Ep. 270. Acts 1 | Departing Words

EPISODE 270

DEPARTING WORDS: ACTS 1

The author of Acts is the same as the author of Luke. Most people say that Luke wrote both. That has been commonly accepted for a long time, but the authorship of the Gospel of Luke isn't set in stone. So what? We know that the same individual wrote both books, and I'm good with that.

We've talked about Judas quite a few times already, starting with the OT references to him in the Psalms. One of the things I didn't address was the differences between the two accounts of his death. In Matthew, we are told that he hanged himself, while here in Acts, we are told that he fell headlong into a field and burst open with his bowels gushing out. If Luke wrote Acts, and if this is Luke, who was Paul's friend, and if Luke was a physician in the way we understand him to be, then he seems to speak very detailed about nearly everything. So maybe Judas hanged himself. Maybe the body was left there to rot. Maybe the body fell down into the field and burst open. Maybe, like the other eyewitness accounts of literally every single event in human history, the witnesses told the part of the story that was relevant to them. Could Judas have hung himself and then had his body fall into a field and split open? Sure. Either way, Judas is dead as the prophesies said he would be; his wife is a widow, and his children are orphans.

One other thing I think is crucial: we don't tend to think of more than 12 people when we talk about "the disciples" who were with Jesus for the duration of his ministry, but it is clear from this opening chapter of Acts that there are at least two other people who have followed Jesus the entire time. I often find myself wondering how many people Jesus had with him throughout his ministry. I don't mean the large crowds; most of them abandoned him. I mean those who were there at the end of the day when the crowds departed. I usually just imagine the twelve, but I'm trying to remember that Matthias and Justus were also there.

ADDITIONAL READING: Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Psalm 69:25; Psalm 109:8; Matthew 27:3-10