ACTS

(Answers)

 

Updated 02/2024



CHAPTER 1

  1. Luke wrote the book of Acts.
  2. a. Jesus went up from Mount Olive. b. Jesus told the apostles to go and wait in Jerusalem. c. It was about a Sabbath day's journey. (This was about a mile, which is equal to what they were allowed to travel on a Sabbath.) d. The disciples were in an upper room where they were staying.
  3. There were about 120 disciples at that time.
  4. The first order of business was to find a replacement for Judas Iscariot.
  5. a. The one to replace Judas must have accompanied the apostles beginning from the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist to the time He was taken up into heaven. b. They chose Matthias.

CHAPTER 2.

  1. The apostles received the Holy Ghost and began to speak of the wonderful works of God in other languages.
  2. a. Each person heard and understood the apostles in his own language. b. The apostles were Galileans.
  3. David spoke that Jesus would not see corruption in the grave but would be resurrected and sit at God’s right hand until He made the enemies of Jesus a footstool to Him.
  4. David has not yet rose from the grave and ascended to heaven.
  5. To be given the Holy Spirit is the gift. This gift will enable you to learn and grow and keep faith in God and the gospel.
  6. Peter exhorted them to save themselves from the influence and fate of this perverse world.
  7. The people received and continued in the teaching and instruction of the apostles.
  8. The people continued to meet together with common belief and hope sharing the gospel and praying together.
  9. The believers sold their possessions and gave to those in need among them.

CHAPTER 3

  1. a. Peter and John healed a man lame since birth. b. They gave credit to God who did this to glorify the name of Jesus.
  2. a. Repenting of sin is to turn away from your sins. b. To be converted is to change your heart and actions so you will walk in the precepts of God and not in sin. c. The refreshing comes through the Holy Spirit in peace, blessedness, and a righteous walk. d. If we repent and are converted and guided by the Holy Spirit, Jesus will return and gather us for the eternal reward.
  3. Jesus is waiting until all prophecy is fulfilled and it is the time for all things to be restored to God.

CHAPTER 4

  1. The Levite priests, elders, and high priests confronted Peter and John.
  2. The authority of Jesus healed the lame him.
  3. They perceived that Peter and John were uneducated and untrained men and had been with Jesus.
  4. The elders feared losing their authority, power, status, and respect.
  5. Barnabas selling his land and giving the money to the apostles showed that he, a Levite, accepted their authority.

CHAPTER 5

  1. Ananias and his wife sold a possession of land and secretly kept back a part of the proceeds for themselves while professing to have devoted it all to the Lord.
  2. a. The Holy Spirit revealed the lie of Ananais to Peter. b. Ananias thought he could deceive all even the Spirit and ultimately lied to God. c. He fell dead instantly. d. The wife also fell dead instantly.
  3. a. The apostles were able to heal all the sick and those with unclean spirits that were brought to them. b. The Sadducees were filled with envy and jealousy. c. The Sadducees had the apostles imprisoned.
  4. a. The apostles were freed from prison by an angel of the Lord. b. The apostles went to the temple and began teaching the people again. c. The Sadducees wanted the apostles to stop teaching about Jesus. d. "We should obey God rather than men."
  5. Gamaliel advised to wait and see if the apostles' work was of man or God. If it were of man, it would come to an end. If it were of God, it could not be stopped.

CHAPTER 6

  1. a. The Hellenists or Grecians were Greek speaking Jews that had lived among the Gentiles. b. Their widows were being neglected in the daily distributions. c. They chose seven godly and just men and put them in charge of the distributions.
  2. Stephen was falsely accused of blaspheming God and Moses.

CHAPTER 7

  1. Stephen recited in wisdom and by the Spirit the history of the children of Israel from Abraham unto Jesus Christ.
  2. a. They stoned him to death. b. Stephen asked God to forgive the people. c. Saul (Paul) was also standing there as they stoned Stephen.

CHAPTER 8

  1. Saul made havoc for the church and dragged people from their homes and put them in prison.
  2. a. Simon was a sorcerer. b. The people thought he was invested with great power from God.
  3. Simon believed and was baptized and continued on with Philip.
  4. a. Simon offered the apostles money for the power of the Spirit. b. Peter and John told Simon he would perish with his money. c. Simon’s heart was not right. He wanted the power for his purposes. d. Simon needed to get his heart right. He needed to repent of his sin and ask forgiveness from God.
  5. a. The eunuch was reading the book of Isaiah. b. He was reading a prophecy about Jesus.
  6. Philip baptized the eunuch after he believed.
  7. The same Spirit that urged Philip to talk to the Ethiopian strongly urged him to continue on his journey instead of spending more time with the Ethiopian who then went on his way rejoicing. (This seems to have been a supernatural transportation as soon as Philip and the eunuch came out of the water.)

