Acts 1:1

I. THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM (Acts 1:1-8:4)

In this chapter are found Luke's prologue to Acts (Acts 1:1-5), the ascension (Acts 1:6-11), the apostles and others waiting in Jerusalem (Acts 1:12-14), and a record of choosing a successor to Judas (Acts 1:15-26).

THE PROLOGUE (Acts 1:1-5)

The significance of the prologue with its introductory address to Theophilus lies in the fact that everything Luke said in the prologue to his gospel (Luke 1:1-5) applies with equal force here, Acts being, in fact, the concluding book in a two-volume work, both addressed to the same person, both produced with the most painstaking accuracy, and both being founded upon eyewitness accounts.

The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. (Acts 1:1)

The former treatise ... refers to the Gospel of Luke.

O Theophilus... This proper name has the meaning of "one who loves God," but there is no valid reason for understanding it as anything other than the personal name of Luke's friend to whom he addressed both the Gospel and Acts. As Bruce said, "Theophilus was a perfectly ordinary personal name, being used from the third century B.C. onwards."[1]

Concerning all that Jesus ... This is not an affirmation that Luke recorded "all" that Jesus did and taught, but it has the meaning that "all" Luke wrote concerned those things. A basic truth evident in all the sacred gospels is that the things written concerning Jesus have recorded only a small fraction of his mighty works and teachings, this having been powerfully stated by John (John 21:25).

Began both to do and to teach ... When Jesus bowed his head upon the cross and said, "It is finished," the reference was primarily to the personal ministry of our Lord. The great redemptive act was indeed finished; the law of Moses was nailed to the cross; Satan's head was bruised; the sabbath day was abolished; and the foundation for human justification was forever established. Charles H. Roberson loved to tell how Handel bowed his head after writing the score of "The Messiah," saying, "It is finished." But, as Roberson said, "Only the score was finished. All would have gone for naught unless other hands and voices should take it up and sing it!"

Complete and final as Jesus' atoning life and death were, even these were but the enabling achievements providing the grounds of salvation and setting in motion forces that would continue to bear fruit in all subsequent generations. As Boles expressed it:

God and Christ begin, but there is no ending in their working; Jesus began working and teaching in the Gospel of Luke, and he is still working through the Holy Spirit in the church.[2]

The learned McGarvey took a different view of this verse, and was sure that:

It is a mistake to suppose that there is an allusion in this expression to the personal acts and teachings of Christ as a mere beginning of that which he continued to do and teach after his ascension.[3]

In view of the fact that Luke frequently used "began" with various verbs to express simple action idiomatically as in the following reference from his gospel:

Begin not to say within yourselves (Luke 3:8).

He began to say this generation is an evil generation ... (Luke 11:29).

Then shall ye begin to say, We did eat, etc. (Luke 13:26).

Thou shalt begin with shame to take the lowest-place (Luke 14:9).

All that behold begin to mock him (Luke 14:29).

and in the light of the further consideration that both Mark (Mark 6:2 and Mark 13:5) and John (John 13:5) used this same idiom for simple action, it would appear, therefore, that McGarvey's view is preferable, especially as it regards what is SAID in this place. However, this is not to deny the truth of what Boles, Lange, Bruce, and many others have written about this.

[1] F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954), p. 31.

[2] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on the Acts (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1953), p. 17.

[3] J. W. McGarvey, Commentary on Acts (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1892), p. 1.