Acts Verse by Verse (Osborne New Testament Commentaries)

Grant R. Osborne

• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781683592754
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Commentaire biblique

PRELIMINARY EVENTS TO THE MISSION

(1:1–26)

Luke’s two-volume masterwork on the history of Jesus and the early church is in a very real sense the core of the New Testament. Everything flows out of these two central histories. This first chapter of Acts provides a transition (ten days long) from the ascension of Jesus to the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. We know from Acts 1:3 that he appeared to his followers over a forty-day period before being taken up to heaven in a cloud, and by definition Pentecost (meaning “fifty days”) took place fifty days after Passover. Thus there was a ten-day period in which they waited to be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). That period is described here in 1:1–26.

Jesus may be in heaven and no longer physically present, but he is every bit as central to the life of his messianic community, in fact even more so, for he is now the exalted Lord guiding the affairs of his people. The Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of Jesus,” sent by him (and his Father) in the same way he had been sent by his Father. The church, if we wish to describe origins, began not with Pentecost but with Jesus’ choice of the Twelve in Luke 6:12–16. The time with Jesus in Luke would constitute the training period, and graduation in a sense occurred in the breakfast scene of John 21:15–17, when Jesus commissioned them through Peter to “feed my sheep.” Now they are waiting for the full commission at Pentecost, when they will be given the Spirit to empower them for that mission.

JESUS ENDS HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY AND BEGINS THE CHURCH (1:1–11)

The ascension of Jesus in Luke 24:50–53 provides a doxological end to the earthly ministry of Jesus as he blesses his disciples then departs. Then in Acts 1:1–11 it provides an ecclesiastical beginning to the church age (and age of the Spirit) as Jesus promises the coming of the Spirit made possible by his departure. Clearly the mission of the church (indeed, its very existence) is a trinitarian act, as all three members of the Godhead undergird the events of this book. There are two main parts, the prologue (paralleling Luke 1:1–4) reminding Theophilus of the first volume (Acts 1:1–2) and the recapitulation of Jesus’ ascension and the impact it had on the disciples (vv. 3–11).

PROLOGUE TO THE SECOND VOLUME (1:1–2)

These verses not only summarize the first volume but also introduce four key theological themes that will guide us through Acts: (1) The deeds and words of Jesus are essential to both volumes of Luke’s works; (2) Jesus’ ascension as exalted Lord is the anchor on which Acts rests; (3) the coming of the Spirit will launch and make possible everything the church does in this book; and (4) the elect apostles will lead the church in its mission to the world. He begins by defining his gospel as a compendium of what “Jesus began to do and to teach.” Acts must be read and studied as a continuation of Jesus’ work and his words, and the church draws its meaning from the Jesus story.

It is clear that the church was not born out of Pentecost, which provides its commissioning rather than its birth. It is actually questionable that the church was birthed at all, for there is a direct continuity between Israel and the early church as the people of God. Israel and new Israel are intertwined in salvation history. Still, however, the origin of the church as an entity was indeed in Jesus’ choice of the Twelve in Luke 6:12–16, and as indicated here, it all “began” with Jesus.

Like the Third Gospel, this book is dedicated to Theophilus, most likely the wealthy Christian patron who finances the writing of these two volumes (Luke 1:3).1 We don’t know when Luke (possibly with Paul’s encouragement) conceived and began to research these works, but tracking down all the “eyewitness” sources (Luke 1:1–4) must have taken some time. I am guessing that as Luke and Paul traveled from town to town, Luke was locating participants and getting their stories. Possibly he did a lot of traveling while Paul was in prison in Caesarea and Rome as well. Here he is thanking Theophilus for making it all possible.

The deeds and teaching of Jesus lay behind everything, and Luke wants to make that clear at the outset. The teaching of the church is a critical component (2:42; 4:2; 5:21; 18:11; 20:20), which itself is thoroughly grounded in Jesus’ teaching. Equally critical, this teaching did not end at the cross, for Jesus continued to teach and perform mighty deeds after his “death” on the cross. He is the living Word: He taught forty further days, and during this time he corrected and overturned all the misunderstandings of the disciples. His works and his words did not end at the cross but at the ascension, yet even that was continued by the Holy Spirit (John 16:12–15).

The ascension is critical because it is the basis for Jesus’ exaltation at the right hand of God (Ps 110:1; see Acts 2:34–35) and his assumption of divine power as Lord of all. By being “taken up to heaven,” he returned to his preexistent glory. The sending of the Spirit is an act originating in heaven. The involvement of the Trinity takes this form: the Father calls the Son to heaven, and from there they send the Spirit as their Envoy in the same way that the Father had sent the Son at his incarnation. Then the Spirit commissions the apostles to lead the church on its mission. In his earthly ministry the Spirit had infused his teaching as he instructed the “apostles,” a term that means they have joined the Spirit as “Sent Ones” commissioned by the Triune Godhead. The preposition “through” (dia) indicates that the Spirit is the means by which the disciples received and came to understand Jesus’ teaching. This is in keeping with John 16:12–15, the Spirit as guide and revealer of Jesus’ teaching.

