1. What is the first event in Acts?
The focus is first on Jesus, telling the apostles that he is sending the Holy Spirit, followed by his ascension at Mount Olivet.

2. What are the apostles' names, and who leads the selection of the apostles to replace Judas?
Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, Jaes son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas son of James. Peter.

3. Who was Judas' successor, and why was he chosen? How?
Matthias. After selection of two who best qualified for the role of apostle because they were with Jesus from the beginning and had been witnesses to the fact that Jesus lives after the crucifixion, then prayer, and by lot.

1. What Pentecost images help us to understand the Holy Spirit?
First, the Holy Spirit is imaged by a strong wind, and then by "tongues" of fire.

2. What does Peter tell the crowds in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost?
Jesus is the Lord, the Messiah, and that the apostles are witnesses that Jesus rose from the dead.

3. What did Peter urge the people to do, and how many responded?
Peter urged the people to repent and be baptized. 3000 responded (averaging 250 for each of the apostles to baptize in one day).

4. What was the early Christian community like?
They formed communes (also 4:32).

1. What did Peter and John give to the crippled man who was begging by the Temple?
They healed him, so he could walk.

2. How does Peter explain this miracle?
He refers the power to the name of Jesus.

3. What excuse does Peter recognize regarding the crucifixion?
He recognizes that those who were responsible were ignorant of Jesus' identity.

4. What does Peter say is the sign of the return of Jesus? To what patriarch does Peter refer?
Peter refers to the promise to Abraham of a universal blessing through his descendants.

1. What is the Sanhedrin?
Jewish leaders with legal authority.

2. Why are the priests, Sadducees, and Captain of the Temple Guard angry?
Peter was telling the people that Jesus rose from the dead.

3. How many people became Christians by the end of the day?
5000

4. Where did Peter and John spend the night
jail

5. What image does Peter apply to Jesus?
the cornerstone

6. What does the Sanhedrin decide?
The Sanhedrin decides to prohibit Peter and John from speaking the name of Jesus and teaching about him.

7. How do Peter and John respond? Are they frightened?
They assert divine authority for their mission. They are quite courageous, unlike their personalities prior to Pentecost.

1. What was the crime and the punishment of Ananias and Sapphira?
Because they lied to the apostles about their contribution to the common good, they died.

2. What intangible extension of Peter did the people believe had healing properties?
Peter's shadow: they attempted to place people in need of healing in the areas where they thought Peter's shadow would pass.

3. Why did the high priest and the Sadducees imprison the apostles?
They were jealous because Peter and the other apostles were making so many converts.

4. Where were they at dawn? Why not in jail? Did they break the locks?
An angel freed them, told them to return to preaching at the temple, and at dawn they were preaching in their usual place by the temple.

5. Who defended them to the Sanhedrin?
Gamaliel

6. How does the Sanhedrin respond to Gamaliel?
They release the apostles, but only after having them whipped.

1. What is the ordination ceremony for deacons, and what is their role in the Church?
The apostles lay their hands on the deacons. The deacons "wait on tables."

2. How does Luke describe Stephen's face?
angelic

3. Why was Stephen arrested?
Members of the Synagogue of Roman Freedmen, who lost their debates with Stephen, had witnesses claim Stephen was blaspheming Moses and God, and by this means they incited the people, the Jewish elders, and the scribes, who grabbed Stephen and hauled him off to the Sanhedrin.

4. Who is the first Christian martyr? Was he an apostle?
Stephen, a deacon, was the first Christian martyr.

5. Were the Sanhedrin's charges against Stephen true?
Stephen was preaching that Jesus was superior to Moses and that Jesus' authority took precedence over Mosaic law and the temple ritual.

1. Why does Stephen put so much emphasis on Moses in his discourse?
Stephen points out that the Hebrews at the time of Moses were rebellious, that the Babylonian exile was the consequence of such infidelity to the Mosaic covenant. Stephen said that Moses himself prophesied that God would raise up a prophet like himself. Stephen said that the temple didn't even exist until the time of Solomon, and that the prophets said that God transcends any buildings. Stephen concludes that the Jews put the prophets who foretold the Just One to death, and that the Jewish leaders were continuing to oppose God as much as the Jews of the past.

2. What later prominent Christian witnessed the stoning?
Saul (Paul) of Tarsus

1. How did Saul feel about the stoning?
He supported the stoning, and the stoning of Stephen even increased his zeal.

2. How did the Christians respond to the persecution?
They fled.

3. Where did Philip go? Was he accepted there?
Philip went to Samaria, where he was welcomed.

4. Who is Simon Magus? What does he try to buy?
Simon Magus was a magician, and he tried to buy apostolic power.

5. Where does Philip go next, and what does he do?
Philip goes down to Gaza, where he meets an Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah. Philips helps the Ethiopian to understand Isaiah in the light of Jesus as Messiah, then baptizes the Ethiopian.

