Hechos 1:1-10

1 La promesa del Espíritu Santo
Teófilo, en mi primer libro
te relaté todo lo que Jesús comenzó a hacer y a enseñar

2 hasta el día que fue llevado al cielo, después de haberles dado a sus apóstoles escogidos instrucciones adicionales por medio del Espíritu Santo.

3 Durante los cuarenta días posteriores a su crucifixión, Cristo se apareció varias veces a los apóstoles y les demostró con muchas pruebas convincentes que él realmente estaba vivo. Y les habló del reino de Dios.

4 Una vez, mientras comía con ellos, les ordenó:

5 Juan bautizaba con
agua, pero en unos cuantos días ustedes serán bautizados con el Espíritu Santo».

6 La ascensión de Jesús
Así que mientras los apóstoles estaban con Jesús, le preguntaron con insistencia:
—Señor, ¿ha llegado ya el tiempo de que liberes a Israel y restaures nuestro reino?

7 Él les contestó:

8 pero recibirán poder cuando el Espíritu Santo descienda sobre ustedes; y serán mis testigos, y le hablarán a la gente acerca de mí en todas partes: en Jerusalén, por toda Judea, en Samaria y hasta los lugares más lejanos de la tierra.

9 Después de decir esto, Jesús fue levantado en una nube mientras ellos observaban, hasta que ya no pudieron verlo.

10 Mientras se esforzaban por verlo ascender al cielo, dos hombres vestidos con túnicas blancas de repente se pusieron en medio de ellos.

Hechos 1:1-10 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.