Acts: An Expositional Commentary
Overview
"There's nothing today's church needs so much as to rediscover the doctrine, spirit, and commitments of the early Christian community," writes James Montgomery Boice. The power the early church exhibited for changes and growth is overwhelming. Although it faced enormous obstacles—it was completely new, it taught truths that seemed unbelievable, and it suffered intense hatred and persecution-the church managed to spread across the early world within the lifetime of the first generation of believers.
In fifty chapters that progress through the book of Acts, Boice issues a challenge to believers to follow the first-century church. We are encouraged to glean the vital principles that enabled the early church to expand, and then apply them to our modern-day church. If we take time to study the expansion of the early church, we can spread the gospel the way it was spread during the first century-by the faithful preaching and teaching of the great truths of the Bible.
Top Highlights
“Luke does not merely give us a history of the early church; he tells us that there is a plan to history. God is unfolding it. That plan does not have to do with the rise and fall of empires. It does not have to do with one race or people being more influential than another. The Bible does not even look at history as having to do primarily with individual successes or attainments. The meaning of history is in God’s work: God reaching down into the mass of fallen humanity and saving some hell-bent men and women, bringing them into a new fellowship, the church, and beginning to work in them in such a way that glory is brought to Jesus Christ. That is what Luke is writing about as he unfolds these events.” (Pages 14–15)
“The Holy Spirit is not an ‘it.’ The Holy Spirit is a Person. He is God. When we get that clearly in mind, then we can see that the object of our relationship to the Holy Spirit is not that we might have more of him so that we can use him, but rather that he might have more of us and use us. Simon did not understand this, and neither do many believers today.” (Page 137)
“So Peter does not tell them what Jesus said but instead declares what Jesus did for them. He preaches the cross and resurrection.” (Page 51)
“So the main point is reinforced again: When the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, enters a person to enable him or her to give out some of what God has first given, that individual talks about Jesus Christ.” (Page 43)
“According to Epicurus, the chief goal in life is to attain the maximum amount of pleasure and the minimum amount of pain.” (Page 295)
Dr. Boice's commentary series is a treasure for the church and for her pastors. No expository preacher can afford to be without it.
—R. C. Sproul
- Title: Acts: An Expositional Commentary
- Author: James Montgomery Boice
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 1997
- Pages: 456
James Montgomery Boice (July 7, 1938–June 15, 2000) was a Reformed theologian and pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1968 until his death. He received degrees from Harvard University, Princeton Theological Seminary, University of Basel in Switzerland and Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Boice served as senior pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was president and cofounder of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, the parent organization of The Bible Study Hour radio broadcast on which Boice was a speaker for more than 30 years. He also served as chairman of the International Council of Biblical Inerrancy for over ten years.
Boice’s 27-volume Expositional Commentary set reflects his years of experience in the pulpit. He also authored Foundations of the Christian Faith which provides a readable overview of Christian theology.