Acts 1:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

It is great praise for the apostles that such a work was entrusted to them, namely the salvation of the world. Words filled with the Spirit were entrusted to them. Luke indicates this when he says, "through the Holy Spirit," meaning Christ's words: "The words that I speak to you are spirit" (Jn 6:63).

He says this in order to stir in the hearer a desire to know the commandments, and to make the apostles worthy of trust. For they will proclaim the words of the Spirit and the commandments of Christ.

"Having given commandments," he says, "He was taken up" (ανελήφθη). Luke did not say, "He ascended" (ανέβη), because he is still speaking of Him as man.

Thus Christ taught the disciples even after the Resurrection. Yet no one has set forth for us in detail everything that happened at that time. John and the writer of the present book narrate more about this than the others. Still, no one has related everything clearly, because all were concerned with something else.

We have learned this from the apostles, since what they heard, they also reported.

It says, "Having given commandments, He was taken up." It did not say, "He ascended," but still speaks of Him as man. From this we see that Jesus also taught the disciples after His Resurrection. But no one has transmitted the exact account of that time.

John spent more time with Him than the others, yet no one has clearly proclaimed all these things. The disciples were directing their attention to something else.

In Greek, the word is ανεληφθη, "was taken up," as though He did not ascend by Himself, but was taken up.

This wondrous event resolved their perplexity and removed faintheartedness and despondency from their hearts. The Apostles themselves said that if Christ had not risen, our faith would be in vain. Their preaching would be empty, useless, and fruitless. All their sufferings for the name of Christ would be still more pitiable and fruitless (1 Cor 15:14, 19).

But Christ, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, is risen. By His death He trampled down our death. He granted and grants eternal life to the believing who are in the tombs, and to those still living here.

The book of the Acts of the Apostles also depicts very clearly and powerfully for us the force possessed by the apostolic word concerning the innocent suffering and Resurrection of Christ.

It shows how Christian communities were formed both in populous cities and in small villages. It shows how the first Christians lived among themselves, what brotherhood they had, how many offerings they brought for the common need, and how much unanimity they had in prayer and in deciding communal questions.

It also shows what sufferings, beatings, bonds, and persecutions the Apostles themselves endured from the enemies of Christianity. Yet they endured everything, absolutely everything, not only patiently but also with joy, because they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41).

They were forbidden to speak about the risen Jesus. Yet the Apostles could not refrain from speaking about the One whom they had seen and heard as already risen.

In general, the whole book of the Acts of the Apostles is filled with extraordinarily edifying lessons for Christians of all times and peoples. This, among other reasons, is why the Church offers Orthodox believers readings from it during Pentecost, which is so joyful to the believing heart.

The book of the Acts of the Apostles was written by the Evangelist Luke for the pious man Theophilus, after Luke, the companion of the Apostle Paul, had already written his first book, that is, the holy Gospel.

Saint Luke begins the Acts of the Apostles with what he ended his Gospel, that is, with the account of the Lord's Resurrection and Ascension (Lk 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-14).

Specifically, today we heard the following words of the holy Apostle Luke to Theophilus.

Verses 1-3: "The first book," that is, the Gospel, "I wrote to you, Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began to do and teach from the beginning until the day on which He was taken up, after giving commandments through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He had chosen" (v. 2).

To them He also showed Himself alive, risen after His Passion, by many sure proofs. These included His eating food, fish, and honeycomb, Thomas touching Him with his hands, and the journey with the disciples to Emmaus and the breaking of bread.

Ten appearances of Christ to the disciples after the Resurrection are recorded in the holy Gospel. Yet Christ appeared to them over the course of forty days and spoke with them about the Kingdom of God.

That is, He spoke about the founding, life, and destinies of His Church on earth. He spoke of the struggle awaiting it, and of the final victory of Christian truth over manifold falsehood and the vices of the human heart.

He encouraged them, comforted them, and taught them how to live in the world. He knew that the Apostles would be among corrupt people, both learned and unlearned, like sheep in the midst of wolves.

He also showed them that after sorrows there is joy, and after temporal torments the blessedness of paradise. Even amid torments, the grace of God would appear to confessors as comforter and helper.

So indeed it happened. Amid severe beatings and tortures, the martyr rejoices and glorifies God for the sufferings. He does not speak a single reproachful word to his tormentors. His face shines with heavenly radiance.

His joy, calm, and freedom from malice struck the witnesses and participants in the torture, the pagans, and drew to Christ hearts that until then had been hardened against Christians.

