Acts 1:2

Until the day. That is, the 40th day after His resurrection (see v. 3).

Was taken up. The passive form of the verb, as used here and in vs. 9, 11 and Luke 24:51, implies that Jesus’ ascension was a manifestation of the Father’s power.

Through the Holy Ghost. This expression may be understood to mean either that the Holy Spirit was to guide the disciples into all truth (John 16:13), or that Jesus, both before and after His crucifixion, spoke as one possessed of the Holy Spirit. The latter must be intended, for everything pertaining to Christ’s life on earth was accomplished by the power of the Spirit: (a) His conception (Luke 1:35); (b) His baptism (ch. 3:21, 22); (c) His justification, that is, the manifestation of His righteous life (1 Tim. 3:16); (d) His guidance in His life of service (Luke 4:1; see on ch. 2:49); (e) His miracles (Matt 12:28); (f) His resurrection (1 Peter 3:18).

Had given commandments. Better, “having commanded,” with particular reference to the gospel commission by our Lord (see Matt. 28:18-20).

Apostles. Gr. apostoloi, “those who are sent,” from apo, “off,” “away,” and stello, “to send.” In classical Greek apostolos (pl., apostoloi) frequently was connected with the dispatching of a ship or a naval expedition, and it was also used for the commander of a squadron and for an ambassador. These two general applications, to things and to persons, carried over into Koine Greek. Thus an Egyptian papyrus from the 2d or 3d century A.D. speaks of the “account for the ship [apostolos] of Triadelphus” (J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, p. 70). The papyri also show that from the ship itself the meaning of the word was transferred to its cargo, for that also was “sent.” Not only was the cargo called apostolos, but also the documents that represented the ship and its cargo, so that the word might refer to an order for the dispatch of a vessel, a bill of lading, or even an export license. At the same time, in Koine as in classical Greek, apostolos might refer to a person, as Josephus uses it of ambassadors sent by the Jews to Rome (Antiquities xvii. 11. 1).

None of these usages, however, appear to shed light directly on the origin of the word “apostle” as it was employed in early Christianity. Paul is the first NT writer to use the word (1 Thess. 2:6), and for him it was, apparently, already a technical term designating a specific group of men performing with authority generally recognized functions in the church (see 1 Cor. 4:9; 9:1, 2). The fact that in this very earliest Christian literature such a specific meaning of the word already was taken for granted suggests that it probably had some earlier authoritative inauguration. Writing in Greek, years after Jesus’ death, Luke and John used the word apostolos (Luke 6:13; 11:49; John 13:16 [“he that is sent”]). The office of apostle in the early church apparently stems from Jesus’ ordination and commission of the twelve disciples.

In terming His disciples “apostles,” Jesus probably used the Aramaic word shelicha’, the equivalent of the Hebrew participle shaluach, “sent.” These words appear to have had a technical use among the Jews as well as among Christians. Rabbinical literature used the term shaluach (or, in another form, shaliach) of various authoritative messengers. Justin Martyr says (c. A.D. 146) that the Jews sent messengers throughout the world telling blasphemies against Christ (Dialogue With Trypho 17, 108). Eusebius, the 4th-century church historian, declares that writings already ancient in his day recorded that the Jewish priests and elders sent men all over the world to warn their people against Christianity. He goes on to call these Jews “apostles,” and says that in his own time they traveled throughout the Dispersion with encyclical letters (Commentaria in Isaiam xviii. 1, 2). Epiphanius (d. A.D. 403) records that these “apostles” consulted with leading Jews and traveled among the Jews outside Palestine, restoring peace to disorderly congregations and collecting tithes and first fruits — functions that have striking parallels with the apostolate of Paul (see Acts 11:27-30; Rom. 15:25-28; 1 Cor. 16:1; Epiphanius Against Heresies i. 2., Heresy xxx. 4, 11). The Theodosian Code (A.D. 438) remarks, “It is part of this worthless superstition that the Jews have chiefs of their synagogues, or elders, or persons whom they call apostles, who are appointed by the patriarch at a certain season to collect gold and silver” (Theodosian Code xvi. 8.14; translation in Adolf Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity, vol. 1, p. 329).

Therefore, although it cannot be proved that the word apostolos was used in NT times of Jewish messengers to the Dispersion, the evidence suggests that it was, and that particular usage made of this word by the early Christian church was derived from a somewhat similar custom among the Jews.

Whom he had chosen. See Mark 3:13-19.