Cross-Reference Analysis
Cross-Reference and Theme Analysis: Acts 1–28 (Greek)
Methodology
This matrix documents every explicit Old Testament quotation and every significant Old Testament allusion or typological pattern in Acts, chapter by chapter, plus every direct verbal or doctrinal parallel to the baseline Romans/Galatians curriculum in this same Language Package. Citations are normalized in the format Book Chapter:Verse (e.g. “Acts 2:17”, “Joel 2:28”, “Romans 10:13”) for consistent cross-curriculum lookup.
Columns:
- Passage (Acts) — the Acts reference
- OT/NT Connection — the specific Old Testament text quoted/alluded to, and/or the parallel New Testament (chiefly Romans/Galatians) passage
- Type — Quotation (direct citation, usually introduced by a citation formula), Allusion (clear but unquoted echo), or Typology (a person/event functioning as a pattern fulfilled in Christ or the church)
- Related Character — the human figure(s) central to the passage
- Theme — which of the nine curriculum doctrines the connection serves
- Translation Sensitivity — the specific Greek-rendering issue, with risk tier where applicable, cross-referencing
07_semantic_analysis.mdand08_core_glossary.md
Because a Greek-reading audience can access the Septuagint (Ο΄) directly, wherever Acts quotes the LXX verbatim, this is noted as a rendering-consistency asset: the Greek text of the OT quotation and the Greek text of Acts’s citation of it can and should be presented as textually identical, which is unavailable to any other Language Package in this pipeline.
PART A — Chapter-by-Chapter Cross-Reference Matrix
Acts 1
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 1:8 | Isaiah 49:6 (allusion, “ends of the earth”); programmatic thesis of the whole book | Allusion | The apostles | The Great Commission Fulfilled; The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | ἔσχατον τῆς γῆς — Low-Medium; establishes the geographic horizon completed at Acts 28:31. Cross-reference Isaiah 49:6 to its later explicit quotation at Acts 13:47 — same phrase-family, must render consistently across both occurrences. |
| Acts 1:16-20 | Psalm 69:25 (LXX 68:26); Psalm 109:8 (LXX 108:8) | Quotation | Judas; the apostles (Peter speaking) | Apostolic Authority and Miracles | Low risk lexically. LXX text directly quotable; note for teaching that Peter treats these as messianically/typologically fulfilled in Judas’s betrayal and replacement, an early instance of Acts’ pattern of applying Davidic-psalm language to events surrounding Christ. |
| Acts 1:24-26 | Proverbs 16:33 (allusion, God’s sovereignty over the lot) | Allusion | The apostles; Matthias | Apostolic Authority and Miracles | κλῆρος — High (see 07_semantic_analysis.md; root of Modern Greek “clergy”). The prayer “you know the hearts of all” (v.24) echoes 1 Samuel 16:7/1 Kings 8:39 — God’s heart-knowledge as the basis for a sovereign, not merely random, selection process. |
Acts 2 (Core Passage)
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 2:1-4 | Exodus 19:16-19 (allusion: sound, fire, theophany at Sinai) | Typology | The apostles | The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | High. The wind-sound and fire strongly echo the Sinai theophany accompanying the giving of the Law. This typological contrast (Law given at Sinai in fire/sound vs. Spirit given at Pentecost in fire/sound) should be made explicit in teaching notes: Pentecost is presented as a new, greater covenant-inaugurating event, conceptually resonant with Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:26-27 (new covenant/new heart promises), neither of which is directly quoted in Acts 2 but which stand behind the scene’s theological logic. Cross-reference Romans 8:1-4 (the Spirit doing what the law could not) for doctrinal continuity within this Language Package. |
| Acts 2:5-11 | (no direct OT quotation; fulfillment pattern) | Typology | Diaspora Jews from the nations | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; The Great Commission Fulfilled | The list of nations rehearses, in miniature, the “ends of the earth” scope of Acts 1:8 and anticipates Genesis 10’s Table of Nations being regathered and reversed from Babel’s confusion (Genesis 11:1-9, allusion). This Babel-reversal reading is a widely recognized typological pattern (confused/divided languages at Babel; comprehensible unity-in-diversity of languages at Pentecost) and should be flagged as a teaching asset, though Acts itself does not quote Genesis 11 directly. |
| Acts 2:14-21 | Joel 2:28-32 (LXX Joel 3:1-5) | Quotation | Peter | The Holy Spirit and Pentecost; The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | CRITICAL — shared quotation with Romans. Joel 2:32’s climactic line, “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (πᾶς ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου σωθήσεται), is quoted verbatim by Peter at Acts 2:21 and again by Paul at Romans 10:13. RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: this clause must be translated identically in both the Acts and Romans curricula, using the baseline lord/Κύριος and salvation/σωθήσεται (σωτηρία root) renderings exactly, with the baseline’s Κύριος/YHWH-anchoring note attached at both occurrences. This is the single most important shared-quotation consistency case in the entire two-curriculum Language Package. |