That Theophilus, to whom he sent these two books, was not a simple man, but a governor and prince, is evident from the adjective attached to his name in the Gospel: "most excellent Theophilus" (Lk 1:3). Felix, the governor of Caesarea, and Festus, his successor, are also called most excellent.

Where Theophilus was governor, whence he came, and the other matters concerning him, are unknown.

But when you hear Luke saying, "I made a word concerning all," that is, concerning all the deeds of Jesus Christ, do not think that this contradicts the following words of the Evangelist John: "If they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written" (Jn 21:25).

Luke truly spoke concerning all, but only generally, summarily, and briefly. John says that if Christ's deeds, miracles, and teaching were written one by one, that is, each separately, circumstantially, and in detail, then the whole world could not contain the books written.

Yet John, by the word "I suppose," lessened the force of his statement.

What then does this mean: "until the day on which, after giving commandments to the Apostles through the Holy Spirit"? This means that Luke described in his Gospel not only what Jesus Christ did and commanded the Apostles before His Resurrection. He also described what was commanded by Him after His Resurrection from the dead, until the day on which He ascended from earth to heaven.

First, he related in the Gospel that after His Resurrection Jesus Christ set before the Apostles, through the interpretation of the divine Scriptures, everything Moses and the other Prophets had foretold concerning Him: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Lk 24:27).

Second, by the greeting pronounced to them, He gave them the commandment of peace: "And Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, 'Peace be to you'" (Lk 24:36).

Third, He commanded them, as eyewitnesses of all His deeds, to preach His name, repentance, and the forgiveness of sins through Him to every nation, beginning from Jerusalem: "Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things" (Lk 24:47-48).

Fourth, He commanded them to remain in Jerusalem until they received the power that was to come upon them from heaven: "Remain in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high" (Lk 24:49).

This is the last commandment that Jesus Christ gave His disciples on the day of His Ascension into heaven. For after saying this, He led them out from Jerusalem as far as Bethany. Having blessed them, "He parted from them and was carried up into heaven" (Lk 24:51).

Everything that the Lord commanded His Apostles, both before His Resurrection and after it, was spiritual and divine. He did and taught everything while being inseparable from the Holy Spirit, since He is one in nature with Him according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with Him.

Therefore Luke says, "through the Holy Spirit."

Thus the whole meaning of these words, set forth most clearly, is this: Theophilus, in my first word, that is, in the Gospel which I wrote and sent to you, I spoke of all the deeds, miracles, and teachings of the Lord Jesus.

I began from the very time when He began to do these things with the Holy Spirit present with Him. I continued until the day on which, after giving His final commandments to the Apostles, as His chosen ones from the whole world, He ascended into heaven (Jn 15:10; Lk 24:51).

What the most blessed Apostle has now stated generally, he next explains in detail, saying thus: v. 3, "To them He also presented Himself alive after His Passion by many infallible proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." v. 4, "And while eating with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard from Me."

In addition, the Lord's final testament concerned the work of the apostles in general, as witnesses of Jesus Christ and preachers of His Gospel (cf. vv. 8-9). Thus the activity of the apostles, depicted in the book of Acts, appears before us as their fulfillment of this final will of the Lord.

According to the sacred historian's remark, the Lord gave these commandments to the apostles through the Holy Spirit. The continuation of Christ's work on earth after His Ascension into heaven is preeminently the work of God the Holy Spirit. Therefore these commandments of the Lord were at the same time commandments of the Holy Spirit, who would soon descend upon the apostles and act in them and through them (Jn 14:16-17, 26; Jn 16:13-15).

The men to whom the Lord declared His final will were the apostles chosen by Him Himself. Before them He, Who had suffered and died, fully and convincingly proved Himself alive, appearing to them for forty days after His Resurrection and speaking of the Kingdom of God.

The apostles had a great calling. They were to be pillars of the Church of Christ, heralds to the world of the word and work of Christ. Therefore the Lord, the Knower of hearts, chose from the number of His many followers the worthiest. They had been with Him from the very beginning of His public ministry and knew every step of His life and every word of His (Jn 15:27; cf. Acts 1:21-22).

Nevertheless, they too were men of their people and their time. When their Lord and Teacher was unexpectedly nailed to the shameful Cross and died, such darkness covered their faith that the state of their soul was worthy to be compared with that of a woman in the pains of childbirth (Jn 16:20-21).

Only the most convincing facts could remove this darkness from their spiritual eyes. These facts had to testify to them in the most decisive way of the risen, eternally living Christ. Only when they were convinced by fact could instructions and teachings become fruitful for them.

