Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 1:3

To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

3. after his passion ] Literally, after he had suffered.

by many infallible proofs ] The adjective here has no representative in the original. The Greek word signifies some sign or token manifest to the senses, as opposed to evidence given by witnesses. The word infallible has been used in the A. V. to bring out this signification. It is better to omit it. The proofs here meant are Christ’s speaking, walking and eating with His disciples on several occasions after His resurrection, and giving to Thomas and the rest the clearest demonstration that He was with them in the same real body as before His death, and not in appearance only (Luk 24:39; Luk 24:43; Joh 20:27; Joh 21:13). As the verity of the Resurrection would be the basis of all the Apostolic preaching, it was necessary that such clear proofs as these should be given by Christ to the twelve who were to be His witnesses.

being seen of them forty days ] Better, appearing unto them by the space of forty days. Christ was not continuously with the disciples, but shewed Himself to them frequently at intervals during the forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension. The period of forty days is only mentioned here, and it has been alleged as a discrepancy between the Gospel of St Luke and the Acts that the former (Luke 24) represents the Ascension as taking place on the same day as the Resurrection. It needs very little examination to disperse such an idea. The two disciples there mentioned ( Luk 24:13) were at Emmaus “towards evening” on the day of Christ’s resurrection; they returned to Jerusalem that night and told what they had seen. But after this has been stated the chapter is broken up at Luk 24:36 (which a comparison with John (Joh 20:26-28) shews to be an account of what took place eight days after the Resurrection), and at v. 44 and v. 50, into three distinct sections with no necessary marks of time to unite them, and in the midst of the whole we are told that Christ opened the mind of His disciples that they might understand the Scriptures. No reasonable person would conclude that all this was done in one day. Beside which the objectors prove too much, for according to their reasoning the Ascension must have taken place at night after the two disciples had come again to Jerusalem from Emmaus.

the kingdom of God ] This expression is found most frequently in the last three Evangelists, St Matthew’s form being “the kingdom of heaven.” It has several significations, but here, as in Mar 1:14, it includes the whole Christian dispensation, its message, progress and economy. Some traces of the nature of these communications in the forty days we find in the Gospels. The disciples were sent as Christ Himself was sent (Joh 20:21), their understandings were opened that they might understand the Scriptures (Luk 24:45); the extent of their commission was set before them, as well as the solemn issues of their work (Mar 16:15-16), and to that was added the promise of their Lord’s constant presence (Mat 28:20).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He showed himself – The resurrection of Jesus was the great fact on which the truth of the gospel was to be established. Hence, the sacred writers so often refer to it, and establish it by so many arguments. As the fact of his resurrection lay at the foundation of all that Luke was about to record in his history, it was of importance that he should state clearly the sum of the evidence of it in the beginning of his work.

After his passion – After he suffered, referring particularly to his death as the consummation of his sufferings. The word passion with us means commonly excitement or agitation of mind, as love, hope, fear, anger, etc. The original means after he suffered. The word passion, applied to the Saviour, denotes his last sufferings. Thus, in the Litany of the Episcopal Church, it is beautifully said, By thine agony and bloody sweat; by thy cross and passion, good Lord, deliver us. The Greek word of the same derivation is rendered sufferings in 1Pe 1:11; 1Pe 4:13; Col 1:24.

By many infallible proofs – The word rendered here infallible proofs does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. In Greek authors it denotes an infallible sign or argument by which anything can be certainly known (Schleusner). Here it means the same – evidence that he was alive which could not deceive, or in which they could not be mistaken. That evidence consisted in his eating with them, conversing with them, meeting them at various times and places, working miracles Joh 21:6-7, and uniformly showing himself to be the same friend with whom they had been familiar for more than three years. This evidence was infallible:

(1) Because it was to them unexpected. They had manifestly not believed that he would rise again, Joh 20:25; Luk 24:19-24. There was, therefore, no delusion resulting from any expectation of seeing him, or from a design to impose on people.

(2) It was impossible that they could have been deceived in relation to one with whom they had been familiar for more than three years. No people in the possession of reason could be made to believe that they really saw, talked with, and ate with, a friend whom they had known so long and familiarly, unless it was real.

(3) There were enough of them to avoid the possibility of deception. Though it might be pretended that one man could be imposed on, yet it could not be that an imposition could be practiced for forty days on eleven men, who were all at first incredulous.

(4) He was with them sufficient time to give evidence of his personal identity. It might be pretended, if they had seen him but once, that they were deceived. But they saw him often, and for the space of more than a month.

(5) They saw him in various places and at times in which there could be no deception. If they had pretended that they saw him rise, or saw him at twilight in the morning when he rose, it might have been said that they were deluded by something that was merely the result of imagination. It might have been said that, expecting to see him rise, their hopes, in the agitated state of their minds, deceived them, and that they only fancied that they saw him. But it is not pretended by the sacred writers that they saw him rise. An impostor would have affirmed this, and would not have omitted it. But the sacred writers affirmed that they saw him after he was risen; when they were free from agitation; when they could judge coolly; in Jerusalem; in their own company when at worship; when journeying to Emmaus; when in Galilee; when he went with them to Mount Olivet; and when he ascended to heaven: and how could they have been deceived in this?

(6) He appeared to them as he had always done, as a friend, companion, and benefactor; he ate with them, performed a miracle before them, was engaged in the same work as he was before he suffered, renewed the same promise of the Holy Spirit, and gave them his commands respecting the work which he had died to establish, and the work which he required them to do – carrying out the same purposes and plans which he had before he died. In all these circumstances it was impossible that they should be deceived.

Being seen of them forty days – There are no less than thirteen different appearances of Jesus to his disciples recorded. For an account of them, see the notes at the end of the gospel of Matthew.

Speaking to them … – He was not only seen by them, but he continued the same topics of discourse as before his sufferings; thus showing that he was the same person that had suffered, and that his heart was still intent on the same great work. And as his heart was occupied with the same purposes which endued his attention before he suffered, we are taught by this that we should aim at the same great work in all the circumstances of our being. Afflictions, persecutions, and the prospect of death never turned him from his great plan; nor should they be allowed to divert our minds from the great work which God has given us to do.

The things pertaining to the kingdom of God – For an explanation of this phrase, the kingdom of God, see the notes on Mat 3:2. The meaning is, Jesus gave them instructions about the organization, spread, and edification of his church.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 1:3

To whom also He showed Himself alive after His Passion.

He rose again from the dead

I. The fact itself, or the notion of a resurrection in general. Admitting the power and providence of God, there can be nothing in it repugnant to reason, or incredible.

1. To raise a dead man to life surpasses the power of any creature; but no reason can be assigned why it should be beyond the Divine power; since the doing it involves no contradiction. He that first inspired the soul into the body, may surely be supposed capable of reuniting them.

2. Nor was it apparently in its design unworthy of God, or inconsistent with His holy will: for the ends thereof, such as were pretended by its attesters, were–

(1) Important.

(2) Good.

(3) Reasonable.

II. The witnesses.

1. General considerations:

(1) As to their number, it was not one or two, but many, who conspired in asserting it.

(2) They were no strangers to Jesus, but persons by long conversation familiarly acquainted with Him.

(3) They did aver themselves to be eye or ear-witnesses of the matter, as fully informed about it as senses could make them.

(4) The chief of these witnesses, the apostles themselves, were at first so far from being credulous in this matter, that they took it for a fiction, gave no credence thereto, and were at last with difficulty persuaded of it.

(5) On these grounds they boldly and concurrently aver the fact: they spake the Word of God with boldness: and with great power gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Which things being weighed, it appears impossible that the attesters of this fact, supposing them in their wits and senses, could be ignorant therein, or mistaken about it.

2. The character of the witnesses.

(1) They were persons who did (with denunciation of Gods heavy judgments on the contrary practice) preach and press earnestly all kinds of goodness, sincerity, modesty, and equity, as main points of that religion which by this testimony they confirmed.

(2) Their practice was answerable to their doctrine, being exemplary in all sorts of virtue and sincerity, whereby they did in effect conciliate much respect and authority to their words: the life they led was not the life of wicked impostors, but worthy of the divinest men; fit to carry on the best design.

(3) They were:persons of good sense; very wise and prudent; not in the way of worldly or fleshly wisdom, to compass projects of gain or pleasure to themselves; but endued with a wisdom far more excellent, and suitable to the characters they sustained.

(4) As to their purposes in this case: profit, honour, pleasure, or any worldly advantage they could not have in view; for they willingly abandoned all those things, for the sake of this very testimony incurring loss, disgrace, and pain.

(5) And all such afflictions, as they knowingly exposed themselves to them, they did endure with contentedness and joy.

(6) Whence it is evident enough that the satisfaction of their conscience, and expectation of future reward from God for the discharge of their duty, was all the argument that induced them to undertake this attestation, all the reason that could support them in it; neither of which could be consistent with the resolved maintenance of a falsehood.

(7) And how is it conceivable that such persons should be bewitched with so passionate an affection toward a man, who died as a malefactor, that merely for his sake, or rather a vain opinion about him, they should with such obstinacy defy all the world, with its persecutions, and the punishment of hell itself.

(8) Again, we may consider these witnesses to have been persons very unlikely to devise such a plot, very unfit to undertake it, very unable to manage and carry it through.

III. Their testimony.

1. How could such a cheat, if contrived, have so easily prospered,. and obtained so wonderful a progress?

2. The matter of their testimony, and its drift, were very implausible, such as no impostors would be likely to forge, and no hearers, without great evidence of truth, be ready to admit.

3. One would indeed think that this report, had it been false, might easily have been disproved and quashed; they who were mightily concerned, and as eagerly disposed to confute it, wanting no means of doing it.

4. As also this testimony had no human power to sustain it, so it used no sleight to convey itself into the persuasions of men it craved no blind faith: it dared all adversaries and powers to withstand it, relying on the patronage of heaven alone.

5. Furthermore, the thing itself, had it been counterfeit, was adapted to fall of itself; the witnesses clashing together, or relenting for their crime. The advice of Gamaliel on this point had much reason in it.

6. He then who doubts the sincerity of this testimony, or rejects it as incredible, must instead of it admit stronger incredibilities.

7. To these things we may add that God Himself did signally countenance and ratify this testimony, by extraordinary powers and graces conferred on the avowers thereof, as well as by a wonderful success bestowed on them. (F. Barrow, D. D.)

Christ risen, yet not ascended

There is a strong disposition to reverence that which has been connected with the great and good. If the wood of the true Cross had been preserved, few could look upon it but with the deepest interest. It is remarkable, however, that we have few relics of Christs days; while the museums of all civilised lands are filled with well-authenticated fragments from Greece, Rome, Babylon, Egypt. God has wisely ordered this to check the tendency to superstition and idolatry. But can no good use be made of this law of our nature? Our Church has judged that there can, and she teaches us not to seek for relics, but to remember events in Christs life, and then leads our thoughts to the instruction they convey.

I. How, or in what form, did our Lord show Himself after His passion? There was evidently some change in His body and some difference in His manner of appearing. He ate, indeed, with His disciples, yet not as one who needed food, but only to convince them of His corporeal existence. He does not seem to have lived with them familiarly as He bad before done, but came to them occasionally; and the forms of expression intimate something miraculous. He showed Himself as one was invisibly present, but, at will revealing Himself, like the sun shining from a cloud. Then, He vanished out of their sight. At other times He would come when the doors were bolted. The disciples regarded Him far otherwise than in His former state. Their accustomed free intercourse was changed for the deepest reverence. All questions concerning the nature of Christs body must remain unanswered till we know for ourselves what a spiritual and glorified body is.

II. Where? Chiefly in Galilee. There had been the favoured scene of His earthly ministry, and there His followers were most numerous. With what intense interest must those lowly followers have flocked together when the summons was to meet their risen Lord! He offers to meet us in His sacraments, house, word, prayer, yet how carelessly we regard the summons I He has carried the same loving, compassionate spirit with Him to heaven, and we may share with His disciples in His Divine consolations, if we seek them aright.

III. For what purpose. To speak of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, i.e., His Church. They had been hitherto very dull, and Christ in these meetings gave them fuller instructions. It is probable that we have the substance of our Lords conversations in the Acts and Epistles, for in these they would naturally embody and carry out their Masters directions. It is also very likely that many of the customs of the primitive Church were nothing more than our Lords instructions reduced to practice. Hence we see the importance of appealing, for our own guidance, to primitive usage. If, for instance, we find immediately after the apostles times, that infants were baptised, and nothing to oppose this in the New Testament, we might be strengthened in our conclusions, that this was a practice settled by our Lord Himself. How many points there are in civil law which are decided by such an appeal to established usage, and are not found in any written code! Many points, however, upon which our Lord dwelt in these interviews, are recorded. He promised to send them the Comforter, etc.

IV. Its certainty. By many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days. Our faith and hopes rest then on infallible proofs. And the certainty of the gospel increases the guilt and danger of those who neglect it. Are you living as if you believed it true? (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)

Many infallible proofs.

Sense evidence given of Christs resurrection

As the faith of the Church depends on the Resurrection God has given ample evidence of the fact. But He gave none other than that which appeals to the senses–the only way of proving any fact. Even our Maker could not give us better evidence without changing radically our nature. Observe how this bears on the Romish dogma of transubstantiation. The pillar on which that rests is the assumption that the senses deceive and cannot be trusted. But this assumption would leave the Resurrection incapable of proofs. Either the evidence of the senses is a valid proof of a fact or it is not. If it is transubstantiation is false; if it is not the Resurrection is unproved. The very same evidence which proves that Christ has risen proves also that the bread and wine are not changed into Christs body and blood. Thus the Roman apostasy cannot sustain its fundamental superstition without destroying the proof that the Redeemer has risen. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Being seen of them forty days.—

The forty days

I. For the Lord. The period of–

1. The Sabbath rest after the completion of His work of redemption.

2. The last care of the Shepherd for His disciples.

3. The joyful expectation of His approaching exaltation.

II. For the Disciples. The period of–

1. The last blessed intercourse with their Divine Master.

2. Quiet communion with their own heart (Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?).

3. Earnest preparation for their apostolic mission.

III. For us. An emblem of–

1. The blessed life of faith with Christ in God, concealed from the world (Corinthians 3:3).

2. The blessed work of love in the hearts of our friends in looking forward to our approaching separation.

3. The expectation of hope of our heavenly perfection. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)

The forty days

Mark,

I. How careful our Saviour was to have the fact of His resurrection certified to His disciples beyond the possibility of doubt. Strictly speaking, one meeting was enough. But proofs were multiplied, as His visits were repeated. They grew familiar with His look and aspect; heard Him talk, etc.; and after all this, they could never suppose that a vision had been imposed upon them. The positiveness with which they always spoke on this subject was an important element in their preaching, and it was their Lords purpose to build them up in a confidence which should never be shaken. Through the forty days a work of education was going on the fruits of which were seen in the next forty years.

