First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

ACTS OF THE RUACH HAKODESH

Acts was probably written at the end of Rav Sha'ul's first Roman

imprisonment (C.E. 62/63). Nero's persecution had not yet started

(Rome burned in C.E. 64), and a window of breathing time was

available for the philanthropy of Theophilus, the Roman nobleman

who may have underwritten the cost of publishing the two-part

work of Luke-Acts. Theophilus may have been a believer in Rome--

see Luke 1:1--even a public official (possibly addressed

pseudonymously) to whom Luke-Acts is dedicated. The reason for

advocating this extremely early date is because of the shape of

the material in Acts. It is not about the acts of the Shluchim,

most of whom are hardly mentioned; it is an expansion of Rav

Sha'ul's legal brief in Rome (with supplemental material),

showing legal precedents in that whenever Shliach Sha'ul went

before a Roman government official, whether it was Sergio Rav

Sha'ulus or Galilo or the magistrates in Philippi or Governors

Felix or Festus in Caeserea or even King Agrippa in Israel,

Shliach Sha'ul was regarded as a Jew and his religion as Jewish

and therefore legal according to Roman law. Only the riot-causing

and unbelieving Jews, not the Romans, were declaring otherwise.

Ch. 26:32 is the key defense as far as Rav Sha'ul's legal brief

is concerned, the legal ramifications of which would affect the

safety of all believers throughout the Roman Empire. This idea

forms the spine of the narrative of Acts, which would otherwise

be like a loose miracle chronicle. It is very possible that

Theophilus was not only a catechist but a supporter of Shliach

Sha'ul at the time of his house arrest during his first Roman

imprisonment. While Shliach Sha'ul was writing Philippians,

Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon we can imagine that Luke was

not taking Roman saunas but, like a good historical journalist,

was "rushing to deadline" with the story that could save his

friend Rav Sha'ul's life, win many more "Theophiluses" to the

L-rd, and help protect other "Rav Sha'uls" from being persecuted

in the Roman courts by litigating Besuras Hageulah-offended Jews.

In short, the book of Acts is not a mere history of the

beginnings of Messianic Faith; it is an apologetic chronicling of

the true "way" of Messianic, apocalyptic Biblical Judaism--the

legally privileged religion of the Jews and the universal,

Spirit-endorsed faith of the true G-d of the whole world, if only

Roman government officials and Jewish religious dignitaries could

be given by G-d eyes to see and ears to hear and understand the

colossal fulfillment of Scriptural revelation!

Shliach Sha'ul is really the central Shliach in the book of Acts

from the very beginning. For example, in chapter 1 notice the

subtlety of the point Luke makes. Mere men use a "Jonah" lottery

draw to choose the "fisher of men" replacement for "Judas," but

Moshiach Yehoshua himself catches his choice not with a gigantic

fish but by means of the house of "Judas" on the street called

Straight in Damascus (compare 1:20 and 9:11). Matthias is chosen

in 1:26 but Shliach Sha'ul overshadows both him and all the other

Shluchim, because G-d, and not men, is writing the history of

salvation in this story of the world-conquering expansion (from

Jerusalem) of the Messianic remnant of Israel and the nations.

But Shliach Sha'ul is himself the most important witness for his

own defense. Like the Jewish establishment litigating against

him, Shliach Sha'ul was himself "fighting against G-d" (5:39),

and the risen L-rd himself won the fight on the road to Damascus.

Notice the first Brit Chadasha kehillah service is a 9:00 A.M.

Sunday morning, Pentecostal, dangerous, open-air, Jewish Beis

Hamikdash "street" meeting. The Great Commission was symbolically

and representatively fulfilled in the blink of an eye (in Zion),

for pilgrims had come from all over the world for the Feast of

Shavuot or Pentecost. But faith was necessary Miryam, and some

scoffers didn't have it, having a form of religion but denying

its power (2:13; II Tim. 3:5). Notice that the Brit Chadasha

kehillah was born and still thrives on aggressive, risky kiruv

outreach contact with unbelievers in the power of the

supernatural (2:41).

