Arator — Commentary on Scripture

Acts 1:3

Now, by manifest miracles during forty days in their sight, the Lord confirmed the faith of those whom he bade to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth in its wide boundary. The wonders of creation could not conceal God. What proof [of his real humanity] could the Risen One give so surely as the fact of eating? Human bodies show that they live by this means. About to go to heaven, he went forth to walk round the grove of olive because by its sacred bud it is a place of light and peace. He wished to return [to heaven] from that place, from which the divine fragrance makes agreeable a gleaming person with signed forehead. Since chrism, from the name of Christ, cleanses inwardly those anointed from above, he who will return as victor was raised to the starry firmament and had with him what he had taken on.

ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1

Acts 1:9

[And] let us commend the manner of his rule through the powers that are subject to him: born of a virgin mother, rising again by treading upon death, seeking the scepter of heaven. He announces [such] deeds by these [angelic] servants. Nor do the elements cease to serve their thunderer. In his honor as he is coming, a star does service as a soldier, going before the magi. A cloud waits upon him in obedience as he goes.

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Acts 1:14

They sought by a swift path, with which it was possible to go a mile on their sabbath, the well-known walls where Mary, the gateway of God, the virgin mother of her Creator, formed by her own son, was sitting at a religious gathering. The second virgin put to flight the woes of Eve’s crime; there is no harm done to the sex; she restored what the first took away. Let grief not raise up complaints or vex mourning hearts with groaning over the old law; these very forms of wickedness and crime rather cause delight at this bargain, and a better lot comes to the redeemed world from the fall. The person, not the nature [of a woman], caused ruin; in those days [of Eve] a pregnant woman [brought forth] peril. In these [of Mary] one grew great to bring forth God, the one begetting mortal things and the other bearing divine—she through whom the Mediator came forth into the world and carried actual flesh to the heavens.

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Acts 1:15

Foremost among the band of apostles, Peter had been called from his small boat; the scaly throng were wont to be caught by this fisher; suddenly, seen from the shore as he drew [his nets], he himself deserved to be drawn; Christ’s fishing deigned to seize a disciple who must stretch the nets which are to catch the human race. To the hand that had borne the fishhook was transferred the key. He who had been eager to shift the dripping booty from the depths of the sea to the shore and to fill the craft with spoils, now in another area draws from the better waves [of baptism]; no longer pursuing his profits through the waters, he forsakes his profession. To him the Lamb entrusted the sheep which he saved by his passion; and he enlarges his flock throughout the whole world under this shepherd.

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Acts 1:16

Twelve constellations of the [stellar] choir shine and cast the brilliance of Olympus on the earth. Note what realization this light reveals: The world is divided by the regions of its four sides; a triune faith calls this [world to belief], in whose name [the world] is washed in the font. Therefore, four taken together three times makes up the whole figure which the twelvefold order possesses, and to the devout disciples, to whom this baptism is commanded, a mystic reason gave cause for making up again the former number.

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Acts 1:19

This revenge on Judas is not empty. It denies funeral rites and comes thus as acceptable punishment for an unjust income. He had lately bought fields with the price of his death. He had purchased ground with the name of Blood, reusing tombs for foreign ashes, [appearing to] make the earth fruitful by means of the graves; this wicked one is denied the fertility of his own field and is alone excluded from the lands which bear sepulchers. His cruel trumpet [voice] began the gory wickedness. He is the standard bearer who, by planting a kiss, by a sign of peace, waged war as a wolf on the Lamb.

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Acts 1:23

They choose two: Joseph, surnamed the Just, and Matthias—a name, as they say, that means “God’s small one” in the Hebrew language, and by calling [him, God] confirms him as humble. Oh, how different are human from heavenly judgments! He who was just according to the praise of humankind is surpassed by the merit of a small one.

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Acts 2:3

A matter of greatest importance compels [me] not to keep silent long as to why it is that the fostering Spirit is given to them as flame [but] at the River Jordan as a dove; I shall fitly sing this [mystery], and I shall fulfill the promises owed if [the Spirit] brings his gifts. These two signs are allegories that there should be simplicity, which very appropriately [this] bird loves, [and] that, lest [this simplicity] be sluggish [and] grow lukewarm without the fire of doctrine, there should also be faith that has been kindled. There [in the Jordan] he appointed by means of the waters [that they be] of one mind; here [with fire] he bids that they teach with flaming words. Love presses hard upon their minds; zeal burns in their words.

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Acts 2:8-11

Long after the old ark had overcome the waters of the sea, malicious people wished to extend their tower [of Babel] into heaven. In them, irreligious hearts divided the forms of their speech, and the good will in these arrogant confederates perished with their voice. At that time there was a confusion of language for a homogenous race; now there is one [language] for many since [that language] rejoices at the appearance of the coming church, [a language that] will have harmonious sounds; and [the church] brings about a return of eloquence in peace for the obedient [apostles], and the humble order gathers again what arrogant people scattered.

