# Acts 1.8

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-05-01 | updated: 2026-05-28 -->

**Book:** [Acts](/codex/acts/) · NASB95

## Verse

> <span class="rl-speech">but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.</span> (Acts 1:8, NASB95)

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**NASB95** ([NASB95](/codex/nasb95/))
> 6. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?' 7. He said to them, <span class="rl-speech">'It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;</span>
> 
> **8. <span class="rl-speech">but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.'</span>**
> 
> 9. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. (Acts 1:6-10, NASB95)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** the resurrected Jesus, in His final earthly speech.
- **Audience:** the eleven apostles, on the Mount of Olives near Bethany (cf. Lk 24:50; Acts 1:12).
- **Location:** Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem.
- **Time period:** 40 days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3), c. AD 30. Within ~10 days the Spirit will fall at Pentecost (Acts 2:1).

The verse is Jesus' last recorded speech before the Ascension. It is His direct answer to the disciples' question about kingdom restoration, and it sets the structural agenda for the rest of Acts.

## Theological reading

The verse is a single sentence with two clauses, each load-bearing.

**Clause 1, pneumatological empowerment.** "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." The mission requires the Spirit; the apostles are to wait in Jerusalem (Lk 24:49; Acts 1:4) until the Spirit comes. Mission *precedes* gifting in the disciples' anxiety, but in the divine economy gifting precedes mission. This anchors the [Pentecost](/codex/acts-2/) event ten days later as the *enabling* of the program in Clause 2. The "power" (*dynamis*, G1411) is specifically empowerment-for-witness, not mere personal sanctification.

**Clause 2, the four-zone geographic program.** "You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." The geography is not arbitrary. Each zone names a covenant-historical category:

| Zone | Geographic referent | Covenant-historical referent |
|---|---|---|
| **Jerusalem** | The capital | Davidic covenant center; site of the Temple; locus of New Covenant inauguration |
| **All Judea** | Southern hill country | Former **Southern Kingdom of Judah** (Judah + Benjamin); post-exilic returnee population |
| **Samaria** | Central hill country | Former **Northern Kingdom of Israel** (10 tribes); population scattered/intermarried after Assyrian conquest of 722 BC |
| **Remotest part of the earth** | Gentile *oikumene* | Diaspora and the nations |

**Judea = South Kingdom; Samaria = North Kingdom.** The two intermediate zones explicitly map the divided-kingdom split of 1 Kings 12. Jesus' commission re-evangelizes the broken halves of God's covenant people *before* extending to the nations. The political division of 931 BC is gospel-undone by the Spirit's mission. The geography is therefore covenant-historical, not merely missiological.

This is the answer to the disciples' question. They asked about *restoring the kingdom to Israel* (v. 6); Jesus answers that the kingdom *is* being restored, but as the regathering of both houses (Israel + Judah) under His Spirit-empowered witness, not as a Davidic political restoration of the Hasmonean type. The new-Davidic shepherd of Ezekiel 37 is reuniting the two sticks through the gospel mechanism.

**Trinitarian structure.** The Spirit empowers the witness *to* Christ *in obedience to* the Father's authority over times and epochs (v. 7). Father, Son, and Spirit each named in the immediate context, a triadic missiological commission.

**Patristic.** Eusebius (*Ecclesiastical History* I.1, c. AD 325) treats the verse as Luke's structural outline of Acts and the early-church narrative. Chrysostom (*Homilies on Acts* III, c. AD 400) emphasizes the *order*, Jerusalem first because mission begins where one is, expanding concentrically. Augustine (*Sermo* 265.2) reads the geographic zones as anticipating the universal extension of the Catholic Church.

**Reformed and modern.** Calvin (*Acts* commentary on 1:8) reads the verse as the full Great Commission complement to Mt 28:18-20, the Matthean version emphasizes the *what* (make disciples), the Acts version the *where* (geographic progression) and the *how* (Spirit empowerment). F. F. Bruce (*Acts*, NICNT, 1988) treats the verse as the explicit literary outline of the book's structure: chs. 1-7 fulfill "Jerusalem"; ch. 8 fulfills "Judea and Samaria"; chs. 9-28 fulfill "the remotest part of the earth." Darrell Bock (*Acts*, BECNT, 2007) emphasizes the kingdom-restoration answer-by-redirection.

## Acts as the literary execution of this verse

Luke structures the book as the verse's literal outworking. See [Mission Geography (Acts 1-8)](/codex/mission-geography-acts-1-8/) for the full reading.

| Acts | Zone | Pentecost-event |
|---|---|---|
| 1-7 | Jerusalem | **Jerusalem Pentecost** (2:1-4) |
| 8 | Samaria (former North Kingdom) | **Samaritan Pentecost** (8:14-17) |
| 8:26-40 | Ethiopian eunuch (boundary-crossing prelude) | (individual Spirit-baptism) |
| 10-11 | Caesarea (first Gentile household) | **Gentile / Cornelius Pentecost** (10:44-48) |
| 19:1-7 | Ephesus (former-disciples-of-John) | **Ephesian Pentecost** |
| 13-28 | Antioch → Asia → Macedonia → Greece → Rome | "remotest part of the earth" |

The four geographic Pentecosts (Jerusalem → Samaria → Caesarea → Ephesus) execute the program: every believer, regardless of ethnicity or kingdom-territory, receives the same Spirit. The verse therefore functions both as Jesus' final marching order and as Luke's table of contents.

