Acts 1:8

Rather than trying to figure out when the kingdom would come, the disciples were to give their attention to something different, namely, worldwide witness. Moreover the disciples would receive divine enablement for their worldwide mission (cf. Luke 24:47-49). As God’s Spirit had empowered the Israelites and Jesus as they executed their purposes, so God’s Spirit would empower the disciples as they executed their purpose.

"What is promised to the apostles is the power to fulfil their mission, that is, to speak, to bear oral testimony, and to perform miracles and in general act with authority. This power is given through the Spirit, and conversely the Spirit in Acts may be defined as the divine agency that gives this power." [Note: C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, 1:79.]

"You shall be" translates a future indicative verb (as in "you shall receive"). Is the clause "You shall be" a prediction or a command? Grammatically it could be either. The apostles clearly felt compelled to preach (cf. Acts 10:42). However if it was a command it could have been stated more forcefully. Therefore both verbs ("you shall be" and "you shall receive") are probably predictions, statements of fact, rather than commands.

"They were now to be witnesses, and their definite work was to bear testimony to their Master; they were not to be theologians, or philosophers, or leaders, but witnesses. Whatever else they might become, everything was to be subordinate to the idea of personal testimony. It was to call attention to what they knew of Him and to deliver His message to mankind. This special class of people, namely, disciples who are also witnesses, is therefore very prominent in this book. Page after page is occupied by their testimony, and the key to this feature is found in the words of Peter: ’We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard’ (Acts 4:20)." [Note: Thomas, p. 21.]

This verse contains an inspired outline of the Book of Acts. Note that it refers to a person (Jesus Christ), a power (the Holy Spirit), and a program (ever expanding worldwide witness). Luke proceeded to record the fulfillment of this prediction until the gospel and the church had reached Rome. From that heart of the empire God would pump the gospel out to every other remote part of the world. Starting from Jerusalem the gospel message radiated farther and farther as ripples do when a stone lands in a placid pool of water. Rome was over 1,400 miles from Jerusalem.

"The Christian church, according to Acts, is a missionary church that responds obediently to Jesus’ commission, acts on Jesus’ behalf in the extension of his ministry, focuses its proclamation of the kingdom of God in its witness to Jesus, is guided and empowered by the self-same Spirit that directed and supported Jesus’ ministry, and follows a program whose guidelines for outreach have been set by Jesus himself." [Note: Longenecker, p. 256.]

Jerusalem was the most wicked city on earth in that it was there that Jesus Christ’s enemies crucified Him. Nevertheless there, too, God manifested His grace first. The linking of Judea and Samaria preserves an ethnic distinction while at the same time describing one geographic area. The phrase "to the remotest part of the earth" is literally "to the end of the earth." This phrase is rare in ancient Greek, but it occurs five times in the Septuagint (Isaiah 8:9; Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 62:11; Pss. Song of Solomon 1:4). Jesus was evidently alluding to Isaiah’s predictions that God would extend salvation to all people, Gentiles as well as Jews. [Note: Tannehill, 2:16. Cf. Thomas S. Moore, "’To the End of the Earth’: The Geographical and Ethnic Univarsalism of Acts 1:8 in Light of Isaianic Influence on Luke," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:3 (September 1997):389-99.]

"Witnessing to the Jews meant witnessing to those who held a true religion, but held it for the most part falsely and unreally [sic].

"Witnessing in Samaria meant witnessing to those who had a mixed religion, partly true, and partly false, Jewish and Heathen.

"Witnessing to the uttermost part of the earth meant witnessing to those who had no real and vital religion at all." [Note: Thomas, p. 22.]

This pericope (Acts 1:6-8) is Luke’s account of Jesus’ farewell address to His successors (cf. Genesis 49; Numbers 20:26; Numbers 27:16-19; Deuteronomy 31:14-23; Deuteronomy 34:9; 2 Kings 2; et al.). Luke used several typical features of a Jewish farewell scene in Acts 1:1-14. [Note: See D. W. Palmer, "The Literary Background of Acts 1:1-14," New Testament Studies 33:3 (July 1987):430-31, for more information concerning the literary forms Luke used to introduce Acts-namely, prologue, appearance, farewell scene, and assumption. See William J. Larkin Jr., "The Recovery of Luke-Acts as ’Grand Narrative’ for the Church’s Evangelistic and Edification Tasks in a Postmodern Age," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 43:3 (September 2000):405-15, for suggestions for using Luke-Acts in a postmodern age.]