Understanding the author of Acts is very important. It gives us a better understanding of the book, the genre in which the book was written in and also the time period and who the book was addressed to. Many believe the author of the book of Acts had written one complete volume of work that was broken into 2 different parts.

The book of Acts is the fifth book of the New Testament. It traces the Growth of the early church. It begins with the ascension of Jesus and concludes with Paul in Rome during his first imprisonment. Though the book of Luke and the Acts of the Apostle are very similar, the author does not name himself in either book. Neither Luke or Acts allows us to determine directly or in directly who the Author is.( Kummel) But Fernando also says “Stylistically and Structurally the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostle are so closely related that they have to be assigned to the same author. (pp.21) There is very little doubt that the Book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke come from the same author but the debate is about who that author is.

While the writer of Luke and Acts is anonymous, there is evidence the points to the authorship of these books. Fernando states “The external evidence available for the authorship of Acts, gleaned from the writings of the church in the first few centuries, is unanimous that the author was Luke. When we look at the internal evidence, it points toward the author’s identity. Once readers assume Luke and Acts come from the same pen, then they can begin to look for evidence within these books that point to the author identity. “The strongest internal evidence for Lucan authorship is the fact that Acts and the third Gospel are both addressed to Theophilus, and Acts refers to a “former treatise” which obviously was the Gospel. Other internal evidence includes (1) the similar style and language of the two writings; (2) the natural connection between the ending of the Gospel and the beginning of Acts; (3) similarities such as the prominent place of women in both narratives”. (Irving) Nelsons states that the similarities between the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts in literary style, vocabulary, and theological ideas are unmistakable and attributes the books authorship to Luke, the companion of Paul.

First the “we” passages in Acts offer a major, internal clue to the identity of the books author. During the account of Paul’s missionary and journeys, the author occasionally changes his style from that of a third person observer to a first person participant. The language implies the author himself traveled with Paul. Fernando says that “Acts is unique in that it contains ninety-seven verses during Paul’s journeys where the third person is replaced by the first person plural—the so-called “we passages” which claim to be the observations of an eyewitness. (pp.22) Nelson states that “At three places in Acts (16:10-17, 20:5-21:18 and 27:1-28:16) the narrative changes to the first person plural (“we”), indicating that Luke was personally present.

Secondly, Theophilus is addressed in both Luke as well as Acts. As Luke’s Gospel begins, Luke 1:3 reads “therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus. In the Beginning of Acts the same similarity is made, Acts 1:1 it reads “in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach”, then Acts continues with his narrative.

The early church believed that Luke was the writer of the book. There is no evidence from the early writings that suggest that any other person could have written this book. As Ward Gasque says “If Luke did not write the Third Gospel and Acts, it is difficult to explain how the tradition connecting his name with these documents ever arose, since he is otherwise an insignificant figure in the early Church.” (Fernando) In 2nd Timothy 4:11 Paul writes “only Luke is with me” which leads to the assumption that Luke is the author of both The Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles.

References

Jensen, Irving L (1968) Acts, An Inductive Study. Chicago, IL. Moody Press.
Fernando, Ajith (1998). Acts, the NIV Application Commentary from Biblical text to contemporary life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Youngblood, Ronald (1995) New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Thomas Nelson

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