There is no rebuttal to a genuine power encounter (see 4:11). In

the book of Acts, as in the Elijah vs. prophets of Baal power

encounter in I Kings, the convicting, regenerating power of the

Besuras Hageulah itself and its accompanying healings and other

gifts of the Spirit differentiate who is G-d's spokesman and who

is merely a pretender to relgious authority. Spirit-filled

ministers are needed as Messianic leaders to turn the lost sheep

away from the false shepherds of this world. Mere rationalists,

apologists and scholars--though needed--are not enough. In 1:6-8,

the Shluchim ask the risen L-rd Yehoshua a doctrinal question

about the millennium, but he answers them with exhortation to

receive an empowerment for the purpose of world outreach and

Moshiach's shlichut keruv mission. Ch. 8:15-16 shows that people

who had believed the Besuras Hageulah and were given the

Moshiach's tevilah also expected a subsequent empowerment where

the Ruach Hakodesh fell on them. In Acts 1 the shluchim joined in

continuous prayer (1:11) and waited or "tarried" until what was

promised (1:5; Luke 21:49) happened (2:1) in the form of a

miracle of witness. Laity, both men and women, and clergy with

anointed tongues boldly, almost recklessly (In the Beis Hamikdash

area and on the streets in a dangerous city that hangs on an aitz

deviant religious personages) began preaching with miraculous,

heaven-empowered locution. The confusion of tongues at Babylon

(Gn. ch. 11) is also miraculously reversed as G-d is now

graciously leading his people out to bring the Gentiles to his

treasury (see Isaiah 66:18-21 and the collection journey of Acts

24:17-18). The fire of the burning bush and the fire on Mt. Sinai

appeared on the heads of the Shliachs in Acts 2:3 to signify that

the G-d who gave the Law to Moses and Israel was now giving the

Ruach Hakodesh to Israel. In fact, the one G-d was now giving one

message leading all nations to become one people. But 5:13 says

that even then none of the religious people dared to join these

"Pentecostal" Jews.

However, many Pentecostals err in seeing tongues as a sufficient

sign that one is now completely filled with the fulness of the

Holy Spirit (see I Cor. 13:1 as a corrective on this). Acts only

begins (but does not stop there) with tongues as physical

evidence of empowerment. Boldness in witness, praise, new sight

(scales removed), prophesying, having compassion for an "enemy"

from an alien culture, healing, communal generosity, and many

other signs confirm the experience that the Ruach Hakodesh has

indeed fallen on a person. So if a Pentecostal speaks in a

language he doesn't know and thinks he stands in the fulness of

the Ruach Hakodesh, he had better keep reading from Acts 2:4 and

make sure his walk as a believer is fully in step with the

aggressively preaching early Messianic community. We are now

seeing many tongues-speakers who do not win souls or dirty their

hands with aggressive, dangerous, open-air outreach but pride

themselves on being "Pentecostal." Nothing could be further from

the truth of the Book of Acts! These people should stop fighting

about tongues and start leading people to salvation.

On the other hand, there are others who are also ignorant of the

Scriptures: those who think they are ready for the ministry just

because they are glib and articulate like Shliach Kefa was in the

Besuras Hageulah narratives and yet also think they don't need

the empowerment and spiritual equipping Shliach Kefa received

(after he was humbled by near apostasy) at the beginning of the

book of Acts. What Shliach Kefa received was not just for Shliach

Kefa or just for back then. The promise is for today (2:39) and

for us; it is for our sons and our daughtars. (Who says women,

even laywomen, can't preach? Look at 2:17; 21:9. There is no

clericalism or hatred of women here.) Every modern day "Shliach

Kefa" should pray Acts 4:29-31 every day, just as every Brit

Chadasha kehillah should have a benevolence provision (4:34-35).

