Acts (Part 5) – Acts 1:17-23

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Acts (Part 5) – Acts 1:17-23

Act 1:17 – For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.

1. Judas was chosen by Jesus and numbered with the apostles (Luk 6:13, 16).
2. Judas obtained part of the ministry of the apostles, being sent by Jesus to preach the kingdom of heaven to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils (Mat 10:5-8).
3. He was also the church “treasurer” (Joh 13:29), but not a faithful one (Joh 12:4-6).
4. He was sent forth as a sheep in the midst of wolves and commanded to be wise as a serpent (Mat 10:16), but he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing (Mat 7:15-20) and a serpent who was of his father the devil (Mat 23:33 c/w Joh 8:44 c/w Joh 6:70-71).

Act 1:18 – Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

1. It is likely that verses 18-19 are not Peter’s words, but rather Luke’s narrative for the benefit of those reading the book of Acts years later.
   1. The apostles and other church members who were listening to Peter would have already know about the fate of Judas.
   2. Peter was speaking to Jews in Jerusalem, so there would not have been a need to tell them that the field was called Aceldama in their language, meaning the field of blood (Act 1:19).
   3. It is unlikely that the field came to be called “the field of blood” during the six weeks between Judas’ death and Peter’s address to the church several days after Christ’s ascension. It is more likely that it came to be known by that name over time.
2. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity;
   1. Judas betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver (Mat 26:14-16; Luk 22:3-6), which Peter called the reward of iniquity.
   2. Judas, feeling guilty for betraying an innocent man, tried to return the money to the chief priests and elders (Mat 27:3).
   3. When they would not accept it, he cast down the silver in the temple and went and hanged himself (Mat 27:4-5).
   4. Because it was blood money, they could not put it into the treasury, so they used the money to buy the potter’s field to bury strangers in (Mat 27:6-7).
   5. Since the money still technically belonged to Judas, Peter gave him the credit for purchasing the field with it.
3. and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
   1. After hanging himself (Mat 27:5), he apparently fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst, causing all his bowels to gush out.
   2. This is information that was not included in the gospel records.
   3. There are a couple of possible explanations.
      1. One possibility is that the rope could have broken after breaking his neck, and he could have fallen on a sharp rock which gashed his abdomen open causing his bowels to gush out.
      2. It’s also possible that whoever found him cut the rope, allowing his body to fall on a rock which burst him open in the midst.

Act 1:19 – And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

1. Because the field was bought with Judas’ blood money, it was called the field of blood (Mat 27:8).
2. The purchase of the field with the 30 pieces of silver was prophesied by Jeremiah and Zechariah (Mat 27:9-10 c/w Zec 11:12-13).

Act 1:20 – For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

1. The first part of Peter’s quote (Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein) is from Psa 69:25.
2. The second part of the quote (his bishoprick let another take) is from Psa 109:8.
   1. By comparing Act 1:20 with Psa 109:8, a bishoprick is an office.
   2. Bishoprick n. – 1. The providence of a bishop; a diocese. 2. The office or position of a bishop. 3. Overseership, office. (the OED cites Act 1:20 as a usage for sense 3)
3. Judas lost his office and his life, and was replaced by another man.

Act 1:21 – Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

1. Peter instructs the church that they need to replace Judas with another man who is qualified to be an apostle.
2. The first qualification was that the man must have companied with the apostles for the entire earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.
3. Anyone who had not been with the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles from the beginning was not qualified.
4. This requirement disqualifies any man living today from being an apostle.
   1. The apostle Paul was a special exception to this rule, as he did not company with the apostles and Jesus during his earthly ministry.
      1. However, he did meet the second requirement of seeing the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ (see next verse) as “one born out of due time” (1Co 15:8-9; 1Co 9:1).
      2. Paul was an apostle by the commandment of God (1Ti 1:1).

Act 1:22 – Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

1. To be an apostle, the man would have had to have been with Jesus and the apostles from the day that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist until the day that Jesus ascended to heaven.
2. Secondly, to be an apostle, a man must have personally witnessed the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
3. The apostles gave witness with great power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (Act 4:33).
4. No man today can meet either of the two requirements to be an apostle.
   1. There are therefore no apostles today.
   2. But there are false apostles (2Co 11:13).

Act 1:23 – And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

1. The only thing we know about these two men by deduction is that they companied with the apostles during the entire earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus and witnessed Him in His resurrected body.
2. They were both qualified to be an apostle, but the apostles did not know which one God had chosen for the office.
3. The next three verses explain how Mathias was chosen to be the twelfth apostle.
4. The scripture tells us nothing else about these two men.
   1. If the memory of the lives of two men who were qualified to be apostles of Jesus Christ (and one who was an apostle) passed into oblivion, what chance is there that anyone will even know that any of us existed in 100 years from now?
   2. Answer: almost zero (Ecc 2:16; Ecc 9:5).
   3. Though we and our works will be forgotten by men, God remembers (Mal 3:16), which gives our lives eternal significance (Mat 16:27).