Lord has the best chance of actually being considered. Acts 26:28 tells us that the response from king Agrippa was Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. If he could have rejected Paul's message for any reason that Paul gave him, he would have done so. However, his rejection can't be blamed on anyone but himself. In this sentence, king is used as the title and role of a human government official and it is used properly to shoe all due respect for the position even though the man is full of pride and has proven himself to be a fool.

Home

Acts 26:7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

After his initial opening statement, Paul did not need to directly address king Agrippa again within his statements. Paul do so in this sentence to catch the attention of king Agrippa because in the next verse Paul asks him Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? Paul does not wait for an answer but king Agrippa understands that this is something that he needs to answer for himself. Of course, king Agrippa also knows enough scripture (I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews [Acts 26:3]) that he has not done what is necessary to receive the resurrection of life (John 5:29; 11:25). So we see Paul addressing king Agrippa by his title and name in order to get his attention and make his next point to be personal.

Home

Acts 26:13 At midday, of king, I saw in the way a light from Heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

After his initial opening statement, Paul did not need to directly address king Agrippa again within his statements. Paul do so in this sentence to catch the attention of king Agrippa because in the this verse and the next verse Paul is going to tell king Agrippa about a 'Heavenly vision'. King Agrippa understands that this comes from the creator of the universe and that king Agrippa will stand before Him some day. As a king, he also understands that if this 'Heavenly vision' changed a fanatic like Paul was then it is not something to be ignored. So we see Paul addressing king Agrippa by his title and name in order to get his attention and make his next point to be personal.

Home

Acts 26:19 Whereupon, of king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the Heavenly vision:

After his initial opening statement, Paul did not need to directly address king Agrippa again within his statements. Paul does so in this sentence to catch the attention of king Agrippa because he wants king Agrippa to personally consider his statement that I was not disobedient unto the Heavenly vision. We know from this account that king Agrippa was disobedient unto the Heavenly vision but we also know that Paul got his point across by the response from king Agrippa in Acts 26:28. Acts 26:19-20 is a single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as:

Paul did not disobey the Heavenly vision and he made this point personally to king Agrippa.

Whereupon,
O king Agrippa,
I was not disobedient unto the Heavenly vision:

Paul proved that he did not disobey the Heavenly vision by the way he lived in front of many people.

But shewed first unto them of Damascus,
and at Jerusalem,
and throughout all the coasts of,
and then to the Gentiles,
that they should repent and turn to God,
and do works meet for repentance.

We see Paul addressing king Agrippa by his title and name in order to get his attention and make his next point to be personal. Paul backed his mouth with his life. Like many today, king Agrippa rejected true Biblical salvation because he was not willing to live it.

Home

Acts 26:26 For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am

While Paul is giving his testimony, Festus interrupts him to say Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad because Festus does not have the background that king Agrippa has. The things that make perfect sense to someone who has been taught Bible principals seem crazy to someone from a different background. That's why the gospel is presented more than one way. It is the same truth but has to be presented in a way that people can understand. 1Corinthians 1:22-25 tells us For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Even though the Jews require a sign and believe when the gospel is presented with a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom and signs do not convince them. Paul presents his arguments with signs which king Agrippa understands but which seems mad to Festus.

After answering the interruption by Festus Paul returns to addressing king Agrippa by his title and name in order to make his presentation of the gospel to be personal. Paul says For the king knoweth of these things because what Paul has been speaking about are things that a king needs to know. The resurrection of Jesuswas not done in a corner, as Paul reminds king Agrippa.

Home

Acts 26:27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.

In this verse we see Paul give king Agrippa a personal 'altar call'. In this verse, Paul is making king Agrippa face the fact that he knows scripture (the prophets). Paul has just answered Festus, who thought Paul was mad because Festus did not know the prophets. Therefore, king Agrippa had to know that this presentation of the gospel required knowledge that he had and that Festus did not have, which made it personal to him. And, that's why in the next verse tells us Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Like many people, king Agrippa was willing to be religious so long as it was not personal. However, as we see in this account, the understanding that king Agrippa had from the prophets required a personal relationship with the Son of God in order to be a true Christian. In this verse, we see the Son of God sent Paul to extend a personal invitation of salvation to king Agrippa and we see his foolish refusal of that invitation.

Home

Acts 26:30 And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them:

Acts 26:30-31 is single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as:

After Paul finished presenting the gospel, those who were judging him moved for a private word.

And when he had thus spoken,
the king rose up,
and the governor,
and Bernice,
and they that sat with them:

In private, king Agrippa admitted that Paul should not be under arrest.