| Acts 2:22-24 | (fulfillment of prophecy generally; no single direct quotation) | — | Jesus; Peter (speaker) | Justification apart from the Law (background); Persecution and Bold Witness | δυνάμεσι καὶ τέρασι καὶ σημείοις triad — High (see 07_semantic_analysis.md, τέρατα “monster” bleaching risk). |
| Acts 2:25-28 | Psalm 16:8-11 (LXX Psalm 15:8-11) | Quotation | David (typologically); Jesus | Justification apart from the Law (resurrection basis); The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | High. Peter explicitly argues (v.29-31) that David, as a prophet, spoke of the Messiah’s resurrection rather than his own experience, since David himself died and decayed. This is a deliberate typological/prophetic argument, not incidental poetic language. ᾍδης — High (see 07_semantic_analysis.md; native Greek mythological name repurposed for Sheol/the realm of the dead — requires explicit note). |
| Acts 2:29-31 | 2 Samuel 7:12-16 (allusion, Davidic covenant); Psalm 132:11 (LXX 131:11, allusion) | Allusion | David | Davidic Covenant (baseline doctrine, reused); Messianic Promise | Reuses baseline davidic_covenant, seed_of_david, promise terms exactly. Direct parallel to Romans 1:3 (“descended from David according to the flesh”) — same covenant-promise logic underlies both passages; render consistently with the Romans package’s σπέρμα Δαβίδ vocabulary. |
| Acts 2:33-35 | Psalm 110:1 (LXX Psalm 109:1) | Quotation | David (typologically); Jesus | Lordship of Christ | CRITICAL. “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand” — the psalm’s own double use of “Lord” (κύριος twice, translating both YHWH and adon) is the direct scriptural background for the baseline’s Κύριος/YHWH note on lord. This is arguably the single clearest OT text demonstrating why Κύριος cannot be allowed to register as a mere honorific: the psalm itself distinguishes two referents both called κύριος, one of whom sits at the right hand of the other. Also quoted in the Gospels (Matthew 22:44) though not in Romans/Galatians directly; still, this verse underlies the whole lordship_of_christ doctrine shared across the Language Package. |
| Acts 2:34-36 | (climax of the sermon; convergence of Ps 110:1 and the sermon’s argument) | Quotation/Application | Jesus | Lordship of Christ; Sonship of Christ; Deity of Christ | CRITICAL — “God has made him both Lord and Christ.” See 07_semantic_analysis.md for the full discussion; the single highest doctrinal-density clause in the passage. Direct conceptual parallel to Romans 10:9 (“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord… you will be saved”) — the confession Peter’s sermon produces (2:36-38) is precisely the confession Romans 10:9 theologizes. RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: “Jesus is Lord” / “Lord and Christ” formulas must use identical Κύριος/Χριστός renderings across both curricula. |
| Acts 2:38 | (no direct OT quotation; echoes prophetic repentance-call pattern, e.g. Ezekiel 18:30-32, Joel 2:12-13) | Allusion | Peter; the crowd | Repentance and Baptism | μετανοήσατε — CRITICAL (see 07_semantic_analysis.md). εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν echoes the sacrificial/atonement vocabulary of Leviticus (LXX) without a direct citation. |
| Acts 2:39 | Isaiah 57:19 (allusion, “peace to him who is far and to him who is near”); Genesis 12:3/22:18 (allusion, Abrahamic promise “to your offspring”) | Allusion | Peter; “all who are far off” | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Direct conceptual parallel to Romans 4:16-17 (“the promise… to all his offspring… not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham”) and to Galatians 3:8-9,29 (the Abrahamic promise extended to Gentile believers). This is Acts’ own first textual seed of the Jew-Gentile unity doctrine fully developed at Acts 10-15 and in Romans 9-11 and Galatians 3. |
| Acts 2:40 | Deuteronomy 32:5 (allusion, “crooked generation,” LXX γενεὰ σκολιά) | Allusion | Peter | Persecution and Bold Witness (implicit call to separate from the age) | Low risk; no lexical drift. |
Acts 3
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 3:13 | Exodus 3:6,15 (quotation, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”); Isaiah 52:13 (allusion, “my servant”/παῖς) | Quotation/Typology | Peter; Jesus as “Servant” | Justification apart from the Law (Servant basis); The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | παῖς — Medium (see 07_semantic_analysis.md). Direct typological link to Isaiah’s Servant Songs (Isaiah 42, 49, 52-53), climaxing in the explicit quotation at Acts 8:32-33. |
| Acts 3:18 | (general fulfillment-of-prophecy statement, not a single citation) | — | — | Fulfillment of Prophecy (baseline doctrine, reused) | Reuses baseline fulfillment_of_prophecy doctrine framework exactly. |
| Acts 3:22-23 | Deuteronomy 18:15,18-19 | Quotation | Moses (typologically); Jesus | Messianic Promise; Justification apart from the Law | High. “The Prophet like Moses” is a distinct and important messianic title, complementing but not identical to “Son of David” (Acts 2) or “Servant” (Acts 3:13, 8:32). Should be tracked as its own messianic strand, not collapsed into the Davidic-king strand. Also quoted at Acts 7:37 (Stephen). |