6. Then where does Philip go?
Caesarea.

1. What is the early name for Christianity?
The New Way.

2. Where does Saul go, and why?
Saul goes to Damascus to arrest Christians.

3. Was Saul riding a horse?
No horse is mentioned in Acts, but artists imagine Saul riding a horse.

4. What happened to Saul on the road to Damascus? How did he respond?
Paul saw a bright light, a vision of Jesus that convinced him that Christianity was true. He became blind, and he stopped eating.

5. What did Ananias do?
Instructed in a vision, Ananias went to find Saul, healed him, and baptized him.

6. How did Paul escape from persecution in Damascus?
He was let down the outside of the wall in a basket with ropes.

7. Where did he go?
He fled from Damascus to Jerusalem to Tarsus.

8. Where did Peter stay in Joppa, and what did he do there?
Peter stayed with Simon the Tanner, considered an "unclean" occupation by the Jews. While in Joppa, Peter restored Tabitha to life.

1. What is the relationship between Cornelius and Peter's vision?
Cornelius is a gentile, and Peter had a vision about "unclean" animals.

2. What does Cornelius do when he meets Peter, and why does Peter rebuke him? What does Peter do for him?
Cornelius kneels, but Peter corrects the impression of divinity. Peter baptizes Cornelius.

1. How did the Christians at Jerusalem feel about Peter's visit to Cornelius? How did Peter explain his actions?
Some of them objected to Peter entering the house of a gentile and eating with him. Peter explained his vision.

2. When Cornelius responded with faith to Peter's message, what did Peter do?
Peter baptized Cornelius and his whole family.

3. Who sent Barnabas to Antioch, and who else did Barnabas bring to Antioch?
The Jerusalem Church sent Barnabas, and Barnabas went to Tarsus to bring Paul to Antioch.

4. Where were the disciples of Jesus first called Christians?
Antioch.

5. What catastrophe did the Christians at Antioch foresee?
Agabus predicted a famine.

1. Who is Herod? Who does he persecute?
Herod Agrippa was ruler of Judea from 41 to 44 A.D. This is not the same Herod who persecuted Jesus as an infant. Herod beheads James and has Peter imprisoned.

2. What happened to Peter?
Peter was arrested during the feast of the Unleavened Bread. While he was in prison, the Christians were praying for him. While in a mystic state, an angel freed him, and when he reached John Mark's house, Peter proceeded knocking as Rhoda the maid ran to tell the others that Peter was at the door. They said she was out of her wits, but eventually opened the door. Then Peter went into hiding.

1. What was Paul's home base on his first jouney, and who was his partner? Where did they go? Who do they teach?
Paul and Barnabas embarked from Antioch to Salamis and Paphos in Cyprus. Among others, they taught the Governor.

2. Then where do they go? What is Paul invited to do? Then where does he go?
They proceed up into Turkey, to Perga, then far inland, to Antioch in Pisidia. Paul is invited to comment on the Scriptures, so he preaches the Good News that the promises to Abraham have been fulfilled. Then he moves on to Iconium.

1. Why did Paul and Barnabas leave Iconium?
They were threatened with stoning.

2. How do the people at Lystra respond to Paul and Barnabas? How do they respond to the Jews from Antioch at Iconium?
They are mistaken for Hermes and Zeus, and the people bring sacrifices. At Iconium, the Jews from Antioch incite the stoning of Paul.

3. On their return trip, what do Paul and Barnabas do?
They establish churches with priests.

1. What is the main issue at the Council of Jerusalem?
Circumcision.

2. What does the Council of Jerusalem decide, and how do they convey their decision?
They prohibit idolatry and perverse sexual practices. They convey their decision by letter and by a live emissary.

3. At the beginning of the second journey, why do Paul and Barnabas separate?
Paul will not accept John Mark on another journey because he had turned back on the first journey. Barnabas decides to stay behind, and Paul enlists Silas.

1. Where did Paul meet Timothy? How did they solve the circumcision issue with Timothy? Did they respect the cicision of the Council of Jerusalem?
Lystra. They circumcised Timothy. They exercised discretion, since Timothy's father was Greek, but his mother was Jewish.

2. In Mysia, where did the Spirit of Jesus direct them? Where did they settle?
Away from Bithynia, toward Troas, then Greece. They settled in Macedonia, a Roman province.

