Luke the Historian
The task of a historian in the first century was not the same as the task of a modern historian. For one thing, a historian was expected not only to inform, but also to edify and to entertain. Luke certainly set about doing this, though also he did his research, as he tells us at the beginning of his gospel. However, in many ways he uses the techniques of the historical novels of the time, of which a number have come down to us. The book is full of adventure: escapes from prison, shipwreck, ambushes avoided, law-court defences, riots, heroes beaten up, last-minute reprieves.
Luke also uses techniques of the ancient historian, in that he puts his own comment and analysis of a situation in the mouth of his speakers. So at Pentecost Peter gives Luke’s comment on the Resurrection. Before his martyrdom Stephen gives in a long speech Luke’s comment on the second failure of Jerusalem to respond to Jesus’ message. These speeches were not taken down in shorthand. However, if this is not what they said, it is what they should have said. Peter and Paul are both given a full evangelistic speech to Jews and another to gentiles. However, Paul’s speech to the Athenians on the Areopagus is uncannily like the first chapter of Paul’s own Letter to the Romans; it is what he would have said.
The story of Paul’s vocation to Christianity on the Road to Damascus is told three times, and each time slightly differently, for the sake of variety and to stress different points (as any story-teller would). But all three accounts seem to be an external account of the internal event recounted by Paul when he was ‘taken up into the third heaven’ (2 Cor 12).
The basic account of Paul’s shipwreck is a merely conventional account of any shipwreck, but Paul himself tells us that he was shipwrecked three times and spent a day and a night in the depth of the sea. So it recounts what must have happened, though incidentally Paul is also shown to be acting as a prophet, and more specifically the Prophet Jonah.
The Spirit at Work
If the Spirit so carefully guided the first steps of the Church, the reader should be all the more ready to believe that the Spirit is still at work in the ChurchAdventure-story it may be, but the story is the adventure of the Spirit, showing the reader how at every step the Spirit was guiding the development of the Church. The disciples are not to start their work until the Spirit has come upon them. It is the Spirit who guides Philip to baptise the first Christian to set out over the world. The Spirit guides Peter to bring the first gentile into the Church, and only after he has been brought grudgingly to acknowledge that he has no right to dismiss as unclean any food which the Lord has provided.
The Spirit guides the Christians of Antioch to choose Paul as their missioner. The Spirit inspires the decisions of the Jerusalem community about the admittance of gentiles. The Spirit guides Paul, both negatively and positively, at every step of his missionary journeys. If the Spirit so carefully guided the first steps of the Church, the reader should be all the more ready to believe that the Spirit is still at work in the Church.
Another lesson for the modern Church which is taught us by the narrative of the Acts is the part played by all the members of the Church, not just the apostles. The Church today is not the responsibility solely of the bishops, the successors of the apostles. At Pentecost the Spirit comes down on the whole community, not just the Twelve. The whole assembly was rocked by the encouragement of the Spirit when they were all rejoicing at the first persecutions. 
At every step the unity and sharing of the community is stressed. The Twelve are the leaders, but the whole assembly elects the deacons and brings them to the apostles, and they laid hands on them. Similarly, the whole community at Antioch (with their prophets and teachers) lays hands on the missioners to send them out as their evangelists. The whole community – after listening to the leaders – takes the first major decision about the admission of gentiles. This surely has a lesson about the engagement and responsibility of the laity in the work of the Church. Already they are – as Lumen Gentium put it – the royal, priestly and prophetic People of God.
An Age of Martyrs
We live in an age of martyrs. Some remember the Cistercian monks so subtly depicted in Of Gods and Men, who recently gave their lives in fidelity to their mission in the Atlas Mountains. Others think of Christians hacked to death by misguided Muslims on the Indian subcontinent, or murdered for their work for the poor of South America.
Adventure-story it may be, but the story is the adventure of the SpiritThe Acts of the Apostles must be a beacon of hope for these. Once people had been ‘baptized into Christ’ or had ‘the name of Christ invoked over them’ they were committed to witnessing to Christ. In the story of the Acts it is clear that the destiny of Christians is to carry on the life of Christ. In Luke’s gospel Jesus is depicted above all as the messenger or prophet of God; in the story of the first community the followers of Jesus continue this mission as the prophetic messengers of God’s Spirit. The miracles of the apostles continue the miracles of Jesus, as both Peter and Paul cure the lame and bring the dead back to life. With deliberate care Luke shows us how the death of Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, mirrors that of his Master as he sees the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God and as he forgives his killers. As Paul makes the defence of his mission ‘before governors and kings’ there can be no doubt that he is fulfilling the mission for Christians predicted by Jesus in the gospels.
Not for nothing was this adventure-story given to me as my first book to read in Greek at the age of fourteen!
Article by Dom Henry Wansbrough
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