Cross-Reference Analysis
Cross-Reference Analysis — Acts 1–28
English → Spanish | Acts Curriculum | Language Package Extension
Curriculum: Acts 1–28
Core passage: Acts 2:1–41
Baseline dependency: This document extends the Romans Language Package and must be read together with analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md and analysis/08_core_glossary.md. All term renderings referenced below (Señor, Mesías, Espíritu Santo, justicia, justificación, gracia, salvación, pacto, elección, santos, resurrección, etc.) follow the baseline translation_memory.json exactly. This document adds no new term renderings; it maps Scripture-internal connections and flags where a shared Old Testament quotation or shared theological argument between Acts and Romans creates a rendering-consistency requirement for Phase 2.
Citation format: All citations in this document use normalizable English-book-name, chapter:verse form (e.g., “Acts 2:21,” “Genesis 15:6,” “Joel 2:28–32”) for cross-reference clarity during analysis. Final Spanish-language output must follow the Spanish Bible citation conventions already fixed in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md (e.g., “Hechos 2:21,” “Génesis 15:6,” “Joel 2:28–32,” book name “Acts” = “Hechos”).
Methodology
Every chapter of Acts was reviewed for: (1) direct Old Testament quotations (introduced by a citation formula or reproducing OT wording closely enough to constitute a formal quotation), (2) clear OT allusions (narrative or verbal echoes without a formal citation formula), (3) messianic and typological patterns, and (4) points of contact — whether shared quotations, shared doctrinal arguments, or thematic parallels — with the Romans curriculum already governed by the baseline Language Package. Chapters with no direct OT quotation are marked explicitly as reviewed rather than omitted, with any allusions or typological material noted.
Risk tiers below follow the baseline’s four-tier framework (Critical/High/Medium/Low) and inherit review routing from doctrine_risk_registry.json where a cross-reference touches an already-registered doctrine.
PART A — Chapter-by-Chapter OT Quotation and Allusion Matrix
Acts 1 — Ascension and the Upper Room
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 1:8 | Mission to the Nations | Jesus, apostles | Allusion: Isaiah 49:6 (“to the ends of the earth”) | High. Establishes the book’s structural outline (Jerusalem → Judea/Samaria → ends of the earth). Must render “hasta lo último de la tierra” consistently with its later echo at Acts 13:47, which quotes Isaiah 49:6 directly. See Part D. |
| Acts 1:20 | Apostolic Authority | Judas, Peter | Direct quotation: Psalm 69:25; Psalm 109:8 | Medium. Applies an imprecatory psalm typologically to Judas’s betrayal and vacated office; requires a brief note that this is an apostolic pattern of Christotelic psalm reading (the psalms of David’s suffering applied to David’s greater Son and his betrayer), not a general license to apply any imprecatory psalm to any opponent. |
| Acts 1:6 | Kingdom Mission | disciples, Jesus | Allusion: OT restoration hope (e.g., Isaiah 11; Daniel 7) misapplied nationalistically | Medium. The disciples’ question presumes a political/territorial kingdom-restoration expectation that baseline kingdom_of_god (Medium) already flags as a misreading to correct; Jesus’ answer (1:7–8) redirects the OT hope toward Spirit-empowered global witness. |
Acts 2 — Pentecost and Peter’s Sermon (Core Passage)
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 2:2–3 | Holy Spirit and Pentecost | — | Allusion: Exodus 19:16–19 (wind, fire, sound at Sinai) | Medium. Typological parallel between the giving of the Law at Sinai and the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost; should be taught explicitly since Spanish readers will not perceive the Hebrew wind/spirit wordplay unaided (already flagged in 07_semantic_analysis.md, Acts 2:2). |
| Acts 2:16–21 | Holy Spirit and Pentecost | Joel, Peter | Direct quotation: Joel 2:28–32 | Critical. The doctrinal center of the Pentecost account. v.21’s clause is quoted again, of Christ, at Romans 10:13 (“todo el que invoque el nombre del Señor será salvo”). MANDATORY: identical Spanish rendering in both curricula. See Part D, Rule 1. |
| Acts 2:25–28 | Resurrection of Christ | David, Jesus | Direct quotation: Psalm 16:8–11 | Critical. Davidic psalm read typologically/prophetically of Christ’s resurrection (David “saw this coming” and spoke of the Messiah, v.31); reinforces baseline resurrection (Critical). Same psalm re-quoted at Acts 13:35 — render identically both places. |