CHAPTER 9

  1. a. Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus. b. Saul was blinded by the bright light.
  2. Saul would be a chosen vessel to carry the name of Jesus before kings, the Gentiles, and the children of Israel.
  3. Saul immediately began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God.
  4. The disciples let Saul down in a basket through a window.
  5. Saul disputed with the Hellenists or Grecians.
  6. Peter healed Aeneas of paralysis of eight years.
  7. Peter brought a woman back to life.

CHAPTER 10

  1. a. Cornelius was a centurion of the Roman army. b. He was a devout man of God.
  2. God brought Coenelius to the next level of faith and salvation and poured out the Holy Spirit on him and his household.
  3. What God has cleansed should not be considered unclean any longer. God had also cleansed the Gentiles through Jesus.
  4. Peter and his circumcised company were surprised to see God pour out the Spirit on the Gentiles.

CHAPTER 11

  1. John's baptism was with water and was a symbolic washing away of sins. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is with power that sanctifies us in the ways of the Lord.
  2. The disciples are first called Christians at the city of Antioch.

CHAPTER 12

  1. Herod harassed the church.
  2. Herod killed James, the brother of John, of the sons of Zebedee.
  3. a. Herod next seized Peter to kill him. b. Peter was set free from the prison by an angel.
  4. Herod was struck down because being a Jew he glorified himself as a god instead of fearing the only God and giving Him the glory.

CHAPTER 13

  1. Barnabas and Saul were called to work.
  2. a. Elymas tried to prevent Barnabas and Saul from converting the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, to the faith. b. Saul told him he was full of deceit and unrighteousness - a son of the devil perverting the ways of the Lord. c. Elymas was stricken with blindness for a time. d. God gave Elymas a physical blindness to match his spiritual blindness. (This is similar to what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus). Ultimately, the blindness was to produce repentance in Elymas.
  3. a. Paul exhorted the people how Jesus was foretold by the prophets and is the savior of the people. They must beware of despising or rejecting this truth lest calamity or destruction come upon them. b. The people wanted to hear more the next Sabbath.
  4. The Gentiles were prophesied in the scriptures to become children of God too. Each has an opportunity after hearing the word.

CHAPTER 14

  1. Paul healed a man crippled in his feet since birth that had never walked at Lystra.
  2. a. The people believed Paul and Barnabas to be gods come in the likeness of men. b. Paul and Barnabas denounced this identity and exhorted the people to turn to the only living God.
  3. The Jews from Antioch and Iconium who opposed the teachings of Paul and Barnabas followed them to Lystra.
  4. God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles giving them the opportunity for salvation too.

CHAPTER 15

  1. The Judeans wanted to enforce the law of circumcision for the Gentiles.
  2. God knows the hearts of men and will judge all people by their hearts.
  3. The apostles and elders did not want to impose unnecessary and burdensome rituals, namely circumcision, on the Gentiles. The Gentiles were required only to abstain from all unclean things, meat offered to idols, and fornication. These should be familiar to them because Moses was taught in the many synagogues each Sabbath.
  4. a. Paul wanted to revisit cities hr had been to see how the people were doing in their faith and to strengthen them. b. John Mark had left Paul and Barnabas and the work when in Pamphylia (Acts 13:13).

CHAPTER 16

  1. The Jews in this region would not even begin to listen to an uncircumcised person. Paul knew circumcision was not necessary but had Timothy circumcised so the Jews would listen to the word (see 1Co.9:22).
  2. Paul and Silas were thrown into prison or healing a demon-possessed girl who was used for profit in fortune telling.
  3. a. Paul and Silas were set free from the prison by an earthquake. b. The guard in the prison became a believer of Jesus.

CHAPTER 17

  1. The people searched the scriptures daily to see if the words of Paul and Silas were true.
  2. a. The Jews from Thessalonica followed Paul and Silas to Berea. b. They came to stir up people against Paul and Silas.
  3. Areopagus was the place or court of the supreme judges. They were highly knowledgeable, intelligent, religious people who ruled on cases and sought and shared understanding in any new philosophy or thing.
  4. The unknown god of the Areopagus  was the God who made the universe, who is the very reason we exist and whose offspring we are.

CHAPTER 18

  1. a. Aquila and Priscilla were a Jewish husband and wife deported from Rome who were followers of Christ. b. They and Paul had the same occupation as tentmakers.
  2. a. Paul shook his garments at them as a sign of shaking off the guilt of their condemnation and went to the Gentiles. b. In the vision Paul was told to not give up but to keep speaking. No one would harm him for there were many people there who believed in God. c. Paul stayed at Corinth a year and six months.
  3. a. Apollos was an eloquent Jew of Alexandria who knew the scriptures and taught diligently the things of the Lord. b. He had knowledge of the scriptures and of the doctrines pertaining to the Messiah but knew only the baptism of John. c. Aquila and Priscilla explained to Apollos that the Messiah had already come and enlightened him on the gospel of Christ. 