And when they were gone aside,
they talked between themselves,
saying,
This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.

After king Agrippa turned down a personal invitation to becomes a Christian (please see the note for Acts 26:27 above), he understood the motivations of the Jewish leaders and that they had also refused an invitation to become Christians. He also understood that they were jealous of the personal influence that God gave Paul. Here we see that human government that human government, as represented by the king...and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them can be maneuvered into perverting justice. They admitted that This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. They should have freed him, and knew it. However, they also understood that if they did then the Jewish leaders would cause the Jewish people to rebel and they could loose their positions because they did not maintain the peace. Therefore, the king said to use the technical excuse that Paul had appealed unto Caesar. They could have ignored the technicality, but chose to use it as an excuse to pass the problem to someone else. Later the Jews did riot and Rome destroyed their Temple as a result, but these people were not blamed at this time, which is all that they cared about.

Home

Son

Acts 1:13; 2:17; 3:13, 26; 4:36; 7:16, 21, 29, 56; 8:37; 9:20; 13:21, 22, 33; 16:1; 19:14; 23:6, Acts 16

Every use of son in Acts shows that the son has the same spirit and character as the father. Click here for all of the Verses that use Son and here for the Summary on the name / role of Son.

Acts 1:13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the Son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

This verse uses son to identify a physical man as the physical son of another man. It should be obvious that both father and son were well-known by the church of that day for this type of identification to make sense. The phrase the son of Alphaeus is used in Matthew 10:3; Mark 2:14; 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13. In Mark 2:14 it is referring to Matthew. While I have heard for years that within the apostles, James and John were brothers and Pater and Andrew were brothers, I can't remember hearing that James and Matthew were brothers.

The use of the phrase the son of Alphaeus lets us know that even during the time of the gospels, Alphaeus was known. All through the Bible, son is used when the father and son have the same character. So even though Alphaeus is not mentioned any other way in the Bible, it would appear that God thought enough of his testimony to include his name when the fathers of many other apostles are not named. It is possible that this phrase is used mainly to separate this James from other James in the list of the apostles. However, other than Mark 2:14, this phrase is always used for James the son of Alphaeus and not for Matthew.

It is possible that when Matthew was a publican he did not really show the character and spirit of Alphaeus. When we fail to show the character and Spirit of our Heavenly Father I have to think that He is also embarrassed to call us His 'son'.

Home

Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

Acts 2:16-21 is a single sentence which can be divided by punctuation as shown in the Book Study. Please also see the notes for 2:20 and 2:21 under Lord which give further information. Please also see the note for Romans 10:13 which says the same thing as the last Equivalent Section of this sentence. This sentence is part of Peter's quote of Joel 2 which he uses as his text for his message at Pentecost.

When we look at all of the places that the Bible uses sons, we see that they have the character of their father. When we look at true Biblical salvation, we see that it includes becoming a sons of God (John 1:12-13) who are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14). This account in Acts shows that the people first saved in the church age lived up to this Biblical requirement of true Biblical salvation.

Home

The majority of the explanation for this verse is in the note under Jesus. Please see it also. Peter uses Son Jesus to mean the same as Lord Jesus Christ, but in a less obvious expression to catch the attention of the audience and to make them think. (Everything that is in Lord is also in Son because Lord is a role of the Son of God.)

Within his detailed statements of 3:14-25, Peter makes it clear that Jesus is Lord and Christ and more. But within the opening and closing Peter uses Son twice. This gives us a doctrinal basis to say that Son includes Lord, Christ, the Holy One, the Just, the Prince of life and much more. While Son is another name for the Son of God, and it is covered in this study to a minor extent, it is not one of the names that this study is concentrated on. In both of these verses, Peter uses Jesus for 'God in human flesh', or the name of a man, and uses Son for all of the other attributes and roles of the Son of God.

Home

Acts 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

This verse clearly, and doctrinally, declares Jesus to be the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God in human flesh. However, there is more here. All of the verses and notes for Acts 3 and Acts 4 should be considered together as they all are part of a single account within Acts. In addition, Everything in Acts 3:12-26 is part of the same message from Peter and all of the verses within Peter's message should be considered together, with the matching notes. In particular, the specific interpretation of this verse, and its placement within this study, are noted in the Book Study Detailed Note for Acts 3:13.

The Bible uses son for the person who received the character of their father. The Bible uses Son for when He is showing us the character of God the Father. John 1:12 says But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Notice that He only gave us power. We must follow the example of the Son of God in order to receive the character of God. Jesus shows us how to receive God's character.