| Acts 2:29–30 | Davidic Covenant | David, Peter | Allusion: 2 Samuel 7:12–13; Psalm 132:11 | Medium. Grounds Christ’s resurrection/enthronement in the specific Davidic covenant promise; reuses baseline covenant/seed_of_david. |
| Acts 2:34–35 | Lordship of Christ | David, Jesus | Direct quotation: Psalm 110:1 | Critical. The clearest binitarian text in the sermon (“the Lord said to my Lord”); directly reinforces baseline lord/lordship_of_christ (Critical). Must be flagged for mandatory theologian review per the baseline’s escalation rule for Lordship content. |
| Acts 2:36 | Deity/Sonship of Christ, Messianic Promise | Jesus, “house of Israel” | Climactic synthesis of vv.25–35 | Critical. Combines the Psalm 16, Psalm 110 and covenant lines into the sermon’s confession; see 07_semantic_analysis.md Acts 2:36 for full treatment. |
| Acts 2:38–39 | Repentance and Baptism; Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Peter | Allusion: Isaiah 57:19 (“those far off”); continuation of Joel 2:32’s “whoever calls” | High. “Todos los que están lejos” must be preserved as genuinely open-ended; anticipates the Gentile mission fully unfolded in Acts 10–15. |
Acts 3 — Healing at the Temple Gate
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 3:13 | Apostolic Authority and Miracles | Peter | Allusion: Exodus 3:6, 15 (“God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”) | Low. Standard covenantal self-identification formula for God; no rival meaning in Spanish. |
| Acts 3:18 | Fulfillment of Prophecy | ”all the prophets” | General allusion to prophetic Suffering-Messiah pattern (cf. Isaiah 53; Psalm 22) | Medium. Anticipates the fuller Isaiah 53 quotation at Acts 8:32–33; teach as part of the same prophetic trajectory. |
| Acts 3:22–23 | Messianic Promise; Apostolic Authority | Moses, Peter | Direct quotation: Deuteronomy 18:15, 18–19 | High. “Prophet like Moses” typology — foundational messianic text, re-quoted at Acts 7:37. Must render consistently across both occurrences: “un profeta como yo (Moisés).” See Part C, Typology 2. |
| Acts 3:25 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles; Covenant | Abraham, Peter | Direct/near-direct quotation: Genesis 22:18; allusion to Genesis 12:3 | High. “In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed” — the Abrahamic covenant’s Gentile-inclusion clause, foundational for the doctrine “The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles”; parallels Romans 4’s Abraham argument (Genesis 15:6, already governed by baseline imputed_righteousness). See Part D, Rule 3. |
Acts 4 — Boldness Before the Council
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 4:11 | Deity of Christ / Apostolic Authority | Peter | Direct quotation: Psalm 118:22 | High. “The stone that was rejected… has become the cornerstone” — a messianic stone-testimonium reused elsewhere in the NT (Matthew 21:42; 1 Peter 2:7); render consistently with any future curriculum touching 1 Peter. |
| Acts 4:24 | Providence; Creator God | believers, corporate prayer | Allusion: Exodus 20:11; Psalm 146:6; Nehemiah 9:6 | Low. Standard creation-doxology formula; no rival meaning. |
| Acts 4:25–26 | Persecution and Bold Witness; Messianic Promise | David, “rulers,” Herod, Pilate | Direct quotation: Psalm 2:1–2 | High. Applies the “kings of the earth” against “the Lord and his Anointed” to the actual historical conspiracy against Jesus; reinforces baseline messiah (Critical) via the psalm’s “Anointed” (māšîaḥ). Note: Psalm 2:7 is separately quoted at Acts 13:33 — treat as a related but distinct citation from the same psalm; do not conflate the two verses in teaching notes. |
Acts 5 — Ananias, Sapphira, and the Sanhedrin
Reviewed — no direct OT quotation. Notable typological allusion: the Ananias/Sapphira narrative (5:1–11) echoes the Achan narrative (Joshua 7) — a sin of deceit and misappropriated devotion to God discovered and judged within the newly constituted covenant community at its founding moment. Risk: Medium — useful typological teaching point (holiness expected of the gathered people of God from the outset) but not a formal quotation requiring lexical fixation.
Acts 6 — The Appointment of the Seven
Reviewed — no direct OT quotation. Background allusion: the appointment of seven men to share leadership burden echoes Moses’ appointment of seventy elders (Numbers 11:16–17; also Exodus 18:21–22, Jethro’s counsel). Risk: Low. Useful pattern for the doctrine “The Church as Community” but not independently doctrinally loaded.
Acts 7 — Stephen’s Speech and Martyrdom
This chapter is Acts’ densest concentration of OT material — a historical recap functioning as an extended argument.
