13 and when they came in, they went up to the upper room, where were abiding both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zelotes, and Judas, of James;
and there were many lamps in the upper chamber where they were gathered together,
and he shall show you a large upper room furnished, there make ready;'
And of the twelve apostles the names are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax-gatherer; James of Alpheus, and Lebbeus who was surnamed Thaddeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who did also deliver him up.
and Peter said unto them, `Reform, and be baptized each of you on the name of Jesus Christ, to remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,
And he put on Simon the name Peter; and James of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and he put on them names -- Boanerges, that is, `Sons of thunder;' and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who did also deliver him up; and they come into a house.
And it came to pass that Peter passing throughout all `quarters', came down also unto the saints who were dwelling at Lydda, and he found there a certain man, Aeneas by name -- for eight years laid upon a couch -- who was paralytic, and Peter said to him, `Aeneas, heal thee doth Jesus the Christ; arise and spread for thyself;' and immediately he rose, and all those dwelling at Lydda, and Saron saw him, and did turn to the Lord. And in Joppa there was a certain female disciple, by name Tabitha, (which interpreted, is called Dorcas,) this woman was full of good works and kind acts that she was doing; and it came to pass in those days she, having ailed, died, and having bathed her, they laid her in an upper chamber, and Lydda being nigh to Joppa, the disciples having heard that Peter is in that `place', sent two men unto him, calling on him not to delay to come through unto them. And Peter having risen, went with them, whom having come, they brought into the upper chamber, and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing coats and garments, as many as Dorcas was making while she was with them. And Peter having put them all forth without, having bowed the knees, did pray, and having turned unto the body said, `Tabitha, arise;' and she opened her eyes, and having seen Peter, she sat up, and having given her `his' hand, he lifted her up, and having called the saints and the widows, he presented her alive, and it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord; and it came to pass, that he remained many days in Joppa, with a certain one, Simon a tanner.
And the apostles in Jerusalem having heard that Samaria hath received the word of God, did send unto them Peter and John, who having come down did pray concerning them, that they may receive the Holy Spirit, -- for as yet he was fallen upon none of them, and only they have been baptized -- to the name of the Lord Jesus; then were they laying hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And Simon, having beheld that through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, the Holy Spirit is given, brought before them money, saying, `Give also to me this authority, that on whomsoever I may lay the hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.' And Peter said unto him, `Thy silver with thee -- may it be to destruction! because the gift of God thou didst think to possess through money; thou hast neither part nor lot in this thing, for thy heart is not right before God; reform, therefore, from this thy wickedness, and beseech God, if then the purpose of thy heart may be forgiven thee, for in the gall of bitterness, and bond of unrighteousness, I perceive thee being.' And Simon answering, said, `Beseech ye for me unto the Lord, that nothing may come upon me of the things ye have spoken.' They indeed, therefore, having testified fully, and spoken the word of the Lord, did turn back to Jerusalem; in many villages also of the Samaritans they did proclaim good news.
And on the morrow, as these are proceeding on the way, and are drawing nigh to the city, Peter went up upon the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour, and he became very hungry, and wished to eat; and they making ready, there fell upon him a trance, and he doth behold the heaven opened, and descending unto him a certain vessel, as a great sheet, bound at the four corners, and let down upon the earth, in which were all the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the heaven, and there came a voice unto him: `Having risen, Peter, slay and eat.' And Peter said, `Not so, Lord; because at no time did I eat anything common or unclean;' and `there is' a voice again a second time unto him: `What God did cleanse, thou, declare not thou common;' and this was done thrice, and again was the vessel received up to the heaven. And as Peter was perplexed in himself what the vision that he saw might be, then, lo, the men who have been sent from Cornelius, having made inquiry for the house of Simon, stood at the gate, and having called, they were asking if Simon, who is surnamed Peter, doth lodge here? And Peter thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, `Lo, three men do seek thee; but having risen, go down and go on with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them;' and Peter having come down unto the men who have been sent from Cornelius unto him, said, `Lo, I am he whom ye seek, what `is' the cause for which ye are present?' And they said, `Cornelius, a centurion, a man righteous and fearing God, well testified to, also, by all the nation of the Jews, was divinely warned by a holy messenger to send for thee, to his house, and to hear sayings from thee.' Having called them in, therefore, he lodged them, and on the morrow Peter went forth with them, and certain of the brethren from Joppa went with him, and on the morrow they did enter into Cesarea; and Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his kindred and near friends, and as it came that Peter entered in, Cornelius having met him, having fallen at `his' feet, did bow before `him'; and Peter raised him, saying, `Stand up; I also myself am a man;' and talking with him he went in, and doth find many having come together. And he said unto them, `Ye know how it is unlawful for a man, a Jew, to keep company with, or to come unto, one of another race, but to me God did shew to call no man common or unclean; therefore also without gainsaying I came, having been sent for; I ask, therefore, for what matter ye did send for me?' And Cornelius said, `Four days ago till this hour, I was fasting, and `at' the ninth hour praying in my house, and, lo, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and he said, Cornelius, thy prayer was heard, and thy kind acts were remembered before God; send, therefore, to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is surnamed Peter; this one doth lodge in the house of Simon a tanner, by the sea, who having come, shall speak to thee; at once, therefore, I sent to thee; thou also didst do well, having come; now, therefore, are we all before God present to hear all things that have been commanded thee by God.'