| Acts 3:25 | Genesis 22:18 / 12:3 (LXX, “in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed”) | Quotation | Abraham | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; Davidic/Abrahamic Covenant | High. Direct textual overlap with Galatians 3:8 (“the Scripture… preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’”) and Romans 4:13,16-18 (Abraham as father of all who believe). RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: the σπέρμα (“offspring/seed”) vocabulary here must align with the Galatians baseline’s seed entry (singular/collective grammatical argument, per Galatians 3:16), even though Acts 3:25 uses the term in its collective/covenantal sense rather than Paul’s singular-Christ argument — flag the difference in usage explicitly so the two are not conflated. |
Acts 4
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 4:11 | Psalm 118:22 (LXX Psalm 117:22) | Quotation | Peter; Jesus (the rejected stone) | Persecution and Bold Witness; Deity of Christ | High. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Directly parallel to Romans 9:33 (Paul’s combined citation of Isaiah 28:16 and Isaiah 8:14, “a stone of stumbling”) — a related but not identical OT stone-catena; both passages draw on the same broader “rejected stone” messianic motif. Note for teaching: Acts 4:11 and Romans 9:33 use different specific OT texts (Psalm 118 vs. Isaiah 8/28) making the same christological point about Israel’s rejection of her own cornerstone — do not present them as verbatim parallel quotations, but as thematically convergent. |
| Acts 4:12 | (no direct OT quotation) | — | Peter | Salvation | σωτηρία reused exactly (baseline Critical term). “No other name” — direct conceptual parallel to Romans 10:13’s universal “everyone who calls,” and to the exclusivity claim underlying lordship_of_christ. |
| Acts 4:24-26 | Psalm 2:1-2 (LXX); Psalm 146:6/Exodus 20:11 (allusion, Creator language) | Quotation | The gathered believers (corporate prayer) | Persecution and Bold Witness; Apostolic Authority and Miracles | Medium-High. Psalm 2 is among the most important messianic psalms in the whole NT (also underlying Acts 13:33’s quotation of Psalm 2:7, “You are my Son”). The church here applies Psalm 2’s “kings of the earth” language directly to Herod and Pilate’s opposition to Christ — an explicit typological/prophetic reading the church itself performs within the narrative (v.25-28), modeling how OT messianic psalms are to be read christologically. |
| Acts 4:27 | Isaiah 61:1 (allusion, “anointed,” χρίσμα root); reuses “Servant” (παῖς) title from 3:13 | Allusion/Typology | Jesus | Deity of Christ; Sonship of Christ | Reuses messiah/Χριστός root conceptually (the anointing motif) alongside the Servant title. |
Acts 5-6
No new direct OT quotations. Acts 5 (Ananias and Sapphira; apostolic signs) and Acts 6 (the Seven; Stephen’s arrest) rely on themes and terms already established (Holy Spirit as personal divine agent, 5:3-4,9; signs and wonders formula, 5:12; the growing “word of God,” 6:7). One typological note:
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 6:15 | Exodus 34:29-35 (allusion, Moses’s radiant face) | Typology | Stephen | Persecution and Bold Witness | ”His face was like the face of an angel” anticipates Stephen’s Moses-typology role developed fully in his ch.7 speech; a subtle allusive echo, not a quotation. |
Acts 7 — Stephen’s Speech (the densest concentration of OT material in Acts)
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 7:2-8 | Genesis 12:1,7; 15:13-14; 17:8 (quotation/paraphrase) | Quotation | Abraham | Davidic/Abrahamic Covenant (background) | Reuses baseline covenant/promise terms. Low-risk lexically; high narrative density. |
| Acts 7:9-16 | Genesis 37, 39-50 (extended narrative allusion) | Typology | Joseph | Persecution and Bold Witness; Justification apart from the Law (rejection/vindication pattern) | Explicit and important type: Joseph, rejected and sold by his own brothers, later becomes their deliverer and is exalted — a widely recognized OT type of Christ (rejected by his own people, later exalted, becomes savior of those who rejected him). Flag as a major typological teaching asset; note the same rejection-then-exaltation pattern as the Psalm 118:22 “rejected stone” motif (Acts 4:11) and as Christ’s own passion-resurrection-exaltation sequence (Acts 2:23-24,33-36). |
| Acts 7:17-43 | Exodus 1-32 (extended narrative allusion); Exodus 3:6,10 (quotation, v.32-34) | Typology/Quotation | Moses | Justification apart from the Law; Persecution and Bold Witness | Explicit Moses-typology, doubly significant: (1) Moses himself is rejected at his first appearance to deliver Israel and only accepted at his second (7:23-29,35) — Stephen draws the direct analogy to Israel’s rejection of Jesus at his first coming; (2) Moses is the giver of the Law being discussed (Justification apart from the Law doctrine) whose own authority Israel initially rejected. Cross-reference Acts 3:22-23/7:37’s “Prophet like Moses” title. |
| Acts 7:42-43 | Amos 5:25-27 (LXX) | Quotation | Israel (in the wilderness) | Universal Human Accountability (baseline doctrine, reused) | Idolatry indictment; low lexical risk. |
