ACC ~ Acts 1 v1 - 5

OVERVIEW:

In the early chapters of the book of Acts, Luke is intent on demonstrating how those who believe in Jesus form the new people of God. This first chapter is meant to be a preparation for Pentecost, the new formative experience that inaugurates the church. Luke first links the present narrative to his preceding volume (Acts 1:1-2) and then, in five steps, records Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3-5), the discussion about the kingdom and the mission of the apostles (Acts 1:6-8), and Jesus’ departure and enthronement (Acts 1:9-11). He follows this with a description of the disciples obeying Jesus and waiting in prayer (Acts 1:12-14) and the reconstituting of the Twelve with the choice of Matthias (Acts 1:15-26). While the Fathers do not comment at length on the literary approach of Luke, they are sensitive to some of the special functions of this second treatise; for instance, that it narrates the fulfillment of what Christ both did and foretold. They also draw our attention to the rhythm of “doing and saying,” mentioned by Luke. They are alert to the significance of Luke’s remark that Jesus gave them proofs (tekmērioi) of his resurrected reality and are aware that this Lukan account mentions a forty-day period between the resurrection and the ascension not spoken of elsewhere in the Gospels. Finally, they appreciate the fact that Luke mentions the Holy Spirit at the outset of his second book, thus preparing us to see his theology of the church. As Chrysostom observes, Acts tell us what the “other Paraclete” said and did.

1:1 | All That Jesus Began to Do and Teach

THE ADVANTAGE OF READING THE SECOND BOOK. CHRYSOSTOM: To many people this book, both its content and its author, is so little known that they are not even aware it exists. I have therefore taken this narrative for my subject, both to initiate those who are ignorant and so that such a treasure shall not remain hidden out of sight. For indeed it will profit us no less than the Gospels themselves, so replete is it with Christian wisdom and sound doctrine, especially in what is said concerning the Holy Spirit. Let us then not pass by it hastily but examine it closely. For here we can see the predictions Christ utters in the Gospels actually come to pass. Truth shines brightly through the facts themselves, and a great change for the better takes place in the disciples now that the Spirit has come upon them. For the words which they heard Christ say—“Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these”—and the events which he foretold, that they shall be brought before rulers and kings and be scourged in their synagogues, that they shall suffer grievous things and overcome all, that the gospel shall be preached in all the world, all these came to pass in this book exactly as predicted, and many other things which he told them while he was with them. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

LOVER OF GOD. BEDE: Theophilus means lover of God or beloved of God. Therefore, anyone who is a lover of God may believe that this work was written for him, because the physician Luke wrote it in order that the reader might find health for his soul. Note also that he says, “all that Jesus began to do and teach,” first “do” and then “teach,” because Jesus, establishing the pattern of a good teacher, taught nothing except those things which he did. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.1.

TEACHING FIRST BY CONDUCT, THEN WORDS. CHRYSOSTOM: Consider how Christ validated his words through actions. “Learn from me,” he said, “for I am gentle and humble in heart.” He taught us to be poor and demonstrated this through action, for “the Son of man,” he says, “has no place to lay his head.” Again, he commanded us to love our enemies and taught this lesson on the cross, when he prayed for those who were crucifying him. He said, “If someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” He gave not only his tunic but also his blood. He bid also the others to teach in this way. Therefore Paul also said, “as you have an example in us.” For nothing is more insipid than a teacher who shows his wisdom only in words, since he is then not a teacher but a hypocrite. For this reason, the apostles first taught by their conduct and then by their words. One may even say that they had no need of words, since their deeds spoke loudly. Even Christ’s passion may be called action, for in his passion Christ performed that great and wonderful act, by which he destroyed death and effected all else that he did for us. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THE REBUKE OF CONSCIENCE. JEROME: For teaching is put to the blush when a person’s conscience rebukes him; and it is in vain that his tongue preaches poverty or teaches almsgiving if he is rolling in the riches of Croesus and if, in spite of his threadbare cloak, he has silken robes at home to save from the moth. LETTER 127.4.

THE SENSE OF ALL. AUGUSTINE: This statement teaches us that, previous to this, Luke had written one of those four books of the gospel which are held in the loftiest authority in the church. At the same time, when he tells us that he had composed a treatise of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he commissioned the apostles, we are not to take this to mean that he actually has given us a full account in his Gospel of all that Jesus did and said when he lived with his apostles on earth. For that would be contrary to what John affirms when he says that there are also many other things which Jesus did, and if they should all be written down, the world itself could not contain the books. And besides, all agree that many things are narrated by the other Evangelists, which Luke himself does not mention in his history. The sense, therefore, is that he wrote a treatise of all these things to the extent that he made a selection out of the whole mass of materials for his narrative and introduced those facts which he judged fit and suitable to fulfill the duty laid upon him. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 4.8.9.

PRACTICE BEFORE YOU PREACH. JOHN CASSIAN: Take care then that you do not rush into teaching before doing, and so be reckoned among the number of those of whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel to the disciples, “So practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach but do not practice. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.” CONFERENCE 14.9.

