Acts, Hebs, James, 1+2 Pet, & Jud

Over my DBS in Gold Coast May '24 our amazing speaker for 'Church Week' was Sophie Hanson. I was then invited to speak on the same topics in the Solomon Islands Nov '25. This is a refreshed summary from when I first dove into these books a year & a half ago. The girl in the picture I posted on this random week from my DBS then felt called to live long term in the Solomon Islands. The people's idea of ‘kingdom’ was that everything surrounded the king at the time. He had all authority and required complete loyalty. The ‘Kingdom of God’ required them to switch their mindset from the earthly king providing for them, having their allegiance to the God of Heaven; having their complete trust and belief in blessings. The values of God were different from any other king; casting out demons, feeding the hungry, healing diseases, loving the outcast, and raising the dead. 

Jesus didn’t come to establish a new religion; He came to bring their attention back to the Garden. He didn’t come to compete because He already had everything. Everything is His; He created it. He was talking about a kingdom of now, though also a not-yet kingdom. Just like a sunrise, on the one hand, the world is getting darker, but on the other hand, the world is getting lighter.  The light has touched some but not yet all. Though it will, the sun will rise and bring warmth to all the earth. 

Hebrews was most likely written to the Jewish Christians who were considering turning completely towards Judaism and away from Christianity. The brutal persecution of Christians was very prominent during that time. But sacrifices won't atone for your sins anymore. It won't work because Jesus did that for you. You won't get anywhere going down a road apart from Jesus. He is the only way. (Heb 10:18-27)

Jesus not only existed, but He also played an active role in creation. He existed before anything else was created. He was not a created being. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all present and participated in the creation together. Jesus is the glory and image of God. Jesus's nature is through pre-existence (John 1:1-18, Col 1:15-20), humanity (Heb 2:14-18, Phil 2:1-8), and exaltation (Heb 1:2-4, 12:1-6). 

We see that Hebrews 11 consists of a sort of Hall of Fame. God calls us to suffer for our faith. During the time of Acts, you suffered by being stoned. What does suffering for your faith look like today? Luke intended to provide an inspired record of selected events that show the spread of the gospel and church. Sacred history is a story with a purpose, a history of the work of God, and a fulfillment of prophecies. Luke is a doctor (describes Jesus as a great physician), writer (wrote in sophisticated Greek), historian (thorough investigation and specific eyewitness recollection), evangelist, and gentile (had a heart for the weak and the widowed, people like him). 

Pentecost was the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus. Pentecost is the Greek word for Shavuot and also means fifty, whereas Shavuot would occur fifty days after the first day of Passover. The Passover celebration would “coincidentally” occur the night before and the day of Jesus’s death, where Jesus played the part of the sacrificial Passover lamb. Shavuot in English is called the Feast of Weeks and was the day the Ten Commandments were given on Mount Sinai, and continues to be celebrated yearly. This was the very first moral law in history, and what our ethical laws of today are based on. Passover was to celebrate the ‘eve of the exodus’ out of Egypt and the night of 'passing over' when the firstborn of the Israelites were spared. 

(Acts 7) Stephen was one of the seven men responsible for distributing food to the widows in the early church. He was debated with by Jews and won by the Holy Spirit. This enraged the Jews, who therefore falsely accused Stephen and stoned him. The result of Stephen’s speech showed how tough it would be for Christians and should challenge us to determine whether we are up for the task. (Acts 10:1-8) This Roman Centurion could very well be Theophilus if we knew him to be a real person. (Acts 10:9-16) They had been going around, not eating anything unclean, performing these rituals, and making sacrifices. Now God is telling Peter to eat these unclean animals and tells Peter not to call unclean what God has made clean. 

(Acts 15:10) The Jews expected the Gentiles to obey the law, even though the Jews throughout history couldn’t even uphold it themselves. This teaching contradicts that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Therefore, the apostles and church leaders held the first Christian council to settle this issue. (Acts 15:28-29) The compromise was to promote harmony between Jews and Gentiles by abstaining from food that had been offered to idols, abstaining from sexual immorality, abstaining from strangled animals (animals that still had blood in them), and abstaining from consuming blood. This was not a way of salvation but to keep the peace and prevent a brother from stumbling during that time. Not laws, because Christ has freed us from the law, but it was to honor their neighbor. 

