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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at|http: //books .google .com/I I i I i ■ J Westminster Commentaries £ditsd by Wai/hbr ]^ock D.D. or BOLT ■OBirTUU V THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES .A BE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES AN EXPOSITION BT RICHARD BELWARD RACKHAM M.A. or m oomnnnTT or ms EUUBftsunon SECOND EDITION METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STEEET W.O. LONDON I Q 'jlj I 1 Of-' f^^yrUuXu id^i/UfTrf First Published Octobtr, 1901. Second Editian, 1904. mi v.-tl PREFACE THE form of this commentary upon The Acts of the Apostles requires some words of explanation. Instead of breaking up the comment into disjointed notes, an attempt has been made to give a continuous interpretation which the reader can read straight on without interruption, just as he would read the book of The Acts itself. The aim has been simply to ascertain the meaning of the original text and to add the necessary infor- mation. Thus the commentary is practically a paraphrase of The Acts J in which the words of the text commented upon are distinguished by being printed in italics, and such general information or discussion as is required from time to time is inserted in the paraphrase in separate paragraplis: further illustration which the reader can leave on one side is relegated to footnotes. If, however, this method on the one hand aims at consulting the reader's convenience, on the other it is liable to err on the side of length and repetition, from which faults this commentary can hardly claim to be free. In the choice of this method, the idea was not absent that the book might not only serve the purpose of a commentary upon a text^ but be in some small way a contribution to early church history. The readers kept in view have been, in accordance with the general intention of the series, the educated English public who are not, technically speaking, ^scholars' or 'students': and this has carried with it some consequences. Thus the use of Qreek has been avoided as much as possible. Again, as the V vi PREFACE aim has been simply to ascertain the meaning of the te it has not been thought necessary to discuss or even to menti all the rejected interpretations of a passage, or to give the histc of the various views. Of course it is not always possible 1 the commentator himself to understand the meaning of a passa or to make up his mind between rival views, and therefc discussion at times is necessary. But I would refer those read( who desire a full exegesis of the text to the exhaustive coi mentary upon The Acts which has recently issued from t pen of Professor Knowling in The Expositor's Greek Testanu (Hoddcr and Stoughton, 1900) : I do not think that the mer of this work can be better described than by the wo *' exhaustive.' The same reason has also led me to abstain frc giving much reference to authorities. For this I may be blame But I do not advance any claim to originality, and studen will without difficulty recognize the chief sources of the vie^ adopted or information given. Perhaps, however, I ought make special mention of the names of Professor Blass^ ai Professor Ramsay*. It will also be evident that the investigation of critic questions is beyond the scope of a work of this characte Accordingly I have not discussed the various theories as to tl composition of The Acts which have been recently advanced i Germany or elsewhere. For my own part a careful study of th text by itself, apart from commentaries, has left upon my min a deep impression of the unity of the book. It is true the in The Acts there can be detected differences of style an language, pointing to difierent sources or authorities whic have been finally put together by the hands of some compile! But the remarkable coincidences and similarities of diction which are to be found throughout shew that the final edito ^ in particular for his oommentaiy, published at Gottingen, 1895, and for hi edition of the Acts in its ' Boman form/ Leipzic, 1896. ' in particular for h| Church in the Roman Empire (Hodder and Btoughton, 1893) and Paul the Travelli and Roman Citizen (H. and b. 1895); and also for the Cities and Bishoprics ^ Pkrygia (Clarendon Press, 1895-7). N PREFACE vu iras no mere compiler but an author, who has either freely reyiaed, or written down in his own language, the information supplied to him : the selection of incident^ moreover, and the arrangement of the different paxts of the book, shew that he was an author with a personality of his own which is impressed upon his work. Further, it is no less evident to me that this author must be the same as the final editor of Tlie Gospel {according to 8. Luke : and, as will appear in the Introduction, I can find no adequate reasons for calling in question the testimony of tradition that this writer was S. Luke. Having this conviction, I have thought it sufficient — and sufficiently honest to the reader — to call attention in the commentary to the more obvious differences of style, at the same time vindicating their compatibility with the Lucan authorship, and to leave to scholars the fuUer investigation of the sources of The Acts and its relation to the problem of the composition of the Gospels. A few words must be added in explanation of the footnotes. Besides the ordinary use of footnotes for reference to authorities and the discussion of details, these also serve other purposes. Thus they are meant to supply the place of ' marginal references,' which can be studied by those who have the leisure. The number of such references may be thought excessive ; but they are due to the conviction that the best commentary on a book of the Bible is first the book itself, and then the rest of the Bible, and I only regret that the text has not been sufficiently illustrated by references to the Old Testament If the English reader is at times puzzled by a reference, its significance pro- bably depends upon the original Greek. Again, many cross- references in The Acts ij^ also references to S. Luke's Gospel) which seem to be merely verbal have been given with a view to illustrate the unity and structure of the book. The footnotes on the text contain, besides the marginal notes of the Revised Version, the more important variations of reading in the Greek texts, of which the reader ought not to be left in ignorance. The rest have been added mainly for the further elucidation of vffi PREFACE the text or their own interest These reasons also account the frequent quotations from the Bezan text^ which may prov critidsm. But^ whatever may be our conclusion as to the ori of that text, the interest of many of its readings is undoubtec In accordance with the rule of this series, the Revi Version has been adopted for the text However much 1 Version may be open to criticism or have fallen short of ideal of a version, it must be allowed to be a much clo representation of the original Greek than the Authorized Versi And in a commentary whose express aim is to ascertain for readers as &r as possible the exact meaning of a book, the fi requirement is that it should supply them with a version fitithful to the original as possible. For permission to vary, in other respects, both in form w method from the scheme of the Oxford Commentaries, I oi my warm thanks to the Editor and to the Publishers of tl series. In addition I wish to thank the Editor, Dr Lock, mo cordially and gratefully, for the i)atience with which he has ref and corrected this commentary both in manuscript and pnx To another friend, Mr Walter Worrall, I am very deeply indebtc for similar labour in reading the proofe and for much valuab criticism which I here gratefuUy acknowledga Professor Ramsa has very kindly allowed me to make use of the map which h gives in his Paul the Traveller : this reprint has the advantag of his latest corrections, and here I express my cordial thanbi Had this commentary been suitable for a dedication, I shoul like to have inscribed upon its front page the names of tb Rev. Charles Gore, and the Rev. R C. Moberly, as a smal acknowledgment that to their teaching is due whatever d theological truth may be found in these pages. R R R S. Bartholomsufs Day^ 1901 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PlOE hapter I The Book § 1 «te history . ziii ^ % iU author xv § 3 tto unity xvii § 4 tte text xzi 3iapter II The Author § 1 Am history xxvii § 2 Aif character xxxii Siapter III The Composition of the Acts % \ the auihof's aim ...... xxxviii § 2 Am sources xli § 3 Au trustworthiness xliv § 4 Am method xlvii ^ b the date of publication 1 Chapter IV The History qf the Acts ^ \ the political and social environment . • • Iv ^ 2 the analysis of the history Ixi ^ 3 the chronology Ixv CSiapter V The Theology of the Acts ^ I the theology Ixix ^ 2 the soteriology Ixxvi ^ Z the divine will Ixxviii Chapter VI TTie Church and Ministry in the Acts § 1 general survey of the history Ixxix § 2 ojlces and ministries xo Tie Analysis qf the Acts cix Chronological Table cxii Addenda cxvi CONTENTS THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES PART I THE ACTS OF PETER PAOE Division I Tlks beginnings qf the Church at Jerusalem . . 3 ch. i 3 ch. ii 16 ch. iii 47 ch. iv 55 ch. V 64 Division H The extension qf the Church to Antioch ... 81 ch. vi 81 ch. vii 95 ch. viii 110 cli- ut 128 ch. X 148 ch. xi ICO Division HI The * passing' qf Peter 171 ch. xii 175 PART II THE ACTS OF PAUL Division I The work qf Paul and Barnabas . . , .187 cli- ^i 188 c^ ^v 228 ^^- ^ 243 <5^ ^ 262 Division II Extension qf the Church in the Roman Empire (xvi 6) 271 c^ ^vjl 294 ch. xviii •••••..... 3-)2 <^^^ ! 345 Division III The * passing' qf Paul {x\x 21) .... 353 ch. XX 37Q ch. zxi •••••••.,. 397 ch. xxii 41<) CONTENTS xi Division III 7%e * passing' qf Paid {continued) TAOlt ch. zxiii 431 ch. xxiv 442 ch. XXV . 453 ch. xxvi 465 ch. xxvii 479 ch. xxviii • • • • 491 Index 515 Map of the Eastebn Mediteubanean 514 AND THE WAUi OP THE CITY HAD TWELVE FOUNDATIONS AND ON THEM TWELVE NAMES OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES OF THE LAMB THOU ART PETER : AND UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH HE IS A CHOSEN VESSEL UNTO ME, TO BEAR MY NAME LUKE THE BELOVED PHYSICLVN ABBREVIATIONS N.B. In the commentary words of the text or their eaaivalent printed in italics. OT, NT = Old Testament, New Testament LXX =the Septuagint Version AV, RV=the Authorized Version, the Bevuicd Version TR =the Received Text WH =Westcott and Hort's text (Camb. 1890^ Marg = margin (of the RV) Gk = Greek Bezan «tho Bczan text (pp. xxiii-vi) %* The Bezan readings are taken from Codex Bozao, or from Professor Bl restoration of the text in his Acta Apostolarum iecnndum farmam q videtur romanam^ Leipzic, 1896. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I The Book We can haidly oyerestimate the importance of Tlis AcU qfthe ApoiUet. After the Qospel according to S. Luke, it is the longest book in the New Teetament More than this, it is our chief authority, whether within or without the Bible, for the history of the founding of the church and its early growth. To it we owe almost all we know of the first spreading of Chris- tianity in Syria and its arrival in Asia Minor and Europe ; of the original gospel preached by the apostles ; of the life and work of S. Peter, B. Stephen, and (apart from the notices in his epistles) of S. Paul. Such an authority calls for Tcry careful study ; and first we must oiuimine tho book itsell § 1 /ite history The oldest copies of our book of the Acts are contained in the oldest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament Of these there are two which were written in the fourth century, viz. the celebrated Codex Vaticanus or B, and Codex Sinaiticus or K. In B our book is found after the Gospel of S. John under the heading PRAXEIS APOSTOLdN or THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES: in K, with the simpler title PRAXEIS or ACTS\ it comes after S. Paul's epistles. Besides these two manuscripts, about eight other undal M88, written between the fifth and tenth centuries, contain the Acts — bat in a more or less incomplete condition; for only two mss (A and S) contain an entire copy. After the ninth century minuscule Greek icss take the place of uncials, and among these have been counted about 370 copies of the Acts. > Bot the faller title oceurs in the subBcription of the book and U by the original hand: see Br J. Armitage Robinson in Eulhaliawi {TexU dt Studies m 3) p. 16. xiv THE BOOK ch. i Besides Greek manoscripts, there are manuscript versions of the scriptures, which will carry our history of the Acts still further back. For though the existing copies of the versions were written later than e.g. B and K, the original versions of which they are copies may have been made earlier ; and in the case of the Acts we have grounds for believing that it was translated into Syriac, Coptic, and Latin, during the course of the third century, if not before. After B and K the most important Greek mss of the Acts are two written in the fifth oentuiy, Codex Alexandrimu (A) now in the British Maseum, and Codex Epkraemi (0), a palimpsest ua at Paris : and then two mss of the sixth century, Codex Bezae (D) at Cambridge, and Codex LatuLiamu (E) at Oxford. The special interest of D will appear below. The other uncial authorities are Codex Laurensis ii (S) at Mt AthoB, of the eighth century: Codices MutinensU (H| at Modena, Angeliau (L) at Bome, and Porphyriantu (P) at S. Petersburg, which date only from the ninth century: and some fragments. The ordinary Stbuo version is the Peskitta. This version was made in the fourth or fifth century and was probably a revision of earlier translations. Only slight traces however of the Acts in an earlier form have been found ; but there ia evidence^ for a Syriac translation of the Acts as early as the beginning of the third century. In the sixth century a revision of the Peshitta itself was made, which received its final form in a.d. 616 from Thomas of Harkel. It is known as the Philoxenian or Harkleian Syriac, and is important for containing so many * western readings,' on which see below, p. xxiiL The chief versions of the NT into Gopno are the Bohairie of Alexandria and lower Egypt, and the Sahidic of upper Egypt. The Bohairie is probably not older than the sixth or seventh century, but ttie Sahidic may date from the fourth or even the third century; and fragments of translations into other dialects, perhaps as early or earlier, have been and are still being found. The present Litxn Vulgate version was made by S. Jerome between the years 383 and 405. Previous to this edition there had not been a fixed version for the whole Latin-speaking church, and the manuscripts of trans- lations previous to the Vulgate whicui have come down to us differ very widely from one another. They, again, are very important for their evidence as to the * western readings.' The Acts was first printed in Greek in 1514 by Cardinal Ximenes for his ' Ooxnplutensian edition ' of the scriptures : but it was first published in Erasmus' New Testament in 1516. In English the first printed edition was that of Tyndale, in 1525: the 'Authorized Version' was published in 1611, Uie 'Bevised Version' in 1881. In ascertaining the date and history of a book besides mss and versions there is another source of information open to us, Le. its use by other writers. And this will often carry us a good way behind our manuscripts. For instance Tertullian of Carthage and Clement of Alexandria, who botli flourished about a.i>. 200, quote the Acts frequently, under the titles {the) Acts or (the) Acta qf{the) Apostles, Still more important is the use made of it by S. Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons : in his work Against the heresies, written between 174 and 189, he quotes or summarizes whole chapters. The list of the books of the New Testament known as the MurcUorian Canon, which was probably drawn up between 170 and 200, describes the Acts in its usual place. The earliest undoubted quotation from the Acts to which we can ^ e.g. in the tenth canon of the Syriac Doctrine of the Apoatlea (of the early fourth century). For this and other information in this paragraph I am indebted to Mr F. C. Borkitt. |1 ITS HISTORY XV point ocean in the letter of the chnrches of Vienne and Lyons which was addresaed to the churches of Asia and Phrygia in a.d. 177. In giving an Moount of the terrible persecution the churches had endured, the letter describes the martyrs as ' praying like Stephen the perfect martyr, Lordy lay noi this iin to their charge* But the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament, those of the Apostolic Fathers, contain many reminiscences and echoes as it were of the language of the Acts. That we do not find more definite quotations in early times need not surprise us. Very little of the Christian literature of the first two centuries has come down to us ; so there is not a large field in which to look for quotations. Further, it would take some time for a book of the character of the Acts to win its way into the Canon and become recognized as an authority. It was not always (nor eren usually) copied with the Gospels, and we may infer that in the early centuries it was not very widely known. Even in the fourth century, when beginning a course of sermons upon the Acts, S. Chrysostom speaks of the book as being familiar to yery few. In 8. ChMHSBtT'B epistle, written about a.d. 95, we read to whom Ood taid I have fimmd a mum after my heart, David the ton ofJeste (oh. 18), a collooation which elsewhere is found ozfiy in Acts xiii 22 : more gladhy giving than receiving (2) and egfteiaUg remembering the worde of the Lord Jetut which he tpake (18) remind us of Acta XX 86 : with let him give tfurnke to Ood being in a good comcienee (41) com- pare Aets xxiii 1 : with {Peter) went to lUe due place of glory and (Paul) went to the haHiy piaee (5) op. Acts i 25. S. Ignatius also, writing about a.d. 115, has a paialM to Judas' going to hit own place, viz. and each it about to go to hu own place {Magnet, 5). His statement that after the returrection {the Lord) ate with them ana drank with them at being offleth {Smym. 8) seems based on Acts X 41. More striking evidence of famiUarity with the Acts is to be found in 8. PoLTOAap*s letter to the Philinpians, written a few years after 8. Ignatius' death. In this short letter we find all these phrases — whom God raited having looeed the paint of Hadet, who it coming at judge of quick and dead, remembering what the Lard taid, the prophett which preached before of the coming of our Lord, if we tufer became of the name, may he give you part and lot (op. Acts ii 24, x 42, XX 86, ni 58, T 41, viii 21). In the account of S. Polycarp's own martyrdom a.i>. 156, we read that though he could have gone away to another place, yet he refuted, tmyin§ ^the will of Ood be done' (op. Acts xxi 14). The knowledge of the eventa narrated in the Aots is at tiie base of most of the apocryphal Acts and 8toiies of the Apostles whioh were composed in great numbers in the second and centuries. § 2 /t« author Who was the author of the Acts ? To this question, so important to us, no u given by the book itself. Nor is any name given in its title in the Qreek manuscripts before the tenth century : we simply read THJS ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. The very first verses however tell us that the book is the continuation of a former volume. And this volume can be none other than that which is entitled KATA LOUKAN or {THE GOSPEL) AC- CORDING TO LUKE. Both books begin with a similar preface : both are addre«ed to the same person, the kratistos Theophiloe {mat excellent TkscphUui) : and the style and vocabulary of both are so much alike, that we shoold have coucluded independently that they came from the same pen. If xvi THE BOOK then & Luke was the author of the Gospel which bears his name, he ale the second volume or the Acts of the Apostles. This is also the yiew of tradition. Certainly Clement of Alei TertuUian, and Irenaeus, all speak of LUCAS or S. Luke as the auth there was no doubt upon the subject. The Muratorian Canon tells the act$ qf all the apottlei were written in one book: Luke compile for the most excellent Theophiliu because they severally took place presence, i The book of the Acts itself however contains independent eviden S. Luke was its writer. In xvi 10 the pronoun we appears, and the ni is continued in the first person to verse 17. The we reappears in xx 6, i use of the first person is more or less continuous till the end of th (xxviii 16). This shews that the writer was at these times (at least) company of S. Paul. Now from S. Paul's epistles we can draw up a lisl companions during or shortly after the latter period. The Epistles Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon, were written duri apostle's first imprisonment at Rome, and from them we learn thai were with him — ^Epaphroditus and Epaphras; Timothy, Tychicus, Arist and Mark ; Jesus Justus, Luke, and Demas. The first two joined hit his arrival at Rome and so are excluded from the claim to authon the Acts. The next four are excluded by their mention in the Acts, by his subsequent abandonment of the apostle (II Tim iy 10), and ' left with Jesus Justus and Luke. S. Paul's last epistle, the seoc Timothy, written from Rome just before the close of his life, gives ui fiurther names. Of these some are Roman Christians and recent friends apostle (Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia) ; others have appeared in th (Prisca, Aquila, Erastus, and Trophimus) ; and we are left with Cresoens, and Luke. Crescens and Jesus Justus may now be eliminated. There hint of their having been specially intimate with S. Paul, or in his comp early as the second journey (ch. xvi). The case is different with Titus, was most intimately connected with the apostle ; he was * his own child fiuth' ; and in the innermost circle of S. Paul's disciples Titus shared tl place with Timothy. There is indeed no direct evidence that he wat 8. Paul during the 'we' periods of the Acts. But he was with the a at the council of Jerusalem (Gal ii 1), which was just before the first p and we are led on to notice the further surprising fact that this imp minister of the apostle is not once mentioned in the Acts at all An inference would be that he himself was the author of the book ; or if tra is right in calling the author ' Luke,' that he and Luke are identical, am like the Titus Justus of xviii 7, Luke's real name was Titus Lucas. Cei the Epistle to Titus is just such an one as S. Paul might have written to S. and the identification would throw a wonderful light on the history. Ten however or even fascinating as it is, this hypothesis must be rejected in f the decisive evidence of II Tim iv 10 {Titus is gone to Dalmatia; only is with me) that Titus and Luke were distinct persons. Finding thi $3 ITS AUTHOR xvii ijral daimuit, we accept the voice of tradition which is tmanimouB in ascribing tbeOoqiei and Acta to S. Lake : and the more readily, aa there waa no other NHon why 8. Lake should have been selected He is otherwise practically m mknown person. We have only two brief notices of him in the NT ; and theie entirely agree with the hypothesis of his authorship. Only Luke U vsUh im(2 Tim iv 10)-Hind certainly the Acts is stamped with fidelity to S. Paul. iMkn the beloved phyeician (Col iv 14) — ^and certainly, the hint once given us, vecui recognise in the (Gospel and the Acts the technical language and the aoconte observation of a doctor. We can then without hesitation eoodode that both the Gospel and the Acts were written by S. Luko, the eofflpanion of S. PauL And this conclusion will give us a limit for the dike of the Acts. It must have been composed in the lifetime of one who kd been a contemporary of S. PauL § 3 /te unity Tins conehision however is based upon an assumption that the Acts was writtoD as a whole by a writer who includes himself when he uses the first pnoQ *we.' It would be seriously affected if the Acts is a compilation from niioos eouroes and writings (including