Acts 1:3 - Exposition

Proofs for infallible proofs, A.V.; appearing unto them for seen of, A.V.; concerning for pertaining to, A.V. The addition of the words by many proofs makes it necessary to understand the words showed himself ( παρέστησεν ἑαυτόν ) in the sense which it bears both in classic and Scriptural Greek, of proved or demon-strafed: "To whom he gave distinct proofs of his being alive after his passion;" the proofs follow—being "seen of them" for forty days at intervals, talking with them, and ( Acts 1:9 ) "being taken up while they were looking." Doubtless, too, he had in his mind those other proofs which he records in Acts 10:41 , and those referred to by St. Paul ( 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 ). For this sense of παρίστημι , see Acts 24:13 , "to rove:" and Lysias's 'Oration against Eratosthenes', where the almost identical phrase occurs which we have here, ἀμφότερα ταῦτα πολλοῖς τεκμηρίοις παραστήσω , "I will prove both these things by many certain proofs." The A.V. rendering, "infallible proofs," was quite justified. Stephanus says, " De certo et indubitato signo dicitur apud Rhetoricos "; and the technical meaning of τεκμήριον in Aristotle is a "demonstrative proof," as opposed to a σημεῖον , which leaves room for doubt; and in medical writers, which is important as regards St. Luke, the τεκμήριον is the "infallible symptom." St. Luke, by the use of the word here, undoubtedly meant to express the certainty of the conclusion based on those proofs. Appearing unto them. The Greek ὀπτανόμενος , corresponding to the φανερωθεὶς of the Epistle of Barnabas, cap. 15., only occurs in the New Testament in this place. In the Septuagint of 1 Kings 8:8 it is used of the staves of the ark within the veil, which "were not seen without." The idea intended to be conveyed, both by the use of this verb and by the use of διὰ (by the space of), is that our Lord was not with the apostles always, as he was before the Resurrection, but that he came and again disappeared (St. Chrysostom). They were fleeting appearances spread over forty days. The nearly related substantive, ὀπτασία , means "a vision," and is frequently used by St. Luke 1:22 ; Luke 24:23 ; 26:19. It is also found in 2 Corinthians 12:1-21 :l. Concerning the kingdom of God ; a subject which had deeply engaged their thoughts ( Luke 19:11 ), and on which it was most needful that they should now be fully instructed, that they might teach others ( Acts 20:25 ).