ACTS

AN EXEGETICAL

COMMENTARY

VOLUME 1 & 2

Introduction and 1:1–14:28

CRAIG S. KEENER

Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2012 by Craig S. Keener

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Keener, Craig S., 1960–

Acts: an exegetical commentary / Craig S. Keener.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8010-4836-4 (cloth)

1. Bible. N.T. Acts—Commentaries. I. Title.

BS2625.53.K446 2012

266.6′077—dc22

2011048744

Unless noted otherwise, all translations of Scripture are those of the author.

The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

To Dr. Médine Moussounga Keener,

French and history professor,

researcher in African

and African-American women’s history,

and mentor to her students;

former refugee in the Congo;

my friend of many years;

my colleague;

and my beloved wife

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

Prolegomenon: Initial Considerations for Reading This Commentary

1. The Focus of This Commentary

2. Academic and Social-Historical Emphasis

3. Limitations of This Work

a. A Broad Sweep

b. Text Criticism

c. Social History and Social Science

d. Modern Secondary Literature

e. Early Reception History

4. The Legitimacy of Social-Historical Inquiry

a. The Connection between Historical and Literary Questions

b. Ancient Approaches

c. The Value of the Ancient Contexts

d. Other Purposes for Historical Inquiry

e. This Commentary’s Sociorhetorical Approach

5. Questions of Historical Reliability

a. The Value of These Questions

b. Historical Probabilities

c. Common Ground for Historiography

6. The Question of Sources

a. Early Jewish Sources

b. Greco-Roman Sources and Archaeology

c. Modern Sources

7. This Commentary’s Genre

a. Fresh Research

b. Utility for Christian Believers

c. Further Research

8. Nomenclature

a. Religious Labels

b. Geographic Labels

Conclusion

1. Writing and Publishing Acts

1. Writing Large Narrative Works

a. Length

b. Drafting the Work

2. Publishing Acts

a. Released in Stages

b. Pliny’s Example

Conclusion

2. Proposed Genres for Acts

1. The Importance of Genre

2. Travel Narrative

3. Biography

a. Nature of Ancient Biography

b. Problems with Biography as the Primary Genre for Acts

c. The Same Genre for Both Volumes?

4. Novel

a. Literary Comparisons

b. Limitations of Such Comparisons

c. Similar Literary Features in Histories

d. Perspectives and Biases in Historiography...