Note what you do (2:41) if you want to receive Moshiach Yehoshua.

You repent (which may involve some pre-tevilah teaching, testing

or counseling), and you get buried or immersed in water, which is

a covenant sign that obligates you to obey "all that Moshiach

Yehoshua commanded." This means you are obligated to become a

learner with a teacher (a talmid or disciple), and the teaching

you imbibe is the Moshiach's Shluchim's doctrinal understanding

of the Bible. You also join a chavurah of Achim B'Moshiach (not

a one-hour-a-week worship service--see 5:42), and you commit

yourself to the Moshiach's Tish and to corporate davening with

other talmidim (3:42). People should not mouth a sinner's prayer

and wander off on their own, thinking they have received the

Moshi'a and have Scripturally responded properly to His

invitation. They have not, unless they have an excuse like the

repentant thief dying next to Yehoshua. Unless they are making a

deathbed confession, becoming a believer involves attaching

oneself to at least one other person in a discipleship

relationship (see 17:34).

Look at 2:46. Note the combination of mass rally and small group

fellowship meetings. There were no Brit Chadasha kehillah

buildings. Only Solomon's Portico and private homes. The latter

undoubtedly allowed people to have intimate meetings with their

neighbors and relatives who were coming into salvation faith, and

also allowed unbelieves to be introduced into the faith among

people of similar ethnic and family ties. These homogeneous unit

meetings allowed for the kind of web movement we saw earlier in

passages like Mark 1:29-31, as whole families and segments of a

society flow into the faith together (see Donald McGavran's many

books). We are not wise to neglect either of these kinds of

meetings today. What Brit Chadasha kehillah in a metropolitan

area with a Jewish or Muslm population can't have a Muslim house

fellowship or a Jewish house fellowship? Without such small group

meetings it is unlikely that many Muslims and Jews and various

other ethnic segments will flow into weekend worship "rallies."

Ch. 5:12 shows that a 50-50 balance was reached in preaching to

believers (in house fellowships) and in preaching within the

hearing of unbelievers (in the Beis Hamikdash court). Most Brit

Chadasha kehillot fail miserably here, preaching 100% inside the

Brit Chadasha kehillah building (which itself finds no

endorsement in Scripture) with few, if any, unbelievers in

earshot.

Look at 3:23. Moses is quoted as suggesting that Moshiach

rejecters are not what they think they are. This means that Jews

are not really Jews in the fullest sense of the word (truly

circumcised, initiated members of G-d's covenant people of the

Ruach Hakodesh) if they have not received the Biblical Moshiach

their Scriptures point to.

In ch. 4 we see that the revival is going on outside the power

establishment, whose spokesmen deny the key doctrines even while

their leaders declare themselves literalist defenders of the

faith or fundamentalists (so it is today with the true revival,

with which politically minded "organization men" of religion

often are out of touch).

One of the themes in Acts is Romans 8:28. The book is filled with

reversals. Everything that men do that is bad G-d turns around

and makes into something good (see Acts 4:27-28). For example, in

ch. 6, G-d uses a Brit Chadasha kehillah squabble over money for

widows and turns it around to send Greek-speaking emissaries of

Moshiach's shlichut out to the Greek-speaking world to fulfill

the Great Commission. He also uses this "widow" problem to form a

women's sodality (I Tim. 5). Stephen and Philip were

Greek-speaking members of the "Seven" who were deacons authorized

to preach (see the requirement of being able to keep hold on the

"mysteries of the faith with a clear conscience" in I Tim. 3:9;

see also Acts 6:8-8:1; 8:5,26,40; Rom. 16:1; I Tim. 3:8-13) and

to distribute the L-rd's Supper and to do the work of

administration in the local Messianic community, particularly

caring for the poor and the sick. See diakoneoo (care for, take

care of, look after) in Acts 6:2 and diakonos (servant, minister,

deacon) in Philippians 6:1. I Tim. 3:13 shows that shamoshim who

have served well "gain an excellent standing," which may mean

that some of them will eventually become overseers or zekenim as

the L-rd sovereignly tests, trains, and places them in offices of

responsibilty in his kingdom. The office of shamosh seems to be a

much more important office in the Brit Chadasha Scriptures than

many believers view it. Any congregation with ten or fifteen

shamoshim preaching in the jails, nursing homes, and street

corners of its community would have to have some kind of impact.

