Study 3. Acts 1:12-26

To apply Acts to our lives sensibly, we need to distinguish when Luke is describing an example we should follow; when he is describing one we may follow; and when he is giving details to portray the overall message, not to be exact models for us. One clue to this distinction is that primary patterns recur whereas specific details vary. For instance, people repeatedly pray for God’s guidance to make decisions in Acts but casting lots occurs only once, before the Spirit is poured out at Pentecost. Likewise, when people become believers in Acts, water baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit normally occur, but “these can be in reverse order, with or without the laying on of hands, with or without the mention of tongues; and scarcely ever with a specific mention of repentance, even after what Peter says in 2:38-39.” You’ll find more guidelines for applications later in this study guide. For now, keep this question in mind: When is a practice in Acts a norm we should follow; when is it an option we should consider, and when is it unique to the time? Also, watch for recurring patterns and varying details. (Lifechange)

 

 

7. How did Peter describe the chief function of an apostle (see 1:22)? What were the qualifications of such a person (see 1:21-22)?

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”  

In this sense there are no longer any NT apostles amonngst us. The NT also designates Barnabas, Paul (14:4,14) James the brother of Jesus (Gal 1:19) and maybe Andronicus and Junias (Ro 16:7) as apostles.

From that point onward, the apostles were not replaced, as when James was killed (Ac 12). It was Judas' betrayal, not his death, that was key.

 

8. a. What role did prayer have among the believers between the Ascension and Pentecost (see 1:14,24-25)? b. How is this a model for us?
Prayer was something they 'devoted' themselves to. It reflected an intensity of comittment to God we should have.

Prayer was also made before important decisions and actions.

God alone knows the heart (cf. 15:8, 1 Sa 16:7), and He alone would discern the right choice against the claims and feelings of men.

In Jewish law a minimum of 120 Jewish men was required to establish a community with its own council; in Jewish terms the disciples were a body of sufficient size to form a new community.

 

Prov 16:33 indicates that how the lot falls is not random, but is determined by God.

 Some commentators have argued that the recourse to the lot typifies the situation of the church before Pentecost when it did not have the guidance of the Spirit, and others have gone further and claimed that the church acted wrongly in choosing Matthias: it should have waited for the ‘twelfth man’ of God’s own choice, Paul, instead of giving God his choice between two others who are never heard of again. But we never hear any more of the other members of the Twelve (apart from Peter, James and John) in Acts, and Paul did not possess the essential qualifications to be one of the Twelve. The most that might be said is that in the period before Pentecost the church had to seek other means of divine guidance than the aid of the Spirit, but the method which it adopted (prayer and the casting of lots) was entirely proper. In fact the church was asking the Lord to make his choice of the right man, who was then enrolled as an apostle; the church cannot be said to have ‘elected’ him. (Marshall)

10. Review your answers to questions 4, 5, 8, and 9. Ask God to guide you, and write down (a) the one specific truth from 1:1-26 you want to take to heart and (b) any commitment to some action or prayer you would like to make during the coming week.

Lord, let me pray more

How do we reconcile the description of Judas' death in Matthew 27:3-7 with that given in Acts 1:18-19?

 

If we do try to harmonzie them, the following possibilities arise: (1). Judas hanged himself (Matt.), but the rope broke and his body was ruptured by the fall (possibly after he was already dead and beginning to decompose); (2). What the priests bought with Judas’s money (Matt.) could be regarded as his purchase by their agency (Acts); (3). The field bought by the priests (Matt.) was the one where Judas died (Marshall).

Satan brings totale destruction and disgrace to those under his control.

 

 

What can be learned from Peter's use of OT passages (Ps 69.25, 109:8 )in 1:20?

The apostles clearly point to divine inspiration of David in his writing of the Psalm (1:16)

 Quite clearly the OT exegesis of the apostles should not be attempted today.l They had the teaching of Jesus and direct inspiration of the Spirit in writing Scripture, much less interpreting it.

 

Psalm 69:25, and represents a threat against the enemies of a godly person who was seen by Jesus and the early church as typifying the Messiah; hence it would be natural to find in this Psalm a prophecy or type of the betrayer of Jesus. The application is made by altering the original ‘their habitation’ of the Psalm to 'his' habitation. The habitation is the field which Judas bought and over which a curse will rest: nobody will live in it (as Matthew indicates by saying that it became a cemetery). C. H. Dodd suggests that the effect of the citation was to show that Scripture allowed for the creation of a vacancy in the apostolate, caused by apostasy and not by death (hence there was no need to elect a successor to James, Acts 12:2); moreover, a further scripture gave warrant for the filling of the vacancy. The second text is Psalm 109:8 where the Psalmist utters a string of curses against his enemy and wishes that somebody else may take over his occupation. This is used as justification for handing over the office of Judas to somebody else.(Marshall)