| Acts 7:48-50 | Isaiah 66:1-2 (LXX) | Quotation | Stephen (argument); Solomon (background, v.47) | The Church as Community; The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Medium-High. “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool… what is the house you will build for me?” Stephen’s climactic argument that God is not confined to the Jerusalem Temple directly anticipates the Gentile mission’s theological basis (God’s presence is not geographically or ethnically restricted) — a key typological/theological bridge to Acts 10-15 and to Romans’s and Galatians’s arguments against locating covenant membership in a fixed, external structure. This is also the specific charge (misrepresenting the Temple) for which Stephen is killed — the same verse functions as both Stephen’s theological argument and the pretext for his martyrdom. |
| Acts 7:51-53 | Isaiah 63:10 (allusion, “resist/grieve the Holy Spirit”); Exodus 32/Numbers (allusion, “stiff-necked”) | Allusion | Israel generally; Stephen’s accusers | Universal Human Accountability; The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | Direct conceptual link to holy_spirit doctrine — resisting/grieving the Spirit as a besetting pattern across covenant history, of which Stephen’s own murder is the narrative’s climactic instance. |
| Acts 7:56 | Daniel 7:13-14 (allusion, “Son of Man… coming with the clouds of heaven”) | Allusion/Typology | Jesus; Stephen (visionary) | Persecution and Bold Witness | See 07_semantic_analysis.md — “Son of Man” title, distinct from “Son of God”; must not be merged. |
| Acts 7:59-60 | Psalm 31:5 (allusion, “into your hands I commit my spirit,” echoed also by Jesus at the cross, Luke 23:46) | Typology | Stephen | Persecution and Bold Witness | Stephen’s death is deliberately narrated by Luke to echo Jesus’s own crucifixion (forgiving his killers, committing his spirit) — Stephen as the first fully realized μάρτυς, patterned typologically on Christ’s own passion. |
Acts 8
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 8:26-39 | Isaiah 53:7-8 (LXX) | Quotation | The Ethiopian eunuch; Philip; Jesus (Servant) | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; Justification apart from the Law | CRITICAL. The explicit quotation and exposition of Isaiah 53 (“he was led like a sheep to the slaughter…”) is the direct fulfillment-payoff of the Servant-typology strand seeded at Acts 3:13,26 and 4:27,30 (παῖς). Direct conceptual parallel to Romans 10:16 (which quotes Isaiah 53:1, “who has believed our report?”) — both Acts and Romans draw on the same Isaianic Servant chapter as the scriptural basis for the gospel’s substitutionary, suffering-Servant Christology. RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: where both curricula quote Isaiah 53 (even different verses within it), use identical Greek Servant/suffering vocabulary and cross-reference explicitly. This passage also directly models the doctrine “The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles”: the eunuch, an Ethiopian (Gentile-adjacent, and by Deuteronomy 23:1 previously excluded from full covenant participation), is welcomed and baptized without qualification — a narrative preview of Acts 10-15’s formal resolution. |
Acts 9
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 9:1-19 | (no direct OT quotation; heavy typological/narrative parallel) | Typology | Saul/Paul; Ananias | Conversion of Paul | Direct, extensively developed parallel to Galatians 1:11-24 (Paul’s own first-person account of the same event) and to Paul’s own later retellings at Acts 22:3-21 and Acts 26:9-18. RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: all four Acts/Galatians accounts of Paul’s conversion must use consistent vocabulary for “revelation” (ἀποκάλυψις, baseline term), “called”/“set apart” (κλῆσις-family and ἀφορίζω, cf. Galatians 1:15’s ἀφορίσας, directly cognate with Acts 13:2’s ἀφορίζω), and “gospel” (ευαγγέλιο). |
| Acts 9:15 | (no direct OT quotation) | — | Ananias; Saul/Paul | Conversion of Paul; Effectual Calling | σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς — High (baseline election/ἐκλογή term, reused). Direct doctrinal parallel to Romans 9:15-23 (the “vessels” of mercy/wrath imagery) and Galatians 1:15 (“he who set me apart before I was born”). |
| Acts 9:20 | (title application, not quotation) | — | Saul/Paul | Sonship of Christ | ”Jesus is the Son of God” — reuses baseline son_of_god term exactly. |
Acts 10-11
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 10:9-16 | Leviticus 11 / Deuteronomy 14 (allusion, dietary purity laws) | Allusion | Peter | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | CRITICAL. See 07_semantic_analysis.md’s κοινός discussion — “what God has made clean, do not call common” directly reverses the purity-boundary logic of the Levitical food laws without a direct citation of them; the allusion is to the whole system of clean/unclean distinctions, not one verse. Direct doctrinal parallel to Romans 14:14,20 (“nothing is unclean in itself… all things are clean”) and to Galatians 2:11-14 (the Antioch table-fellowship controversy this very vision resolves in principle). RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: κοινός/ἀκάθαρτος vocabulary across Acts 10, Romans 14, and Galatians 2 must be tracked together as a single doctrinal-lexical unit. |