3. What woman became a good friend?
Lydia of Thyatira. She was a seller of expensive cloth.

4. Why was Paul imprisoned? What happened?
The townspeople were exploiting a possessed girl that Paul healed, but they accused Paul of being opposed to the emperor. Paul was flogged and jailed. While in jail, there was an earthquake, but they remained, converted the jailor, and Paul baptized him and his family. When the authorities heard Paul was a Roman citizen, they freed him.

1. Where did Paul and Silas go, and why?
They went to the synagogue at Thessalonica, where they debated the Scriptures. At each Jewish community, they went first to the synagogue to persuade the Jews of the Diaspora that Jesus was the Messiah. Paul was accused of opposing the emperor, and Jason was arrested.

2. Where did Paul go next, and what happened?
Paul moved on to Beroea, then to Athens, where he delivered his Aeropagus discourse on the Unknown God.

1. After Athens, where did Paul go, and what married couple did he meet? What did he do with them?
At Corinth, Paul settled with Aquila and Priscilla and worked at tentmaking with them.

2. When the Jews at Corinth insulted Paul, what did he do?
He turned to the gentiles, and he moved to live with the gentile, Titus Justus.

3. What helped Paul to endure the persecution?
Jesus appeared to him in a vision and encouraged him.

4. How did Gallio respond to the accusations against Paul?
Gallio considered the accusations a religious matter, irrelevant to his role.

5. Who accompanied Paul to Ephesus? On the way, what did Paul do?
Aquila and Priscilla. Paul made a vow and shaved his head at Cenchreae.

6. After Ephesus, where did Paul go?
Paul went to Caesarea, to Antioch, then into Galatia and Phrygia.

7. Meanwhile, back in Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla helped a great orator, Apollos, to understand something important. What?
Apollos misunderstood Christian baptism, having discovered only the baptism of John. Aquila and Priscilla explained "the new way" in greater detail.

1. Where did a "second Pentecost" occur?
At Ephesus, Paul corrected the general misunderstanding about baptism.

2. What articles were used for healing?
Handkerchiefs and other cloth.

3. What happened to non-Christians who invoked the name of Jesus for exorcism? What was the social effect?
They were attacked by the demons they were attempting to exorcise. The people held the name of Jesus in reverence. Magicians burned their books.

4. Why did Demetrius the silversmith oppose Paul at Ephesus? When the Ephesians were rioting, who calmed them?
The conversions to Christianity was destroying the business of making Artemis (Diana) idols. The town clerk told them that they could get into trouble for rioting, so they should settle the matter in court.

1. Why did Paul change his plans regarding the route from Greece to Syria? What did he do?
He discovered a plot by the Jews to capture him. He travelled through Macedonia to Troas (Turkey).

2. When did Paul have the Christians gather for the Eucharist? Why? Knowing he would be leaving soon, Paul preached at length, and one young man had a problem. What happened?
The gathered on the first day of the week because that is the day of Jesus' Resurrection. Eutychus became drowsy and fell from a third-story window ledge. He was dead, but Paul revived him.

3. Why was Paul scurry down the western coast of Turkey, in a hurry to get to Jerusalem? He wanted to be there in spite of what?
He wanted to be in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit had been warning him that trouble awaited in Jerusalem.

4. Who was Paul quoting when he said, "There is more happiness in giving than in receiving"?
Paul says he was quoting Jesus.

1. Where did the ship unload cargo? Where did they meet Philip? Who else met them there, warning of trouble? How did he warn them?
Tyre. Caesarea. Agabus took Paul's belt and tied his hands and feet with it, signifying that Paul would be bound and delivered by the Jews to the Gentile authorities.

2. To whom did Paul report in Jerusalem?
James.

3. Why did the Jews in Jerusalem start a murderous riot? What happened then?
They thought Paul had brought a gentile into the sacred area of the temple. A Roman commander had Paul arrested and bound in irons.

1. Where was Saul/Paul born? How did he acquire his Roman citizenship? Where was he raised? Who was his teacher?
Saul was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. Gamaliel was Saul's teacher at Jerusalem.

2. What was Saul doing at the time of Stephen's stoning?
Saul was guarding the cloaks of those who were stoning Stephen.

3. Why was Paul arrested and imprisoned at Jerusalem? Why was he released? Was there a trial?
The people were outraged when Paul told them that he had a vision of Jesus, who told him to leave Jerusalem because they wouldn't accept him, and instead he should preach to the gentiles. Paul was released from prison because a centurion reported that Paul was a Roman citizen, a citizen by birth. Again, Paul was brought before the Sanhedrin.