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Acts 2:13

Also, the error that they are moved by new wine is, by allegorical reasoning, the truth—the intoxicating teaching of heaven has filled them from a fresh spring. New vessels have taken on new liquid and are not spoiled by the bitter [liquid] that filled the old vats, [the new vessels] drinking in from the vine which, with Christ as the cultivator, gave a banquet in words [and] from which those waters that he transformed are red, and he made the poor flavor of the [old] law boil in the books of the church.

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Acts 2:15

The third hour became celebrated by the heavenly sayings: the one God has this number, a single Substance distinguished by three Persons; [a Substance] that many proofs demonstrate to us is also at the same time demonstrated by the hour.

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Acts 2:23

Also, permitting himself to suffer in accordance with the law of flesh born from the womb of a mother, he himself preferred to die in order that the world might not lose life. But that which was born of a child-bearing virgin, that died. Innocent, he was hung from a tree, and the burden of the tree [of Adam] was removed. Thus the wound of the unrighteous [Adam] became the medicine of God.

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Acts 3:2

The feeble man is laid at the Beautiful Gate. The poor man is not strong enough to go farther or to touch the threshold of the gate. His guilt denies him entrance. Who are those accustomed to carry Israel, lame in its heart, and who strive to bring it to the gate [called] beautiful, which signifies Jesus by its name? Isaiah, Daniel, and those like them who proclaim with prophetic voice in obscure [words] the manifest miracles of Christ; and he who has the name of the gate thus himself warns, “I am the gate for you; he who refuses to enter through me will be a guilty thief.”

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Acts 3:5

Hope disappointed the greedy prayer [for alms], but when [hope] withholds [one thing], it has better things in store. How often things despaired of are helpful to burdened people, and prosperity, born from an inauspicious seed, concealing its joyful nearness by sorrowful beginnings, comes in answer to prayer! The needy man will rejoice to have acquired more from an empty hand; he himself, asking for gifts, has been given to himself.

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Acts 3:11

After the threshold of the temple, the Porch of Solomon, who is rightly called Peacemaker, holds him [the lame man]. In the reign of faith, who will always be Peacemaker in the world except Christ? He protects all who please him under the guidance of Peter, by whose leadership they stand up.

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Acts 4:31

The power of the apostles’ words, which made those created from earth have faith, altered and set in motion the ground; but as to the fact that the one place leaped and was shaken more [than others], Scripture announced that beautiful [are the] feet that bring peace; therefore the joyful earth was moved under the tread of them [the apostles] to whom peace was given by the word of the holy Master. Transported through them, it has gone out into all lands with its swift favor.

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Acts 4:33

Generous one, you do not do these things as a seller of property, but, ambitious one, as one who wishes to keep his privileges, and you abandon for a short time what you desire to be yours forever. Thus, to scatter the fields was [really] the desire not to be in need; for of what advantage is property that perishes even though it is guarded? Whoever loses it has it to greater advantage laid up in the citadel of heaven. Seek there, creditor, the wealth of greater interest and lay up treasures where they can suffer no loss; there no misfortune wears away perpetual wealth; you will possess everlastingly what you cause the Lord to owe.

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Acts 5:4

But inasmuch as a changed intention bears the crime of deceit, and when there is, moreover, confirmation of a promise, it is proper to stand firm and not wish to violate what was first [promised] by what follows; it is more just to preserve a permanent right than to withdraw it. The punishment of the two established a warning for all, lest anyone should call [back] gifts which a solemn promise requires him to owe. Reflect, you of true faith, and consider the words of Peter, which are bright with blessed teaching, “Whoever persuaded you to be deceitful?” And he concluded by judging, “You do not deceive people by saying such things; you lie to God.” The teaching that condemns the wicked strengthens the holy.

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Acts 5:15

We dwell in the church on earth, which, no one may doubt, signifies a heavenly [church]; but that is more truly [the church] which, at rest above the stars, is called celestial and high. This [earthly church], which is seen in the brief career of an uncertain world, is appointed as the way of life and in this [present] time directs to the eternal [church] those whom it gathers, and to those found acceptable it is the road for going from here to heavenly things. Peter rules both armies, and for their lot he gives the stars to those squadrons led from here, as has been revealed by the words of God, “What you have loosed,” he said, “and what you bind on earth thus remain bound or loosed in heaven.” This [church] that we see cultivated on soil, therefore, will be a type; what the clouds carry is firm. Peter, ruling both, designs there the body and here the shadow, in order that those sick people whom he freed from vices and offenses might be led unharmed to it [the church above], which endures in heaven [and] will receive the holy throngs cleansed by this [earthly church].

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Acts 5:19

If anyone in addition considers Thomas, with his feeble heart, let him seek teaching from this: seeing that the closed door, being penetrated, admitted God then, is it astonishing if [Christ], in the flesh, approaches a gate in this manner, [he] whom a virgin bore, whom the unviolated womb of his mother conceived? What reason, I ask, was there to take human flesh unless it was to resurrect it? Returning after that, he presents his side for a witness and teaches that the ashes of our body must be made new by the example of his own, proving they are his limbs by their wounds.

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