Acts 1:1–1:5, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Acts 1:1–1:5
The risen Jesus prepares the witnesses
The second volume begins with the risen Jesus still teaching
Acts opens by recalling the first account of all that Jesus began to do and teach until he was taken up. The same addressee, Theophilus, is named, so the books are linked as a two-volume work. The narrator does not sign an author's name in the text. What he does claim is that Jesus presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appeared for forty days, and spoke of the kingdom of God.
The apostles are not left to invent a mission. They are instructed witnesses, commanded to wait in Jerusalem for the Father's promise: they will be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days later. John's water baptism is the contrast, not a dismissal of John's work. The forty days belong to this narrator's theological historiography. They are not a laboratory proof a later reader can rerun on demand.
Waiting is part of witness, not a pause in the story
The risen Jesus prepares people before they speak. Power is promised as gift, not seized as technique. Kingdom teaching continues after Easter; the church does not begin by replacing Jesus with a program.
How this should shape us
Treat the church's beginning as Jesus' unfinished work rather than a human startup. Wait for God's promised gift instead of manufacturing urgency, and do not treat Luke's forty-day report as a private timetable you can prove or disprove on command.
Teach it back
Explain Acts 1:1–1:5 in your own words, naming its movement, speaker or narrator role, one source-controlled detail, one uncertainty, one affected person, and one conclusion the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible interpreters differ?
Best judgment: Authorship is anonymous in the text; the shared addressee and opening link make Luke-Acts a two-volume work, while the forty-day report is the narrator's theological historiography rather than independently repeatable proof.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Acts 1:1–1:5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
SBLGNT official text, Acts 1:1-1:5
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 1:1-1:5
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 1:1–1:5
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'The Church Begins in Jerusalem,' Acts 1-4 study guide
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 1:1–1:5
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 1:1–1:5, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 1:1–1:5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 1:1-1:5
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 1:1-1:5
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 1:1–1:5
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'The Church Begins in Jerusalem,' Acts 1-4 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 1:1–1:5
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract and metadata
The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish
Joshua Paul Smith
The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 1:1–1:5, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