1. During his trial before the Sanhedrin, who did Paul insult? What did he say to rectify the situation? How did the trial proceed?
Paul cursed Ananias, the high priest: "You are the one God will strike." He called Ananias "a whitewashed wall." When he discovered the official with whom he was tangling was the high priest, he asserted his ignorance of the man's role and acknowledged that the Scriptures command one to "not curse a prince of your people." Then Paul provoked dissension by introducing the controversial issue of resurrection. Meanwhile, Claudius Lysias, the Roman commander, determined that Paul was not guilty of anything deserving of death. As a riot was breaking loose, a Roman commander took Paul to headquarters.

2.Who was the young boy who informed the Romans of the plot by the Jews to kill Paul? How did the Romans respond?
Paul's nephew informed the Romans of the forty men who had taken an oath to kill Paul and had concocted a plot to kill him en route to the Jews for further examination. The Roman commander immediately made plans to move Paul that night to Felix, the Governor at Caesarea.

1. What prominent Jews from Jerusalem were present at the trial before Felix? What were their charges against Paul?
Ananias, the high priest, traveled to Caesarea for this trial, and he engaged Tertullus, an attorney, to present the case. Tertullus accused Paul of being a "ringleader of the sect of the Nazoreans" who were troublemakers among the Jews, and allegedly Paul had desecrated the temple.

2. How did Paul defend himself, and how did Felix respond?
Paul denied any disruption in Jerusalem; he asserted that the Jews had no evidence against him. Paul acknowledged being a member of "the new way" of worshiping their traditional God, but he stated that he continued to believe all that was written in the law and the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul added that dissension arose over his belief in the resurrection of the dead. Felix became frightened when Paul's preaching about continence and judgment touched on his adulterous marriage with Drusilla, daughter of Herod Agrippa I. Felix apparently hoped that he might release Paul by means of a bribe, but Paul remained in prison throughout Felix's time in office.

1. How did Festus respond to the Jewish accusations against Paul?
Festus believed Paul to be innocent, and he would have released him, but because Paul had appealed to Rome, Festus sent him to the emperor. Festus, at a loss to present any charges, asked King Agrippa to supply some reason to accompany the referral to the emperor.

1. What does Paul tell King Agrippa about his persecution of the Christians? How does Agrippa respond?
Paul says he had been so furious against the Nazorene sect that he had pursued them in foreign cities, had many Christians arrested, voted against them, even for death, and repeatedly forced them to blaspheme. When he was on the road to Damascus, he was an emissary of the chief priests of Jerusalem. Because of the "heavenly vision" he experienced on the road to Damascus, he converted to "the new way." Agrippa said, "A little more, Paul, and you will make a Christian out of me!" Agrippa told Festus that Paul is not guilty and that Paul would have been "set at liberty" if hadn't appealed to the emperor.

1. What crisis occurred in the Ionian Sea after the departure from Crete during Paul's voyage to Rome?
After fourteen days enduring a savage storm, the ship stuck on a sandbar. The storm battered and destroyed the stern of the ship. No one was injured.

1. Where did the shipwreck occur? What extraordinary events occurred there?
After the shipwreck, they found themselves on the island of Malta. While building a bonfire, a poisonous snake bit Paul's hand, but the bite did not produced any adverse symptoms. Paul healed the father of Publius, the primary resident of Malta. Then Paul healed others of Malta who were sick.

2. How was Paul received at Rome?
Some Christians came out to meet him. The imperial officials allowed Paul to choose his own lodging, but a guard was assigned to him. Paul was able to invite an assembly of Jews, who listened to Paul's arguments that Jesus was their Messiah, and some of them believed Paul. Nevertheless, Paul applied the prophecy of Isaiah to them that they would not listen or understand, and so his mission was to the gentiles.

3. Why do you suppose Luke ends his account of the Acts of the Apostles as he does?
Luke ends his account with Paul in Rome, technically under arrest but freely preaching in Rome. Likely Luke ended in this fashion because his objective was to explain the universal nature of the early Christian Church.

1. What is Acts of the Apostles? Is it a chapter in a book?
Acts is an independent book, but a companion work to Luke's Gospel, both compiled with other Christian writings into the New Testament section of the Bible.

2. Who wrote Acts? To whom?
Luke, the physician who accompanied Paul on his journeys. Luke addressed both his Gospel and Acts to someone he addresses as Theophilus, which means "friend of God."

3. What is the setting of Acts? Does the translation have any maps?

4. Who are the main characters?
Acts begins with Jesus, and the Spirit of Jesus permeates the book. The account features the roles of Peter and Paul, as representatives of the apostles, but the emphasis in most of the book is on Paul.

5. Explain the "we" sections.
Probably Luke is relating episodes when he was personally present.