Final answer:
To determine what is normative for the church in Acts versus merely descriptive requires evaluating contextual cues, explicit commands, and theological themes. Examining other scriptural references helps identify normative practices. Ethical norms and normative theories are compared to address claims against certain behaviors.
Step-by-step explanation:
To understand what is normative for the church in Acts and what is merely descriptive, it's essential to distinguish between prescriptive texts, which articulate standards and commands for the church to follow, and descriptive texts, which simply narrate events without necessarily endorsing them. A guideline to discerning the normative from the descriptive is to evaluate the context of the passages, the presence of explicit commands, and the broader theological themes within the book of Acts and the New Testament. For example, the practice of speaking in tongues at Pentecost is descriptive of that event, but whether it is normative for all church practices can be determined by examining other scriptural references and traditions.
In response to the four possible responses to the claim that person should not behave as described in a chapter, one should first identify the normative ethical principals presented, compare them to systematic normative theories, and assess whether the actions align with widely accepted moral standards or enhance the well-being of the community.