The Early Church
- When
- AD 30–62; written c. AD 62–80
- Written by
- Luke
- Chapters
- 28
The big idea
The risen Jesus sends the Spirit, and the Church spreads from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and Rome through the witness of Peter, Stephen and Paul.
Themes
- The Holy Spirit
- The Church gathered
- Witness
- The gospel to the Gentiles
Memory verse
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Key passages
- 1:8You shall be witnesses
- 2Pentecost
- 2:42–47The first Christians
- 9Saul converted
- 15The council of Jerusalem
- 28Paul in Rome
Links to other Scripture
- Joel 2:28–32I will pour out my spirit
- Luke 24:46–49Tarry in the city
- Genesis 11:1–9Babel undone
- Galatians 1–2Paul tells his own story
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- The early believers devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, bread and prayers. Which of those four is thin in your life?
- Saul met Christ and was completely changed. What has he changed in you, and what is he still changing?
- Acts ends with Paul still preaching under house arrest. Where might God want to use your own limits?
- In one sentence, this book is about…