It is not until Luke's second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, that the disciples of Jesus come into their own as significant characters in the narrative of Christian beginnings. Their role in the Third Gospel is more passive, with the spotlight rarely leaving Jesus once he enters upon his public ministry. This is not to say the activity of the disciples in Acts is unanticipated. In his retrospective summary of the Third Gospel the disciples are mentioned for their having been chosen and instructed by Jesus (Acts 1:2). Luke understands the disciples primarily as the recipients of Jesus' training until they are commissioned to continue his work (22:28–30; 24:47).

One of the ways Luke helps to build a bridge between his two volumes on the subject of discipleship is with the prominence in Acts of “the Way” as a description of the community of Jesus' followers and its teaching (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). In Acts “the Way” designates a people who align themselves with and serve God's plan, especially as witnessed in the Scriptures and manifest in Jesus (cf. Acts 18:24–25; cf., e.g., Luke 1:6; 20:21). This usage is rooted already in the Gospel of Luke – both in its utilization of the term “way” (656s) and in the attention it otherwise gives to the journey motif.