Actschapter 1
26 verses · BSBActs book hub →
Speaks with:Luke 24×6John 20×3Mark 16×3Psalms 55×3Acts 1×21 Corinthians 15×2
The Ascension — Gustave Doré (engraving), public domain
Summary
Chapter summary
Prologue to Theophilus. Jesus' forty-day resurrection ministry; the program verse (1:8): 'ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.' Ascension; the two men in white. Upper room; Matthias chosen to replace Judas.
Context
History · Luke — Acts overview
- A. 1–11 Forty Days, a Promise, and a Cloud Receives Him
- B. 12–14 The Upper Room: Continuing Steadfastly in Prayer
- C. 15–26 Matthias Chosen to Take Judas's Place
The outline
A.Forty Days, a Promise, and a Cloud Receives Himvv. 1 to 11
Read vv. 1 to 11 →B.The Upper Room: Continuing Steadfastly in Prayervv. 12 to 14
Read vv. 12 to 14 →C.Matthias Chosen to Take Judas's Placevv. 15 to 26
Read vv. 15 to 26 →
The world behind this chapter
Acts 1The history
The Mount of Olives sits across a narrow valley from the temple, close enough that the walk back into the city counted as a "sabbath day's journey" — the roughly half-mile a rabbi's rule allowed a man to travel on a Sabbath without breaking it. Luke uses that measurement because his readers would recognize it as the distance of an ordinary walk home.
The "upper room" was the second story of a city house, reached by an outside stair. In crowded Jerusalem such rooms were rented out to pilgrims and used for meetings and meals. A room holding a hundred and twenty people means a household with money behind it.
Choosing Matthias by lot was not a coin flip. Casting lots was the old Israelite way of letting God decide a matter that men could not — the priests had used it for centuries. It is the last time in Scripture anyone does it, and after the next chapter the church never uses it again.
What it meant to them
For a reader who knew that Jesus had gone, this chapter answered the obvious worry: were the disciples now leaderless? The answer is that the risen Jesus gave orders before he left, promised power, and left a witness list — Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth — that turns out to be the outline of everything that follows.
Replacing Judas mattered because twelve was not a random number. Twelve apostles stood for the twelve tribes; the movement was presenting itself as the true continuation of Israel, not a breakaway sect.
Sources cited
- F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts (NICNT)
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Acts 1. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 20 · Quoted here
'his bishoprick let another take': Peter (replacing Judas).
Psalms 109:8→May his days be few; may another take his position.
public-domain commentaries in agreement
v. 20 · Quoted here
'Let his habitation be desolate': Peter, on Judas.
Psalms 69:25→May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
public-domain commentaries in agreement
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.