Good afternoon, All.

Being a former Revivalist I'm quite partial to the Acts of the Apostles. I like the book so much I subjected myself to four years' of doctoral research on the Spirit passages in the early Greek, Latin, Coptic and Syriac manuscript traditions! At last count, I own something in the order of 50 individual commentaries on Acts, and about 70 academic monographs that directly address the history, text, and theology of this one bible book. Having devoted literally thousands of hours to studying the Acts of the Apostles over several decades, I reckon I understand it quite well. I also reckon I'm  in a position to provide an informed opinion on the value of a number of good resources that will help the average person make better sense of its contents.

I write this because my long experience of engaging Revivalists across the board leads me to believe the overwhelming majority of them don't understand this particular book particularly well at all. Of course many think they do, and they will happily parrot what they reckon they know about the odd verse or two, but whenever I ask probing questions about the actual subject matter, vacant stares and mute silence is the general response.

Happily Christians have been preaching about, and writing commentaries on Luke's Acts since the 3rd century, so there's a wealth of material that demonstrates what the Holy Spirit has revealed to the Church regarding this record for approaching 2,000 years. So I'd like to offer a few suggestions for purchase by way of useful and accessible commentaries (i.e. I won't be recommending advanced volumes that require a working knowledge of Greek).

The list is by no means exhaustive, and is broadly divided into 'general' and 'intermediate'. The former anyone can pick up and read without too much effort, while the latter requires a little more in the way of time and commitment. The commentaries themselves are ordered by simplest to more complex.

General commentaries

The Message of Acts by John Stott (The Bible Speaks Today)

Acts for Everyone by N.T. Wright

Acts by I Howard Marshall (Tyndale New Testament Commentary)

Luke-Acts by Richard R. Longenecker (Vol. 10 of the Expositors Bible Commentary, Revised) - this is one of my personal favorites!

Acts by Mikeal C. Parsons (Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament)

Intermediate commentaries

The Book of Acts (rev. ed.) by FF Bruce (New International Commentary on the New Testament)

Acts by John B. Polhill (New American Commentary)

Acts by Patrick Schreiner (Christian Standard Commentary)

Acts by Simon J. Kistemaker (New Testament Commentaries)

The Acts of the Apostles by Luke Timothy Johnson (Sacra Pagina)

The Acts of the Apostles by David G. Peterson (Pillar New Testament Commentaries)

Acts by Carl. R. Holladay (New Testament Library) - this is one of my personal favorites!

The authors of these commentaries are all experts in the subject matter, and they span the 'ABCs' of the Christian Church (i.e. Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, etc.) While I certainly don't agree with all their respective conclusions, all of the time, each writer presents their respective understanding of the material in a way that should challenge any open-minded believer to thinking through his or her pre-conceived ideas afresh.

Tolle, lege!

Blessings,

Ian