Acts 1-3: Christ's Church Begins (Read the New Testament in a Year Discussion, August 1, 2012)

As you may know by now, the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, are in the midst of reading the New Testament together in a year's time. Each week, we have discussion groups that look at the week's readings.

Last night, we looked at Acts 1 to 3. One inaccuracy on my part from the discussion: I was asked if Sadducees still existed. I said yes and cited a picture I had seen recently of a Sadducee priest. That was incorrect. The picture I saw in Eerdman's Handbook to the Bible was of a Samaritan high priest. The Sadducees passed out of existence after the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The Jewish Virtual Library contains interesting and useful information on the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes here.

Among the primary sources of the information I present here are:

• Study through the years, especially what I learned about Luke under my professor and mentor, Pastor Bruce Schein;  
• The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament by Craig Keener; 
• Acts, from the Interpretation Bible Commentary series, by William Willimon