But some Brit Chadasha kehillot are so dead they view the office

many times as a mere ritual or ceremonial dignity, like

pallbearers at a funeral.

The Romans 8:28 theme in Acts is seen in 15:36, where G-d

reverses a fight between Shliach Sha'ul and Barnabas to multiply

traveling, Greek-speaking, Brit Chadasha kehillah planting

confraternities or sodalities. The effect of this was to minimize

cultural differences between communicators and receptors, leaving

Aramaic-speaking Hebrew emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut to win

those like themselves in Jerusalem, and placing Greek-speaking

Hellenistic Jewish emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut among people

more like themselves outside Jerusalem. The Greek-speaking Jews

did not see it as a religious duty to shy away from secular

knowledge (7:22), and were therefore better equipped

philosophically to do outreach to the secular peoples of their

day.

Another reversal motif is the way things keep getting worse for

Shliach Sha'ul as the story unfolds, with more and more plots to

kill him or detain him or hinder him; but G-d works all these

things for good to protect Shliach Sha'ul and keeps opening

bigger and bigger doors for Shliach Sha'ul until his enemies

(ironically and unwittingly) have even driven him to the Imperial

Palace of Rome to witness to Nero himself!

Stephen emphasizes signs and wonders in the ministry of Moses

(7:36), just as these were emphasized in the ministries of

Moshiach Yehoshua, Stephen, Philip and all the leaders in the

book of Acts. The point Stephen is making is that his people were

called to be a pilgrim people on the move for G-d with the L-rd's

Tabernacle, but they have degenerated into a rebel brood, holding

Herod's Beis Hamikdash hostage and killing G-d's prophets.

Because Stephen was a Hellenist, other Hellenists like Saul

(later known as Rav Sha'ul) saw it as their duty to silence such

a traitor in Jerusalem who was quite embarrassingly one of their

own. So the Hellenists like Saul went after their own kind in the

persecution. The irony is in another reversal. Saul the

persecutor would become Stephen's Greek-speaking successor and

would finish the work Saul tried to stop Stephen from doing.

The fear of G-d must increase dramatically in a population in

order to have a great revival. One of the purposes of the

judgment miracles in 5:5-10; 12:23; 13:11 is to increase this

fear so that the revival would catch fire and the localized

objective could be achieved: to fill Jerusalem with the teaching

of the Moshiach (5:28). The moral of 5:1-11 is that it is

dangerous to one's health to "play the Believer" while really

trying only to "con" G-d and his people.

Notice that the Besuras Hageulah is not an attempt to get people

to change religious and cultural externals but to receive "new

life" (5:20). See 26:23 for an excellent summary of the Besuras

Hageulah. A notorious heretic at the time Luke was writing was a

man named Shimon the Magician. He was the first great cultist, a

kind of fountainhead for the later gnostic and other cults. He

believed that he himself was someone great and had been given

divine power. He was leading many astray with his self-serving

new religion. But in the power encounter that is described in

8:9-24, Shimon is shown to be a religious charlatan, because he

is unable to work the works of G-d, being a mere charmer of

crowds and trafficker in demon magic by means of the evil spirit

energizing him. All over the world vast numbers of people,

Muslims and Jews included, are under the spell of similar

personalities, who require not only an Oxford debate but also a

simple Shliach Kefa power encounter.

Philip the Kiruv outreach minister/Shammash exits at the end of

chapter 8 but will re-enter the drama in ch. 21.

Ch. 9:5 shows how Shliach Sha'ul got the notion that the

eschatological Messianic community is the body of Moshiach, each

member exercising gifts that are essential to the other members.

