DISCOVER ACTS
The adventures of the early church
By Stephen Gaukroger
IVP. 200 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 844 749 034
Stephen Gaukroger provides a survey of the Book of Acts in 60 short chapters, each four or five pages long.
It is not designed to be a technical commentary, rather it is a well written overview of the book. Each chapter begins with a very brief summary, which sometimes includes helpful application for today. He then deals with the contents of the chapter and ends with three questions for consideration.
Those questions could be useful for personal or group Bible study. In the early chapters (which cover Acts 1-4.12) he also concludes with some comments or further detail about issues raised in the text. For example, in the chapter on Acts 4.1-12 he describes who the Sadducees and Pharisees were. Unfortunately, though, he does not continue that helpful, additional information much beyond that chapter.
Some will differ with him over his interpretation of some passages, for example, in Chapter 4 on Acts 2.1-13, he comments on tongues, indicating that in Acts 2 they were known foreign languages but that ‘they appear to be mainly angelic language in the rest of Acts’. He goes on to assert: ‘The Bible seems to give little support to those who wish to consign this gift to history’ (p.27). Clearly some will not agree. In addition, there are occasions where he could have provided a little more detail or comment, for example in his comments on prophecy in chapter 6.
Overall, the book provides a helpful introduction to Acts.
