I composed the first discourse, O Theophilus, concerning all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach,
Luke opens his second book by pointing back to his first. One word in that opening line — "began" — shapes everything that follows: who acts after the ascension, and where He acts from.
Luke points back to a book his reader already had. That settles who wrote this one:
There is no doubt that the writer of the third Gospel is the one whom the Holy Spirit chose to write this account of the founding of the Church on earth. This becomes clear if we read the beginning of that Gospel and compare it with the beginning of Acts… The earlier book known to Theophilus is the third Gospel, called the Gospel of Luke. The writer of that Gospel must therefore be the writer of the Book of Acts.
The two books cover different periods and different subjects:
Luke had written an account of the Lord Jesus Christ's stay on earth from His birth to His ascension. He will now write an account of the effect produced in early years by the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell on this earth in the Church of God. The Lord Jesus Christ lived on earth for about thirty-three years. Luke writes the Church's history for its first thirty years. He writes it directly for Theophilus, and indirectly for all his readers in later ages.
Luke's Gospel calls this man "most excellent"; here he is simply Theophilus. Commentators explain the change, and why he was a real man and not a symbol:
It would seem that Theophilus had either stopped holding a governorship — or whatever other public office the title "most excellent" implies — or had become so mature in faith and spirituality that he valued a title as little as a position… Further, no one should listen to those, in old times or modern, who imagine the name is a made-up description of anyone who loves God. Comparing the Gospel with the Acts points to a living Christian to whom the writer addresses both. And in that case the form of the word would have been philotheos, not theophilos.
His name and his dropped title both tell us something about him:
Theophilus means "Friend of God." Origen took the name as "a man whom God loves." It may have been given to him at his baptism and used only among Christians. He seems to have been of knightly rank, and greeted as "most excellent" — like our "Right Honourable" — because he was a governor, like Felix and Festus.
Luke does not say Jesus did and taught, but that He began to do and teach. That one word reaches forward into Acts and the letters:
The word "began" is worth noticing. It implies that Jesus has not stopped doing and teaching because He has gone on high, out of the sight of men. Acts tells us what Jesus went on to do. He poured out the Holy Spirit from the Father, so that through Him He might act by the Apostles and others. In the same way we discover, by reading the letters, what He went on to teach through the Apostles at the proper time.
You can follow that continuation chapter by chapter:
The Book of Acts therefore contains the continuation of the Lord's actions, no longer on earth, but from the Glory. In the first chapter He acts in choosing the twelfth Apostle to take the place of Judas. In the second chapter He Himself poured out the Holy Spirit. At the close of that chapter we see another action of the risen Lord: He added to the assembly daily those who were being saved. In the third chapter He showed His power in healing the lame man. All through this Book we see Him acting from the Glory, guiding, directing, comforting and encouraging His servants.
If we take the word "began" seriously, the familiar title on the cover is not quite right:
So the Gospel of Luke leads into the book we commonly, though not correctly, call "The Acts of the Apostles." It is rather the inspired account of the risen Lord working in the power of the Holy Spirit sent down from on high. That Spirit witnesses to Him there, both in the assembly and in His servants, above all some of the apostles.
- Began. Luke calls his Gospel the record of what Jesus began to do and teach — a first instalment, not a closed account.
- Continued. Acts is the sequel: the same Person still doing, now from heaven, by the Spirit He poured out. The letters carry on what He went on to teach.
- Traceable. You can follow the risen Lord's hand through the book — choosing an apostle, sending the Spirit, adding to the assembly, healing the lame.
- Named. The common title "Acts of the Apostles" is not quite right. The book records the risen Lord working by the Holy Spirit.
- Personal. Luke writes to one man, "Friend of God" — a real person, not a symbol — and through him to readers in every later age.
until that day in which, having by the Holy Spirit charged the apostles whom he had chosen, he was taken up;
Luke opens Acts by looking back at his Gospel, then turns to the risen Christ giving commands before He is taken up. Two things stand out: the commands come "through the Holy Spirit," and the Man giving them is alive from the dead.
The word "began" in verse 1 is doing quiet work.
The word "began" is worth noting. It implies that Jesus has not stopped doing and teaching just because He has gone on high, out of the sight of men. Acts tells us what Jesus went on to do. He sent out the Holy Spirit from the Father, so that through Him He might act through the apostles and others... Before He was taken up He gave the apostles the instructions they needed. He did it "through the Holy Spirit," though they had not yet received the Spirit.
Chapter by chapter, Acts shows what the risen Christ did next.
The Book of Acts contains the continuation of the Lord's actions, no longer on earth, but from the glory. We can easily trace the actions of the risen and glorified Christ through the entire book... In the first chapter He acts in the selection of the twelfth apostle who was to take the place of Judas. In the second chapter He Himself poured out the Holy Spirit.
One writer sees here the pattern for every Christian.
Here we see a Man alive on the earth in the full power of the Holy Spirit... Christianity always takes its pattern from Christ. I believe that here we see the pattern of what a Christian is. Christ was then a Man alive from the dead, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, in relationship with God. You and I, fellow believer, are now allowed to enter that same relationship.
The Spirit's power here matches how Christ acted on earth, and how He will act when He reigns.
When Jesus walked here on earth He lived, acted and worked in the power of the Holy Spirit. This was the source of His words, His acts and His miracles. After His resurrection He still acted by that same mighty power. And when He is here in the glory of the kingdom, as Zechariah's vision shows, He will also rule, maintain His rights and bear testimony for God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The One giving these commands has taken a new place on the earth He redeemed.