| Acts 10:34-35 | Deuteronomy 10:17 (allusion, “God… shows no partiality”) | Allusion | Peter | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Direct conceptual and near-verbal parallel to Romans 2:11 (“God shows no partiality,” identical Greek idiom οὐ … προσωπολήπτης/προσωπολημψία). RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: use identical Greek phrasing across both curricula. |
| Acts 10:43 | (general fulfillment-of-prophets statement) | — | Peter | Fulfillment of Prophecy; Justification apart from the Law | ”To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins” — direct conceptual parallel to Romans 3:21-22 (“the Law and the Prophets bear witness… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe”). |
| Acts 11:5-17 | (Peter’s retelling of ch.10) | — | Peter | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Consistency note: ensure κοινός is rendered identically to its ch.10 treatment. |
Acts 12
No new OT quotations. Peter’s angelic deliverance (12:6-11) echoes the Passover-night deliverance pattern (Exodus 12, allusion) and Isaac’s binding/deliverance imagery only loosely; treat as narrative resonance, not formal typology requiring separate glossary treatment.
Acts 13
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 13:22 | 1 Samuel 13:14 (allusion); Psalm 89:20 (LXX 88:21, allusion) | Allusion | David | Davidic Covenant | Low risk; standard. |
| Acts 13:33 | Psalm 2:7 (LXX) | Quotation | Jesus | Sonship of Christ; Resurrection of Christ | Critical. “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” Same psalm as Acts 4:25-26’s quotation of Psalm 2:1-2 — track together as one messianic-psalm unit. Distinct from, but complementary to, the Acts 2:36 “made… Lord and Christ” language — both describe the resurrection/exaltation as a public, historical installation into an office and status eternally true of the Son, not an ontological beginning. This distinction (installation/vindication vs. ontological origination) must be preserved consistently wherever Psalm 2:7 or Acts 2:36-style “made” language appears, matching the baseline’s sonship_of_christ/deity_of_christ Critical-risk guidance. |
| Acts 13:34 | Isaiah 55:3 (LXX) | Quotation | David (typologically); Jesus | Davidic Covenant; Resurrection of Christ | Ties the “sure mercies of David” directly to the resurrection argument, paralleling the Psalm 16 argument of Acts 2:25-31. |
| Acts 13:35 | Psalm 16:10 (LXX Psalm 15:10) | Quotation | David (typologically); Jesus | Resurrection of Christ | Same verse as Acts 2:27,31 — verbatim reuse; RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: render identically to the Acts 2 occurrence within this same curriculum. |
| Acts 13:38-39 | (no direct OT quotation; doctrinal statement) | — | Paul | Justification apart from the Law | CRITICAL. “Everyone who believes is justified” (πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων δικαιοῦται) — direct doctrinal and near-verbal parallel to Romans 3:28 (“justified by faith apart from works of the law”) and Galatians 2:16 (“justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law”). RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: δικαιοῦται/δικαίωση vocabulary must match the baseline’s Romans/Galatians justification/justification_by_faith renderings exactly — no divergence permitted, since the speaker (Paul) is identical across all three passages. |
| Acts 13:41 | Habakkuk 1:5 (LXX) | Quotation | Paul (warning) | Universal Human Accountability | Medium. Note: this is a different verse from Habakkuk 2:4 (“the righteous shall live by faith”), which underlies Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 — the two Habakkuk citations are textually distinct and must not be conflated merely because they come from the same OT book. Flag this distinction explicitly to prevent confusion in cross-curriculum teaching. |
| Acts 13:47 | Isaiah 49:6 (LXX) | Quotation | Paul and Barnabas | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; The Great Commission Fulfilled | High. “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” Direct verbal echo of Acts 1:8’s “ends of the earth” (ἔσχατον τῆς γῆς) — same phrase-family, now explicitly grounded in an OT citation. Conceptually parallel to Romans 15:9-12’s catena of OT Gentile-inclusion texts (though Romans 15 does not cite Isaiah 49:6 specifically, it cites the same theological trajectory: Isaiah 11:10, Psalm 18:49, Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 117:1). |
Acts 14
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 14:15-17 | (no direct OT quotation; natural revelation argument) | Allusion | Paul; Barnabas | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Conceptual parallel to Romans 1:19-20 (God’s self-revelation through creation, evident to Gentiles who lack the Mosaic law) — both passages address the theological status of Gentiles who have not received direct revelation. Δίας/Ερμής (Zeus/Hermes) — High cultural sensitivity, see 07_semantic_analysis.md. |
Acts 15
