Bible Studies
This is the first of a chapter by chapter study through the Book of Acts. First, some background. Acts is a continuation of where the Gospel of Luke leaves off. It is generally believed that Luke wrote Acts about 64 A.D., one year after the writing of the book that bears his name. As with the Gospels, it means that it was written within one generation of the time that Jesus walked upon the earth, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead.
The full name of the book is The Acts of the Apostles. One major requirement for being an apostle was to witness first hand, the resurrection of our Lord. The book is full of the "acts" done by the apostles as they boldly witnessed for the Lord Jesus, performed miracles, stood before rulers, and confronted and conversed with the culture of their day. This is not going to be a verse by verse exposition or commentary but rather a pointing out of major events and insights from each chapter. I will be using the NASV.
In verse one, the book addresses Theophilus. Who is this person? There are several ideas given on gotQuestions?org: 1)a Roman official, 2)a wealthy and influential person, 3)the Jewish high priest named Theophilus ben Ananus, or 4)a Roman lawyer. Whomever it might be, he was referred to in Luke 1:3 as a "most excellent person."
Taking the context of Luke 1:2-4 alongside Acts 1:3, reinforces what was said earlier about Acts being a continuation of Luke, and that apostles were eye witnesses to the life and teachings of Jesus.
First of all, notice all of the emphasis on the Holy Spirit, mentioned four times in 1:2,5,8, and 16. There can be no ministry of any kind without the power of the Holy Spirit.
The chapter then talks about the second coming of Jesus. After recapping the scenario of the Ascension in verses 9-11, Luke records what was said by "two men in white clothing," (most likely angels): "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have seen him go into heaven."
Moving on from verse 12 to the end of the chapter we see the disciples and a gathering of about 120 people(verse 15), to whom Peter spoke concerning finding a replacement for Judas, who betrayed Jesus and killed himself. Several important things are relevant during this process: One, they were continually devoting themselves to prayer (verse 14 and 24), two, the person chosen must be a "witness...of his resurrection" (verse 22), and three, they cast lots (verse 26).
What does it mean that they cast lots, and why did they do this when the promise of the Spirit had been given? The empowring of the Holy Spirit was something new to them. They probably did not know what to expect. Not until after Pentecost in chapter two did they begin to see the demonstration of the Holy Spirit.
Casting lots was putting names in an urn, shaking it, and then believing that the name that fell out was the person whom God had selected. It is important to understand, however, that as previously mentioned and bears repeating, the names in the urn had to meet qualifications of witnessing the resurrection. The names were not just arbitrary.
In summary, the first chapter of Acts has several applications for today's Church. There was continual diligence given to prayer. It was "necessary" that ones chosen for ministry met certain qualifications (1:21). Too often local churches just choose people with no regard for their abilities and spiritual giftedness. There was a reliance upon God "who knows the hearts of all men..." They asked God to "show us which one of these two you have chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship..." (verses 24-25).The third application for the Church today is that, based on Acts 1, there is no such thing as apostleship.
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