## Connection to the Great Commission

Acts 1:8 is one of five complementary Great Commission texts; together they integrate the apostolic mission's *what*, *where*, *how*, and *why*:

- **Matthew 28:18-20**, "make disciples of all the nations", the *what* (disciple-making, Trinitarian baptism, teaching).
- **Mark 16:15**, "preach the gospel to all creation", the universal *scope*.
- **Luke 24:46-47**, "repentance for forgiveness of sins… beginning from Jerusalem", the *starting point* and *content*.
- **John 20:21-23**, "as the Father has sent Me, I also send you", the apostolic *authority pattern*.
- **Acts 1:8**, the four-zone geographic *program* and the Spirit *empowerment*.

## Connection to OT prophecy

The geographic mechanism executes named OT promises about regathering the two houses:

- **Ezekiel 37:15-28**, two sticks (Judah + Joseph/Ephraim) made one under one shepherd. Jesus is the shepherd; the gospel is the means.
- **Isaiah 11:11-12**, recovery of the remnant from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, geographically the same list as the Acts 2 Pentecost crowd.
- **Jeremiah 31:31-34**, New Covenant explicitly with "the house of Israel and the house of Judah", both halves named.
- **Joel 2:28-29**, Spirit on all flesh; Peter cites at Pentecost (Acts 2:17-18).
- **Hosea 1:10-11**, sons of Israel and sons of Judah gathered together under one leader.

## Key words

- G1411 - dynamis, *dynamis* (power), the Spirit-empowerment for witness
- [G4151 - pneuma](/codex/g4151-pneuma/), *pneuma* (Spirit), the Holy Spirit who empowers
- *G3144 - martys*, *martys* (witness), the apostolic vocation; root of "martyr"
- G1093 - gē, *gē* (earth), "the remotest part of the earth"
- G2078 - eschatos, *eschatos* (last, remotest), eschatologically loaded

## See also

- [Mission Geography (Acts 1-8)](/codex/mission-geography-acts-1-8/), the full concept hub on the four-zone covenant-historical reading
- [Pentecost](/codex/acts-2/), concept hub on the Spirit-empowerment fulfillment
- Acts 2.1-4, the Jerusalem Pentecost narrative
- [Acts 2.17-18](/codex/acts-2-17-18/), Peter's Joel-fulfillment citation
- [Matthew 28.19](/codex/matthew-28-19/), Trinitarian baptismal commission
- [John 14.26](/codex/john-14-26/), the Comforter promised, sent at Pentecost to begin the program
- John 20.22, the Spirit pre-given to the eleven
- Acts 1.5, Spirit-baptism announcement immediately preceding this verse
- [Acts 17.26](/codex/acts-17-26/), God's appointment of the times and boundaries of the nations
- [Romans Road](/codex/romans-road/), the explicit-evangelism path the geography enables
- [New Covenant](/codex/jeremiah-31-33/), Jeremiah 31's covenantal frame the mission delivers
- [Salvation of the Unevangelized](/codex/salvation-of-the-unevangelized/), the *capacity* question this mechanism addresses
- [Genesis 11](/codex/genesis-11/), Babel; the scattering Pentecost reverses

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## Quoted in

**Arguments and defeaters:**

- [Argument from Religious Experience](/codex/argument-from-religious-experience/)
- [Argument from the Proportionate-Causality Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-proportionate-causality-convergence/)
- [Causal Adequacy Argument](/codex/argument-from-the-proportionate-causality-convergence/)
- [Jesus Came Only for Israel Objection Defeater](/codex/jesus-came-only-for-israel-objection-defeater/)
- [Muhammad Not in Bible Objection Defeater](/codex/muhammad-not-in-bible-objection-defeater/)
- [Resurrection-Centric Growth Argument](/codex/resurrection-centric-growth-argument/)
- [Sacred Name Yahawah Yahawashi Required for Salvation Objection Defeater](/codex/sacred-name-yahawah-yahawashi-required-for-salvation-objection-defeater/)

**Concepts:**

- [Churches the Disciples Started](/codex/churches-the-disciples-started/)
- [Evangelism](/codex/evangelism/)
- [Jesus Said](/codex/jesus-said/), via [Acts 1.7-8](/codex/acts-1-7-8/)
- [Mission Geography (Acts 1-8)](/codex/mission-geography-acts-1-8/)
- [Pentecost](/codex/acts-2/)

**People:**

- [Elisha](/codex/elisha/)

**Lexicon:**

- [G2097 - euangelizo](/codex/g2097-euangelizo/)
- [G4151 - pneuma](/codex/g4151-pneuma/)

**Passages:**

- [Luke 1.68](/codex/luke-1-68/)

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_Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_