THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. — See _Introduction_ as to the title thus given to the Book. (1) THE FORMER TREATISE. — Literally, _word,_ or _discourse;_ but the English of the text is, perhaps, a happier equivalent than either. The Greek term had been used by Xenophon (_Anab._ ii. 1; _Cyrop._ viii. 1,... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTIL THE DAY IN WHICH HE WAS TAKEN UP. — We notice, as a matter of style, the same periodic structure that we found in the opening of the Gospel, made more conspicuous in the Greek by an arrangement of the words which places “he was taken up” at the close of the sentence. On the word “taken up,” se... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER HIS PASSION. — Literally, _after He had suffered._ The English somewhat anticipates the later special sense of “passion.” BY MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS. — There is no adjective in the Greek answering to “infallible,” but the noun is one which was used by writers on rhetoric (_e.g.,_ Aristotle, _R... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, BEING ASSEMBLED TOGETHER WITH THEM. — The MSS. present two forms of the participle: one with the meaning given in the English version, the other, but inferior reading, with the sense of “dwelling together with” the disciples. The Vulgate, _convescens,_ “eating with,” probably rests on a mistake... [ Continue Reading ]
JOHN TRULY BAPTIZED WITH WATER. — See Note on Matthew 3:11. The words threw the disciples back upon their recollection of their first admission to the Kingdom. Some of them, at least, must have remembered also the teaching which had told them of the new birth of water and of the Spirit (John 3:3). N... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, WILT THOU AT THIS TIME RESTORE AGAIN THE KINGDOM? — More literally, _art Thou restoring_... Before the Passion the disciples had thought that “the kingdom of God should immediately appear” (Luke 19:11). Then had come the seeming failure of those hopes (Luke 24:21). Now they were revived by the... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW THE TIMES OR THE SEASONS. — The combination of the two words is characteristic of St. Luke and St. Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:1). The answer to the eager question touches the season rather than the nature of the fulfilment of their hopes. They are left to the teaching of the S... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER. — The use of the same English noun for two different Greek words is misleading, but if “authority” be used in Acts 1:7 then “power” is an adequate rendering here. The consciousness of a new faculty of thought and speech would be to them a proof that the promise of the Kin... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WAS TAKEN UP; AND A CLOUD RECEIVED HIM... — It is remarkable how little stress is laid in the Gospels on the fact which has always been so prominent in the creeds of Christendom. Neither St. John nor St. Matthew record it. It is barely mentioned with utmost brevity in the verses which close the G... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO MEN STOOD BY THEM IN WHITE APPAREL. — Better, _were standing,_ the appearance being sudden, and their approach unnoticed. The forms were such as those as had been seen at the portals of the empty sepulchre, bright and fair to look upon, and clad in white garments, like the young priests in the T... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL SO COME IN LIKE MANNER AS YE HAVE SEEN HIM GO INTO HEAVEN. — So our Lord, following the great prophecy of Daniel 7:13, had spoken of Himself as “coming in the clouds of heaven” (see Note on Matthew 26:64), in visible ‘majesty and glory. Here, again, men have asked questions which they cannot a... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE MOUNT CALLED OLIVET. — As to the name, see Note on Luke 19:29. The mention of the distance, and the measure of distance employed are, both of them, remarkable, and suggest the thought that St. Luke’s reckoning was a different one from that which Christendom has commonly received, and that t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WENT UP INTO AN UPPER ROOM, WHERE ABODE... — Better, _into the upper room, where they were abiding._ The Greek noun has the article. The room may have been the same as that in which the Paschal Supper had been eaten (Mark 14:15). On the other hand, that room seems to have been different from th... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THE WOMEN. — Looking to what we have seen in the Gospels, it is a natural inference that here, too, the “devout women” of Luke 8:2, were among St. Luke’s chief informants. This may, perhaps, account for the variations in the list just noticed. The women were less likely than the disciples to la... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NUMBER OF NAMES TOGETHER WERE ABOUT AN HUNDRED AND TWENTY. — The number probably included the Seventy of Luke 10:1, perhaps also Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus, and some of the “five hundred” who had seen their risen Lord in Galilee or elsewhere (1 Corinthians 15:6). The use of “names” may be... [ Continue Reading ]
MEN AND BRETHREN. — Better, _brethren_ only, the word being used as in the LXX. of Genesis 13:8. The tone of St. Peter’s speech is that of one who felt that his offence had been fully forgiven, and that he was now restored by the charge given him, as in John 21:15, to his former position as guide an... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE WAS NUMBERED WITH US. — Literally, _he had been numbered._ HAD OBTAINED PART OF THIS MINISTRY. — Better, _the portion,_ or _inheritance._ The Greek has the article, and the noun (_cleros_) is one which afterwards acquired a special half-technical sense in the words, _clerus, clericus, “_cler... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THIS MAN PURCHASED A FIELD. — Better, _acquired, got possession of, a field,_ the Greek not necessarily including the idea of buying. On the difficulties presented by a comparison of this account with that in Matthew 27:5, see Note on that passage. Here the field bought with Judas’s money is spo... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THEIR PROPER TONGUE. — Literally, _in their own dialect._ The word is used frequently in the Acts (Acts 2:6; Acts 2:8; Acts 21:40), but not elsewhere in the New Testament.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IT IS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS — St. Peter’s speech is continued after the parenthetical note. His purpose in making the quotation is to show that the disciples should not be staggered by the treachery of Judas, and the seeming failure of their hopes. The Psalms had represented the righteou... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE OF THESE MEN WHICH HAVE COMPANIED WITH US. — From the retrospective glance at the guilt and punishment of the traitor, Peter passes, as with a practical sagacity, to the one thing that was now needful for the work of the infant Church. They, the Apostles, must present themselves to the peo... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY APPOINTED. — It is uncertain whether this was the act of the Apostles, presenting the two men to the choice of the whole body of disciples, or of the community choosing them for ultimate decision by lot. JOSEPH CALLED BARSABAS, WHO WAS SURNAMED JUSTUS. — Some MSS. give the various-reading of “J... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU, LORD, WHICH KNOWEST THE HEARTS OF ALL MEN. — Literally, _heart-knower of all men._ The compound word is not found in any Greek version of the Old Testament, but meets us again in Acts 15:8. The question meets us whether the prayer is addressed to the Lord Jesus, as with a recollection of His i... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT HE MAY TAKE PART OF THIS MINISTRY. — Better, _the portion,_ or _the lot,_ so as to give the word (_cleros,_ as in Acts 1:17) the same prominence in English as it has in the Greek. FROM WHICH JUDAS BY TRANSGRESSION FELL. — The last three words are as a paraphrase of the one Greek verb. Better,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY GAVE FORTH THEIR LOTS. — As interpreted by the prayer of Acts 1:24, and by the word “fell” here, there can be no doubt that the passage speaks of “lots” and not “votes.” The two men were chosen by the disciples as standing, as far as they could see, on the same level. It was left for the Se... [ Continue Reading ]