to select · verb — aorist middle indicative, 3rd person singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Isaiah 59:20-21 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the…
Hebrews 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in…
John 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his…
Isaiah 48:16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord…
Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 1:1-5
In these verses, I. Theophilus is put in mind, and we in him, of St. Luke's gospel, which it will be of use for us to cast an eye upon before we enter upon the study of this book, that we may not only see how this begins where that breaks off, but that, as in water face answers to face, so do the acts of the apostles to the acts of their Master, the acts of his grace.
1. His patron, to whom he dedicates this book (I should rather say his pupil, for he designs, in dedicating it to him, to instruct and direct him, and not to crave his countenance or protection), is Theophilus, Act 1:1. In the epistle dedicatory before his gospel, he had called him most excellent Theophilus; here he calls him n…
after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments, &c.--referring to the charge recorded in Mat 28:18-20; Mar 16:15-18; Luk 24:44-49. It is worthy of notice that nowhere else are such communications of the risen Redeemer said to have been given "through the Holy Ghost." In general, this might have been said of all He uttered and all He did in His official character; for it was for this very end that God "gave not the Spirit by measure unto Him" (Joh 3:34). But after His resurrection, as if to signify the new relation in which He now stood to the Church, He signalized His first meeting with the assembled disciples by breathing on them (immediately after dispensing to them His peac…
After that he, through the Holy Ghost, etc. - This clause has been variously translated: the simple meaning seems to be this - that Christ communicated the Holy Spirit to his disciples, after his resurrection, as he had not done before. In Luk 24:45, it is said that he opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; and in Joh 20:22, that he breathed on them, and said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Previously to this, we may suppose that the disciples were only on particular occasions made partakers of the Holy Spirit; but from this time it is probable that they had a measure of this supernatural light and power constantly resident in them. By this they were not only able…
The Church Fathers
The main order: He commanded the apostles to first teach all nations, then to immerse them in the sacrament of faith, and after faith and baptism, to command what should be observed. And lest we think that what has been commanded is light and few, he added: All things whatsoever I have commanded you. So that whoever believes, who has been baptized in the Trinity, may do all the things that are commanded.
Until the day on which he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. By hyperbaton it is to be read until the day on which he was taken up, commanding before the assumption, that is, giving precepts to the apostles which are read either here or in the Gospels. The sense therefore is: I wrote about Jesus from the time he began to perform signs and teach until the day on which, having completed these things, he returned to where he had come from.
The following: Until the day he was taken up; the rest are inserted by way of parenthesis. As for, Having commanded the apostles through the Holy Spirit, either because the commands are spiritual, showing nothing worldly; or, so that the Spirit also may show itself as inherent to itself, that nothing performed by God lacks the sanctifying essence. But what are the commands? Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19) He was taken up, it is said, no, He ascended; for still he speaks of him as of a man.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Apostles · Inspiration of — Inspiration of
Apostles, The · Witnesses of the resurrection and ascension of Christ — Witnesses of the resurrection and ascension of Christ
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Until the day in which he was taken up,.... That is, into heaven. The historian suggests, that his former treatise took in the main and principal things Jesus did and taught, until such time that he ascended to heaven:
after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles, whom he had chosen: our Lord having chosen twelve of his own free grace and goodness, and not according to their worth and merit, to be his apostles, a little before his ascension to heaven, gave them more express and explicit commands and orders where they should go, into all the world, to all nations; and what they should preach, the whole Gospel, salvation by faith in him, and particularly rep…
Acts 1:1-2
1. The former speech truly have we had, O Theophilus, of all things which Jesus began to do and teach, 2. Even until that day, wherein, after he had given commandment by the Holy Ghost to the apostles, which he had chosen, he was taken up.
That he may pass over unto those things which followed the ascension of Christ, he briefly gathereth the sum of all those which before he had handled in the former book, that he may annex this thereunto. And he briefly setteth down this description of the history of the gospel, that it is a narration of those things which Christ did and said so long as he was conversant upon earth. Furthermore, whereas they interpret this commonly, that there…
Here Luke summarizes his first book, the Gospel of Luke, which Luke had previously written to Theophilus (Luke 1:3). Theophilus is elsewhere called “most honorable” (Luke 1:3)—the title indicates that he was a person of very high social standing (cp. Acts 23:26; 24:2; 26:25). He was probably a benefactor or patron who assisted Luke with the expenses of publication or distribution of his work (see study note on Luke 1:3).
