Embedded Files
A Biblical Exposition of the Apostolic Church’s Triumphs and Trials
A Biblical Exposition of the Apostolic Church’s Triumphs and Trials
Uncover the unshakable foundations of Christianity. In this first volume on the Acts of the Apostles, G. Campbell Morgan explores the birth of the Church, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the initial spread of the Gospel in Jerusalem.
This modernized edition preserves Morgan's legendary expository clarity while making the triumphs and challenges of the early apostles engaging for today's reader.
Key Insight: A deep dive into the spiritual power that fueled the rapid expansion of the early Church.
Best for: Church leaders, Bible students, and those seeking to understand the power of the Holy Spirit.
🛒 Buy E-book & Print Edition - The Acts of the Apostles: Book 1 - on Amazon
🛒 Buy Print Edition coming soon to Lulu
About the Book:
About the Book:
Discover the Unstoppable Power of the Early Church
The Acts of the Apostles by G. Campbell Morgan is a captivating exploration of the first thirty chapters of the book of Acts, which chronicles the birth, growth, and expansion of the Christian Church. As one of the most beloved and revered commentators of his time, Morgan brings the early church to life with insight, passion, and clarity. This book is not just a historical account; it is a vibrant study of the early Christian movement that set the foundation for the spread of the Gospel throughout the world.
Why This Book is Essential Reading
Morgan’s thorough and insightful analysis of the Acts of the Apostles provides a rich understanding of the beginnings of the Church, from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to the missionary journeys that spread the message of Christ beyond Jerusalem. This first volume, covering Acts chapters 1 to 10, focuses on the key events that shaped the early days of the Church. Morgan examines the empowerment of the disciples, the growth of the Church, and the challenges faced by the apostles, offering practical applications for today’s believers.
The book delves into the lives of iconic figures such as Peter, John, and the Apostle Paul, as they navigate persecution, miracles, and profound revelations. Morgan’s deep understanding of Scripture and his eloquent writing style bring these biblical stories to life, making them accessible and relevant to modern readers.
Who Should Read This Book?
Bible Enthusiasts: If you're passionate about the Bible and want to dive deeper into the historical context and significance of the Acts of the Apostles, this book will illuminate the profound journey of the early Christians.
Church Leaders & Teachers: This book offers valuable insights and applications for pastors, leaders, and Bible teachers looking to inspire their congregations with the story of the early Church and its unwavering mission to spread the Gospel.
History Buffs: If you're interested in the historical development of Christianity, Morgan's commentary provides a unique perspective on the growth of the early Church and its enduring legacy.
New Believers: For those just beginning their Christian journey, this book is an excellent introduction to the foundational principles and challenges of the early Church, offering a practical guide to living out the Christian faith.
A Journey Through the Early Church
From the day of Pentecost to the spread of the Gospel in Jerusalem and beyond, The Acts of the Apostles Book 1 takes readers through the dynamic beginnings of the Christian faith. Morgan carefully breaks down each chapter, highlighting key events, characters, and divine interventions that transformed the apostles into bold witnesses for Christ. His reflections on themes such as the power of the Holy Spirit, the unity of the early Church, and the persecution faced by the apostles will inspire and challenge readers today.
This first volume provides a strong foundation for understanding the heart and mission of the early Church. Morgan’s teachings are timeless, offering practical lessons for Christians navigating their own faith journey in the 21st century.
About This Modernized Edition
About This Modernized Edition
This edition of The Acts of the Apostles by G. Campbell Morgan has been carefully modernized to make the rich insights and teachings of this classic work accessible to today’s readers. While the theological depth, passion, and power of Morgan’s original commentary are preserved, the language has been updated for clarity and ease of reading.
The goal of this modernized edition is to bring Morgan’s profound reflections on the early Church and the apostolic ministry into a context that resonates with contemporary readers, without losing the timeless truths and spiritual guidance that made the original so impactful. We have made every effort to maintain the integrity of Morgan’s thoughts while updating some of the archaic language and sentence structures, ensuring a smoother reading experience.
The modernized edition keeps all the original content intact, including the insightful commentary on the book of Acts, while presenting it in a more reader-friendly format. Whether you are a student of the Bible, a history enthusiast, or a believer seeking to deepen your understanding of the early Christian church, this edition provides a fresh opportunity to explore the history and teachings of the apostles as they spread the message of Jesus Christ.
By making this edition more accessible, our hope is to continue the legacy of G. Campbell Morgan’s work, bringing the powerful story of the early Church to a new generation of readers who can be inspired by the courage, faith, and perseverance of the apostles in their mission to share the Gospel with the world.