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 7:3 | Covenant | Abraham | Direct quotation: Genesis 12:1 | Medium. Reuses baseline covenant. |
| Acts 7:5 | Covenant | Abraham | Allusion: Genesis 17:8 | Low. |
| Acts 7:6–7 | Covenant | Abraham | Direct quotation: Genesis 15:13–14; allusion to Exodus 3:12 | Medium. Same covenant chapter (Genesis 15) that grounds baseline imputed_righteousness (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3) — note the shared chapter, distinct verses; do not conflate v.6 (faith credited as righteousness) with vv.13–14 (prophecy of Egyptian bondage) in teaching material. |
| Acts 7:8 | Covenant, Law | Abraham | Allusion: Genesis 17:10–14 | Medium. Circumcision as covenant sign — background for the doctrine “Justification apart from the Law,” fully developed at Acts 15. |
| Acts 7:9–16 | Providence | Joseph | Narrative allusion: Genesis 37, 39–50 | Medium. See Part C, Typology 3 (Joseph as rejected-yet-exalted deliverer, a type of Christ). |
| Acts 7:18 | Providence | — | Allusion: Exodus 1:8 | Low. |
| Acts 7:27–28, 35 | Persecution; Apostolic Authority | Moses | Direct quotation/allusion: Exodus 2:14 | Medium. “Who made you a ruler and a judge?” — the rejected-deliverer pattern applied first to Moses, then argued (7:35, 51–52) to be Israel’s repeated pattern culminating in the rejection of Christ. |
| Acts 7:30–34 | Holy Spirit and Pentecost (theophany background) | Moses | Direct quotation: Exodus 3:2–10 | Medium. The burning-bush theophany; useful comparison point for the Pentecost theophany’s fire imagery (Acts 2:3). |
| Acts 7:37 | Messianic Promise | Moses, “a prophet” | Direct quotation: Deuteronomy 18:15 | High. Repeats Acts 3:22’s citation verbatim; render identically both places. See Part C, Typology 2. |
| Acts 7:40 | Sin; Law | Israel (wilderness generation) | Direct quotation: Exodus 32:1 | Low. |
| Acts 7:42–43 | Sin; Universal Human Accountability | Israel | Direct quotation: Amos 5:25–27 | Medium. God “gave them over” to idolatry — a judicial abandonment theme conceptually parallel to Romans 1:24–28’s “God gave them up,” though not a shared verbatim quotation; note the thematic parallel in Part D. |
| Acts 7:49–50 | Deity of Christ (background); Church as God’s People | — | Direct quotation: Isaiah 66:1–2 | Medium. “Heaven is my throne… what house will you build me?” — undercuts a temple-bound, building-centered conception of worship; relevant background for the doctrine “The Church as Community” as a people, not a building. |
| Acts 7:51 | Persecution and Bold Witness | Israel, Stephen’s accusers | Allusion: Isaiah 63:10; Exodus 33:3, 5 | Medium. “Stiff-necked… resisting the Holy Spirit” — establishes a scriptural pattern of resisting the Spirit that Stephen applies to his own persecutors, reinforcing baseline holy_spirit as a Person who can be resisted, not merely an impersonal influence. |
| Acts 7:56 | Deity of Christ / Sonship of Christ | Stephen, “the Son of Man” | Allusion: Daniel 7:13–14 | Critical. See Part C, Typology 4, and 08_core_glossary.md entry son_of_man. |
Acts 8 — Philip, Simon the Sorcerer, the Ethiopian Eunuch
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 8:32–33 | Messianic Promise; Justification apart from the Law (atonement background) | the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip, Isaiah | Direct quotation: Isaiah 53:7–8 | Critical. The single most important messianic-prophecy fulfillment text explicitly identified with Jesus in Acts (“Philip told him the good news about Jesus,” 8:35). Must be flagged for mandatory theologian review. Conceptually connects to Romans 4:25 (“delivered up for our trespasses”), which echoes Isaiah 53:5, 12 without directly quoting it — note as a thematic, not verbal, parallel. See Part D, Rule 4. |
Acts 9 — The Conversion of Saul
Reviewed — no direct OT quotation. Notable allusions: the blinding light and voice (9:3–4) echo prior theophanic call-narratives (Exodus 3:2–6, Moses at the bush; Isaiah 6:1–8, Isaiah’s commissioning); Acts 9:15’s “chosen instrument to carry my name” echoes prophetic call language (Jeremiah 1:5; Isaiah 49:1, “the Lord called me before I was born”). Risk: Medium — useful for teaching Paul’s conversion as a prophetic commissioning in continuity with OT precedent, not merely a private religious experience; ties to the doctrine “Conversion of Paul.”