a diary or journey-document, from which the 'we' passages are taken and which may or may not have been written by & Lake's hand) which were not worked up into the Acts in its present form until well en in the second century. This is the theory of a school of critics, who iiNDd thebr energy upon the work of breaking up the Acts into its original pvti The most elaborate theory is that of Dr C. Clemen. He finds four iODees--a < History of the Hellenists,' a 'History of Peter,' a 'History of Paul' vikh a ^Joomey of PauL' These have been put together and the result leviied and re-edited by three successive editors, of whom the second was tmmrablj disposed to the Jews, the last the reverse. The last editor left the ^fpilation as we find it in the middle of the second century. Eow this method of compiling books was not unknown to antiquity ; it prevailed especially in oriental and Jewish literature. As examples of such eamposite works we have in the Old Testament the Pentateuch, in apocryphal fiteratore the Book of Enoch, among early Christian writings the Apostolical GoBstitiitions. Again no doubt the Acts is in a sense a composite work : the Mthor has had to make use of many difieront sources of information and poliapa docomoits ; thus for instance the early chapters, or roughly speaking tat I9 are marked off from the rest of the book by their strong Hebraic , And yet on studying the Acts we find it stamped with a re- muty both in subject and style. The unity of idea in the composition win, we trust, appear from the conmientary. The unity of style is shewn by tke recurrence of the special phraseology and grammatical usages of the writer throughout the book ; and they mark the ' we ' passages no less than Ike f«et of the book. In fact the various sources have been so welded or woven iogetlier into a whole, that it would be extremely hard to separate even para- graphs that at first sight may appear to be of a difierent character from the R. A. /^ xviii THE BOOK c rest There is a certain distinctioD, speaking roughly, between the two hi of the book, yiz. ch. i-xii and ch. ziii-xxyiii : as to this all wonld agree. Be] this, however, no general agreement has been arrived at among scholars f the different documents which are postulated as the sources of the 1 Further, this unity takes in not only the Acts but the Gospel of S. L with the scheme of which we find a distinct parallelism in the Acts^ We conclude, then, that there is a real unity in the Acts and that the compiler of the Acts, whoever he was or whenever he lived, was a man of literary power. He was not merely a compiler but an author: in feu *S. Luke.' But it is a maxim among philosophers that we are not multiply entities beyond what is necessary.' Why then should we suppo second S. Luke living in the second century ? There certainly was a L (or other companion of S. Paul) who wrote the 'we' diary or joumey-docun in the first century— why do we require another ? The introduction of second Luke in the second century will only complicate matters, by cauj (1) a conflict with the unanimous voice of tradition, (2) an unnatural ui\justifiaUe use of the first person, and (3) difficulties about the Goa which most critics would now allow to have assumed its present form the year 80. The theory however would be borne out, or made necessary, if our aut made use of the works of Josephus, who was writing up to the year : Undoubtedly S. Luke and Josephus sometimes refer to the same events, ; they have many words and phrases in common ; some being peculiar to Ui two authors. A noteworthy parallel is when Josephus himself said to people of Tiberias ' I do not refuse to die, if it is just'.' On the other hi our two authors were almost co^mporaries ; they dealt with the same scei races, and country, and often similar situations; and they were b familiar with the Old Testament. It would be surprising if there were some agreement With regard to special verbal coincidences, we m remember that S. Luke, who was well read, may have read the same histori that Josephus used for his authorities'. Besides in matters of detail, e.g. o coming Theudas, S. Luke sometimes differs from Josephus^. No cmi instance has been found to prove S. Luke's use of Josephus; and we may qv as well maintain that Josephus used S. Luke, as vice versd. It is not necessary to labour the question of unity of style in the Acts, most scholars accept it as almost self-evident It is a matter which depei largely upon literary sense and perception, and detailed arguments about 1 style of a Greek composition can hardly be reproduced in a work for En^ readers. One or two general remarks however may be made about S. hvik writing. His opening preface (Lk i 1-4) shews that he was master of a go ^ Sir J. C. Hawldns in his Hotm Synoptieae (1899) has collected very wei^ statistical evidence from the Gospel and Acts, and the we-sections in particular, to their unity of authorship. > Vita 29 ; op. S. Paul in Acts zzv 11. I sentiment itself is not so rare as to prove plagiarism. ' As Dr Vogel suggisj in his Zur CharaeUrUtik det Lukas etc, pp. 67-61. ^ See p. 74 and note. §3 ITS UNFTY xix Graek ityle. His &miliarity with Greek and Greek literature is also shewn by his Tocabnlary. He is very fond of using rare, very often classical and poetical, words : in hct we can hardly take a single paragraph without coming across some striking or peculiar word. Thus in the Gospel and Acts there are about 750 words peculiar to S. Luke in the NT, and of these 440 occur only in the Acts^ In spite however of this classical learning, S. Luke's writing has a Btrang Hebraic or Aramaic tinge, not only when he is using Aramaic sources, but throughout This is to be accounted for by familiarity with Hhe scr^itures,' Le. the Old Testament S. Luke is, as we should say of an Engiish writer, yery 'biblicaL' There was also another influence at work which would tend to the same result, viz. the society of S. Paul S. Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he was saturated, so to speak, with the scriptures, and his tone of conversation and thought must have been 'biblical' to a degree. The effect of S. Paul's influence on S. Luke is quite evident The 'Gospel according to Luke' is very much what a 'Gospel according to Paul' would have been, and in Acts xiii 38-39 we have the specially Pauline doctrine of justification by faith. But the more personal and particular inflnenoe of S. Paul's conversation on S. Luke's style is seen in the Ust^ which Dr Plummer has drawn up in his commentary on S. Luke^ of 174 expressions which occur in S. Luke's and S. Paul's writings and nowhere else in the NT. Points of ttyle and voedbulary* To illustraie the above statements we have as instances of Hebraic language and idea the use of the Name (34 times) : the Lord^ i.e. Jbhovah, e.g. hand (zi 21, ziii 11), angelf tpirit, way, day (ii 20, zvii 31) — of the Lord : day — in^ after, before (v 86, zzi 38) these {those) days, until this day (ii 29, xziii 1), the days of, these days, days of unleavened bread (xii 3, zz 6), day of Pentecost (ii 1, zz 16), night and day etc.: soul especially =perBon (ii 41, zzvii 37), heart, lift up the voice (ii 14, ziv 11), with a loud voice (vii 57, zzvi 24), open the mouth (viii 35, zviii 14), through the mouth of (i 16, zv 7), by the hand of (ii 23, zv 23), from, in, into, through the hand {hands) of^ lay on hands, on the way (viii 36, zzv 3, zzvi 13), iray=manner of life (twelve times), Aattf«=hoii8ehold (z 2, zviii 8 : zi 14, zvi 31), t0ard=: subject of the word, or thing, rise-up and, coming in and going out, before (God), in, from, before — the face of (iii 13, zzv 16), in, from — the midst of, behold : full of (vi 5, ziii 10), fiUed with (ii 4, ziii 9 etc.), fulfil (cp. ii 1, ziz 21 : ii 28, ziv 26). Some of these oeeor throughout ; the few references given are to parallels between the first and aeeond divisions of the Acts (i-zii, ziii-zziv), illustrating the unity of the book. Oat of the numerous words found only in the Acts (or Acts and Lk) it will ralBce to give a few which at the same time afford evidence of the unity of the work — language (i 19, ii 6, 8, zzi 40, zzii 2, zzvi 14), upper chamber (i 13, iz 37, 39, 8), whieh'knowest'the-heart (i 24, zv 8), suddenly (ii 2, zvi 26, zzviii 6), wind, i.e. bfeath (ii 2, zvii 25), confound (ii 6, iz 22, ziz 32, zzi 27, 31 ; confusion ziz 29), to utter m speak-forth (ii 4, 14, zzvi 25), sojourn (ii 10, zvii 21), mock (ii 13, cp. zvii 32), (ii 28, ziv 17), foresee (ii 31, op. zzi 29, ii 25), receive (ii 41, zziv 3 etc.), wuike-stromg (iii 7, 16, zvi 5), appoint (iii 20, zzii 14, zzvi 16), followed after, i.e. in order (iii 24, zi 4, zviii 23), sore-troubUd (iv 2, zvi 18), eventide (iv 3, zzviii 23), kuUders (iv 11, cp. vii 47, iz 31, zz 32), public (v 18, cp. zvi 37, zz 20), violence 1 The numbers are taken from Dr Plummer and Prof. Blass respectivelv. An •zlrem« estimate is that in Dr Thayer's NT Lexicon, which counts doubtful cases and gives 851 and 478. ' In the International Critical Commentary, It oantains an OLhanstive treatment of the subject. ' The references etc. have the Ore^in view. 62 XX THE BOOK ci (v 26, xziv 7, xxi 35, zzvii 41), slay (v 80, zzvi 21), seize {vi 12, zix 29, zzvii : eaU-for (vii 14, z 32, zz 17, zziv 25), nourished^ i.e. brought up (Wi 20, 21, zxii time of 'forty -yean fvii 23, ziii 18), in'their-tum Ut. having -succeeded (vii 45, op. z 27), thrust-out (vii 45, zzvii 39), young-man (vii 58, zz 9, zziii 17), noon (viii 26 zxu zzii 6), lead-by-the-hand (iz 8, ziu 11, zzii 11), plot (iz 24, zz 3, 19, zziii 80), u about, i.e. attempted (iz 29, ziz 18), send-for (z 5, zz 1 etc.), talk-with (z ep. zz 11, zziv 26), without-gainsaying (z 29, cp. ziz 86), doing-good (z 38, cp. ziv ] expound (zi 4, zviii 26, zzviii 23), afCeording to his ability or wealth (zi 29, cp. ziz S beckoning (zii 17, ziii 16, ziz 33), stir (zii 18, ziz 23). Other interesting verbal parallels between the two parts are : depart from (; zviii 1, 2), set (1 7, zz 28), shall-be a witness (i 8, zzii 15), become and be it knc (i 19, iz 42, ziz 17 ; ii 14, iv 10, ziii 88, zzviii 28), number or count with (i 26, ziz 19), what meaneth thist (ii 12, zvii 20, op. 18), know assuredly or certain (ii 86, zzi 34, zzU 80, cp. v 23, zvi 23, 24), the RighUous (iu 14, vii 52, zzii 1 grant (iii 14, zzv 11, 16, zzvii 24), had-in-honour or precious (v 34, zz 24), ta heed-to yourselves (v 35, zz 28), beat (v 40, zvi 87, zzii 19), are these things i (vii 1, zvii 11, zziv 9), there came a voice (vii 81, z 18, ziz 84, ii 6), became full- trembling or in-a-tremor, or all-of-ct-tremble (vii 82, zvi 29), consent (viii 1, zzii 2 became full-of-fear or afraid (z 4, zzii 9 AV, zziv 25), rushed with-one-aca (vii 57, ziz 29), the saints (iz 18, 82, 41, zzvi 10), proving (iz 22, ziz 33), an an, of Qod (z 3, zzvii 28), Christian (zi 26, zzvi 28), should be, or there-was-about-to with the future infinitive, a classical idiom foand only in the Acts (zi 28, zziii I zziv 15, zzvii 10). The following are a few of the more interesting words of S. Luke which el8ewh< in the NT occur only in S. Paul's writings : apostleship (i 25), look-stedfas\ or fasten-eyes-upon (iii 4), grant-as-a-favour (iii 14), set-at-nought (iv 11), /tx, ordain (iv 28), safety (v 23), ordinance (vii 53), consent (viii 1), the word of the Lc (viii 25 etc.), make havock (iz 21K prove (iz 22), fpeak- or preach-boldly (iz 27 etc reading (ziii 15), course (ziii 25), thrust-from (ziii 46), ordain or appoint (ziv 2; keep-quiet (zi 18), decree (zvi 4), gain (zvi 19), tum-t^ide-down (zvii 6), rem ness-of-mina (zvii 11), provoke (zvii 16), object-of-worship (zvii 23), shorn (zviii ll fervent in spirit (zviii 25), companion-in-travel (ziz 29), rcuh (ziz 36), regular lawful (ziz 39), purcJiase (zz 28), help (zz 35), evangelist (zzi 8), walk-order (zzi 24), citizenship (zzii 28), live-as-a-citizen (zziii 1), curse (zziii 12), providen (zziv 2), clemency (zziv 4), void-of-offence (zziv 16), indulgence (zziv 23), injury ai 2os< (zzvii 10), barbarian and kindness (zzviii 2), lodging (zzviii 23), «aivati (zzviU 