There is little more for Jesus to do below in the world He made. He has taken His new place and title on the earth, by right of its redemption. In the power of His resurrection He stands on it and takes possession as "the Lord." As such He gave out His commands, by the Holy Spirit, to the apostles whom He had chosen. They saw Him for forty days, and He spoke to them of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Luke repeats his phrase for the ascension through this first chapter.
Acts 1:2, 9, 11 and 22 give four references to the Lord Jesus being "taken up." This is a wide testimony to the truth of the angel's word, "He is not here, for He has risen, as He said" (Matthew 28:6). From the very earliest moment, those who saw our Lord's ascension confirmed this glorious truth. No room for doubt remains... This was no apparition wrapped in mystery. The event was wonderful, yet His disciples saw it and understood it.
If the Spirit worked in Christ after He rose, the same holds for those raised with Him.
Even the risen Lord, though not yet "received up," charges the apostles here through the Holy Spirit (verse 2). We do not see this power only before He died. In the new condition of man beyond the grave we have the evidence of the same blessed power. The Holy Spirit acts in man risen... It will be so with us when we are raised from the dead. We shall not lose that divine spring of power and joy when we enter the final state of man according to God's purpose.
- Began — Luke's Gospel records what Jesus started to do and teach. Acts records what He kept doing, now from heaven.
- Spirit — the same power marked His life on earth, marks Him risen, and will mark Him reigning.
- Charge — as Lord, with redemption finished, He commands the apostles He Himself chose, and speaks of the kingdom of God.
- Taken up — the ascension appears four times in this chapter. Eyewitnesses saw it, understood it and wrote it down.
- Continues — the Spirit acted in a risen Christ, so believers raised with Him will keep that same power and joy. Until then, their pattern is a Man alive from the dead, walking in the Spirit.
to whom also he presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs; being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things which concern the kingdom of God;
Between the cross and the ascension stand forty days, and Acts opens by summing them up. Three questions sit inside this verse: what did the proofs prove, why forty days, and why the kingdom of God?
Older Bibles use an unfamiliar word here. A Bible dictionary gives its sense:
"Passion" means suffering: Christ showed Himself alive after His suffering. Acts 1:3.
So His suffering was over. One writer makes that the first of three facts the church could not exist without:
In the opening chapter of Acts we are faced with three great facts. First, redemption is accomplished... His sufferings then were over — redemption was accomplished. That was one great fact. Two other facts follow: the Lord Jesus Christ is received up into glory; the Holy Spirit is received on earth. Without all three of these tremendous facts, the church could not exist.
The "many proofs" are not a side detail. They are the fact the rest of Acts keeps returning to:
Christ presented Himself alive after He had suffered. This was the great fact, established "by many proofs" (v. 3). So it is the subject of testimony throughout the Book, and it is the foundation truth of the gospel.
Take the proofs away and the messengers have nothing to say:
Without the resurrection the apostles would have been as weak as water and their message futile; with it came a power and conviction that produced marvellous and precious results.
The disciples did not take the news easily, and that helps rather than hurts their case:
At first the news of the resurrection seemed to the disciples like idle tales. It is a strong point in the proof of our Lord's resurrection that they were slow to believe. They refused to admit that the Lord had risen until they had indisputable, first-hand proof. If they had been ready to believe any tale they heard, their testimony would carry no weight. But these men were slow to believe the astounding news, and indisputable evidence convinced them. Their testimony should not be denied.
The appearances were counted, and so was the span of days:
We have recorded in Scripture that the Lord was seen ten times in resurrection, five times on the first day of the week and five times afterwards. He showed Himself for forty days. Why forty? Because forty was the full time of probation and testing. So the testimony to the truth and reality of the resurrection is absolute — and sadly, many now deny it.
He was still here, yet no longer tied to earth — and that shaped what He talked about:
In bodily presence He had not yet left the earth for heaven. Yet He was no more of the earth than He was of the great world-system that had crucified Him... 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 and other passages list His appearances during those forty days. Not one of them is to the world, or to anyone who belonged to the world. Only His own saw Him... His interests were not here but there, and all His conversations with His disciples during that time concerned the kingdom of God.
One writer reads that teaching as the kingdom in its present shape, not its coming splendour:
What He said about the kingdom of God was not, we may be sure, about its future state of glory and majesty. It was about the kingdom in its present form, bound up with a rejected Messiah, as the following verses show clearly.
His answer replaced one expectation with another:
Once they were gathered together, they asked Him about the time when the kingdom would be restored to Israel. This drew out that weighty word of His. Without setting the kingdom aside, it was meant to turn their hearts to the coming of the Holy Spirit — an unseen spiritual power. He was not setting before their hearts an Israel in revived glory and a Messiah in displayed power. He was setting before them a refused and departing Saviour, bringing in a time of testimony, in which the Holy Spirit and they were to be His witnesses.
- Suffering finished. The old word "passion" means suffering. His sufferings were over and redemption accomplished — the ground everything else stands on.
- Proof given. Many proofs settled the resurrection. It is the foundation truth of the gospel and the running subject of the book.
- Doubt answered. The disciples would not believe without first-hand proof. That makes their later witness harder to dismiss.
- Time taken. Forty days — the full span of testing — and ten recorded appearances, all to His own and none to the world.
- Kingdom explained. He spoke of the kingdom in its present form, under a rejected Messiah. That leads straight on to the Spirit's coming and a time of witness.