THE COMMISSIONING OF THE APOSTLES (1:3–8)

The “suffering” of Jesus probably refers not just to the cross but to all of passion week as a united whole. The pent-up hatred of the leaders, the brainwashing of the crowds to demand his death, and the capitulation of Pilate and the Romans, together with the cross, defines his suffering. However, it all ends not with the grave but with the empty tomb, when he “presented himself” alive to his followers. His death was an atoning sacrifice that established a new covenant age (Luke 22:19–20). Luke here calls his resurrection appearances “convincing proofs” (tekmēria), decisive evidence for the reality of the event. The term “presented” places a great deal of emphasis on the apologetic value of the evidence. All of his followers were totally convinced of the physical resurrection, and our future is secure as a result of it (see 1 Cor 15). This fact was a major theme in Luke 24, as the risen Lord again and again provided proof that his resurrection was real.

It is here that we learn Jesus appeared over a forty-day period, thus ascending ten days before Pentecost. This does not mean he stayed with them that entire time. Looking at the four Gospels and 1 Corinthians 15:5–8, we see that Jesus visited them at specific times over a forty-day period. His appearances were specific and brief, and the purpose of each was to prepare them further for their future world-encompassing mission.

According to Luke here, the overall subject of Jesus’ teaching was the kingdom of God. This refers both to the new era being established and to the fact of God’s reign over it. Jesus inaugurated this new reign, and his followers would populate it as the messianic community, the church. The kingdom in Jesus’ ministry had arrived and yet had not come to consummation. We call this “inaugurated eschatology,” the view that the kingdom is already here yet not in a final sense. We are living in the time of tension between the ages, with the last days begun but not come to fruition. Here the emphasis is on the presence and reality of the kingdom in the mission of the disciples to the world.

Luke now (1:4) turns to Jesus’ appearance to the Eleven (Luke 24:36–49) when Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit to come (24:49). Luke says that Jesus “was eating with them,” emphasizing that the Spirit will arrive in the midst of that Christ-centered table fellowship. As also in the Emmaus road incident of Luke 24:13–35, Jesus teaches truths and opens eyes via fellowship with him, which he emphasizes by adding “which you have heard me speak about.” As we bask in the presence of the Lord and open ourselves to his words, he imparts eternal truths to us.

God could have had the Spirit come in Galilee, where the movement began, but he clearly determined that the Holy City, Jerusalem, should be the starting point, as prophesied in Joel 2:28–32: “On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance.” The trinitarian foundation for the arrival of God’s kingdom demands that the Spirit come upon the new movement and fill it with divine power. The new messianic age is to begin in Jerusalem with the Spirit’s arrival, so they must wait for God’s timing.

John’s baptism was an immersion in water signifying repentance and forgiveness of sin, by which he called the nation back to God (Luke 3:3, 16). Jesus uses baptism to signify that the new age of the Spirit—the new covenant that the Spirit would introduce—would be an immersion in the Spirit’s power (1:5). This would constitute a baptism with the Holy Spirit, an immersion in God’s salvation and in that new messianic reality identified with the Spirit’s taking up residence in every believer (Rom 8:14–17). The mission of Jesus to the nations is to be completed by the church, but the church must be empowered by the Spirit to successfully accomplish that directive. So they must wait for God to fulfill his promise and send the Spirit to provide that impetus.

In Luke, the ascension entailed the doxological end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, as he blessed his followers and departed. Here in Acts it entails an ecclesiastical beginning for the church’s mission, as Jesus prepares for the coming of the Spirit and the launching of the universal mission to the world. Jesus came to restore not political power (vv. 6–7) but spiritual power (v. 8) to God’s people.

When the disciples ask Jesus if he is now “going to restore the kingdom to Israel,” they are still assuming political liberation rather than spiritual restoration. They assume the Spirit’s arrival will be accompanied by heaven’s armies, and that the last days will mean the defeat of the Romans and the instituting of Jewish rule over the nations. So they still have failed to learn that the victory over the nations will not come until Jesus’ second coming.

Jesus’ response (1:7) corrects this failure by pointing out to them that they have the wrong time in mind. The coming of the Spirit is for the mission of the church (v. 8) rather than for the restoration of Israel, and “the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” are not for them to know. Their question is valid but not for that occasion. They should be focused on the mission God has inaugurated through the Spirit, not on the events associated with the end of the age. Jesus says this as well in Mark 13:32: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Jesus is building on that here.

There is an important lesson in this for today. An inordinate interest in the end-time events has often eroded the present mission of the church for us as well. Many preachers have given themselves entirely over to “prophecy preaching” and signs that this age is to end soon. Many are like the disciples here, too focused on eschatology and ignoring the current mission to the world that God wants to have first place in our lives. The doctrine of the second coming is important, but it is not meant to consume our interests. We are to remain focused on our present walk with the Lord and the mission to the lost he has entrusted to us.