Acts 10 — Peter and Cornelius
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 10:36 | Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Peter | Allusion: Isaiah 52:7 (“preaching peace”); Psalm 107:20 | Medium. Reuses baseline peace (Medium). |
| Acts 10:38 | Deity/Messiahship of Christ | Peter, Jesus | Allusion: Isaiah 61:1 (“anointed with the Holy Spirit and power”) | High. Ties Jesus’ anointing directly to baseline messiah (Χριστός = “the Anointed One,” Critical) — a substantive theological connection, not merely verbal. |
| Acts 10:14–15, 28 | Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Peter | Background: Leviticus 11 (clean/unclean food laws) | High. See 07_semantic_analysis.md/08_core_glossary.md entry clean_unclean. |
Acts 11 — Antioch and the Name “Christian”
Reviewed — no direct OT quotation. Chapter narrates the outworking of Acts 10’s vision and the Jerusalem church’s response; no new OT citation beyond what ch.10 already establishes.
Acts 12 — Herod’s Persecution and Peter’s Deliverance
Reviewed — no direct OT quotation. Notable typological allusion: Herod Agrippa I’s death after accepting worship due to God alone (12:20–23) echoes the pattern of proud rulers struck down, most directly paralleling Nebuchadnezzar’s judgment in Daniel 4:28–33 and Isaiah 14’s taunt against the king of Babylon. Risk: Low-Medium — a useful narrative-typological point about divine judgment on usurped glory, relevant background for the doctrine “Persecution and Bold Witness,” not requiring a fixed lexical entry.
Acts 13 — Antioch Sermon; First Missionary Journey
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 13:22 | Davidic Covenant | David, Paul | Direct quotation: 1 Samuel 13:14; Psalm 89:20 | Medium. |
| Acts 13:33 | Sonship of Christ | Jesus, Paul | Direct quotation: Psalm 2:7 | Critical. “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” — must be taught (per the baseline’s Sonship of Christ caution) as the Father’s public declaration/enthronement of the eternal Son at the resurrection, not the Son’s ontological beginning; same caution already flagged for Acts 2:36. Conceptually parallel to Romans 1:4’s “declared to be the Son of God… by his resurrection,” though Romans 1:4 does not quote Psalm 2:7 directly — thematic, not verbal, parallel. |
| Acts 13:34 | Resurrection of Christ; Covenant | Jesus, Paul | Direct quotation: Isaiah 55:3 | High. |
| Acts 13:35 | Resurrection of Christ | David, Jesus | Direct quotation: Psalm 16:10 | Critical. Same psalm verse-cluster already quoted at Acts 2:27; render identically (“no permitirás que tu Santo experimente corrupción / vea corrupción”). |
| Acts 13:41 | Fulfillment of Prophecy (warning) | Paul, “you scoffers” | Direct quotation: Habakkuk 1:5 | Medium. CAUTION: distinct from Habakkuk 2:4 (“the righteous shall live by his faith”), the foundational faith-text quoted at Romans 1:17. Both citations are from Habakkuk but different chapters/verses with different rhetorical functions (Habakkuk 1:5 = a warning against scoffing disbelief; Habakkuk 2:4 = the ground of justification by faith). Teaching notes must not conflate the two Habakkuk citations. See Part D, Rule 5. |
| Acts 13:47 | Mission to the Nations; Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Paul, Barnabas | Direct quotation: Isaiah 49:6 | High. Same Isaiah 49:6 background text already alluded to at Acts 1:8; render “luz para los gentiles… hasta lo último de la tierra” consistently between both passages. |
| Acts 13:48 | Election | — | Thematic parallel: Romans 8:28–30 (calling/predestination sequence) | High. See 08_core_glossary.md entry appointed_to_eternal_life; no shared verbatim OT quotation, but a shared doctrinal argument requiring register-consistent handling with Romans’ election vocabulary. |
Acts 14 — Lystra, Iconium, Derbe
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 14:15 | Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Paul, Barnabas | Allusion: Exodus 20:11; Psalm 146:6 | High. “Turn from these vain things to the living God” — creation-based apologetic paralleling Acts 17:24–25’s fuller Areopagus argument. |
| Acts 14:17 | Providence | Paul | Allusion: general-revelation theme (cf. Psalm 147:8; Psalm 65:9–13) | Medium. No formal citation, but a recognizable OT natural-revelation motif; reinforces baseline providence. |
Acts 15 — The Jerusalem Council
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 15:16–17 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles; Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | James, Amos | Direct quotation: Amos 9:11–12 | High. James’s climactic scriptural argument for admitting Gentiles without circumcision. Thematically parallel — though not verbally identical — to Romans 15:9–12’s chain of OT citations (2 Samuel 22:50/Psalm 18:49; Deuteronomy 32:43; Psalm 117:1; Isaiah 11:10) marshalled for the same doctrinal purpose: Gentiles joining Israel in praising God under the Messiah’s reign. See Part D, Rule 6. |
| Acts 15:1, 5 | Justification apart from the Law | ”some men from Judea,” Pharisaic believers | Background: Genesis 17:10–14 (circumcision covenant, cf. Acts 7:8) | High. The concrete historical occasion of the doctrine; reuses baseline law, justification, grace. |
Acts 16 — Philippi
Reviewed. No formal OT quotation. Notable allusion: the “spirit of divination” (16:16, πνεῦμα πύθωνα) stands under the general OT prohibition of divination and mediumistic practice (Deuteronomy 18:10–11; Leviticus 19:31); this legal background is directly relevant to the doctrine “The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles” and to the syncretism caution already flagged for spirit_of_divination in 08_core_glossary.md (Critical). Risk: Critical by inheritance from that glossary entry, though no verbatim quotation is present.
