Acts Bible Trivia Questions and Answers

What was the central doctrinal question debated at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15?

AWhether Gentile believers should observe the Jewish Sabbath
BWhether Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be savedCorrect
CWhether Gentile believers could share the Lord’s Supper with Jewish believers
DWhether Gentile believers owed tithes to the Jerusalem temple

Answer: Whether Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved

Acts 15:1–2 · ESV

Men came down from Judea to Antioch teaching that unless Gentile believers were circumcised according to the custom of Moses they could not be saved. That put the sufficiency of grace at stake, not merely a cultural practice, so Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem to settle it. The council concluded that God cleansed Gentile hearts by faith and that salvation comes through the grace of the Lord Jesus, adding only a few requests to ease table fellowship.

Acts 15:1-11, 19-29

Why not this one. Sabbath keeping was a live question in the early churches and Paul addresses it elsewhere, so it fits the era. But the council's agenda was circumcision and the law as conditions of being saved, which is a question about salvation itself.

Who vouched for Paul to the Jerusalem apostles when they were afraid of him, testifying that Paul had truly seen the Lord on the road?

ASilas
BBarnabasCorrect
CJames the brother of Jesus
DAnanias of Damascus

Answer: Barnabas

Acts 9:27 · ESV

When Saul came to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples and they were all afraid of him, not believing he was one of them. Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and told them both about the Damascus road encounter and about how boldly Saul had preached in Damascus. Luke had already explained the man's name, given him by the apostles, as son of encouragement, and this is the first place we see why.

Acts 9:26-27; Acts 4:36

Why not this one. Ananias is the disciple who first accepted Saul, and he did so over his own objections, so his name comes readily to mind. But his part happened in Damascus; he does not appear in Jerusalem, and Luke names Barnabas as the one who made the introduction there.

After the Spirit carried Philip away from the Ethiopian on the desert road, in which town was he found next?

AAzotusCorrect
BGaza
CLydda
DJoppa

Answer: Azotus

Acts 8:40 · ESV

The eunuch saw Philip no more and went on his way rejoicing, while Philip found himself further up the coast. From there he preached the gospel through all the towns until he came to Caesarea, where he was still living years later when Paul's party lodged with him.

Acts 8:39-40 records where he was found; Acts 21:8 places him at Caesarea long afterward.

Why not this one. Gaza names the road on which Philip met the eunuch, which makes it the most natural guess, but the encounter happened on the way there rather than in the town. Luke sets Philip down afterward at Azotus.

The rioting crowd in the Ephesian theater shouted for about two hours in praise of which goddess?

AArtemisCorrect
BAthena
CAphrodite
DHera

Answer: Artemis

Acts 19:28-34 · ESV

The silversmiths who made shrines for the goddess feared both for their trade and for the reputation of her temple, and they stirred up the city. The crowd rushed into the theater, dragged in two of Paul's companions, and kept up a single cry in her honor for about two hours.

Acts 19:23-34 records the silversmiths' complaint, the riot, and the two hours of shouting.

Why not this one. Athena was the patron goddess of Athens, the city where Paul saw an altar to an unknown god and reasoned in the marketplace. The temple that made Ephesus famous, and the riot in its theater, belonged to Artemis.

At the Jerusalem Council, which leader rose to give the decisive speech affirming that God had chosen to take from among the Gentiles a people for his name?

APeter
BBarnabas
CPaul
DJamesCorrect

Answer: James

Acts 15:13–19 · ESV

After much debate Peter recounted what God had done at Cornelius's house, and Barnabas and Paul described the signs among the Gentiles. Then James, the Lord's brother and a leader of the Jerusalem church, spoke last, tied Peter's account to Amos 9 about the rebuilt tent of David, and gave his judgment that they should not trouble the Gentiles who turn to God. The letter that went out carried the whole assembly's agreement.

Acts 15:7-21; Amos 9:11-12

Why not this one. Peter's speech is the theological turning point, arguing that God gave the Spirit to Gentiles just as to Jews and cleansed their hearts by faith. But it comes before the decisive one; James rises after him and frames the conclusion the council adopts.

In whose house at Caesarea did Paul stay, a man with four unmarried daughters who prophesied?

APhilip the evangelistCorrect
BMnason of Cyprus
CCornelius the centurion
DAgabus the prophet

Answer: Philip the evangelist

Acts 21:8-9 · ESV

Luke, travelling with the party, notes that their host was one of the seven chosen in Acts 6 and that his four unmarried daughters prophesied. It was during that stay of many days that Agabus came down from Judea with the belt and the warning about what awaited Paul in Jerusalem.

