
As we might expect, Peter suggests that there needs to be a replacement. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and then felt enough remorse to take his own life, but they rest their faith in the idea that there must be an even twelve. After all, the prophecy in Psalm 109:8 says, “May another take his office.”
Two men, Matthias and Joseph are selected as candidates. Scripture doesn’t give any information about them, but they do qualify under Peter’s stated standards in Acts 1. According to Peter in verses 21f, a replacement must be a man who accompanies them “all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among” the apostles, “beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from” them. Peter says, “[O]ne of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” We don’t know much about Matthias and Joseph, but we do understand that they have been faithful disciples of Jesus.
The group prays and then, strangely, they cast lots to discern who the replacement will be. We do the same to break ties today. We roll the dice. We pick a number between one and ten. We play Rock/Paper/Scissors. Incidentally, why does rock always get to be mentioned first? Rock/Paper/Scissors isn’t even in alphabetical order. Someone must have had a tie breaker to decide. Maybe it just sounds better than Paper/Rock/Scissors.
Anyway, they cast lots and the lot falls to Matthias…and that’s all we know about Matthias from Scripture. It’s almost all we know about the man not chosen though: we also know that Joseph has other names - Justus and Barsabbas. Some say that Joseph - this man not chosen - is “Judas who was called Barsabbas” in Acts 15:22, where it says, “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers…”
Now that we’re caught up on these two with every bit of information the Bible shares with us about them, is there anything to learn from these men? I suppose the best thing to learn is that both of these men remained faithful to the mission and faithful to Christ and the church. We all serve in different ways, but each of those ways is important in the body of Christ. We, too, must dedicate our lives to Him and remain faithful.
Another thing to consider is that these two men were ready to step in and step up to the role that was emptied by Judas Iscariot. My dad always told me that if offered the opportunity to serve, I should take that opportunity. Sometimes that can be scary. There are times when we feel inadequate to take on a certain role, but we can always try. We can always develop skills. No one should require a streamlined demeanor our first time out of the gate.
In all of this, we learn that everything operates on God’s timetable and not our own. That’s certainly true for Paul. It has been suggested that Peter, with all of his pretentious personality, jumped the gun in leading the group to install Matthias as the replacement for Judas. They argue that Jesus was the only one who could select apostles and that Jesus directly calls Saul, a persecutor of Christians, to fill the gap. Saul certainly does not fit the requirements that Peter put forth: he’s not a follower of Jesus at all.
Saul is first mentioned in Acts 7:58 and 8:1. A good Christian man named Stephen is being stoned to death. In the next chapter, the church is being persecuted and driven out of Jerusalem, and this guy, Saul, is appointed to go to Damascus and continue the persecution there.
As he gets closer to Damascus, Saul is blinded by a bright light - literally blinded - and Jesus speaks to him from Heaven. Jesus tells the man to find and get further instructions from a man named Ananias.
He prays. As a staunch and strict Jew, Saul (who becomes Paul) has prayed before, but now, for the first time, he prays through Jesus Christ. This blind man must still have tears filling his eyes for the next days of his journey.
And yet, Ananias tells Paul that he is not yet saved. It’s the biggest argument I can find for a belief and prayer not being a completion of the steps to forgiveness of sin. Paul admits his guilt and repents, but Ananias says he is still not saved. How afraid must Ananias be when he confronts this former enemy of the church and says, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name.” Paul has been “calling on His name” for three days. He has now confessed his faith in Jesus, yet Ananias says he has not been forgiven. When our friends want to preach faith only to us, the account in Acts 22 compels us to understand that obedience is more than a statement of belief. Submission is the only way to call on His name. Paul, of course, follows the instruction and spends the rest of his life teaching about Jesus and solidifying the church.
Can we learn from Paul? I should hope so! Paul writes 13 of the 27 New Testament books. He also wrote letters to individuals and churches that we don’t have in our Bibles. Some believe he also wrote the book of Hebrews. So with all of that inspired content, I should hope there is something in there for us.
Many in the church present Paul in such a manner that it seems like he’s the replacement for Jesus Himself and not just another apostle in the lineup. Paul is not perfect, but like Matthias and Joseph, Paul is faithful.
Listen to his own self-reflection in Romans 7:14-25: he says, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me.
“I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
Even this great man, Paul, says that he continues to do the things he knows he shouldn’t and that he doesn’t do the things he knows he should. If Paul is a “wretched man”, what am I? What are you? Paul helps us figure that out too: in Romans 3:23, he proclaims that all have sinned, and in Romans 6:1-10, he teaches us to stretch ourselves out as far as we can to reach God’s standard of perfection. He gets us to the idea that repentance, baptism, and the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice are absolutely and forever connected.
Likewise, Paul preaches to himself as much as he does to the church when he continually talks about humility. As an athlete, Paul applies the principles of a workout to spiritual life in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, saying in verse 27, “I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” David Laton wrote, “Throughout Paul's writings, he teaches us to prepare for service to God in this lifetime with the view that what really matters is being prepared for judgment. Paul takes the principles of godly living and teaches us what they look like in real-time. We spend a lifetime learning how to apply the teachings of Jesus as Paul instructs us in the New Testament.”
We can’t be sure how Matthias died. Some traditions say he was stoned and then beheaded, while Hippolytus of Rome claims that he died in Jerusalem of old age. Paul’s death, on the other hand, is well recorded by history. In his writings to Timothy, Titus, and others, Paul anticipates his death. For example, in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, he writes, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
If we look at the historical accounts outside of Scripture, we find that this great apostle was apparently beheaded around the same time that Peter is crucified (AD 64-66). That makes sense since it was against the law to execute a Roman citizen by crucifixion.