According to Ehrman, the Book of Acts tells a different story of Paul's career, but in this case it reports that, while there were " some " Jews converted during Paul's initial preaching in Thessalonica, the gentiles who were converted were " a large number " and the Jews as a body fiercely opposed Paul's work there.

Acts tells of a person named Simōn practicing magic in the city of Sebaste in Samaria, meeting with Philip the Evangelist, and then trying to offer money to the Apostles in exchange for miraculous abilities, specifically the power of laying on of hands.

See also Acts 2: 10 where Jews from Cyrene heard the disciples speaking in their own language in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost ; 6: 9 where some Cyrenian Jews disputed with a disciple named Stephen ; 11: 20 tells of Jewish Christians originally from Cyrene who ( along with believers from Cyprus ) first preached the Gospel to non-Jews ; 13: 1 names Lucius of Cyrene as one of several to whom the Holy Spirit spoke, instructing them to appoint Barnabas and Saul ( later Paul ) for missionary service.

Jocelin's 12th century Life and Acts of St. Patrick tells much the same story.

Another key scripture used to support their belief is Acts 28: 1-6, which tells that Paul was bitten by a venomous viper and suffered no harm.

* Acts 20: 17-the Apostle Paul summons the elders or presbyters of the church in Ephesus to give a last discourse to them ; in the process, in Acts 20: 28, he tells them that the Holy Spirit has made them bishops, and that their job is to shepherd the flock of God among them.

In Luke, Jesus says that all people will be called to repentance and tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they become invested with power, which presumably happened at Pentecost in the Book of Acts.

Caputo's newest book, Acts of Faith ( 2005 ), tells the story of several aid workers at the height of the Sudanese civil war.

Barnabas ' story appears in the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul mentions him in some of his epistles.

Lindars holds the Acts narrative to be prior, and that although the incident is not created out of the Old Testament passages the text of Zechariah 11: 12ff is " freely used to fill up the gaps in the story ... to the early Christian exegetes a perfectly legitimate hermeneutical procedure ".

According to Howard-Marshall Acts may be recording the ( inaccurate ) story as told within Jerusalem.

The battle figures in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar ( background of the story in Acts 4 and 5 ), and a fictionalised account of the battle is depicted in the sixth episode of the second season of the HBO television series Rome ( there is but a single battle and both Cassius and Brutus fall in battle instead of being suicides, though Brutus ' death is a lone, suicidal attack on the triumvirs ' advancing forces ).

The New Testament ( Acts 16: 16-18 ) relates the story of a girl who had a " spirit of Python " ( e ; cousan pneu / ma pu, qwna ) and followed Paul and his companions around the city of Thyatrira, crying out after them.

This book has not been seen in modern times and may never have existed ; the poet's attribution of his story to a written text may have been a literary device ; many contemporary critics believe that Acts and Deeds is based on oral history and the national traditions of Blind Harry's homeland.

In addition to the more famous story of Simon Magus found in chapter 8, the Book of Acts () also describes another magus who acted as an advisor of Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul at Paphos on the island of Cyprus.

John Chrysostom's homily upon Saint Babylas and the Acts of the Martyrs report the following story, that Babylas once refused the visiting pagan emperor, on account of his sinful ways, permission to enter the church and had ordered him to take his place among the penitents.

The legend of St. Christopher is considered one of these, and the story of Philip the Apostle being transported by God after encountering the Ethiopian on the road ( Acts 8: 26-39 ) is sometimes similarly interpreted.

The plenary manuscripts also generally contain an " Acts of Clement " work that roughly corresponds to the narrative or " epitome " story of Clement of Rome, known to specialists in pseudo-Clementine literature.

Perhaps the author of H thought all this story inconsistent with Acts, and omitted it.

The Clementine literature polemicizes against Paul and his sect, for example, by applying the name of the notorious Samaritan sorcerer Simon Magus ( see ) as a nickname for Paul ; some scholars suppose that Luke, the author of The Acts of the Apostles, took the story of Simon Magus from the Clementines.

The Acts of the Apostles tell the story of how St Paul was shipwrecked on an island which some scholars have identified as Malta while on his way to Rome to face charges.