Ch. 9:15-16 shows why Shliach Sha'ul is the central Shliach and

human actor in the Book of Acts. We see Shliach Sha'ul the

Hellenist in Stephen's danger in the midst of his own Hellenist

Jewish people (9:29), just as later we will see Rav Sha'ul the

Pharisee versus the circumcising Pharisaic party of 15:5. Not

only that, continually, throughout the entire Empire, we will see

Shliach Sha'ul the Roman versus the Roman Government. But Shliach

Sha'ul is in a sense a nobody (I Cor. 15:9) without even

qualifications in his own life to be so much as a Brit Chadasha

kehillah officer (compare hubristes, meaning a violent, insolent

man in I Tim. 1:13 and Titus 1:7 orgilon, meaning not inclined to

anger and also plekten, meaning not pugnacious). This was to

show the grace of G-d, that behind Shliach Sha'ul ii the Risen

One who, by signs and wonders and "acts" of the Ruach Hakodesh,

is turning that political and cultural and religious world upside

down and graciously receiving sinners who don't deserve to be

received, much less used in the ministry.

Notice 9:32-35 where one healing sweeps in a whole people

movement.

It is ironic, yet sometimes the religious convictions of people

keep them from obeying G-d. The Aramaic-speaking Jews were even

slower than the Hellenists in obeying the Great Commission.

Perhaps they had so much accumulated traditional and theological

baggage and were so fixed in their own cultural location that

they could not change or adapt their strategy (as a sent-out

cross-cultural emissary of Moshiach's shlichut for people

culturally distant from themselves. To be fair, however, some

were called to stay within their own (Jewish) people group and

reach out to them (Gal. 2:7,9), and of these Shliach Kefa and

Yochanan eventually became emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut to

the Gentiles as well, because Yochanan later ministered in

Ephesus and Shliach Kefa in Rome.

Read 10:28-29 to see how G-d had to change the thinking of

monocultural emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut to make them

cross-cultural emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut. Because, under

the law of Moses, the Gentiles had to be circumcised to be clean,

Jews were not to visit

uncircumcised Gentiles (and thus cermonially defile themselves).

This was also a matter of religious pride, just as clergy would

not want to be seen visiting a house of prostitution for the

purpose of winning prostitutes to G-d, partly because of the way

it would look, that is, quite defiling to their reputation. But

in ch. 10 G-d convinces Shliach Kefa to obey him, and when the

Gentiles have the Ruach Hakodesh fall on them, Shliach Kefa makes

no qualitative differentiation between what happened to Jews in

Acts 2 and what happened to Gentiles in Acts 10 (see 10:44-48 and

11:15-17). In fact, for Shliach Kefa (and apparently for the

theologian Luke) tongues are the initial physical evidence

(notice the causal force of "gar" in Acts 10:46) for the tevilah

in the Ruach Hakodesh. (See Acts 15:8).

Ch. 11:19-26 is an important section for the light it might throw

on the identity of the author of Hebrews. Luke was, by reliable

tradition, from the Brit Chadasha kehillah in Antioch, Syria.

That would mean that he knew Barnabas personally. The kind things

he says about Barnabas here and in chapter 4 are probably

inserted lest Rav Sha'ul's split with him in ch. 15 cast an

aspersion on his character. "For he was a good man" in 11:24

leaves the impression that Barnabas may very well be dead by the

date Luke is writing. Since Barnabas and Apollos are two people

often asserted to be the author of Hebrews, by the process of

elimination Apollos becomes the more likely of the two. Luke is

very selective about whose names he mentions in the book of Acts.

The people he mentions are either authors of Scripture, key

prophets and pioneers in the early days of Messianic Judaism, or

associates of Shliach Sha'ul. Just being one of the 12 will not

get the history of your ministry included in Luke's book! The

main reason Apollos is mentioned in chs. 18 and 19 and at length

in I Cor. may very well be because he is an acknowledged prophet

and author of the book of Hebrews. We cannot be certain of this,

but it seems probable.

