Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

A Guide to Using This Commentary

General Introduction

Introduction to Acts

Map of the Mediterranean at the Time of the Acts of the Apostles, from the Geneva Bible

Commentary on Acts

Map of Europe at the Time of the Reformation

Timeline of the Reformation

Biographical Sketches of Reformation-Era Figures and Works

Sources for Biographical Sketches

Bibliography

Author and Writings Index

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Notes

Praise for the Reformation Commentary on Scripture

Reformation Commentary on Scripture Board of Advisers

Series Editors

Volume Editors

Reformation Commentary on Scripture

The Reformation was a call to return with renewed vigor to the biblical roots of Christian faith and practice. Still, for the Reformers, the truth of the Bible could never be separated from the true community of God's people gathered by his Word. In the book of Acts, they found God's blueprint for how the church should participate with the Holy Spirit in accomplishing his purposes in the world.

Reformation Commentary on Scripture,

The Reformers approached the narrative account of the early church in the book of Acts from diverse viewpoints. Commentators like John Calvin and the Swiss Reformed Heinrich Bullinger elaborated on the theological implications of the text with a great deal of historical detail. Others like reform-minded Catholic Johann Eck evoked episodes in Acts in response to pressing concerns of the day. Sermons upheld notable characters in Acts such as Peter, Stephen, Paul, Lydia and Apollos as examples of robust faith and of life in Christian community. Anabaptists in their apologetic works focused heavily on the necessity of believer's baptism.

The commentators' interactions range from irate disagreement to irenic concord, but all exhort their readers not to dissolve "the holy knot" of the plain history of Christ's works and their lasting fruits. For them, Acts is certainly history, but it cannot be mere history.