28). Many of the words peculiar to S. Luke are technical terms due to the wide fiel of ezperienoe covered by the book. Thus there are official and military term: proconsul, Hctor, politarch, quaternion, horsemen, spearmen etc. Others connecti with imprisonment obviondy reflect the apostles* ezperience. Others are connecti with navigation. Of these, as we should ezpect, chapter zzvii is full; but elsewhe in the book we have a sign of S. Luke's familiarity with the sea in these won which he alone uses: sail-across, -away, -under, -past, -slowly, make-a-straigtu-cours There are similar signs of S. Luke's medical knowledge. Dr Hobart has writtc a book on the subject' and adduced a multitude of instances. Some of these m rather forced, but enough remains to convince us that in the Acts we follow the pc of a physician. We need only notice here that these words are peculiar to the Ao in the NT : feet (lit steps) and ankle bones (iii 7), healing (iv 22, 30, cp. zzviii 27 scales (iz 18), mist (ziii 11), swollen (zzviii 6), dysentery (zzviii 8). Sharp-contentic (Ut. paroxysm) in zv 89 is also a medical term. Many of the passages about healin shew a scientific diagnosis ; and a doctor's interest is to be observed in the detai] of iv 22, iz 33 and ziz 12. In zz 9 it is carefully remarked that Eutychus wi * taken up dead,' without a positive statement that he was actually dead. In thj connezion are to be observed the frequent references to the taking of food an its efifeots, e.g. ii 42, iz 19, z 10, zvi 34, cp. zz 11 : as also to the effects of fastin (zzvii 21, 33-36). The Medical Lavgtiagc of S. Luke, 18o2, §4 ITS TEXT xxi § 4 /te text The diBOovery and study of ancient manuscripts and yerBions since the publication of our Authorized Version (AY) in 1611 has shewn that the text of the AY yaries greatly from that of the earliest authorities. This fact has been made patent to the English reader by the difference between the AY and the Reyised Yersion (RY) published in 1881. The differences are numerous rather than important ; no doctrine or historical oyent is affected by them, although in the Acts we lose in the new text seyeral whole yerses. Bat we haye a natural desire to ascertain as far as possible the correct readings, i.a the actual words written by the author. This is the aim of textual criticism; and though its attainment is still yery far off, yet some yeiy great steps haye been made towards it. Thus it has been found that the whole mass of authorities, — manuscripts, yersions, and quotations, — can be distributed under two or three types or ' families' of text These families were already current in the fourth or fifth centuries, and the textual critics hare to decide between their riyal claims. For tho reader who is not an independent critic the choice practically lies as follows. (1) The AV or Ssrrian Text. The AY was translated from the Received Text (TR) of the Greek Testament, Le. Stephanus' third edition of 1550. The first editions of the Greek Testament had been prepared from a yery few and late mss; and for Stephanus' text only a few similar authorities^ ytere consulted in addition, so that the TR has no substantial claim in itself to represent the most correct form of text'. Making allowance howeyer for the errors that haye crept in through centuries of transcription, we find that the AY practically represents the text that was current at Constantinople and in the east about the beginning of the fifth century and which has preyailed there since. Dean Burgon stoutly maintained this to be the original form ; bat few critics would agree with him. The majority would accept the judgement of Dr Hort and Bp Westcott These critics came to the conclusion that the TR represents a reyision of tho text made in Antioch or Syria in the fourth century ; and accordingly they christened it the Syrian Text, (2) WH or the Neutral Text. Their own edition of the NT published in 1881 (WH) represents the extreme of diyergonce from tho AY and the highwater mark of criticism. Its characteristic is the groat weight assigned to the famous Cktdex Fatieanus or B. This is indeed our most yaluable and ancient m8 : it was probably written at the beginning of the fourth century ; and WH practically giye us its text This they assert to be a neutral text, lying between the diyergences made in different directions and therefore going bade as close as possible to the autographs of the apostolic writers. It would periiaps be safer to describe it with Dr Salmon^ as giring us the text aa rerieed by the scholars of Alexandria in the second and third centuries. 1 They inoloded howeyer D ; but not much weight was assigned to it. ^ The elaim to be the received text was first made in the Elzeyir edition of 1633. ' In hi0 Textual OrUicism of the NT (Murray, 1897). THE BOOK CH fZj Tte BY or Bdeefcle Text For those who are not prepared nch oTcnrhetming aoihoiitj to B, a middle oourae is ofoed by 1 leHortheBefisedYenioiL This, without identifni^itsfslf with any 'fiuni mrtains all those modificatioiis of the BeodTed Text whidi are reqmred the Bssi of andeat anthoritaes and wfaidi wovld be accepted by the migor of critks, apart from that school which still adheres to the TR. CampariMm of the AV wU RV fextt It may be osefal to bsTe a smnmary of the changes in the BY doe to i mikfptkm ol a different text. This list does not profess to be exhansttre, and <n those passsges are noted where the change can be detected by the English read The dsssifiestion is according to the £ffsrences in the Qxe^ and an aster msiia the more interesting or important places. The changes csn be divided ii <i) omisBons, (ii) sdditians, fai) alterstiotts. L Omdatioiu. (J) Most striking is the dissppesiance of a nomber of dans senteiices, or even whole texts, sneh as in Tii 37, ix j^, x 6, S8, xr 91, xviii 1 xxi 82, f5j xxii 9, xxiii 9, xxir S6 ; some howerer sre retained in the maigi e^ Tiii 37, xt34, XX 15^xxiT5-B, xxriii 16, 29. (B\ Some omissions slight a by * ' slleet the sense or detail oi the nairstiTe, most often fay simply msVing it mc brief. See i 14« ii 23, 30*. 31, 47*, iii6, iT24, t 16. 24, 28, 32, 41, ni 32, x II, 12, 3( xiii 42«, XT 17-8*, 23*, xri 6*, xvii 26*, xiiii 17, xix 9, xx 24», xxiii 80. xxiv S In the iicred nsme, JesuM is omitted in iii 26, ix 29, xix 10; Ckriit in xr 11, xri I xix 4, XX 21 (nsarg)' (Q A nomber of explanatory words or phrases appe to have grsdoally been ins^ted in the original text with a Tiew of ***f^'*g i meaning dearer en- the style smoother. These according have disappeared in tl BY, with the effect of making the nazratiTe more graphic and Tigoroas. Sadb a e.g. connecting particles — ^ii 42, iii 22, Yiii 33, xiii 46, xriii 15. xx ^ 29. 34^ xxiv 1) Boid or §aijfimg — ii 38, y 9, 25, ix 5. xix 2, xxy 22, xxri S3, 29 : pronoons — i 1 in 13, ▼ 5, 18, 32, 41, Tii 31, 43, xi 9, 13, xii 9. xiii 19, 40, xiT 13, xr 36, xirii 1 xriii 20, xix 3, 12, xx 32, xxir 20: the sabstitotion of the nonn for pronoon — ^ix 1 95, X 23, xi 25, xii 20, xriii 1, xxiii 30; 34, xxriii 30: the additi<m of a name — ^xx 9 xxiii 11, xxri 7. For the omission of explanatory phrases generally see ii 7, iii 1 22, IT 8, Tii 11, 30, 36, 37, 48, ix 12, x 1, 21. xi 22, 28, xiii 42, 45, xrr 8, xvii I xix 35, XX 25, xxi 8, xxii 20, 26, 30, xxiv 15, 22, xxr 7, 16, xxri 8, 14, 80, xxTii 4 For efothets omitted see i 19. ▼ 37, Ti 3, 13, yiii 18 marg, xix 29. xx 19: for sdyerl etc, ii 33, 41, iy 17, y 23, ix 18, xiy 28, xxiii 15 : eeftain xiii 1, xyi 1, xix 9. xxiii ll tki$ i 16, xyi 36, XX 29 : vail^ y 23, xix 4, xxii 3 : srtides yiii 12, xyi 6, xxii 1J| xxiiiSO: €^u22, xxiy20,xxyiil2. j iL The addiHons in the BY are relatiydy few, and {A) in the main of j minnte chsrscter— the insertion of a partide, artide, or proposition, whidi mskl the pasBsge more exsct or yiyid. For snch see xi 21, xyi 16*, xix 29, xx 11, 89 xxyi 4, xxyiii 28; xiii 31 ; xxrii 2; xyi 7, xx 5, xxiy 18; and in 15 plMes o^ both, or ev€fu (B) Some howeyer are real additions to the sense as in iv 2 yii 18, yiii 10, xiii 6*, xyi 7*. xyii 13, xyiii 7*. xix 40. xx 1. 4^, xxiii 9*. xxiy 1 xxy 6*, 18, xxyi 16*; cp. iy 33 marg. Bat like iii 3. xxiy 24 (/enw). xxyi 25 (. and like the pronoons in ii 38, 40. yii 22, xix 15, xx 23, xxiy 13, several of thed are akin to thie explanatory additions exduded in i (C). iiL AUeraUom are more nomerons. {A) The order of the words is altered, in i 13*. u 47 and iii 1*, iii 20*. 21, iy 25*, y 22, yiii 28, x 12, xiii 19*, xviii xxi 11, xxyi 7, xxviii 17. {B) A different word is nsed in i 15, 25. u 1, iii 21, y 33, 34, yi 8«, yii 16, 17, yiii 8, ix 20*. x 14. 16, xi 20*, xiii 19*. 28% xy 33*, xyi 13*. 32, xvii 14*, xviU 5*, xix 16*, xx 1, 7*. xxi 34. xxiy 1, xxyi 15. xxyii 1^ 34, 39 : different prepodtions in i 17, y 15, 23, yii 35, ix 3. x 17, xx 13, xxiy xxyiii 3, and xii 25* margin : different conjonotions in xy 2, xvii 14. xxiy 16, xxy xxyiii 9, yi 3 margin. The very common interchange of Ood and Lord (in Greek ^, kc) is fSoimd in yiii 22, x S3, xv 40 and the margin of xiii 44, xx 28, xyi 10, xyii 27, xxi 20 and the margin of xyi 32 : see also ix 20, x 48, xviii §4 ITS TEXT xxiii szii 16. (C) The same word is aaed but with an alteration— in number ii 23, ix 81*, xxiii 20*; ix 12, xviU 16, xxiii 6*, xxiv 6, xxv 2* : case iv 6, xiii 14*, xvli 30, six 27*, zx 24*, xxi 20, xxyii 2: gender ix 8; xxiv 18; xiii 25*, xtu 23*: and degree xzir 10. 8o in the same verb there is a difference— of voice xi 12*, xvi 13* : mood ix 88*, xxi 24 (infinite verb xviii 21, xix 1, xxv 25) : tense v 39. vii 35, xvi 17, xxiii 13, xxv 13*, xxvi 24 : and person x 24 marg, xi 11*, xvi 13*, xviii 3*, 19, zix 13*, xxvii 19*, xxviii 1*. A differenoe in the compounded preposition is found —in verbs iii 24, xiii 26, xiv 14, xv 22, 30, xvi 39, xvii 26*, xix 12, 33*, xxi 4, xxiv 9, 11, xxviii 16, and the margin of xvii 30*, xx 5*, xxi 25* : and nouns xv 2*, 7*, xxiv 2*, 12, xxv 15. Lastly there are changes in the pronouns in i 8, 26, ix 25*; ▼ 39, ix 38, X 42, xiii 33*; v 32 margin : interchange of the first and second persons in iii 26, xiv 17, xv 7, xvi 17, xxviii 25* and xiii 26, xix 37 : pronoun for name in z 7, zii 13, xxiv 23^ xxviii 17. Conqwirifon of RV and WH L WH side with the AV against the BY in one place xi 20, which however is marked for special discussion; and in iii 25, xiii 46, xviii 3 they admit the AV reading (rejei^ed by BY) into their margin. iL In 18 places new readings of WH are admitted into the margin of BY, viz. in IT 1, vi 3, viii 18, x 24, 36, xi 23, xii 25, xv 24, xvii 30, xx 4, 5, 21, 32, xxi 26, xxvii 87, 89, xxviii 1, 13. iiL BesideB these WH have a number of readings which are not given in the BY or AY ; but they are not of a significant character as will be seen from this list. {A) ii 44 omit were [together] andt vii 38 read you for im, x 19 two for threes 45 who for oj mtmy at,iiS he went in... did eat for Thou wentest in... didst eat; and omit in X 19 unto Hm, xiii 19 And, xxiii 10 an and^ xxvi 26 also. In these places WH have the BY reading as an alternative in the margin. (B) In the following th^ reject altogether the BY and AY readings — vii 43 read Romphat xviii 7 Titius [Jnstos], xix 89 further for about other matters ; add in ii 33 both [see], ix 15 both [the Gentiles], xvi 9 and [beseeching] ; omit in il And^ ul all^ xii 21 and [sat], xix 8 the things, {C) WH also admit a number of marginal or alternative reaoings whioh ace not mentioned in the BY or AY, e.g. v 33 add to him^ viii 27 omit who [bad eome], x 19 omit the number (tiro or thrce)^ xix 24 omit silver, 34 repeat Great it Artemie of the Ephesians, xx 13 [going] to for before, 15 in the evening for the next day, xxiii 7 fell upon (them) for arose, xxiv 26 omit [given] him, xxv 19 evil charge of such things for charge of such eml things, xxvii 27 [that a land] was Tfwasauting for drawing near. One of their alternative readings however has been admitted into the BY margin in xxiii 28. (4) The Besan Text. There still remains a family or type of text whidi of late yean has been attracting very great attention, and the question of ita origin and value is the