Acts, as a unique part of the canon, coming from a distinctive voice, lays out the unparalleled story of the early church to encourage the church to press on. It therefore has much to say to the church in every generation.

The Uniqueness of Acts

The book of Acts offers something unique in the Christian canon. It has no rival in terms of a book spanning so many different lands. Its references to the Spirit far outpace any other work. It functions as a hinge canonically, bridging the Gospels and Epistles. It recounts the birth of the church age. And its content has no parallel in the New Testament.

Some of Paul’s letters correspond to each other, and the four Gospels overlap, but most of what is found in Acts can be found in no other document. Without Acts, there would be no account of fire and wind at Pentecost. No description of Peter’s encounter with Cornelius. No narrative of the rise of the multiethnic church in Antioch. No story of Paul’s visit to Philippi, Corinth, or Ephesus, or of Paul’s trials in Jerusalem and Caesarea.

Acts is also unique in that it might be our only writing from a Gentile—in addition to the Gospel by Luke. Colossians 4:11–14 gives a strong, but not decisive, argument for Luke’s Gentile status, since Paul lists Luke after those of the circumcision party.

The New Testament is largely written to deal with the Jew and Gentile dispute in light of Jesus’s arrival. If this is what the New Testament concerns, then it is remarkable that 27 percent of the New Testament (Luke-Acts) comes from a Gentile mind, heart, and quill.¹

Acts is also unparalleled in that it recounts a new stage in Christian history: post-Jesus life. Everything (canonically) before this has been either pre-Jesus or with-Jesus. No longer are readers or characters looking forward to a Messiah, or following him on the dusty roads of Galilee. Now readers get a glimpse of Jesus’s followers as they seek to be faithful to Jesus after he has departed.

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