And so the risen Christ appears to them for forty days, bearing witness to the truth of His Resurrection by many sure proofs. Now they become able to receive and assimilate the Lord's instructions: that Christ had thus to suffer and enter into His glory, as Moses and the other Old Testament prophets had foretold, and as the Lord Himself had repeatedly foretold during His life.

Therefore the Savior, appearing to them after His Resurrection, conversed with them about the Kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit filled the human nature of the Lord Jesus, as the Prophet had foretold: "You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions" (Ps 44:8). Or, as the Lord Himself said of Himself through the Prophet: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor" (Is 61:1; Lk 4:18).

The Spirit of the Lord acted in the Son of God's taking of our humanity (Lk 1:31). The Spirit of God descended upon Jesus Christ at His Baptism in the Jordan in the form of a dove. "Filled with the Holy Spirit," He returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness (Lk 4:1).

All the deeds and miracles that He performed, He performed by the Holy Spirit (Mt 12:28). Concerning His divine teaching the Lord says, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (Jn 6:63).

Jesus Christ repeatedly promised His chosen disciples and Apostles that He would send them the Holy Spirit from the Father. He said, "The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (Jn 14:26).

"When the Comforter comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me" (Jn 15:26). "When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you" (Jn 16:13-14).

Now, beginning to describe the Lord's promise of the sending down of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, St. Luke also shows this. The promised Holy Spirit is the very same Spirit Who filled the humanity of the Lord Jesus and acted in Him.

By this Holy Spirit the Lord gave commandments to the Apostles whom He had chosen. This same Spirit the Lord, before His Ascension into heaven, promised soon, after a few days, to send down upon the Apostles.

According to the Lord's promise, this Spirit was to teach them everything they needed to know, and to remind them of everything Jesus had said to them. At this same time, immediately before His Ascension into heaven, the Lord gave the Apostles commandments concerning their waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit.

"After giving commandments through the Holy Spirit to the apostles" means, properly, after commanding the apostles through the Holy Spirit. The sacred historian indicates the importance of this day of Ascension not only by the fact that the Lord ascended. He also indicates it by the fact that He ascended after leaving the apostles a testament, a commandment.

This is the expression of His final will as He leaves them visibly and departs from them bodily into another world. The whole activity of the apostles is nothing other than the fulfillment of this testament, this final will of the Teacher who leaves them.

Without doubt, this testament concerns their future activity in spreading and confirming Christianity throughout the whole world (Acts 1:8; cf. Mt 28:19; Chrysostom, Theophylact). This testament was given to them by the Lord through the Holy Spirit.

The Lord, even according to His humanity, received all the gifts of the Holy Spirit without measure (Lk 4:1; Lk 4:18; Jn 3:34). In the power of this Spirit He left His testament, or expression of His final will, to the apostles. They themselves would soon receive this Spirit in abundance of His gifts (Acts 1:4, 8; Acts 2:1 and following). The Lord promised to send Him from the Father as the One who would act in them in union with Him (Jn 16:13-14).

However, "this is said not because the Son had need of the Spirit, but because where the Son acts, the Spirit also works together and is present with Him, as consubstantial" (Theophylact).

"Whom He had chosen," that is, whom He had chosen to be His closest disciples, the apostles. On the election and appointment of the apostles, see Mt 10:1 and following, and the parallels.

The election is mentioned here not without intention and not without connection of thought. In order to receive commandments or a testament from the Lord through the Holy Spirit, the necessary condition is first to have been chosen by the Lord among His disciples for a special work of service to Him. Therefore it is said here that He now commanded precisely them alone, those whom He had previously chosen for special purposes.

Here the indication is especially noteworthy that the command to the apostles to remain in Jerusalem, for the clothing with power from on high, was given through the Holy Spirit. Blessed Theophylact says concerning this: "Just as the Lord Himself, in humility and in condescension to His hearers, said, 'I cast out demons by the Spirit of God' (Mt 12:28). So here 'having given commandments through the Spirit' is said not because the Son had need of the Spirit, but because where the Son acts, there the Spirit also works together and is present with Him, as consubstantial."

It had especially to be given through the Holy Spirit because it concerned the expectation of the Holy Spirit. The election of the apostles by Jesus Christ is spoken of in Luke's Gospel (see Lk 6:12-16; cf. Mt 10:1-4). At the Lord's Ascension they were all present except Judas, that is, in the number of eleven (see Mt 28:16; Lk 24:33).

Undoubtedly the Apostle does not speak of the calling of the apostles without purpose. By this he defines the concept of the apostles of Christ precisely as those chosen and called by Christ.