Acts Zecnt Eckhard J Schnabel Schnabel Eckhard J by Eckhard J. Schnabel [schnabel, Eckhard J.] B01EBCU4TE instant download after payment.

The writing of a commentary is hard work, but the missionary work of Peter, Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, and Paul was harder. The writing of a commentary on a book of the Scriptures requires prayer, so that readers understand not only the historical details, the literary features, and the theological emphases of Luke’s account, but that they will also be able to hear God continue to speak to his church. And the writing of a commentary on the book of Acts is a long journey accompanied, if it seeks to approximate the work of Peter and Paul, by the preaching and teaching of the Word of God before followers of Jesus and before unbelievers. A century ago, the audience for a commentary on the book of Acts would have been located, nearly exclusively, in Europe and in North America. Today, with strong and growing churches in all parts of the world and in nearly every country, with many students and pastors in the Global South reading English, the audience is truly worldwide. While the missionaries, preachers, and teachers whose work Luke reports on took the gospel of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, and to the other regions located between Jerusalem and Rome, other missionaries, preachers, and teachers of later centuries took the gospel to all the regions in which people live.

It is my hope that the following explanation of Luke’s account of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and of the life and growth of the church between Jerusalem and Rome encourages and challenges preachers and teachers, evangelists and missionaries, pastors and students, to learn:

• • from the commitment of the first missionaries and church leaders
• • from their courageous loyalty to Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and as the only Savior
• • from their unchanging commitment to understand, apply, and teach the will of God as revealed in the Scriptures, in the work of Jesus Christ, and in new revelation that helped them grasp the significance of Jesus Christ
• • from their consistent devotion to the task of proclaiming the Word of God to Jews and Gentiles, to believers and unbelievers, irrespective of geographical, cultural, economic, or religious distance
• • perhaps most importantly, from their conviction that all achievements in ministry, all conversions, and all new congregations are the work of God, who is active in the life and in the mission of the church through the risen and exalted Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.