My Favorite Books: The Book of Acts.
By: Cody Whittington
Tags: Bible, Bible Study, Preaching, Theology, Church

Last year our church walked through the book of Acts together. As young church (about to face a pandemic!), revisiting the relational and missional roots of the early church proved to be essential for The Table. What we learned has helped create a culture of unity, creativity, and flexibility as we seek the Spirit’s wisdom in navigating these strange days.

For a quick overview….Acts records the first thirty or so years of the early church after the Ascension of Jesus. Eckhard Schnabel notes two points of emphasis necessary for understanding Acts:

Acts confirms and consolidates the identity of the church as the community of followers of Jesus…

Acts is the mission of the church whose leaders were obedient to the divine commission, charging them to take the gospel to cities and regions in which the name of Jesus, Messiah and Savior, has not yet been proclaimed…[1]

What I would add to this is that the Book of Acts is the historical narrative about how the Holy Spirit enabled and empowered the earliest followers of Jesus to engage the world with the gospel (much more could be said). A few challenges they faced included evangelism in a pluralistic empire, persecution, church conflict, cultural idolatry, famines, shipwrecks, and the like. All of these issues and opportunities are relevant for us today. So, like those in Acts, we need to seek the Spirit of God as we engage the world with the gospel in our own time.

Now, this was a difficult list to compile, but here are the three books I cited the most along with the more technical commentaries that I consulted frequently.

30 Years that Changed the World by Michael Green. The late Michael Green remains one the most well-respected voices in church history, theology, interpretation, and evangelism. This book is a blend of all of Green’s strengths as he draws on the life and movements of the early church in a way that helps the reader integrate the message(s) here and now. Green provides the historical backdrop to Acts and then addresses several practical questions that help us understand their priorities, challenges, leadership dynamics, and their encounters with the Holy Spirit. This book guides us through important principles of the early church and how we can prioritize those principles in our churches today. Whereas many commentaries are informational, 30 Years that Changed the World blends both informational and formational elements in an accesible way for the average reader. This isn’t an exegetical commentary, but you won’t want to study or teach Acts without it.

The Acts of the Apostles by James D.G. Dunn. Our journey through Acts wouldn’t have been as meaningful or helpful without Dunn’s work. He provides rich historical, theological, and practical insights as he works through each narrative. Throughout the commentary, Dunn interacts with ancient writings outside of the Scripture in order illuminate each story’s meaning within its own social, theological, or cultural context. He then demonstrates how we can import the message into the life of the church today. I believe the strengths of Dunn’s work are context and theological interpretation.

The Message of Acts by John Stott. The entire “The Bible Speaks Today” series is worth having on your shelf. Each one is written in a readable and relatable way that makes identifying the main points for preaching and teaching simple. Stott integrates “the Gospel” into almost every section of his narrative interpretation of this volume. He has a gift of bringing the text to life for a modern reader without compromising the necessary dive into context, exegesis, etc. Of my fifteen or so commentaries on Acts, this is the one I have lent out the most. The response is always positive.

For more technical commentaries that are worth having, I recommend:

Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts about our journey through Acts with these resources.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

[1] Eckhard J. Schnabel, Acts: Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 37.