1The formerG3303 G4413 treatiseG3056 have I madeG4160, OG5599 TheophilusG2321, ofG4012 allG3956 thatG3739 JesusG2424 beganG756 bothG5037 to doG4160 andG2532 teachG1321, 2UntilG891 the dayG2250 whenG3739 he was taken upG353, after that he throughG1223 the HolyG40 SpiritG4151 had given commandmentsG1781 to the apostlesG652 whomG3739 he had chosenG1586: 3To whomG3739 alsoG2532 he showedG3936 himselfG1438 aliveG2198 afterG3326 hisG846 passionG3958 byG1722 manyG4183 infallible proofsG5039, being seenG3700 by themG846 G1223 fortyG5062 daysG2250, andG2532 speakingG3004 of the things pertainingG4012 to the kingdomG932 of GodG2316: 4AndG2532, being assembledG4871 withG846 them, commandedG3853 themG846 that they shouldG5563 notG3361 departG5563 fromG575 JerusalemG2414, butG235 waitG4037 for the promiseG1860 of the FatherG3962, whichG3739, saith he, ye have heardG191 from meG3450. 5ForG3754 JohnG2491 trulyG3303 baptizedG907 in waterG5204; butG1161 yeG5210 shall be baptizedG907 inG1722 the HolyG40 SpiritG4151 notG3756 manyG3326 G4183 daysG2250 from nowG5025. 6WhenG3303 they thereforeG3767 were come togetherG4905, they askedG1905 of himG846, sayingG3004, LordG1487 G2962, wilt thouG600 atG1722 thisG5129 timeG5550 restore againG600 the kingdomG932 to IsraelG2474? 7AndG1161 he saidG2036 toG4314 themG846, It isG2076 notG3756 for youG5216 to knowG1097 the timesG5550 orG2228 the seasonsG2540, whichG3739 the FatherG3962 hath putG5087 inG1722 his ownG2398 powerG1849. 8ButG235 ye shall receiveG2983 powerG1411, after the HolyG40 SpiritG4151 is comeG1904 uponG1909 youG5209: andG2532 ye shall beG2071 witnessesG3144 to meG3427 bothG5037 inG1722 JerusalemG2419, andG2532 inG1722 allG3956 JudaeaG2449, andG2532 in SamariaG4540, andG2532 toG2193 the uttermost partG2078 of the earthG1093. 9AndG2532 when he had spokenG2036 these thingsG5023, while theyG846 beheldG991, he was taken upG1869; andG2532 a cloudG3507 receivedG5274 himG846 out ofG575 theirG846 sightG3788. 10AndG2532 whileG5613 they looked steadfastlyG2258 G816 towardG1519 heavenG3772 as heG846 went upG4198 G2532, beholdG2400, twoG1417 menG435 stood byG3936 themG846 inG1722 whiteG3022 apparelG2066; 11WhoG3739 alsoG2532 saidG2036, Ye menG435 of GalileeG1057, whyG5101 stand yeG2476 gazing upG1689 toG1519 heavenG3772? this sameG3778 JesusG2424, whoG3588 is takenG353 fromG575 youG5216 intoG1519 heavenG3772, shallG2064 soG3779 comeG2064 in like manner asG3739 G5158 ye have seenG2300 himG846 goG4198 intoG1519 heavenG3772. 12ThenG5119 they returnedG5290 toG1519 JerusalemG2419 fromG575 the mountG3735 calledG2564 OlivetG1638, whichG3739 isG2076 fromG1451 JerusalemG2419 a sabbathG4521 day’s journeyG2192 G3598. 13AndG2532 whenG3753 they had come inG1525, they wentG305 intoG1519 an upper roomG5253, whereG3757 abodeG2258 G2650 bothG5037 PeterG4074, andG2532 JamesG2385, andG2532 JohnG2491, andG2532 AndrewG406, PhilipG5376, andG2532 ThomasG2381, BartholomewG918, andG2532 MatthewG3156, JamesG2385 the son of AlphaeusG256, andG2532 SimonG4613 ZelotesG2208, andG2532 JudasG2455 the brother of JamesG2385. 