Acts 1:12-26--Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

Acts 1:12-26
English Standard Version

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate,
    and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

“‘Let another take his office.’

​21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

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Remember the instructions that Jesus just gave them?  He told them to go Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit.  It seems that they, like us, were not that good at waiting and they didn't seem to make it one week without feeling that they needed to do something.  All of the Eleven were there together in the Upper Room along with all the women that found Jesus at the tomb, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus' brothers.  At this point it seems that all of Jesus' brothers have believed in Him.

Peter follows the normal pattern that we've seen for them and when he doesn't know what to do, he talks.  He started to speak to the group that was gathered together in the Upper Room, Luke numbers them at 120, as he is beginning to understand the Scriptures about Judas being counted among them, but also being one of them who was to betray the Messiah.

Luke gives us the historical context for the Field of Blood and how that became a place where the Jews buried those who could not afford a grave, for the money that was taken out of the Temple treasury was blood money (money given to bribe someone to get someone else killed), so it could not go back into the Temple treasury.  Instead it was used to buy this field.  Some details seem to differ here than with the gospels, but it is possible that the two accounts are consistent.  Judas probably did hang himself either died from a broken neck or perhaps the rope broke or the knot came undone and he fell to his death as Luke describes here.  Either way, it is possible that if he did hang himself that they had to cut him down and he fell like this or that the rope broke or the knot came undone during or after the hanging.  Judas falling to the field and bursting apart is not inconsistent with hanging (especially if this happened after he had been dead for a while and was bloated from the decay and decomp that was starting to take place).

Peter again quotes Scripture to say that God had ordained for someone else to take Judas's office (that is true, by the way), and they were all of one accord after much prayer that they should make the choice and now was the right time to do so (I'm not so sure about this because it will be clear in a few chapters who God's choice was to replace Judas).

Now the Eleven come up with some rules about what they think it means to be an apostle.  We should be careful about saying this is the definition or that men must meet these criteria to be considered an apostle because the one whom the Lord has chosen to replace Judas probably does not fit these criteria that they laid forth.  This is going to be an example of these men making a choice and then asking God to bless it, even though they believe that they had asked God to bless their choice.  It becomes apparent they are the ones making the choice as the text makes sure to point out that they made this choice by way of lots (drawing straws, rolling dice, or something similar where the laws of probability and randomness would be at work and they trusted God to manipulate them in order to force the decision He wanted).  The problem is that God's choice is not amongst this group of people.

The Eleven put forward two men who seem to meet all the qualifications that they have laid forth--Joseph who also went by the nicknames of Barsabbas or Justice, and Matthias  (no nicknames were given for him).  When lots were cast, the lot fell on Matthias, and they take this as a sign from the Lord that Matthias is to take the place of Judas as an apostle and "he was numbered with the eleven apostles."  Notice though that Luke does not call him the twelfth apostle.

We will hear nothing more of Matthias after this point, but there is another that God will choose to be an apostle--the Apostle to the Gentiles--that we will see and hear much from in the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament.  If you are unsure who I have been referring to, I am referring to the apostle Paul.  We'll see him first appear at the stoning of Stephen and then again on the Road to Damascus.  God's intent seemed to be for the apostles to wait in Jerusalem the whole time until Paul's Damascus Road experience and then God would add Paul to their number but send him to the uttermost parts of the earth.  This one that God had chosen was going to be used by Him to accomplish His good purposes of getting the gospel to go to the whole world even before Paul was saved because God uses Paul to persecute believers to make them start to flee their "safe space" of Jerusalem (specifically the area around the Temple).  "Wait and see" eventually had to become "go and tell."

I am not saying that the choosing of Matthias was not part of God's plan, I'm just saying that I think this passage is descriptive of something that the apostles did and is not necessarily prescriptive.  To me, their choice to do something instead of simply waiting as commanded may have been a violation of the commandment given to them by Jesus, even though they were intending to do so in accordance with how they were interpreting Scriptures.  It's important to see that they were trying to force the Lord into blessing their choice of the two candidates that were put forth (oh, how often we do this in all kinds of politics, not even just church politics) and were not willing to wait for God to reveal the one He had elected.  There was no good reason that they needed a twelfth apostle at this time.  It is absolutely true from Scripture that Judas's office would be filled by another, but I don't think that other person was Matthias, and instead of apostleship being a spiritual gift bestowed by the Holy Spirit (as we see it described by Paul in His New Testament letters) we are tempted to see it as being defined by a list of criteria that someone must meet from verses 21-22.  This has lead to much argument and debate about whether this spiritual gift can still exist today or not.  If we look at verses 21-22, then there is no one left to meet these criteria who is alive today, and therefore this spiritual gift must cease to exist at the death of the generation that saw Jesus' Resurrection happen.  If however apostleship is a gift and an office bestowed by the Holy Spirit, then that same Holy Spirit is at work today and is fully capable of bestowing this gift on others.

That does not mean that I am a "charismatic" Christian elevating certain gifts to a level of prominence that we are warned against in the New Testament epistles of Paul, but I have no way to explain Paul being called an apostle and listing apostleship among the spiritual gifts available to all in Church unless the Eleven got it wrong here.  It is not for the Church to choose apostles, but for the Lord to do so.  Note that the Roman Catholic Church finds this passage to be prescriptive and they use this model of praying over the candidates they have selected and then having an election and then saying that the outcome of the election has been fixed by God when electing a Pope (whom they believe to be a modern-day apostle).  This is why I made it clear that I think this passage is descriptive and not prescriptive.