We are studying the book Acts in Ladies class and I did some background work on the book and here's some interesting stuff I didn't know.
1. The book is officially titled "Acts of the Apostles". However, there are only 3 apostles mentioned in the book and they are all out of the picture pretty early. Commentators suggest it should be called, "Acts of Apostolic People".
2. The book is split into two sections. The first section, 1-15:35, is a collection of stories that Luke compiled from a number of different sources (Silas, Timothy, Titus, Apollos, Lydia, Aquila, Barnabas, Philip, Peter, Mark and Paul. Obviously not an extensive list). The second section, 15:36-28, was written first hand by Luke. If you will notice, after 15:35 the "they" changes to "we".
3. The book was written to Theophilus. They are not sure who he was but here are some theories.
-Theophilus was not a real name. In the greek literally, Theos=God, and phileo=love. Maybe it was written to a "lover of God".
-Theophilus could have been a high-ranking government official whom Luke would have been a doctor for. It was rumored that Luke may have been his slave (it was common that doctors were slaves in the ancient world). Theophilus gave Luke his freedom for nursing him back to health and in return, the greatest gift Luke knew to give, was the gospel. Acts, was his gift.
A bit nerdy, but interesting.
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