14TheseG3778 allG3956 continuedG2258 G4342 with one accordG3661 in prayerG4335 andG2532 supplicationG1162, withG4862 the womenG1135, andG2532 MaryG3137 the motherG3384 of JesusG2424, andG2532 withG4862 hisG846 brethrenG80. 15AndG2532 inG1722 thoseG5025 daysG2250 PeterG4074 stood upG450 inG1722 the midstG3319 of the disciplesG3101, and saidG2036 G5037, (the numberG3793 of the namesG3686 togetherG1909 G846 wereG2258 aboutG5613 an hundredG1540 and twentyG1501,) 16MenG435, brethrenG80, thisG5026 scriptureG1124 mustG1163 needs have been fulfilledG4137, whichG3739 the HolyG40 SpiritG4151 byG1223 the mouthG4750 of DavidG1138 spoke beforeG4277 concerningG4012 JudasG2455, whoG3588 wasG1096 guideG3595 to them that tookG4815 JesusG2424. 17ForG3754 he wasG2258 numberedG2674 withG4862 usG2254, andG2532 had obtainedG2975 partG2819 of thisG5026 ministryG1248. 18NowG3303 G3767 this manG3778 purchasedG2932 a fieldG5564 withG1537 the rewardG3408 of iniquityG93; andG2532 fallingG1096 headlongG4248, he burst asunderG2997 in the midstG3319, andG2532 allG3956 hisG846 bowelsG4698 gushed outG1632. 19AndG2532 it wasG1096 knownG1110 to allG3956 the dwellersG2730 at JerusalemG2419; thereforeG5620 thatG1565 fieldG5564 is calledG2564 in theirG846 properG2398 tongueG1258, AceldamaG184, that is to sayG5123, The fieldG5564 of bloodG129. 20ForG1063 it is writtenG1125 inG1722 the bookG976 of PsalmsG5568, LetG1096 hisG846 habitationG1886 beG1096 desolateG2048, andG2532 letG2077 no manG3361 dwellG2730 inG1722 itG846: andG2532 hisG846 officeG1984 letG2983 anotherG2087 takeG2983. 21ThereforeG3767 of theseG5130 menG435 who accompaniedG4905 usG2254 allG3956 the timeG5550 thatG1722 G3739 the LordG2962 JesusG2424 wentG1831 inG1525 andG2532 outG1831 amongG1909 usG2248, 22BeginningG756 fromG575 the baptismG908 of JohnG2491, toG2193 that same dayG2250 thatG3739 he was taken upG353 fromG575 usG2257, mustG1163 oneG1520 be ordainedG1096 to be a witnessG3144 withG4862 usG2254 of hisG846 resurrectionG386. 23AndG2532 they appointedG2476 twoG1417, JosephG2501 calledG2564 BarsabasG923, whoG3739 was surnamedG1941 JustusG2459, andG2532 MatthiasG3159. 24AndG2532 they prayedG4336, and saidG2036, ThouG4771, LordG2962, who knowest the heartsG2589 of allG3956 men, showG322 whichG3739 G1520 ofG1537 theseG5130 twoG1417 thou hast chosenG1586, 25That he may takeG2983 partG2819 of thisG5026 ministryG1248 andG2532 apostleshipG651, fromG1537 whichG3739 JudasG2455 by transgression fellG3845, that he might goG4198 toG1519 his ownG2398 placeG5117. 26AndG2532 they gave forthG1325 theirG846 lotsG2819; andG2532 the lotG2819 fellG4098 uponG1909 MatthiasG3159; andG2532 he was numberedG4785 withG3326 the elevenG1733 apostlesG652.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 INTRODUCTION--LAST DAYS OF OUR LORD UPON EARTH--HIS ASCENSION. (
Acts 1:1-
Acts 1:11)
former treatise--Luke's Gospel.
Theophilus--(See on
Luke 1:3).
began to do and teach--a very important statement, dividing the work of Christ into two great branches: the one embracing His work on earth, the other His subsequent work from heaven; the one in His own Person, the other by His Spirit; the one the "beginning," the other the continuance of the same work; the one complete when He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, the other to continue till His second appearing; the one recorded in "The Gospels," the beginnings only of the other related in this book of "The Acts." "Hence the grand history of what Jesus did and taught does not conclude with His departure to the Father; but Luke now begins it in a higher strain; for all the subsequent labors of the apostles are just an exhibition of the ministry of the glorified Redeemer Himself because they were acting under His authority, and He was the principle that operated in them all" [OLSHAUSEN].
2 after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments, &c.--referring to the charge recorded in
Matt 28:18-
Matt 28:20;
Mark 16:15-
Mark 16:18;
Luke 24:44-
Luke 24:49. It is worthy of notice that nowhere else are such communications of the risen Redeemer said to have been given "through the Holy Ghost." In general, this might have been said of all He uttered and all He did in His official character; for it was for this very end that God "gave not the Spirit by measure unto Him" (
John 3:34). But after His resurrection, as if to signify the new relation in which He now stood to the Church, He signalized His first meeting with the assembled disciples by breathing on them (immediately after dispensing to them His peace) and saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (
John 20:22) thus anticipating the donation of the Spirit from His hands (see on
John 20:21-
John 20:22); and on the same principle His parting charges are here said to have been given "through the Holy Ghost," as if to mark that He was now all redolent with the Spirit; that what had been husbanded, during His suffering work, for His own necessary uses, had now been set free, was already overflowing from Himself to His disciples, and needed but His ascension and glorification to flow all forth. (See on
John 7:39.)
3 showed himself alive--As the author is about to tell us that "the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" was the great burden of apostolic preaching, so the subject is here filly introduced by an allusion to the primary evidence on which that great fact rests, the repeated and undeniable manifestations of Himself in the body to the assembled disciples, who, instead of being predisposed to believe it, had to be overpowered by the resistless evidence of their own senses, and were slow of yielding even to this (
Mark 16:14).
after his passion--or, suffering. This primary sense of the word "passion" has fallen into disuse; but it is nobly consecrated in the phraseology of the Church to express the Redeemer's final endurances.
seen of them forty days--This important specification of time occurs here only.
speaking of--rather "speaking."
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God--till now only in germ, but soon to take visible form; the earliest and the latest burden of His teaching on earth.
4 should not depart from Jerusalem--because the Spirit was to glorify the existing economy, by descending on the disciples at its metropolitan seat, and at the next of its great festivals after the ascension of the Church's Head; in order that "out of Zion might go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (
Isa 2:3; and compare
Luke 24:49).
5 ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence--ten days hence, as appears from
Lev 23:15-
Lev 23:16; but it was expressed thus indefinitely to exercise their faith.
6 wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?--Doubtless their carnal views of Messiah's kingdom had by this time been modified, though how far it is impossible to say. But, as they plainly looked for some restoration of the kingdom to Israel, so they are neither rebuked nor contradicted on this point.
7 It is not for you to know the times, &c.--implying not only that this was not the time, but that the question was irrelevant to their present business and future work.
8 receive power--See
Luke 24:49.
and ye shall be witnesses unto me . . . in Jerusalem . . . in all Judea . . . and unto the uttermost part of the earth--This order of apostolic preaching and success supplies the proper key to the plan of the Acts, which relates first the progress of the Gospel "in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria" (the first through ninth chapters), and then "unto the uttermost part of the earth" (the tenth through twenty-eighth chapters).
9 while they beheld, he was taken up--See on
Luke 24:50-
Luke 24:53. Lest it should be thought He had disappeared when they were looking in some other direction, and so was only concluded to have gone up to heaven, it is here expressly said that "while they were looking He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight." So Elijah, "If thou see me when I am taken from thee" (
2Kgs 2:10); "And Elisha saw it" (
Acts 1:12). (See on
Luke 9:32.)
10 while they looked steadfastly toward heaven--following Him with their eager eyes, in rapt amazement. Not, however, as a mere fact is this recorded, but as a part of that resistless evidence of their senses on which their whole subsequent testimony was to be borne.
two men in white apparel--angels in human form, as in
Luke 24:4.
11 Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven, &c.--"as if your now glorified Head were gone from you never to return: He is coming again; not another, but 'this same Jesus'; and 'as ye have seen Him go, in the like manner shall He come'--as personally, as visibly, as gloriously; and let the joyful expectation of this coming swallow up the sorrow of that departure."
12 RETURN OF THE ELEVEN TO JERUSALEM--PROCEEDINGS IN THE UPPER ROOM TILL PENTECOST. (
Acts 1:12-
Acts 1:26)
a sabbath day's journey--about two thousand cubits.
13 went up into an upper room--perhaps the same "large upper room" where with their Lord they had celebrated the last Passover and the first Supper (
Luke 22:12).
where abode--not lodged, but had for their place of rendezvous.
Peter, &c.--(See on
Matt 10:2-
Matt 10:4).
14 continued with one accord--knit by a bond stronger than death.
in prayer and supplication--for the promised baptism, the need of which in their orphan state would be increasingly felt.
and Mary the mother of Jesus--distinguished from the other "women," but "so as to exclude the idea of her having any pre-eminence over the disciples. We find her with the rest in prayer to her glorified Son" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON]. This is the last mention of her in the New Testament. The fable of the Assumption of the Virgin has no foundation even in tradition [ALFORD].
with his brethren--(See on
John 7:3).
15 in those days--of expectant prayer, and probably towards the close of them, when the nature of their future work began more clearly to dawn upon them, and the Holy Ghost, already "breathed" on the Eleven (
John 20:22), was stirring in Peter, who was to be the leading spirit of the infant community (
Matt 16:19).
the number . . . about an hundred and twenty--Many, therefore, of the "five hundred brethren" who saw their risen Lord "at once" (
1Cor 15:6), must have remained in Galilee.
18 falling headlong, &c.--This information supplements, but by no means contradicts, what is said in
Matt 27:5.
20 his bishopric--or "charge." The words are a combination of
Ps 69:25 and
Ps 109:8; in which the apostle discerns a greater than David, and a worse than Ahithophel and his fellow conspirators against David.
21 all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--in the close intimacies of a three years' public life.
22 Beginning from the baptism of John--by whom our Lord was not only Himself baptized, but first officially announced and introduced to his own disciples.
unto that same day when he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection--How clearly is the primary office of the apostles here expressed: (1) to testify, from personal observation, to the one great fact of "the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"; (2) to show how this glorified His whole previous life, of which they were constant observers, and established His divine claims.
23 they appointed--"put up" in nomination; meaning not the Eleven but the whole company, of whom Peter was the spokesman.
two--The choice would lie between a very few.
24 prayed and said, Thou, Lord, &c.--"The word 'Lord,' placed absolutely, denotes in the New Testament almost universally THE SON; and the words, 'Show whom Thou hast chosen,' are decisive. The apostles are just Christ's messengers: It is He that sends them, and of Him they bear witness. Here, therefore, we have the first example of a prayer offered to the exalted Redeemer; furnishing indirectly the strongest proof of His divinity" [OLSHAUSEN].
which knowest the hearts of all men--See
John 2:24-
John 2:25;
John 21:15-
John 21:17;
Rev 2:23.
25 that he might go to his own place--A euphemistic or softened expression of the awful future of the traitor, implying not only destined habitation but congenial element.
26 was numbered--"voted in" by general suffrage.
with the eleven apostles--completing the broken Twelve.
