Acts 1:1. Link connecting this book with St Luke's Gospel. Detailed account of the Ascension _The Title_. According to the best MSS. this should be simply "Acts of Apostles." The _Cod. Sin._gives only "Acts." The former of these titles, while having most authority, also most fitly describes the char... [ Continue Reading ]
_The former treatise_ In the original we have the superlative adjective used, but the idiom which speaks of the _first_of two is common to Greek with many other languages. An example is found 1 Corinthians 14:30. So Cicero, _de Inventione_, in his second book (chap, iii.) calls the former book _prim... [ Continue Reading ]
_the day in which he was taken up_ The Gospel of St Luke closes with a very brief notice of the Ascension: of which event fuller details are given in this chapter, so as to form a connection between the two treatises and to indicate the purpose with which the latter was written. See below on Acts 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
_after his passion_ Literally, AFTER HE HAD SUFFERED. _by many infallible proofs_ The adjective here has no representative in the original. The Greek word signifies some sign or token manifest to the senses, as opposed to evidence given by witnesses. The word _infallible_has been used in the A. V. t... [ Continue Reading ]
_not depart from Jerusalem_ This injunction is only mentioned by St Luke (Luke 24:49). The importance of their keeping together until the Holy Ghost was given is clear. It would thus be made more manifest that, though hereafter scattered abroad, their inspiration was supplied from one common source.... [ Continue Reading ]
_ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost_ Thus was now to be fulfilled that of which John the Baptist had spoken (Matthew 3:11), "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Such an event, when it came to pass, could not fail to work mightily on the minds of those among Christ's Apostl... [ Continue Reading ]
_wilt thou … restore_ Literally, DOST _thou restore_(or _art thou restoring_), but the English future gives the sense. _the kingdom to Israel_ The question was asked when all the Apostles were gathered together, so that the enquiry was not dictated by the mistaken notion of some single member. It sh... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is not for you_, &c. During the tutelage, as it may be called, of His disciples, our Lord constantly avoided giving a direct answer to enquiries which they addressed to Him. He checked in this way their tendency to speculate on the future, and drew their minds to their duty in the present. Cp. J... [ Continue Reading ]
_ye shall receive power_ Something different from the profitless speculations to which they had just desired an answer, even "a mouth and wisdom which their adversaries could neither gainsay nor resist" (Luke 21:15). Thus would they be enabled to become Christ's witnesses. _in Jerusalem, and in all... [ Continue Reading ]
_while they beheld_ That they might have as clear proof of His Ascension as they had received of the reality of His Resurrection, He is taken from them while they are still gazing on Him and with His words yet sounding in their ears. In the Gospel (Luke 24:51) it is "while He blessed them." From the... [ Continue Reading ]
_as he went up_ The preposition is not in the Greek, which has simply, _as he went_. _in white apparel_ They are called _men_, but they are evidently angels. So the two angels are clothed in white (John 20:12) whom Mary saw in the sepulchre after the Resurrection, and one of these is called by St Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye men of Galilee_ The Galilæan dialect was a marked peculiarity of the apostolic band. It seems also to have been our Lord's manner of speech. For when Peter is accused (Matthew 26:73) of being one of Christ's followers the words of the accusation are "Surely thou art one of _them_, for thy speech... [ Continue Reading ]
_from the mount called Olivet_ Elsewhere usually called the mount of Olives, but in Luke 19:29; Luke 21:37, some texts give, as here, Olivet _which is from Jerusalem_, &c. Literally, _which is near_ UNTO _Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey off_. The mount of Olives is on the east of Jerusalem, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when they were come in_ i.e. into the city, from the open country where the Ascension had taken place. _they went up into an_[THE] _upper room_ Probably the upper room which has been mentioned before (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12) as used by our Lord and His disciples for the passover feast. The Gre... [ Continue Reading ]
_These all continued_, &c. Prayer was the fittest preparation for the gift which they were expecting. The words rendered _and supplication_are omitted in the best MSS. _with the women_ Better, _with certain women_. Literally, WITH WOMEN. Probably some of those who during the life of Jesus had minis... [ Continue Reading ]
Election of an Apostle into the place of Judas Iscariot 15. _And in those days_ i.e. the days intervening between the Ascension and Pentecost. _Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples_ The best MSS. read BRETHREN for _disciples_. Here we have a formal assembling of all those who were avowed f... [ Continue Reading ]
_Men and brethren_ The original is meant for one epithet, and would be fully enough rendered by BRETHREN alone, here and in other places where it occurs. _this scripture_, &c. "_This_" is omitted by the best authorities. Read THE _scripture_, &c. It is to be noticed that Peter can thus speak becaus... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he was numbered with_[AMONG] _us, and had obtained part of this ministry_ Literally, HAD RECEIVED THE LOT OF, &c. Judas fulfils the conditions of the prophecy (Psalms 109:2-5). His was the mouth of the deceitful, the lying tongue, the groundless enmity, the requital of evil for good. But though... [ Continue Reading ]
It seems best to treat this verse and the following, which break the connexion of St Peter's remarks on David's prophecies, as no part of the Apostle's speech on the election of Matthias. St Luke most likely derived the words from St Peter, from whom he no doubt gathered the facts for this part of h... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it was known_ Rather, BECAME _known_. The fate of Judas, if he died there, and the way in which the purchase money was obtained, caused the name to be changed from "the Potter's Field" to "the Field of Blood," all people recognizing the fitness of the new name. _is called_ The use of expressio... [ Continue Reading ]
The passages quoted by St Peter are from Psalms 69:25, where it is written "Let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents;" and Psalms 109:8, "Let his days be few, and let another take his office." St Peter changes the plural of the former verse into the singular in his quotati... [ Continue Reading ]
As the new Apostle is to be, like the rest, an eyewitness to the life of Jesus, he must have been a disciple from the beginning of Christ's ministry. Such a necessity would probably make the number from whom choice could be made a very small one. It seems hardly probable, if St Luke's design had bee... [ Continue Reading ]
_to be a witness with us of his resurrection_ The Resurrection was the central truth, but to bear testimony that it was truly Jesus who had risen, the witness must have known Him well before His crucifixion. It is quite in accordance with the character of St Luke's narrative that although he is car... [ Continue Reading ]
_they appointed two_ Thus exercising their own judgment to a certain degree in the appointment, as they could rightly do from their three years intimacy with those who had been disciples from the beginning. _Joseph called Barsabas_[Barsabbas in the best MSS.] _who was surnamed Justus_ From the ident... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they prayed, and said_ Here we are not to conclude that St Luke has recorded any more than the purport of the prayer of the disciples, in the same way as in the speeches which he reports he has only preserved a brief abstract of the speakers" arguments and language. _Thou, Lord, which knowest... [ Continue Reading ]
_that he may take part_ The best MSS. read _that he may take_ THE PLACE, &c. The _Rec. Text_has the same words here and in Acts 1:17, as is represented in the A. V. A scribe remembering the former would easily assimilate the two places, and as the Greek word in Acts 1:17 signifies _lot_, he might pe... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they gave forth their lots_ Better, _And they_ GAVE LOTS FOR THEM, in accordance with MSS. The process probably was that each member of the company wrote on a tablet or ticket the name of one of the chosen two; the whole were then placed in some vessel and shaken together, and that tablet which... [ Continue Reading ]