chief problem of the textual criticism of to-day. Among the aathorities consulted for Stephanus' edition of 1550 was an early Greek mb of the Gospels and Acts, written in the sixth century, which had foond its way from a monastery in Lyons (as is supposed) into the hands of tlie scholar and reformer Theodore Beza. From Beza it passed on to the UniTerBity Library at Cambridge, where it now rests. It is known as Codex BezoB or D, and has attained a world-wide reputation. For it was found that this codex was distinguished by an extraordinary number of variations from the ordinary text At first this peculiarity only served to stamp the codex ai wofthleBS and to give it a bad namei But as time advanced, considerable sopport for these variations was discovered in other authorities, viz. in versions, especially the Harkleian Syriac and the early Latin versions previous to the Vulgate (p. xiv), in patristic quotations, and in a few Greek mss. These dis- eoveries indeed meant nothing less than the discovery of a definite type of text, xxiv THE BOOK c to which the name of Western was given by Qriesbach. This text was cui in very early days and widely spread, so that 'Western' is rather a quest begging title. The text was current in the east as well as the west; WH in their Introduction (p. 548) speak of Mts rapid and wide prop tion...in the centuries following the death of the apostles' as 'the i striking phenomenon of textual history.' Though a striking phenome however, no scholar seriously entertained a claim for originality on behal the Western text In the first two centuries, when our books of the New ' tament were only gradually winning their way to recognition as ' scriptu naturally the same importance was not attached to the preservation of exact text as in later times. This was held to be a sufficient reason to acoc for the appearance and widespread growth of the Western readings ; besi the Western authorities exhibit great variation among themselves, and ^ many of their additions bear the character of the explanatory interpolati which are a common feature in the history of ancient texts. In connexion with the Acts however the qaestion of the Western i assumes new proportions. For it is in this book that, the variations i additions of Codex Bezae are most striking and abundant And for th readings — in addition to the witnesses already mentioned— special support been found in some later Latin texts ^, in quotations in Irenaeus, Cypri and Augustine, and in three Qreek mss, viz. E, 137 a minuscule of eleventh century at Milan, and 58 a twelfth-century ms at Oxford. 1 evidence has been collected and marshalled by Dr Blass, one of \ leading classical scholars of Germany, who has published the resultant tc which he calls the Roman Text\ More than this, in his commentary the Acts published in 1895 he startled the world by maintaining that t Roman text came from the hand of S. Luke. It was a first edition rather a rough copy of the work, written at Rome; and our text is reall; revision of this or a second edition, carefully revised and sent to Theophil This theory was not, strictly speaking, originals ; but it was the learning Dr Blass and the authorities which he adduced which at once brought I problem to the frout Dr Blass' view has not as yet found general acoeptan but it has called serious attention once more to these Besan readii^ Whether they come from the hand of S. Luke or no, many of these readin bear the stamp of truth and may mark a genuine tradition, like Jn viii 1«] or Lk xxii 43-44. Among them are to be found most of the whole verses sentences of the AV which have been omitted in the RY (p. xxii); ai in any case they are a valuable aid in explaining the text This must be tl ^ e.g. a Latin Bible at Stockholm called Oigas, a palimpsest of Fleury, a^ some MSS of versions made in Bohemia and Provence. Herr Aug. Pott w the first to call attention to the Oxford (Gk) ms in his Der abendl&nduche Text i Apoitelgeaek. (1900). ' in his Acta Apottolcrum ucundum formam qm videtur Bomanamt 1896. The introdactions to this and to his commentary conta a list of his authorities with his arguments. ' Leclerc, a Dutch scholar, the beginning of Uie 18th oentniy first suggested the idea of two editions of tj Acts* Bomemann in 1848 maintained the originality of Codex Bczae. §4 ITS TEXT XXV ezcuse for tiie frequent reference in this commentaxy to the Bezan text, as we prefer to call it^ both Roman and WeiUm being names which beg the qiMstion of its origin. Dr BlasB* theory must be left to the discussion and decision of scholars, but there are these points to be considered which strongly make for its aooeptanoe in a modified form. (i) No doubt many of the Bezan readings are obviously later inter- polations or additions. But we have not got (in spite of Dr Blass' edition) the original form of the Besau text We have only one Greek ms of a thoroughgoing Beian type, and that not older than the sixth century: and its text like Uiat in other mss would have been subject to the ordinary causes of textual corruption. Indeed, if the origin of the text was a rough copy or csKfkem^ there could hardly have been much fixity of form about it, and the opportunity for corruption would have been proportionally great (ii) This problem is specially connected with S. Luke's writings, and of tbem chiefly with his second and later work. For the most important varialiMiB in his Gospel occur at its end. There the Bezan text has two fiuDons passages regarded by WH as interpolations but authentic, viz. xxii 43-44 and xxiii 34. On the other hand it omits (which is itself a usual waga of originality) a number of passages, viz. in xxii 19, xziv 3, 6, 12, 36, 40y 51, 62; and the last two of these closely affect the connexion of the Acts with the Gospel. Now we may fairly ask why should there be this special connexion with S. Luke? and in particular with his later work? FurtheTy we notice that the additions are written in a very definite Lucan i^le, which is one of the strongest arguments for their originality. If they were the work of an interpolator, he must have been a very careful student of S. Luke and impr^^ted with his style and vocabulary. (iii) The hand of an interpolator generally betrays itself by some ana- dmrniam, some inconsistency with the original work, or by some tendency, ■ome special doctrine or theory which he desires to emphasize. Such work is not proof against the keen eye of the modern critic : the pseudo-Ignatian E|Hstles and the Apostolic Constitutions are classical examples of the de- tection of the work of a compiler. But in all the wealth of detail added to the Acts, no instance of anachronism or inconsistency has been proved. Simikily no special tendency has been detected. There is no utterance upon doctrines which became the subjects of later controversy^; nor is there an increase of the miraculous element, a common mark of an interpolator. On the other hand it is hard to coivjocture a reason for the insertion of many details, eig. the mention of the seven steps leading up to Herod's prison (zii 10), that S. Paul Uught from the fifth to the tenth hour (xix 9), and that Demetrius' company ran out into the street (xix 28). The only explanation teems to be that they were features in the scene which impressed themselves OB the memory of an eye-witness. (iv) When we read the two texts, the RV and Blass* edition of 'the > There is indeed an obvions emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit ; see e.g. xi 7, XV 7, 29, 89, xix 1, zz 8, xxvi L But this is itself a Lucan oharsoterittio. xxvi THE BOOK ch.; Roman text,' side by side, we get a strong impression that we are obta an insight into the work of composition. We can, so to speak, see the ai at work on the revision of his first copy. He is anxious to polish the i to make the narratiye more concise, the sentences more tersa Possibly pressed by the exigencies of space and the limitations of his parchx Hence he cuts out repetitions, prunes his language, and omits superfl details. This impression is confirmed when we notice that the changei most numerous in passages which caU for editorial skill. They are frequent where he is carefully following his authorities, as in the ea chapters ; or in scenes and speeches which he has carefully elaborated. ' occur most in editorial passages, summaries of work done, and the conne< links between the different scenes. In fact they abound in the midd] the book, in chapters xiii-xx, where S. Luke has the very difficult tas describing S. Paul's missionary work and of compressing into a few verses work of months. (v) The additions by no means occur, as in the case of ordinary terpolations, where some roughness or ambiguity invites the touch of copyist In some places it is true that to cut out the Bezan reading wi leave a kind of hiatus (as in xxiv 6--8), which suggests the smoothing ban an interpolator : but such cases may equally well be due to the author's ovens of the effect of his revision. Apart from these places, however, there remains an unevenness or want of clearness in many passages of the rev text (or second edition). Such passages are v 12-14, 38-9, vii 2-4, viii 7, i xii 25, xiv 1-4, xv 33 and 40, xvi 19-20, xvii 8-9, xviii 18-21, xx 3-5, xxvii 9- and they make us feel that even in the BV or WH we have not yet got author's final revision of his work. Such a reflection will give us the necest modification of Dr Blass* theory. We are not to conceive of S. Luke deliberately publishing two editions, like a modem writer. A book like Acts cannot be written offhand in one autograph. The author first wi a draft and then revises it In this case there must have been several dn or * attempts' (Lk i 1), of the different parts of the Acts written at vari times and in various stages, before the whole could have reached the I form in which it was sent to Theophilus. Some of the earlier drafts or nx copies may have been made public. S. Luke may have allowed the Ron Christians to make and circulate copies. It is also possible that some the documents he used may have been in circulation, and these would g rise to differences of reading: this may in part account for many of ) Western variations elsewhere in the NT. There are other possibilities wh may be taken into consideration. In the uncertainty of the future outli S. Luke may have issued the Acts prematurely before giving it the final toudi Or what is more likely, the persecution or even S. Luke's death may have i short the work of revision, so that the Acts never did appear in a fixed i| final form. By some such suppositions as these it is quite possible to aoot^ the BY or WH as the most authoritative form of the text of the Acts, witlij denying the authenticity and importance of a great number of the Bei( readings. i CH.n§l ^HE AUTHOR xxvii CHAPTER n The AtUhor — 8. Imke § 1 HU hiMtory Our infonxiaUon about S. Luke is practically confined to what we can glean from the pages of the New Testament itself. {A) At the end of the Bp. to the Colossians (iy 14), written from Rome about the year 60, S. Paul writes Luke the beloved physician and Demas scdute you. In his letter sent to Philemon at the same time he writes Mark, Arieiarchtu, Demas, Luke, mi^ fellow foorkers [saliUe you"]. In his last letter, written shortly before his doiih in A.i>, 64 or 65, he tells Timothy Only Luke is with me (2 Tim iy 11). (B) Besides these references there are the 'we* passages in the Acts. In xi27'-8 the Besan text runs thus : There came down Jrom Jerusalem prophets to Antioch and there was much njoicing: and when we were gathered together, one qfthem named Agdbus etc. In ziy 22 the apostles instruct the disciples at Antioch in Pisidia that through many tribulations we must enter kito the kingdom qf €hd. No doubt this may be a general statement, but it soonds like a personal recollection. In xyi 10 the writer makes a definite appearance at Troas, when after S. Paul's yision u)e sought to go forth into Macedonia, Apparently he was left at Philippi, for after verse 17 the we does not reappear until the last journey to Jerusalem. Then the brethren who