ACC ~ Acts 1 v26

DRAWING LOTS WAS PERMISSIBLE UNTIL THE FULFILLMENT. BEDE: Matthias was chosen by lot so that the choice of the apostle would not appear to be out of harmony with the command of the old law, where it was ordered that the high priest be sought, as was said of Zechariah, “according to the custom of the priest’s office, it came about by lot that he offered incense.”He [Zechariah] was, as I suppose, selected by lot at that time so that it might be typologically prefigured that they were to continue to seek out a priest until the one came who had replaced him, the one who, not by bloody sacrifices “but by virtue of his own blood, entered once for all into the holy places, having obtained eternal redemption”—his sacrifice was immolated at the time of the Passover but truly brought to perfection by the Holy Spirit in the appearance of fire on the day of Pentecost. For according to old customs, victims acceptable to God were brought to perfection by celestial fire. Therefore until the truth was fulfilled, the practice of the figure was permissible. So it was that Matthias, who was appointed before Pentecost, was chosen by lot, while in the case of the seven deacons, who came later, there was no shaking of lots but only the disciples’ choice; and indeed they were appointed by the prayer of the apostles and the imposition of hands. Therefore if there are any who, under the compulsion of some difficult situation think that because of the example of the apostles they should consult God with lots, they should see that these same apostles needed only the assembly of the brothers gathered together and prayers poured forth to God. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.26.

THROUGH THE TWELVE THE TRINITY IS PROCLAIMED EVERYWHERE. AUGUSTINE: This saying, “I have chosen you twelve,”may be understood in this way, that twelve is a sacred number. For the honor of that number was not taken away because one was lost, for another was chosen into the place of the one that perished. The number remained a sacred number, a number containing twelve. These twelve were to make known the Three [the Trinity] throughout the whole world, that is, throughout the four quarters of the world. That is the reason of the three times four. Judas, then, only cut himself off; he did not profane the number twelve. He abandoned his Teacher, but God appointed a successor to take his place. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.10.

MATTHIAS PRESERVES THE SACRED NUMBER. AUGUSTINE: He reproved them by saying, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walks in the day, he does not stumble.” Follow me, if you do not wish to stumble: do not give counsel to me, from whom you ought to receive it. To what, then, refer the words “Are there not twelve hours in the day”? So as to point himself out as the day, he chose twelve disciples. If I am the day, he says, and you the hours, is it for the hours to give counsel to the day? The day is followed by the hours, not the hours by the day. If these, then, were the hours, what in such a reckoning was Judas? Was he also among the twelve hours? If he was an hour, he had light; and if he had light, how was the Day betrayed by him to death? But the Lord, in so speaking, foresaw not Judas himself but his successor. For Judas, when he fell, was succeeded by Matthias, and the twelvefold number preserved. It was not, then, without a purpose that the Lord chose twelve disciples, but to indicate that he himself is the spiritual Day. Let the hours then attend upon the Day, let them preach the Day, be made known and illuminated by the Day, and by the preaching of the hours may the world believe in the Day. And so in a summary way it was just this that he said, “Follow me, if you do not wish to stumble.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 49.8.

THE BLESSING AND RESPONSIBILITY OF COMMUNITY. AUGUSTINE: What lesson then, my brothers, did our Lord Jesus Christ wish to impress on his church, when it pleased him to have one castaway among the twelve, but this, that we should bear with the wicked and refrain from dividing the body of Christ? … Such was this man Judas, and yet he went in and out with the eleven holy disciples. With them he came even to the table of the Lord: he was permitted to converse with them, but he could not contaminate them. Both Peter and Judas partook of one bread, and yet what communion had the believer with the infidel? Peter’s partaking was to life, but that of Judas to death. For that good bread was just like the sweet savor. For as the sweet savor, so also does the good bread give life to the good and bring death to the wicked. “For whoever eats unworthily eats and drinks judgment against himself”: “judgment against himself,” not against you. If, then, it is judgment against him, not against you, bear as one that is good with him that is evil, that you may attain the rewards of the good and not be hurled into the punishment of the wicked. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 50.10.