‘And they prayed, and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show of these two the one whom you have chosen, to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.” '
Having made their final selections they committed the matter in prayer and sought God's guidance on the matter. Luke's detailing of the selection process would seem to confirm his approval of the final decision. The prayer was to the One Who knew the hearts of all men. They did not want there to be another ‘failure'. The question was therefore which of these two was chosen by God. Note their confidence that up to now their method of choice had produced the right result, and was not just the result of speculative action. The credentials of both had been thoroughly gone into and discussed.
‘This ministry and apostleship.' The Greek, presumably literally rendering the Aramaic source, is such that we might well translate ‘this apostolic ministry'. Matthias was being given a serious responsibility and was by his appointment being made a target for persecution. It was not a position to be taken up lightly. It will be noted that Peter has applied to the Apostles the three words which will later distinguish church leaders, ‘deacon, minister' (diakonia - Acts 1:17), ‘bishop, overseer' (episkope - Acts 1:20) and ‘apostleship' (apostole). Eventually these Apostolic duties would be shared out.