Recent scholarship has repeatedly identified salvation or the Kingdom of God as the primary theme of Luke-Acts. However, the literary structure of Acts clearly points out that the primary themes of Acts are the Kingdom of God(h' basilei,a tou/ qeou/) ...
Recent scholarship has repeatedly identified salvation or the Kingdom of God as the primary theme of Luke-Acts. However, the literary structure of Acts clearly points out that the primary themes of Acts are the Kingdom of God(h' basilei,a tou/ qeou/) and Lord(ku,rioj) christology both in the introduction(Acts 1:6) and the epilogue(Acts 28:31). These two primary themes are evenly distributed and developed in every unit of Acts: 1:1-6:7(the Kingdom of God 1:3, 6; Lord 1:6, 21, 24, 2:34, 36 etc.), 6:8-12:24(the Kingdom of God 8:12; Lord 7:59, 60; 8:16, 25; 9:1 etc.), 12:25-19:20(the Kingdom of God 14:22; 19:8; Lord 15:11; 16:31; 19:17 etc.), 19:21-28:31(the Kingdom of God 20:25; 28:23, 31; Lord 20:21, 24, 35; 28:31). When one moves from Luke to Acts one is immediately struck by the virtual absence of the term Kingdom of God. While in Luke Jesus makes the Kingdom of God the primary theme in his preaching, in Acts the mention of the Kingdom of God is decidedly less frequent in Acts(Acts 1:3, 6; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). The rarity of appearance of the term Kingdom of God have led some critics to conclude that the author of Acts was not interested in the Kingdom of God of the historical Jesus but wanted to make it clear that the gospel of the apostles succeeded Jesus Gospel of the Kingdom of God. However, the numerous appearance of the term Lord (Acts 1:6, 21, 24, 2:34, 36; 7:59, 60; 8:16, 25; 9:1; 15:11; 16:31; 19:17; 20:21, 24, 35; 28:31) seems to indicate the fulfillment of the promises in Jesus proclamation of the coming of the Kingdom of God. With this purpose in mind, Luke seems to have put the Kingdom of God and the Lord side by side.