Judas and the Choice of Matthias: A Study on Context and Concern of Acts 1:15-26

Intended as a sequel to the author’s doctoral dissertation entitled The Ascension of the Messiah in Lukan Christology (1997), this volume seeks to determine the place of Judas Iscariot and his death in the Lukan writings, especially in the episode about the choice of his successor (Acts 1:15-26). After delineating the status quaestionis, it treats the Judas-Matthias pericope in Acts 1:15-26 with reference to its context and background, structure and form, tradition and form (two chapters), and content and concerns. A thirteen-page appendix considers the text and its transmission. Zwiep concludes that the story of the choice of Judas’ successor provided Luke with a solution to the problem of the delay of the parousia. Now that the twelve eschatological thrones were filled, the eschatological promises of Jesus would stand, all the more so since the expectation of an imminent end had strongly intensified due to the events of A.D. 70, the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple [NTAbstr 49:2 (2005): 406].