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 15:1-29 | (the Jerusalem Council) | — | Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James | Justification apart from the Law; Apostolic Authority and Miracles | CRITICAL. This chapter narrates the same, or a closely related, historical council described by Paul in Galatians 2:1-10. RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: the doctrinal conclusion (Gentiles are not required to be circumcised or keep the Mosaic law for salvation) must be presented consistently across both curricula’s treatments of Acts 15 and Galatians 2, and the ζυγός (“yoke,” 15:10) language must be cross-referenced explicitly with Galatians 5:1’s “yoke of slavery.” Note the historical-critical question (whether Acts 15 and Galatians 2:1-10 narrate the identical event or two related but distinct meetings) is a live scholarly question the curriculum should acknowledge exists without requiring the translation itself to resolve it. |
| Acts 15:16-18 | Amos 9:11-12 (LXX) | Quotation | James | Davidic Covenant; The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | High. James’s quotation (“I will rebuild the tent of David… that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles”) is the council’s scriptural warrant for Gentile inclusion without circumcision — directly parallel in theological function to Romans 11:25-32 and Romans 15:9-12’s use of OT texts to ground Gentile inclusion in God’s own revealed plan, though the specific citation (Amos 9) is unique to Acts. |
Acts 16
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 16:16-18 | (no OT quotation; native Greek mythological reference) | — | The slave girl; Paul | Apostolic Authority and Miracles | Πύθων(ας) — High, see 07_semantic_analysis.md. |
| Acts 16:31 | (no direct OT quotation) | — | The Philippian jailer | Salvation; Repentance and Baptism | ”Believe… and you will be saved, you and your household” — reuses baseline faith/salvation terms exactly; conceptually parallel to Romans 10:9-13’s universal “everyone who calls/believes” formula. |
Acts 17
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 17:24-25 | Isaiah 42:5; Psalm 50:9-12 (LXX 49:9-12, allusion, God needs nothing from human hands) | Allusion | Paul | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Conceptual parallel to Stephen’s Isaiah 66:1-2 argument (Acts 7:48-50) — God is not confined to or dependent on human structures. |
| Acts 17:26-27 | Deuteronomy 32:8 (allusion, God’s determination of nations’ boundaries); Psalm 145:18 (allusion, God near to those who call) | Allusion | Paul | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Low-medium risk. |
| Acts 17:28 | Aratus, Phaenomena 5 / Cleanthes, Hymn to Zeus (direct quotation of Greek pagan poetry, not Scripture) | Quotation (non-biblical) | Paul | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Medium (asset with caution). A unique instance in the NT of approving citation of native Greek literature as a point of contact. See 07_semantic_analysis.md — must be framed as common ground toward, not endorsement of, the pagan system it originated in; Paul’s very next words (v.29-31) redirect it toward repentance and resurrection. |
| Acts 17:31 | (no direct OT quotation) | — | Paul | Universal Human Accountability; Resurrection of Christ | Reuses baseline resurrection/ανάσταση and righteousness/δικαιοσύνη terms exactly (κρίνειν… ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ). |
| Acts 17:32 | (narrative response, not a citation) | — | The Athenian philosophers | Resurrection of Christ | Reuses baseline resurrection term; the Athenians’ mockery dramatizes the very Greek-philosophical resurrection-skepticism the baseline flags for the whole Romans/Galatians package. |
Acts 18-20
No further direct OT quotations of major doctrinal weight; these chapters continue established themes (gospel proclamation pattern, synagogue preaching, church leadership terminology at 20:17,28 — see 07_semantic_analysis.md πρεσβύτεροι/ἐπίσκοποι discussion). One echo worth noting:
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 20:35 | (Jesus’s own words, not an OT quotation) | Quotation (dominical saying) | Paul (quoting Jesus) | The Church as Community | ”It is more blessed to give than to receive” — a saying of Jesus not recorded in the canonical Gospels, uniquely preserved here; low lexical risk, worth noting as a distinctive Acts contribution. |
Acts 21-22
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 21:23-26 | Numbers 6 (allusion, Nazirite-type purification vow) | Allusion | Paul | Repentance and Baptism (adjacent); Justification apart from the Law | ἁγνισμός — Medium, see 07_semantic_analysis.md; distinguish from ἁγιασμός. |
| Acts 22:3-21 | (Paul’s own retelling of his conversion) | Typology (repeated narrative) | Paul | Conversion of Paul | See Acts 9 entry above; RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE applies across Acts 9, 22, 26, and Galatians 1. |
Acts 23-27
No further direct OT quotations. Acts 23:6-9 (Pharisee/Sadducee resurrection dispute) reuses baseline resurrection term with high doctrinal weight (see 07_semantic_analysis.md). Acts 23:5 alludes to Exodus 22:28 (“you shall not curse a ruler of your people”) though the citation in the text is disputed/ironic (Paul had not recognized the high priest). Acts 24:25 reuses baseline righteousness term. Acts 25:11’s ἐπικαλοῦμαι is the literary echo of Acts 2:21’s salvation-formula verb (see Part A, Acts 2 entry, and 07_semantic_analysis.md). Acts 26:18 reuses baseline sanctification term (ἡγιασμένοις) directly tied to Paul’s own commissioning — cross-reference Acts 9:15’s σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς and Galatians 1:15’s ἀφορίσας as the same calling-and-setting-apart doctrinal unit.
