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Christ-Centered Exposition
Exalting Jesus in Acts
Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ- centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. Readers will learn to see Christ in all aspects of Scripture, and they will be encouraged by the devotional nature of each exposition. Projected contributors to the series include notable authors such as Russell D. Moore, Al Mohler, Matt Chandler, Francis Chan, Mark Dever, and others.
432 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2017
188 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Tony Merida
57 books35 followersTony Merida is the founding pastor of Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC. Tony is the author of Faithful Preaching, co-author of Orphanology, and serves as a general editor and as contributor to the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series (B&H Publishing Group) along with David Platt and Danny Akin. He is married to Kimberly, with whom he has five adopted children.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 25, 2025
Excellent commentary on Acts. Published in 2017, it reads like a contemporary work (and I mean that in the best sense). Merida quotes frequently from other commentaries on Acts, putting them in a context relevant to us today. I appreciate the breadth of his study and the valuable work bringing it all together in a clear, digestible tract.
Merida does an excellent job illuminating the text, pointing readers back to the gospel, back to Jesus, and challenging us to live this out in our lives.
Merida does an excellent job illuminating the text, pointing readers back to the gospel, back to Jesus, and challenging us to live this out in our lives.
March 15, 2024
I cannot recommend this commentary series enough! It’s very good for when you want to get deeper, but not so deep that you can’t follow along.
April 4, 2020
What a fantastic commentary! This is the third book I’ve read in this series and I just love how these books are written for the everyday person. I learn so much and it’s explained so well. I highly recommend it!
August 7, 2017
Exalting Jesus in Acts is a New Testament study & commentary by Tony Merida. One of the outstanding pieces of content is the `Scripture Index` at the back of the commentary. The scripture index lists what Scripture reference was used and on what page. My overall feelings toward this book is that it is easy to use. It goes through each chapter verse-by-verse, informing the reader where Jesus fits in the book of Acts.
Exalting Jesus in Acts is broken down into chapter segments, which are broken down into smaller segments. At the end of each chapter are Reflect and Discuss sections making this book great for group studies. The fine print typeface is about a 12, with the bolder typeface about a 14, making this book easy on the eyes. I would recommend this Christ-centered Exposition to pastors and laymen. I look forward to reading and reviewing more of the books in this Christ-Centered Exposition series.
Disclaimer: "I was provided a free copy of this book. All opinions are my own."
Exalting Jesus in Acts is broken down into chapter segments, which are broken down into smaller segments. At the end of each chapter are Reflect and Discuss sections making this book great for group studies. The fine print typeface is about a 12, with the bolder typeface about a 14, making this book easy on the eyes. I would recommend this Christ-centered Exposition to pastors and laymen. I look forward to reading and reviewing more of the books in this Christ-Centered Exposition series.
Disclaimer: "I was provided a free copy of this book. All opinions are my own."
December 13, 2019
This was an exceptional book and lesson guide to use for small group bible study. I used this book in our small group bible study at work for a verse-by-verse bible study through the book of Acts. The chapters were broken into thoughtful segments with 10 or so review questions at the end of each chapter.
It was hard to tell how the editors - David Platt and Daniel Akin - contributed, but the writing was very easy to follow and organized in a very historical, yet theological way. The author truly followed through on the books promise of being a Christ-centered expositional study through the book of Acts.
Pros: Very well written chapters that were easy to digest with excellent questions at the end of each chapter.
Cons: None that I can think of - this book served a great purpose and was a good fit for our group.
Bottom line: This book provided to be an excellent study guide and supplement to our study through the book of Acts.
It was hard to tell how the editors - David Platt and Daniel Akin - contributed, but the writing was very easy to follow and organized in a very historical, yet theological way. The author truly followed through on the books promise of being a Christ-centered expositional study through the book of Acts.
Pros: Very well written chapters that were easy to digest with excellent questions at the end of each chapter.
Cons: None that I can think of - this book served a great purpose and was a good fit for our group.
Bottom line: This book provided to be an excellent study guide and supplement to our study through the book of Acts.
October 1, 2023
I’m giving this 4 stars because it was well written and would really help newer believers, but just an FYI, I do NOT recommend doing this as a weekly lesson for Sunday school (like my class did). It’s way too in depth and we lost focus way too many times. It became repetitive in parts. Some things in this book blew my mind though and I took a lot away from studying the book of Acts again. I just didn’t love how long winded the author(s) was. Sometimes he could have made his point with less words and it would have been JUST as powerful! He also didn’t need to site so many outside sources (like other than the Bible, which of course needed to be cited).