II. This period was not one of uninterrupted intercourse, but of brief meetings, followed sore-times by days, or possibly weeks, of separation. Very graciously the Lord condescended to His friends, very blessed were these seasons when they came, but there was not the companionship of former days. Now Christ stood forth in His proper character as the Divine Mediator, to whom all power was committed in heaven and earth. The apostles had to learn this truth, and act upon it. Their approaches to the Mercy-seat, while bold, were to be marked with that solemn reverence without which all worship is a mockery.

III. Time was given to teach the apostles much of their Lords will, and to send them forth well equipped for their future work.

1. Particular directions given from time to time. They were to tarry at Jerusalem, where, judging from past experience, they would sow their seed as upon a rock, and peril their lives for nought. From that centre light was to radiate over the wide surface of this fallen world.,

2. Special gifts were promised to them for their work and power from on high.

3. Mistakes and prejudices were corrected.

4. The great truth was enforced, explained, anti illustrated, that their Lords death was the worlds life.

Learn–

1. A lesson of patience. Think what was before Him, and how contentedly He waited for it. No hasting to His crown till all was ready. We may well suppose that there was eagerness on the part of the heavenly hosts. Their harps were ready strung, and the song was on their lips, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, etc. But their King has work to do in this lower world; and the march of triumph must be deferred. Let us then not only put up with our crosses, but wait patiently for the good things to come. What we sow in faith we shall reap one day; and Gods harvest-time is the best. We long to see the Church advancing faster in her march of triumph, to see Christs name more honoured among ourselves. Let us not wish less fervently, but let us wait more humbly. Centuries rolled away before the Son of God was manifested, and many more may come and go before He shall come back again in glory. Ten thousand unconscious agents in different lands are doing His work, and fulfilling His pleasure.

2. To think of Christ as the apostles thought of Him. They knew Him well before as the human Friend, but now as the Divine Redeemer. In both characters may we think of Him as ascended to His throne, and realise His presence with ourselves! You must not so degrade the Saviour as to think of Him only as the worlds great Prophet, or as the perfect Pattern; nor in your attempts to exalt Him, lose sight of the truth that He carried His human nature with Him to heaven. Such an High Priest became us, etc. (J. Hampden Gurney, M. A.)

The best proof of Christs resurrection

The best proof of Christs resurrection is a living Church, which itself is walking in a new life, and drawing life from Him who hath overcome death. (Christlieb.)

The identification of the risen Christ

Luke, the writer of our twofold gospel of the resurrection, was a physician, who would have been inclined and able to sift the evidences of our Lords bodily presence and identity among His followers. The longest and best accounts of Christs return to earth, except those of John, are by a medical expert. Special past events were referred to by the Lord, which were familiar to the disciples, such as the baptism of John. Stanley carried a boy back up the Congo who had been taken from there when quite small. Coming into the vicinity of the dwelling place of his tribe, a canoe rowed out to meet the steamer. In the boat the lad recognised his elder brother, but the latter was sceptical, and cried, Give me some sign that I may know you. The boy who had been away answered at once, Do you remember the crocodile? His scar is there on your right arm. So Christ to His disciples gave many proofs. His lines of thought and speech during His forty days residence among them were in the familiar phrase of the past, such as the things concerning the kingdom of God. There might have been good evidences of Jesuss resurrection if He had appeared in China or under the Southern Cross or in the clearings of the Danubian forests. Had He gone there after He came from the grave, by the by the tidings would have reached the outer world of some strange and illustrious personage who manifested Himself at one place and another, just as a comet is reported in the sky. Yet we should always be grateful that the Lord showed Himself alive to those apostles whom He had chosen. There was the possibility of verification which we so often ask for. (W. R. Campbell.)

The forty days

A host of reasons suggest themselves as to why He should at once enter into His glory.

I. Earth at best could have been but a very dreary home for Him who had come from the paradise of God. For Him, the high King of Glory, we could find no fit entertainment. What society was there for Him, the all-wise? Thou hast given Thy life, O Lord, O glorious Son of God. Thou canst give no more. And where upon this guilty earth is any rest for Thee now since that dreadful Cross has cast its shadow over all the land!

II. Then Christ Himself longed for rest. He who dwelt in the bosom of the Father was an exile here.

III. Then, again, there waited for Christ His great triumph, that to which He has looked forward during all His life-work, finding in it strength and consolation. For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross, despising the shame.

IV. Delay would be worse than unfitting. If His reign means the worlds salvation, gifts for men, the proclaiming of the gospel with the power of the Holy Ghost, dare He linger still upon earth? No, it is not human, this delay, Not our thought nor our way is this. It is all Divine–just like our blessed Lord. This lingering for the forty days is the crowning proof of His tender regard for His little flock. He who had laid down His life for them is loath to leave them. He must tarry with them till He has made them feel that He is just the same friendly, brotherly Jesus that He has ever been, caring for them in their work, watching them with a yearning pity, stooping to kindle a fire for their warmth and to cook the fish for their meal, and then to bid them come and dine.

V. Then again, these days were the necessary preparation for the ascension. A very tender and beautiful upleading of the disciples. Then with this exalted vision of their glorious Lord filling all their soul they went back to Jerusalem. Now they were able worthily to celebrate the Ascension. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Now all the familiar songs of triumphs come in to tell of the coronation of the King. Now they heard the rapturous anthem of the angels, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. So we must know Him. And thus does He seek to lead us in our weakness and dimness of faith into the knowledge of Himself. So day by day does He lead us on our way, ordering our steps that life may make more room for Him, and that He may give us Himself as our salvation and our strength. (M. G. Pearse.)

Forty days with Jesus

Men now-a-days yearn for a repetition of Pentecost without the trouble of preparing for it. The text teaches that that must be preceded by prolonged communion with Jesus.

I. This communion gave the disciples the full persuasion that Christ was the Son of God. They held such a thought before, but the crucifixion had shaken it. The resurrection however restored it and the forty days intercourse confirmed it. No Pentecost without the mastering conviction that Jesus is the Son of God with power.

II. Along with these great thoughts of Christs Godhead the intercourse brought the most delightful consciousness that Jesus was still their brother. He called them by that name, and demonstrated his Brotherhood by many infallible proofs. The realisation of this relationship by love-begetting certitude of Christs presence is necessary to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit simply gives us power to bear witness to facts of which we are sure.

III. The character of this intercourse.

1. It was discriminating. Christ dealt with each man as each required Peter, Thomas, John, etc.

2. It was self-discovering. Unsuspected faults were revealed and hearts were moved to self-renunciation.

3. It was educational.

4. It was encouraging. Knowing what we do of the disciples Pentecost would have been an impossibility before the forty days. So now we all need to be dealt with one by one, to know ourselves, to be humbled, taught, and inspired.

IV. The Subject Dwelt Upon. The kingdom of God–its spirituality, glory, universality, final triumph. This was the matter which they had by the Spirits inspiration to preach. Hence they must know about it from the King. Hence Christ must fire our minds with the same thought before the Spirit can fire our hearts to proclaim it. (J. P. Gledstone.)

After the resurrection

I. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but He had forgotten nothing–neither the places, the dear familiar shores, the roads, the mountain paths, the lake, and the hills, the hallowed spots of His life-work. Now, as to the persons, Martha and Mary, and Peter, and the other disciples, were not only still remembered, but still loved. It will be so with us when we also come back from the mysterious regions of the grave. The present life will he something more than a dream. It will be a living reality.

II. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but His love remained the same. It will be the same with us. When we have crossed to the other side, we shall still bear with us the fond remembrances of past love. The affections will not be destroyed.

III. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but His physical nature remained. And His human nature was visible, tangible, capable of taking food. Our physical powers will, in a certain manner, remain with us after death. There will be conversation and action in the same way as at present. Wherein, then, will be the change? Our human bodies will not be destroyed, but they will be changed. We may gather some particulars from the resurrection of our Lord.

1. It will be the same body fully developed. It is evident to all that our human bodies are cramped and dwarfed by circumstances. They are but elementary, imperfect organisations. If they were perfect they would not change. If they were perfect they could not deteriorate. If perfect they could not die. That they are undeveloped is observable from the capacities which they possess. How strong and mighty the body may become! What we call maturity of character is in reality only its commencement. With regard to the body, take its power of progression, limited to, say, four miles an hour–a rate which would require millions of years to reach the nearest star. The same body will have all its powers fully developed to their utmost capacity.

2. It will be the same body rendered immaterial. (Homilist.)

The significance of the forty days

The period is a significant space of time in Scripture, and is frequently allotted as a term of probation before some great event which concerned Gods kingdom. For forty days and forty nights rain was sent upon the earth as the prelude to the Deluge. Before the giving of the law Moses was in the Mount forty days and forty nights; and when after the destruction of the first tables, the law was renewed again, Moses was with the Lord forty days and nights. The same space of time was spent by the spies who were sent forth to survey Canaan the type of the spiritual inheritance of the people of God. For forty days and nights Elijah journeyed before he came by Divine direction to Horeb the Mount of God. The time of probation and repentance given to Nineveh was a like space of time. When we come to the New Testament we note the same phenomenon. Forty days after His birth our Lord was presented in the Temple. Before He entered on the work of His ministry after His baptism He was forty days tempted in the wilderness. So now He abode on earth forty days before His ascension. What significancy there may be in the number we are not informed: the recurrence, however, of this space of time, usually in connection with events of extraordinary importance, would lead us to believe that there is a mystery in the number. Nor is this diminished when in parallelism with the forty days wandering (Num 14:33-34) Jerusalem had its forty years of trial and space for repentance after the Crucifixion;and not until that period had been accomplished was it destroyed by the Romans. For forty days during which He showed Himself alive they were obdurate, and forty years afterwards each day for a year came the destruction of the nation. (J. Lightfoot, D. D.)

The Epiphanies of the forty days

1. To Mary Magdalene (Mar 16:1-20.; Joh 20:1-31.)

2. To the women who had first visited the sepulchre, by whom the disciples were summoned to meet Christ in Galilee (Mat 28:1-10).

3. To Peter (Luk 24:33-35; 1Co 15:5).

4. To Cleophas and another on the way to Emmaus (Mar 16:12; Luk 24:13-32).

5. To the eleven in the absence of Thomas, at Jerusalem (Luk 24:36-43; Joh 20:19-25).

6. Eight days afterwards to the disciples, Thomas being present (Mar 16:14; Joh 20:26-29; 1Co 15:6).

7. To certain of the disciples when fishing on the lake of Galilee (Joh 21:1-24).

8. To James (1Co 15:7).

9. To the apostles, and probably the whole body of disciples on a certain mountain in Galilee (1Co 15:6).

10. On the morning of the ascension (Luk 24:43-51, and text). Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

I. Of the Church militant–the kingdom of God on earth.

1. Its governance.

2. The means of its extension.

II. Of the Church triumphant–the kingdom of God in heaven.

1. Its glories.

2. Themeans of obtaining them. (W. Denton, M. A.)

The kingdom of God

1.Its Founder (verse 1).

2. Its laws (verse 2).

3. Its privilege, the personal presence of the Holy Spirit (verses 4, 5).

4. Its extent, the whole world (verse 8).

5. Its King, a risen and ascended Saviour (verse 9).

6. Its hope, a returning Christ.

The conversations of the great forty days

Let us reflect for a little on the characteristics of Christs risen appearances to His disciples. I note then in the first place that they were intermittent, and not continuous–here and there, to Mary Magdalene at one time; to the disciples journeying to Emmaus, to the assembled twelve, to five hundred brethren at one, at other times. In one place in the Gospel narrative we read that our Lord replied thus to a section of His adversaries: In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven. Now we often read of angelic appearances in Holy Scripture, in the Old and New Testament alike. We read too of appearances of Old Testament saints, as of Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration. And they are all like these of our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection. They are sudden, independent of time or space or material barriers, and yet are visible and tangible though glorified. Such in Genesis was Abrahams vision of angels at the tent door, when they did eat and drink with him.

I. Now let us here notice the naturalness of this query concerning the restoration of the kingdom. The apostles evidently shared the national aspirations of the Jews at that time. We can scarcely realise or understand the force and naturalness of this question, Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? as put by these Galilean peasants till one takes up Archbishop Laurences translation of the book of Enoch, and sees how this eager expectation dominated every other feeling in the Jewish mind of that period, and was burned into the very secrets of their existence by the tyranny of Roman rule. They were thinking simply of such a kingdom as the book of Enoch foretold. This very point seems to us one of the special and most striking evidences for the inspiration and supernatural direction of the writers of the New Testament. Their natural, purely human, and national conception of the kingdom of God was one thing their final, their divinely taught and inspired conception of that kingdom is quite another thing. Some persons maintain that Christianity in its doctrines, organisation, and discipline was but the outcome of natural forces working in the world at that epoch. But take this doctrine alone, My kingdom is not of this world, announced by Christ before Pilate, and impressed upon the apostles by revelation after revelation, and experience after experience, which they only very gradually assimilated and understood. Where did it come from? How was it the outcome of natural forces? The whole tendency of Jewish thought was in the opposite direction. Nationalism of the most narrow, particular, and limited kind was the predominant idea, specially among those Galilean provincials who furnished the vast majority of the earliest disciples of Jesus Christ. How could men like them have developed the idea of the Catholic Church, boundless as the earth itself, limited by no hereditary or fleshly bonds, and trammelled by no circumstances of race, climate, or kindred? The magnificence of the idea, the grandeur of the conception, is the truest and most sufficient evidence of the divinity of its origin. If this higher knowledge, this nobler conception, this spiritualised ideal, came not from God, whence did it come? I do not think we can press this point of the catholicity and universality of the Christian idea and the Christian society too far. We cannot possibly make too much of it. There were undoubtedly Christian elements, or elements whence Christian ideas were developed, prevalent in the current Judaism of the day. But it was not among these, or such as these, that the catholic ideas of the gospel took their rise.

II. In this passage again there lies hidden the wisest practical teaching for the Church of all ages. We have warnings against the folly which seeks to unravel the future and penetrate the veil of darkness by which our God in mercy shrouds the unknown. We have taught us the benefits which attend the uncertainties of our Lords return and of the end of this present dispensation. It is not for you to know times or seasons.

1. The wisdom of the Divine answer will best be seen if we take the matter thus, and suppose our Lord to have responded to the apostolic appeal fixing some definite date for the winding-up of mans probation state, and for that manifestation of the sons of God which will take place at His appearing and His kingdom. Our Lord, in fixing upon some such definite date, must have chosen one that was either near at hand or else one that was removed far off into the distant future. In either of these cases He must have defeated the great object of the Divine society which He was founding. That object was simply this, to teach men how to lead the life of God amid the children of men. The Christian religion has indeed sometimes been taunted with being an unpractical religion. But is this the case? Has Christianity proved itself unpractical? If so, what has placed Christendom at the head of civilisation? Compare Christendom and India from the simply practical point of view, and which can show the better record?

2. Our Lords answer to His apostles was couched in words suited to develop this practical aspect of His religion. It refused to minister to mere human curiosity, and left men uncertain as to the time of His return, that they might be fruitful workers in the great field of life. And now behold what ill results would have followed had He acted otherwise! The Master in fact says, It is not well for you to know the times or seasons, because such knowledge would strike at the root of practical Christianity. Uncertainty as to the time of the end is the most healthful state for the followers of Christ.

