Studies in the book of Acts ...

Preface

The writer of the following pages has for a long time felt that if the Acts of the Apostles could be generally read in the orderly way in which people usually read history, a great gain would result, not only for the better understanding of the New Testament, but for the more intelligent comprehension of the origin, organization, and early development of the Church. It has seemed to him, that even the printing of the book arranged under proper divisions and subdivisions, with proper titles prefixed to each, would accomplish a good deal in the direction- just indicated. This, therefore, is the first thing he has endeavored to do ; preserving, however, for convenience of reference, what otherwise would have been dispensed with, — the division into verses.

The fragmentary and desultory way in which all Holy Scripture is too often read is everywhere disastrous ; but it is especially so in those parts in which we are presented with continuous history. No man would dream of reading ordinary history, whether ecclesiastical or secular, in the way in which many read the Acts of the Apostles. And it ought to be remembered that this book is history just as much as are the works of earlier or later writers of church history. The difference between it and the ordinary church histories does not lie in the character or subject-matter of the several writings, but only in the conditions under which they were composed ; the Book of Acts being written under the guiding

IV PREFACE.

presence of the Holy Spirit, and the others having and claiming no such presence.

Moreover, it is only by grasping the fact, so easy to take up when it is once stated, and so completely ignored by vast numbers of readers, that all the events recorded must have taken place before the record was made, that we attain correct ideas of the relations of the church with its organization, doctrine, sacraments, and worship, to the Scriptures of the New Testament. Then, and not before, we learn what so many miss of learning, the great truth that in Acts and Epistles we are not to look so much for commands as to what was to be done, as for recognition of what had already been done. Had this matter been fully understood hardly three centuries ago, a good deal of Hooker's immortal work need not have been written.

This volume is in no sense (nor was it intended to be) a commentary on the Book of Acts. It is simply what its name imports. Nor is it designed for scholars, though the writer hopes there is nothing contrary to sound scholarship in it. It is written in the firm and abiding belief that Christianity came into the world not merely as a doctrine, or a life, or an idea, or a book ; but as an Institution, comprising in itself all the things just named, — being, indeed, the " Mount Sion, the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem."

These studies end with the twelfth chapter and fourth division of the book, and do not touch the last and largest portion, the Mission to the Gentiles. The change in the history, however, makes it possible to stop at this point without leaving work half done. Whether this volume will be followed by another, must depend on circumstances beyond the control of the writer.

LAY-OUT OF THE BOOK.

The Book of Acts, regarded as a history of the foundation of the Christian Church and of its early propagation, naturally divides itself into five parts : —

I. A brief summary of events and transactions during the forty days that intervened between the resurrection and ascension of our Lord ; with special notice of what occurred in the ten days which separate the ascension, from the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Chapter i.

II. The story of Pentecost, the birthday of the Christian Church. Chapter ii. to ver. 42.

III. The Mission to the Jews, beginning at Jerusalem, and extending to Judaea and Samaria. Chapter ii. ver. 42, to chapter ix.

IV. The preparations for the Mission to the Gentiles. Chapters ix. to xii. inclusive.

V. The Mission to the Gentiles. Chapters xiii. to xxxiii. inclusive.

These different parts, it is hardly necessary to say, must be subdivided into various sections.

VI LAY-OUT OF THE BOOK.

Thus, as we may readily see, the entire book becomes a commentary on the words of our Lord, " Ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." ■ These words present the law for the proper arrangement of the book, and enable us to reduce its contents to an harmonious order.

1 Acts i. 8.

Contents

Part £

THE FIFTY DA YS.

SECTION I. — A Brief Summary of the Great Forty Days . . 3 SECTION II. — The Ten Days of Expectation 11

Part I. The Fifty Days

STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF ACTS.

Part £

(Chapter I.)

SECTION L

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS. {Chap. i. vv. /-//.)

i The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen :

3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God :

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ?

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up ; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

io And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel ;

ii Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

In connection with this summary should always be carefully read those portions of the Four Evangelists which relate to the period covered by it. Here, however, only the summary can claim attention.

i. We are at once presented with the fact that our Lord

" shewed Himself alive after His passion " to the apostles, " being seen of them forty days." Not that He was with them continually, or continuously, during that period ; but that from time to time He appeared to them. "As He was forty days after His birth before He was presented in the temple in the earthly Jerusalem, and, again, forty days after His baptism before He entered on His ministry, so now He waits forty days after His birth from the grave before He presents Himself in the temple of the heavenly Jerusalem, and enters on His priestly ministry in the true Holy of Holies, where He ever liveth to make intercession for us." x

2. Two purposes of these appearances are very distinctly indicated, and we need not seek for others : first, that by many proofs He might convince the apostles of the verity of His resurrection ; and secondly, that He might speak to them of the kingdom of God, and the things pertaining to it, and give them His commandments. 2

3. The first of these purposes brings to mind the words of St. Peter, " Him God raised up the third day, and shewed Him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him after he rose from the dead ; " 3 and these words suggest several questions. Why should the proofs have been given to witnesses chosen before, and not to all the people ? Does not the selection of witnesses suggest the idea of practising and collusion ? Would not the evidence have been stronger and more irresistible had it been offered to all alike ? Unbelief has not been slow to raise these difficulties, and undoubtedly believers have often been staggered at them. The following considerations may, in at least some degree, relieve them : —

In the first place, we must not be misled by the words of our version, " shewed Him openly," into supposing that the apostle in any way contradicts what he says, immedi-

1 Bishop Wordsworth. 2 Acts i. 2, 3. 3 Acts x. 40, 41.

ately afterwards, concerning selected witnesses ; all that the words in the original mean is that our Lord was distinctly seen by, made clearly visible to, those who saw Him. There is no reference at all to the number of beholders, but only to the clearness, distinctness, and freedom from any thing like obscurity, which characterized His appearance.

Secondly, the number of witnesses selected was by no means small. St. Paul speaks of our Lord as having been seen "by more than five hundred brethren at once," ' many of whom were alive when he wrote. When this appearance took place, we are, of course, unable to say. The persons to whom it was granted are called brethren ; and this would indicate a personal knowledge of our Lord. The number is, at the same time, so great, that its testimony could scarcely be gainsaid ; and St. Paul's implied challenge, if it were no more than an unreal bravado, could be as easily met as it was plainly made.

Thirdly, a selection of individuals, by whom the person of one who is to be identified is well known, must secure a more trustworthy identifying testimony than could be secured from a miscellaneous crowd, many of whom had never known him, others of whom had barely seen him, while only a few of all the number were really capable of testifying intelligently. " Public appearances could have added nothing to the testimony of the chosen witnesses. By diminishing the precision of the story, they might have diminished the efficacy of its proper evidence." 2 Under such circumstances, selection, especially the selection of such competent witnesses as the Apostles and disciples were, is a guaranty of trustworthiness and correctness.

4. The second purpose of our Lord's appearances was that He might give " commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen." And this He did by "speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Obviously the entire

2 See Bishop Horsley's Four Discourses on the Evidences of the Resurrection.

meaning of these statements depends on the signification of the phrase, "the kingdom of God."

We can scarcely fail to recall at once the fact, that when John Baptist began his preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, his words were, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Nor can we forget that when our Lord began His ministry, it was with the self-same words. 1 It will hardly be questioned that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are identical terms. Teaching, moreover, about this kingdom, enters largely into the instruction given by our Lord in His parables.

These exhibit to us the kingdom of God under two distinct aspects. It appears as an outward, visible, organic body, growing and spreading in the world ; and it is also a living power in human souls. The one view, we may say, looks at the kingdom objectively, the other subjectively. But to keep the balance true, neither should be omitted or neglected. The entire Church, as represented by St. Paul, is the temple of the Holy Ghost, its Vitalizer and Administrator ; and yet each individual Christian is also said to be a temple of the Holy Ghost. Anyhow, the kingdom of God is the Church of God, of which our Lord is the Head and King.

Moreover, He became King of this kingdom and Head of this body in the Resurrection and Ascension ; and the kingdom was given to Him because of His voluntary humiliation and obedience. He "died and rose and revived that He might be Lord both of the dead and living," and God raised Him from the dead, "and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church." 2 And the cause, so to speak, of this exaltation, was His humiliation and obedience. " He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every name." 3

Just here, in order to avoid confusion, some necessary distinctions must be kept in mind. There are two natures, the divine and human, united in our Lord. He is perfect God, and He is perfect man.

As God, the eternally begotten Son, the Word, the Second Person in the adorable Trinity, He is the Creator and -the Upholder of the creation. " By Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible," even " the worlds ; " and again we are told, " All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made." l Moreover, what He has created He sustains; "by Him all things consist," and He is ever and always " upholding all things by the word of His power." 2 In Him, therefore, as its Creator and Upholder, is vested "the supreme and universal dominion of the world."

But, besides this dominion, inherent in our Lord's Divine nature, and connected with his Creatorship, there is another dominion which Holy Scripture tells us was given to Him. He was "made both Lord and Christ;" the Father "set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places," and "gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church ;" and to Him are applied the words of the Psalmist, " Thou crownedst Him with glory and honor, and didst set Him over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet." 3

This last, then, is the kingdom given Him because of His humiliation and obedience, and it is His mediatorial kingdom of which he said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." 4 Still it was not, as Bishop Pearson says, "actually given Him at once, but part while He lived on earth, part after His death and resurrection ; " the first gift enabling Him for His work, the second full and complete in its exaltation, power, and dominion.