had gone on from Corinth were waiting for us at Troas, and we sailed away from Philippi etc. (zx 6, 6). The writer then remains in S. Paul's company till the end of the Acts. It is important howeyer to notice that the use of the third person instead of the first does not necessarily imply the absence of the writer. For, although he was with S. Paul during the latter part of the Acts, the first persoo is only used in the accounts of the journeys, zx 5-zzi 18 and zxyii 1- izriii 16, and in the latter passage the third person occurs frequently. Similarly at Philippi the third person is used on occasions when it is very probable that the writer was present e.g. in xyi 40. And it is most unlikely, as wiU i^ypear below, that S. Luke joined the apostolic company for the first time at Troaa (C) Lastly, we haye S. Luke's account of his motiyes for writing at the beginning of his Gospel (Lk i 1-4): it seemed good to me also, liaving traced the course qfall things accurately from the Jirst, to write unto thee in order, most excellent TheophUus, From these notices we first gather that S. Luke was a Gentile, for in the Ep. to the Colossians Luke and Demas are distinguished from Aristarchus, Milk, and Jesus Justus, — who are of the circumcision. This is borne out by hiB name LOUKAS or LUCAS, an instance of the contraction yery common in the Gredzed population of the Roman empire. In the Acts we haye similar contractions— /S^tto for Silvanus, Theudas for Theodotus or TTieodorus, Parmenas for Parmenides, Apollos for Apollonius or Apdlodorus, Lueat DO doubt stands for Lucanus, which was a Roman name. It does not M xxroi THE AUTHOR follow that he was a Roman by birth. The uae of Roman names wi widespread. The Acts is full of them, ag. Pontitu PikUug, Comelitu^ Justus f Aquila, Priscilla, Orispiu, CaiuSj Secundus^ Claudius (Lysias), Teriullus, Porcius Festus, Julius^ Publius. Of these Felix we knon Greek, Crispus and Aquila were Jews. Even Palestinian Jews adopted surnames ; and among Jews we find (Joseph) Justus, (John) Marcus, LuciuSy PauluSy Silvanus, and Ei^usK Among non-Romans a Roman was commonly the sign^ of a freedman : for a skve, when set free, adopt master's name. But it may denote the possession of Roman citizensl quired by other methods. Like Paulus and Silvanus S. Luke may hare Roman citizen. His character however bears a Greek stomp. This is shi his ready pen, his versatility, and not least by his interest in the sea. j same time his ready assimilation of the Jewish and Christian theolo^ his familiarity with the scriptures point to Semitic or eastern affinities, characteristics however would be accounted for by an early conversion, seems to be implied by Acts zi 28 (Bezan) and his own preface. We are definitely told that S. Luke was a doctor by profession, indeed we might have conjectured from the evidence of his writings, whi been summarised above (p. xx). Among the Romans this profession w] held in high repute : in a wealthy Roman house the part of family doctc played by a slave or freedman ; and such was Antonius Musa, the physic Augustus. But it was otherwise among the Greeks. With them indec study of medicine ranked with that of philosophy ; and there were m schools at the universities, as at Alexandria where the great Galon i student sixty years later. On another side the art of healing was c associated with religion, and in Asia Minor the worship of Asklepios th of healing was widely spread. At the time of the Acts there was a flouri school of medicine attached to the temple of Men Karou near Laodicea, an names of its presidents are found on coins ^. This connexion however inv another which was not so creditable, viz. with magic and sorcery. In this science S. Luke was evidently much interested, to judge from the num pictures of its professors which he gives in the Acts, e.g. of Simon M Elymas Barjesus, the ' Python,' the sons of Sceva, and the Ephesian exon His professional career and training would have made S. Luke a trav and the fact is evident from his familiarity with Galatia and the coasts a Aegean. It is also clear that he had received a good classical education, \ should caU it He was well read in the Greek authors. This we can con from his language and style. But his own words in his prefiu^ are the evidence of his literary power. We should not then go far wrong in eluding that he had studied at some university. Alexandria is probabl; eluded by the absence of any allusion to the city. On the other hand S. J ^ And in the epistles Junias or Junta, Lucius (Bom zvi 7, 21), Jesus J (Col iv 11). ^ Ramsay Citiet and bithopries of Phrygia p. 52. Laodioei not far from Goloasae and S. Luke was apparently known to the Golossian ob (Gd iv 14). Both dties lie on the road from the west to Antioeh in Pisidia. |1 fflS fflSTORY xxix quite at home in the Agora of Athens, and he has a thorough grasp of the Athenian character. Failing Athens, there is still another oniyersily wbieh he may hare visited, and that is Tarsus, the third on the list. If it is legitimate to draw inferences from the selections which S. Luke gives from the apostolic preaching and from his choice of material in Gospel aad Acts, we may restore his spiritnal history, which would he a typical one for those early times. This is of course a matter of conjecture only; hut it does not seem too strained to recognize in the author of the Acts an afiectioiiate, joyous and pious nature which was deeply impressed with the eridenoe of the goodness of God, seen in the bounty of nature, giving rains amd fruitful geamms, filling men's hearts with food and gladness; and such one may have chosen his calling from a desire to go about doing good. A education would have taught him the truths which S. Paul in addressing the Athenians, viz. the unity and omnipresence of the Divine Nature, together with the conviction that t?ie Lord qf heaven and earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands. But it could not reveal the Divine Person : and accordingly he was left to feel after Ghd, if haply he jmightfind him. In this darkness Judaism with its faith in the one God and its divine revelation in the scriptures seemed to shine with a clear light. Like many others our author was attracted and became one of the devout or €hd-worshipping adherents of the synagogue. But neither his yearnings for isOowahip nor for joy were satisfied : Gentile converts remained very much in the outer court, shut out by the great barrier of circumcision; and instead of bringing joy and peace, the Law only increased the burden on the conscience. li was, then, at this stage that perhaps in some synagogue there fell on S. Luke's eafs the glad news of the remission of sins, and he was baptized into the name of Jeans Christ The data, which we have collected above, are all we have to guide us in the discovery of S. Luke's origin. Eusebius indeed, writing about A.D. 330, tells ns that he was hy race of those from Antioch, and S. Jerome somewhat later writes decisively Lucas medieus Antioehensis (Luke a physician (f Amtioch). Antiodi does in fact occupy an important position in the history, ad there may be some patriotic feeling in the distinction of Nicolas among the Seven MSk proselyte qf Antioch. But the position of Antioch springs as ■neh out of the history as that of Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome, and we find no local allusions or picturesque details. We should hardly have concluded thai 8. Lake had ever been at Antioch, but for the very important evidence of the Beian reading in xi 28 which says when we were gathered together. The mention of much r^oicing in the immediate context gives the passage a very genuine and Lucan ring, and so we gather that S. Luke was present in te chnrdi at Antioch about the year 42. This does not however necessarily imply that he was a citizen of Antioch or of Syrian race, as Jerome says ; and Professor Ramsay, impressed by the Greek characteristics of S. Luke, agrees with Renan in the conviction that he was a native of FhilippL This would not be inconsistent with Eusebius' THE AUTHOR i description, which would be satisfied by supposing Luke to have descende one of the old Macedonian and aristocratic families of Antioch. Dr B bases his theory on S. Luke's first appearance at Troas, ¥nth his eagen directing S. Paul's steps towards Macedonia, the Yi?idness of the narra events at Philippi, the civic pride shewn in calling Fhilippi t?ie first city < part — a title to which its daim waa at least doubtful — and lastly his dot continuous connexion with the church at PhilippL This theory is very pla On the other hand it is extremely unlikely that S. Luke met S. Paul ! first time at Troas ; it is most unUkely that a new convert, or at least companion, should have had so much influence on the apostolic deliben and within a few days should be like them addressing the women (r 8. Luke acts as one who had been a Christian, and intimate with S. Pa a long time. It is more probable that he had been one of the ooi before they reached Troas ; that at Troas, aa at Perga (xiii 13), there ha^ some hesitation and divided counsels ; and if S. Luke by his pleading home the call of the vision and carried the day, that recollection was sufl to prompt the words toe sought to go forth into Macedonia^. In support of his contention Dr Ramsay appeals to 'the facts' — 'the; have eyes to see them know'.' Certainly the impression given by the nar b strong, but there is an earlier scene where similar reasoning would d< strate S. Luke's presence. Nowhere does 8. Luke display more accurate and geographical knowledge than in his account of the first missionary ja in South Galatia, where the political conditions in the first century were si to constant change. He thoroughly understands the religious situatk Lystra, Derbe« and Iconium ; and at Antioch of Pisidia we have one o most vivid pictures in the Acts. It is tho scene chosen for the typical se in the synagogue ; and we almost feel that we are reading the words o who was in the congr^ation, who noticed Paul and Barnabas coming in watched the rulers of the synagogue sending a message to them, and Paul standing up and beckoning with his hands; who heard the wor the apostle, and was himself deeply moved by the proclamation ol forgiveness of sins ; who shared in the excitement of the congregation as dispersed after service, and of the enormous crowd which came to the i gogue the next sabbath day ; and who, when persecution had arisen and and Barnabas were driven out, knew that the disciples were still JUled joy and the holy Spirit— & characteristic Lucan observation. But foi previous notice (in the Bezan text) of S. Luke's presence in the church ol Syrian Antioch, we might almost feci convinced that S. Luke was among crowd of devout proselytes who followed Paul and Bamabajs home fron synagogue and thenceforward continued in the grace qf €hd. But without going so far as this, the supposition that S. Luke came I this Antioch and was a companion of S. Paul on his first journey in would fall in with many of our facts. Tradition would still be true ii See p. 278. > See his Paul the Traveller etc., pp. 200-10, 389-90lj |1 HIS HISTORY xxxi liim ao Antioeheney though a mistake had crept in as to the Antioch in ^Mftaon. This personal connexion may have been one cause which helped to guide the aposUes' steps from Pei^ga to Antioch in Pisidia on their first journey. & Fteil mentions another cause of his preaching there : it was through sickness, bteause qf an infirmity qf the flesh, that he first preached to the Oalatians^ And this statement reminds us that S. Luke was a physician. Antioch was Bot unsuitable for the study of medicine, which as we have seen flourished in Asia Minor, especially near Laodicea, which was not so very far from Antioch'. Antioch was also favourable for travel, it lay on the highway between the Aegean Sea and Tarsus. Again, if he was a citizen of Antioch, patriotism on 8. Lake's part may account for his reticence as to the unhappy defection of the Galatian churches from the gospel of S. Paul Finally, Dr Ramsay has himsdf given us the key to the settlement of the rival claims of Philippi and AntiodL The descendants of the original Macedonian conquerors and settlers formed the aristocracy in the new Greek kingdoms which grew up out of Alexander's conquests in the East If S. Luke sprang from one of these families who had come from Philippi, it would account for his return to and affection for that city. And in this connexion we may notice that the Acta is full of evidence of aristocratio sympathies and leanings on the part of the writer^. Now, if a native of the Pisidian Antioch, S. Luke may have been at once ef Macedonian or Greek blood, a Roman citizen, and an adherent of the Jewish monotheism. This would have given him the cosmopolitan sympathies for the Acts; and his aristocratic descent, with the comfortable of a physician, would have made him a useful and not unequal eampamon of S. PauL We can now draw a better, though still conjectural, sketch of S. Luke's early history. We can suppose that after much travel in the study and piaetioe of medicine he paid a visit to Tarsus and its famous university. Here be net and was converted by S. Paul; and when Barnabas came from Antioch and took back Saul with him about the year 42 (xi 25-6), S. Luke accompanied them, and by the use of the first person in xi 28 (Bezan) has left a silent note ef his entry into the church. It is just at this point that we have most light thrown upon the internal condition of the church at Antioch (xi 20-30)^ It is Boi at aD unreasonable to suppose that S. Luke accompanied the apostles on their first journey in a.i>. 