A Study of Acts: Two Names Under Consideration to Replace Judas
Acts 1:21-23; Luke 10:1-12 - We must be witnesses to the Resurrection through obedience, the Word, fellowship and prayer. We shall have sanctified common sense!
“Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.”
Acts 1:21-23 NASB1995
Peter tells the group that it is necessary that of the men who accompanied them all of the time that Jesus went in and out among them, that one of them must become a witness with the eleven of His Resurrection. Apparently, there were two men (there may have been more) who met this criteria: Joseph called Barsabbas (also called Justus) and Matthias.
So what do we know about these two followers? Not much (I’ll have more on Matthias in the next devotional) but it is quite possible that they were part of the 70 that Jesus sent out in this passage from Luke, that appear to be in addition to the 12 disciples:
“Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.”
Luke 10:1-12 NASB1995
This action occurs after the twelve disciples were sent out first on missions of healing and preaching, the feeding of the 5,000, the Transfiguration of Jesus and Jesus preaching on the difficulties of discipleship (Luke 9).
I like what Enduring Word says about this passage in Acts:
One of these must become a witness with us: The disciples were bold enough to make a decision because they knew from God’s Word that this is what He wanted. The apostles did not sense an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them; that was yet to come. But God did not leave them without guidance. They knew what to do from the Word.
Of course, even if we do sense a special guidance from the Holy Spirit, we still have God’s voice permanently established in His Word. Any perceived guidance from the Holy Spirit will never disobey God’s written word to us.
Who have accompanied us all the time: Whoever replaced Judas must be one who had been with them since John baptized them, who stayed with them during the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, and who saw the resurrected Jesus.
We find no evidence that these qualifications were discovered either in the Scriptures or by special leading of the Holy Spirit. We might say that they simply used their sanctified common sense. These seemed to be logical, common sense requirements for the successor to Judas’ office as disciple.
Their common sense was sanctified because it came as they were in obedience, in fellowship, in prayer, in the Scriptures, and desiring God’s will.
This was notable sanctified common sense. It didn’t answer everything, but it did narrow it down to two men.
One of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection: This was the main job of the disciple that would replace Judas. Now that Jesus had ascended to heaven, it was more important than ever to have a witness…of His resurrection.
We also can be witnesses of His resurrection, both by trusting and proclaiming the apostolic testimony, and our own testimony that the risen Jesus lives in and through us.
There are two key takeaways from this commentary that I gleaned.
First, I can really understand the idea of sanctified common sense. The more we are in communion with God through obedience, in His Word, in prayer, in fellowship and desiring His will, the more we will see things through a lens of holy or sanctified common sense. We can then more readily discern when teachings are not to Scripture or when actions that are taken would conform to His will or not. These eleven disciples had pretty much seen it all in three years, although I have noted in the past that they were quite often dense and uncomprehending during the earthly ministry of Jesus. At this point, the disciples have not been guided by the Holy Spirit, but they were finally savvy enough to carry on after the Ascension.
Second, it is important to have witnesses to His resurrection as the early church develops and it is crucially important today. The resurrection of Jesus is the key to believing He is the Son of God and that His promises are good. As I noted in an earlier devotional, there were many witnesses to the Resurrection but men had authority so this selection for a replacement for Judas fell to those men who knew Jesus and saw Him after the Resurrection.
Why is the truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus so important? Well, let’s look at the answer with these excerpts from Gotquestions.org:
The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in history, providing irrefutable evidence that Jesus is who He claimed to be – the Son of God. The resurrection was not only the supreme validation of His deity; it also validated the Scriptures, which foretold His coming and resurrection. Moreover, it authenticated Christ’s claims that He would be raised on the third day (John 2:19-21; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34). If Christ’s body was not resurrected, we have no hope that ours will be (1 Corinthians 15:13, 16). In fact, apart from Christ’s bodily resurrection, we have no Savior, no salvation, and no hope of eternal life. As the apostle Paul said, our faith would be “useless” and the life-giving power of the gospel would be altogether eliminated.
Because our eternal destinies ride on the truth of this historical event, the resurrection has been the target of Satan’s greatest attacks against the church. Accordingly, the historicity of Christ’s bodily resurrection has been examined and investigated from every angle and studied endlessly by countless scholars, theologians, professors, and others over the centuries. And even though a number of theories have been postulated that attempt to disprove this momentous event, no credible historical evidence exists which would validate anything other than His literal bodily resurrection. On the other hand, the clear and convincing evidence of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is overwhelming.
Nonetheless, from the Christians in ancient Corinth to many today, misunderstandings persist relative to certain aspects of our Savior’s resurrection. Why, some ask, is it important that Christ’s body was resurrected? Couldn’t His resurrection have just been spiritual? Why and how does the resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantee the bodily resurrection of believers? Will our resurrected bodies be the same as our earthly bodies? If not, what will they be like? The answers to these questions are found in the fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, a church that he established several years earlier during his second missionary journey.
If your church is not focusing their preaching on Christ crucified/Christ resurrected and all that flows out of that universe-shaking event for believers, it may be time to move to a different church. Our faith is useless if this event did not occur, which is why the enemy is so laser focused on finding ways to attack its authenticity and historicity. You can see this subtle (and not so subtle) skepticism at work, by the way, if you read a secular information source like Wikipedia to understand the Resurrection.
My next devotional examines Acts 1:24-26 - The disciples pray, then the name of Matthias is drawn by lots.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I thank You for the common sense that the disciples used to fulfill the need for having twelve leaders (apostles) who will act as witnesses to the Resurrection for Your early church. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 7/17/2024 to review the answer to the question, “Why is the truth of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus so important?”