Acts 17 — Athens and the Areopagus
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 17:24–25 | Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Paul | Allusion: Isaiah 42:5; Psalm 50:9–12 (God needs nothing, gives life to all) | Medium. |
| Acts 17:26 | Providence | Paul | Allusion: Deuteronomy 32:8; Genesis 1 (creation, nations, boundaries) | Medium. |
| Acts 17:28 | (Rhetorical, non-OT) | Paul | Not an OT citation — quotes Greek pagan poets (commonly identified as Epimenides and/or Aratus/Cleanthes) | High. IMPORTANT DISTINCTION: unlike every other quotation in this matrix, Acts 17:28 quotes pagan Greek literature, not Scripture. Teaching materials must not present this as an OT or biblical quotation; Paul’s rhetorical strategy (using the audience’s own poets as a point of contact, then redirecting to the true God and the resurrection) should be explained explicitly so it is not mistaken for scriptural endorsement of Stoic pantheism. |
| Acts 17:31 | Fulfillment of Prophecy; Universal Human Accountability | Paul | Allusion: Psalm 9:8; Psalm 96:13; Psalm 98:9 (God will judge the world in righteousness) | High. Reuses baseline righteousness = justicia in a forensic-judgment sense consistent with, though distinct from, its soteriological sense in Romans 1–5; teach the two related but distinct uses (God’s righteous judgment of all humanity vs. God’s gift of righteousness to the believer) without conflation. |
Acts 18 — Corinth
Reviewed — no direct OT quotation. Narrative advances the mission (Gallio’s ruling, Aquila and Priscilla) without introducing new scriptural citations.
Acts 19 — Ephesus
Reviewed — no direct OT quotation. The Artemis narrative and John’s-baptism-versus-Christian-baptism distinction (19:1–5) draw on themes already covered (baptism, Acts 2:38) rather than introducing new OT material.
Acts 20 — Paul’s Farewell at Miletus
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 20:28 | The Church as Community; Apostolic Authority | Paul, elders/overseers | Allusion: Ezekiel 34:2–4; Numbers 27:16–17 | Critical. The shepherd-overseer image draws on Ezekiel’s indictment of Israel’s failed shepherd-leaders; directly reinforces the elders_overseers Critical-risk entry in 08_core_glossary.md — the pastoral-oversight function described here is a scriptural office pattern, not the later monarchical episcopate. |
| Acts 20:35 | Mutual Edification | Paul, “the Lord Jesus” | Non-canonical dominical saying (a teaching of Jesus not recorded in the four Gospels) | Low-Medium. Should be identified as an authoritative apostolic report of an otherwise-unrecorded saying of Jesus, not confused with a Gospel quotation when cross-referencing. |
Acts 21 — Jerusalem: Vows and Warnings
Reviewed. No formal OT quotation; the purification-vow narrative (21:23–26) draws on the Nazirite-vow background of Numbers 6:1–21. Risk: Medium, per the purification_rites entry already in 08_core_glossary.md.
Acts 22 — Paul’s Defense Before the Crowd
Reviewed. Retells Paul’s conversion (see ch.9 notes above) and his Gentile-mission commissioning (22:21); no new OT citation beyond what chs. 9 and 26 parallel.