CHAPTER 19

  1. a. Paul worked unusual or extraordinary miracles like the touching of handkerchiefs or aprons brought from his body that healed people of diseases and evil spirits.
  2. a. The sons of the priest believed the power for miracles came from just saying “in the name Jesus.”  They did not have the true power in them. b. The sons of the priests were beaten up badly by a man possessed by an evil spirit.
  3. The miracles magnified the name of Jesus and helped the word of the Lord to be believed, grow mightily, and prevail. Many came to accept Jesus
  4. Demetrius and other craftsmen like him were losing money for their work of crafting idols. He also accused Paul of despising their goddess Diana (Artemis).

CHAPTER 20

  1. a. Paul spoke all night until daybreak. b. Eutychus fell asleep and fell out of a third story window and died but Paul restored him to life.
  2. Paul taught repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ which is to turn from sin and to know forgiveness through Jesus.
  3. Paul had taught all things that would promote salvation and help the people live and endure life. If they suffered the second death it would be due to their own neglect.
  4. Paul knew strong opposition and false teachers would come even from within the church and mislead them by distorting doctrines of the gospel. Some would distract the church from selfish ambition not leading them in the proper work and focus of the kingdom.

CHAPTER 21

  1. Phillip was one of the seven chosen to administer to the needs of the widows (6:5) and who also witnessed to the eunuch (8:26-40)
  2. Agabus prophesied Paul would be bound or taken prisoner at Jerusalem.
  3. a. Paul taught that circumcision of their sons and other rituals of the law were no longer necessary. b. The elders feared for Paul and wanted him to go with four men who were being purified and go through the ritual of the law with them to show he was upholding the law to perhaps save him from the Jews.

CHAPTER 22

  1. The crowd in Jerusalem had enough when Paul said God sent him to the Gentiles because the Jews would not receive him.
  2. Paul could not be scourged because he was Roman, uncondemned. 

CHAPTER 23

  1. The Pharisees believed in angels or spirits and the resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection or spirits.
  2. a. The Jews plotted to ambush Paul and kill him when he was coming to be questioned before the council. b. Paul's nephew, his sister's son, overheard this plot.
  3. Paul would be sent to Felix, the governor, in Caesarea.

CHAPTER 24

  1. Tertullus was a well-trained orator. He would be more effective against Paul.
  2. Paul was accused of evil because he taught of the resurrection of the dead.
  3. He listened to Paul teach about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment. Felix was lax in all these things.
  4. Paul lived for two years in Rome under Felix.

CHAPTER 25

  1. The Jews wanted Festus to send Paul back to Jerusalem under the pretense of wanting to try him there. Their plan was to lay in ambush to kill Paul.
  2. Festus also found no wrong in Paul.
  3. a. Festus wanted King Agrippa to hear the case of Paul. b. Festus hoped King Agrippa could specify a charge against Paul to justify bringing him to Caesar.

CHAPTER 26

  1. Paul strove hard against the name of Jesus. With his extensive training in the law and prophets he should have realized that prophecy was being fulfilled.
  2. Paul’s mission was to turn the Jews and the Gentiles from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an eternal inheritance for those who have faith in God.
  3. Paul almost persuaded King Agrippa to become a Christian.
  4. Paul had appealed to Caesar and God had intended for him to go to Rome to witness the gospel there.

CHAPTER 27

  1. Paul predicted voyage would be a disaster. There would be loss of cargo and the ship, and loss of lives (which he later reveals there would be no loss of lives).
  2. Pal told them they needed to eat, for they would need their strength.
  3. Two hundred and seventy six were on board the ship.
  4. The centurion wanted Paul to be spared.

CHAPTER 28

  1. a. A poisonous snake bit Paul. b. The natives assumed Paul must be a murderer who was not allowed to escape death. c. When Paul did not die from the snake bite the natives thought he must be a god. d. Paul healed the father of Publius of fever and dysentery. After this all who had diseases came to him and they were healed.
  2. Paul was able to dwell freely with just a guard.
  3. No report had been sent ahead to the Jews in Rome concerning any evil of Paul.
  4. The Jews in Rome wanted to know more about the gospel and the sect of the Way.
  5. Paul showed the Jews from the scriptures and prophets that Jesus was the Christ.
  6. Paul dwelled two whole years in his own house receiving all who came to him.