Home

Acts 4:36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

I heard one great sermon about Barnabas and how every place you read about him in the Bible he is trying to encourage others. That is what son of consolation basically means and Barnabas earned this name by the life that he lived before the church and world. I'm not sure I can repeat the preacher's points, but I will try.

Before this verse there were at least 8, 000 souls that had joined the church and they needed things like places to meet and teach doctrine and other ministries. Barnabas sold his land and invested it in God's work so that more souls could be saved and helped to grow spiritually.
Acts 9:26-27 tells us And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Here we see Barnabas lifting up a changed brother that the entire church was literally afraid of and wanted nothing to do with. Barnabas believed that the Lord could save and change anyone.
In Acts 11:19-24, a bunch of Jews had left Jerusalem in fear for their lives while the disciples stayed in faith believing God would save them. Lots of churches condemn those who move elsewhere for a job or other non-spiritual reasons. However, these non-preachers started the first recorded missionary church. Since the church was up and running, someone had to go lead them. While the preachers were trying to figure out who would get the short straw, Barnabas volunteered to go. He figured no job was too low for a servant of the Lord.
In Acts 11:25-26 we see Barnabas going and finding Paul, who had been encouraged to leave Jerusalem, and brought Paul to his church and put Paul into the ministry.
Next in Acts 11:27-30 we read that prophets were warning that things would get really bad, which would make travel really dangerous. So we see Barnabas volunteering to do the dangerous job and take money to Jerusalem.
In Acts 12:25- 14:28we see that the Lord wanted to send missionaries to dangerous heathens and Barnabas volunteered to go and take Paul and John Mark and others. Again, no job for the Lord was too dangerous for Barnabas.
Then in Acts 15 we read about a doctrinal dispute and Barnabas was one of the men sent to calm things down and get everyone to follow the Lord over well-loved religious traditions. No dispute was so great that Barnabas agreed it was beyond the ability of our Lord to resolve.
In Acts 15:36-41 Paul wanted to go on his second missionary journey but refused to take John Mark who had abandoned them on the first trip. Barnabas stood by John Mark and split with Paul. He trained John Mark (who wrote the gospel of Mark) and later Paul called for John Mark to come to him because he was profitable. No one could mess up so bad that Barnabas figured they were beyond salvage by the Lord.
In 1Corinthians 9 we read that Barnabas went without a wife so that he could do more to minister for the Lord. No personal sacrifice was too great for Barnabas.

Home

Acts 7:16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

This is a reference that causes some commentators to say there are errors in the word of God. The most likely accurate interpretation comes from Scofield. He explains that Abraham bought it in Genesis 23:4-20 from Ephron. Later, the descendants of Ephron stole it and Jacob bought it again rather than fight for what was rightly his. Later Sychem raped Jacob's daughter and Jacob's sons killed everyone when they treated the sons of Ephron the same way as they treated others. That cased lots of problems for God's people. No matter how others treat us, we aren't to treat them the same way but we are to act like children of God and let him take vengeance.

There is another truth involved in this verse. Proverbs 13:22 says A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Jacob was the children's children of Abraham. When he purchased the land a second time, he would have been using the inheritance that was passed down from Abraham. Therefore, even though Jacob gave the money, it really was true that Abraham bought for a sum of money.

Home

Acts 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

We have a very profound truth hidden within this verse. Moses was raised by his mother to be one of the sons of God (John 1:12-13). Moses was then turned over to Pharaoh's daughter who took him up, and nourished him for her own son. Moses literally had all that the world, the flesh and the devil could offer for the first 40 years of his life. However, all of that combined could not undo the fact that Moses was one of the sons of God (John 1:12-13). All who are truly one of the sons of God will reveal it in their life (Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. [Matthew 7:20).

Some detractors point to Lot, but he had fruits before he left Abraham and Lot is the proof that because God will not take away our free will, we can choose to walk away from God. However, at some time in the life of every truly saved person, they will show that they are one of the sons of God no matter what the world, the flesh and the devil offers them. Those who never have fruits prove themselves to be liars when they claim to be one of the sons of God.

Home

Acts 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

1 Chronicles 23:15 says The sons of Moses were, Gershom, and Eliezer. The name of Gershom supposedly means 'a stranger here' because Moses told his wife I have been a stranger in a strange land. There is nothing easily found out about these sons of Moses.

