Questions and Answers | The Acts of the Apostles
Why can't an ordinary Christian do what the Apostles did in the book of Acts?
Some unusual things happen in the book of Acts when the Lord was establishing the church. Prior to the ascension of Christ and the Day of Pentecost, the church did not exist. When Christ poured out the Spirit of God from heaven upon the disciples, He created a new entity—the Church—whose expansion depends upon the message of eyewitnesses to the resurrection (Acts 1:8).
In Acts, God verified the gospel message of the Apostles’ preaching through signs and wonders (see Acts 2:22, 2:43; 5:12; 14:3). Some of the more unusual miracles included healing a lame man by the name of Jesus (Acts 3:6–8), people being struck down for lying (5:1–10), healing by a passing shadow or a handkerchief of an apostle (5:15, 19:12), angels or earthquakes opening prison doors (5:19; 12:7; 16:26), the Spirit transporting a person from one city to the next (8:39–40), Jesus blinding a man in order to save him (9:3–8), an angel from the Lord striking down a king (12:23), the Spirit speaking to an entire group (13:1–5), and a man remaining alive after being bitten by a poisonous snake (28:3–6).
In order to be an apostle, one had to meet several criteria. First, he had to be appointed directly by the Lord (Acts 9:15; 22:14–15; 26:16–18; 1 Cor. 15:8–9; Gal. 1:11–12, 15–16). Second, he had to have seen the resurrected Christ and be an eyewitness to the resurrection (Acts 1:22; 22:14; 1 Cor. 9:1). Third, he had to have the accompanying signs gifts, which refers to signs that bear witness to Jesus, that characterized an apostle (2 Cor. 12:12). These men, through being eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ in their preaching of the gospel, established the foundation for the church (Eph. 2:20).
Since the church was established, we rest our faith on the Apostles’ eyewitness testimony about the truth of the resurrection of Jesus as the divine Son of God, the Messiah, as recorded in the Scriptures. There is one thing we can share with the Apostles: boldness in our proclamation of Christ to all people, as Jesus commanded in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19–20). If we want to do as the Apostles did in Acts, we should tell people about salvation in Christ.
BY Dr. Eric C. Redmond
Dr. Eric C. Redmond serves as a professor of Bible at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and as associate pastor of adult ministries at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Ill. He is married to Pam and they have five children. He is the author of Say It! Celebrating Expository Preaching in the African American Tradition (Moody Publishers), Where Are All the Brothers? Straight Answers to Men's’ Questions about the Church (Crossway), a commentary on Jonah in the Christ-Centered Exposition Series (B&H Publishers), and a study guide on Ephesians in the Knowing the Bible series (Crossway).