Acts 28
| Passage | OT/NT Connection | Type | Related Character | Theme | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 28:26-27 | Isaiah 6:9-10 (LXX) | Quotation | Paul | Universal Human Accountability; The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; The Great Commission Fulfilled | CRITICAL. Paul’s closing quotation to the Roman Jewish leaders (“you will indeed hear but never understand…”) is the book’s final direct OT citation, and it addresses Israel’s partial unbelief — the identical theological problem Paul addresses at length in Romans 9-11, which itself quotes a cluster of similar judicial-hardening texts (Romans 11:8 quotes Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10, a different but thematically identical judicial-blindness motif; Romans 9:27-29 quotes Isaiah 10:22-23 and 1:9). RENDERING-CONSISTENCY RULE: although the specific OT verses differ between Acts 28 and Romans 9-11, the underlying doctrine (Israel’s partial, non-final hardening, within God’s sovereign purpose, alongside Gentile inclusion) must be taught consistently across both curricula — neither passage should be presented as teaching Israel’s final rejection; both hold this hardening together with ongoing hope (cf. Romans 11:1,11-12,25-32). |
| Acts 28:28 | (no direct quotation; summary statement) | — | Paul | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | ”This salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles” — σωτηρία reused exactly; direct thematic parallel to Romans 11:11 (“salvation has come to the Gentiles”). |
| Acts 28:31 | (no OT quotation; closing narrative summary) | — | Paul | The Great Commission Fulfilled | ἀκωλύτως — see 07_semantic_analysis.md; the book’s deliberately open, triumphant final word, fulfilling Acts 1:8. |
PART B — Messianic Reference Summary Table
| OT Text | Acts Occurrence(s) | Messianic Title/Theme | Cross-Curriculum Parallel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psalm 2:7 | Acts 13:33 (quoted); Acts 4:25-26 (Psalm 2:1-2 quoted) | Divine Sonship, installed king | Not directly quoted in Romans/Galatians, but underlies sonship_of_christ/deity_of_christ doctrine throughout |
| Psalm 16:8-11 | Acts 2:25-28,31; 13:35 | Resurrection, incorruption | Underlies resurrection_of_christ doctrine; no direct Romans/Galatians citation of this psalm |
| Psalm 110:1 | Acts 2:34-35 | Enthroned Lord | Foundational for lordship_of_christ doctrine across the whole Language Package |
| Psalm 118:22 | Acts 4:11 | Rejected stone/cornerstone | Thematically parallel to Romans 9:33 (different specific citation, same motif) |
| Deuteronomy 18:15,18 | Acts 3:22-23; 7:37 | Prophet like Moses | Distinct messianic strand; not directly present in Romans/Galatians |
| Isaiah 53:7-8 (and Servant motif generally) | Acts 3:13,26; 4:27,30; 8:32-33 | Suffering Servant | Directly parallel to Romans 10:16 (Isaiah 53:1 quoted) |
| Isaiah 49:6 | Acts 13:47 | Light to the Gentiles | Thematically parallel to Romans 15:9-12’s Gentile-inclusion catena |
| Amos 9:11-12 | Acts 15:16-18 | Restored Davidic tent, Gentile inclusion | Thematically parallel to Romans 11:25-32 |
| Isaiah 6:9-10 | Acts 28:26-27 | Israel’s judicial hardening | Thematically parallel to Romans 11:8 (different specific citation, same motif) |
| Genesis 12:3/22:18 | Acts 3:25 | Abrahamic blessing to all nations | Directly parallel to Galatians 3:8 (same OT motif, related wording) |
PART C — Typological Pattern Summary
| Type/Pattern | OT Figure/Event | NT Fulfillment (Acts) | Doctrine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sinai theophany (fire, sound, law-giving) | Exodus 19 | Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), Spirit-giving | The Holy Spirit and Pentecost |
| Babel confusion of languages | Genesis 11:1-9 | Pentecost’s comprehensible multi-language speech (Acts 2:5-11) | The Holy Spirit and Pentecost; The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles |
| Joseph: rejected by brothers, later their deliverer | Genesis 37-50 | Stephen’s speech (Acts 7:9-16); pattern echoed in Christ’s own rejection/exaltation | Persecution and Bold Witness; Justification apart from the Law |
| Moses: rejected at first coming, accepted at second; giver of the Law | Exodus 1-32 | Stephen’s speech (Acts 7:17-43); Christ’s own rejection at first coming | Justification apart from the Law; Persecution and Bold Witness |
| The Temple/Tabernacle as a limited, localized dwelling | Exodus 25-40; 1 Kings 8 | Stephen’s argument (Acts 7:48-50) that God is not confined to one place/people | The Church as Community; The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles |
| Christ’s passion pattern (forgiving killers, committing spirit to God) | Psalm 31:5 (as fulfilled in Luke 23:46) | Stephen’s martyrdom (Acts 7:59-60) | Persecution and Bold Witness |
| Suffering Servant, silent before accusers | Isaiah 53 | Ethiopian eunuch’s conversion through direct exposition (Acts 8:32-35) | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; Justification apart from the Law |
| Clean/unclean boundary markers | Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14 | Peter’s vision (Acts 10:9-16) declaring the boundary abolished | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles |
| Davidic tent/kingdom restored to include all nations | Amos 9:11-12 | Jerusalem Council’s decision (Acts 15:16-18) | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; Davidic Covenant |
PART D — Rendering-Consistency Rules for Shared Quotations (Acts ↔ Romans/Galatians)
The following rules govern any Phase 2 segment containing these specific shared or thematically-linked citations. These rules extend, and must never contradict, the baseline translation_memory.json term-level enforcement.
