The waiting church at work: Acts 1:15-26

The waiting church at work

The selection of Matthias has been called “the first official act of the acts of the apostles.” Some believe the apostles and the early church “ran ahead” of God in choosing Matthias to fill the office of Judas.[1]  However, Luke neither suggests nor implies this. Luke, under inspiration, consistently speaks of the twelve in the following chapters.

Verses 15-25: Peter feeds the flock (Cf. John 21:15-17), provides leadership (v. 15),[2] refers to the apostle Judas and the testimony of scripture (vs. 15-20),[3] and outlines a course of action (vs. 21-22). They should fill Judas’s office, per the Scriptures. Someone who was a disciple from the baptism of John and witnessed Jesus’s resurrection should fill Judas’s place. It is reasonable to conclude that most, if not all, of the 120 had witnessed a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus Christ. At least two men filled the gamut of the requirement.

Verse 15: For disciples (μαθητων), see also Acts 6:1, 2, 7; 9:1, 19, 25-26, 38; 11:26, 29; 13:52; 14:20, 22, 28; 15:10; 18:23, 27; 19:1, 9, 30; 20:1, 7, 30; and 21:4, 16.

Verses 16-18: James and Judas Iscariot are the only apostolic deaths recorded in the Bible. James was a martyr (Acts 12:1-2). Judas committed suicide shortly after he betrayed Jesus (Matthew 27:5).[4] Doubters and disputers find difficulties when comparing the accounts of Judas’s death in Acts 1:16-19 with Matthew 27:5-8. Did Judas hang himself, or did he fall, burst asunder, and his bowels gush out? Both. A contradiction occurs only if one account excludes the possibility of the other account. This is not true of Acts 1:16-19 and Matthew 27:5-8. This is no contradiction that Judas could have both hanged himself and then fallen down, bursting asunder. “Matthew records the mode in which Judas attempted his death by hanging. Peter speaks of the result.”[5] Through consideration of the biblical principle “here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:9-13), one can see that both accounts are correct. In his haste and distress, Judas even made a poor job of killing himself. After hanging himself, he fell, the rope breaking, in which he suffered further indignity appropriate to his crime.[6] Gill writes, “all that [Judas] got by his wretched bargain, was only so much ground as to be buried in.”[7] It is possible that verses 18 and 19 represent an explanation of Luke to Theophilus, rather than being words that Peter spoke to the disciples present. The 120 in all likelihood would have been familiar with the details of Judas’s death, while Theophilus probably was not.

Verse 19: “in their proper tongue” – that is, the speech of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Aceldama/ακελδαμα means “The field of blood.” See also Matthew 27:8. The chief priests took Judas’s blood money and purchased the field of Judas’s blood in Judas’s name (Matthew 27:6-7). Dwellers, κατοικεω; Cf. Acts 2:5, 9, 14; 4:16; 19:17.

Verse 20: “For it is written in the book of Psalms” “which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake.” Peter recognizes the Psalms as inspired Scripture. The references are Psalm 69:25 (“Let their habitation be desolate”), Psalm 109:8 (“let another take his office”), and perhaps Psalm 40:15.

Verses 21-22: Following the stressed theme of Acts 1:8, one must “be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.” “companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John…” Compare Mark 1:1-4, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ…Behold, I send my messenger before thy face…The voice of one crying in the wilderness…John did baptize…” It was a serious and solemn to limit the candidates to the qualified.

Verses 23-25: The 120 put forward two men who meet the qualifications (vs. 21-22) – Joseph called Barsabas, (surnamed Justus), and Matthias.  Cf. “ye which have followed me,” Matthew 19:28. They made prayer and supplication to God. Nothing further is known of Joseph, save that he was among those who cast their lots and among those who were in one accord when the church was baptized by the Holy Ghost a few days later.

Verse 26: Casting of lots. “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” Proverbs 16:33; 18:18. The disciples humble their hearts to exclude their thoughts and feelings from the matter. The lot would render an impartial, unbiased decision, for which none could claim human favoritism or intervention. 

και εδωκαν κληρους αυτων και επεσεν ο κληρος επι ματθιαν

and [they] gave lots themselves, and fell the lot upon Matthias[8]

This method of decision by lot seems unconventional to modern Christians, but remains uncondemned in the context of Acts chapter one. On the other hand, it is the one and only record of either the apostles or early church using this method of guidance for church decisions.[9] The Acts of the Apostles as a whole does not present casting of lots as “the way” a church comes to consensus. See Acts 6:3-5, 13:1-3, and 15:22-23, for examples of consensus decision making. However, the presence of unity, prayer, guidance of scripture, and submission to God’s Providence offers a worthy example and useful principle for decision-making.

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[1] The “anti-Matthias” theory misses Luke’s purpose of establishing the credibility and continuity of the apostolic witness, and rejects God’s sovereign choice of a replacement for Judas. Remember also that Jesus gave to the apostles the authority of binding and loosing, Matthew 16:19; 18:18. See Ephesians 2:20.
[2] Peter is the primary apostolic representative in the early chapters of Acts. Interestingly, Peter denied Christ the same night Judas betrayed him. Judas killed himself, but Jesus restored Peter (John 21, et al.).
[3] The selection of Judas Iscariot was intentional, not a mistake. The defection of Judas was known, prophesied. See Matthew 26:24-25; John 6:70; 13:18, 26-29; Psalm 41:9; 55:12-14; Zechariah 11:12-13.
[4] On “guide,” compare Psalm 55:13.

[5] Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, Volume 1, p. 319.

[6] Some Bible students, noting the close proximity in time of Judas’s hanging and Jesus’s crucifixion, have suggested that the earthquake when Jesus dismissed his spirit could account for the fall of the body of Judas from the place where he was hanging (as opposed to the hanging rope simply breaking. Cf. Matthew 27:3-5 with 27:50-51). How apt would be such an occurrence!

[7] John Gill’s Exposition, online. https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/

[8] The exact manner of casting lots in this case is not specified, but in general, it was some manner of throwing down marked pebbles or pieces of wood in order to distinguish between one thing or another, one person or another, etc. Some few have equated the casts of lots with voting, but it is best to understand this casting of lots in the way it is used elsewhere in the Bible. In “Exegetical Brief, Acts 1:26—Lottery Or Election,” John F. Brug, General Editor of Project Wartburg, writes, “In favor of the view that this verse refers to election by ballot is the fact that ἔδωκαν κλήρους αὐτοῖς is not one of the regular terms for casting lots and the verb συγκαταψηφίζομαι seems to refer to voting.” Perhaps “was numbered” in the second clause suggests a decision of the church at Jerusalem unanimously accepting and confirming the divine will. http://www.wlsessays.net/bitstream/handle/123456789/820/BrugLottery.pdf, Accessed 12 June 2020 3:42 pm.

[9] The law of Moses recognized casting lots; note several significant mentions of the casting of lots: Leviticus 16:8-10; Numbers 26:55-56; Joshua 7:14-18, 14:2; Judges 1:3, 20:9; 1 Chronicles 24:5-19, 25:8; Nehemiah 10:34, 11:1; Proverbs 18:18; Jonah 1:7; Matthew 27:35.