Jesus is not denying the place of Israel’s restoration and his parousia in the life of the church. Rather, he is redirecting their focus to what has greater importance, the coming of the Spirit and launching of the church’s mission to the nations. He refuses to answer their question, for that issue is for a later time. However, the exact time will never be revealed and is God’s alone to determine. The important issue is not the time of the restoration but rather her part in the witness to the world.

So in 1:8 Jesus directs them to the critical point of power for witness. This is the true reason why the Spirit is coming. The Spirit is the “power from on high” (Luke 24:49) and will come to empower God’s people for their calling and send them into the world. This “coming” does not stress the continuous nature of the Spirit’s presence but announces the specific coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. It is at that moment that Jesus’ followers will “receive power.” The same divine power that was present in creation and evident throughout the Old Testament will now reside in the church as it fulfills its destiny.

The result of the Spirit’s presence will be “witness.” This is one of the central themes of Acts and fulfills Israel’s task to be witnesses and bless the world (Isa 43:10; 44:8), the one aspect of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14) she ignored. The church as true Israel will complete that mission. Yet there is an official cast to this “witness” as well. They have seen and walked with the risen Lord and can provide proof that he is truly alive. This group is at the heart of the “eyewitness” emphasis in Luke (Luke 1:1–4). They could attest to the reality of his suffering, death, and resurrection. When they spoke of him as Messiah and Son of God, they knew the truth of what they were saying. There is double meaning in “my [mou] witnesses.” They were witnesses to the truth of Jesus, and they were witnesses who belonged to Jesus and were sent by him.

The last part of this verse is virtually a table of contents describing the material in Acts and the route of the mission—to Jerusalem (1:9–8:3), Judea (8:2–3), Samaria (8:4–25), and the “ends of the earth” (the Gentile mission in the rest of Acts). This too is a fulfillment of Old Testament promises, for Isaiah 49:6 describes Israel as “a light for the Gentiles [or ‘to the nations’], that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” There is quite an extensive debate on the meaning of “ends of the earth.” Some think it refers to Ethiopia (the farthest south), Spain (the farthest west), the Gentiles (in Isaiah), or even Rome (the penultimate nation). When all is considered, Spain and Ethiopia are not really central to Acts, and most likely the reference is to the farthest reaches of planet earth, made up of Gentiles. The stress is on all the people of earth as the goal of the Christian mission.

THE ASCENSION OF JESUS (1:9–11)

These verses stress the apostles as official witnesses, for in all three verses Luke points out that they “looked intently” and watched him ascend into heaven. The ascension is not merely a symbolic way of providing a conclusion to the Jesus story. It actually happened and was witnessed by the 120 gathered together (1:15), perhaps even the “five hundred” of 1 Corinthians 15:6. This taking up is presented as a sudden, perhaps unexpected turn of events. The idea of a heaven up there and an earth down here sounds mythical, but of course God is simply accommodating the picture to human spatial perception. The heavens/sky is indeed up there, and so the picture makes sense.

As Jesus was speaking, a cloud suddenly enveloped him and took him away. The presence of the cloud echoes the ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Series Preface
• Introduction to Acts
• Preliminary Events to the Mission (1:1–26)
• Pentecost and the Coming of the Spirit (2:1–47)
• Opening Events in the New Messianic Community (3:1–26)
• Persecution and Power: The First Stage (4:1–22)
• Community Life of Jewish Christianity (4:23–5:16)
• Persecution: The Second Stage (5:17–42)
• Final Stages of the Palestinian Church (6:1–15)
• Stephen’s Defense Speech and Aftermath (7:1–8:3)
• Samaria and the Ethiopian Eunuch (8:4–40)
• Saul’s Conversion and Peter’s Mission (9:1–43)
• Cornelius: The Gospel Goes to the Gentiles (10:1–48)
• The Gentile Mission: Cornelius and Antioch (11:1–30)
• Persecution under Herod (12:1–25)
• Paul’s Mission in Cyprus and Galatia (13:1–52)
• Paul’s Mission in Galatia Continues (14:1–28)
• The Jerusalem Council (15:1–35)
• Mission in Macedonia and Achaia, Part 1 (15:36–16:40)
• Mission in Macedonia and Achaia, Part 2 (17:1–34)
• Mission in Corinth and Aftermath (18:1–22)
• Mission in Ephesus (18:23–20:1)
• Paul’s Return to Jerusalem, Part 1 (20:1–38)
• Paul’s Return to Jerusalem, Part 2 (21:1–36)
• Paul’s Defense at the Temple (21:37–22:29)
• Paul’s Imprisonment in Jerusalem (22:30–23:35)
• Trial before Governor Felix (24:1–27)
• Trial before Festus and Agrippa (25:1–27)
• Paul Makes His Defense (26:1–32)
• Sea Journey to Rome (27:1–44)
• Paul Reaches Rome (28:1–31)
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Subject and Author Index
• Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Literature