The Commission- Acts 1:1-8

1:1 - Because the book of Acts is supposed to pick up exactly where Luke’s Gospel ended, I went back and read the end of Luke and went right into the book of Acts. I had read it theorized that Luke and Acts might have actually been one whole work divided later by scribes, but because Acts begins by readdressing “Theophilus” about “the former treatise” Luke wrote, it seems to me to be two separate records by the same person to the same person. While Luke’s Gospel was about Jesus’ time on earth as a mortal, the overarching theme of the book of Acts is how Jesus establishes and runs his church from a distance.

The IM quotes Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as teaching, “A more complete title for the book of Acts could be appropriately be something like ‘The Acts of the Resurrected Christ Working through the Holy Spirit in the Lives and Ministries of His Ordained Apostles…’ The direction of the Church is the same. The location of the Savior has been altered, but the direction and leadership of the Church is exactly the same. Then, having made that point as if to prove in this most remarkable string of spiritual experiences all the manifestations of the Lord’s power through the Holy Ghost at every turn.”
It was interesting studying the life of the Savior and seeing how he tied his “new” gospel into the ancient Law of Moses, but now I’m excited to compare and contrast the ancient church to the church we have today. I really enjoy seeing the continuity of the gospel over time because it really shows how the plan of salvation has been running it’s course throughout human history. This is an important concept to demonstrate that God loves all his children equally and always has. We can see that he values salvation for the humble farmer from B.C. 3500 just as much as he values it for me today, and that is an important frame of mind to have if we are going to believe that all are precious before God even today.
1:2-3 – Luke testifies that the apostles that Jesus has chosen to carry on his work after his ascension are those “to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs.” First, the word “passion” used here is defined by the IM as “the Savior’s intense suffering during the events of the Atonement, particularly His suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross.” This is an important term to know because so many other Christian churches have adopted it to reference the atonement. For instance, the Catholic Church has the “Passion of the Christ” which represents the 14 Stations of the Cross. There was also a movie with the same name that depicted the atonement and death of Jesus Christ beginning with him praying in Gethsemane. It would make sense that this is where the term came from because it’s not an exact translation for us in English.
Second, the law of witnesses is addressed here. Luke is saying, “hey it wasn’t just one guy who said he saw the resurrected Lord and we all just believe him, all these other people saw him too.” If we look at it, the men that the Savior chose to be apostles were of a very strong character, sometimes to a fault. Let’s consider Thomas, when at least 10 other people testified to him that they had seen the resurrected Jesus, he didn’t believe. And to be fair, most of the other apostles didn’t believe until they saw him either. Knowing that disbelief was their initial reaction helps to solidify the conviction that the apostles only testified to what they saw and felt. They were a hard sell on a lot of things, which to me strengthens their stance on what they do believe.
It’s kind of like that one friend we all have that will buy anything or join any organization because they believe all the hype that they are told. Let’s be honest, that friend is me, I am that person, I buy everything from everyone and join all the groups, mostly because I believe what people tell me, and it doesn’t ever occur to me that they might be lying or fudging the truth or trying to exploit me. Literally, this is me, if someone, especially a person of color, is selling something I am buying, not even a question, because when they say that it will change my life, I believe them. So I guess when I say it that way, I might not be super reliable when it comes to convincing others that I believe in something. But I don’t feel like my commitment to Christ is weary at all because usually when I have these interactions, at some later point I’m disappointed and hold a different opinion afterward. But with the Gospel, I’ve had it in my life for so long and I have not for one second been disappointed or experienced regret and maybe that strengthens my stance.
But then there are the other types of people who are skeptical of everything and everyone, and I feel like perhaps many of the apostles are like this group. When something is new (like the preachings of John the Baptist) or doesn’t seem right (like the resurrection of the Savior), they think about it, talk about it, and flesh it out in their minds but the default is “nope.” This approach isn’t wrong either because clearly they were open enough to decide to follow John the Baptist and then Jesus himself, but because they automatically default to the negative, then maybe they miss out on some of the stuff that turns out not to be bogus. And because they don’t buy into every little thing that goes around like I do, then when they do become firm believers in something, they are completely invested in it and their word might have a little bit more weight to it initially.
Third, what are the “infallible proofs” that Jesus showed his disciples to convince them that it he was in fact the risen Lord. A few days ago we talked about the impossibility for Jesus’ mortal doppelganger to sustain the same type of wounds that Jesus did and survive. Even though Jesus had talked about his upcoming death, literally no one understood what he was talking about. They would have had to wound the “imposter” in the same exact manner as Jesus was wounded, which would mean nail marks in the hands and feet, a spear wound in his side, and extensive whipping scars. Plus these wounds would have had to be administered with enough time for them to appear healed 3 days after Jesus died.
Statistically, it would be impossible for a man who looked, talked, and spoke just like Jesus to know before hand exactly how Jesus would be wounded and the exact time of his death and be able to recreate it without dying himself and with enough time for it to heal to show the apostles 3 days after Jesus died, all while stealing and disposing of Jesus’ body while it was under Roman control and being able to appear through walls and closed doors. It just doesn’t make any sense, it’s not possible. So when we consider the most reasonable option, the logical conclusion that makes the most sense is that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and appeared to His disciples.