46-7 (xiii-xiv), which will account for the graphic and aocorate narrative and the to^ in xvi 22. At some x)oint in the second journey he joined Paul again. Possibly he may have been left in charge of the church > Gal iv 13. As will be seen below we have no hesitation in identifying the ^ffi^^Uti ehurches with those founded in the first journey. - It is interring in this connexion to learn that at Adada, a town which S. Paul probably passed thxoogh on his way to Antioch, there has been found the tombstone of a young ■an of good family who had chosen the study of medicine but died at Alexandria, anarently in its pursuit (Dr Sterrett Wolfe Expedition etc. inscr. no. 408). > For this see p. 292 and notice that his book is dedicated to the moit excellent Theophilus. * Bee the commentaiy on the passage (pp. 167-9). xxxii THE AUTHOR ci at Antioch in Piudia, and there been picked ap again by S. Panl, like Tim (xvi 1-3), in a.d. 49 ; for Sonth Galatia is the starting point of the so journey, and S. Lnke appears soon after they hafe left that country (ferae Apparently he was left behind in charge of the church at Philippi (verse but that would not preclude his having rejoined S. Paul at, or paid visit Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus. If, as is very likely, Luke is the brother, «0 praiu in ths gospel i$ spread through all the churches, of 2 Cor viii 1( was sent by 8. Paul on a mission to Corinth in 64. And the praise in gospel may be a sign that one of his chief occupations at Philippi was of collecting materials for the 'Gospel according to Luke.' The next sp (of 65) we know for certain that he joined the apostle at Philippi on his journey up to Jerusalem: no doubt he was one of the messengers qf churches (2 Cor viii 23) in charge of their alms for the church at Jemaa From this point his history will best be followed in the narrative itsel § 2 His character If we cannot ascertain many facts about S. Luke^s life, it is comparati easy to draw a sketch of his character from his work. Tradition tells us ^ he was a painter, and this expresses the truth that S. Luke was an artisi nature. The Acts alone is sufficient to shew that he had an artist's eye artist's ideas and imagination, and an artist's power of expression, the powc delineating a character or a scene in a few vigorous lines or even words. ' scientific training of the physician shews itself in the faculty of ai observation and accurate description. His Greek nature is seen in versatility which makes him at home in such varied scenes and situati* These qualities however bear rather upon the character of the book, will be considered below. Here we are more interested in the man. S. Luke is the typical disciple, or rather Christian disciple. 'By shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to anotl Love was the basis of S. Luke's character, and that love which shews itsell a gentle and affectionate nature. He was the beloved physician. The 1 attribute of such affection is self-forgetfulness, and this is shewn in S. Lul modesty or entire self-effacement Though he could say of this hist * cuius pars magna /ui* yet there is not a word about his own work, 'praise in the gospel,' his services to S. Paul, not even a hint of S. Pa affection for hint And when he cannot help betraying his presence^ he d it simply by writing tte (and not /). The gentleness comes out in his interest in women. The position women varied then as now. At Jerusalem of course they were kept v much in the background. In Macedonia, and still more in Asia Minor, won moved about in society, even in public life, very much as they do n Agreeable to this is the influence of women at Antioch in Pisidia (xiii 6 1 Of. xvi 1-8 wifch n Tim i 5. This makes 8. Lake's rilenoe about Theola all more remarkable. See below, pp. 226~7« §2 HIS CHARACTER xxxiii Thfiwalonica, and Beroea (xvii 4, 12). But everywhere alike S. Luke is nrndfol of the part played by women : he does not forget their position in the diiirch (ji 14 the women, xxi 9 prapheteises) or among the converts (Tin IS, xri 13, xvii 4, 12, 34), their share in persecution (viii 3, ix 2, xxii 4) and church life (xxi 5). And we have a number of names and chancters of all classes : Maij the mother of Jesus, Dorcas and Mary the mother of John Mark, Sapphira and Priscilla (two wives who alike seem to haye taken the predominant part), Drusilla and Bemice both of royal blood, Lydia of the well-to-do bourgeoisie of Fhilippi and Damans a lady of Athens, while even the maidservant Rhoda (xii 13) is not left out The iofliieiice of women seems to have been a special mark of the Philippian church, with which S. Luke was so closely associated, — Lydia the purple-seller gave it a home ; later on we find it distracted by the rivalries of two ladies, Eoodias and Syntyche ; and thus, when S. Luke writes that at the river side we eat down and talked with the women who had come together, we feel that he is describing a congenial scene (xvi 13-15, 16, 40 and Phil iv 2-3). The character of a 'disciple' finds expression in fedthful devotion to a 'master'; and S. Luke had found a master. This was S. Paul, and the CDthiisiaam and devotion which he evoked in 8. Luke can be gauged by the epthmiasm which the history still arouses in us. The great example of 8l Luke's dramatic sense is the first introduction of the chief actor as • young man named Said, and of his dramatic skill the way in which he draws out the retribution that fell upon Saul for his consenting to Stephen's death (vii 58-viii 1). His personal feelings can be detected in his evident fljmpdUhj with the sorrow of the Ephesian elders whofeU on Pavl's neck and kiseed hisn ; and the relief of an anxious watcher, when on nearing Rome he mm Paul thank Ood and take courage (xx 37, xxviii 15). S. Irenaeus rightly deMfibes S. Luke as S. Paul's inseparable fellow-worker'; and he received an ample reward for his devotion in the last testimony of the apostle — only Luke is with me. Corresponding to S. Luke's affectionate nature, the characteristic of dnmdh life which attracted him and which he delights to portray is * brotherly love ' or ' love of the brethren.' The church is a brotherhood and acts as such. The description of the early church at Jerusalem represents no doubt 8. Luke's personal ideal, when all the brethren were qf one he<Mrt and eomi^ and the spiritual community was reflected in an external community of foodsL He notes the joy and strength which comes firom the common fellow- ship and from the assembling together of the brethren^; and there is a special WQid for their mutual encouragement and comfort, viz. paraclesis or exhor- tatum. So Barnabas came to Antioch and exhorted the brethren, with great cflaet : Jodas and Siks did the same : S. Paul also possessed this power of Ctteooraging in a high degree*. The brotherly spirit of the church found its ddef outward manifestation in hospitality. This is exemplified in tlio journey 1 i 14, u 1, iv 23, vi 2, ix 26-90, xi 26, xu 5, 12. > xi 23, xv 32, ziv 22, xvi 40. £. A. C xxxiv THE AUTHOR 0 of the delegates to the council, brought on their way by one churcl gladly receifed by the other (xy 3-4): in a similar journey of S. marked by affectionate intercourse and leave-takings and ending in a reception at Jerusalem (xx &-xxi 17): and again in the refreshment of S. by his friends at Sidon, the hospitality at Puteoli, and the courtesy c Roman Christians in coming forty miles to meet him, a mark of brotho which put new life into his heart (xxvii 3, xxviii 14-15). The brotherly love of the church is thrown into greater relief b[ opposite spirit In recording the failures in the church, it is obvious thi most heinous sin in S. Luke's eyes is covetousness or the love of money, this apparently not so much from ascetic principles, but because oov4 ness denotes self-seeking^ and it is self-interest which divides brother brother and so breaks up the unity and effectiveness of the body, first recorded sin in the church, which met with so severe a condemn was keeping back part of the price (v 1-11). Supposed unfair distrik was at the bottom of the first murmuring (vi 1). The fatal sin of m spiritual position an instrument of temporal gain is once for all denoi in the case of Simon Magus (viii 20). Again, the interests of selfish gai no less an obstacle to the church from without, as is seen in the oppositi Baijesus, of the owners of the soothsaying girl of Philippi, and the silvers of Ei^iesus (xiii 6-11, xvi 19, xix 25-7). The remedy against oovetov is to call nothing one'9 own but to have all things eommonj with a corres ing simplicily of life. ^Silver and gold have I none * says S. Peter, and S, echoes his words (iii 6, xx 33-4). Besides covetousness there was another source of weakness in the cl viz. the innate tendency to division. This served to bring out another f and oflSce of S. Luke's brotherly love. As a physician by profession, so h a healer and a peacemaker by nature. The unity of the church is U a fundamental truth. In fact he has been severely accused of writin history for the purpose of inventing a unity which did not exist Acc€ to the TCLbingen critics the followers of S. Peter and S. Paul were irreconc divided, and the aim of S. Luke was to gloze over and conceal this dii Now it is true that, as we read S. Luke's calm narrative, we feel little ( heat of controversy; although we know for certain that such there was fro impassioned language of S. Paul's epistles ; and certainly others might written the history in very different terms. It is however to be emphal noted that with all his desire for unity S. Luke did not conceal unwelcome The murmuring in the church, the reluctance of the brotherhood to n a new brother, the Pharisaic spirit which criticized the chief apoetli which would have excluded the Gentiles, the no %maU dUsmmon questioning which arose in the church on the matter of drcomdi all these are duly recorded^ Most painful of all was the iharp conU which arose between the two great apostles and fellow-workers, Pau 1 vi 1, is 2C, xi 2-3, xv 2. §2 HIS CHARACTER xxxv Baniabas ; yet no hint is given of a reconciliation, which we are left to infer from the letters of S. Faul^ But while narrating these facto, 8. Luke saw and reoorded another series of facts which made for unity : the self-sacrifice and brotherly condnct of individuals like Barnabas (i? 36-7, ix 27), the unanimity of the great leaders at the council (ch. xt), and the friendly reception of SL Paul by the mlers of the church in Jerusalem (xxi 