*1:1 Since in addressing Luke to Theophilus the author added the honorific ‘honorable’ or ‘excellent’, this was presumably a specific man, but I would like to think that the two books are also addressed to all lovers of God. Actually, Luke 1:4 makes clear that he was a specific man.
†1:1 Why “began”? Presumably because this book will relate what He continued to do and teach, through the Apostles. He is still at work in our world, through us.
‡1:2 Jehovah the Son was given (John 3:16, Isaiah 9:6) to this earth for thirty some years, then He was taken back.
§1:2 There is no definite article with “Holy Spirit”, and I hesitate to add it. Perhaps we should try thinking of ‘Holy Spirit’ as a proper name. To carry out the commands in Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:46-48 and John 20:21 would require the Holy Spirit's enabling.
*1:3 I get the impression that the Lord did a lot more appearing and teaching during those 40 days than has been recorded.
†1:4 Luke is repeating what he wrote in Luke 24:49, which in turn refers to John 14:16 and 26 (from John 14:31 it appears that what Jesus did started with the Father).
‡1:5 The grammar requires that the material within quotation marks be handled as a direct quote, even though it is a bit awkward, in English.
§1:6 The reference is to verse 4, which refers to Luke 24:49-50, which informs us that Jesus led them out to Bethany; so they had assembled in the city. A certain Greek particle is used in both verse 1 and verse 6, making them grammatically parallel; verses 1-5 refer to the former account, verse 6 begins the present account.
*1:6 Messiah and kingdom are closely linked in their minds. Jesus is the Messiah, now victorious over death, so where is the Kingdom? Jesus does not question the fact implicit in their question, but tells them that the time is classified information.
†1:8 A very small minority of Greek manuscripts (perhaps 2%), of inferior quality, read ‘my witnesses’ instead of ‘witnesses to me’. To my mind, at least, there is a significant difference in meaning—to be a witness to Jesus involves being like Him (Matthew 10:25) and doing like Him (John 14:12).
‡1:8 There is a strategy here: ‘both…and…and’ = simultaneously. If you stay in your ‘Jerusalem’ until you win everyone, you will never get to the world (there are many people who do not want God, period, so they will never be won). ‘Judea’ and ‘Samaria’ are treated as a unit, grammatically, so we have our town, our country and the world. “Last” is an adjective used as a noun, so we must supply ‘part’ or ‘place’, or else render ‘end’; note that the word is singular. I take it that no part of the world is to be left unreached.
§1:10 I wonder if these were the same two angels who officiated at the empty tomb.
*1:11 Why do the angels emphasize that the men are from Galilee? The ‘men’ refers only to males, so presumably they were the Eleven. It does appear that none of the first apostles were from Judea, which I find to be curious. On the other hand, the Pharisee types had such a stranglehold on Jerusalem society that the Text refers to secret believers, ‘for fear of the Jews’. That stranglehold was a factor throughout Judea, but much less in Galilee. So much so that the Judeans tended to look down their spiritual noses at Galileans.
†1:11 The angels are emphatic; the return is going to be just like the departure. I take it that the Lord will return with the same glorified human body, visibly, come out of a cloud, and His feet will touch down at the same spot where they left (see Matthew 24:30, “coming on the clouds”, and Zechariah 14:4, “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives”).
‡1:12 Generally understood to be about 1,000 yards or ⅗ of a mile; just under a kilometer.
§1:13 Probably the same one that was used for the last Passover, since the Text has ‘the upper room’. Both Mark 14:15 and Luke 22:12 inform us that the room was ‘large’, as it would have to be to hold 120 people (see verse 15 below).
*1:13 Since there was more than one James, Simon and Judas, the last three require an added description. The Text presents the names in pairs, and so have I.
†1:14 The reference is to His half brothers, presumably including at least James and Jude.
‡1:15 A very small minority of the Greek manuscripts [3%], of inferior quality, read ‘brothers’ for ‘disciples’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The original Eleven are now called ‘apostles’ (verse 2), and the 120 who were there are called ‘disciples’.
§1:16 The term used here refers exclusively to males—so also in 1:21, 2:5, 2:14, 2:22, 2:29, 2:37 and 3:12.
*1:16 Notice that Peter evidently held to a ‘dictation’ view of Inspiration, the Holy Spirit used David's mouth.
†1:18 Matthew 27:5 says that Judas hanged himself, and here it says he fell headlong—well, to fall headlong there has to be a cliff, and you would have to dive off. Putting the two accounts together we understand that there must have been a tree near the edge of the cliff, with a branch reaching out beyond the edge; Judas tied a cord around that branch and his neck and jumped—either the cord or the branch broke, and the impact was sufficient to split him open. Matthew also states that it was actually the chief priests who bought the field, using the money that Judas had thrown on the temple floor; so Judas made the purchase posthumously.
‡1:20 See Psalms 69:25 and 109:8.
§1:22 Notice that the crucial thing is the resurrection. ‘Let another take his office’ would appear to be the basis for Peter's assertion.
*1:24 Wait a minute! How do we, or Peter, know that holding that election was God's idea? If it was not God's idea then Matthias was not really God's choice. (Perhaps Peter did like we so often do, bring our ideas to God and ask Him to bless them, although Peter's idea was evidently based on Psalm 109:8.) In any case, this is the first and last time Matthias is mentioned in the New Testament. The original twelve were personally chosen by Jesus; the only other one so chosen was Saul/Paul.
†1:25 Judas turned aside “out of” Jesus' group, to go “into” his own place. Peter does not name the place, but the Lord Jesus had declared in their hearing that Judas was lost (John 17:12; see also Matthew 26:24).