3. There are in the New Testament, taken as a whole, two contrasted lines of prophecy concerning the second coming of Christ. If in one place the Lord Jesus speaks as if the date of His coming were fixed for His own generation and age, Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things shall be fulfilled, in the very same context He indicates that it is only after a long time that the Lord of the servants will return, to take account of their dealings with the property entrusted to them. Suppose Christ had responded to the spirit of the apostolic query, Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? and fixed the precise date of His coming? He would in that case have altogether defeated the great end of His own work and labour. Suppose He had fixed it a thousand years from the time of His ascension. Then indeed the doctrine of Christs second coming would have lost all personal and practical power over the lives of the generation of Christians then living, or who should live during the hundreds of years which were to elapse till the date appointed. The day of their death, the uncertainty of life, these would be the inspiring motives to activity and devotion felt by the early Christians; while, as a matter of fact, St. Paul never appeals to either of them, but ever appeals to the coming of Christ and His appearing to judgment as the motives to Christian zeal and diligence. But a more serious danger in any such prediction lurks behind. What would have been the result of any such precise prophecy upon the minds of the Christians who lived close to the time of its fulfilment? It would have at once defeated the great end of the Christian religion, as we have already defined it. The near approach of the great final catastrophe would have completely paralysed all exertion, and turned the members of Christs Church into idle, useless, unpractical religionists. We all know how the near approach of any great event, how the presence of any great excitement, hinders lifes daily work.

4. Again and again has history verified and amp]y justified the wisdom of the Masters reply, It is not for you to know times or seasons. It was justified in apostolic experience. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is a commentary on our Lords teaching in this passage. The language of St. Paul completely justifies our line of argument. He tells us that the spirits of the Thessalonians had been upset, the natural result of a great expectation had been experienced as we might humanly have predicted. The beginning of the second chapter of his Second Epistle proves this: Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present. See here how he dwells on mental perturbation as the result of high-strung expectation; and that is bad, for mental peace, not mental disturbance, is the portion of Christs people.

III. Christ, after He had reproved the spirit of vain curiosity which strikes at the root of all practical effort, then indicates the source of their strength and the sphere of its activity. Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)

Christs conception of His kingdom

His thought and teaching concerning the kingdom was manifestly different from theirs. Their idea was narrow, small, and limited to Israel after the flesh, while His idea was large, and universally included all peoples, nations, and languages. It is always difficult for us to rise out of our own narrow limitations, and take in Gods great thoughts and purposes. This narrowness of mind on our part is always obtruding itself on Gods great thoughts; indeed, they are higher than ours as the heavens are higher than the earth. Gods thoughts and purposes of mercy have in them a wideness like the wideness of the sea, while ours are bounded by local surroundings. As we come into a closer and more intimate fellowship with Jesus, we shall also come into a larger and more godlike view of things, both in heaven and earth.

Things pertaining to the kingdom of God

Now that Jesus was about to depart, it might reasonably be expected that His parting instructions would be concerning that kingdom which He was to rule as the Invisible Head, and they were to administer as the visible agents.

I. The Church Of Christ is a Kingdom. With Christ and His apostles it was never less. Christ did not come as an ecclesiastic to found a new sect, nor as a philosopher to construct a new school of thought, nor as a democratic leader to form a new social club or to draw up a new social programme. He came as a sovereign to establish a new Kingdom of Truth, of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Hence the apostles felt that they had more to do than to secure a place for Christianity side by side with Judaism and Paganism–they claimed universal sovereign supremacy. Hence, again, they had no philosophy to set over against the school of Hillel or the school of Aristotle. True they reasoned, but that was only because the kingdom rested on a rational and not on a military basis, and its subjects were to be won by the force of persuasion and not by the force of arms. And hence lastly the apostles entered into no revolutionary plots, nor asked any man to rise above or turn aside from the secular occupation; but told slave and governor alike to abide in the callings wherein they were called as servants of the Lord Christ. Note

1. The grandeur of this conception. Sects, systems, programmes are all limited, and one after another pass away. Christians are citizens of a commonwealth which transcends space and outlives time. Compared with the dignity of the Christian that of the proudest autocrat is mean. Here all subjects are royal. The divine right of kings, a myth elsewhere, is a reality here. Christ hath made us kings and priests unto God.

2. The responsibility.

Noblesse oblige

Kings by virtue of their office are under an obligation to live royally. Let us then walk worthy of Him who hath called us to His kingdom and glory.

II. The things pertaining to this Kingdom.

1. The King. Christ Jesus. God and man who occupies the throne because He became obedient to the death of the Cross (Php 2:1-30.).

2. The means of entrance into this kingdom–the new birth (Joh 3:1-36.)

3. The conditions of continuance in the kingdom.

(1) Loyalty to the King.

(2) Love to our fellow subjects.

(3) Endeavours to extend the boundaries of the realm.

4. The glorious prospects of the kingdom. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God, etc. He shall reign from sea to sea, etc. (J. W. Burn.)

The unfolding of the Divine kingdom throughout the ages

The patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian dispensations, are evidently but the unfolding of one general plan. In the first we see the folded bud; in the second the expanded leaf; in the third the blossom and the fruit. And now, how sublime the idea of a religion thus commencing in the earliest dawn of time; holding on its way through all the revolutions of kingdoms and the vicissitudes of the race; receiving new forms, but always identical in spirit; and, finally, expanding and embracing in one great brotherhood the whole family of man! Who can doubt that such a religion was from God? (Mark Hopkins.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 3. To whom – he showed himself alive – by many infallible proofs] ; by many proofs of such a nature, and connected with such circumstances, as to render them indubitable; for this is the import of the Greek word . The proofs were such as these:

1. Appearing to several different persons at different times.

2. His eating and drinking with them.

3. His meeting them in Galilee according to his own appointment.

4. His subjecting his body to be touched and handled by them.

5. His instructing them in the nature and doctrines of his kingdom.

6. His appearing to upwards of five hundred persons at once, 1Co 15:6. And,

7. Continuing these public manifestations of himself for forty days.

The several appearances of Jesus Christ, during the forty days of his sojourning with his disciples, between his resurrection and ascension, are thus enumerated by Bishop Pearce: The first was to Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, Mt 28:1-9. The second, to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, Lu 24:15. The third, to Simon Peter, Lu 24:34. The fourth, to ten of the apostles, Thomas being absent, Lu 24:36, and Joh 20:19. (All these four appearances took place on the day of his resurrection.) The fifth was to the eleven disciples, Thomas being then with them, Joh 20:26. The sixth, to seven of the apostles in Galilee, at the sea of Tiberias, Joh 21:4. The seventh, to James, 1Co 15:7, most probably in Jerusalem, and when Jesus gave an order for all his apostles to assemble together, as in Ac 1:4. The eighth, when they were assembled together, and when he led them unto Bethany, Lu 24:50, from whence he ascended to heaven. But See Clarke on Joh 21:14, for farther particulars.

Pertaining to the kingdom of God] Whatever concerned the doctrine, discipline, and establishment of the Christian Church.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

To whom, i.e. the apostles, he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs; eating, drinking, speaking, walking with them; nay, showing them his very wounds, and permitting them to be touched; God suffering Thomass infidelity to contribute to the strengthening of our faith.

Being seen of them forty days; not continually, but upon occasion as he pleased; it was so long from his resurrection to his ascension; and the same space in which God showed himself unto Moses in Mount Sinai. So long also he was pleased to stay with them, that he might more abundantly testify the truth of his humanity, and of his resurrection.

And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; either his kingdom in heaven, the church triumphant or his kingdom on earth, the church militant; what future bliss and happiness he was going to prepare, and what means they ought to use towards the obtaining of it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3-5. showed himself aliveAsthe author is about to tell us that “the resurrection of theLord Jesus” was the great burden of apostolic preaching, sothe subject is here filly introduced by an allusion to the primaryevidence on which that great fact rests, the repeated and undeniablemanifestations of Himself in the body to the assembled disciples,who, instead of being predisposed to believe it, had to beoverpowered by the resistless evidence of their own senses, and wereslow of yielding even to this (Mr16:14).

after his passionor,suffering. This primary sense of the word “passion” hasfallen into disuse; but it is nobly consecrated in the phraseology ofthe Church to express the Redeemer’s final endurances.

seen of them forty daysThisimportant specification of time occurs here only.

speaking ofrather”speaking.”

the things pertaining to thekingdom of Godtill now only in germ, but soon to take visibleform; the earliest and the latest burden of His teaching on earth.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion,…. That is, after his sufferings and death; for that he suffered many things, and at last death itself, is certain from the acknowledgment of the Jews themselves, who own, that they put him to death on the passover eve d; as well as from the accounts of the evangelists; and from the soldiers not breaking his legs, when the rest that were crucified with him were broken, because he was already dead; and from his “ricardium” being pierced with a spear, from whence blood and water sprung, after which it was impossible he should be alive; and from the testimony of the centurion who watched him, to whom Pilate sent to know if he was dead, and how long he had been dead; and from his being buried, and lying in the grave so long as he did: and yet after, and not withstanding this, “he showed himself alive”; he raised himself from the dead, and hereby declared himself to be the Son of God with power, which cannot be said of others; there were others that were alive after death, but not by their own power; as the widow of Sarepta’s son, the daughter of Jairus, Lazarus, and the widow of Nain’s son; but these did not “show themselves alive”, as Christ did, who appeared often to his apostles: for after he had first appeared to Mary Magdalene, he showed himself to the two disciples going to Emmaus; then to ten of them, Thomas being absent; after that to them all, Thomas being present, when he convinced him of the truth of his resurrection; after that he appeared to seven of the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and then to all the apostles; and to five hundred brethren at once on a mountain in Galilee; and once to James alone, and to them all again when he was parted from them and went up to heaven; and so they must be proper and sufficient witnesses of his resurrection: and this evidence of his being alive, he gave to them, by many infallible proofs; or by many signs and tokens, and which were most sure and unquestionable arguments of his being alive; as his eating and drinking with them, walking and talking with them in a free and familiar manner, showing them his hands and his feet, and side, that they might see the scars which the nails and spear had made; and which were not only a proof that he was risen again, but risen again in the same body in which he suffered; and that they might feel and handle him, and know that he was not a spirit, a phantom, a mere apparition, but was really risen and alive: being seen of them forty days; not that he was seen by them for forty days together continually, but at certain times, within the space of forty days; for between his first and last appearance, many others intervening, such a length of time run out; so that it was not a single and sudden appearance that surprised them; but there were many of them, and a distance between them, and this for a considerable term of time; hence they had opportunity of reflecting upon these appearances, and of satisfying themselves of the truth of things. This number of “forty days” is a remarkable one in Scripture. The flood was forty days upon the earth; and so long Moses was in the mount with God; such a number of days the spies were searching the land of Canaan; so many days Goliath presented himself to the armies of Israel; and so long a time Elijah went in the strength of the meat the angel provided for him; and for such a length of time the prophet Ezekiel was to bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; and such a term of time was given out by Jonah for the destruction of Nineveh; and so many days Christ fasted, and was tempted in the wilderness. The Jews pretend e, that forty days before Jesus was put to death he was led forth, and a crier went before him, declaring, that whoever would, had liberty to testify to his innocence if they could, but no man appeared for him: but this is false; the truth of the matter is, that for forty days after his resurrection he showed himself to his disciples, and by proving the truth of his resurrection, he proved his own innocence and uprightness. If the testimony of Rabbenu Hakadosh, as cited by Galatinus, could be depended on, the Jews had a notion of this forty days’ conversation of the Messiah with his disciples, after his resurrection; who say f,

“the Messiah, after his resurrection, shall converse with the righteous, and they shall hear his precepts “forty days”, answerable to those forty days in which he shall be in the wilderness to afflict his soul, before they shall kill him; and these being finished, he shall ascend to heaven, and sit at the right hand of God, as it is said, Ps 110:1.”

But this seems rather to be the pious fraud of some Christian, than the words of a Jew: however, they do say g, that

“the days of the Messiah are “forty days”, as it is said, Ps 95:10 “forty years long was I grieved”; or, as they interpret it, “shall I be grieved with this generation”:”

intimating, that the generation of the Messiah, and of the wilderness, would be much alike, and equally grieving to God, and reckoning a day for a year, as the Lord did with that generation, Nu 14:33. These forty days Christ was with his disciples, may be an emblem of the forty years which were to run out from his death, to his coming again to take vengeance on the Jewish nation; for so long time was there from thence to the destruction of Jerusalem. And Christ was not only seen of the disciples at certain seasons during this space of time, but he was also heard by them: for it follows,

and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; the kingdom of the Messiah, the Gospel dispensation; concerning the doctrines of the Gospel they were to preach, and the ordinances of it they were to administer; concerning the church of God, the nature, order, and officers of it, and the laws and rules by which it should be governed; concerning the kingdom of grace, what it consists of, and wherein it lies; and of the kingdom of glory, of meetness for it, his own grace, and of the right unto it, his own justifying righteousness: some of these things they might have before but very little knowledge of; and may be these are the things he had to say to them, and which, till now, they could not bear; and being no more to be with them in person, he instructs them in them.

d T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 43. 1. e T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 43. 1. f Gale Razeya apud Galatin. de Arcan. Cathol. ver. l. 8. c. 23. g T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

To whom also ( ). He chose them and then also manifested himself to these very same men that they might have personal witness to give.

Shewed himself alive ( ). To the disciples the first Sunday evening (Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25), the second Sunday evening (Joh 20:26-29), at the Sea of Tiberias (Joh 21:1-23), on the mountain in Galilee (Matt 28:16-20; Mark 16:15-18; 1Cor 15:6), to the disciples in Jerusalem and Olivet (Luke 24:44-53; Luke 24:16-19; Acts 1:1-11). Luke uses this verb 13 times in the Acts both transitively and intransitively. It is rendered by various English words (present, furnish, provide, assist, commend). The early disciples including Paul never doubted the fact of the Resurrection, once they were convinced by personal experience. At first some doubted like Thomas (Mark 16:14; Luke 24:41; John 20:24; Matt 28:17). But after that they never wavered in their testimony to their own experience with the Risen Christ, “whereof we are witnesses” Peter said (Ac 3:15). They doubted at first, that we may believe, but at last they risked life itself in defence of this firm faith.

After his passion ( ). Neat Greek idiom, with the articular infinitive (second aorist active of ) and the accusative of general reference, “after the suffering as to him.” For used absolutely of Christ’s suffering see also Acts 17:3; Acts 26:23.

By many proofs ( ). Literally, “in many proofs.” is only here in the N.T., though an old and common word in ancient Greek and occurring in the Koine (papyri, etc.). The verb , to prove by sure signs, is from , a sign. Luke does not hesitate to apply the definite word “proofs” to the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ after full investigation on the part of this scientific historian. Aristotle makes a distinction between (proof) and (sign) as does Galen the medical writer.

Appearing (). Present middle participle from late verb , late Koine verb from root seen in , . In LXX, papyri of second century B.C. (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 83). Only here in the N.T. For for vision see Acts 26:19; Luke 1:22; Luke 24:23.