Moreover, this kingdom is partly, and under one aspect, economical, that is, it is ordained to carry out and complete a certain work, the work of redemption ; and when that work

2 Col. i. 17 ; Heb. i. 3. * Matt, xxviii. 18.

is effected, that part of the power given to our Lord will end, that aspect of the kingdom will pass away. This is what St. Paul has in view when he says, "He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet;" and again, "When He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power," then He shall deliver up "the kingdom to God, even the Father," "that God may be all in all." '

But there is another aspect of this kingdom, in which it does not appear as economical, but as abiding and eternal. The immediate work of redemption may end, but the glorious issues of redemption abide ; and they still centre in the eternal King, and the unchanging Priest. This aspect of the kingdom is clearly brought out in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the Father speaking to the Son says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." 2 It is of this aspect that the angel spoke to the Virgin Mary, when he said, " Of His kingdom there shall be no end." 3 This is the kingdom of glory, in which, after the Lord has judged the world in righteousness, and when "the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, He shall reign for ever and ever." 4

Our Lord, then, during the period in view, was teaching His apostles concerning this kingdom of which they were to be the heralds, and, under Him, the founders upon earth ; inasmuch as it was " built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone." 5 So that we are quite warranted in saying that what they did, in preaching the Word and establishing the Church, was the outcome of the instructions and commandments which were, during this time, imparted to them. Nor should we here forget the promise touching the Holy Ghost, that He should teach them all things, and bring all things to their remembrance, which He, their Master, had said unto them. 6 The record of their doings under these instructions is con-

2 Heb. i. 8. * Rev. xi. 15. 6 John xiv. 26; corhp. xvi. 13.

tained in this Book of Acts, which is therefore the fountain and source of Christian history, — of the history of the Church of the Redeemer of mankind.

These instructions, however, concerning the establishment and ordering of the kingdom, do not seem to have conveyed at once, to the eleven, an adequate and full conception of the character of this universal Church of God. The living power of the Holy Ghost seems to have been needful to accomplish this. The question, " Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? " besides the improper and prying curiosity which it exhibits, shows also that the Apostles were still influenced by carnal and Jewish notions concerning that kingdom. Our Lord rebukes each fault : the first, by telling that it was not theirs "to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power," that is, has kept in His own authoritative counsel ; the second, by bidding them look beyond Jerusalem and Judaea, " unto the uttermost part of the earth ; " for even so far was their witness to be borne, carrying the kingdom with it. Nor was it till they had been " baptized with the Holy Ghost," till the "promise of the Father" had been made good, till they had "received power" 1 after that the Holy Ghost had come upon them and guided them into the overwhelming truth, that they understood the true character of the kingdom. Then, not before, they ceased from narrow, carnal views, and, rising to the fulness of the Divine ideal, became the large-minded, large-hearted apostles of a world-wide faith and a universal Church.

5. The section concludes with the account of the Ascension. The Lord ascended both as a King and a Priest. As a King, "when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." 2 As a Priest, "by His own

1 Readers of the original will observe that the word " power " in ver. 8 is not the same word as in ver. 7, though our version does not make the difference apparent. In ver. 7, it is egovcria, that is, authority ; in ver. 8, it is Sv^a/ai?, that is, the living inspiration, strengthening and enabling, of the Spirit.

2 Eph. iv. 8.

blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption," and there "He ever liveth to make intercession " x for us. Thence, too, He is to come in like manner as He went away, "in the clouds of heaven," with "all the holy angels with Him." 2 This awful coming will be His final manifestation, " the Epiphany of the glory of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ." 3

THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION.

II Section II

THE TEN DAYS OF EXPECTATION. {Chap. i. ver. 12 to the end.)

12. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

13. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

15. T[ And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

16. Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.

17. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.

18. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity ; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

19. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem ; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

20. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein : and his bishoprick let another take.

21. Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

22. Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

23. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

24. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all meti, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

25. That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

26. And they gave forth their lots ; and the lot fell upon Matthias ; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

i. The upper room to which the Apostles repaired, after returning to Jerusalem, is mentioned with a definiteness that indicates a marked and well-known place. Very possibly it may have been the "large upper room " where the Eucharist was instituted, and where, after the crucifixion, the disciples were accustomed to assemble. 1 It can hardly have been a room in the temple, though the Apostles evidently continued

1 Mark xiv. 15 ; Luke xxii. 12 ; John xx. 19, 26.

to go up to the temple at the hours of prayer. Wherever it was, it was the seed-plot of the Christian Church.