Acts 23 — Before the Sanhedrin
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 23:5 | Apostolic Authority (submission to due process) | Paul | Direct quotation: Exodus 22:28 | Low. Paul’s self-correction after speaking sharply to the high priest; a minor legal citation, no doctrinal collision. |
| Acts 23:6–8 | Resurrection of Christ (background dispute) | Pharisees, Sadducees | Background: Daniel 12:2 (resurrection hope already contested within Second Temple Judaism) | Medium. Useful teaching point that bodily resurrection was a live, disputed OT-rooted doctrine before Christ, not a uniquely Christian invention. |
Acts 24 — Paul Before Felix; “The Way”
Reviewed. No formal OT quotation. Paul’s resurrection-hope defense (24:15, 24:21) draws on the same Daniel 12:2 background noted at ch.23; no new citation requiring a separate entry.
Acts 25 — Paul Before Festus and Agrippa
Reviewed — no direct OT quotation. Legal-narrative chapter (appeal to Caesar) advancing the plot toward Rome; no scriptural citation.
Acts 26 — Paul Before Agrippa
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 26:18 | Conversion of Paul; Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | Jesus (in Paul’s commissioning vision), Paul | Direct allusion: Isaiah 42:7, 16 (“open their eyes… turn from darkness to light”) | High. Applies Isaianic Servant-mission language (cf. Isaiah 49:6, already used at Acts 1:8 and 13:47) directly to Paul’s own apostolic commission — teach as continuity between the Servant’s mission fulfilled in Christ and the apostolic mission that extends it, not an independent fulfillment competing with Christ’s unique Servant role. |
| Acts 26:22–23 | Fulfillment of Prophecy; Resurrection of Christ | Moses, “the prophets,” Paul | General allusion: the cumulative witness of Moses and the prophets to a suffering-and-rising Messiah (cf. Isaiah 53; Psalm 16) | High. Summarizes rather than quotes; ties together every messianic thread traced through this matrix (Acts 3:22–23; 7:37; 8:32–33; 13:33–35). |
Acts 27 — The Voyage and Shipwreck
Reviewed. No formal OT quotation. Notable typological/narrative parallel: the storm-and-deliverance-at-sea pattern echoes Jonah 1 (a prophet’s sea journey interrupted by a life-threatening storm, resolved by divine intervention) and the angelic assurance of 27:23–25 echoes Daniel’s deliverance narratives (Daniel 6; Daniel 10:12). Risk: Low-Medium — illustrative of providence (baseline providence, Medium) rather than independently doctrinal; useful teaching parallel, not a fixed citation.
Acts 28 — Malta and Rome; the Book’s Closing Word
| Passage | Theme | Related Character | OT/NT Connection | Translation Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 28:26–27 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles; The Great Commission Fulfilled | Paul, Isaiah | Direct quotation: Isaiah 6:9–10 | High. Paul’s final scriptural citation in Acts, explaining Jewish unbelief and pivoting definitively to the Gentile mission (28:28). CAUTION: this is a distinct quotation from the related hardening-of-Israel argument at Romans 11:8, which quotes Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10 — not Isaiah 6:9–10. The two passages serve a closely related theological purpose (explaining partial Jewish unbelief without abandoning God’s faithfulness to Israel) but must not be presented as the same quotation. See Part D, Rule 7. |
| Acts 28:31 | The Great Commission Fulfilled | Paul | Thematic closure of kingdom_of_god/mission themes | Medium. No OT citation; closing narrative summary. See 08_core_glossary.md entry unhindered. |
PART B — Messianic References Summary
The following table consolidates every passage in Acts where an Old Testament text is applied specifically to establish Jesus as the promised Messiah, for priority theologian review.
| OT Source | Acts Occurrence(s) | Messianic Claim | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psalm 16:8–11 | Acts 2:25–28, 31; 13:35 | Messiah’s resurrection without bodily corruption | Critical |
| Psalm 110:1 | Acts 2:34–35 | Messiah’s exaltation to co-regency with God | Critical |
| Psalm 2:1–2, 7 | Acts 4:25–26; 13:33 | Messiah as God’s Anointed and begotten/enthroned Son | Critical |
| Deuteronomy 18:15, 18–19 | Acts 3:22–23; 7:37 | Messiah as the prophet greater than Moses | High |
| Genesis 22:18 / 12:3 | Acts 3:25 | Messiah’s covenant blessing extended to all nations | High |
| Amos 9:11–12 | Acts 15:16–17 | Messiah’s reign restoring and expanding “David’s tent” to include Gentiles | High |
| Isaiah 53:7–8 | Acts 8:32–33 | Messiah as the suffering, silent Servant led to slaughter | Critical |
| Isaiah 55:3 | Acts 13:34 | The “sure blessings of David” secured through the risen Messiah | High |
| Isaiah 49:6 | Acts 13:47 (cf. 1:8, 26:23) | Messiah’s servant-mission extended as light to the Gentiles through his witnesses | High |
| Daniel 7:13–14 | Acts 7:56 | The exalted Son of Man standing at God’s right hand | Critical |
Note for Phase 2: Every row above is Critical or High and must be routed for human theologian review per the baseline’s escalation rule for Messianic Promise, Deity of Christ, Sonship of Christ, Lordship of Christ, and Resurrection content (12_ai_translation_requirements.md).
