«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　Acts 5:41 So they went from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the Name.

　　9:27 But Barnabas took hold of him and led him to the apostles, and he related to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

　　It is a real honor to be dishonored on behalf of the Name, the very name of the man-dishonored but God-honored Jesus. Hence, the dishonored ones rejoiced that they were counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the Name. (Acts 5:41, footnote 1)

　　The name is the expression of the sum total of what the Lord Jesus is in His person and work. In the name of Jesus means in the sphere and element of all that the Lord is. (Phil. 2:10, footnote 1)

　　Acts should not be separated from the four Gospels. Acts should be included with the Gospels because these five books together give us a full picture of a universal man. The four Gospels give us a picture of the Head, and the book of Acts shows us the Body.

　　Strictly speaking, however, this book [of Acts] records not merely the acts of the apostles but the acts of Christ by the Spirit in the church. The acts of the apostles and of all the believers, that is, of the church, are the acts of Christ in the church by the Holy Spirit.

　　In the four Gospels there is one man, Jesus of Nazareth, living in a divine way by the divine life. In Acts, however, there are thousands of persons living in a divine way by the same divine life....Moreover, these thousands of people lived, acted, walked, and worked not by themselves but by that one wonderful person. After the Lord Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended, He continued to live, act, walk, and work on this earth in thousands of people because He imparted Himself into them through His death and resurrection....Originally, He was one Jesus, one Christ, but now He was reproduced in thousands of Christians. Originally, He was one grain, but now He became many grains, a mass duplication, a mass reproduction (John 12:24). Every one of us is also a part of this mass reproduction.

　　The book of Acts contains the acts of Christ, not Christ acting in Himself alone but acting in His reproduction and duplication, which is the church, the Body of the universal man. This universal man is the fullness of Christ (Eph. 1:23); therefore, it is a part of Christ, even Christ Himself. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, "A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 1—the Gospels and Acts," pp. 177-179)

　　[In Acts 5:20, "this life" was] the divine life preached, ministered, and lived by Peter that overcame the Jewish leaders' persecution, threatening, and imprisonment....Peter's life and work made the divine life so real and present in his situation that even the angel saw it and pointed it out. (Acts 5:20, footnote 2)

　　[In Hebrews 13:13] "the camp" signifies human organization, especially that of Judaism. Paul's word here is based on the fact that Christ was crucified outside the city, outside the camp. Since Christ was rejected and suffered outside the camp, we should go forth unto Him outside the camp. (Life-study of Acts, p. 630)

　　The Lord Jesus entered the heavens, the Holy of Holies within the veil, as mentioned in Hebrews 6:20, and with Him is the heavenly haven for our refuge, which we can now enter in our spirit (10:19). (Heb. 6:18, footnote 3)

　　The Lord's blood, through which He entered into the Holy of Holies (9:12), opened the new and living way, enabling us to enter within the veil to enjoy Him in the heavens as the glorified One (10:19-20); and His body, which was sacrificed for us on the cross, cut the narrow way of the cross, enabling us to go outside the camp to follow Him on earth as the suffering One (13:13). (Heb. 13:12, footnote 2)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, "A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 1—the Gospels and Acts," chs. 6-8; Life-study of Acts, msg. 72