2. In the catalogue of the eleven here given, the names of " Peter and James and John" head the list. These three are also conspicuous in the Gospels. They witnessed the Transfiguration "in the holy mount," and they were with the Lord in His agony in the garden. 1 After the descent of the Holy Spirit, Peter and John appear prominently in Jerusalem and Samaria. Nothing especial is said of James till we are told that he was killed by Herod "with the sword."

To St. Peter it was given to open the door to the Gentiles, that by his "mouth they might receive the word of the gospel and believe ; " 2 and this might lead us to regard him as the Apostle of the uncircumcision. That, however, was not so to be. St. Paul tells us. that " He who wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles." 3 Wherefore, St. Paul becomes the Apostle of the uncircumcision in the place of St. Peter; a position recognized by "James, Cephas, and John," who agree to go to the circumcision, while Paul and Barnabas are to go to the heathen. 4 It is noticeable, too, that St. Peter, thus relegated to the apostleship of the circumcision, is named after James of Jerusalem, 5 and from the time of the Council of Jerusalem disappears from the history in the Book of Acts. All this is utterly irreconcilable with the theory of a divinely appointed supremacy over the Church, given by our Lord to St. Peter.

St. John, in accordance with our Lord's prediction, 6 survived the destruction of Jerusalem, and outlived all his brethren. We may say, I think, that St. Peter represents the Jewish element in the Church, and that aspect of the Church under which it appears as the completion and fulfilment of the Mosaic economy ; that St. Paul represents the

1 Matt. xvii. ; 2 Pet. i. 18 ; Mark xiv. 33.

2 Acts xv. 7. 3 Gal. ii. 8. * Gal. ii. 9.

5 Gal. ii. 9. Not at all the James whom Herod slew. 6 John xxi. 22.

Gentile element and that aspect of the Church in which it comes to us as the new creation for the Gentiles ; while St. John represents the fusion of these two elements and aspects, which, as they had " a common root in the full life of Christ, the Saviour of both Gentiles and Jews, so they grew together into the unity of the Catholic Church, the true Israel of God."

Out of this great and impressive truth there has grown up the perverted notion of two opposing schools of doctrine in the Apostolic Church, which were reconciled in a third. But there were no such schools. The Faith was one. St. Paul is as clear on that point as St. Peter, and St. John as either of the other two. Nor is there any real opposition in these aspects of the Church, in themselves considered. Men might push them into opposition by pressing one into prominence to the exclusion of the other, and so, no doubt, those did at Corinth who said, on the one side, " I am of Peter," and on the other, "I am of Paul ; " 1 but there was no such opposition between the Apostles themselves, nor in the aspects of the Church which they represented. Any such opposition is simply imaginary.

3. The great event of this brief period is the selection of Matthias to fill the vacancy occasioned by the treachery and death of Judas. The narrative is a very simple one. The Apostles and other disciples are together, doubtless in the "upper room." St. Peter, after urging the prophetic application of two passages in the Psalms to the case of Judas, declares that it is "necessary " that one who had been with them during our Lord's earthly ministry, and who had seen Him after He rose from the dead (even " from the baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up"), should be added to the eleven "to be a witness of His resurrection." Two persons are selected, and the choice between them is solemnly left to the ascended King and Head of the Church. His decision is invoked ; lots are given forth, and

" the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven Apostles."

Just how the lot was cast, we are not told. But there can be no doubt that our Lord's direct intervention was sought. The prayer offered is most certainly addressed to Him who is the "one Lord Jesus Christ." x He is invoked as knowing "the hearts of all men," and this is peculiarly insisted on in the Gospels as one of His special characteristics. 2 Again, He is asked which of the two He has "chosen;" and this word is the same which is used in ver. 2 of this chapter, where mention is made of "the Apostles whom He had chosen," and also by our Lord Himself when He said, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." 3 Moreover, the term " Lord," as applied to Jesus Christ, is " the keynote to the history of the Acts of the Apostles." So that the first recorded prayer of the followers of Christ, after the Ascension, was addressed to Him, their Lord.

An objection has of late years been made to regarding this transaction as a designation of Matthias to the apostolate. It arises, no doubt, from the conviction that it is desirable, if not essential, to the theory of ministerial parity, to limit the number of the Apostles strictly to twelve. In order to this, since St. Paul, to name no others, was undoubtedly an Apostle, it was considered necessary to exclude Matthias from being numbered with the eleven ; for his admission would carry with it the admission of an extended apostolate, and this extension would furnish an argument, or the basis of an argument, for the continuance of the apostolic office in the Church. Matthias, therefore, must be got rid of.