Acts Commentary

M. Horton Stanley

Description

Distinguished Pentecostal scholar Stanley Horton takes an in-depth look at the story of the Early Church. This powerful book is an excellent foundational study for your church staff, Sunday school class, and an important component of every pastoral library. Horton takes each Scripture to share the overarching truth that the Early Church's story is still being written in the lives of believers like us today. He brings a compelling combination of research and experience to this study of Luke's inspired record. Complete with maps, Scripture index, and subject index.

Sujets

• Christianity
• New Testament
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Logion Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781607311171
• Langue: English

Extrait

ACTS
A Logion Press Commentary
Stanley M. Horton
This book is a revised and expanded edition of The Book of Acts , ©1981 by Gospel Publishing House.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NASB®) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV®) are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
6th printing 2014
© 2001 by Gospel Publishing House, 1445 N. Boonville Ave., Springfield, Missouri 65802. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the copyright owner, except brief quotations used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers.
Logion Press books are published by Gospel Publishing House.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Horton, Stanley M.
Acts: a Logion Press commentary / Stanley M. Horton.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: The book of Acts. 1981.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-60731-139-3
1. Bible. N.T. Acts—Commentaries. I. Horton, Stanley M. Book of Acts. II. Title.
BS2625.3 H66 2001
226.6’077—dc21                                    2001034223
Printed in United States of America
CONTENTS
Foreword
Preface
Introduction to Acts
1. Title and content
2. Genre, authorship, and date
Genre
Authorship
Date
3. Luke as a theologian
4. Text
Acts Outline
Acts NIV Translation, Notes, and Comments
Appendix: Maps
Selected Bibliography
Scripture Index
Subject Index
In-Depth, Spiritually Satisfying Bible Study without Hours of Research

F rom highly respected Pentecostal author and theologian Stanley M. Horton comes this digital treasury of outstanding systematic theology and biblical commentary. Combining extensive research with practical experience, each book in this collection offers solid teaching that will bring a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit and His ministry to every believer.
Powerful and easy-to-use for study, research, and sermon preparation, The Pentecostal Library interfaces with the PC Study Bible®. These Pentecostal reference materials are searchable and can be easily cut and pasted into text documents or slide presentations. The content is also hyperlinked to other search tools within the PC Study Bible® library, such as dictionaries, lexicons, and encyclopedias for in-depth searches and results in seconds.
The following Pentecostal works are included in this library:
• Acts
• 1 & 2 Corinthians
• Systematic Theology
• Bible Doctrines: A Pentecostal Perspective
• What the Bible Says about the Holy Spirit
REQUIREMENTS: This add-on module is only compatible with PC Study Bible® Version 4 or higher. It will not operate as a stand-alone unit or as an add-on for any previous version of PC Study Bible®.
Available at:
www.MyHealthyChurch.com
Foreword
In Acts 2:33, the apostle Peter outlines the theology and spirituality of Pentecostalism in a single sentence: “Exalted to the right hand of God, Jesus has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” This worldview is God-centered , revolving around the New Testament fulfillment of the Father’s Old Testament promises. It is Jesus-focused because all God’s promises are fulfilled in and through the crucified, resurrected, and exalted Son of God. And it is Spirit-empowered , because God’s promise in and through Jesus is to overwhelm us with His presence, sanctifying us for himself and enabling us for His work.
The Book of Acts as a whole shows this theological and spiritual worldview in action, and throughout Christian history it has served as the narrative template for the Church’s spiritual renewal and reform. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, small bands of Christians, often at the margins of polite society, returned to its pages and earnestly asked God for a modern Pentecost like the biblical Pentecost. And God answered their prayers. From small beginnings, the Pentecostal Revival has grown exponentially. Church demographer Patrick Johnstone estimates that by 2050, “charismatic Christians will comprise one-third of all Christians and one-tenth of the world’s population.” 1
As Pentecostals, we thank God for this harvest of souls. But we also are aware that the size and political power of Pentecostalism worldwide can become substitutes for the sanctification of Pentecostals and their divine empowerment for God’s work. Thus, we must constantly return to the Bible, checking and rechecking our motives and actions to make sure they align with God’s Word and Spirit. In particular, we must pay close attention to Acts’ narrative template of renewal and reform. If the twenty-first-century Church wants the purity and power of the first-century Church, it must do what they did.
I highly recommend Stanley M. Horton’s commentary on Acts as an aid to this endeavor. I am able to do this because I can highly recommend Dr. Horton as a person. He is a scholar, to be sure, so this commentary will help you better understand the Book of Acts. But he is also a Pentecostal, with deep roots in the Movement. His parents worshipped at the Azusa Street Mission and ministered in independent Pentecostal churches. Other family members affiliated with the Assemblies of God. Because of their influence, he was saved and baptized in the Spirit. And he has served the Assemblies of Fellowship well by pastoring churches, writing Sunday school curriculum, teaching generations of ministers both nationally and internationally—but especially at Central Bible College and Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and authoring numerous books. As a scholar, Dr. Horton knows what Acts says. As a Pentecostal, he lives what it teaches.
As you read this commentary, I pray that you—like its author—will understand the God-centered, Jesus-focused, Spirit-empowered message of Acts and live it out in increasing measure!