Paul was a Roman, a Hebrew, and a Pharisee. He was a citizen of Tarsus (Acts 21:39) and Rome (Acts 16:37-38, 22:25-28), had status as well as money, was a Hebrew of Hebrews, knew Greek philosophers (Acts 17:18), had a good Jewish education (Acts 22:3), and thought he was doing a service to God by persecuting “false prophets” (Gal 1:13-14). Saul had approved of Stephen’s execution (Acts 8:1-3). Saul, also known as Paul, was a proud Pharisee, but Jesus made him a humble servant. Paul’s epistles take up a significant amount of the New Testament. Paul sets an example and hints toward the question, “How far are you willing to go to preach the gospel?” He went through many hardships, sleeping on cold floors, hunger, threats, and traveling through hazardous conditions, yet he went to the ends of the earth to tell people about Jesus. Paul provides an understanding of the purpose of suffering for Jesus, just as Jesus had done for us, and the importance of allowing it to grow your faith and character. 

As well as missionary hardships, Paul also dealt with personal difficulties, referring to a “thorn in the flesh” that scholars believe could have been a chronic physical ailment. Paul expressed anxiety for the churches that he founded and nurtured, as well as feeling overwhelmed in his trials. Many friends betrayed Paul, and so he said, “All have deserted me”. There were other missionaries around this time, too, such as Peter, who was called a fisher of all types of men, such as Jews and Gentiles, all the same. John is believed to have lived the longest out of all the apostles. Peter & Paul lived until about their 60s and died from martyrdom. John lived until his 90s and died of old age. We see Paul’s motivation as justification realities (what God has done), John’s motivation was more sanctification realities (what God is doing through you), and finally, Peter’s motivation seemed to be glorification realities (what God has promised to do). 

(1 Peter 3:1-7) The teaching of submission is specifically within the context of the situation from that time. The husband doesn’t get as lengthy of instructions because, at that time, if the husband had faith, then culturally the wife would follow that. But the problem occurred when the wife had faith and the husband did not, because rather than the wife turning from faith to follow the husband, Peter is encouraging the wives to win their husbands over with the fruits of the spirit God has gifted them with. In a passage like this, I have to remember again that the Bible wasn’t written to us, but it was written to them, and our culture today is very different than their culture was then. So we can use the interpretation method we’ve been using throughout the rest of the Bible to see what we should take away from that. Sometimes in hard passages, we forget to do this. So, how is this interpretation confirmed by other parts of the Bible where God portrays His character, nature, and intentions? Peter addresses women as independent and capable of making their own ethical decisions. He encourages them in a way that their actions need to reflect their eternal reality.

Within salvation issues, the things that aren’t worth being so passionate about are women in leadership, spiritual gifts, baptism, communion, different views on end times, church leadership structure, and alcohol consumption. These are all secondary issues where it’s okay to have different opinions. The issues that matter that we have to make sure we are all aligned with are the Trinity, the incarnation (God came in the flesh), Jesus’ atonement (dying for our sins), the resurrection, salvation, the inspiration and authority of scripture (belief in the truth), and the second coming. These can’t be messed with; otherwise, we are talking about false teachings. What are the intentions, and how do the people you learn from live out their lives? Are they humble or prideful? What is the fruit of their life? From that, you should determine how much you will allow them to speak into you. 

It may seem like these books contradict each other because of what's being emphasized to specific groups of people, but it's based on what they are struggling with at the time. These books, in reality, complement each other within context. Our words are so powerful, which means you can undo so much good if you don’t watch your tongue within the impact of your words. So, have good intentions, but also have discernment. In James, we found a topic on the sin of partiality (James 2:1-13). We can apply that we should focus on inner beauty rather than outer beauty in judging from character and not by how society looks upon people. Then others can witness you being an example of Christ. We hear about the taming of the tongue (James 3:1-12), where from the heart the mouth speaks. Seek God for a pure heart and new mind, giving yourself no excuse to act in the flesh. 

There's wisdom from above (James 3:13-18) in not acting out of selfish ambition but helping others and not just considering yourself. Be selfless and a good listener to hear people out. He warns against worldliness (James 4:1-12) and how we should be selfless, humble, and committed. We should be the judgment-free ones in an assuming and judgmental world. 

Be above reproach. We are what people are looking for, but they don't know it yet. People are drawn to what stands out. We also get a warning to the rich (James 5:1-6) to show people that real joy is found in authenticity, not materialism. That we should be for the people, not the things. Finally, we are encouraged to have patience in suffering (James 5:7-11), as it's normal to grumble and complain, but be patient and rejoice in hard situations to set yourself apart from the world.