September 7, 2024
This commentary was a huge help to my preaching forum group, and I. Five men that helped and teamed up with preaching the book of acts to our congregation, and we used this commentary to help ground us in keeping a Christ centered series that we preached for 36 week. Highly recommend this entire commentary series and will continue using it as a study tool to help deepen my faith and understanding of the word as I teach it to the congregation Christ has put me over.
May 6, 2020
A primer commentary delving deeper into the book of Acts. This helpful, pastoral sensitive treatment into the book of Acts provides its reader applicable chapter summaries into this important book in our New Testaments. A nice read to accompany more scholarly, technical treatments of Acts for pastor and student alike.
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September 28, 2019Became one of my go to commentaries in a 48 part sermon series I did in the book of Acts. Super helpful and practical.
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May 8, 2023slayed, finished this a while ago but haven’t been on goodreads
October 12, 2023
Merida provides an excellent, concise series of 34 expositions through the entirety of Acts from a modern Christ-centered, Baptist perspective.
March 1, 2020
This was a great add on to my reading and studying of the Book of Acts. Besides helping me go deeper on certain verses to understand it better, it also gave cultural and historical details I did not know. I will use this series for Bible study again.
July 19, 2017
A bridge—Tony Merida does an excellent job spanning the gap between Acts and us in his commentary Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Exalting Jesus in Acts.
Spans time—from good but brief historical background and explanation of the apostles and the missionary journeys, to today’s day and age and our questions and concerns.
Spans heaven and earth—fixes our eyes on Jesus yet is down to earth, grounded in practical application.
Spans the book of Acts—Merida does a good job of breaking down the book in thematic, united, and manageable chunks. As the series claims, this helps make it great for sermon preparation and/or personal and small group study.
Spans hermeneutics—while Merida obviously did his exegetical work, you won’t find the verse-by-verse exegesis as in some commentaries. Rather, it is primarily expository, as the title states.
Span of diversity—this book does a good job of highlighting the various different contexts the gospel visits, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the ends of the earth; from the temple courts, to far-off Jewish synagogues, to the Areopagus; from rich Lydia, to the slave girl, and the middle-class jailer of Acts 16.
Spans passion—from Paul’s heart to Merida’s heart to our heart, there is passion in this book. The excitement for the gospel that opens eyes, turning people from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, for the forgiveness of sins and a place among the saved (Acts 16:18), the gospel that turns the upside-down world upside-down-right-side-up (Acts 17:6).
I have listened to many sermon series on Acts and read several commentaries on the book, and while I found a few new nuggets and insights in Merida’s work, a lot of it was similar—yet a valuable, passionate reminder.
Read my personal impact at my blog http://astonescry.blogspot.com/2017/0...
"I received this copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review."
Spans time—from good but brief historical background and explanation of the apostles and the missionary journeys, to today’s day and age and our questions and concerns.
Spans heaven and earth—fixes our eyes on Jesus yet is down to earth, grounded in practical application.
Spans the book of Acts—Merida does a good job of breaking down the book in thematic, united, and manageable chunks. As the series claims, this helps make it great for sermon preparation and/or personal and small group study.
Spans hermeneutics—while Merida obviously did his exegetical work, you won’t find the verse-by-verse exegesis as in some commentaries. Rather, it is primarily expository, as the title states.
Span of diversity—this book does a good job of highlighting the various different contexts the gospel visits, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the ends of the earth; from the temple courts, to far-off Jewish synagogues, to the Areopagus; from rich Lydia, to the slave girl, and the middle-class jailer of Acts 16.
Spans passion—from Paul’s heart to Merida’s heart to our heart, there is passion in this book. The excitement for the gospel that opens eyes, turning people from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, for the forgiveness of sins and a place among the saved (Acts 16:18), the gospel that turns the upside-down world upside-down-right-side-up (Acts 17:6).
I have listened to many sermon series on Acts and read several commentaries on the book, and while I found a few new nuggets and insights in Merida’s work, a lot of it was similar—yet a valuable, passionate reminder.
Read my personal impact at my blog http://astonescry.blogspot.com/2017/0...
"I received this copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review."
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews