Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 1
Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary
Acts 1
Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary
Acts 1
"The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach," — Acts 1:1 (ASV)
Luke calls his gospel “my former book.” He uses the word logos (GK 3364; usually translated “word” or “message” in the NT) in the technical sense of a section of a work that covers more than one papyrus roll. The subject of his first volume is “all that Jesus began to do and teach” up to his ascension. The word “began” stresses Luke’s intent to show in Acts what Jesus continued to do and to teach through his church. And like the gospel, Acts is addressed to Theophilus (see comment on Lk 1:3).
"until the day in which he was received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen:" — Acts 1:2 (ASV)
Through a certain awkwardness in the Greek of this verse, Luke highlights four important introductory matters in approximately the same order in which he sets them out in his first two chapters and according to his priorities throughout Acts. Luke gives first place to Jesus’ mandate to witness. The instructions he has in mind are undoubtedly those already set out in Lk 24:48–49 as the climax of Jesus’ earthly teaching (quoted in slightly revised form in Ac 1:4–5 and developed in 1:6–8 as the theme of Acts). This mandate to witness was given to the apostles, who acted through the power of the Holy Spirit, whose coming was a direct result of our Lord’s ascension.
"To whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God:" — Acts 1:3 (ASV)
Having stated the relation of his present book to its predecessor and shown his interest in the four factors named above, Luke turns back to the time before the Ascension. He recapitulates and expands upon certain features in Jesus’ ministry crucial to the advance of the Gospel as he will present it in Acts. Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:5–7, his emphasis is on the living Christ, who “after his suffering... showed himself... alive” and demonstrated his resurrection by “many convincing proofs,” such as the events in Lk 24:13ff. “Over a period of forty days” implies that during that time, the risen Lord showed himself at intervals, not continuously. When he did so, he “spoke about the kingdom of God.”
The theme of “the kingdom [GK 993] of God” is a common one in the OT and NT. Primarily it refers to God’s sovereign rule in human life and the affairs of history, and secondarily to the realm where that rule reigns. God’s sovereignty is universal (cf. Psalms 103:19). But it was specially manifested in the life of the nation of Israel and among Jesus’ disciples; it is expressed progressively in the church and through the lives of Christians; and it will be fully revealed throughout eternity. In the Gospels the kingdom is presented as having been inaugurated in time and space by Jesus’ presence and ministry (see comment on Mk 1:15). In Acts the phrase “the kingdom of God” usually appears as a convenient way of summarizing the early Christian proclamation (cf. 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). Jesus is explicitly identified as its subject (cf. 8:12; 28:23, 31). We may infer that Jesus’ teaching during the “forty days” dealt in essence with (1) the validation and nature of his messiahship, (2) the interpretation of the OT from the perspective of his resurrection, and (3) the responsibility of his disciples to bear witness to what had happened among them in fulfillment of Israel’s hope (see Lk 24:25-27, 44-49). This is what Acts elaborates in the chapters that follow.
"and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, [said he], ye heard from me:" — Acts 1:4 (ASV)
In vv.4–5 Luke parallels his emphasis on the living Christ by stressing the coming and baptism of the Holy Spirit as essential to the advance of the Gospel. Luke gives us a specific occasion on which Jesus and his disciples ate together and he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the coming of the gift of the Holy Spirit, who had been promised by God the Father and spoken of by Jesus . This promise Jesus had made on behalf of the Father (see Jn 14:16-21, 26; 15:26–27; 16:7–15).
"For John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence." — Acts 1:5 (ASV)
The statement appears to come from Mk 1:8 , where it is part of the message of John the Baptist. One could take v.5 as an explanatory comment on Luke’s part, but its parallel in Ac 11:16, where it is given as the word of the Lord Jesus, suggests that here too it should be understood as being attributed to Jesus.
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