1:2 | The Day Christ Was Taken Up

HIS COMMANDMENT. CHRYSOSTOM: What did he command? “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Great is the praise of the apostles, when they have been entrusted with such a charge, that is to say, the salvation of the world. Words full of the Spirit! This he hints at in the expression “through the Holy Spirit.” “The words I have spoken to you are spirit,” he said, inducing in the hearer a desire for learning the commandments and establishing the authority of the apostles, since it is the words of the Spirit they are to speak, and the commandments of Christ. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

1:3 | Appearing During Forty Days

EATING AN EVIDENCE OF HIS HUMANITY. ARATOR: Now, by manifest miracles during forty days in their sight, the Lord confirmed the faith of those whom he bade to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth in its wide boundary. The wonders of creation could not conceal God. What proof [of his real humanity] could the Risen One give so surely as the fact of eating? Human bodies show that they live by this means. About to go to heaven, he went forth to walk round the grove of olive because by its sacred bud it is a place of light and peace. He wished to return [to heaven] from that place, from which the divine fragrance makes agreeable a gleaming person with signed forehead. Since chrism, from the name of Christ, cleanses inwardly those anointed from above, he who will return as victor was raised to the starry firmament and had with him what he had taken on. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

HE APPEARED TO THE APOSTLES. CHRYSOSTOM: Why did he not appear to everyone, but only to the apostles? Because he would have seemed a mere apparition to most people, since they did not understand the secret of the mystery. For if even the disciples themselves were at first incredulous and troubled and needed the evidence of actual touch with the hand and of his eating with them, what would have happened to most people? For this reason, it is through the miracles done by the apostles that he renders the evidence of his resurrection unequivocal, so that not only the people of those times, but also all people thereafter, should be certain of the fact that he has risen. For the certainty of the former came from seeing the miracles, while that of everyone else was to be rooted in faith. For this reason, our discussion of the apostles also proceeds from here. For if he did not rise again but remains dead, how did the apostles perform miracles in his name? “They did not perform miracles,” some will say. How then was our religion authorized? For certainly they will not disagree with this and argue against what is obvious. Therefore, when they say that no miracles took place, they embarrass themselves more than anyone else. For this would be the greatest miracle of all, if without any miracles the whole world came running to be taken in the nets of twelve poor and illiterate men. For the fishermen prevailed not by wealth of money, nor by cunning of words, nor by any thing else of this kind. Therefore, the unbelievers, though unwilling, will agree that a divine power was present in these men, since no human strength could ever accomplish such great deeds. For this reason then he remained for forty days after the resurrection, giving evidence in this length of time of their seeing him in his own proper person, lest they believe what they saw was a phantom. Indeed, he was not content even with this but added also the evidence of eating at the table. This Luke reveals when he says, “while gathered with them.” The apostles themselves also always took this as proof of the resurrection, as when they say, “we who ate and drank with him.” HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THE FORTY DAYS. BEDE: Now this number [forty] designates this temporal earthly life, either on account of the four seasons of the year or on account of the four winds of the heavens. For after we have been buried in death with Christ through baptism, as though having passed over the path through the Red Sea, it is necessary for us, in this wilderness, to have the Lord’s guidance. May he lead us to the heavenly kingdom and repay us with the denarius of his image. In the presence of the Holy Spirit, may he bless us as by a true jubilee rest. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.3.

CONTRARY TO JOHN? AUGUSTINE: It is not meant, however, that they had eaten and drunk with him daily throughout these forty days. For that would be contrary to John’s statement, who has interposed the space of eight days, during which he was not seen, and makes his third appearance take place by the sea of Tiberias. At the same time, even although he [should be supposed to have] manifested himself to them with them every day after that period, that would not come into antagonism with anything in the [other] narrative. And, perhaps, this expression, “for the space of forty days,” which is equivalent to four times ten and may thus sustain a mystical reference to the whole world or the whole temporal age, has been used just because those first ten days, within which the said eight fall, may not incongruously be reckoned, in accordance with the practice of the Scriptures, on the principle of dealing with the part in general terms as [if it were] the whole. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.25.84.

