Acts 1:12-22

12 Then they went back to Jerusalem from the mountain named Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

13 And when they came in, they went up into the room where they were living; Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James.

14 And they all with one mind gave themselves up to prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

15 And in those days Peter got up among the brothers (there were about one hundred and twenty of them), and said,

16 My brothers, the word of God had to be put into effect, which the Holy Spirit had said before, by the mouth of David, about Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus,

17 For he was numbered among us, and had his part in our work.

18 (Now this man, with the reward of his evil-doing, got for himself a field, and falling head first, came to a sudden and violent end there.

19 And this came to the knowledge of all those who were living in Jerusalem, so that the field was named in their language, Akel-dama, or, The field of blood.)

20 For in the book of Psalms it says, Let his house be waste, and let no man be living in it: and, Let his position be taken by another.

21 For this reason, of the men who have been with us all the time, while the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

22 Starting from the baptism of John till he went up from us, one will have to be a witness with us of his coming back from death.

Acts 1:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ACTS

This book, in some copies, is called, "The Acts of the holy Apostles". It contains an history of the ministry and miracles of the apostles of Christ, and is a sort of a journal of their actions, from whence it takes its name. It begins at the ascension of Christ, and reaches to the imprisonment of the Apostle Paul at Rome; and is a history of upwards of thirty years: it gives an account of the first Gospel church at Jerusalem, and of the progress of the Gospel there, and in Judea, by the means of all the apostles, and particularly Peter, the minister of the circumcision, and who also first opened the door of faith to the Gentiles: it shows how the Gospel went forth from Jerusalem, and was spread in the Gentile world, especially by the Apostle Paul, whose companion Luke was, that was the writer of this book; for that it was written by him is very evident from the beginning of it, it being dedicated to the same person his Gospel is, and of which he makes mention; and in the Complutensian edition the book is called, "The Acts of the Apostles of Saint Luke the Evangelist"; and so the title of it in the Syriac version is, "the Book of the Acts: that is, the history of the blessed apostles, which my Lord Luke the Evangelist collected for the saints". It was by him written in the Greek language; and we are told {a}, that there was a version of it into the Hebrew language, and which was laid up in the library of the Jews at Tiberias; and is cited by R. Azarias {b} under the name of twlweph, "the Acts": of the authority of this book there has been no doubt, among the ancients, only Cerinthus the heretic endeavoured to discredit it; and it was not received by another sort of heretics called Severiani, from Severus, a disciple of Tatian {c}. It is a most excellent and useful work, showing the first planting of Christianity, and of Christian churches, both among the Jews and Gentiles; the spread and progress of the Gospel in several parts of the world; what sufferings the apostles endured for the sake of it; and with what patience and courage they bore them; and what success attended them; and is a standing proof and confirmation of the Christian religion.

{a} Epiphan. Contr. Haeres. l. 1. Haeres. 30. {b} Meor Enayim, p. 167. {c} Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 4. c. 29.