Judas’ Successor
JUDAS’ SUCCESSOR
ACTS 1:15-26
The disciples prayed for guidance: it was important to have God’s man for the job.
Verses 15-22 give the substance of Peter’s statement, addressed to the first problem which faced the infant community. What anticipations can you find of Peter’s leadership, in the Gospels? See Matthew 16:17-19; Mark 16:7. The defection of Judas is described in Matthew 27:3-10 and should be read in the light of:
This much is clear, but the character of Judas remains an enigma and a warning to us; and Scripture refuses to satisfy our curiosity as to his motivation, or to resolve the tension between divine foreknowledge (John 6:70-71; 13:18; 17:12) and human responsibility (Mark 14:10; John 13:27; 19:11).
1:23-26. Before the matter of a twelfth apostle is settled, some qualifications of the candidates are mentioned (1:21-22). What are they? Two are important:
Why are these features necessary? Cf. Luke 1:2; 1 Corinthians 9:1. Barsabbas and Matthias are nominated; and after prayer for God’s guidance, the latter is chosen by the ancient practice of lot-casting (1:26). Was this the right method of making a selection? What is the significance of the fact that the use of the lot is never repeated after Pentecost, and that Matthias is never heard of again in Acts?
Notes 1:17: the terms which Peter uses are intended to show a parallel with the election of Matthias. “Judas was numbered with us”: God later added to the eleven (making again twelve of them). Judas was allotted a share in the apostles’ ministry: his successor was chosen by lot. 1:25: perhaps the saddest and most revealing verdict on Judas. He “turned aside, to go to his own place”—ie the place he had chosen for himself. And God confirmed him in that dreadful choice. “Then I saw that there was a way to Hell even from the gates of Heaven, as well as from the City of Destruction” (Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress).