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Acts

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Acts (Acts 1–2, 7, 22–28)
    22 Activities
  2. Lesson Two
    A Gospel for Jews and then Gentiles
    23 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. Lesson Three
    The Gospel and Restoration
    25 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    The Apostolic Church
    36 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Author and Audience
    25 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Acts Author and Audience In | Workbook: Paul and the Gospel in Acts, Part 2
Lesson 5, Activity 11

In | Workbook: Paul and the Gospel in Acts, Part 2

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The words of Jesus that Paul references, which are apparently well known by His audience, don’t appear in any of the four Gospels that we have today. Even Luke, the author of both Luke and Acts, doesn’t include this quotation in his Gospel.

Of course, not everything Jesus said or did was recorded in the relatively brief Gospel accounts, but examples like this, which directly quote Jesus’ teaching from sources outside of the Gospels, are a reminder that the Bible doesn’t include all of Jesus’ teaching. This doesn’t compromise the Bible record in any way. It just highlights some of the limitations of ancient written texts. As we know, John readily admits to limitations in his final verse:

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
John 21:25

And while we don’t have the entirety of Jesus’ teaching in our Bibles, this doesn’t mean we don’t have access to it. As Jesus promised: 

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 14:26

The revelation of Jesus in history and in the Bible continues in Christians through the indwelling Spirit of God. We’ll hear more about this from Paul in the letters to come.

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