The Bible says that God is love. This means that His nature is one of perfect love, and that He always acts out of love for us.
We see this in the book of John, where Jesus says: “For God so loved the world…that he sent his only begotten Son.” The word “only” here means that there is no other person like Jesus who can give us salvation. And yet, He did it!
We also see it in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians when he writes: “God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.” God wanted us to be saved, even before we were born!
The coming forth of the Book of Mormon, foretold by ancient prophets, began with an angelic visitation in 1823 to 17-year-old Joseph Smith. Seven years later, in 1830, this scriptural canon of the Latter-day Saints was published for the world. “The Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth,” Joseph Smith stated, “and the keystone of our religion.” These scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, His mission, and His ministry.
Heshbon Meaning In Hebrew
Sihon, si-hon (Heb.)– wiping out; uprooting; eradicating; exterminating; sweeping away, i. e., as a warrior sweeping all before him; great; extreme boldness. A king of the Amorites who refused to let the Israelites pass through the borders of his country.
Perhaps Luke intended a third volume that would answer the lingering questions. But his first volume, the Gospel of Luke, closes with a sense of completeness even though he probably intended already to write Acts.
Maybe Luke came to the end of his papyrus scroll. But presumably he would have seen that space was running out and formed an appropriate conclusion.
Personal catastrophe may have prevented Luke from finishing the book. But it is already long enough to fill a lengthy papyrus scroll.
Perhaps Acts 20:22–25; 21:4, 10–14 imply well enough that Paul was martyred in Rome. But those passages set out the possibility of martyrdom at the hands of hostile Jews in Jerusalem, not at the hands of Caesar in Rome; and the remainder of Acts tells of Paul’s escaping martyrdom at the hands of such Jews and of his exoneration by Roman officialdom.
Perhaps Luke accomplished a purpose of showing the progress of Christianity from Jerusalem, the place of origin, to Rome, capital of the empire. But Paul’s prison ministry in Rome makes a disappointing climax; a Christian community already existed there; and the problem remains why Luke did not tell what happened to Paul, the dominant character in Acts 13–28.
The best solution is to say that Luke wrote up to the events so far as they had happened; that is, at the time of writing Paul was still awaiting trial before the Nero. Surely it would have been irrelevant for Luke to prove the political innocence of Christianity, as he does throughout the book, if he were writing after Nero had turned against Christians (AD 64). It would be too late then to appeal to the favorable decisions of lesser officials.
Just as his Gospel opens with a dedication to Theophilus, so also does Acts.
Vocabulary and style are very similar in the two books.
Though it does not prove that he wrote Luke-Acts, frequent use of medical terms agrees with Luke’s being a physician.
By his use of “we” in narrating parts of Paul’s journeys, the author of Acts implies that he was a traveling companion of Paul.
Other traveling companions do not fit the data of the text. For example, Timothy and several lesser-known ones are mentioned apart from the “we” and “us” of Acts 20:4–6. According to Paul’s letters, neither Titus nor Silas (still other traveling companions unmentioned in Acts 20:4–6) accompanied him to Rome or stayed with him there. Yet the narrative of his voyage to Rome makes up one of the “we”-sections.