Home

Acts 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the Heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

Acts 6 tells us about the church selecting deacons and of the testifying of Stephen which to intellectuals tried to dispute. They lost because Stephen relied upon the wisdom of God (Acts 6:10). Since they could not win a fair argument, Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God (Acts 6:11) and hauled Stephen before the council for a trial. Acts 7 gives us the answer from Stephen on charges that he blasphemed and tells of his subsequent martyrdom. All verses and notes for Acts 6 and Acts 7 should be considered together as they tell about a single event. This verse starts with And which means it is added to prior verses in this sub-section. Acts 7:54-60 tells us of the reaction of the council to having their sin made clear to them. Instead of getting right with the Lord, they martyred His messenger Stephen.

As explained in the other notes for this sub-section, this verse uses Son of man to emphasize the humanity of Jesus Who had proved that He is the Lord and Christ that will judge the people murdering Stephen.

Home

Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Chtist is the Son of God.

Acts 8:26-40 has Philip preaching again but he has different results tan he had in the beginning of the chapter. All of Acts 8 is related and all verses and notes should be considered together. However, at a minimum those in this sub-account should be considered as a group. This note is covered in the note of 8:37under Jesus Christ. Please also see it.

Home

Acts 9:20 And straightway he preached Chtist in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

Please see the note for this verse under Christ.

Home

Acts 13:21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.

The name of Saul's father is 'Kish' according to 1Samuel 14:51; 1Chronicles 8:30-33 and 1Chronicles 9:36-39. Supposedly, son of Cis means the son of a wealthy and influential family. This would be consistent with the other things that we know about Saul. He was physically larger and stronger than any/most other Jews, good looking and had all of the outward appearances of a king, but not the inward character. God gave the people what they wanted and let them suffer the consequences before He gave them a man after mine own heart as we see in the very next verse. Please see the note below.

Home

Acts 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

This verse tells us a very important definition. David was not sinless. Indeed, many have preached on the sins of David. However, this verse tells us that David was a man after mine [God's] own heart because God knew that he would fulfil all my will. A lot of people claim the be a 'man of God' and do God's will but are like many that we find in the book of Acts. They challenge God's commandments to them. It is OK to ask for clarification and, at times, evidence to convince others, but that is not the same as doing all of God's will without challenging His commandments. God said that David was a man after mine [God's] own heart because God knew that he shall fulfil all my will.

Home

Acts 13:33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

13:32-33 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

Home

Acts Acts 16:1 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:

Acts 16:1-2 is a single sentence which is divided by the punctuation in the Book Study.

This verse tells us about Paul meeting Timotheus and that while he was a Gentile, his mother was a believing Jewess. We also see by this verse saying that Timotheus was the son of his mother, and not the son of his father, that he had the character and faith of his mother. We also see this in 2Timothy 1:5 which says When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. This shows us the importance of being faithful even after we mess up so much that we have permanent consequences.

This Jewess had married a Greek, which was forbidden to the Jews. God did not set aside this marriage and she lived with it the rest of her life. Even so, God still used her because she became faithful. These verses also show us the importance of grand parents and the results of remaining faithful even if you are married to an unbeliever.

Home

Acts Acts 19:14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

Please see the note for Acts Acts 19:13 under Lord Jesus which explains this verse and the use of sons in this verse. Please see the note for Acts Acts 19:15under Jesus for further details on this verse.

Home

Acts 23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one section were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

This is a continuation of a account that began several chapters ago. Where you count it as starting depends upon how much detail you want to go into. In the prior chapter, Paul said that it started with his consenting unto [the] death of the martyr Stephen (Acts 22:20). This particular incident started when all the elders of the Jerusalem Church insisted that Paul do a religious thing to prove (Acts 21:16-24) that thatthou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law because some liars were claiming that Paul taught Jews to forsake the Law. As shown in the notes for Acts 21:20; 22:8 and 22:10, this religious act didn't prove anything and didn't satisfy anyone. But while Paul was doing as asked, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him (Acts 21:27). God had the Roman soldiers sent to bust up the riot and Paul talked the captain into letting him address the crowd. They listened until Paul used the scriptures and signs from God to prove that God had sent the gospel to the Gentiles. (Please see the notes for Acts 22:8 under Lord Jesus and for 22:10, Acts 16, Acts 19 under Lord.) That started the riot again and the captain took Paul to prison and was going to scourge him until Paul said he was a Roman. That ended the plans for scourging and 22:30 tells us On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them. Now Paul is before these Jewish religious leaders and he is struck for offering just the first sentence of truth (22:1-2). Since they obviously won't hear the truth but are going to judge according to their fanatical religious beliefs, Paul uses his knowledge of those beliefs (in this verse) to split and discredit these religious fanatics before the Roman Captain who doesn't care about their religious beliefs. This causes another near riot (22:3-10) and the Roman Captain again rescues Paul. The Roman Captain no longer is willing to listen to the discredited Jewish leaders and, the next day, believes a report that they plan to attack his soldiers in order to kill Paul.

