Acts 1:25

1:15-26 The great thing the apostles were to attest to the world, was, Christ's resurrection; for that was the great proof of his being the Messiah, and the foundation of our hope in him. The apostles were ordained, not to wordly dignity and dominion, but to preach Christ, and the power of his resurrection. An appeal was made to God; Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, which we do not; and better than they know their own. It is fit that God should choose his own servants; and so far as he, by the disposals of his providence, or the gifts of his Spirit, shows whom he was chosen, or what he has chosen for us, we ought to fall in with his will. Let us own his hand in the determining everything which befalls us, especially in those by which any trust may be committed to us.

That he may take part (λαβεῖν τὸν κλῆρον) Lit., to take the lot. But the best texts read τὸν τόπον, the place. Rev., to take the place. By transgression fell (παρέβη) See on trespasses, Matthew 6:14. The rendering of the A. V. is explanatory. Rev., better, fell away. His own place Compare "the place in this ministry." Τὸν ἴδιον, his own, is stronger than the simple possessive pronoun. It is the place which was peculiarly his, as befitting his awful sin - Gehenna.

Ministry and apostleship, klhron, or every one’s station in the world, is ordered by the providence of God, and their part or portion is assigned to them; and so the apostleship was unto the apostles. His own place; hell, or destruction, not intended by Judas, but righteously by God appointed for him: whilst he was in the world (especially after his betraying of our Saviour) he was a usurper in it; and as bad as the world was, it was too good for him. That these words should be understood of Matthias’s succeeding to the apostleship of Judas as into his own place, is the less probable, because as yet he was not chosen into it.

Acts 1:25 . Εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν ἴδιον , to his own place ) to the place altogether peculiar to him, and distinct from that of the other apostles, [or even distinct from the rest of those who perish.—V. g.] He had sought ἴδιον , a something peculiarly his own property: Acts 1:18 , the field : he obtained his own place , which escapes [falls not under] the eyes of survivors, viz. a place in the region of death.

That he may take {y} part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression {z} fell, that he might go to his own place. (y) That he may be a member and partaker of this ministry. (z) Departed from, or fallen from: and it is a metaphor taken from the word way: for callings are signified by the name of ways with the Hebrews.

Verse 25. - To take the place in this for that he matt take part of this , A.V. and T.R.; fell away for by transgression fell , A.V. ( παρέβη ). The use of παραβαίνω in an intransitive sense for "to transgress, fall away from, turn aside from; and the like, is frequent in the LXX. ( Exodus 32:8 ; Deuteronomy 17:20 , etc.). To his own place . An awful phrase, showing that every man has the place in eternity which he has made for himself in time. If the reading place , in the beginning of the verse, is adopted instead of the part ( κλῆρον ) of the A.V., then them is a contrast between the blessed place of apostleship, which Judas forfeited, and that of traitorship , which he acquired. Acts 1:25

25 . that he may take part ] The best MSS. read that he may take the place , &c. The Rec. Text has the same words here and in Acts 1:17 , as is represented in the A. V. A scribe remembering the former would easily assimilate the two places, and as the Greek word in Acts 1:17 signifies lot , he might perceive a fitness in its use in this part of the narrative. from which Judas by transgression fell ] Better, from which Judas fell away . The Gk. has only a verb which literally = transgressed . that he might go to his own place ] He had been chosen into one place by Jesus, but had made another choice for himself, which had ended in destruction. That “his own place” when thus used was, to the Jewish mind, an equivalent for Gehenna = the place of torment, may be seen from the Baal Haturim on Numbers 24:25 , where it is said “Balaam went to his own place , i.e. to Gehenna.” A like expression is found concerning Job’s friends, Midrash Rabbah on Ecclesiastes 7:1 .

(25) That he may take part of this ministry. —Better, the portion, or the lot, so as to give the word ( cleros, as in Acts 1:17 ) the same prominence in English as it has in the Greek. From which Judas by transgression fell.—The last three words are as a paraphrase of the one Greek verb. Better, fell away. That he might go to his own place.—Literally, as the verb is in the infinitive, to go to his own place. The construction is not free from ambiguity, and some interpreters have referred the words to the disciple about to be chosen, “to go to his own place” in the company of the Twelve. If we connect them, as seems most natural, with Judas, we find in them the kind of reserve natural in one that could neither bring himself to cherish hope nor venture to pronounce the condemnation which belonged to the Searcher of hearts. All that had been revealed to him was, that “it had been good for that man if he had not been born” (Mark 14:21).

That he may take part of this ministry - The word rendered "part" - κλῆρον klēron - is the same which in the next verse is rendered lots. It properly means a lot or portion the portion divided to a man, or assigned to him by casting lots; and also the instrument or means by which the lot is determined. The former is its meaning here; the office, or portion of apostolic work, which would fall to him by taking the place of Judas. Ministry and apostleship - This is an instance of the figure of speech hendiadys, when two words are used to express one thing. It means the apostolic ministry. See instances in Genesis 1:14, "Let them be for signs and for seasons," that is, signs of seasons; Acts 23:6, "Hope and resurrection of the dead," that is, hope of the resurrection of the dead. From which Judas by transgression fell - Literally, went aside - παρέβη parebē - "as opposed to the idea of adhering faithfully to the character and service which his apostleship required of him" (Prof. Hackett). The transgression referred to was his treason and suicide. That he might go to his own place - These words by different interpreters have been referred both to Matthias and Judas. Those who refer them to Matthias say that they mean that Judas fell that Matthias might go to his own place, that is, to a place for which he was suited, or well qualified. But to this there are many objections: 1.

The apostolic office could with no propriety be called, in reference to Matthias, his own place, until it was actually conferred upon him. 2. There is no instance in which the expression to go to his own place is applied to a successor in office. 3. It is not true that the design or reason why Judas fell was to make way for another. He fell by his crimes; his avarice, his voluntary and enormous wickedness. 4. The former part of the sentence contains this sentiment: "Another must be appointed to this office which the death of Judas has made vacant." If this expression, "that he might go," etc., refers to the successor of Judas, it expresses the same sentiment, but more obscurely. 5. The obvious and natural meaning of the phrase is to refer it to Judas. But those who suppose that it refers to Judas differ greatly about its meaning. Some suppose that it refers to his own house, and that the meaning is, that he left the apostolic office to return to his own house; and they appeal to Numbers 24:25. But it is not true that Judas did this; nor is there the least proof that it was his design. Others refer it to the grave, as the place of man, where all must lie; and particularly as an ignominious place where it was proper that a traitor like Judas should lie. But there is no example where the word "place" is used in this sense, nor is there an instance where a man, by being buried, is said to return to his own or proper place.