Acts 1 Study Notes

1:9-11 Luke briefly told about Jesus’s ascension in his Gospel (Lk 24:51), and now he provides a somewhat fuller account. A cloud took him out recalls the presence of God depicted as a cloud elsewhere (e.g., Ex 13:21-22). Thus Jesus was received by the Father in fulfillment of his words in Jn 7:33-34. Jesus’s final instructions and ascension to heaven provide overlap and transition between Luke’s Gospel and the book of Acts. The ascension took place on the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem (Ac 1:12). Jesus’s return will be in the same way as he departed—bodily and visibly.

1:12-13 Lk 6:14-16 provides the same list of disciples. The lists in Mark and Matthew are similar, except for differences in the names of two disciples between Luke-Acts and Mark and Matthew. Several disciples had alternative names (Simon/Peter, Matthew/Levi; cp. v. 23), possibly accounting for differences between the lists. Simon the Zealot of Luke-Acts is probably Simon the Cananaean, and Judas the son of James in Luke-Acts may be Thaddaeus.

1:14 The women may have included the wives of the apostles. Jesus had six half-brothers according to Mk 6:3. Jesus appeared to James (1Co 15:7) and the others may have seen him as well.

1:15-17 Peter began to assume his role as leader and spokesman for the apostles. The Scripture Peter referred to was Ps 69:25, quoted in v. 20.

1:18-19 The differences between the two NT accounts of Judas’s death (here and Mt 27:3-8) should not be overemphasized. Both agree that he died a shameful death and that a field was named after his traitorous deed. Mt 27:5 says Judas hanged himself, while the present passage says he fell headfirst and burst open. Possibly after he hanged himself, Judas’s body decayed and fell from the rope, bursting open.

1:20 See v. 16.

1:21-23 The person selected to take Judas’s place had to have accompanied the disciples throughout the course of Jesus’s ministry (from his baptism to his ascension), thus assuring that he could speak about things he had seen personally.

1:24-26 The disciples prayed for God to make clear to them which person he had chosen as a successor for Judas. The casting of lots was an acceptable method for making decisions in the era before the Holy Spirit was given. The sovereign Lord superintended the event, ensuring that the lot fell in such a way as to identify his chosen man.