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Joel 2:32 / Acts 2:21 / Romans 10:13 — “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (πᾶς ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου σωθήσεται). Render identically in both curricula. Κύριος must carry the baseline’s Septuagint/YHWH-anchoring note at every occurrence of this clause specifically, given its doubled doctrinal weight (quoted at the Pentecost sermon’s rhetorical setup and at Romans’s central thesis passage).
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Psalm 16:10 / Acts 2:27,31 / Acts 13:35 — “You will not let your Holy One see corruption.” Render identically across both Acts occurrences (self-consistency within the Acts curriculum is mandatory; this verse is not quoted in Romans/Galatians, so no cross-curriculum rule is needed beyond internal Acts consistency).
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Genesis 12:3/22:18 / Acts 3:25 / Galatians 3:8 — the Abrahamic “in your offspring/you shall all nations be blessed” formula. Use σπέρμα consistently with the Galatians baseline’s
seedentry, while flagging in teaching notes that Acts 3:25 uses the term in its collective-covenantal sense, distinct from Galatians 3:16’s singular-Christ grammatical argument — do not present the two as making an identical grammatical point. -
Isaiah 53 / Acts 8:32-33 / Romans 10:16 — Servant-chapter citations (different verses, same chapter). Use consistent Suffering-Servant vocabulary (παῖς at Acts 3:13,26; the direct Isaiah 53 quotation at Acts 8:32-33) and cross-reference explicitly in teaching notes without implying verbatim overlap where none exists.
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Acts 13:38-39 / Romans 3:28 / Galatians 2:16 — “justified by faith [apart from the law].” These are not verbatim quotations of one another but parallel doctrinal formulations by the same author (Paul) in three different documents. Δικαιόω/δικαίωση vocabulary must be rendered identically across all three, per the baseline’s Critical-risk
justification/justification_by_faithguidance — zero permitted divergence. -
Acts 10:34 / Romans 2:11 — “God shows no partiality” (οὐ … προσωπολήπτης / οὐ … προσωπολημψία). Near-identical Greek idiom; render with the same phrase across both curricula.
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Acts 15 / Galatians 2:1-10 — the Jerusalem Council. Present as either the same event or a closely related meeting per current scholarly consensus, without requiring the translation to adjudicate the historical-critical question; the doctrinal conclusion (no circumcision/law-keeping required for Gentile salvation) must be taught identically in both curricula’s treatments.
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Habakkuk 1:5 (Acts 13:41) vs. Habakkuk 2:4 (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11) — these are two distinct verses from the same OT book serving two entirely different doctrinal functions (a warning against scoffing vs. the righteous-by-faith thesis verse). Explicitly flag this distinction in any teaching material referencing “Habakkuk” generically, to prevent learners from conflating the two citations.
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Isaiah 6:9-10 (Acts 28:26-27) and Israel’s hardening (Romans 9-11, esp. 11:8) — different specific OT texts, identical underlying doctrine (Israel’s partial, non-final judicial hardening within a sovereign plan that also holds open future restoration). Teach as thematically unified without merging the specific citations.
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Psalm 118:22 (Acts 4:11) and the “stone” catena (Romans 9:33, combining Isaiah 8:14/28:16) — thematically convergent (both address Israel’s rejection of her own Messiah as a cornerstone/stumbling-stone) but textually distinct citations; do not present as verbatim parallels.
This document extends 07_semantic_analysis.md and 08_core_glossary.md and must be read alongside them. It does not introduce new term renderings; it documents Scripture-internal connections governing how already-established terms must be applied consistently at points of quotation and allusion. See 10_biblical_theme_map.md for the resulting theme-level structure.