<P> Luke -- Acts is an attempt to answer a theological problem , namely how the Messiah of the Jews came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church ; the answer it provides , and its central theme , is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles because the Jews rejected it . Luke -- Acts can be also seen as a defense of ( or `` apology '' for ) the Jesus movement addressed to the Jews : the bulk of the speeches and sermons in Acts are addressed to Jewish audiences , with the Romans serving as external arbiters on disputes concerning Jewish customs and law . On the one hand Luke portrays the Christians as a sect of the Jews , and therefore entitled to legal protection as a recognised religion ; on the other , Luke seems unclear as to the future God intends for Jews and Christians , celebrating the Jewishness of Jesus and his immediate followers while also stressing how the Jews had rejected God 's promised Messiah . </P>
who is the book of acts written to
to Jewish audiences