1:4 | Waiting for the Promise

AN ARMY EQUIPPED. CHRYSOSTOM: “He ordered them not to leave Jerusalem.” Why? Just as when soldiers are about to charge a multitude, no one thinks of letting them issue forth until they have armed themselves, or as horses are not allowed to start from the barriers until they have got their charioteer, likewise Christ did not allow them to appear in the field before the descent of the Spirit, so that they would not be easily defeated and taken captive by the many. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THE SPIRIT POURED OUT AFTER THE SON DEPARTED. CHRYSOSTOM: But why did the Holy Spirit not come to them while Christ was present, rather than immediately after his departure? Instead, although Christ ascended on the fortieth day, the Spirit came to them when the day of Pentecost had come. … It was necessary for them to have a longing for the event, and so receive the grace. For this reason Christ himself departed, and then the Spirit came. For if he had been present, they would not have expected the Spirit so earnestly as they did. For this reason he did not come immediately after Christ’s ascension, but after eight or nine days. Our desire toward God is most awakened when we stand in need. For this reason, John sent his disciples to Christ at the time when they were to be most in need of Jesus, during his own imprisonment. Besides, it was necessary that our nature should be seen in heaven and that the reconciliation should be perfected, and then the Spirit should come and the joy be unalloyed. For, if Christ had then departed, when the Spirit had already come, and the Spirit remained, the consolation would not have been so great as it was. For indeed they clung to him and could not bear to part with him. To comfort them he said, “It is to your advantage that I go away.” For this reason he delayed also for the intervening days, that they, for a while disheartened and standing, as I said, in need of him, might then reap a full and unalloyed joy. … For it cannot, it cannot be, that a person should enjoy the benefit of grace unless he is wary. Do you not see what Elijah says to his disciple? “If you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you,” that is, you will have what you ask for. Christ also said everywhere to those who came to him, “Do you believe?” For unless we are made fit for the gift, we do not feel its benefit very much. So it was also in the case of Paul: grace did not come to him immediately, but three days intervened, during which he was blind, being purified and prepared by fear. For just as the dyers first prepare the cloth that is to receive the dye with other ingredients to prevent the color from fading, likewise in this instance God first prepared the soul so that it was anxiously awaiting and then poured forth his grace. For this reason he did not immediately send the Spirit, but on the fiftieth day. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THE EFFECTS OF THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. HILARY OF POITIERS: He orders them to await the promise of the Father, which has been heard from his mouth. Certainly, the discourse even now is concerned with the promise of his Father. Consequently, the manifestation of the Spirit is through the effects which these powers produce. [Awaiting the promise of the Father,] the gift of the Spirit is not hidden where there is the word of wisdom and where the words of life are heard. The effects of the powers produced by the Spirit are not fully manifest where there is the [rational] perception of the divine knowledge in order that we may not be like the animals, unaware of the author of our life through our ignorance of God, nor even through our faith in God in order that we may not be outside the gospel of God by not believing the gospel of God. The Spirit is not manifested only through the gift of healing in order that by the cure of infirmities we may render testimony to the grace of him who has granted these gifts; or through the performance of miracles in order that the power of God may be recognized in what we are doing; or through prophecy in order that through our knowledge of the doctrine it may be known that we have been taught by God; or through the distinguishing of spirits in order that we may perceive whether anyone speaks through a holy or an evil spirit; or through the various kinds of languages in order that the sermons in these languages may be offered as a sign of the Holy Spirit who has been given; or in the interpretation of the languages in order that the faith of the hearers might not be endangered through ignorance, since the interpreter of a language makes it intelligible for those who are not familiar with the language. Rather it is through all the diversities of these gifts that the effects of the Spirit are poured out for the profit of everyone. ON THE TRINITY 8.30.

1:5 | Baptized with the Holy Spirit

THE MANIFOLD WORKINGS OF THE SPIRIT. CHRYSOSTOM: The Gospels, then, are a narrative of what Christ did and said, while the Acts are of what the other Paraclete said and did. Not that the Spirit did not do many things in the Gospels also, just as Christ here in Acts still works in people as he did in the Gospels, but then it was through the temple, while now it is through the apostles. Then the Spirit entered the virgin mother and fashioned the temple, now he enters into the souls of the apostles; then in the likeness of a dove, now in the likeness of fire. Why? There he showed the gentleness of the Lord, but here his also taking vengeance. He reminds them opportunely also of the judgment. For when the need was to forgive sin, there was need of much gentleness; but when we have obtained the gift, it is henceforth a time for judgment and examination. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THE HOLY SPIRIT PRESENT IN THE NAME OF CHRIST. BEDE: When the Lord said, “John indeed baptized with water,” he did not continue with “yet you shall baptize” but with “yet you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit,” because neither the apostles nor their followers, who still baptize in the church to this day, had the power to baptize except as John did, that is, with water. However, when the name of Christ is invoked, the interior power of the Holy Spirit is present, which, with the human administration of water, simultaneously purifies the souls and the bodies of those being baptized. This did not happen in the baptism of John—“for the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.5.

PENETRATING GRACE. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: This grace was not in part, but his power was in full perfection; for as he who plunges into the waters and is baptized is encompassed on all sides by the waters, so were they also baptized completely by the Holy Spirit. The water, however, flows round the outside only, but the Spirit baptizes also the soul within, and that completely. And why do you wonder at this? Take an example from matter, a simple and common example, but one that helps the ordinary person. If the fire passing in through the mass of the iron makes the whole of it fire, so that what was cold becomes burning and what was black is made bright, if fire which is a body thus penetrates and works without hindrance in iron which is also a body, why wonder that the Holy Spirit enters into the very inmost recesses of the soul? CATECHETICAL LECTURE 17.14.