Acts demonstrates that the risen and ascended Christ, through His Spirit, establishes a witnessing community whose proclamation of Jesus as Lord and Savior advances His kingdom from Jerusalem to the nations, triumphing over religious resistance, pagan opposition, and political hostility to accomplish what no human authority can stop.
Return to the storyline index when you want to compare the wider canonical movement of Scripture by book.
Acts 1-6
The risen and ascended Christ establishes His Spirit-empowered church to bear witness to Him from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
Sets the book's starting burden.
Acts 7-12
Israel's history reveals persistent resistance to God's messengers, culminating in the rejection of the Righteous One, yet Christ reigns in glory over His suffering witness.
Advances the book's developing tension and movement.
Acts 13-18
The Holy Spirit sends witnesses to proclaim Christ as the promised Savior, and the gospel divides hearers between faith and hardened rejection.
Marks a major turn in the book's movement.
Acts 19-24
The proclaimed name of the Lord Jesus triumphs over incomplete understanding, counterfeit power, and entrenched idolatry.
Carries the book toward its climactic emphasis.
Acts 25-28
Through legal appeal and providential positioning, the gospel advances toward imperial testimony.
Closes the book's movement and final emphasis.
Mission is God's purposeful movement to reveal His glory, redeem sinners, gather a people from every nation, and restore creation, carried out through His covenant people and fulfilled through the saving work and authority of Jesus Christ.
The kingdom of God is God's sovereign rule exercised over His creation, revealed throughout Scripture, opposed by human rebellion, advanced through His redemptive acts, and brought to its decisive fulfillment in Jesus Christ before reaching its full consummation in the new creation.
Christology is the biblical revelation of the person and work of Jesus Christ, showing that He is the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the true King, the perfect Priest, the final sacrifice, and the one through whom God's redemptive purposes are fulfilled.
Covenant is the binding relationship God establishes by His own authority through which He orders His relationship with humanity, governs His redemptive purposes, and carries His promises forward throughout the biblical storyline.
Creation and new creation form the great opening and closing movements of the biblical storyline, revealing that God created the world good, that sin brought corruption and death into it, and that through Christ God is restoring and renewing creation so that His purposes are fulfilled forever.
The glory of God refers to the visible and revealed manifestation of God's greatness, holiness, and majesty, displayed in His works, His presence among His people, and ultimately in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Holiness in Scripture describes God's absolute moral purity, uniqueness, and separation from sin, as well as the calling of His people to reflect His character through lives set apart for Him.
Resurrection and new creation reveal God's final victory over sin, death, and corruption, bringing the biblical storyline to its completion as God raises the dead, restores creation, and establishes His eternal kingdom through Jesus Christ.