PART C — Typological Patterns Across Acts
| # | Type (OT pattern) | Antitype / Fulfillment | Key Acts Passages | Teaching Note | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinai theophany (wind, fire, divine speech; Exodus 19:16–19) | Pentecost theophany (Acts 2:2–3) | Acts 2:1–4 | The giving of the Law at Sinai and the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost are structurally parallel salvation-historical moments; Spanish lacks the Hebrew/Greek wind-spirit wordplay, so this connection must be taught explicitly, not left implicit. | Medium |
| 2 | Moses as prophet and deliverer (Deuteronomy 18:15) | Christ as “the prophet like Moses” | Acts 3:22–23; 7:37 | Both occurrences must render identically; this is one of the book’s central messianic-typological arguments. | High |
| 3 | Joseph: rejected by his brothers, exalted, becomes the means of their deliverance (Genesis 37–50) | Christ: rejected by his own people, exalted, becomes the means of Israel’s (and the world’s) deliverance | Acts 7:9–16 (in Stephen’s speech, applied implicitly to the whole pattern of Israel rejecting its deliverers) | Stephen’s speech uses this pattern cumulatively (Joseph, then Moses, then the prophets, then Christ) to indict his hearers’ rejection of Jesus as the culmination of a repeated national pattern; teach the rhetorical structure, not just the individual citations. | Medium |
| 4 | Daniel’s “one like a son of man” receiving dominion (Daniel 7:13–14) | Christ, “the Son of Man,” standing at God’s right hand | Acts 7:56 | Reinforces baseline deity_of_christ/lordship_of_christ (Critical); Stephen’s vision is the only place in Acts where a human being explicitly sees the glorified Christ in this posture — treat with the same gravity as the sermon Christology of Acts 2. | Critical |
| 5 | The Isaianic Suffering Servant, silent before his accusers, “cut off,” yet vindicated (Isaiah 52:13–53:12) | Christ, explicitly identified with the Servant by Philip | Acts 8:32–35 | The clearest single explicit identification of Jesus with the Servant songs anywhere in Acts; foundational cross-reference for any future curriculum covering Isaiah or the Servant Songs directly. | Critical |
| 6 | Passover/Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks, fifty days later (Leviticus 23:9–21) | Christ’s resurrection as “firstfruits” (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20, outside this curriculum but relevant background) followed fifty days later by the Spirit’s outpouring at Pentecost | Acts 2:1 | Explains the calendar logic behind the feast’s name and its typological fittingness as the moment the Spirit inaugurates the Christian mission; useful context note, not itself requiring a lexical decision beyond the established rendering of pentecost. | Medium |
| 7 | Jonah: a prophet’s sea-journey interrupted by a God-sent storm, resolved through divine intervention and testimony to Gentile sailors (Jonah 1) | Paul’s storm-and-shipwreck voyage, resulting in gospel testimony reaching Gentiles (Malta) | Acts 27:1–28:10 | An illustrative narrative parallel (not a formal citation); useful for showing providence directing even disaster toward gospel advance, continuous with the doctrine “The Great Commission Fulfilled.” | Low-Medium |
PART D — Parallels to Romans and Rendering-Consistency Rules
Because this curriculum will be studied by the same learners who study the Romans curriculum, and because both curricula share the same Spanish Language Package, the following consistency rules are mandatory for Phase 2 processing whenever Acts and Romans quote, or argue from, the same Old Testament material.
Rule 1 — Joel 2:32 / Acts 2:21 / Romans 10:13 (Critical).
Both Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13 quote the identical clause from Joel 2:32 (“whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”). The Spanish rendering must be verbatim identical in both curricula: “todo aquel que invoque el nombre del Señor será salvo.” Do not introduce stylistic variation between the two occurrences. This inherits Critical risk from both the baseline’s lord and salvation entries and from the baseline’s explicit rule that “Romans 10:9–10” renderings must be verbatim-consistent across documents — extend that same rule to this shared Joel citation.
Rule 2 — Habakkuk in two different curricula and two different verses (High — disambiguation required).
