Scripture Engagement

One thing that sermons about the early believers at the end of Acts 2 frequently miss is that they were mostly Jews! Albeit many of them living outside Judea. The god-fearers among them (if there were any) were essentially converts to Judaism from the nations. Most of them were Jews who had lived outside Judea so long their mother tongue was Parthian or Arabic or Median (Persian) or whatever. One proof of the fact they were Jews is that they met daily in the temple courtyard, or colonnades, as well as in their homes: 'And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts' 2:46 The book of Acts shows the fulfilment of Jesus' own post-resurrection prophecy that the good news would be preached to the nations, starting in Jerusalem, then spreading out to all Judea, Samaria, and then to the non Semitic nations in the 'ends of the earth' (Acts 1.8). So when the Samaritans receive the Holy Sp...