본 연구는 사도행전에 나타난 바울의 상황화 선교 원리와 전략에 관한 것이다. 사도행전에서 사도바울은 대상자인 청중의 상황에 따라 메시지의 내용을 다르게 표현하고 있다. 사도행전 15장 예루살렘 공의 회에서 사도바울은 모세의 율법과 할례를 시행하는 것이 구원의 조건이 아니라 예수그리스도를 믿음으로 구원을 받는다는 것을 분명히 하였다. 사도행전 13장 안디옥에서 유대인에게, 사도행전 14장 루스드라에서 이방인에게, 17장 아덴에서 철학자들에게 다른 메시지 내용과 전달방 법을 활용하였다. 사도행전에서 바울은 대상자에 맞는 적절한 상황화 원리를 통하여 복음의 전달을 하였다. 사도행전에서 나타난 바울의 상황화는 대상자인 청중의 눈높이에 맞추어 복음을 전달하였다.

누가는 바울과 함께 풍부한 어휘력을 구사하는 저술가로서 신약성 경의 25% 분량에 해당하는 누가복음과 사도행전을 다음과 같은 관점에서 기록했다. 그는 예수의 탄생에서 시작하여 예수의 사역과 사도들의 행적을 기록하면서 다른 복음서에 비해 이방인과 가난한 자를 위한 선교사역을 부각시켰다. 당시 유대인들의 이방인 적대감과 그리스도인에 대한 핍박이 심해지는 상황에서 가난한 자들과 소외되던 여인들, 사마리아인들에 대한 예수의 사역을 강조함으로써 누가는 유대인과 이방인 선교를 연결하는 보편적 선교를 강조했다. 또한 예수의 부활과 승천 후에도 그리스도는 성령으로 여전히 그들과 함께 하심으로 하나님의 선교가 계속됨을 말했다. 누가는 다른 복음서들 보다 성령을 강조했고, 이것은 사도행전에서 더욱 부각된다. 우리는 누가의 저술에서 이방인과 가난한 자를 위한 선교 그리고 성령 하나님의 선교(missio Dei)의 주제에 대한 선교적 해석을 하게 될 것이다.

The Acts of the Apostles historically and geographically demonstrates how churches were planted from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth through the Gospel message which the apostles were called to preach. The apostles witnessed Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord who was crucified and resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit in accordance with God's will. This study attempts to point out some missiological themes revealed in Acts and to apply them in mission studies and on the mission fields. First, Acts demonstrates that the Gospel message was preached and the churches were planted in various countries through out Asia and Europe by the power of the Holy Spirit. Both dimensions of "seeing" and "hearing" the Gospel message were rarely illustrated apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. The apostles Peter and Paul, as well as laity like Stephen and Phillip who were filled with the Holy Spirit, courageously preached the Gospel message. As a result, the Gospel message was finally communicated to Rome, the end of the world at that time. Second, Acts seeks universality in terms of Gentile missions. The Gospel message whose essence is the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the salvific message which is able to save all humans whether they are Jew or Gentile. The apostle Peter realized the significance of Gentile missions through the vision of meal and the apostle Paul through the Lord's voice on the way to the city of Damascus. The Gospel message was communicated across races, cultures, languages, and lands. Third, Acts confirms that Gentiles did not have to become culturally Jewish to be saved. In other words, they did not need to be circumcised to become a Christian. What they needed to do to be saved was to repent of their sins and to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. Acts solidifies the principle of justification by faith. Further, Acts maintains that people can become Christians in their own culture. Fourth, Acts shows that the apostle Paul preached the Gospel message in the city of Athens. At that time, Athens was an open city and the center of philosophy and religion. Paul contextualized the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in the city. For example, he cited Greek poems when he preached the Gospel message to the Greeks in the meeting of the Areopagus so that the Greeks could easily understand the Gospel message. Consequently, some Greeks became Christians. However, Paul attempted critical contextualization. Fifth, Acts reveals that the Apostle Paul carried out urban missions throughout Asia and Europe. Paul chose central cities in various areas in accordance with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and reached the different people groups in the central cities. The people in the cities would be more open than the people in the rural areas to the Gospel message of Christianity. Acts reveals that urban evangelism was more effective. Sixth, Acts is regarded as a historical book of the church. The early churches planted by some apostles experienced considerable growth numerically, geographically, and spiritually. Church growth demonstrated in Acts is biblically healthy and has balanced growth. The essence of church growth is to make Christlike disciples in every nation and to make them responsible members of the church. The apostle Paul not only planted churches but he also nurtured believers as Christlike disciples. As a result, churches became indigenized in different cultures. Evangelism and missions are God's strong desire. God not only seeks sinners but also finds them. He sent His only begotten Son to the world and let Him die on the cross to save the lost. He saves people who truly repent of their sins and accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord. Acts is the book which discusses the process of evangelization and church planting from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth with the power of the Holy Spirit and in accordance of God's salvific plan. Churches today need to continue the work started in the Acts of the Apostles.

“And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward.”(Mt. 10:42) With this saying the local followers were ordered to submit to the authority of itinerant missionaries and to support them. However, when the local congregation formed itself and grew up, they needed the resident leaders. There arose competitions and conflicts between the resident leaders and the itinerant missionaries. Thus the missionaries transferred gradually from the itinerant life to the resident one. Then the house community became the center of mission and meeting, which was supported materially by the patron. However, the house community with patrons disappeared gradually, because it could not overcome the problem of difference among member’s social status. Therefore the Christian congregation should solve the economic problem, without patrons, with the egalitarian spirit and the brethren love. The early Christians who knew the Judaic custom of offerings offered the donations for the church. The donations and the immovables which the members offered formed the church property. Notwithstanding Jesus’ critics of the wealth, the early church gathered the property for the solution of the economic problem. The early church could not furnish her preachers with the nourishment regularly. But as the Christian believers increased and the church grew up, professional ministers were needed. “For the workman is worthy of his meat”: Jesus intended this saying originally for his itinerant disciples, but the history proved that this was said for church ministers. It is a invariable truth that the change of the life conditions brings about that of the economic life. In the situation of itinerant life Jesus criticized the wealth (to say more exactly, the dependence on the wealth). But thereafter his disciples gave up the itinerant life for the resident life. By the above research I intended to show that a new possibility of the economic life had beginned. The choice of the resident life led to a new economic life, so that the church developed in the other direction than Jesus intended originally. This is the teaching which the history gave to us.