Acts 1:8-18

8 but ye shall receave power of the holy goost which shall come on you. And ye shall be witnesses vnto me in Ierusalem and in all Iewrye and in Samary and even vnto the worldes ende.

9 And when he had spoken these thinges whyll they behelde he was take vp and a cloude receaved him vp out of their sight.

10 And while they looked stedfastly vp to heaven as he went beholde two men stode by them in white apparell

11 which also sayde: ye men of Galile why stonde ye gasinge vp into heave? This same Iesus which is taken vp fro you in to heaven shall so come even as ye haue sene him goo into heaven.

12 Then returned they vnto Ierusalem from mount olivete which is nye to Ierusalem coteyninge a Saboth dayes iorney.

13 And when they were come in they went vp into a parler where abode both Peter and Iames Iohn and Andrew Philip and Thomas Bartlemew and Mathew Iames the sonne of Alpheus and Simo Zelotes and Iudas Iames sonne.

14 These all cotinued with one acorde in prayer and supplicacion with the wemen and Mary the mother of Iesu and with his brethren.

15 And in those dayes Peter stode vp in the myddes of the disciples and sayde (the noumbre of names that were to gether were aboute an hondred and twenty)

16 Ye men and brethren this scripture must have nedes ben fulfilled which the holy goost thorow ye mouth of David spake before of Iudas which was gyde to them that tooke Iesus.

17 For he was noubred with vs and had obtayned fellouship in this ministracion.

18 And the same hath now possessed a plot of grounde with the rewarde of iniquite and when he was hanged brast a sondre in ye myddes and all his bowels gusshed oute.

Acts 1:8-18 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.