History Literature / ActsOfTheApostles

* GoodIsNotSoft: Even as God is benevolent enough to give grace to both Jews and Gentiles so that they could enter into the Kingdom of God to be saved, He still punished Ananias and Sapphira for their conspiracy of lying before God in regards to a certain property Ananias sold and afterward only giving a portion of it to the church.[[note]Note that it was the lying that was the issue, he was free to use the money he received for selling property as he wished. See Acts 5:4. [[/note]] Paul the apostle says to the people in Athens that, though God has overlooked their times of ignorance, He now commands everyone everywhere to repent, because He has set up a time and appointed a Man named Jesus (whom He raised from the dead) for the purpose of judging the world in righteousness.

* GoodIsNotSoft: Even as God is benevolent enough to give grace to both Jews and Gentiles so that they could enter into the Kingdom of God to be saved, He still punished Ananias and Sapphira for their conspiracy of lying before God in regards to a certain property Ananias sold and afterward only giving a portion of it to the church. Paul the apostle says to the people in Athens that, though God has overlooked their times of ignorance, He now commands everyone everywhere to repent, because He has set up a time and appointed a Man named Jesus (whom He raised from the dead) for the purpose of judging the world in righteousness.

[[Justforfun/THEONEwith The one where]] Jesus {{ascend|toahigherplaneofexistence}}s to Heaven.

[[Justforfun/THEONEwith The one where]] Jesus {{ascend|edtoahigherplaneofexistence}}s to Heaven.

* AscendingToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: The book opens with Jesus giving a few parting instructions, then ascending to heaven.

[[Justforfun/THEONEwith The one where]] Jesus ascends to Heaven

** When Paul and Barnabas perform a miracle in one Greek city, it backfires when the locals conclude they are incarnations of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus and Hermes]] and prepare to offer sacrifices to them. [[UnwantedFalseFaith The apostles protest that they are just men]], but then that backfires by causing the crowd to get angry and stone them.

* NamesTheSame: In-universe, the Ananias that restored Paul's sight when he as Saul was blinded in Acts chapter 9 is a different person from the Ananias in chapter 5 who died along with his wife Sapphira for deceit.

* PlotParallel: The stoning and martyrdom of Stephen in chapter 6 is eerily similar to Christ's crucifixion, as a mob of Jewish leaders seize Stephen, making similar unjust accusations of him of speaking "blasphemous words against Moses and God." Even though he is able to give comprehensive proof that there was no one to blame but themselves for the death of the Messiah, in a separate parallel to Peter's sermon earlier, instead of deciding to change their their lives and follow Christ, they snap and brutally murder him through stoning. Stephen even makes a similar statement of forgiveness for his killers.

** Notwithstanding, the Jews, who in the gospel of Matthew were willling to accept the responsibility of Jesus' death by saying to Pontius Pilate, "His blood be on us and on our children," now at the preaching of the apostles are backing away from that position, saying that they are intending "to bring this Man’s blood on us!" (from Acts 5:28)

* NeverMyFault: Actually, Never the Romans' Fault. On Pentecost, Peter accuses his fellow Israelites of killing the Messiah. 3,000 were converted that day as a result, and many more in the following days. Later, when Peter is converting the Roman centurion Cornelius to Christianity in Chapter 10, he says, "''They'' killed him by nailing him to a cross," implicitly disavowing that the Roman soldiers had anything to do with Jesus' death on the cross.