By the space of forty days (‘ ). At intervals (, between) during the forty days, ten appearances being known to us. Jesus was not with them continually now in bodily presence. The period of forty days is given here alone. The Ascension was thus ten days before Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came. Moses was in the mount forty days (Ex 24:18) and Jesus fasted forty days (Mt 4:2). In the Gospel of Luke 24 this separation of forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension is not drawn.

The things concerning the Kingdom of God ( ). This phrase appears 33 times in Luke’s Gospel, 15 times in Mark, 4 times in Matthew who elsewhere has “the kingdom of heaven,” once in John, and 6 times in Acts. No essential distinction is to be drawn between the two for the Jews often used “heaven” rather than “God” to avoid using the Tetragrammaton. But it is noticeable how the word kingdom drops out of Acts. Other words like gospel () take the place of “kingdom.” Jesus was fond of the word “kingdom” and Luke is fond of the idiom “the things concerning” ( ). Certainly with Jesus the term “kingdom” applies to the present and the future and covers so much that it is not strange that the disciples with their notions of a political Messianic kingdom (Ac 1:6) were slow to comprehend the spiritual nature of the reign of God.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Shewed himself [] . This verb is rendered in a variety of ways in the New Testament, as give or furnish, present, provide, assist, commend. The original meaning is to place beside, and so commend to the attention. Hence, to set before the mind; present, shew.

Infallible proofs [] . The word is akin to tekmar a fixed boundary, goal, end; and hence a fixed or sure sign or token. The Rev. omits infallible, probably, assuming that a proof implies certainty. Being seen [] . Only here in New Testament. Rev., appearing.

Forty days [ ] . Lit., “through forty days.” Rev., by the space of. The only passage where the interval between the resurrection and the ascension is given.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

Post-Resurrection Ministry of Christ, V. 3 – 7

1) “To whom also He shewed Himself alive,” (hois kai parestesin heauton zonta) “To whom He also presented Himself (bodily) alive,” bodily living, living in His body. This He did some ten or more times after His resurrection, last of all when He led them out to Bethany and blessed them as He went into heaven, Luk 24:50-51; Luk 24:36-43.

2) “After His passion,” (meta to pathein auton) “After He suffered,” after crucifixion and resurrection, 1Co 15:3-8; Mar 16:14; Mat 28:5-10; Mat 28:16-20; Joh 14:16-17.

3) “By many infallible proofs,” (en pollois tekmeriois) “By many evident or sustained proofs,” technical proofs of certified nature, such as would be accepted by Doctors at Law, medical doctors, or trustworthy historians, Men saw Him, heard Him, touched Him, and were fed by Him – -more than five hundred at one time, 1Co 15:6. Such is much more than any law ever required for establishing evidence, of acceptable nature, Num 35:30; Deu 17:6; Joh 8:17.

4) “Being seen of them forty days,” (di’ hemeron tesserakonta optanomenos) “Being repeatedly seen of them through a forty day period; What a conference! not continuously, but repeatedly, as He appeared to them on ten or more occasions, as recounted in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles- – 1) Joh 20:14-18; John 2) Mat 28:8-10; Matthew 3) Luk 24:34; 1Co 15:5; 1 Corinthians 4) Luk 24:13-31; Luke 5) Luk 24:36-43; Joh 20:19-24; John 6) Joh 20:24-29; John 7) Joh 21:1-23; John 8) 1Co 15:6; 1 Corinthians 9) 1Co 15:7; 1 Corinthians 10) Mat 28:16-20; Mar 16:14-20; Luk 24:33-53; Act 1:3-12.

5) “And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:” (kai legon ta peri tes Basileias tou theou) “And speaking (of) the things pertaining to or concerning the kingdom of God,” that is regarding the eventual consummation of all things afore prophesied, yet unfulfilled inclusive of – 1) The church and her work; 2) The resurrection; 3) The rapture of the church; 4)The tribulation the great; 5) The millennial reign of the church and restitution of all things to God the Father; 6) The Great White Throne Judgement, and the New Heaven and New Earth. What a conference! What a Bible School for forty days! It was concerning these matters our Lord also appeared to Paul, Act 9:3-6; 1Co 15:8; Act 22:17-21; Act 23:11; To Stephen, Act 7:55; and to John on Patmos, Rev 1:16-19.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

3. Unto whom, etc He addeth this, that he might make the resurrection to be believed, as a thing most necessary to be known, and without the which the whole gospel falleth fiat to the ground, neither remaineth there any more faith. And that I may omit to speak of other discommodities that come by being ignorant of the resurrection of Christ, the gospel loseth his whole authority, unless we know and be also fully persuaded that Christ being alive, speaketh unto us from the heavens. Whereunto Luke hath chiefest respect in this place. Therefore, that the truth hereof might not be called in question, he saith that it was proved by many signs and tokens. Those which Erasmus, following an old interpreter, doth call arguments, I have translated proofs. For Aristotle doth call that τεκμηριον, in the first book of his Rhetorics, which is necessary in signs. This is, therefore, that which I said before, that Christ did make manifest his resurrection unto his apostles by evident tokens, which did serve instead of necessary proofs, lest they should doubt of the same. Furthermore, he doth not reckon up those tokens and signs, saving only that he saith, that Christ did appear unto them about the space of a month and one-half oftentimes. If he had but once appeared unto them, it might have been somewhat suspicious, but in showing himself so often unto them, he dissolveth all doubts which might arise in their minds, and by this means, also, he putteth away the reproach of the ignorance which he said was in the apostles, lest it discredit their preaching.

He intreateth of the kingdom of God He telleth us again that the apostles themselves were well taught (19) before such time as they took upon them to teach others; therefore, whatsoever things they uttered and brought to light, either by word or by writing, touching the kingdom of God, they are those speeches which Christ himself uttered. And hereby doth he briefly set down the end of the doctrine of the gospel; namely, that God may reign in us. Regeneration is the beginning of this kingdom, and the end thereof is blessed immortality; the middle proceedings are in a more ample going forward and increase of regeneration. But that this thing may appear more evidently, we must first note, that we are born, and that we live aliens and strangers from the kingdom of God, until such time as God doth fashion us again unto a new life. Therefore, we may properly set the world, the flesh, and whatsoever is in man’s nature against the kingdom of God, as contrary to it. For the natural man is wholly occupied about the things of this world, and he seeketh felicity here; (20) in the mean season, we are as it were banished from God, and he likewise from us; but Christ, by the preaching of the gospel, doth lift us up unto the meditation of the life to come. And to the end he may the better bring this to pass, he reformeth all our earthly affections, and so having striped us out of the vices of our flesh, he separateth us from the world. And, like as eternal death is prepared for all those which live after the flesh, so in as much as the inward man is renewed in us, that we may go forward in the spiritual life, we draw nearer unto the perfection of the kingdom of God; which is the society of the glory of God. Therefore, God will reign in and amongst us now, that he may at length make us partakers of his kingdom. Hereby we gather that Christ did principally intreat of the corruption of mankind; of the tyranny of sin, whose bond-slaves we are; of the curse and guiltiness of eternal death, whereunto we all are subject, and also of the means to obtain salvation; of the remission of sins; of the denying of the flesh; of spiritual righteousness; of hope of eternal life, and of like such things. And if we will be rightly instructed in Christianity, we must apply our studies to these things.

(19) “ Ab unico magistro,” by the only master, omitted.

(20) “ Et ultimum bonum,” and it is his final good, omitted.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(3) After his passion.Literally, after He had suffered. The English somewhat anticipates the later special sense of passion.

By many infallible proofs.There is no adjective in the Greek answering to infallible, but the noun is one which was used by writers on rhetoric (e.g., Aristotle, Rhet. i. 2) for proofs that carried certainty of conviction with them, as contrasted with those that were only probable or circumstantial. No other New Testament writer uses it.

Being seen of them forty days.St. Luke uses a peculiar and unusual word (it occurs twice in the LXX.: 1Ki. 8:8, and Tob. 12:19) for being seen, perhaps with the wish to imply that the presence was not continuous, and that our Lord was seen only at intervals. This may be noted as the only passage which gives the time between the Resurrection and the Ascension. It had its counterpart in the forty days of the Temptation in the wilderness (Luk. 4:2), as that had had in the earlier histories of Moses (Exo. 24:18; Deu. 9:9; Deu. 9:18) and Elijah (1Ki. 19:8). There was a certain symbolic fitness in the time of triumph on earth coinciding with that of special conflict. If we ask what was the character, if one may so speak, of our Lords risen life between His manifestation to the disciples, the history of the earlier forty days in part suggests the answer. Then, as before, the life was, we may believe, one of solitude and communion with His Father, no longer tried and tempted, as it had then been, by contact with the power of evila life of intercession, such as that which uttered itself in the great prayer of John 17. Where the days and nights were spent we can only reverently conjecture. Analogy suggests the desert places and mountain heights or Galilee (Luk. 4:42; Luk. 6:12). The mention of Bethany in Luk. 24:50, and of the Mount of Olives in Act. 1:12, makes it probable that Gethsemane may have been one of the scenes that witnessed the joy of the victory, as it had witnessed before the agony of the conflict.

The things pertaining to the kingdom of God.This implies, it is obvious, much unrecorded teaching. What is recorded points (1) to the true interpretation of the prophecies of the Messiah (Luk. 24:27; Luk. 24:44-45); (2) to the extension of the mission of the disciples to the whole Gentile world, and their admission to the Kingdom by baptism (Mat. 28:19); (3) to the promises of supernatural powers and divine protection (Mar. 16:15-18); (4) to that of His own perpetual presence with His Church (Mat. 28:20).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Showed himself alive Gloriously and repeatedly displayed himself in his resurrection nature.

Infallible proofs As Christ is the great miracle, so in him the resurrection is the central miracle apparent to men; and it was important, therefore, that this miracle should be sustained by infallible proofs. The evangelists record nine appearances of Jesus. In regard to Jesus’ risen body, see note on Luk 24:36.

Forty days Compare note on Luk 24:44-45.

Between the Passover (when Christ was crucified) and the Pentecost were, inclusive, fifty days; during forty of which the various showings of himself took place, and the remaining ten days were the those days of Act 1:15. Forty, seventy, and one hundred and twenty are the three primal sacred numbers multiplied by the decimal. See on Act 1:15. Forty days according to Wordsworth, on this passage, is the period indicating “a probation before some great event;” that is, the completion of some preparatory stage. Such was the fact with Moses before the giving of the law, Exo 24:18; Exo 34:28; Deu 9:9; Deu 10:10; with Hebrew spies, Num 13:25; Num 14:34; with Elias, 1Ki 19:8; with Nineveh, Jon 3:4. And as the purification by the presentation of a male child in the temple required a period of forty days, so forty days was Jesus’ probation before he was presented, Luk 2:22; forty days his probationary temptation, Mar 1:13; and forty days his earthly resurrection stage before ascension. And this last forty days were the apostolic probation before the Pentecostal preparatories commenced.

Things pertaining Doubtless fully and clearly as their advancement in knowledge allowed, yet not so successfully but that they asked the unwise question in Act 1:6.

Kingdom of God Not that a large body of new teachings was given, but the kingdom of God was the topic of all he did say.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Act 1:3. Shewed himself alive by many infallible proofs, By infallible proofs are meant such proofs as amount to a demonstration, and cannot admit of the least doubt. Thus the actions of speaking, walking, eating, and drinking, are the undoubted proofs of life; and it should be observed, that the disciples had the same infallible proofs of Christ’s being alive after his passion, as they ever had of his being alive before it. They saw him, saw the particular marks of identity in his person and countenance, in his hands, feet, and side, which had been pierced at his crucifixion. They saw him also eat what they themselves gave him; a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. They heard him speak, and were by him commanded to handle him, and see that he had flesh and bones,a command, which doubtless they obeyed, for the words, as ye see me have, strongly imply, that theyhad received the satisfaction offered them, by feeling his hands and feet. Certainly these were infallible proofs, as the sacred writer asserts: but what increases their certainty, is, that they were frequently repeated; not for one or two days, but for the space of forty days together. Whoever takes a view of the method and order in which the several proofs of the resurrection were laid before the apostles, must confess, that, as Christ required of them a reasonable and well-grounded faith, so did he pursue the most proper and effectual means for attainingthat end. For this purpose, instead of bearing down their reason, and dazzling their understanding bya full manifestation of himself all at once, we see him letting in the light upon them by little and little, and preparing their minds, by the gradual dawning of truth, to bear the full lustre of the Sun of righteousness rising from the grave; to consider and examine, and know that it was he himself; and to assure the world that it was impossible they could be deceived. And most certainly, never was evidence more fairly offered to consideration; never was the inquiry put into a more rational method, as, indeed, there never were any facts which could better bear the test. Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, implies the giving them full instructions concerning the nature of his spiritual kingdom; which, before his resurrection, they did not rightly understand. Dr. Heylin observes on this passage, that “the Greeks weave long periods, by connecting many clauses with relative pronouns, participles, and prepositions, in one sentence; which, according to the genius of our language, should be divided into several sentences; whose brevity facilitates the attention of the reader, by holding it less in suspence.” I therefore scruple not, says he, “frequently to change the grammatical construction of the original, and sometimes insert a word or two, that I may render the sense more intelligible, which is the principal purpose of my interpretation.” Conformably to this remark, he reads the present passage thus: Act 1:3. He had soon after his passion, shewed them himself alive with indubitable evidences, appearing to them forty days and discoursing with them concerning the kingdom of God. Act 1:4. [One day in particular] being present with them, when they were assembled, he ordered them not to depart, &c. The reader will find in the note, on ch. Act 10:41 an answer to the objection raised from Christ’s confining his appearance, after his resurrection, to his disciples and friends.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Act 1:3 . ] to whom also . To the foregoing ., namely, there is attached a corresponding incident, through which the new intercourse, in which the . . . took place, is now set forth.

] includes in it the death as the immediate result of the suffering (Act 3:18 , Act 17:3 , Act 26:23 ; Heb 13:12 ).

. .] He showed Himself to them throughout forty days , not continuously, but from time to time , which is sufficiently indicated as well known by the preceding . .

. . ] speaking to them that which related to the Messiah’s kingdom (which He would erect). The Catholics have taken occasion hence to assume that Jesus at this stage gave instructions concerning the hierarchy, the seven sacraments, and the like.

