Thesis: It’s What We Do That Matters
Text: The Book of Acts (The Acts of the Holy Spirit)
One of the things we don’t pay much attention to is the titles of the Books in Scripture.
Granted our attention should focus on the content of the Books, rather than the titles,
but sometimes it is worth our while to think a bit on what the early church decided would be appropriate titles.
That last sentence makes three important truths apparent. First, the titles of the Books
of the Bible aren’t part of the Text. The church makes no claim to Divine Inspiration of
the titles. Second, the titles were chosen by the church; they are part of church
tradition. Finally, the church chose titles that were thought to accurately reflect the
content of each Book. I think that last one is especially important. It’s important
because the titles show us how the early church was thinking about each Book.
We, in our western analytic thinking, tend to focus on the parts rather than on the whole. We read our Bibles that way. We read a verse and then try to understand it, often
taking no consideration of the “context.” This is one of the reasons Bible teachers talk
about context so much. A verse of Scripture isolated from its Biblical or literary context
can be easily misunderstood or even manipulated. At best It is only partially
understood.
Thinking about the Title of a book of Scripture helps us see each part in relationship to
the Whole. It helps establish the “literary context.” So when we come to the Book of
Acts, the title tells us that the early church looked to this part of Scripture for
“what happened.”
The Greek word, chosen by the early church, is praxis (πρᾶξις). It means a work, or an act. Unlike the more common erga (ἔργον), which focuses on the energy or effort invested in a work or task, praxis refers to place, station, or person by which a work is done. The Book of Acts then, should draw our attention more to the One by Whom the wonderful narrative of Acts unfolds, rather than the action itself.
So Acts is about action, about what happened, but its real purpose is to show us Who
did it. This is of supreme importance to us. Circumstances change. Cultural realities
change. Two thousand years of church history is all about change, and the One Who
has remained constant through that change.
We will likely never face the same challenges the early church faced, and they likely
could never have imagined the ones we face. So isn’t it marvelously reassuring to know
that what is important doesn’t change. Our God doesn’t change.
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