The Acts of Paul and Thecla ( Acta Pauli et Theclae ) is an apocryphal story — Goodspeed called it a " religious romance "— of St Paul's influence on a young virgin named Thecla.

The author sets this story about Paul into the framework of the Book of Acts, but this text is ideologically different from the New Testament portrayal of Paul.

He follows the story of the Acts of the Apostles ; the first book, dedicated to St. Peter, concludes with Chapter XII ; the second, dedicated to St. Paul, with the martyrdom of the two Apostles.

Like the original Thief, the story takes place in three " Acts "— each one " punctuated by a cutscene that will further progress the storyline ", according to Thief II level designer Emil Pagliarulo.

About a fifth of the law code is taken up by Alfred's introduction, which includes translations into English of the Decalogue, a few chapters from the Book of Exodus, and the " Apostolic Letter " from Acts of the Apostles ( 15: 23 – 29 ).

The Acts of the Apostles (, Práxeis tōn Apostólōn ; ), usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament ; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age.

Other noted New Testament commentary authors include: Joseph Shulam, who has written commentaries on Acts, Romans, and Galatians ; Arnold Fruchtenbaum of Ariel Ministries, who has written commentaries on the Epistles, Judges & Ruth, and Genesis, and 7 systematic doctrinal studies ; Tim Hegg of TorahResource, who has written commentaries on Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and is presently examining Matthew ; Daniel Thomas Lancaster, who has written extensively for the First Fruits of Zion Torah Club series ; Stuart Sacks, author of Hebrews Through a Hebrews ' Eyes ; and J. K. McKee of TNN Online who has written several volumes under the byline " for the Practical Messianic " ( James, Hebrews, Philippians, Galatians, and surveys of both the Tanakh and the Apostolic Scriptures ).

The historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles, the primary source for the Apostolic Age, is a major issue for biblical scholars and historians of Early Christianity.

* Pictures of the Apostolic Church: Studies in the Book of Acts

It is traditionally ascribed to Barnabas who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, although some ascribe it to another Apostolic Father of the same name, " Barnabas of Alexandria ", or simply attribute it to an unknown early Christian teacher.

The Epistle of James in the New Testament is traditionally attributed to him, and he is a principal author of the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15.

The first chapter opens with the Shema (" you shall love God "), the Great Commandment (" your neighbor as yourself "), and the Golden Rule in the negative form ( also found in the " Western " version of Acts of the Apostles at 15: 19 and 29 as part of the Apostolic Decree ).

Somewhat unique is their 8th statement, belief " in the Apostolic regulations regarding foods and practices that injure the body and offend the holiness of God ," citing the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15.

The major primary source for the " Apostolic Age " is the Acts of the Apostles, but its historical accuracy is questioned by some.

The first documented use of the description of Saint Peter as first bishop of Rome, rather than as the apostle who commissioned its first bishop, dates from 354, and the phrase " the Apostolic See ", which refers to the same apostle, began to be used exclusively of the see of Rome, a usage found also in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon.

" The Council of Jerusalem, c. 50, issued the Apostolic Decree ( Acts 15 ) in regards to new gentile converts, which included a prohibition against " fornication ", thus the Apostles presented themselves as effecting ( among other things ) a separation from pagan sexual morality, though it was not given to the church to use physical force to enact capital punishment ( till the advent of Constantine I and Christianity ).

This statement contradicts Acts, xv, 6, 23, 28, according to which the Apostolic letter was written from the Council of Jerusalem.

F. Nau thinks that they may represent a personal rule of conduct drawn up by some 2nd-century Christian ( on the basis of Apostolic precepts ) who miscopied Acts, xi, 26, into the form of the afore-mentioned canon 1, and then added the other precepts — canon 9 reproduces the decree of Acts, xv, 29.

" Apostolic " does not mean separation from other denominations, but correlation with the teaching of the apostles ( see gospel, Acts of the Apostles ).

The Jesus Family was basically imitating the example of the early Apostolic Church in Jerusalem that was recorded in the book of Acts.

* The Apostolic Acts and Epistles, from the Peshito or Ancient Syriac ( 1849 )

Aberle's view that the Gospels and the Book of Acts are apologetic writings, meeting certain needs of the Apostolic times, cannot be sustained.