Acts 21:8-11 names the host, describes his daughters, and records Agabus' arrival.

Why not this one. Mnason is a genuine host on the same journey, an early disciple with whom the party lodged once they reached Jerusalem, so he is easy to confuse with the Caesarea host. The household with the prophesying daughters is Philip's.

How does the book of Acts end, describing Paul’s situation in Rome?

APaul was brought before Nero and silenced from all public preaching
BPaul lived in his own rented dwelling, welcoming all who came to him and proclaiming the kingdom of GodCorrect
CPaul was released and immediately sailed back to Antioch to report to the church
DPaul was executed by beheading and buried outside the walls of Rome

Answer: Paul lived in his own rented dwelling, welcoming all who came to him and proclaiming the kingdom of God

Acts 28:30–31 · ESV

Luke closes with Paul under guard for two whole years in Rome at his own expense, receiving everyone who came and preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. The final word of the Greek text means without hindrance, and it lands on the preaching rather than on the prisoner. That ending completes the movement announced in Acts 1:8: the witness has reached the capital of the empire, and the chain has not stopped it.

Acts 28:30-31; cf. Acts 1:8

Why not this one. Early church tradition does report Paul's death in Rome under Nero, so this is not an idle guess. But Acts says nothing of it; Luke leaves Paul alive and preaching, because his subject is the progress of the word rather than the biography of the apostle.

How many people were added to the church after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost?

AAbout three thousand.Correct
BAbout five thousand.
CAbout one hundred twenty.
DAbout two thousand.

Answer: About three thousand.

Acts 2:41 · ESV

Luke keeps a running count of the growing church, and the number after Pentecost stands against the roughly one hundred twenty who had been gathered in the upper room a few days earlier. Three thousand received the word, were baptized, and were added that day. Luke's phrasing makes the addition God's act through the preached word, not a tally of decisions.

Acts 2:41; cf. Acts 1:15

Why not this one. Five thousand is a real number in Acts, but it belongs to a later scene: after Peter healed the lame man at the temple gate and preached in Solomon's portico, the number of the men came to about five thousand.

In which city was Jason dragged before the city authorities because he had received Paul and his companions into his house?

AThessalonicaCorrect
BBerea
CPhilippi
DCorinth

Answer: Thessalonica

Acts 17:5-9 · ESV

A mob attacked Jason's house looking for the missionaries, and when they could not find them they hauled Jason and some other believers before the city authorities with the charge that these men acted against Caesar's decrees by saying there is another king. Jason and the rest were released after posting security.

Acts 17:1-9 gives the riot, the charge before the city authorities, and the bond.

Why not this one. Berea is where Paul went next, and trouble followed there too, stirred up by men who came down from Thessalonica. But Jason, the mob at his house, and the money posted for his release all belong to the earlier city.

What did the risen Jesus command the apostles to do before they would receive power?

AWait in Jerusalem for the promise of the FatherCorrect
BReturn at once to Galilee and gather there
CFast for forty days in the temple courts
DSet out immediately for the ends of the earth

Answer: Wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father

Acts 1:4-8 · ESV

Jesus ordered the apostles not to leave the city but to wait for what the Father had promised, telling them they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days later. When they asked about restoring the kingdom to Israel, he redirected them to the power they would receive and the witness they would bear.

Acts 1:4-8 gives both the command to wait and the promise of the Spirit and of worldwide witness.

Why not this one. The ends of the earth are named in the same passage as the eventual reach of their witness, which makes this the closest wrong option. But the command in Acts 1 is to stay put until the Spirit came; the going follows the waiting.

On the island where Paul’s ship was wrecked, a viper fastened on Paul’s hand but he suffered no harm. The islanders changed their assessment of him from murderer to what?

AA prophet
BA Roman official
CA godCorrect
DAn innocent man

Answer: A god

Acts 28:4–6 · ESV

When the viper came out of the fire and fastened on Paul's hand, the natives of Malta concluded that justice had caught up with a murderer who escaped the sea. They watched for him to swell up or drop dead, and when nothing happened after a long wait they swung to the opposite verdict. The reaction mirrors Lystra, where the same crowd that hailed Paul and Barnabas as gods later stoned Paul, and in neither place does he accept the honor.

Acts 28:3-6; cf. Acts 14:11-19

Why not this one. A prophet is what a biblically literate audience might conclude, and it would be a more measured judgment. But these islanders were pagans reasoning from their own categories of divine retribution, and their reversal went all the way to calling him a god.