The Readings: Joshua 24:1-15; Acts 28:23-31; Mark 2:23-28

Coming from our readings in Romans there are at least two things we might wonder about from the reading from Acts—which is in fact Luke’s ending to that book.

Recalling in particular Rom 9-11, Paul’s struggle to understand Jewish resistance to and Gentile acceptance of the Gospel within the larger context of God’s faithfulness, had Paul had the opportunity to suggest edits to Luke’s final paragraphs, what, if anything, might he have suggested?

At a couple points Luke summarizes Paul’s proclamation:

• “testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus” (v.23)
• “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 31)

(This is like Luke’s summary of Philip’s proclamation in Samaria: “who was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” [Acts 8:12].) What would it look like for our proclamation to be organized in this way? What might we gain? What might we lose?