Romans 1:17 quotes Habakkuk 2:4 (“the righteous shall live by faith”), already fixed in the baseline as foundational to righteousness/faith. Acts 13:41 quotes a different verse from the same book, Habakkuk 1:5 (a warning to scoffers). These must never be conflated in teaching notes or cross-reference material; each requires its own citation and its own contextual explanation, despite sharing a source book.
Rule 3 — Abrahamic covenant citations (High).
Acts 3:25 (Genesis 22:18/12:3, “in your offspring all families will be blessed”) and Romans 4:3 (Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,” already governing baseline imputed_righteousness, Critical) both ground their arguments in the Abrahamic covenant narrative but cite different verses for different purposes — Acts 3:25 for Gentile-inclusion, Romans 4 for justification-by-faith. Teaching material may note the shared Genesis background but must cite each verse precisely and not merge the two arguments into a single citation.
Rule 4 — Isaiah 53 (Critical). Acts 8:32–33 directly quotes Isaiah 53:7–8 and explicitly identifies it with Jesus. Romans 4:25 (“delivered up for our trespasses”) echoes Isaiah 53:5, 12 conceptually but does not quote it directly. When cross-referencing, describe Romans 4:25 as a thematic echo, not a formal quotation of Isaiah 53 — do not overstate the textual relationship, but do preserve the conceptual link for teaching purposes.
Rule 5 — Election/predestination vocabulary (High). Acts 13:48 (“appointed/disposed to eternal life”) and Romans 8:28–30/9:11–13 both use election language that the baseline flags for mandatory theologian review and cautions against both a fatalistic “destino” rendering and an overcorrected purely-human-decision rendering. Use consistent register (dispuestos/ordenados, elección, llamado) across both curricula so learners recognize the same doctrine of God’s sovereign call in both books.
Rule 6 — Gentile-inclusion catena (High). Acts 15:16–17 (Amos 9:11–12) and Romans 15:9–12 (a chain of four OT citations: 2 Samuel 22:50/Psalm 18:49, Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 117:1, Isaiah 11:10) serve the same doctrinal purpose — establishing from Scripture that Gentiles are to be included, alongside Israel, in praising God under the Messiah’s reign — but are different citations. Teaching material should present them as parallel scriptural arguments for the same doctrine (“Unity of Jews and Gentiles” / “The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles”), not as the same quotation.
Rule 7 — Isaiah 6:9–10 vs. Deuteronomy 29:4/Isaiah 29:10 (High). Acts 28:26–27 quotes Isaiah 6:9–10 (seeing-but-not-perceiving) to explain Jewish unbelief and the pivot to Gentile mission. Romans 11:8 quotes a combination of Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10 for a related but not identical argument (partial hardening within God’s ongoing faithfulness to Israel, developed across all of Romans 9–11). Both curricula must retain the doctrine that Israel’s partial unbelief does not mean God has abandoned his purposes for Israel — but the two passages are textually distinct and must be cited and rendered separately.
Rule 8 — Shared term consistency (structural, not a single citation). All baseline Critical/High terms reused in Acts (Señor, Mesías, Espíritu Santo, justicia, justificación, salvación, gracia, pacto, elección, resurrección, santos, llamado) must retain their exact baseline Spanish renderings in every Acts occurrence catalogued above, with no stylistic substitution, per the baseline’s Glossary Enforcement Priority Order.
PART E — Citation Normalization Reference
For Phase 2 processing, all analysis-stage citations in this document (English book names, e.g. “Acts 2:21,” “Genesis 15:6,” “Joel 2:28–32”) must be converted to the Spanish Bible citation format already fixed in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md:
| Analysis-stage form | Spanish output form |
|---|---|
| Acts X:Y | Hechos X:Y |
| Genesis X:Y | Génesis X:Y |
| Exodus X:Y | Éxodo X:Y |
| Leviticus X:Y | Levítico X:Y |
| Numbers X:Y | Números X:Y |
| Deuteronomy X:Y | Deuteronomio X:Y |
| Joshua X:Y | Josué X:Y |
| 1/2 Samuel X:Y | 1/2 Samuel X:Y |
| Psalm(s) X:Y | Salmo(s) X:Y |
| Isaiah X:Y | Isaías X:Y |
| Amos X:Y | Amós X:Y |
| Habakkuk X:Y | Habacuc X:Y |
| Daniel X:Y | Daniel X:Y |
| Joel X:Y | Joel X:Y |
| Romans X:Y | Romanos X:Y |
Verse numbers remain Arabic numerals throughout, matching the YouVersion reference system already established as the baseline’s cross-reference convention.
This document extends, and must be read alongside, the baseline Romans Language Package and analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md / analysis/08_core_glossary.md. See analysis/10_biblical_theme_map.md for the accompanying whole-book theme structure.