Ch. 12:24 gives a contributing factor in a revival: knowledge of

the Scriptures increases. Ch. 19:9-10 shows Shliach Sha'ul

starting a two-year school for active ministers, congregation

planters, kiruv outreach ministers, teachers, and emissaries of

Moshiach's shlichut. It was a Ruach Hakodesh Messianic Yeshivah

probably influenced by the type of education Shliach Sha'ul

himself received in Gamaliel's yeshiva (academy) in Jerusalem.

Very few institutions in the world today offer the type of

education that Shliach Sha'ul received, and yet the Bible says

that we are to follow Shliach Sha'ul as our example (I Cor. 11:1;

4:16; Phil. 3:17). Shliach Sha'ul studied with Gamaliel and

mastered the Hebrew text and the Messianic prophecies as a

trained scribe (copiest/technical Bible expert/teacher). When

Shliach Sha'ul completed his course of study under Gamaliel the

Elder (Acts 22:3), Shliach Sha'ul received s'micha or the laying

on of hands as authorization to teach and to transmit the rabbi's

traditions. Later, his technical learning gave him entree to

speak in every city where his travels took him. Shliach Sha'ul

was not merely a tent-maker. He was not only a man filled with

the Holy Spirit. He was a student of the Word who had a great

teacher. Apparently, Shliach Sha'ul gave s'micha to some of his

graduates because had they not been authorized by his ministry

school to preach as emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut and kiruv

outreach ministers and teachers, it is hard to understand how Rav

Sha'ul's activity in the school could have resulted in "all the

inhabitants of the province of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles"

being able to hear the Lord's message (notice the conjunction

"oste" introducing a result clause in Acts 19:10).

Look at 13:2-3. You must have a call to be a cross-cultural

minister of the Besuras Hageulah, and you should be sent or

acknowledged by a body of believers (see Rom. 10:15) who

recognize that you are equipped and properly trained. It was the

Holy Spirit who mt Shliach Sha'ul and Barnabas apart to be sent

out as ministers, but it was also a body of believers who

acknowledged this (see also I Tim. 4:14 for Timothy's s'micha).

Shliach Sha'ul and Barnabas were not merely self-appointed and

self-accountable and self-commissioned, but were under the

authority of a body of believers.

We must suit the style of our preaching to our audience, though

the basic content does not change. Compare 13:17f (a sermon

preached to a Jewish audience) and 17:23f (a sermon preached to a

Gentile audience).

Ch. 14:3 infers that G-d wants a few fearless preachers, and then

revival can break out in your area. Ch. 14:8-10 infers that we

should pray for the gifts of healing and then look for people who

have G-d-given faith to receive their healings. But, since G-d is

doing everything, and we are nothing, prayer is the key.

Notice ch. 14:23. The ministers who were sent out from Antioch

organized believers into groups and then returned and appointed

elders over them as G-d raised these up so that they could be

recognized within the local bodies. This is ordination. Then the

emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut went back and gave a report to

the sending body of believers (14:27-28).

Yeshu'at Eloheinu by the Chen v'Chesed Hashem (unmerited favor)

through emunah alone and not by works of the flesh or religion or

merit is the Besuras Hageulah that Shliach Sha'ul has to fight

for in ch. 15. Ch. 15:10-11 are key verses here against the

Galatians Judaizing heresy in 15:5-6.

Note how Timothy has to enculturate to win the target ethnic

population to which G-d has sent him--16:3.

Ch. 17:2 shows Shliach Sha'ul using his rabbinic education, his

talent and art as a rhetorician, and his knowledge of the

Scriptures. Elsewhere we see that he also used his secular

tent-making ability (18:3-4; 20:33-35) to earn a living, which

gave him capital to travel and economic independence, as well as

a traveling industry to pay his associates. These abilities,

plus his bilingual and writing gifts, as well as his Roman

citizenship, were all providential equipment from G-d, without

which he could not have done what he did in thirty years of

preaching, teaching, and writing: help to spread the Besuras

Hageulah throughout the entire Roman Empire.