As to the variation of the narrative of the forty days from the narrative given in the Gospel, see on Luk 24:50 f. This diversity presupposes that a not inconsiderable interval occurred between the composition of the Gospel and that of Acts, during which the tradition of the forty days was formed or at least acquired currency. The purposely chosen , conspiciendum se praebens (comp. Tob 12:19 ; 1Ki 8:8 ), corresponds to the changed corporeality of the Risen One (comp. the remark subjoined to Luk 24:51 ), but does not serve in the least degree to remove that discrepancy (in opposition to Baumgarten, p. 12), as if it presupposed that Jesus, on occasion of every appearance, quitted “the sphere of invisibility.” Comp. the in Luk 24:24 ; 1Co 15:5 ff.; comp. with Joh 20:17 ; Act 1:21 f., Act 10:41 ; Luk 24:42 f.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: (4) And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. (5) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

It is well worthy our highest attention, that though we are told, the Lord Jesus remained forty days on earth, after his resurrection, yet he did not mingle with his disciples as before, in their daily intercourse, He was seen of them for forty days together: that is, from the first to the last. The morning of his resurrection was the first. And this, which was by appointment, was the last, being the fortieth day from his resurrection included. But though he manifested himself to them at times, both when they looked for him, and when they did not; yet the word of God gives no authority to conclude, that he was always with them: but rather on the contrary. He gave infallible proofs of his being alive; and of his being the same identical person as before his death; by eating and drinking with them, after he arose from the dead, Luk 24:39-43 . And beside the relation, which is given by the Evangelists, of the many separate and distinct appearances, which the Lord made of himself, upon various occasions, after his resurrection, Paul mentions, of five hundred brethren at one time, who saw him. 1Co 15:6 . So that, as this scripture asserts, he shewed himself to them alive, after his passion by many infallible proofs: and not the shadow of a doubt could remain, of the reality of the fact itself. Yet still it is worthy our observation, that Jesus did not mingle with them as heretofore. The same unbounded love, the Lord shewed them; and every act testified, that there was no change in his nature, nor in his regard to them: but there was a difference in his state. And might not this be intended, (I simply ask the question, and not decide,) to intimate to them, that when his people are quickened, from the death of sin, an holy solemnity should follow, suited to a risen state!

What more immediate subjects those were, which the Lord discoursed upon, between the interval of his resurrection and ascension, is not said, further, than that they pertained to the kingdom of God. But as the coming of God the Holy Ghost was at hand, and his office would be, to lead them into all truth, it is reasonable to conclude, that Jesus connected what he had told them before, concerning the Person, work, and grace of the Holy Ghost, with speaking of him now. And, as the whole efficient part of the Covenant, was to be, in a more eminent manner, distinguished by his ministry, no doubt, this formed a principal subject, in the Lord’s discourses.

I beg the Reader, before he goes further, to observe the vast line of distinction, which the Lord Jesus draws, between the water baptism of John , and the spiritual baptism of God the Holy Ghost. Without entering into all the particulars included in this out-pouring of the Spirit, expressed under the term baptism: (indeed who is competent to describe, either the nature, or extent of the Lord the Spirit’s operations:) we may justly conclude, that it was intended more or less, to imply, all the special offices of the Holy Ghost. And perhaps, in a yet more personal manner, the ordination of the Apostles to their ministry. But yet, not to the exclusion of the whole Church, in all other matters, of which the Apostles were the representatives.

The Holy Ghost is the Founder and Architect of the Church, His it is, to arrange and order, to preside over, and govern, the whole building. And as He has founded the Church on Christ, so is it his to raise up the several departments from Christ, and form all the stones of the temple as living stones in Christ; for an habitation of God through the Spirit, 1Pe 2:5 ; Eph 2:22 . Indeed from the beginning of the revelation of God, this had been his special work, according to the ancient settlements of the Covenant. The Holy Ghost from everlasting, was the Almighty minister, in the Church, And every ordinance and means of grace, were as much his appointment under the Old Testament, as under the New. This we learn from a single verse, most plainly and decidedly, (if there were no other,) in the Epistle to the Hebrews. For when Paul had related the particulars of furniture in the Jewish tabernacle, and the uses of the whole; he refers the appointment and design, unto the sovereign will and pleasure of God the Spirit: the Holy Ghost this signifying, said Paul. Hereby ascribing to Him personal being and agency, sovereignty and almighty power; and declaring his own eternal Godhead by expressly saying, that the priests, when daily performing those acts of worship, were accomplishing the service of God. I pray the Reader to read the whole passage, Heb 9:1-8 .

We shall have, in some measure, a right apprehension of faith, in relation to the Person, Godhead, and Office-characters, of God the Holy Ghost, in these Covenant transactions, by having these things in view; if so be, the Lord himself, (of whom we presume to speak,) condescends to enlighten our understanding. As God the Holy Ghost founded the Church, so it was his office, and he did it, to anoint, both the Head of the Church, and all the members of his mystical body, Joh 3:34 ; Eph 4:7 ; Psa 45:7 . His office it hath been from the beginning, to give to the Church all her Prophets. For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 2Pe 1:21 . His it was, to ordain all the ministers, as well under the Old Testament as the New. The Prophet Isa 1-66 with Joh 12:39-41 and Act 28:25-27 . And as the ordination to the ministry was the office of God the Holy Ghost, before the coming of Christ, under the Old Testament; so we find him ordaining his ministers, and to his service, under the New. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said; Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work thereunto I have called them, Act 13:2 . See the Commentary there. In short, it is the Lord the Spirit’s work, to send out and to restrain, Act 13:4 with Act 16:6 , to teach in the word, and by the word, 1Co 2:16 with 2Th 1:5 , to accompany the word from heaven: 1Pe 1:11-12 , and to light upon the hearts of the people, while the word is preaching upon earth, Act 10:44 . And in every instance of success Paul saith it ariseth not from the inticing words of man’s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, 1Co 2:4 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

XXXII

CHRIST’S APPEARANCES AND COMMISSIONS (CONTINUED)

Harmony, pages 228-231 and Mat 28:16-20 ; Mar 16:15-18 ; Luk 24:44-53 ; Act 1:3-12 ; 1Co 15:7 .

The next commission is found on page 228 of the Harmony, Matthew’s account, Mat 28:16-20 : “But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth, go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” By the side of it is Mark’s account, also a statement by Paul about five hundred being present. This is what is called the Great Commission. The points of it are: (1) Before he was put to death he appointed this place, a mountain in Galilee, for the assembling of his disciples; and Paul says five hundred brethren were there, and we have already seen that the women were there also. In his appearances to the women he told them to be present, so we must put the number at anywhere between five and six hundred. The gathering is a specially appointed one. He appointed the women after his resurrection to remind them of it. It was to be the gathering of the general body of his disciples apostles, other men and women. The supposable reasons for assembling them at this particular place are: (a) Most of his disciples were Galileans, and (b) by having this big gathering in Galilee, it would avoid creating a disturbance, for if a meeting had been held in Jerusalem, not so many could have attended, and there they would be liable to interruption by the excited people. (2) The next point is that this was the most eventful, far-reaching, important gathering of God’s people between his death and his ascension. (3) Let us analyze the Commission itself. Dr. Landrum once preached a sermon on the Commission, calling attention to the “alls”: (a) “all” authority; (b) go to “all” the nations; (c) observe “all things”; (d) “I am with you all the days,” as it is expressed in the margin.

The reference to the authority which he received is to show them that in telling them to do something, and so great a something, and so important a something, he had the authority to do it; “all authority” in heaven and on earth, is given unto him. That is because of his faithful obedience to the divine law, and particularly because he had expiated sin by his own death on the cross. Now he is to be exalted to be above all angels and men; the dominion of the universe is to be in his hands, and from this time on. It is so now. He today sits on the throne of the universe and rules the world; all authority in heaven and on earth is given unto him.

That is the question which always is to be determined when a man starts out to do a thing: “By what authority do you do this?” If you, on going out to preach, should be asked, “By what authority do you preach, and are you not taking the honor on yourself?” you answer that he sent you.

We are to see what he told them to do, and we will compare the Commission to a suspension bridge across a river. On one side of the river is an abutment, the authority of Jesus Christ. And at the other end of the bridge we will take this for the abutment: “And lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the age.” On one side of the river stands the authority, and on the other side stands the presence of Jesus Christ Christ in the Holy Spirit. That is to be until the end of the age. Suspended between these two, and dependent on these two, and resting on these two, is the bridge. Let us see exactly, then, what they are to do: First, to “go therefore.” The “therefore” refers to the authority; second, “make disciples of all the nations.” So there are three parts to this first item of the Commission: To go, what to go for, and to whom. If we are Missionary Baptists indeed, this Commission is the greatest of all authority.

One of the deacons, when I took charge of the First Baptist Church at Waco, said to me on one occasion, when I was taking up a foreign mission offering, “Brother Carroll, I am interested in helping you reach these Waco people, and I will help some on associational missions, and state missions, but when it comes to these Chinese and Japs, if you will just bring me one of them, I will try to convert him.” I said to him, “You don’t read your Commission right. You are not under orders to wait until somebody brings you a Jap; you are to go; you are the one to get up and go yourself. You can’t wrap up in that excuse.”

This Commission makes the moving on the part of the commissioned the people of God; they are to go to these people wherever they are. If they are Laplanders, go; if Esquimaux, go; if they are in the tropics, you must go there; if in the temperate region, you must go there; anywhere from the center of the earth to its remotest bounds. That is what makes it missionary one sent, and being sent, he goes. And we can’t send anybody unless he goes somewhere. The first thought, then, is the going. It does not say, “Make the earth come to you,” but “you are to go to them,” and that involves raising the necessary means to get you there. The command to go involves the means essential to going. That is the going law. If the United States shall send one of its diplomats to England, that involves the paying of the expenses of the going.

The next thing is, What are you to do when you get there? You are to make disciples. There are two words here in the Greek one, matheteusate , which means “to make disciples”; the other, didaskontes , which means “teaching.” You do not teach them first, but you make disciples out of them. Now come the questions: How make a disciple? What is discipleship? That will answer the other question, What is necessary to the remission of sins? When is a man a disciple? How far do you have to go in order to make him a disciple? The way to answer that question is to look at what John the Baptist and Christ did. The Gospel of John tells us that John the Baptist made and baptized disciples; that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John did. John made disciples before he baptized them; Jesus made disciples before he baptized them, not afterward. John did not baptize them before he made them disciples; he did not leave off the baptism after he disciplined them. The question of order here is one of great importance. There are three things to be done: (1) Make disciples; (2) baptize disciples; (3) then teach them all things whatsoever Christ commanded. And you must take them in their order. It is not worth while to try to teach a man to do everything that Jesus did when he refuses to be a disciple. Don’t baptize him before he is a disciple. You must not baptize him in order to make him a disciple; you must not attempt to instruct him in Christian duties until he is a disciple.

How important is the answering of that question: “How do you make a disciple?” John made disciples this way: Paul says that John preached repentance toward God, and that they should believe on Jesus to come, i.e., a man who has repented toward God and exercised faith in Jesus Christ, was a disciple; then John baptized him. The Pharisees came to be baptized, but John refused, saying to them: “Think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our Father: for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” “Do not think that entitles you to baptism; that does not at all entitle you to baptism; but you bring forth fruits worthy of your repentance, then I will baptize you, ye offspring of vipers.” And Jesus went forth and preached: “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” So that from time immemorial the Baptists have contended that the terms of discipleship, or the terms of remission of sins, are repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said that he everywhere testified to both Greeks and Jews, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. I sometimes change that a little by putting first the contrition, or godly sorrow; the Spirit convicts a man, and under that conviction he becomes contrite, has godly sorrow; that contrition leads him to repentance; that leads him to faith, then he is a child of God, right there: “We are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

This is a great part of your qualification to be a preacher that you know how to tell a man what to do to be saved; to know what to tell him. You don’t bury a man to kill him. Baptism is a burial. You bury dead men, but not till they are dead. Nor do you bury a live, raw sinner. You must wait till the Spirit kills him to sin.

Major Penn told of a man who had been lost in the woods. It was in the heat of the day, and he was very thirsty. Late in the day he found his way to a shady little nook, where, bursting from a rock, was a cool mountain spring, and hanging up over the spring was an old-fashioned gourd. He dipped that gourd in the spring and held the water up a little and let it run down his throat, and gloried in drinking out of a gourd. Major Penn made such an apt description of it that one man came up and said, “I’ll go and get me a gourd; that is the best drinking vessel; I know by the way you talk about it.” So he went to a farmer and asked for a gourd. The farmer picked him a green gourd. He cut off the top of it and dipped it into the water. He commenced sipping and drinking. When he discovered the bitter taste he asked, “What in the world is the matter with this gourd?” An old woman said to him, “Why, you were not such a fool as to drink out of a green gourd, were you? You let that gourd get thoroughly ripe; then open it, take out the insides, boil it, let it get dry, and it will be fit to drink out of.” Major Penn said to baptize a man a dry sinner is to bring him up a wet sinner, and it is like drinking out of a green gourd.

This is the answer to the question, What are the terms of discipleship, or, How do you make a disciple? He has godly sorrow. That godly sorrow leads him to repentance a change of mind; that leads him to the Saviour, and when he accepts Jesus Christ he is a child of God. Now you know how to approach a sinner, but don’t you put him under the water at the wrong time and with the wrong object in view.

This brings up another question: Who is to do this baptizing? Is the command here to be baptized, or is it to baptize? Which comes first? Any lawyer will tell you that the command to do a thing, in which you must submit to the act of another, must specify the authorized party to whom you must submit in that act. For example, suppose that after you had come to the United States from a foreign country, you speak to your friends and ask, “How did you settle in the United States?” They tell you that they took out naturalization papers. Then you meet a man and ask him, “Will you give me some naturalization papers?” He gives you the naturalization papers, and says, “You are a citizen of the United States.” Being now a citizen, you come up to vote, but the judge of the election says, “Are you a foreigner?” “Yes, I was till I was naturalized.” Then he asks for your papers. Looking at them he says, “Why, this man was not authorized to do it. The law tells how you shall be naturalized, and you have just picked up a fellow on the streets here that did not count at all.” The law tells us in every state who shall issue naturalization papers, otherwise the citizenship of the state would be vested in a “Tom-Dick-and-Harry” everybody and nobody. It is just that way about baptizing.

I know some who teach that the command is simply to be baptized. I said to one of them once, “Does it make any difference who does the baptizing?” “Well,” he said, “no it doesn’t; the command is simply to be baptized.” I said, “I will give you $100 if you will show me a command to be baptized, with no authorized administrator standing there to administer the ordinance.” “Well,” he said, “look at Paul’s case: Ananias said, ‘Arise and be baptized.’ ” I said, “Who sent Ananias? Ananias had authority from God to baptize Paul. Who sent Philip into the desert? The eunuch said, ‘Here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?’ but there was the administrator talking to him, a sent administrator.”

And this question is thereby raised: Jesus ascended to heaven and vested this authority to disciple and to baptize, in whom? Here’s a big gathering, not apostles only, because here are five hundred besides those women. Not in that particular crowd alone, for he said, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.”

There is no escape from it, that when he gave this Commission, he gave it to an ecclesiastical body the church. That is why the great church gathered. It is a perpetual commission. No man can deny that these disciples were acting representatively.

“But,” says one, “the Commission was given to the apostles.” But I say, “Where were the apostles?” Paul says that God set them in the church (1Co 12:28 ; Eph 4:11-16 ). He did not set anybody out in the woods. Ask those free lances who run out on the prairie, or in the woods, who set them.

God put these apostles, pastors, etc., in the church, and from the time that God gave this commission he has done the baptizing through the church. You cannot give it just in your own way or notion; you cannot just pick people up and put them in the creek, and say, “I baptize you.”

