Can We Trust the Book of Acts?

Does the book of Acts present an authentic narrative of the events that took place in the earliest days of the Christian church, or is it a fictional account of the lives of the apostles? On this program Shane Rosenthal discusses this important topic with Lydia McGrew, who has argued for the authenticity of Acts by evaluating numerous “undesigned coincidences” between Luke’s writing and information found throughout the epistles of Paul. Dr. McGrew has written about this issue in her book Hidden in Plain View: Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels and Acts.

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Acts is the only First-Century source that we have that claims to include speeches given by the Apostles themselves during the very first days of the founding of Christianity. If these are accurate records of the substance of what was said, then they show that the Apostles testify from the beginning to Jesus’ physical resurrection and claim to be eyewitnesses to this fact.

Lydia McGrew