About the Author: G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) — The Prince of Expositors
About the Author: G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) — The Prince of Expositors
G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) was one of the most influential Bible teachers and preachers of the early 20th century. Renowned for his deep understanding of Scripture and his ability to communicate biblical truths with clarity and passion, Morgan made a significant impact on both his contemporaries and generations of readers and listeners.
Born in England, Morgan served as a pastor, evangelist, and Bible scholar, dedicating his life to the study and teaching of God’s Word. His ministry spanned both sides of the Atlantic, as he preached to large audiences in England and the United States, while also making a lasting contribution through his written works.
Morgan’s writings include numerous commentaries on both the Old and New Testaments, with a particular emphasis on practical application and spiritual growth. His most famous works include his commentaries on the books of the Bible such as The Gospel According to John, The Epistle to the Romans, and, of course, The Acts of the Apostles. His ability to blend scholarly rigor with devotional warmth has made his writings enduring treasures for both students and lay readers of the Bible.
As a preacher, Morgan was known for his clear, systematic expositions of Scripture, and his work continues to be a resource for Christians seeking to deepen their understanding of the Bible and their walk with God. His ministry was marked by a deep commitment to the authority of Scripture, a passion for evangelism, and a heart for the spiritual growth of believers.
Through his vast contributions to biblical scholarship and his inspiring preaching, G. Campbell Morgan’s legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of those who have been touched by his teachings, and this modernized edition of The Acts of the Apostles continues to reflect the timeless truths he so faithfully communicated.
Foreword
Foreword
I don’t naturally enjoy writing a preface, yet perhaps it is necessary. At least, I am encouraged by the example of the writer of the book we call The Acts of the Apostles. He introduced his subject—the Word; identified his sources—eyewitnesses and ministers; described his method—carefully tracing the course of all things and writing them in order; and stated his purpose—to give certainty to Theophilus, a learner in the faith.
My own book is concerned with this same inspired narrative. It is an attempt to help the everyday reader and the teacher engage more deeply with this remarkable writing. I do not deal with the usual matters found under the heading of “Introduction.” From the outset, I assume the Lukan authorship and the authenticity of the history. The work of Sir William Ramsay and Adolf Harnack has settled that question for me.
I also recognize that Acts is not a complete history of the period it covers. Rather, it is a purposeful selection of events that reveal the direction, the spirit, and the underlying principles of the first generation of Christianity in the world. This is both its beauty and its worth. Every new page bursts with fresh surprise. The reader is held in suspense to the very end and then left to imagine all that remains unrecorded and all that followed after.
Yet in every account, we find principles and laws operating with steady consistency—principles that explain the astonishing spread of a movement that seemed doomed at Golgotha, but rose with power on Resurrection morning and began its victorious advance at Pentecost.
My work is exposition based on exegesis. It is intended as a guide for those who want a clear understanding of the spiritual power and divine method at work in those early years of Christianity as it entered human history. In studying this story, I have been struck by what I would call the “glorious regularity of the irregular” in the work of the Church through the Holy Spirit. Acts challenges every rigid, predetermined system of Christian organization and method. It pleads for room—real room—for the free operation of the Spirit, who, like the wind, “bloweth where He listeth.”
It may be that I have touched on matters related to old controversies or introduced new questions. If so, it was neither intentional nor desired. Whenever a reader feels this might be happening, let him appeal from me to Luke—and so to the mind of the Lord.
My only intention has been to make clear what is written, so that all who are called into the fellowship and service of witness may better understand the power revealed in this book.
In a time sadly marked by conflict, yet wonderfully filled with opportunity and characterized by sincere desire to be faithful to Christ, my hope is that a fresh return to the study of these beginnings may bring real help and value.
G. C. M.
Athens, Georgia
Chapter 1 — Acts 1:1–5
Chapter 1 — Acts 1:1–5
The book we commonly call The Acts of the Apostles can be viewed as completing the Pentateuch of New Testament history. Four of the New Testament books present the Person of our Lord; this fifth book opens the story of the Church—specifically, the record of Christ’s first works carried out in power through His followers in human history.
The story of these early days in the life of the Church has a unique fascination that cannot be escaped. No matter how it is read, it captures the attention. Yet before we begin examining the book in detail, we must understand its overall nature and its place within the New Testament revelation.
The book begins with a reference to an earlier writing: “The former treatise.” There is no real debate concerning Luke’s authorship of Acts. This has long been affirmed by the Church and confirmed by careful scholarly study. Therefore, we can confidently assume that this opening reference points to the Gospel that bears Luke’s name.
