使徒行傳 {shi3-tu2-xing2-zhuan4}
New Testament – Acts
Acts is short for Acts of the Apostles, literally 使徒行傳. Acts is actually the second volume of a work called “Luke-Acts”. Go take a look at how Luke 1 and Acts 1 address the same person, Theophilus, which is a great name if you ask me. “Theo” means God. “Philus” is derived from the Greek word for “friend”. Theophilus = “friend of God” or “God-lover”.
This composite work was attributed to Luke, writing about early Christianity and Paul’s journey all the way up to the time he arrived in Rome, where he waited for his appeal to Caesar. Luke’s work was speculated to be a detailed legal statement on Jesus, Christianity, and Paul for Paul’s trial since the title “the most excellent Theophilus” was reserved for high Roman officials. The verdict of the trial was not written in Acts because it hadn’t happened yet. What we CAN learn from Acts is how this unyielding man of God started his new life, preached the Gospel from Jerusalem to the heart of the empire, and changed the world with the mighty hands of God.