George O. Wood
General Superintendent, Assemblies of God (USA)
Chairman, World Assemblies of God Fellowship

 
1 Patrick Johnstone, The Future of the Global Church: History, Trends and Possibilities (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Books, 2011), 125.
PREFACE
The growth of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements has directed new attention to the Book of Acts. Many scholarly works have appeared since I wrote the first edition of this commentary in 1981. Most of them, however, neglect or bypass the Pentecostal distinctives that characterize Acts. I have taken note of recent literature and have sought to bring out what the Bible teaches.
In quoted Scripture, words I wish to emphasize are highlighted with italics.
For easier reading, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words are all transliterated with English letters.
These abbreviations have been used:

Gk.: Greek
Heb.: Hebrew
Lat.: Latin
Beck: William F. Beck, The New Testament in the Language of Today
CEV: Contemporary English Version
JB: Jerusalem Bible
KJV: King James Version
NASB: New American Standard Bible
NCV: New Century Version
NEB: The New English Bible
NIV: New International Version
NKJV: New King James Version
NLT: New Living Translation
NRSV: New Revised Standard Version
Phillips: J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English
RSV: Revised Standard Version
TEV: Today’s English Version
LXX: Septuagint
Acts: Greek Text: F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary , 3d ed.
My special thanks go to Dr. Waverly Nunnally, Jr., Professor in Early Judaism and Christian Origins, Chair of Division of Biblical Education at Central Bible College, for reading the manuscript and making many valuable suggestions. Special thanks also to Glen Ellard, Paul Zinter, and Leta Sapp at Gospel Publishing House and to all who assisted in preparing this book. Thanks also to my wife, Evelyn, and to Dr. Dayton Kingsriter and the Pentecostal Textbooks Project Board for their encouragement.
INTRODUCTION TO ACTS
The Book of Acts is special. No other book in the Bible is like it. Although there are historical books in the Old Testament, they emphasize the failures, the sins, and the idolatry that kept God’s people from the fullness of His blessing.
In the Book of Acts, that failure is in the past. Israel has learned its lesson, and idolatry is no longer a problem among them. More importantly, Jesus has come. His death on Calvary has put the new covenant into effect (Heb. 9:15). By His resurrection He has brought blessing and great joy to His followers (Luke 24:51–52). A sense of both fulfillment and anticipation pervades the book.
1. Title And Content
Originally the book had no title. Since the middle of the second century A.D. , however, it has been known as The Acts of the Apostles . 1 This title probably arose because the apostles are named in the first chapter (1:13) and in the first part of the book they preached in the temple. Yet, as we go through the Book of Acts we see that most of the apostles are not named again and some are only barely mentioned. 2 Peter alone is prominent in the first part of the book; Paul alone is prominent in the latter part.
Actually, the Holy Spirit is more prominent than the apostles, though they have a place of honor. The bo