Unrelenting

The Word of God and the Church

Expansion and infiltration occur throughout Acts. Witnesses travel from Jerusalem into much of the wider Roman world. The gospel is preached and lived out in diverse cultural settings. Members of the priest hood, a Roman proconsul, an Ethiopian official, former magicians, a jailer, soldiers and other exceptional members of society respond positively to the word of God. People bear witness to Jesus before those occupying the highest echelons of political power as well as to slaves and prisoners. Luke portrays the word of God as something other than a message that finds creative expression in different social and physical places, and as something other than a power that strong-arms its way through cultural boundaries to obliterate opposition and confront new audiences. Associated with a growing, nurturing community of people, the word operates as activity that creates inhabits, and energizes an area where God’s intentions become actualized in the existence and efforts of the church. The word grows, njot simply because converts increase the church’s rolls, but because they are brought into the area of divine action, a place where they apprehend God and exist within God’s purposes as those are expressed in the gospel message of and about Jesus Christ.
Essay by Matthew L. Skinner
THE UNRELENTING GOD
God’s Action in Scripture
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Essays in Honor of
Beverly Roberts Gaventa
Edited by
David J. Downs & Matthew L. Skinner