Here are the things that are essential to a valid baptism: (1) A man must be a disciple, a penitent believer in Jesus Christ; (2) The act of baptism, whatever that commission means. If it means to sprinkle, sprinkle them; if to pour, then pour; if to immerse, then immersion is the act. (3) The design or purpose: Why do it? If we baptize to “make a disciple” or in order that he may become a disciple; that he may be saved; that his sins be remitted, then I deny that it is baptism. It lacks the gospel design, or purpose. (4) It must be done by authority, and that authority is the church.

The church authorizes; the subject must be a disciple, and the act is immersion. The purpose is to make a public declaration, or confession, of faith in Jesus Christ, to symbolize the cleansing from sin, a memorial of Christ’s resurrection, and a pledge of the disciple.

According to your understanding of this commission you bring confusion into Israel, or keep it out.

While I was pastor in Waco, we received a member from another Baptist church. He heard me preach on this commission and came to me and said, “Look here, I want to preach; I believe I am called to preach, and the way you state that, I have not been baptized at all.” I said, “How is that?” “A Campbellite preacher baptized me.” “Did the Baptist church receive that baptism?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Now suppose you want to preach, and you come before this church for ordination, and they find out that fact, they won’t ordain you. But suppose they did ordain you, wherever you go that would come up against you. They would say, ‘There is a man not scripturally baptized.’ It will hamper your whole ministerial life, and bring confusion into the kingdom of God.” “Well,” he said, “what ought I to do?” I said, “Don’t do anything until you are convinced it is the right thing to do. You study this again, and let me know what your conclusions are.” About a week after he came and said, “I don’t think I have been baptized: he baptized me to make me a disciple. I did not claim to have been a disciple before he baptized me.” “Well,” I said, “did it make you one?” He said, “I do not think it did.” So the blood you must reach before you reach the water. The way is the blood. It has to be applied before you reach the water. It must be reached before you can be saved. So, the blood is before the water. A preacher’s whole future depends on how he interprets this commission.

You will see by referring to the Harmony that Dr. Broadus puts Mark’s commission beside this great Commission on Matthew, thereby indicating that they refer to the same occasion. Assuming this to be correct, I do not discuss the commission of Mark except to say that the first eight verses of Mar 16 are in the manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel, but the latter part of this (Mar 16:9-20 ) which includes the statement, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” is not in any of the ancient manuscripts. I have facsimiles of the three oldest manuscripts the Sinaitic, the Vatican, and the Alexandrian. Whenever those three agree as to what is the text of a passage we need not go further. It is usually right. But whenever those three leave out anything that is in the text, we may count it spurious. The best scholars among preachers never preach from Mar 16:9-20 , because it is so very doubtful as to whether it is to be received as Scripture. Dr. Broadus says it certainly does not belong to Mark’s Gospel, but that he believes it records what is true; and I am somewhat inclined to believe that too. I think it is true, though it was added by a later hand. Certainly, Mark did not write it. The manuscript evidence is against that part of it. Therefore, I do not consider this as a separate commission of our Lord.

We now take up the fourth commission, that is to say, the commission recorded by Luke, found in Luk 24:44-49 and 1Co 15:7 ; Harmony, pp. 229-230. The remarks upon this commission are these:

1. It is to the eleven apostles.

2. He introduces it by reminding them of his teachings before his death of the witness to him in the law, the prophets, and the psalms, especially concerning his passion, his burial, and his resurrection.

3. Especially to be noted is the fact that he gives them illumination that they may understand these scriptures, and shows the necessity of their fulfilment, in order to the salvation of men.

4. On this necessity he bases the commission here given, which is, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

5. He constitutes them his witnesses of these things.

6. He announces that he will send the promise of the Father, namely, the Holy Spirit, and commands them to wait at Jerusalem until they receive this power from on high to enable them to carry out the work of this commission.

7. The reader should note that, as in the commission recorded by John (Joh 20:22 ) he inspired them to write the New Testament Scriptures, so here he illumined their minds to understand the Old Testament Scriptures. Mark the distinction between inspiration and illumination: The object of inspiration is to enable one to speak or write infallibly; the object of illumination is to enable one to understand infallibly what is written.

8. Further note the unity of the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, and their equality in inspiration.

9. Note also the very important item that illumination settles authoritatively the apostolic interpretation of the Old Testament as to the true meaning of these Scriptures. As he inspired men to write the Old Testament, and inspired these men to write the New Testament, so now he illumines these men to understand the Old Testament and to interpret it correctly. In other words, as the Holy Spirit is the real author of the Old Testament, which he inspired, by illumination he shows these men just what he meant by those Old Testament writings. We cannot, therefore, put our unaided interpretation on an Old Testament passage against the Spirit’s own explanation of that passage by the illumination of the apostles’ minds. Due attention to this one fact would have prevented many false expositions of Old Testament Scriptures, particularly in limiting to national Israel what the Spirit spoke concerning spiritual Israel. Very many premillennial expositions of the Old Testament prophecies go astray on this point. They insist on applying to the Jews, as Jews, a great many prophecies which these illumined apostles saw referred to spiritual Israel, and not to fleshly Israel. In the same way do the expositions of the Old Testament passages by modern Jews and the limitations of meaning which destructive critics and other infidels put on the Old Testament Scriptures, go astray. It is wrong, and contrary to sane rules of interpretation, to say that you must not read into an Old Testament passage a New Testament meaning. In that way they wish to limit it to things back there only, but the Holy Spirit illumined the minds of the apostles to understand these Old Testament Scriptures better than the prophets that wrote them. Oftentimes the prophets did not know what they meant, and were very anxious to find out what they did mean. The meaning was revealed to New Testament prophets, and their minds illumined to understand them. I have just finished reading a book which as certainly misapplies about two dozen Old Testament prophecies as the sun shines. In other words, this book interprets them as a modern Jew would interpret them, and exactly contrary to what the apostles say these passages mean. When an illumined apostle tells us the meaning of an Old Testament passage, we must accept it, or else deny his illumination, one or the other. You have no idea how much you have learned if you let this one remark sink into your mind.

10. Yet again, you should especially note in this commission the inseparable relation between repentance and the remission of sins, or forgiveness. The first, repentance, must precede remission of sins, and the relation is constant and necessary in each case of all sin, whether against God, against the church, or against ourselves. If you read carefully Act 2:38 ; Act 3:19 ; Psa 51 , where the sin is against God, you find that a repentance of that sin is made a condition of forgiveness. Then if you read carefully Luk 17:3 and Mat 18:15-17 , where the sin is against ourselves or against the church, the law is, “If he repent, forgive him.”

I saw a notice in The Baptist Standard once where it was assumed that we must forgive a sin before the person who committed it against us has repented of the sin. That would make us out better than God, for God won’t do it. He won’t forgive sin against himself until there is repentance, and he says to Peter, concerning a brother’s trespass against a brother, that if he repent, forgive him. And in Mat 18:15 , it says, “If thy brother sin against thee, go right along and convict him of his sin, and if he hear thee thou hast gained thy brother; if he does not hear thee, tell it to the church; if he does not hear the church, then he is unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.” There are men who insist that you must forgive trespasses against you whether they are repented of or not, meaning that you must be in a forgiving and loving attitude; and that is correct. You must cultivate that spirit which at all times is ready to forgive when repentance comes. But the majority of people who take that position take it in order to get out of some very troublesome work resting on them, and that work is to go right along to convict a man of that sin. It is much easier to say, “I forgive,” and let him alone, than it is to go and show him that he has sinned, and lead him to repentance. And they thus dodge their duty. The largest part of the back-sliding in the church comes from that fact. “If thou seest thy brother sin, then what? Forgive him? No. If thou seest thy brother sin, whether it is a private offense or a general one, report it to the church? No, but go right along and convict him of that sin; and if you fail, take one or two brethren with you; if they fail, let the church try the case. If the church fails, forgive him? No. Let him be to thee a heathen man and a publican.” That is Bible usage.

On the other hand there are some people who rejoice in the thought that they do not have to forgive a man until he repents, and they keep right on hating him. You are not to hate him; you are to love him. You are to have toward him a keen desire to gain him, and under the spirit of that desire, the obligation to gain him is on you personally, and there is no excuse for you. God will not hold you guiltless if you see a brother sin on any point, whether against you, the church, or the state, and do not try to bring him to repentance. It is our duty, as Dr. Broadus puts it, “to go right along and not rave at him,” but convict him that he has sinned, saying, “Now brother, this is wrong, and I have come, not in the spirit of accusation, nor in a disciplinary manner, but as a brother interested in you, and with the earnest desire in my heart to make you see that wrong, and if you ever see it and get it on your conscience and repent and make amends, I will save my brother.”

He says that repentance and remission of sins shall be preached in all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Paul says about that, “I have testified everywhere, both to the Jews and to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The weakness of modern preaching is that the preachers leave repentance out.

So the modern churches leave out the faithful and loving labor which should always precede exclusion. Especially should you note in this commission the unalterable relation between repentance and remission, or forgiveness of sins. The first must precede the second, and the relation is constant and necessary in the case of all sin, whether against God, the church or against ourselves.

The fifth commission is the commission at his ascension. The scriptures bearing on this are: Act 1:6-12 ; Mar 16:19 ; Luk 24:50-53 , and the account of it is found in the Harmony on pages 229-231. Upon this last commission, given just before Jesus was taken up out of their sight, note:

Act 1:8 indicates a “gathering together,” different from any of the preceding ones, and at which they asked this question: “Dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Act 1:9 shows that the occasion of this commission was his ascension into heaven.

Act 1:15 implies that 120 were present at this time. This specific number necessitates that the occasion when 500 brethren were present, mentioned by Paul, must have been at the appointed mountain in Galilee, where the great commission to the church, recorded in Mat 28:16-20 , was given. A very distinguished scholar has said, “Maybe these five hundred brethren were present at the time of his ascension.” It could not be, because one hundred and twenty is given as the number. It could not even have been at any other time than at that appointed in Galilee, where most of his converts were, and where be could get together so large a number as that. The form of the commission here is: “Ye shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” That is the test for the Commission.

The place where the Commission was given is thus stated: “And he led them out until they were over against Bethany,” and “from the mount called Olivet.” Another commission was given at that place. The place from which he led them is the place of their gathering, to which they returned (Act 1:13 ), and they returned to Jerusalem, to the upper room, where were a multitude together, about 120. And then the writer gives the names of those who abode there, and Peter got up and spoke to these 120.

The commission to be his witnesses suggests the simplicity and directness of their work. I heard a preacher say once with reference to what he did when he went out to an appointment, “I snowed.” He said the Spirit was not with him, and it was just like s snow. Another preacher said, “I ‘hollered,’ and I ‘hollered.’ ” Preachers lose sight of one important function of their office, and that is to be witnesses. That is a simple thing to testify. You are to stand with uplifted hands, and with elbows on the Bible you are to witness before God and to bear witness to what you know to testify.

They were to testify to his vicarious passion, his burial, and his resurrection. Paul makes these three things the gospel. He says, “I delivered unto you first of all that which also I have received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day.” Of what they were eyewitnesses we will see a little later, in some other testimony.

We come now to his sixth commission. This commission is found in Act 9:15-16 ; Act 22:10-15 ; Act 26:15-18 ; Gal 1:15-16 ; Gal 2:7-9 . These scriptures give you the commission of Paul, on which note:

While both Peter and Paul, on proper occasion, preached to both Jews and Gentiles, yet we learn from Gal 2:7-9 that while the stress of Peter’s commission was to the circumcision, the stress of Paul’s commission was to the uncircumcision. He was pre-eminently the apostle to the Gentiles.

The elements of his commission may be gathered from all these scriptures cited. Read every one of them, and you will gather together the elements of his commission. Let us see what these elements were:

(a) He was set apart to his work from his mother’s womb, and divinely chosen.

(b) Personally he must suffer great things.

(c) He received the gospel which he was to preach by direct revelation from the risen Lord. He did not get it from reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Paul’s letters were written before the Gospels were written.

He did not have them to read. He did not go to Jerusalem to talk with them, but he went into Arabia, and therefrom ;the Lord himself, and from the site of the giving of the law, whose relation to the gospel he so clearly cited, he received direct from Jesus Christ the gospel which he wrote.

(d) He was chosen to bear the Lord’s name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

(e) He was chosen to know God’s will, and to see and hear the Just One, and then to witness to all men what he saw and heard. Now, here comes in Paul as a witness, and this is a part of his commission: “What are you testifying to, Paul?” “I know God’s will; it was revealed to me; I saw Jesus; I saw him with these eyes; Jesus raised; I heard him; I heard his voice.” What next? “He saved my soul.”

One of the most effective sermons I ever preached was on this use that Paul makes of his Christian experience. Seven times in the New Testament Paul states his Christian experience, and for a different purpose every time. When he was arraigned before Agrippa he tells his Christian experience as recorded in Act 9 . In Act 22 , standing on the stairway, looking into the faces of the howling mob of murderous men, he states his Christian experience. Writing to the Romans, as is shown in Rom 7 , he tells his Christian experience. Writing to Timothy he does the same. The man is speaking as a witness.

In one of Edward Eggleston’s books there is an account of a pugnacious Methodist preacher, who was not only ready to preach the gospel, but to fight for the gospel also. On the way to a certain community two men waylaid him and said, “Mr. McGruder, if you will just turn your horse around and go back, we will let you alone, but if you persist in going to this place and interfering with our business, we are going to beat the life out of you.” So the preacher got down off the horse, saying, “I prefer to give you the beating,” and he whipped them both unmercifully. But he got his jaw broken, and that jaw being broken, he could not say a word. In the church he took his pencil and wrote to a sixteen-year-old boy and said, “Ralph, you have got to preach today.” Ralph said, “I have just been converted, you must remember.” “Do you want me to get up here and write a sermon in lead pencil to a crowd?” continued the preacher. “Well,” said Ralph, “I don’t know any sermon.” “If you break down on preaching,” said the preacher, “tell your Christian experience.” So Ralph got up and started to preaching a sermon, looking very much scared, for he had a terror, which was what we would call stage fright. At last he remembered the direction to tell his Christian experience, and the poor boy quit trying to be eloquent, or to expound the Scriptures that he knew very little about, and just told how the Lord Jesus Christ came to him, a poor orphan boy, an outlaw, and saved his soul, and that he wanted to testify how good God was to him. Before he got through there was sobbing all over the house, and a great revival broke out there.

I am telling these things to show that men are commissioned to bear witness, and while you cannot bear witness to facts that you do not know anything about, you can tell what you do know what God has done for you. David says, “Come, all ye that fear the Lord and I will tell you what great things he hath done for my soul, whereof I am glad.” In one of the prophecies concerning Jesus it is written: “I have not hid thy righteousnesses within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great assembly.”

(f) The fulness of Paul’s commission appears best in Act 26:16-18 , as follows: “Arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn: from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.” Whenever you want to preach Paul’s sermon, take Paul’s commission and analyze it. Paul was speaking before Agrippa. Notice that besides witnessing, Paul wanted to open their eyes (they were spiritually blind) ; that they might turn from darkness to light (then they were in the dark) ; from the power of Satan unto God, (they were under the power of Satan); that they might receive the remission of sins (so that they were unpardoned; and to an inheritance among them that are sanctified (then they were without heritage). Analyze that commission and you will see what he was to do; he puts it all before you plainly in that scripture. So he said to Agrippa, “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision,” i.e., he just went on and carried out that commission. That is the analysis of the commission of Paul.

