THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE BOOK OF ACTS

In this second part of Luke's two-part history he follows the exact pattern set down in the first part: both are heavily front-end loaded with citations from Scripture said to be the fulfillment of prophecy. In Luke's Gospel, OT citations were used to describe the birth of the promised Messiah while in the book of Acts they are used to describe the birth of the Church. As in the first volume, almost all of the quotations are from the Greek Septuagint.

Acts 1:3 The resurrected Christ appeared on earth for 40 days. Gunner notes, “Forty is associated with almost each new development in the history of God's mighty acts, especially of salvation.”

Acts 1:4 contains a reference to the promise of the Father. But this is not in fact a reference to something in the OT, but to Jesus' earlier words in Luke 24:49.

Acts 1:6 contains the apostles' question regarding the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Their thinking was undoubtedly influenced by many prophetic OT texts. Jesus, as usual, deflects their question without really answering it. And theologians today still argue over the answer.

Acts 1:16-20 begins the first actual quotation, introduced with the words “the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit predicted through David in regard to Judas.” The specific reference is to Psalm 69:25 mentioning Judas' death. It is followed by “it is written in the book of Psalms,” referring to Psalm 109:8. These two verses are then quoted, followed by an explanation of the last one saying that it refers to choosing Judas' replacement. C. R. Matthews summarizes it this way: “Scripture foresaw the situation and dictates a course of action.”

Acts 2:16 has Peter saying to the crowd on the Day of Pentacost: “This is what is spoken through the prophet Joel.” As often mentioned, the subsequent quotation, Joel 2:28-32, pointedly stops before Joel continued to describe the cataclysmic events of the last days.

Acts 2:25 “For David says concerning him,” referencing Psalm 16:8-11. Note the present tense. In other words, God continues to speak to us today through His word.

Acts 2:31 “David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying” is used to introduce Ps. 132:10-11.

Acts 2:34 “for David...himself says” refers to Psalm 110:1.

Acts 3:13 has a general reference to the God of the various OT patriarchs.

Acts 3:18 “God fulfilled what he foretold through all the prophets concerning the suffering of his Messiah.” Notice the reference to his Messiah.

Acts 3:21 is another rather general reference to prophetic words, this time referring to the time of universal restoration.

Acts 3:22 “Moses said” introduces an ingenious composite citation from, respectively, Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:19; and Leviticus 23:29.

Acts 3:24 Another general allusion is made to the prophets by saying “all the prophets predicted these days.”

Acts 3:25 refers to God speaking to Abraham in passages such as Genesis 12:3; 18:18; and 22:18.

Acts 4:11 Here we have a direct quotation from Psalm 118:22 without any opening citation formula at all.

Acts 4:24 Similarly, this prayer to God quotes Psalm 146:6 without mentioning that fact.

Acts 4:25-26 This is another quotation from the Psalms (Ps. 2:1-2), this time introduced by the three-step process: “You [God] who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David.”

Acts 6:1-6 When “deacons” were appointed by the apostles to see that justice was served in allotting the food to the people, it was following the pattern laid down in Exodus 18:17-23 when Moses appointed godly men to take care of minor legal decisions so that Moses could be freed to attend to more important manners.

Acts 7 In this chapter we are treated (while the council was subjected) to Stephen's recap of Jewish history from Abraham to Solomon. Citation formulas within his speech include “as it is written in the book of prophets” (an allusion to what we would call the Minor Prophets, specifically Amos 5:25-27) and “as the prophet says,” for Isaiah 66:1-2.

Acts 8:32 A quotation from Isaiah 53:7-8 is called “a passage of scripture.”

Acts 10:9-16 This rooftop vision of Peter has as its background the various food regulations found in the Book of Leviticus. These are all set aside here just as Jesus declared all things clean in Mark 7:19.

Acts 13:13-22 This is another recap of Jewish history, this time by Paul covering the period from Abraham to King David.

Acts 13:33 Paul quotes from “the second psalm,” an amazingly precise location compared with all other citation formulas in the NT. It indicates that the psalms were numbered by that early date.

Acts 13:40 The reference to “the prophets” here does not refer to a number of the prophets, but to the Book of Prophets, meaning the Minor Prophets. The actual reference is to Habakkuk 1:5.

Acts 13:47 “For so the Lord has commanded us” refers back to Luke 2:32, which is in turn a quotation from Isaiah 49:6.

Acts 14:12 Now that we are in this part of Paul's journeys where we are squarely in Gentile territory, some of the quotations start to be from pagan Greek or Roman sources instead of from the OT. In this case the allusion is to Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Acts 15:15-18 This is another mention of the words of the prophets, and that reference may either apply to the words found in Amos 9:11-12 as one of the Minor Prophets, or to the fact that it is a compound quotation also containing words from Jeremiah 12:15 and Isaiah 45:21.

Acts 17:2-3 makes the general statement that Paul argued from the scriptures to prove that the Messiah had to die. This is practically a replay of a similar statement in the gospels describing the resurrected Jesus' conversation with the two men from Emmaus.

Acts 17:28 Paul again quotes from pagan sources that his audience would be familiar with, more than they would relate to OT citations. There have been several suggestions as to the exact source of Paul's words, but we are not really sure.

Acts 18:28 Back in front of a Jewish audience, Paul is “demonstrating from scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.”

Acts 20:7-10 This is the story of a young man who falls asleep while listening to one of Paul's sermons and falls out of a window on to the ground. F.F. Bruce remarks, “The treatment which Paul gave the youth – similar to that given in similar circumstances by Elijah and Elisha in the OT (I Kings 17:21; II Kings 4:34f) – suggests artificial respiration.” Whether you believe Bruce's interpretation of the events, there certainly is a similarity.

Acts 23:5 Paul before the Jewish council introduces a quotation of Exodus 22:28 with the words “it is written.”

Acts 24:14 Paul begins his defense before the governor Felix by saying that he knows that Felix has followed “everything laid down in the law or written in the prophets.” In this case, Paul is referring to the first two of three major Jewish divisions of the OT: the law (Pentateuch), the Prophets (History Books, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets) and the Writings (Poetry, Wisdom Literature, etc.).

Acts 26:22 In yet another defense, this time in front of Agrippa, Paul alludes to Moses and the prophets predicting the death and resurrection of the Messiah and proclamation to the Gentiles. This could refer to a number of OT texts.

Acts 28:23 And for the third time in a row, there is a general reference to “the law of Moses and the prophets.”

Acts 28:25-27 These verses quote from Isaiah 6:9-10, introduced as coming from the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah. Interestingly, the first and last quotations in Acts are said to come from the Holy Spirit. This confirms the wisdom of some commentators who label this book “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.