Jewish Mission and the Onset of Jewish Opposition - The Healing of the Lame Man

Pentecost laid the foundation for the balance of the book of Acts as it recounts the expansion and fruitfulness of Christ's Church. The Spirit had now come and from that day forward He would continue His work of building Yahweh's new sanctuary: the ecclesia of the new creation. Following his account of Pentecost, Luke immediately turned his attention to another episode that closely paralleled it. It, too, involved a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit that served as the "text" for a sermon by Peter. So also that sermon, like the one at Pentecost, interpreted the Spirit's work in the light of the Christ event and its implications for the sons of Israel. But this latter episode differed from its predecessor in that it initiated the Jewish opposition to the Christian community and its gospel that is central to Luke's account. For Luke's intent was to record the early stages of the fulfillment of Jesus' commission of global witness and ingathering as promised to Abraham and predicted in the prophets, and, from the outset, this mission was driven by Jewish unbelief and hostility. This dynamic was according to divine design as also revealed by the prophets: God had appointed Israel as a vessel of wrath in order that His mercy should come to vessels of mercy, namely those He was calling from among both Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 9:1-29). What began that day in the temple court would continue and escalate, driving the proclamation of Christ out from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria and finally as far as Rome itself. There Luke ended his account, but with the affirmation that both the advance of the gospel and Jewish unbelief would continue on (ref. Acts 28:16ff).