Ch. 17:16-17 shows Shliach Sha'ul stirred up with indignation in

his heart against sin, which propelled him to preach. This

passage also shows Shliach Sha'ul experiencing what every foreign

emissary of Moshiach's shlichut experiences-- culture shock.

Notice the importance of debate in his ministry. Signs and

wonders are not all Shliach Sha'ul had to help him; he also

argued long and hard to win people to the Moshiach.

Notice that 20:7 indicates that they had Sunday meetings that

started on Saturday, because the Jews reckoned a day from dusk to

dusk. Thus both the Shabbos and the Lord's Day (I Cor. 16:2; Rev.

1:10) are on the primitive religious calendar. Indeed the

believers met daily (Acts 2:46). Messianic Muslims have the

liberty to meet on Friday because it is the Eternal Atonement

Day. Messianic Jews have the liberty to meet on Saturday (as is

the custom of all Messianic Jews in the book of Acts), for one

reason, because the Moshiach did not come to abolish the Law of

Moses (Mt. 5:17). Also Saturday evening is the beginning of

Sunday, the Eternal Resurrection Day. More than that, every day

is the day that the L-rd has made, and each person should be

convinced in his own mind, rather than be forced to submit to the

observance of days for their own sake (see Rom. 14:5-8).

Look at 20:24. Has G-d given you a mission, a shlichut such that

when you finish it you can die in peace?

Ch. 21:24 says that Shliach Sha'ul still regularly observed the

Law (see also 24:14). He did it not in order to be justified

before G-d on the basis of legalistic deserts. How could he have

avoided observing the Law if he desired to remain as a Jew to the

Jews, who by definition (at that time) observed the Law?

Ch. 22:21-22 is a key theme in Acts--the jealousy of the Jews,

their anger at the thought that G-d would choose the Gentiles to

share their religious privileges, and (to add injury to insult,

so to speak) give these religious privileges to the Gentiles free

as an act of unmerited favor, not on the proud basis of merit and

law-keeping deserts.

In ch. 27 G-d uses a hurricane and peril at sea to show that

Shliach Sha'ul is G-d's prophet (his obedient Jonah!), and,

ironically, that it is the Romans, and not his prophet Shliach

Sha'ul, who are on trial before the same bar of divine justice

that Pilate was ironically hauled in front of when he met

Moshiach Yehoshua at Pesach season C.E. 30.

Ch. 28:l4 says "And so we came to Rome." Luke has been driving

toward this sentence throughout his whole narrative. The maximum

length of protective custody was two years. Apparently Shliach

Sha'ul was released in 62/63 after two years of house arrest.

Luke stops the story there. He was rearrestd in 65-68, stood

trial again in Rome, and shortly after he wrote II Timothy, was

beheaded by order of Nero or his (supreme) court or delegated

authorities.

Solomon's Porch was probably on the east side of the Beis

Hamikdash, near the Beautiful Gate, where Shliach Kefa and

Yochanan ministered to the man lame from birth in Acts 3. The

Beautiful Gate led into the Women's Court, beyond which women

were not permitted. A shady area of roof supported by columns

surrounded the level courtyard. It was in this area, in the

portico called (King) Shlomo's that the first believers held

weekly open-air meetings within ear-shot of unbelievers. In this

regard, street preachers should remember that an

open-air preacher should not wear fine clothes (Mt. 11:7-8; Mark

1:6); every street sermon needs a baseline of humility. That is,

Yehoshua says (5:19), "Tell them how much the L-rd has done for

you, and what mercy He has shown you.

ACTS 2:42

And they continued devotedly in the torah of the Moshiach's

Shluchim and the chavurah and the betzi'at halechem and the

davening of tevillos.