So when they came together, they asked Him, “Lord will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [Acts 1]

Only one of the Gospels, Mark,tells the story that Y’shua makes his disciples (apprentices) into Apostles (emissaries) by telling the 11 that remained that they are to go proclaim the “good news” (aka gospel) of the Kingdom to all “the world. The term “all the world” includes those who are not of the Israelite lineage.

He instructs them to baptize in the name of the Father (YHWH), the son (Y’shua), and the Holy Spirit – which had not yet been deployed widely. It should be noted that He did not say, “baptizing them saying these words ‘I baptize you in the name of …’ ”; rather, the understanding would have been that what they did they would not do under their own authority. The absence of something as important as their commissioning from the other Gospels seems odd at best.

“Acts” is an interesting conglomeration of sagas, recorded by the author of Luke, which tells the stories of the development of the ministry of the Apostles, after Y’shua’s ascension. By volume it is mainly about Saul of Tarsus – a devout Pharisaic Rabbinic Jew from Rome whom, as the text relates, was converted by Y’shua himself from the heavens. Before his conversion, Paul sought and received a special commission by the Jewish authorities to quell the spread of this new offshoot of Judaism called “the way”.  Later, followers of this “way” were called by one province governor “christians” meaning “little Christs” to mock them.

Some of Acts is written in first person giving the impression that the author was an eyewitness and participant in some of the activities. We see the start of the growth of “the Way” with the Apostles doing the same things Y’shua taught them (miracles + teaching about the Kingdom of YHWH) increasing in the number of Jews joining the movement, and the evolution through the spread of the explanation about Jesus (the Gospel of Jesus) to the gentiles. They all seemed to expect that when the angel said that Y’shua would be back – it would be soon.

It is important to note that the good news Y’shua taught was explicitly about His Father’s Kingdom, while the good news that Paul taught evolved into what was explicitly about salvation through Y’shua and only secondarily the Kingdom.

The most striking and new theological idea from Acts is that the Jewish people were expected to follow the teachings of Y’shua concerning the Torah/Instructions of YHWH; however, the gentiles are told that they need not be circumcised or keep all the Torah of YHWH – only a few instructions are given in an edict coined by James called the brother of Y’shua. These are known as the Noahide laws — laws none-the-less.

It is somewhat troubling that this is not according to the teachings of Y’shua or by an overt revelation by God in person, nor by explicit revelation though the Holy Spirit; rather, it is the “judgment” of James with input from Peter, prompted by Paul with Barnabus that determines what they tell the gentiles they are required to do. They don’t seem to be sure it is the right thing to do, since many disagree, but they come to it by reasoning.

It should also be noted that they make a point of saying “Moses is taught in the synagogues daily” as if to say that the edict they passed is only a stop-gap measure, until they can learn the rest in synagogue. Others have theorized that James was saying the gentiles need their okay not to follow the teachings of Moses – which is highly unlikely given the context of the Bible as a whole.

Peter received a dream that lead him to understand that the Gentiles were to receive the same teaching as the Jews did according to YHWH’s decree, even if it seemed to contradict earlier instructions – telling Peter to kill and eat animals which are forbidden as unclean. Perhaps what made these animals clean was that their origin was the heavens — they came directly from God. In the vision God says what He determines to be clean is clean. Obviously anything God provides out of heaven is proper if God says it is.

Historically, the Israelites have often been wrong when they judge for themselves what should be done in a situation based on reasoning. The difference could be argued that this time they had the Holy Spirit, so they wouldn’t make bad decisions; however, remember that king Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied; yet he disobeyed God regularly.

As with the Gospels, in Acts some of the Old Testament quotes are taken out of context and misquoted seemingly to make theological points. Regardless of these problems, there is a core saga that can be understood regarding this movement.