and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, and having seen that it is pleasing to the Jews, he added to lay hold of Peter also -- and they were the days of the unleavened food --
and there having been much disputing, Peter having risen up said unto them, `Men, brethren, ye know that from former days, God among us did make choice, through my mouth, for the nations to hear the word of the good news, and to believe; and the heart-knowing God did bare them testimony, having given to them the Holy Spirit, even as also to us, and did put no difference also between us and them, by the faith having purified their hearts; now, therefore, why do ye tempt God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? but, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe to be saved, even as also they.'
and after they are silent, James answered, saying, `Men, brethren, hearken to me;
and other of the apostles I did not see, except James, the brother of the Lord.
and having known the grace that was given to me, James, and Cephas, and John, who were esteemed to be pillars, a right hand of fellowship they did give to me, and to Barnabas, that we to the nations, and they to the circumcision `may go',
That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we did behold, and our hands did handle, concerning the Word of the Life -- and the Life was manifested, and we have seen, and do testify, and declare to you the Life, the age-during, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us -- that which we have seen and heard declare we to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship `is' with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ; and these things we write to you, that your joy may be full. And this is the message that we have heard from Him, and announce to you, that God is light, and darkness in Him is not at all;
Judas, of Jesus Christ a servant, and brother of James, to those sanctified in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ kept -- called,
A revelation of Jesus Christ, that God gave to him, to shew to his servants what things it behoveth to come to pass quickly; and he did signify `it', having sent through his messenger to his servant John, who did testify the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, as many things also as he did see. Happy is he who is reading, and those hearing, the words of the prophecy, and keeping the things written in it -- for the time is nigh!
And there was one of his disciples reclining (at meat) in the bosom of Jesus, whom Jesus was loving; Simon Peter, then, doth beckon to this one, to inquire who he may be concerning whom he speaketh, and that one having leant back on the breast of Jesus, respondeth to him, `Sir, who is it?'
And Jesus passing by thence, saw a man sitting at the tax-office, named Matthew, and saith to him, `Be following me,' and he, having risen, did follow him.
And after six days doth Jesus take Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up to a high mount by themselves, alone, and he was transfigured before them,
and he taketh Peter, and James, and John with him, and began to be amazed, and to be very heavy,
And after these things he went forth, and beheld a tax-gatherer, by name Levi, sitting at the tax-office, and said to him, `Be following me;' and he, having left all, having arisen, did follow him. And Levi made a great entertainment to him in his house, and there was a great multitude of tax-gatherers and others who were with them reclining (at meat),
and when it became day, he called near his disciples, and having chosen from them twelve, whom also he named apostles, (Simon, whom also he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, Judas of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also became betrayer;)
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John, and followed him; this one doth first find his own brother Simon, and saith to him, `We have found the Messiah,' (which is, being interpreted, The Anointed,) and he brought him unto Jesus: and having looked upon him, Jesus saith, `Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas, thou shalt be called Cephas,' (which is interpreted, A rock.) On the morrow, he willed to go forth to Galilee, and he findeth Philip, and saith to him, `Be following me.' And Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter; Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him, `Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets, we have found, Jesus the son of Joseph, who `is' from Nazareth;' and Nathanael said to him, `Out of Nazareth is any good thing able to be?' Philip said to him, `Come and see.'
Jesus then having lifted up `his' eyes and having seen that a great multitude doth come to him, saith unto Philip, `Whence shall we buy loaves, that these may eat?' -- and this he said, trying him, for he himself had known what he was about to do. Philip answered him, `Two hundred denaries' worth of loaves are not sufficient to them, that each of them may receive some little;'
therefore said Thomas, who is called Didymus, to the fellow-disciples, `We may go -- we also, that we may die with him,'
these then came near to Philip, who `is' from Bethsaida of Galilee, and were asking him, saying, `Sir, we wish to see Jesus;' Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon named Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a drag into the sea -- for they were fishers -- and he saith to them, `Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men,' and they, immediately, having left the nets, did follow him. And having advanced thence, he saw other two brothers, James of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, refitting their nets, and he called them, and they, immediately, having left the boat and their father, did follow him.
Philip saith to him, `Sir, shew to us the Father, and it is enough for us;' Jesus saith to him, `So long time am I with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip? he who hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how dost thou say, Shew to us the Father?
