Hello,
Read Acts 12:1-25
Today’s passage takes us through Peter’s imprisonment and miraculous escape as well as his handing off of leadership to James, the brother of Jesus.
There’s a new Herod in town, and much like his predecessor who killed all the babies in Bethlehem, this Herod (Agrippa I, 41-44 AD), begins persecuting the church, killing James the brother of John and imprisoning Peter during the Passover. Herod is doing this because it pleases the Jews. Of course, the church’s response to Peter’s imprisonment is to pray even more (12.5).
Peter is miraculously freed by an angel of the Lord, and before he realizes what is happening is already walking along the road outside of jail. Peter runs to tell the others, and as he stands at the door knocking the believers don’t believe it’s actually him. Peter tells his story and adds this little caveat at the end, “‘Tell this to James and to the believers.’ Then he left and went to another place” (12.17).
This is the last we hear from Peter in Acts, other than his involvement at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15. It’s like he passes the baton of leadership at the Jerusalem church from himself to James. The focus of Acts is going to pivot from Peter and Jerusalem, to Paul and the Gentile world, which is where we’ll pick up tomorrow.
Thinking back over the last 12 chapters and the early church in Jerusalem and surrounding areas, of Peter and John and the other disciples, of Stephen and Philip, what is one new insight or reminder you’ve had when it comes to following Jesus?
The early Anabaptists were part of the “radical” Reformation, radical in the sense of trying to get back to the root of Christian thought, belief, and action. (We could talk about mathematical things like how the square root of a number is also known as the radical…but I digress). What might be some things you could do or we could do as a church to embrace our “radical” heritage in returning to the root of Christianity?
Grace and Peace,
Matt
Inductive Questions: (These will be included each day and your work on them will be the foundation we build upon at our Wednesday evening in-person and Zoom Bible Study as we explore the church, mission, and Holy Spirit in Acts.)
Pick at least one of these to be a focus for all of Acts, but answer as many of them as you want.
- What does the church look like in Acts? Who is a part of it? What do they do? How is it formed? How does it relate to mission and the Spirit? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the ecclesiology of Acts?
- What does mission look like in Acts? Who does it? What do they do? How does it happen? How does it relate to the church and the Spirit? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the missiology of Acts?
- What does the Holy Spirit look like in Acts? What does the Spirit do? How is the Spirit active? How does it relate to church and mission? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the pneumatology of Acts?
Answer the question with the language of Acts as much as possible and cite the chapter and verse reference in your notes.