Since we’ve established that it wouldn’t be possible for anyone other than Christ Himself to be the person the disciples saw, what is the “proof” that was shown? It would make sense that the wounds in the hands and feet and side and wrist would have been shown as a sort of identifier and confirmation that it was in fact Jesus. The fact that he ate fish and honeycomb and had skin and bones would demonstrate that he had a physical body and wasn’t simply a spirit. The physical body part would be important because so many people verified that Jesus was dead, like we learned a few weeks ago. We know that Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, John, the Roman soldiers who sealed the tomb, and for sure the chief priests, all verified that the body laid in the tomb was indeed Jesus and he was indeed deceased. With all those witnesses certain of his death, then there were just as many, if not more witnesses of his resurrection.
1:4-6 – Luke is giving a brief recap of what happened just preceding Jesus’ ascension, even though it was written in his Gospel as well. He’s reminding Theophilus that Jesus commanded them to stay in Jerusalem to “wait for the promise of the Father… For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Interestingly, the reaction of the apostles was not what I would have expected. Demonstrating that they still did not understand the full purpose of Jesus’ mission on earth they ask him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?” I wonder if Jesus was like “really guys, you are still asking me this question?”
I wonder if it was just because now that he was resurrected and clearly all powerful that they thought “awesome, let’s get these Romans off our backs.” Or if it was like “hey why are you leaving? The Romans are still oppressing us.” It’s also an interesting commentary on our inability to move past our physical world without the influence of the Spirit. Even in Jesus’ personal presence, those who believed that he was the Messiah still were hung up on their governmental system. I’m sure that we would be the same way and when we consider the contrast between the people of Limhi and the people of Alma, it becomes quite clear.
The people of Limhi were oppressed by a wicked government and because they had expelled all the believers from among them, they were without spiritual guidance and the priesthood. They were so focused on ridding themselves of their enemies that they went to battle against the Lamanites three times and lost most of their men. Whereas the people that had been expelled from among them, the people of Alma, were also enslaved but by the worst Lamanites. The people of Alma did, however, have a prophet and the priesthood, and while Limhi’s people lost a huge chunk of their population trying to free themselves, Alma’s people turned to God for relief and found it in peace in their hearts and joy in their spirits and eventually, bloodless escape.
That might be a little bit more simplified, but we can see later as the Holy Ghost is given to the disciples, they are able to focus on the spiritual aspect of life and change the lives of others and serve God and be happy despite often horrific circumstances. In what might look like the ultimate act of defiance against Rome, many of the disciples will face the emperor himself and testify of Christ with peace in their hearts and conviction and joy in their spirits. This is the type of governmental shift Jesus wanted them to focus on, not societal freedom for the Jews, but spiritual freedom and happiness for all people.
1:7-8 – Even though I’m sure that he’s frustrated, Jesus is kind in his answer and basically tells them, “don’t worry about my political kingdom, just do what I tell you.” And then he gives them their mission, and it’s also recorded in some of the other gospels, but it is clearly stated here, “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” He doesn’t want them to by physical warriors for his kingdom to take on Rome, he wants them to be spiritual warriors for his kingdom and teach all people.
Jesus essentially says, “this is your job when you get the Holy Ghost” but why do they have to wait, why can’t they just start now? I have always really struggled with not understanding why the Holy Ghost wasn’t with all of Jesus’ followers before he died. It doesn’t make any sense to me that it would only be Jesus when so much more understanding could have been had if it the Spirit would have been there too. I think that I talked about this a little bit the other day. I’ve finally come to the conclusion that if Jesus and the Holy Spirit had been working together during His mortal ministry, it would have negated the agency of the people in some way. They would have become too knowledgeable too quickly, and then they would have had to be condemned for not acting in a way that was consistent with their level of understanding. I guess it would have been coming to earth with not only a new take on the gospel to a people who didn’t even understand the old way, but also doing so with a sludge hammer, and that’s not fair to them.
It’s also of interest to note that while Jesus was with the disciples teaching them, even after the resurrection, they didn’t learn and comprehend nearly as much as they did with the Holy Ghost. I think it’s an interesting commentary on the importance and uniqueness of the Spirit’s mission. I had always imagined that the pecking order would mean that Jesus was more effective at conversion than the Spirit would be and that Heavenly Father would be the greatest of all. But looking at the way that our church is organized currently, that’s not how presidencies work. All three appointees are critical for the success of the organization but all have different jobs to do and serve different purposes in that same goal of success.
Looking forward briefly at what I do know is coming, once the Holy Ghost is given to the apostles, the gospel is unfolded to them and they understand Christ’s mission in a way that makes them able to teach it to others and to testify of it with power. If we consider in our lives, we all want to experience these grand events, such as the Savior appearing to us, but it seems that the Savior showing up to us for a few moments in our life is not nearly as significant as our living with the Spirit. Think about Joseph Smith, he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus but he didn’t walk out of that grove knowing or understanding anything other than what they told him. But over the course of his lifetime, he was taught many eternal truths through the Spirit, without ever seeing him. So when the prophets say that the most important thing we can have in this life is the companionship of the Holy Ghost, they are referencing the growth of the apostles through the Holy Ghost after Jesus left their presence.