The Picture Book of Acts 1-5 Trivia Quiz

Answer: a cloud

Luke begins the Acts of the Apostles by addressing Theophilus and picking up the story of Jesus he related in his gospel, explaining that Jesus gave his friends "many convincing proofs that he was alive" over a forty-day period. Jesus promises them the Holy Spirit and tells them that they will be his "witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:1-8).

It is after this that the disciples see Jesus ascend and disappear behind a cloud. Then, two men dressed in white explain to them that Jesus "will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:9-10).

Answer: pray

In verse 23, we're told that two men were nominated: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. It has been suggested that the Greek words in Acts 1:26 may mean simply that they voted rather than throwing dice or otherwise casting lots, since they literally "gave the lot" to Matthias.

However, casting lots was not an unusual thing to do in Jewish culture or even in the Hebrew Bible, and they weren't gambling or engaging in magic but acting as leaders of the community of believers.

They didn't simply depend on the lots, but first they prayed, and the text even gives the words of the prayer: "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs" (Acts 1:24-25).

Answer: a sound like the blowing of a violent wind

The New International Version of the Bible says in Acts 2:2, "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting." I like the King James Version, which describes "a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind...." After the physical manifestations they can hear and see, suddenly things get personal: "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them" (Acts 2:4 NIV).

Answer: They have had too much wine.

Luke offers a list of "God-fearing Jews" from outlying provinces who hear their native tongues being spoken: "Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs..." (Acts 2:9-11a).

Some members of the crowd don't hear real languages, and they believe (or choose to believe) that they are hearing the nonsense speech of people who are drunk. Peter goes on to assure the crowd, "These people are not drunk, as you suppose.

It's only nine in the morning!" He explains that what they are seeing and hearing is the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, then he goes on to tell them about Jesus and to invite them to be baptized. About 3,000 people take him up on the invitation. "Stolen bread tastes sweet, but it turns to gravel in the mouth" is Proverbs 20:17 in the New Living Translation. "Can any good wine come out of Nazareth" slightly changes the words of Nathanael in John 1:46, when Philip tells him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" (John 1:44-45). Nathanael wants to know if anything good could come out of Nazareth, and Philip invites him to come and see. Regardless of what some may think, "All fishermen are liars" isn't in the Bible.

Answer: The Beautiful Gate

The "Beautiful Gate" of the Jerusalem Temple is not mentioned in any other source or elsewhere in the Bible. Some Biblical scholars identify it with the Nicanor Gate, thought to be between the Court of Women, where a lame person could enter, and the Court of the Israelites, where he would not have been allowed.

This would make sense when the formerly lame beggar went joyfully leaping into the temple courts with Peter and the other men. However, when Peter begins to speak with the onlookers, they are in Solomon's Porch, so other interpreters believe the gate might be the Shushan (or Susa or HaKohan) Gate in the East Wall of the Temple Mount.

This Eastern Gate is also called the Golden Gate and is the one through which the Messiah is supposed to come. Jesus is thought to have entered Jerusalem through this gate after coming down from the Mount of Olives on the day we call Palm Sunday.

The Pool of Siloam outside the southern walls of the old city of Jerusalem was a place where Jesus healed a man, blind since birth, in John 9:1-12.

The "Wailing Wall" is a part of the western wall of the Temple that is a place of prayer and pilgrimage, thought to be the only bit of the Temple that remains in modern times. The Holy of Holies, or Kodesh Hakodashim, is the inner sanctuary of the Temple, and would only be entered by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

Answer: Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.

Peter follows up to tell the lame man what he does have: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." He then helps the man up, after which we see one of the most joyful pictures in the Bible. The beggar "jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God" (Acts 3:8).

While Peter does not say anything to the beggar in the Temple about having sold his own property, in Acts 2:44-45, we learned, "All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need." This giving will be emphasized again in following chapters, with positive and negative examples. The other two sayings are not in the Bible.

Answer: the resurrection of the dead

The church in the photograph is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians visit the tomb that became empty when Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Josephus wrote in his "Antiquities of the Jews" that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead while Pharisees did believe in a day of the Lord in which at least some of the dead would rise physically from their graves.

The Sadducees rejected the oral traditions practiced by the Pharisees, allowing only what was written in Torah to be authoritative. Jesus deals with challenges by the Sadducees at several points in his ministry, especially when they try to set him up with questions about resurrection.

For example, in Matthew 22:23-33, they pose the question about a woman who has married seven times after losing one husband after another to death, then died herself, asking who she would belong to after they all came back in the resurrection. Jesus answers, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels." The resurrection would become central to the message of the New Testament.

Answer: Son of Encouragement

Luke uses the Greek words "hyios paraklēseōs" - which gets translated "son of encouragement" or "son of consolation". A form of the same word is used to describe the Holy Spirit as a comforter, particularly in the Gospel of John. Scholars think the name is Aramaic, since "bar" would mean "son of" in that language, which is closely related to Hebrew.

The word naḇyā in the second part of his name could mean "prophet" or "prophecy" in Aramaic. But Luke, writing in Greek, translates it as he - and presumably his sources - understood it.

It certainly fits the man, who in this story is striking for his generosity. And it suits him later, as he supports Paul and his own relative John Mark. In Acts 14:14-15, in Lystra, Barnabas is actually mistaken for the god Zeus, while Paul is seen as Hermes, but the name Barnabas has nothing at all to do with Zeus.

The translation "son of the father" is usually given for the surname of Jesus Barabbas, the rebel who was freed by Pontius Pilate when Pilate tried to get the local crowd in Jerusalem to let him pardon Jesus of Nazareth. So don't confuse Barabbas with Barnabas!

Answer: They sold a piece of property.

All of these things seem to be true of Barnabas, but not of Ananias and Sapphira, who did sell a piece of property but conspired to keep some of the money for themselves while hypocritically pretending to give as generously as Barnabas had done. As Peter's words make clear, the problem was not that they kept some of the money: "Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?" (Acts 5:4-5). Peter goes on to accuse them of lying to God, after which Ananias drops dead.

When Sapphira comes in later and compounds the lie, she dies as well. It is not surprising that the final verse of this short narrative states, "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events" (Acts 5:11). Ironically, since Christians are so often accused of hypocrisy, it is hypocrisy that seems to be a capital crime in the early church, at least when it involves trying to fool God as well as other people.

Answer: An angel of the Lord opens the doors of the jail and lets them out.

The angel sends the apostles back into the fray, saying, "Go, stand in the temple courts...and tell the people all about this new life" (Acts 5:17). When the Sanhedrin sends for them, the officers find the doors still locked and the guards still there but the prisoners gone.

When they are found back in the Temple, the apostles reply, "We must obey God rather than human beings!" As council members are fuming and plotting death, "a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law," advises a wiser path, uttering words that would echo long past his time: "Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.

But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will be fighting against God" (Acts 5:38b-39). In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are placed in prison, and their chains break loose in the middle of an earthquake.

They don't leave, and the jailer and his family become Christians as a result.