The seventh and last commission is the special commission of John Rev 1:1-2 ; Rev 1:9-11 ; Rev 1:19 . This commission is unlike any other; but it is a commission. It is a commission, not to speak, but to write; and in it we have an account of the past tenses. “What did you see, John?” “Well, I saw one of the most wonderful things in this world.” And he tells about Jesus, and how he looked in his risen glory; about the candlesticks and the stars, and what they meant; and then, having thus told what he saw in the midst of the churches, and (see chap. 4) what he saw in heaven, he looks at the present things; the churches, as they are, and heaven as it is. Then follows the last part of his commission: “Write the things which are to come.”

QUESTIONS 1. On the Great Commission (Mat 28:16-20 ) answer: What evidence that this was at an appointed meeting? Where, and who were present?

2. What are the supposable reasons for assembling at this particular place?

3. How does this occasion rank in importance?

4. What is Dr. Landrum’s analysis of this commission?

5. What authority does Christ claim in giving this commission, why was this authority given him and what the pertinency of this statement of our Lord on this particular occasion?

6. Compare this commission to a suspension bridge.

7. What does the first part of the commission prescribe to be done, or what are the three parts of the first item?

8. What does this going involve? Illustrate.

9. After going, then what three things are commanded to be done and what is the order?

10. How make disciples, and what is the teaching and example of John the Baptist and Jesus on this point?

11. Who then must do the baptizing?

12. What are the essentials to a valid baptism?

13. What can you say of Mar 16:9-20 ?

14. To whom was the Commission, recorded in Luk 24:44-49 , given?

15. How does Christ introduce this commission?

16. What does he show in this commission to be a necessity in order to the salvation of men?

17. In this commission what does he say should be done?

18. What does he constitute the disciples in this commission?

19. What promise does he announce to them in this commission?

20. What special gift does he bestow upon the disciples here, what is the difference between inspiration & illumination, and what is the object of each?

21. What especially is noted relative to Old & New Testament Scriptures?

22. What very important question does this illumination settle and how?

23. What is the necessary & constant relation between repentance & forgiveness of sins, and what the application of this principle in the case of all sin?

24. What danger, on the other hand, does the author here warn against?

25. What weakness of modern preaching churches here pointed out?

26. Give the analysis of the Commission of our Lord at the ascension.

27. To whom was Paul especially commissioned to preach?

28. What are the six elements of this commission?

29. What was the condition of the people to whom he was sent as indicated in Act 26:16-18 ?

30. What was the special commission to John, and what is the analysis of it as given in Rev 1:1-2 ; Rev 1:9-11 ; Rev 1:19 ?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

Ver. 3. Speaking of the things ] Those that are leaving the world should leave wholesome counsel to those that survive them.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

3. . . ] See Luk 24:31 ; Luk 24:39 ; Luk 24:43 . The is in its signification of investiture , in which it introduces the element or condition in which, and thus the means by which, an agent operates.

] , , , Chrysostom. This is the only place where the interval between the Resurrection and the Ascension is specified.

. . . . . ] , in the widest sense; not merely: the matters . The article has been taken to imply (and so in some of my earlier editions), that during this period they received from our Lord the whole substance of the doctrine of ‘the Kingdom of God.’ But this remark seems to lose its propriety owing to the present participle . Both the participles, and , carry with them a ratiocinative force, in dependence on : “proofs, consisting in this, that He” &c. And thus the art. gives the sentence the meaning, “and inasmuch as the things which he said were those pertaining to the Kingdom of God;” thus serving only to define . [What things these were, we are not told. Certainly, not future events in their detail, as the next portion of the narrative shews us. I should rather believe them to have concerned the future founding and government of the Church: though even here the greatest Apostles were apparently left to the unfolding of the teaching of the Holy Spirit as years went on.]

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 1:3 . , “he also showed himself,” R.V., but margin “presented himself” ( cf. Act 9:41 ), praebuit se , Vulg. In Act 9:41 monstravit , h. 1. magis demonstravit (Blass). The verb is used thirteen times in Acts (once in a quotation, Act 4:26 ), both transitively and intransitively. St. Luke in his Gospel uses it three times, and as in Acts both transitively and intransitively. In this he is alone amongst the Evangelists. In the Epistles it is found only in St. Paul, and for the most part in a transitive sense. , “after his passion,” so in A. and R.V.; post passionem suam , Vulg.; “too sacred a word to be expunged from this the only place where it occurs in the Bible,” Humphry, Commentary on R.V.; cf. Act 3:18 , Act 17:3 , Act 26:23 . only here in N.T. twice in Wis 5:11 ; Wis 19:13 , and 3Ma 3:24 . The A.V. followed the Genevan Version by inserting the word “infallible” (although the latter still retained “tokens” instead of “proofs”). But R.V. simply “proofs” expresses the technical use of the word , convincing, certain evidence. Although in a familiar passage, Wis 5:11 , and are used as practically synonymous, yet there is no doubt that they were technically distinguished, e.g. , Arist., Rhet. , i., 2, . This technical distinction, it may be observed, was strictly maintained by medical men, although St. Luke may no doubt have met the word elsewhere. Thus it is used by Josephus several times, as Krenkel mentions, but he does not mention that it is also used by Thucydides, ii., 39, to say nothing of other classical writers. Galen writes to , and the context states that rhetoricians as well as physicians had examined the distinction; Hobart, Medical Language of St. Luke , p. 184. The word also occurs in the Proem of Dioscorides to his De Materia Medica , p. 3, which Vogel and Meyer Weiss hold that Luke imitated in the Prologue to his Gospel (but see Zahn, Einleitung , ii., 384). . St. Chrysostom comments , . To this interpretation of the genitive with Blass refers, and endorses it, Grammatik des Neutestamentlichen Griechisch , p. 129, following the Scholiast. The meaning, if this interpretation is adopted, would therefore be that our Lord did not remain with His disciples continuously ( , Schol.) as before, but that He appeared to them from time to time; non perpetuo, sed per intervalla , Bengel. But cf. also Simcox, Language of the N.T. , p. 140. Men have seen in this period of forty days, mentioned only by St. Luke in N.T., what we may reverently call a symbolical fitness. But in a certain sense the remark of Blass seems justified: Parum ad rem est quod idem ( numerus ) alias quoque occurrit . The parallels in the histories of Moses and Elijah to which Holtzmann and Spitta refer are really no parallels at all, and if it be true to say that there was nothing in contemporary Jewish ideas to suggest our Lord’s Resurrection as it is represented as taking place , it is equally true to maintain that there was nothing to suggest the after sojourn of the forty days on earth as it is represented as taking place; see Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah , ii. 624. : if we could call this a frequentative verb with some scholars, it would in itself give the meaning “appearing from time to time,” but it is rather a late Hellenistic present, formed from some parts of ; Blass, Grammatik des N. G. , pp. 57, 181. But it certainly does not mean that our Lord’s appearances were merely visionary. The verb is found only here in N.T., but also in LXX 1Ki 8:8 and in Tob 12:19 (not in .). In these two passages the word cannot fairly be pressed into the service of visionary appearances. In 1 Kings the reference is to the staves of the ark which were so long that the ends were seen from the holy place before the oracle, but they were not seen from without, i.e. , from the porch or vestibule. In Tobit it is not the appearance of the angel which is represented as visionary, quite the contrary; but his eating and drinking are represented as being only in appearance. But even if the word could be pressed into the meaning suggested, St. Luke’s view of our Lord’s appearances must be judged not by one expression but by his whole conception, cf. Luk 24:39-43 and Act 10:41 . That he could distinguish between visions and realities we cannot doubt; see note below on Act 12:12 . .: “speaking the things concerning,” R.V., not “speaking of the things,” A.V., but speaking the very things, whether truths to be believed, or commands to be obeyed (Humphry, Commentary on R.V. ). On St. Luke’s fondness for in his writings see Friedrich, Das Lucasevangelium , pp. 10 and 89 (so also Zeller and Lekebusch). The exact phrase is only found in Acts , where it occurs twice (in T.R. three times); cf. Act 19:8 (Act 8:12 ), and see also Act 20:25 ; Act 20:28 (23):31. The expression . ., instead of of the Hebrew Evangelist St. Matthew, is characteristic of St. Luke’s writings, although it is found frequently in St. Mark and once in St. John. In St. Luke’s Gospel it occurs more than thirty times, and six times in Acts (only four times in St. Matt.). Possibly the phrase was used by St Luke as one more easily understood by Gentile readers, but the two terms . . and . were practically synonymous in the Gospels and in Judaism in the time of our Lord (Schrer, Jewish People , div. ii., vol. ii., p. 171; E. T. and Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (second edit.), p. 67; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah , i. 267; and Dalman, Die Worte Jesu , p. 76 ff.). Dr. Stanton, Jewish and Christian Messiah , p. 226, draws attention to the important fact that the preaching of the original Apostles after the Ascension is not described as that of the preaching of the kingdom of God, but that the phrase is only used of the preaching of St. Paul, and of St. Philip the associate of St. Stephen. But in view of the fact that the original Apostles heard during the Forty Days from their Master’s lips to . , we cannot doubt that in deed and in word they would proclaim that kingdom. On the question as to whether they conceived of the kingdom as present, or future, or both, see Wendt, Teaching of Jesus , i., 409, E. T., and Witness of the Epistles (Longmans), p. 309 ff., and on the conception of the kingdom of God in the Theology of A. Ritschl and his school see Orr, Ritschlian Theology , p. 258 ff. For the relation of the Church and the Kingdom see also Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood , pp. 28, 36 ff., “Church,” Hastings, B.D., p. 425; Hort, Ecclesia , p. 5 ff.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Acts

THE ASCENSION

THE FORTY DAYS

Act 1:3 .

The forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension have distinctly marked characteristics. They are unlike to the period before them in many respects, but completely similar in others; they have a preparatory character throughout; they all bear on the future work of the disciples, and hearten them for the time when they should be left alone.

The words of the text give us their leading features. They bring out-

I. Their evidential value, as confirming the fact of the Resurrection.

‘He showed Himself alive after His passion by . . . proofs.’

By sight, repeated, to individuals, to companies, to Mary in her solitary sadness, to Peter the penitent, to the two on the road to Emmaus. At all hours: in the evening when the doors were shut; in the morning; in grey twilight; in daytime on the road. At many places-in houses, out of doors.

The signs of true corporeity-the sight, the eating.

The signs of bodily identity,-’Reach hither thy hand.’ ‘He showed them His hands and His side.’

Was this the glorified body?

The affirmative answer is usually rested on the facts that He was not known by Mary or the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and that He came into the upper room when the doors were shut. But the force of these facts is broken by remembering that Mary saw nothing about Him unlike other men, but supposed Him to be the gardener-which puts the idea of a glorified body out of the question, and leaves us to suppose that she was full of weeping indifference to any one.

Then as to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke carefully tells us that the reason why they did not know Him was in them and not in Him-that it was ‘because their eyes were holden,’ not because His body was changed.

And as to His coming when the doors were shut, why should not that be like the other miracles, when ‘He conveyed Himself away, a multitude being in the place,’ and when He walked on the waters?

There cannot then be anything decidedly built on these facts, and the considerations on the other side are very strong. Surely the whole drift of the narrative goes in the direction of representing Christ’s ‘glory’ as beginning with His Ascension, and consequently the ‘body of His glory’ as being then assumed. Further, the argument of 1Co 15:1 – 1Co 15:58 goes on the assumption that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,’ that is, that the material corporeity is incongruous with, and incapable of entrance into, the conditions of that future life, and, by parity of reasoning, that the spiritual body, which is to be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory, is incongruous with, and incapable of entrance into, the conditions of this earthly life. As is the environment, so must be the ‘body’ that is at home in it.

Further, the facts of our Lord’s eating and drinking after His Resurrection are not easily reconcilable with the contention that He was then invested with the glorified body.

We must, then, think of transfiguration, rather than of resurrection only, as the way by which He passed into the heavens. He ‘slept’ but woke, and, as He ascended, was ‘changed.’

II. The renewal of the old bond by the tokens of His unchanged disposition.

Recall the many beautiful links with the past: the message to Peter; that to Mary; ‘Tell My brethren,’ ‘He was known in breaking of bread,’ ‘Peace be with you!’ repetition from Joh 17:1 – Joh 17:26, the miraculous draught of fishes, and the meal and conversation afterwards, recalling the miracle at the beginning of the closer association of the four Apostles of the first rank with their Lord. The forty days revealed the old heart, the old tenderness. He remembers all the past. He sends a message to the penitent; He renews to the faithful the former gift of ‘peace.’

How precious all this is as a revelation of the impotence of death in regard to Him and us! It assures us of the perpetuity of His love. He showed Himself after His passion as the same old Self, the same old tender Lover. His appearances then prepare us for the last vision of Him in the Apocalypse, in which we see His perpetual humanity, His perpetual tenderness, and hear Him saying: ‘I am . . . the Living One, and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore.’

These forty days assure us of the narrow limits of the power of death. Love lives through death, memory lives through it. Christ has lived through it and comes up from the grave, serene and tender, with unruffled peace, with all the old tones of tenderness in the voice that said ‘Mary!’ So may we be sure that through death and after it we shall live and be ourselves. We, too, shall show ourselves alive after we have experienced the superficial change of death.

III. The change in Christ’s relations to the disciples and to the world. ‘Appearing unto them by the space of forty days.’

The words mark a contrast to Christ’s former constant intercourse with the disciples. This is occasional; He appears at intervals during the forty days. He comes amongst them and disappears. He is seen again in the morning light by the lake-side and goes away. He tells them to come and meet Him in Galilee. That intermittent presence prepared the disciples for His departure. It was painful and educative. It carried out His own word, ‘And now I am no more in the world.’

We observe in the disciples traces of a deeper awe. They say little. ‘Master!’ ‘My Lord and my God!’ ‘None durst ask Him, Who art Thou?’ Even Peter ventures only on ‘Lord, Thou knowest all things,’ and on one flash of the old familiarity: ‘What shall this man do?’ John, who recalls very touchingly, in that appendix to his Gospel, the blessed time when he leaned on Jesus’ breast at supper, now only humbly follows, while the others sit still and awed, by that strange fire on the banks of the lonely lake.

A clearer vision of the Lord on their parts, a deeper sense of who He is, make them assume more of the attitude of worshippers, though not less that of friends. And He can no more dwell with them, and go in and out among them.

As for the world-’It seeth Me no more, but ye see Me.’ He was ‘seen of them ,’ not of others. There is no more appeal to the people, no more teaching, no more standing in the Temple. Why is this? Is it not the commentary on His own word on the Cross, ‘It is finished!’ marking most distinctly that His work on earth was ended when He died, and so confirming that conception of His earthly mission which sees its culmination and centre of power in the Cross?

IV. Instruction and prophecy for the future.

The preparation of the disciples for their future work and condition was a chief purpose of the forty days. Jesus spoke ‘of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.’ He also ‘gave commandments to the Apostles.’

