Acts: Lesson 3
Study Guide Questions for Ch. 5-6
If you are looking for the beginning of this study you can start HERE with the brief introduction. At the bottom of that introduction will be the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. For this study the English Standard Version is the translation that is being utilized and you can read it online HERE or pick up the copy of your choice from Amazon or your local book store. I find THIS EDITION to be useful for deeper study and annotation.
Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)
Deception, Fear, Despotism, Prudence
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
What did Ananias and Sapphira do that got them killed?
What did none of the believers “dare” to do?
According to the text, what caused the high priest and the sadducees to arrest the apostles?
How did the apostles get out of prison?
What “perplexed” the Jewish officials?
To whom did the apostles say “God has given” the Holy Spirit?
Summarize Gamaliel’s counsel to those who “wanted to kill” the apostles.
What did the apostles leave “rejoicing” over?
What was needed so that the apostles could stay devoted to the preaching of the word of God?
Among the many people coming to faith “a great many of” them were what specifically?
What could those disputing with Stephen “not withstand”?
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
How is the passage about Ananias and Sapphira helpful in demonstrating the personhood (that the Holy Spirit is a person and not just a force) and deity (that the Holy Spirit is actually Yahweh the God the Bible) of the Holy Spirit?
Why did Ananias and Sapphira lie about how much they received for the land they had sold?
Why were the “signs and wonders” the apostles were doing important and necessary in that day?
Why is Gamaliel’s advice an excellent example of the virtue of Prudence?
What all can we learn about the way the church and its officers should be organized from Acts 6:1-7?
Why is it important that the text noted “many of the priests became obedient to the faith”?
What might we infer from the fact that Stephen, who is not an apostle, was doing “great wonders and signs”?
What is meant by stating that Stephen’s face “was like the face of an angel”?
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
Does God still strike people dead for their sins today like he did Ananias and Sapphira? Explain what you think and why.
The Apostles refused to stop speaking the truth about Jesus. How should we define the concept of “truth”? What makes something true rather than false? Why is truth so powerful?
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Read Leviticus 10. What connections should be made between the passage in Leviticus and that of Acts 5:1-11? Name as many similarities as you can. Why might these two disciplinary actions have been taken when they were?