1
Feb
2010

10 Helpful Books on the Acts of the Apostles

/
/
6
/
01 Feb 2010

As we move forward in our worship at New Covenant Presbyterian Church, I am planning on starting a sermon series on the Acts of the Apostles. This seems to be fitting with a new church. The book of Acts can be summarized as “the acts of Jesus Christ through His apostles by the Holy Spirit.” It is filled with all the excitement and wonder of the dawning of the new age and the ministry of the Spirit in the New Covenant. It lays the foundation for the nature of the church, the life of the church, and the evangelistic ministry of the church. The following are some of the books and commentaries on Acts that I have found helpful. If you have any others please feel free to mention them:

1. Thomas Peck Miscellanies of Rev. Thomas Peck (Includes a series of sermon on various portions of the book of Acts)2. Horatio B. Hackett A Commentary on the Original Text of the Acts of the Apostles (An outstanding exegetical commentary on the book. Interestingly, my father went to Horatio B. Hackett Middle School in Philadelphia, PA. I wonder how many know that it is named after this orthodox evangelical scholar?)
3. Paton J. Gloag A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of Apostles
4. Charles J. Vaughan The Church of the First Days
5. John Dick Lectures on Some Passages of the Acts of the Apostles
6. Horatius Bonar Light and Truth: The Acts and Larger Epistles
7. John Calvin Commentary on Acts #1
Commentary on Acts #2
8. Dennis E. Johnson Let’s Study Acts
9. David G. Peterson The Acts of the Apostles
10. J.A. Alexander The Acts of the Apostles

About Post Author

Nick Batzig is the senior pastor of Church Creek PCA in Charleston, SC and an associate editor for Ligonier Ministries. Prior to serving at Church Creek, Nick was a pastor at Wayside PCA on Signal Mountain, TN. Formerly, Nick served as the founding pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Richmond Hill, GA and as the editor of Reformation21 and the Christward Collective--sites of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He frequently writes for Tabletalk Magazine, Reformation 21, He Reads Truth, and the Christward Collective. Nick was also the host of East of Eden, a podcast devoted to the Biblical and Systematic Theology of Jonathan Edwards. You can friend him on Facebook here and follow him on Twitter @nick_batzig

6 Responses

  1. Bill Snodgrass
    Reply

    I use F.F. Bruce in the NICNT series; Dennis Johnson. The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption (see footnotes for journal articles, etc); Gaffin. Perspectives on Pentecost; Kline. Images of the Spirit; Beale. The Temple and the Church’s Mission.

  3. Bill Snodgrass
    Reply

    See also Kline. Glory in Our Midst (for architectonic structural insights) Beale has some great journal articles (mostly preparatory for the book aforementioned)…. Marshall in the Tyndale series has some good insights…..

  4. Bill Snodgrass
    Reply

    For chapter two see the Dillard essay in the Kline festschrift and the commentary on Joel in the Baker series. Also see Belcher. The Messiah and the Psalms (on Psalms 2, 110 and 16 in particular).

    Also, redemptive-historically speaking, there are significant parallels between Joshua and Acts.

  5. Bill Snodgrass
    Reply

    Dempster. Dominion and Dynasty, p. 233 — all three paragraphs are very useful. Ferguson. The Holy Spirit (I concur with the Babel background of the event of Pentecost). O Palmer Robertson has a WTJ article on the judgment aspect of tongues (see Gaffin. Perspectives on Pentecost here and exegetical support). Dillard in the Kline festschrift is helpful on Numbers 11, Joel 2 and Acts 2 (also his commentary on Joel in the Baker series (read critically, though). Beale has some great journal articles (JETS I believe) that were precursors to his biblical-theological work on the temple.

    Also, Kline. Glory in Our Midst for architectonic structural exegesis.

Leave a Reply