To appreciate this connection, it is useful to read the prologue of Luke’s Gospel:
“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word; it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed.”
Then, turning to the opening of Acts, we read:
“The former treatise I made, O Theophilus…”
The continuity is immediately clear. We have:
the same writer — Luke,
the same recipient — Theophilus,
and, ultimately, the same central subject — Jesus.
However, this last point may not be obvious right away. One might be inclined to say: the writer is the same, the reader is the same — but is the subject truly the same?
Before exploring that question, we should acknowledge that the title The Acts of the Apostles is actually misleading. A reader encountering the book for the first time might expect a full record of all the apostles and all their activities. But this is not the case. The Greek manuscripts simply title the book Acts of Apostles, which is more accurate: it contains some acts of some apostles.
Many apostles are never mentioned again after their names appear in the list preceding the account of Pentecost. Even for those who are featured — Peter and Paul, most notably — the book does not record all their actions. Acts is a fragment of history, and in some ways a frustratingly incomplete one; but this incompleteness is intentional, part of the Spirit’s method.
When we reach the final sentences of the book, we naturally set it down with many questions in mind. The closing image is that of Paul, living in his own rented house in Rome, freely receiving all who came to him, teaching them the things concerning Jesus, and preaching to them the Kingdom of God.
Before he ever reached Rome, Paul wrote to the Roman believers expressing his desire to continue westward to Spain, for his heart was always drawn toward regions beyond. We would love to know whether he ever reached Spain—or even further, whether the feet of that courageous apostle ever stood on the soil of Britain. But Acts does not tell us. It ends abruptly, unfinished.
This very incompleteness is part of its divine design.
Despite the book’s incomplete nature, it contains a perfect internal system. Acts is the story of the earliest movements of the Christian reality entering the world—revealing foundational principles, indicating divine methods, and honestly displaying human failures. All of this provides us with at least one inspired page of Church history through which readers may understand the true meaning and mission of the Church in the world’s story.
Yet even this understanding—that Acts is the first page of Church history—is not the fullest definition of its value. To discover its highest importance, we must return to the opening phrase, which contains the key that unlocks the entire book:
“The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.”
Notice carefully the word began. If Luke had written, “all that Jesus did and taught,” it would imply a very different understanding of Jesus’ mission and the purpose of this new volume. That wording would suggest that Jesus’ work was completed in the Gospel and that this second treatise was merely a record of the apostles’ independent efforts. But that is not what Luke intended.
As we have already seen, “the former treatise” refers to Luke’s Gospel—an account filled with exquisite beauty, crafted with artistic skill to reveal the matchless glory of Jesus Christ. Luke does not focus on strict chronology; instead, he arranges events to portray the perfect Man, perfected through His earthly experiences, and perfecting others through the mystery of His work. Holding that Gospel in mind, we now take up this new volume and see immediately that it is connected to what came before.
What is the Gospel of Luke?
It is the story of Jesus’ birth and existence; His childhood and growth; His public confirmation; His baptism and anointing. It presents the seasons of His teaching, His temptations, and His transfiguration. It records His descent from the mountaintop into the valley, His journey to the Cross, His resurrection, and His ascension.
Surely this must be the story of all that Jesus did and taught.
But Luke himself corrects us: it is the story of all Jesus began to do and to teach.
Now the same writer opens a second volume. His method of introduction makes clear that he intends to tell the story of the continuation of Jesus’ doing and teaching.
When we gather to worship today, we do not meet in memory of a dead leader. We gather in the living presence of a risen Lord. Our faith is not rooted in distant memories of One who acted long ago, Someone of whom we read only in ancient records. Christianity is not the story of a Teacher who did and taught, but of a Christ who still does and still teaches.
His touch retains its ancient power.
The communion we share with Him through the Spirit ignites the flame of new effort.
His love inspires sacrificial service in our hearts.
The former treatise recorded everything Jesus began to do and teach; this new treatise records what He continues to do and teach. It is not final. It tells of Christ’s ongoing work in the world—work that is still being accomplished today. And when we reach the last book of the New Testament, the Revelation—the great Unveiling—we encounter visions, symbols, and mysteries revealing the things Jesus is yet to do.
In the four Gospels, we have seen Christ portrayed as King and Servant, as Man and God—the One represented by the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle, using the ancient Eastern symbols.
In Acts, we see Christ moving forward toward His kingdom through a royal people—men and women who consider it a greater honor to be His bond-servants than to wear any earthly crown. In Acts, we see Him continuing His work through processes that shape His followers into His likeness and make them partakers of the divine nature.