Note how much there is, in His conversations with them-

1. Of opening to them the Scriptures. ‘Christ must needs suffer,’ etc.

2. Of lessons for their future, thus fitting them for their task.

3. Mark how this transitional period taught them that His going away was not to be sorrow and loss, but joy and gain, ‘Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended.’

Our present relation to the ascended Lord is as much an advance on that of the disciples to the risen Lord, as that was on their relation to Him during His earthly life. They had more real communion with Him when, with opened hearts, they heard Him interpret the Scriptures concerning Himself, and fell at His feet crying ‘My Lord and my God!’ though they saw Him but for short seasons and at intervals, than when day by day they were with Him and knew Him not. As they grew in love and ripened in knowledge, they knew Him better and better.

For us, too, these forty days are full of blessed lessons, teaching us that real communion with Jesus is attained by faith in Him, and that He is still working in and for us, and is still present with us. The joy with which the disciples saw Him ascend should live on in us as we think of Him enthroned. The hope that the angels’ message lit up in their hearts should burn in ours. The benediction which the Risen Lord uttered on those who have not seen and yet have believed falls in double measure on those who, though now they see Him not, yet believing rejoice in Jesus with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

also. Read after “Himself”.

shewed = presented.

after His passion = after (Greek. meta. App-104.) that He suffered.

infallible proofs = indubitable evidence. Greek. tek-merion. Only here. Compare 1Jn 1:1, 1Jn 1:2.

seen. Greek. optanomai. App-133. Only here.

forty days = during (Greek. dia. App-104. Act 1:1) forty days. The only reference to the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension.

pertaining to = concerning. Greek. peri, as in Act 1:1.

the kingdom of God. App-112and App-114.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

3. . .] See Luk 24:31; Luk 24:39; Luk 24:43. The is in its signification of investiture, in which it introduces the element or condition in which, and thus the means by which, an agent operates.

] , , , Chrysostom. This is the only place where the interval between the Resurrection and the Ascension is specified.

. . . . .] , in the widest sense; not merely:-the matters. The article has been taken to imply (and so in some of my earlier editions), that during this period they received from our Lord the whole substance of the doctrine of the Kingdom of God. But this remark seems to lose its propriety owing to the present participle . Both the participles, and , carry with them a ratiocinative force, in dependence on : proofs, consisting in this, that He &c. And thus the art. gives the sentence the meaning, and inasmuch as the things which he said were those pertaining to the Kingdom of God; thus serving only to define . [What things these were, we are not told. Certainly, not future events in their detail,-as the next portion of the narrative shews us. I should rather believe them to have concerned the future founding and government of the Church: though even here the greatest Apostles were apparently left to the unfolding of the teaching of the Holy Spirit as years went on.]

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 1:3. , He Presented or showed Himself) Noble language. A sweet return backwards [a retrogression]: He was taken up, He presented Himself alive, His Passion.-, His Passion) reaching to His death.-, proofs) by sight, hearing, touch, etc.; by means of which they might know clearly and for certain both that it was He Himself, and that He was alive.- ) for forty days, not continuously, but at intervals. On the other hand, only ten, not forty, days elapsed from the Ascension to Pentecost: the period of His death was three days.-, appearing to [being seen of] them) in appearances of considerable length: Joh 21:12.- , concerning the kingdom) This was the sum of the words of Christ, even before His Passion.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

he showed: Act 13:31, Mat 28:9, Mat 28:16, Mar 16:10-14, Luk 24:1-53, Joh 20:1 – Joh 21:25; 1Co 15:5-7, 1Jo 1:1

forty: Deu 9:9, Deu 9:18, 1Ki 19:8, Mat 4:2

speaking: Act 28:31, Dan 2:44, Dan 2:45, Mat 3:2, Mat 21:43, Luk 17:20, Luk 17:21, Luk 24:44-49, Rom 14:17, Col 1:13, 1Th 2:12

Reciprocal: Mar 16:19 – after Luk 1:2 – which Luk 24:39 – my hands Joh 14:30 – I Joh 16:12 – yet Joh 16:16 – a little while Act 8:12 – concerning Act 10:41 – Not Act 19:8 – disputing 1Co 15:4 – he rose

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

3

Whom means the apostles referred to in the preceding verse, who were to be the witnesses for Jesus in the nations of the world. In order for them to be qualified as witnesses to the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead, it was necessary for him to show himself to them. Passion is from PASCHO, and Thayer’s general definition is, “to feel, have a sensible experience, to undergo; to suffer sadly, be in bad plight.” As Luke uses it, it refers to the sufferings and death of Jesus on the cross. Showed himself alive indicates how long after his death it was that he showed himself, namely, after his resurrection, since he was alive. Infallible proofs comes from one Greek word TEKMERION, and Thayer’s definition is, “That from which something is surely and plainly known; an indubitable [unquestionable] evidence, a proof.” A proof that was merely reasonably sure was not enough, but it must be so evident that it would be impossible to misunderstand it, and there were to be many of them. That would enable the apostles to say, “we know that Jesus lived after his death on the cross, for we saw him, heard him speak, and had this experience so often that it could not have been any delusion or imagination. And this kind of experience extended over a period of forty days, which would make it impossible to have been mistaken about it. Another thing that confirmed their recognition of the identity of Jesus, was the fact that he talked with them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, a subject that no stranger would have known anything about, especially if he had been an impostor.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Excursus on Act 1:3.

THE FORTY DAYS.

This is the only place where the interval between the resurrection and ascension is specified. It has been suggested (see Ewald, Apostelgeschicht. Ier Theil. 2te Halfte, pp. 56-61) that the ascension took place on the resurrection day, the first Sunday after the crucifixion, and that this hypothesis reconciles any apparent discrepancies in the several accounts of the ascension given by St. Mark, St. Luke, and in the Acts.

Upon this supposition Act 1:4 must be read in close connection with Act 1:2, and Act 1:3 placed in a parenthesis, as telling of another and post-ascension period which lasted forty days, during which period our Lord appears at intervals to different disciples,now in Jerusalem, now in Galilee, on the mountain side and by the shore of the lake of Gennesaret. These appearances are mentioned by St. John, Joh 20:26-29; Joh 21:1; Joh 21:22; St. Paul, 1Co 15:6-7. This ingenious hypothesis, although it in no wise weakens the evidence given by the resurrection-life of our Lord, is not necessary to explain St. Luke, Luk 24:49-50. Forty days may well have elapsed between the meeting of Jesus and His disciples (the closing words of which are contained in Luk 24:49) and the ascension related in Luk 24:50-51. The common opinion among the wide-spread Gnostic heretics was, that the resurrection-life of the Lord lasted eighteen months. See Irenus, Adv. Her. lib. iii. 2, System of the Valentinians; and again, Irenus, xxx. 14, System of the Ophites.

Act 1:3. After his passionlit. after He had suffered, viz. the death of the cross. See Heb 13:11, and 1Pe 3:18. The term occurs thus absolutely in Act 3:18 and Act 17:3 (comp. also Act 26:23), and is a striking usage. It arose probably out of the impression which the painful nature of Christs sufferings had made on the first disciples.

By many infallible proofs. The Greek word, translated by infallible proofs, occurs here only in the New Testament. It is used frequently by Plato and Aristotle, and denotes the strongest proofs of which a subject is capable; an irresistible proof. Bela renders it well, certissimis signis. The irresistible, incontrovertible proofs which Jesus gave to His disciples of His resurrection, such as talking with them, eating with them, walking with them, inviting them to look at and to touch His hands, His feet, His side, with the still visible print of the nails and the scar of the spear, are described in Luk 24:36-48; Mar 16:14; Joh 20:19; Joh 20:29; Joh 20:21. Comp. also John, First Epistle, 1Jn 1:1-2.

Being seen of them forty days. A better translation would be: Through (or during) forty days appearing (or manifesting Himself) to them; for St. Luke does not intend to convey the notion that our Lord continued visibly present with any of His disciples during the whole forty days, but that during that period from time to time He appeared to them, and then disappeared,proving to them His humanity by eating and drinking with them, yet weaning them, by vanishing suddenly, from dwelling on His corporal presence, and instructing them in His Divine power and perpetual though unseen presence by unexpected appearances among them and disappearances from them (Wordsworth). There is also a note by this writer on Joh 20:19, where the mysterious question of the resurrection-body of the Lord is reverently discussed. On the period of forty days, see a short excursus at the end of this chapter.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe, 1. The time which our Lord spent here upon earth, between his resurrection and ascension; it was forty days; Christ would not presently ascend into heaven, as soon as he was risen, but thought fit to stay some time with his disciples, to confirm their faith in the belief of his resurrection, and to satisfy them that it was he himself, their Lord and Master, that died for them, that was indeed risen and now appeared to them; He was seen of them forty days.

Observe, 2. What our Saviour did in that forty days stay upon earth: He shewed himself alive unto his disciples, appearing sometimes to them, and giving them many infallible proofs of the verity of his resurrection, by eating, drinking, talking, and conversing with them, by shewing his wounds to them, and submitting himself to be touched and handled by them. Not that Christ’s conversation with his disciples, in this his exalted state after his resurrection, was so frequent and familiar, as it was before his death, when he was in a state of humiliation: and accordingly we never read, I think, that Christ ever lodged or continued all night with his disciples, after he was risen from the grave. But he conversed with them only upon occasion, as he pleased himself, and when he pleased.

Observe, 3. What our Saviour said, as well as what he did, in this intervening time betwixt his resurrection and ascension, being forty days; He spake to his disciples of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God;

That is, 1. Of the things pertaining to his church militant, or the kingdom of grace here on earth, how he would have his church planted and propagated by the apostles doctrine, guided and governed by their discipline;

Or, 2. By the kingdom of God, may be understood the church triumphant, or the kingdom of glory in heaven; what perfect bliss and happiness he was now going ot prepare for them in the presence of his Father.

Where note, That Christ’s kingdom is purely spiritual; that Christ’s spiritual kingdom is his church: and the preaching of the gospel is the great instrumental mean for the erecting of the kingdom of grace, and enlarging of the kingdom of glory.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

3. As our author is about to present the apostles testifying to the resurrection of Jesus, he sees proper, in his introduction, to state briefly the ground of the qualifications for this testimony. He does this in the remainder of the paragraph of which we have already quoted a part: (3) To whom, also, he presented himself alive, after his suffering, by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. From the concluding chapters of the former narrative, we learn more particularly the nature and number of these infallible proofs. These, having been fully stated by himself and others, are not here repeated. We learn here, however, a fact not there related: that the space from the resurrection to the ascension was forty days.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

3. I am so sorry that nothing has been elaborately revealed appertaining to the precious ministry of our Lord with His apostles during the forty days of His glorified sojourn upon the earth between His resurrection and ascension. It is merely here stated that He spent the time speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God. Doubtless this explains the thrilling enthusiasm of apostolic preaching relative to the coming kingdom, and their incessant buoyant expectancy of their Lords return on the throne of His Millennial glory during their personal ministry. The kingdom of God is the Divine government. It was predominant in Eden, suffering total eclipse in the Fall. It was partially restored among the antediluvians, received a great impetus in the flood, flashed along the patriarchal ages, thundered out from Sinai, was predicted by the old prophets, preached by John the Baptist, our Savior and His apostles, and, during the Gospel dispensation, is to be heralded to all the nations on the face of the whole earth, calling out the elect and preparing them for the Lords glorious coming, when He will be crowned King of all nations and reign from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 3

Passion; suffering, referring here to the Savior’s crucifixion.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

1:3 {2} To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many {b} infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

(2) Christ did not immediately ascend into heaven after his resurrection in order to thoroughly prove his resurrection, and with his presence strengthen and encourage his Apostles in the doctrine which they had heard.

(b) He called those things infallible proofs which are otherwise termed necessary: now in that Christ spoke, and walked, and ate, and was felt by many, these are sure signs and proofs that he truly rose again.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The Greek word tekmeriois, translated "proofs," occurs only here in the New Testament. It refers to proof by incontrovertible evidence as contrasted with the proof claimed by a witness. Luke asserted that Jesus Christ’s resurrection was beyond dispute.

"The fact of the resurrection was to be the solid foundation of the apostles’ faith and the chief ingredient of their early message." [Note: Blaiklock, p 49.]

As 40 days of temptation in the wilderness preceded Jesus’ earthly ministry (Luk 4:2), so He introduced His present ministry with a 40-day period of preparation. Jesus’ baptism with the Spirit occurred before his 40-day test, whereas the reverse order of events appears here in Acts. God had instructed Moses for 40 days on Mt. Sinai in preparation for Israel’s mission in the world. Now Jesus instructed the Apostles for 40 days in preparation for the church’s mission in the world.

"What Luke is describing is a new beginning, yet a beginning which recalls the beginning already made in the Gospel and with which the story of Acts is continuous. The forty days, therefore, is a vital vehicle for conveying Luke’s theology of continuity . . ." [Note: John F. Maile, "The Ascension in Luke-Acts," Tyndale Bulletin 37 (1986):54.]

The term "kingdom" occurs only eight times in Acts but 39 times in Luke , 18 times in the New Testament epistles. The "kingdom of God" of which Jesus taught His disciples between His resurrection and ascension undoubtedly refers to God’s earthly kingdom program for the future. Dispensationalists believe that Jesus Christ will rule on the earth as Messiah in the future. Progressive dispensationalists, along with covenant premillennialists, amillennialists, and postmillennialists, believe that the messianic kingdom began during Jesus’ first advent ministry and that the church is the present form of the messianic kingdom on earth. Normative dispensationalists (i.e., those other than "progressives") believe that the Jews’ rejection of Jesus resulted in a temporary withdrawal or postponement of the kingdom and that the church is a distinct entity, not another name for the messianic kingdom. They believe that the messianic kingdom is an earthly kingdom and that it will begin when Jesus Christ returns to reign personally on the earth. I believe there is better scriptural support for the normative view.

Sometimes the phrase "kingdom of God" refers to God’s heavenly rule over humans throughout history. Both are biblical uses of the term "kingdom of God." [Note: For a synopsis of the New Testament revelation concerning the kingdom of God, see Robert L. Saucy, "The Presence of the Kingdom and the Life of the Church," Bibliotheca Sacra 145:577 (January-March 1987):30-46.] An earthly kingdom seems clearly in view here since the disciples had expected Jesus to inaugurate the messianic kingdom predicted in the Old Testament on earth then (Act 1:6). However God postponed that kingdom because Israel rejected her King (Act 1:7). [Note: J. Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come, pp. 214, 225-28. See also Cleon L. Rogers Jr., "The Davidic Covenant in the Gospels," Bibliotheca Sacra 150:600 (October-December 1993):458-78.] Evidently during those 40 days before His ascension Jesus gave His disciples further instruction concerning the future and the postponed kingdom. There may be some significance in the fact that God renewed the broken Mosaic Covenant with Moses on Mt. Sinai in 40 days (Exo 34:5-29). [Note: J. Manek, "The New Exodus in the Books of Luke," Novum Testamentum 2 (1957):8-23.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)