Then said the maid keeping the door to Peter, `Art thou also of the disciples of this man?' he saith, `I am not;'
And Simon Peter was standing and warming himself, they said then to him, `Art thou also of his disciples?' he denied, and said, `I am not.' One of the servants of the chief priest, being kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut off, saith, `Did not I see thee in the garden with him?' again, therefore, Peter denied, and immediately a cock crew.
And after eight days, again were his disciples within, and Thomas with them; Jesus cometh, the doors having been shut, and he stood in the midst, and said, `Peace to you!' then he saith to Thomas, `Bring thy finger hither, and see my hands, and bring thy hand, and put `it' to my side, and become not unbelieving, but believing.' And Thomas answered and said to him, `My Lord and my God;' Jesus saith to him, `Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; happy those not having seen, and having believed.'
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas who is called Didymus, and Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, and the `sons' of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.
When, therefore, they dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, `Simon, `son' of Jonas, dost thou love me more than these?' he saith to him, `Yes, Lord; thou hast known that I dearly love thee;' he saith to him, `Feed my lambs.' He saith to him again, a second time, `Simon, `son' of Jonas, dost thou love me?' he saith to him, `Yes, Lord; thou hast known that I dearly love thee;' he saith to him, `Tend my sheep.' He saith to him the third time, `Simon, `son' of Jonas, dost thou dearly love me?' Peter was grieved that he said to him the third time, `Dost thou dearly love me?' and he said to him, `Lord, thou hast known all things; thou dost know that I dearly love thee.' Jesus saith to him, `Feed my sheep; verily, verily, I say to thee, When thou wast younger, thou wast girding thyself and wast walking whither thou didst will, but when thou mayest be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another will gird thee, and shall carry `thee' whither thou dost not will;' and this he said, signifying by what death he shall glorify God; and having said this, he saith to him, `Be following me.' And Peter having turned about doth see the disciple whom Jesus was loving following, (who also reclined in the supper on his breast, and said, `Sir, who is he who is delivering thee up?') Peter having seen this one, saith to Jesus, `Lord, and what of this one?' Jesus saith to him, `If him I will to remain till I come, what -- to thee? be thou following me.' This word, therefore, went forth to the brethren that that disciple doth not die, yet Jesus did not say to him, that he doth not die, but, `If him I will to remain till I come, what -- to thee?' this is the disciple who is testifying concerning these things, and he wrote these things, and we have known that his testimony is true.
and Peter having stood up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and declared to them, `Men, Jews! and all those dwelling in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and harken to my sayings,
And Peter and John were going up at the same time to the temple, at the hour of the prayer, the ninth `hour', and a certain man, being lame from the womb of his mother, was being carried, whom they were laying every day at the gate of the temple, called Beautiful, to ask a kindness from those entering into the temple, who, having seen Peter and John about to go into the temple, was begging to receive a kindness. And Peter, having looked stedfastly toward him with John, said, `Look toward us;' and he was giving heed to them, looking to receive something from them; and Peter said, `Silver and gold I have none, but what I have, that I give to thee; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and be walking.' And having seized him by the right hand, he raised `him' up, and presently his feet and ankles were strengthened, and springing up, he stood, and was walking, and did enter with them into the temple, walking and springing, and praising God; and all the people saw him walking and praising God, they were knowing him also that this it was who for a kindness was sitting at the Beautiful gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what hath happened to him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Acts 1
Commentary on Acts 1 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 1
Ac 1:1-11. Introduction—Last Days of Our Lord upon Earth—His Ascension.
1, 2. former treatise—Luke's Gospel.
Theophilus—(See on Lu 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 Mt 28:18-20; Mr 16:15-18; Lu 24:44-49. 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" (Joh 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" (Joh 20:22) thus anticipating the donation of the Spirit from His hands (see on Joh 20:21, 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 Joh 7:39.)
3-5. 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 (Mr 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 Lu 24:49).
5. ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence—ten days hence, as appears from Le 23:15, 16; but it was expressed thus indefinitely to exercise their faith.
6-8. 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 Lu 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).
9-11. while they beheld, he was taken up—See on Lu 24:50-53. 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" (2Ki 2:10); "And Elisha saw it" (Ac 1:12). (See on Lu 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 Lu 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."
Ac 1:12-26. Return of the Eleven to Jerusalem—Proceedings in the Upper Room till Pentecost.
12-14. 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 (Lu 22:12).
where abode—not lodged, but had for their place of rendezvous.
Peter, &c.—(See on Mt 10:2-4).
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 Joh 7:3).
15-26. 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 (Joh 20:22), was stirring in Peter, who was to be the leading spirit of the infant community (Mt 16:19).
the number … about an hundred and twenty—Many, therefore, of the "five hundred brethren" who saw their risen Lord "at once" (1Co 15:6), must have remained in Galilee.
18. falling headlong, &c.—This information supplements, but by no means contradicts, what is said in Mt 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 Joh 2:24, 25; 21:15-17; Re 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.