8
Before we proceed with our examination of this opening section, it will be well to discover its structure. This is
simple, and focuses our attention upon what the Lord did until `He was taken up', at which point both the Gospel
according to Luke and the opening section of the Acts terminates. Let us see this:
Acts 1:1-14
The former treatise
A1
B 1:1.
What the Lord began to do and teach.
C 1:2.
Until the day.
D 1:2.
Command to apostles.
*
E 1:2.
Taken up
B 1:3.
What the Lord continued to do and to teach.
C 1:3.
During forty days.
D 1:4-9.
Command to apostles.
E 1:9-14. Taken up.
CHAPTER 2
The former treatise
The Gentile in the Gospel of Luke
As the writer of the Acts speaks of a former treatise which he had written, and as the first fourteen verses of the
Acts traverse the closing verses of Luke's Gospel, it will be necessary to make some acquaintance with that Gospel,
and to examine the portion that is, in measure, repeated in Acts 1:1-14.
It would be too great a digression to attempt an analysis of Luke's Gospel here, but there have been provided for
us means whereby its distinctive features can be seen clearly enough to give some idea of the purpose of the writer,
and with it some indication of what to expect in the second treatise, the Acts itself. These means consist of the
comparison of a series of passages in Luke's Gospel with parallel ones in Matthew's Gospel. The first obvious
comparison is the genealogy given by both writers.
(1) The genealogy of Christ (Matt. 1. and Luke 3).- It is evidently sufficient for Matthew's purpose if he proves
that the Lord Jesus was heir both of David and of Abraham. Matthew knew as well as we do that Abraham was not
the first man, but with the object he had in view no good purpose would have been served by taking the Lord's
genealogy back further than the Patriarch himself. With Abraham commenced the purpose of God that had Israel as
a nation in view, and with David commenced the purpose of God that had the kingdom and the throne in view.
When we turn to Luke's account, we find that he, too, traces the Lord's genealogy back to David and to Abraham
(Luke 3:31,34), but the purpose for which he wrote necessitated the prosecution of the genealogy back still further,
and consequently it does not end until Luke records: `Which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God'
(3:38).
*
The order of this section follows that of the Greek and not of the English translation.