Bible Verse Lookup
Audience.
Despite the address to Theophilus in the opening sentence ( 1:1 ), Acts is not a letter or a speech addressing a single reader. The address is properly considered a dedication (not unlike the dedications of published books today), which allows the author to single out and honour one particular reader while implying a wider distribution. Such a dedicatee, within the conventions of ancient literature, would normally be a real person known to the author, a friend or patron, and often (but not necessarily) represents the same kind of reader as the implied readers of the text. If this is the case here, the readers, like Theophilus, will be people who have already had some instruction in the faith and need to be assured of its ‘reliability’ (Lk 1:4 ). This seems to imply a both a predominantly Christian readership and one that will appreciate the neutral, academic tones of the preface. But it is also important to take account of the dramatic audiences Luke invokes within the text itself: see ACTS E.
