PART I.

RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH AT JERUSALEM, FROM OUR LORD'S ASCENSION TO THE FIRST JEWISH

PERSECUTION.

1. THE INTRODUCTION is similar to, but less formal, than that to the Gospel according to Luke, and is addressed to the same friend, Theophilus, who appears to have been a person of rank, and a Gentile Christian. See author on Luke 1: 3. It presents this book as a continuation of Luke's Gospel, and indicates the same author.

TIME of our LORD'S ASCENSION. This occurred forty days after his resurrection. During the intervening time, he appeared frequently to his disciples, and gave them his LAST INSTRUCTIONS. At least ten appearances of our Lord, before his Ascension, are recorded in the New Testament. See author's "Harmony of the Gospels,” p. 312. After to Paul, 1 Cor. 15: 8; and to John, Rev. 1: 12-18.

The exact time of our Lord's ascension was probably Thursday, May 18th, A. D. 30. In order to reach this conclusion, we must briefly review a few chronological points in the Life of Christ.

The Roman abbot, Dionysius Exiguus, in the sixth century, fixed the birth of Christ in the 754th year of Rome. This is our common era, but chronologists generally agree that it is too late by four or five years. Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great (Matt. 2: 1), who died in the year of Rome 750, a few days before the Passover. (Josephus, Ant., 16. 8. 1-4). This has been confirmed by the astronomical calculation of an eclipse of the moon on March 13th, A. D. 750, a few days before Herod's death. But between the birth of Jesus and Herod's death must have occurred the purification in the temple, the visit of the wise men, the flight into Egypt, and the stay there, and the massacre of the children in Bethlehem. These events probably occupied at least six months. We may, therefore, place the birth of Jesus in the autumn of the year of Rome 749, or B. c. 5.

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Passing on to our Lord's baptism, Luke says that Jesus was about thirty years of age." Luke 3: 33. This fixes his baptism in the year of Rome 779, or A. D. 26. This is confirmed by the statement of Luke (3: 1, 2), that John entered his ministry in the fifteenth year of Tiberius. Now Tiberius was associated in the government with Augustus from the beginning of 765; and the fifteenth year would be 749, or A. D. 26. And John probably began his ministry in the spring, and about six months earlier than Jesus. Luke 1: 36. This would place the baptism of Jesus in the autumn, in the first year of

Pontius Pilate, who was Governor of Judea from A. D. 26 to 36. See these and other points discussed in author's "Harmony," ¿ 9, pp. 242–245.

Add to the above date the duration of our Lord's public ministry and we have the date of his death. The length of our Lord's ministry has been estimated at a little over one, two, or three years. The theory of one year and a few months must be set aside, in view of the fact that John mentions at least three Passovers during our Lord's ministry. John 2: 13, 23; 6: 4; 12: 1; 13: 1. Against the theory of two years, and in favor of three years, it may be said: (1) That the feast in John 5: 1 was also a Passover, making four during our Lord's ministry. The reading, according to most ancient authorities, led by the Vatican Manuscript, is without the article "feast” or "a feast." But other most ancient authorities, led by the Sinaitic Manuscript, has the article, "the feast." The latter reading was adopted by Tischendorf in his eighth edition of his Greek Testament; the former is preferred by Westcott and Hort, and by the Revision of the English Version. The definite article favors the Passover, the great feast of the Jews; but its omission is hardly decisive against that feast; for the article is wanting in the Greek in some places where the Passover is intended. Matt. 27: 15; Mark 15: 6. (2) The vast amount of labor which Jesus performed, favors the three years theory. Our Lord's extensive missionary tours, with his discourses and miracles, are more easily arranged. (3) In harmony with this theory is the prophecy of Daniel (9: 27): “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease." The three years of the Parable of the Barren Fig-tree are significant. Luke 13: 6-9. For these and other reasons, the majority of Harmonists favor this theory. Compare author's "Harmony," 50, pp. 259-262.

If then our Lord's ministry continued about three years and a half, he was crucified at the Passover of a. D. 30. The day of his crucifixion was Friday, the 15th of Nisan, the day before the Jewish Sabbath. Mark 15: 41; Luke 23:54; John 18: 39. This is confirmed by astronomical calculation, which shows that the 15th day of Nisan, in A. D. 30, fell on Friday, April 7th, and that this occurred only once more (in A. D. 33), between A. D. 28 and 36. See author's "Harmony," pp. 296–301.

Our Lord, therefore, was crucified on Friday, April 7th, and rose from the dead on Sunday morning, April 9th, A. D. 30. Matt. 28: 1, etc. Beginning with the day of his resurrection, the fortieth day was Thursday, May 18th, which is the most probable day of his Ascension.

The place of the Ascension was Mount Olivet, near Bethany, (ch. 1: 12 Luke 24: 5); a mile, or a little more, east of Jerusalem.

22. THE APPOINTMENT OF AN APOSTLE IN THE PLACE OF JUDAS, occurred some time within the ten days between the Ascension and the Pente

cost.

The note of time, in those days, is indefinite, often used with great latitude, (Matt. 3: 1), but here restricted between the forty days in ver. 3, and the fifty denoted by the word Pentecost. Ch. 2: 1. It is very natural to suppose that the appointment took place near the end of the ten days.

For a classified arrangement of the Four Apostolic Catalogues of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and that in the Acts, see author's "Harmony of the Gospels," 872, p. 268, or his "Notes" on the Gospels, Matt. 10: 2-4, etc.

Verses 18 and 19 are regarded by the majority of interpreters as an explanatory remark of Luke. There is no contradiction between it and Matt. 27: 5-8. Neither denies what the other affirms. Matthew records Judas' own act in hanging himself; Luke, in the Acts, the result, and the terrible condition in which he died. It has been supposed that Judas hung himself from a limb of a tree on the edge of a precipice, perhaps near the Valley of Hinnom. In throwing himself from the precipice, the limb or the rope may have broken, and he falling forward, may have thus met his fearful end. See Hackett on the Acts 1: 18, and note.

The quotations as recorded in ver. 20, are made from the Septuagint, with à slight and unimportant variation in that from Ps. 69: 25.

The upper room was the large uppermost room of some private house—a chamber under the flat roof of an Oriental house, often used for devotion and religious assemblies. Compare Acts. 20: 8; Dan. 6: 10. The definite article points to some room previously mentioned or already known, which makes it very probable that it was the "large upper room " which Jesus had chosen for the celebration of the Passover. Mark 14: 15; Luke 22: 12. It is very natural that the disciples should have retained this room, hallowed by such associations, while tarrying at Jerusalem, awaiting power from on high. Luke 24:49. Some have supposed it to have been one of the chambers in the precincts of the temple. But the Jewish rulers would hardly have allowed them to occupy an apartment of the temple; nor would such a place have been probably called "the upper room." That of a private house was retired, and better answered their purpose. The closing words of Luke's Gospel has been thought to require this "were continually in the temple, praising God." But this would rather refer to the place where the people generally met in the temple, and not to a room or an upper room in its precincts. And with Hackett, Alexander, and others, we may regard the word continually as used to signify nothing more than a frequent resort-present at all the seasons when the people would naturally resort thither for worship. After the Pentecost, the disciples were doubtless more in the temple, though still much at home (1:46). It was fitting, also, under the New Dispensation, to be free from the local and ritual restrictions of the Old. John 4: 23, 24.

The number of disciples gathered together, about one hundred and twenty, is not inconsistent with the "five hundred" mentioned in 1 Cor. 15: 6. The