The book of Acts gives some fascinating insights into the foundation of Christianity. Acts was written by Luke, a medical physician who became a historian of the early church. He wrote the Gospel of Luke and then followed-up with the Book of Acts to give an account of the first 30 years of the church from Jesus’ ascension back to heaven around 33 AD to the apostle Paul’s imprisonment in Rome around 62 AD.
In those early days, Christianity was not considered a new religion – it was considered a subset of Judaism. That’s why the disciples continued “attending the temple together” (Ac. 2:46). The whole idea of calling the followers of Jesus “Christians” didn’t even come up until the church was planted in Antioch. “And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians” (Ac. 11:26, 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16).
So how were the followers of Jesus identified? In the book of Acts, Luke refers to those who had faith in Jesus 25 times as “disciples.” There are 19 references to “the church,” which originally just meant an assembly or congregation. But interestingly, six times the disciples of Jesus are labeled as belonging to “The Way” – a sect of Judaism (Ac. 9:2 1;9:9,23; 22:4,14; 24:22).
There were lots of branches and subsets of Judaism at the time. These disciples of Jesus were called the Way because of their belief that Jesus had risen from the dead and professed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6). (Of course, in reality, those belonging to the Way were following the true path of God. Sadly, it was those who continued down the path of Judaism who were actually part of an erroneous sect.)
Almost all of the early Christians were ethnically Jews, and they continued to follow the Old Covenant and hold their identity as covenant members of Israel. (Read Acts 10-15 to see how the early church eventually did welcome Gentiles who had faith in Christ.) Members of the Way believed Jesus’ resurrection was the fulfillment of all that was taught in the Law of Moses and the prophets. Remember, there was no New Testament at this point. Their Bible was the Old Testament. Paul actually says that the Gospel message he proclaimed was just the message of the Old Testament:
Acts 24:14 – “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets…”
Acts 26:22 – “To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass…”
Acts 28:23 – “From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.”
This is important for us to remember: Jesus didn’t come to start something new but to finish something very, very old. Jesus made this very clear in his teachings as well:
Matthew 5:17 – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Luke 24:26-27 – “’Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Luke 24:45-47 – “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’”
Jesus was the promised Messiah who fulfilled the covenant God originally made with Abraham. As his followers, we are now children of Abraham, part of the covenant people of Israel. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).
This is why Christians need to read, study, and receive from the Old Testament – because it is Christian Scripture – it is about Jesus. That is why there are hundreds of direct quotes, references, and allusions to the Old Testament in the New Testament. All the events, promises and prophecies of the Old Testament were “written down for our instruction” (1 Cor. 10:11).
Jesus didn’t come to start something new but to finish something very, very old.
For more on the topic of how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament, see…
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