In this whole account, the Jews might have got their way if they had not split and start fighting amongst themselves. They were split because Paul cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. If he had just been a Pharisee, they might have doubted his word. But since he was also the son of a Pharisee there was no doubt because these men understood that a son had the same character as the father. As a second generation Pharisee who said of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question, no one questioned his claim. They started fighting amongst themselves and lost all of their unity because no one called Paul a liar. They could not because Paul was a Pharisee [and] the son of a Pharisee, which made his testimony a type of two witnesses. This verse shows that thee Bible and the Jews understood that a son had the same spirit and character as his father.

Home

Acts 23:16 And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.

Please see the note above for the context of this verse. After a near riot was caused by religious Jews seeing Paul, and religious dispute was caused amongst the the chief priests and all their council (Acts 22:30), the Roman Captain rescued Paul one more time and stopped listening to the Jewish leaders. Then those leaders received some fanatics who took a vow ...that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul (Acts 23:14). As a side note, any time you have religious people trying to kill other religious people they do not represent the God of the Bible during the Church Age (today).

This verse tells us that Paul's sister's son brought the news of the plan by these fanatics and the Roman Captain believed him (Acts 23:16-31) because he knew the character of Paul and also figured that Paul's sister's son also probably had the same character and spirit. This Roman Captain could have been in trouble and possibly lost his position for doing what he did but because they believed so strongly in a son having the same character and spirit as the father, the Roman Captain felt he could justify his decision.

Home

Saviour

Acts 5:31; 13:23.

We only find Saviour used twice in Acts and both times this role is linked to Jesus. When we look at the use of Saviour in the Bible, we find it is like the role of 'parent'. Both a man and a woman have the role of 'parent', but each do a different job in this role. Likewise, God the Father and the Son of God as Lord, the Son of God as Jesus and the Son of God as Christ all have the role of Saviour but each do a different job within this role. In addition, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is also involved in our salvation even if the Bible does not call the Holy Spirit a Saviour. Acts tells us what the Son of God as Jesus does within the role of Saviour. Click here for all of the Verses that use Saviour and here for the Summary on the name / role of Saviour.

Acts 5:31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Our sentence says that Jesus was made a Saviour for to give repentance...and forgiveness of sins. In order to truly repent, we must 'turn from sin and turn towards God in obedience'. In order for us to do this, our Saviour must change our basic character. This is His ongoing work with the truly saved. And, He gives us forgiveness of sins, but only after we agree to His changes which will turn us from our natural sin nature.

Home

Acts 13:23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

Acts 13:23-24 is a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study.

This sentence tells us that our Saviour would be of this man's [David's] seed. (Please see the Prophecy Fulfilled Section of the Doctrinal Study called Significant Gospel Events about prophecies that Christ would be a physical descendent of king David and would sit on his throne forever.) . In addition, we have other prophecies about our Saviour. Please see the Section called Sequence of the Betrayal of Jesus in the the Study called Gospel Time Sequences for the prophecies of Jesus Christ being betrayed. Please see the Sections called Harmony, Prophecies and Prophecies Fulfilled, in the Study called Significant Gospel Events, for references to verses related to the suffering of Jesus Christ. Please see the Section called Appearances of Jesus Christ After the Resurrection, in the the Study called Gospel Time Sequences, and several Sections in the Study called Significant Gospel Events, for the prophecies of Christ rising from the dead.

As has been shown in many notes in this study, Jesus is 'God in human flesh' and fulfilled the role of Saviour by dying as a man and paying the price to get us out on Hell and into Heaven when God makes us sons of God (John 1:12-13; Romans 3:26; etc). Christ is our Saviour in that Christ died to pay for our sins after we become sons of God and because He saves his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) by removing the control of sin which allows the saved to stop their sinning.

This verse is part of the message that Paul in preaching to Jews at the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14). In this verse Paul is reminding these Jews of their history and of promises in scripture before he tells them how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy. (Please see Acts 13:26-41 and associated notes.)

Home

Verses within this Study.

Contact: Webmaster@LJC1611KJV.com. Member of Bible Baptist Church in La Carlota, Philippines. Copyright 2009 Lord Jesus Christ in the 1611KJV. All rights reserved. Revised: 07/03/23.