Salvation By Grace

21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

New Bible Commentary:

• The use of ‘chance’ to make such a major decision strikes us as odd, but there are two important things to be kept in mind.
• First, this is before the giving of the Holy Spirit, and for these Jewish people Pr. 16:33 would seem to endorse such a way of prayerfully submitting the decision-making process to God’s will.
  • Proverbs 16:33:    The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.
• Secondly, the casting of lots came only after the disciples had done their best to specify the qualifications and identify the most suitable candidates.
  • In other words, the lot was not used to decide between the 120 but between two ‘short-listed’ candidates with equal qualifications.
  • The church also made some very important decisions by calling together the parties concerned and having a meeting (see ch. 15)

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