But even here, the story is not finished. The last picture in Acts is that of an apostle in prison—others already slain, others persecuted, and the victory seemingly incomplete. And so we thank God for another book, one that shows a great Throne, and in the midst of the Throne a Lamb as though slain. Around that Throne stand four living creatures with the faces of the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle—signs of His ultimate triumph.
As we approach the study of Acts, therefore, we must not treat it as a mere mechanical record of Paul’s journeys or Peter’s activities. Instead, it is intended to reveal the processes through which Christ advances His work with renewed power—continuing what He began—to bring His purposes to final victory, the victory symbolized in the mysterious language of Revelation.
There is a soliloquy of Jesus found only in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 12:49–50). In the middle of His teaching to the crowds, He seems suddenly to pause, and in these two verses we hear what can only be described as a personal soliloquy:
“I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I desire if it is already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished.”
Notice the striking and arresting word: “How am I straitened till it be accomplished.”
This is Jesus speaking of Himself, in the midst of His demanding ministry:
I am constrained.
I am held back.
I cannot yet accomplish My greatest work.
What was that greatest work?
“I came to cast fire upon the earth.”
John the Baptist had proclaimed the same truth. His voice rang across the wilderness declaring:
“I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire.”
Jesus echoed this when He said, “I came to cast fire.”
This was the purpose of His coming.
But He also said: I cannot cast it yet; I am straitened; I have a baptism to undergo; and My mission cannot be fulfilled except through that baptism—the baptism of My Passion and My Cross.
That is the entire story of the Gospel.
Now, when we come to the book of Acts, we find the same Christ—but no longer straitened.
His baptism is complete.
The overwhelming flood of suffering is behind Him.
He has passed into the infinite morning and the larger life.
He is now ready to scatter the fire.
Before the Cross, He could not cast that fire.
On that side, He was limited.
But on this side of the Cross, He is limited no longer.
Let us express this in terms of what the disciples themselves experienced.
Jesus said to His disciples:
“It is expedient for you…”
—or, to put it in contemporary terms—
“It is better for you that I go away.”
Better that My hands no longer rest on your head, John.
Better that you cannot lean on My chest and feel the beating of My heart.
For if I do not go away, the Comforter—the Holy Spirit—will not come.
The better way, then, is the presence of Christ by the Spirit, living within the hearts and lives of His disciples.
Suppose, for the sake of imagination, that Jesus had remained physically on earth, living forever at the human level, in visible form. How restricted we would be!
If He were in Judea, He could not be in England.
If He were in London, present with His people in one gathering, He could not be with another.
But now—
in the great cathedral,
in the church or chapel,
in the Salvation Army hall,
in the humble cottage,
with two or three gathered together—
Christ is present.
He came again, and He is no longer limited.
All geographical restrictions have ended, and His spiritual presence has begun.
Paul, who saw so clearly into the heart of Christian truth, wrote words that we are only now fully beginning to understand:
“Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh; even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know Him so no more.”
In Acts, then, we see Christ—full of human sympathy and divine power—present everywhere by the Spirit.
We see Him beginning to live and work not only in Judea, but also in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
We see Him expressed through His Body—the Church; and we see the Church becoming the instrument through which His Spirit advances in salvation and in conquest.
For this reason, the book might better be titled:
“The Book of the Continued Doing and Teaching of the Living Christ by the Holy Spirit Through His Body, the Church.”
The study of Acts will affect us in two ways:
it will fill us with hope,
and it will fill us with shame.
We will see how the Body of Christ indeed became the instrument of His victory.
Yet we will also see Him limited by the imperfections of His Church.
Before the risen and glorified Christ passed out of human sight—before His return in spiritual power at Pentecost—He stood among His disciples and said:
“You shall be My witnesses; My evidence, My credentials, My arguments; in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.”
And yet now, nearly two thousand years later, we have not fully reached the uttermost parts of the earth.
We need not cast blame on past centuries.
But if we see Christ clearly—
if we feel the tenderness of His yearning heart—
if our study of this book brings us under the compelling force of His great commission—
then before this generation passes, the whole earth may hear the witness.
Acts is a book filled with human failure—yet also with gracious victory.
As we read, we will discover a revelation of God’s purpose and power, and we will also see the perils that confront us as members of His Body.
Get Your Copy Today
Get Your Copy Today
Own this masterpiece of Christian literature and deepen your understanding of the Redeemer.
🛒 Buy E-book & Print Edition - The Acts of the Apostles: Book 1 - on Amazon
🛒 Buy Print Edition coming soon to Lulu
Page updated
Report abuse