17-25). Farther, S. Luke had the historical insight which, as he looked back, shewed him how all things, even evils, had been made to 'work together for good to them that love C^od.' Hence throughout the Acts we breathe in an atmosphere of thankful and even joyful optimisuL All ended welL The sin of Ananias against the common life served to consolidate the church. The first murmur- ing led to the appointment of the Seven. The martyrdom of S. Stephen with the ooDsequent persecution started the Christian evangelists on a career of uninterrupted progress. It led to the first bursting of the confines of Jerusalem ; it won for the church its greatest missionary, S. Paul ; and it was followed by a deeper and more edifying peace (ix 31). Again, Herod's persecution was the occasion of a ngaal deliverance, and the word of God all the more grew and muUipHed (xii 24). The controversy about circumcision resulted in a great increase of joy and deepening of the brotherly feeling in the church (xv 31-2). The separation from S. Barnabas may have left S. Paul freer for the great extension of the church towards the west, in any case it left his apostleship to stand out more unmistakeably ; and all the sufierings, bonds, and imprisonments of 8. Paul himself ended in bringing him to Rome, where for two years he was able to preach the kingdom qf God and teach the things concerning the Lord Jews ChrUt with aU boldness^ none forbidding him. And this is the joyful conclusion of the whole history. It wonld however be a very inadequate account of S. Luke's affection and devotion to suppose it limited to man : it must have had its basis in the love of Qod. We have alluded to his sense of the omnipresence and bounty of Qod in nature ; and what further attracted him to S. Paul was the apostle's personal devotion to the Lord Jesus. Throughout the Acts we feel that the presence and activity of the risen Lord is a living reality to the writer', and in the words which he puts into S. Paul's mouth we can hear himself speak- ing— I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at JeruscUem for the name (f the Lord Jesus (xxi 14). The divine presence was realized by 8. Lnke &r more as an internal, than an external, presence. It was a oommnnion in spirit. And as S. Luke's character may be best described by 8l Paul's list of the fruits of the Spirit, so he was intensely conscious of the actual indwelling of the Holy Spirit But of this more will be said below. This communion with God finds its exercise and manifestation in prayer, whidi accordingly has a great place in S. Luke's history. Four prayers are recorded^ in i 24, iv 24-30, ?ii 59-60, and xxi 14 : and besides the frequent 1 XV 87-9, Col iv 10, n Tim iv 11. ^ Qp. yij 55^ ix 4, 10, xiv S, xvi 7, XTiii 5, xzli 17, xziii U. C2 xxxvi THE AUTHOR ch.ii alluBioDD to the practice^, we notice that on the most critical occasions divine interventions and revelations come in answer to prayer, e.g. the bapt of S. Paul, his 'separation' and his mission to the Gentiles, the receptioi Cornelius by S. Peter, and the deliverances both of S. Peter and of S. Pa Of prayer, praise is the chiefost element, and this also is stamped on the be The immediate effect of the Spirit is to make men utter the mighty wo qf Chd, and magnify him : praise is the normal attitude of the Christ life : after persecution, controversy, or success, alike they glorify Ood : midnight in the jail at Philippi S. Paul tang hymm unto God, and dui the shipwreck and on reaching Roman territory he ^om thank9\ With g« reason, then, we can picture S. Luke as one wont to 'speak in psalms i hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with his heart to Lord' : one of tliose best of all evangelists with whom the melodies abide of the everlasting chime : who oany music in their heart through dnsl^ lane and wrangling mart, plying Uieir daily task with busier feet, because their secret souls a holy strain repeat^ For S. Luke's character is to be briefly comprehended in the word j&i joy which is the fruit of the Spirit. It was the joyousness in the choi which attracted S. Luke. Not so much the teaching or the theology the organization, but the new life of the church. This fascinated him : 1 joy and gladness which came from the revelation of the grace of God, 1 gift of the forgiveness of sins^ the Indwelling of the Spirit, and the life brotherhood. The early Christians lived in a state of exultation or gladn (ii 46, zi 27 Bezan); and joy was the natural outcome of Christian work a intercourse, as of the mission of Barnabas to Antioch, the news of Paul a Barnabas' success, and the reception of the apostolic letter ^ Even persecuti was a joy, for the Twelve departed from the council r^oicing that they to counted worthy to euffer dishonour for the Nams ; and at Antioch in Pish after the expulsion of the apostles the disciples were yet fUed with joy a with ths Holy Gho9t\ These words give the secret In those days t gospel was indeed 'good tidings of great joy' (Lk ii 10), and it brought rich gift — of the Holy Spirit So when Philip preached in Samaria, thi woi much joy in that city ; and the eunuch lifter he had been baptix went on his way r^foicing. When S. Paul turned to the Gentiles at Antio in Pisidia, they r^oiced and glorified the word qf God; and the jailor Philippi after his baptism likewise rejoiced greatly with aU his house^ ham believed in God^, 1 See i 14, 24, ii 42, iii 1, iv 24-31, vi 4, 6, vii 59, 60, viii 15, 24, ix 11, 40, x 4, 9, 30, zi 5, xii 6, 12, xiu 2-3, xiv 23, xvl 25, xx 36, xxi 5, xxii 17, xxiv 11, zr 24, xxYiii 8. > ix n, xiii 2, xxii 17 : x 2, 9, 80, xi 5: xii 5, 12: zvi 25, ( zxvii 24. 8 ii 4, n, x 46: ii 47 : iv 24. xi IB, xiii 48, xxi 20: xvi 25, xzvii f xxviii 15. * Eph v 19, and The GhrUtian Year for S. Matthew's Di » xi 23, XV 8, 31. « V 41, xiu 52. 7 yiu 8, 39, xiu 48, xvi 34. CEm§l COMPOSITION OF THE AOTS xxxvii CHAPTER HI The Composition of the Acts § 1 iSl Lukit aim To enquire into S. Lake's aim in writing the Acts is at the same time to ask What is the meaning of the book ? and what are its leading ideas 7 The Acts then may be regarded as: (1) A record of the Truth. It is a second volume, and at the beginning of t^e first (the Gospel) S. Lake like a modern writer announces his motive in a prehce (Lk i 1-4). This was that TheophUta might know the certainty ccneeming the things wherein he had been instructed. His aim, then, was to coDTey accurate information; in other words he was impelled by the historical iDstinct, Le. the desire to preserve the remembrance of great deeds. At firsts in their expectation of an immediate return of their Lord, the Christians needed no history. But as years went by, the end had not come. The first generation of disciples was passing away, and the foundation of the church was becoming a thing of the past. Accordingly, before he leaves the world, 8. Luke is anxious to leave behind him a written record of the matters tohich had been JulJUled among them. And no doubt some of the incidents and a great deal of the detail in the Acts are simply due to the personal teminiaoences and the recording instinct of the writer. There was a further ■loiive. In the oral tradition in which Christians were instructed or catechized some accounts of the beginnings of the church must have found a place. At aDj rate various written attempts at gospel and church histoiy were already in circulation, though, as it would seem, not of a high class. There was, tlMD, great need for a certain or accurate narrative, and this S. Luke sets hJMsnlf to draw up. Once more, the dedication to TheophUiu is a hint that 8L Luke is addressing the general reading public. The Acts, like the Gospel, m a catholic book, addressed to all men whether Roman or Greek, Christian or Jew. Of Theophilus we know nothing, but we recognize in him this eatliolie character : he had been instructed in the Christian fiuth, his name is Greek, and the complimentary epithet most excellent may mark a Roman ofldal or noUeman. We may even go further. For it is possible that, like Jahn Buiiyan in Pilgrim's Progress, S. Luke is really addressings— not an iadividaal but— the Christian as such, under the g^ise of Theophilus or Locer of God. (2) The gospel of the Spirit. The great things which S. Luke wants to record are the deeds and doctrines qf Jesus (i 1). This is the subject of the Goepel and Acts alika But there is a difference. In the Acts Jesus ii wo longer present in the flesh, but works through his Spirit. The Acts is really Uie completion of the Goepel. Having written the Gospel, S. Luke Moat needs go on to the Acts, for the Lord's work is made effectual in the xxxviii COMPOSITION OF THE ACTS oh. world by the Spirit; and the Acts may be called ^the Gospel of the B Ghost' It begins with the baptism of the church by the Spirit. It was gift qf the Holy Ghost (ii 38) which joined men to the Lord, and which apostles offered to the world; and the history shews how it was extent (typically) to all men, e.g. the Samaritans, the Gentile Cornelias, and disciples of John^ It is the mark of the Christian to be full of the Holy Spii as Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power j so were 1 apostles and evangelists'. The Holy Spirit was the guide in the ester action and advance of the church— he directed Philip, and sent Peter baptize Cornelius; he ordered the separation of Paul and Barnabas, and gui^ S. Paul's steps^ Likewise within, he guided the church 'into aU the trutl ho spoke in the utterances of her councils, and was the source of ministei authority*. The Acts in £EU!t is a history of 'the new dispensation'; and tl is why it lacks a definite conclusion. These twenty-eight chapters are but i beginning (i 1, ad 15) : we are still living under the dispensation of the Spin (3) The history of the Ohorch. The Spirit qf Jesus (xvi 7) at through a human society — ^the church, which is 'the body of Christ' . Christ is a king, this society is also a kingdom — the kingdom qf Chx The Acts contains the story of the establishment of the kingdom (xx 1 or tho first stage in the growth of the body: in modem phrase it is history of the church from a.i>. 30 to 60. In this history there are two sid to be studied : its external and internal history. (A) Externally, the chur spreads from Jerusalem to Rome, from the religious centre of the world its secular capital. We watch it growing like a grain of mustard. First absorbs Samaria, all Judaea and Galilee, with Caesarea; then it reach Antioch. From Antioch, which serves as a second mother city, it rapid spreads through one province after another — Galatia, Macedonia, Achai Asia — ^till in Ephesus it finds a third resting place. From Ephesus it lea] across the sea to Rome. (B) Internally, we witness its expansion from Jewish sect into a catholic church. From the doctrine of Jesus as the Jewii Messiah we are led on to the full conception of Jesus as the Son of Got The church bursts the swaddling clothes of the Law with its Jewish rit« and steadily grows up 'to the stature of the fulness of Christ' (Eph iy 1| Corresponding to this growth there is a continuous widening of its borden it starts with Jews, to whom are added Grecian Jews and proselytes ; thfl it takes in Samaritans and the outer circle of adherents of the synagogofl then with a wide embrace it draws in the Gentiles, both Greeks an barbarians, until finally at Rome Christianity stands as the religion for aj the world. Such a history, like the growth of a highly diversified organism, will b marked by a richness of complexity, both in tiie church's relations with tli 1 ch viu 17, X 44, xix 6. > vi 8, vii 55, zi 24: x 38. > viii 29, 89 X 19-20, xil2: xiU 2: xvi 6-10, xix 1 (Bezan), 21, op. xx 23, zxi 11. « xv 2Sj XX 28. » xvu7, Iikxxiii2: AotBi8, xxviUSt §1 ITS AIM xxxix world without and in its own inner dovelopment. Consoquently the historian faw in his mind no donbt several subsidiary purposes in writing, some of wliich hkTO been unfairly exalted to the first place. Thus : A 0) In the external growth of the church the great factor to be eoMJdered was the State or the Roman Empire. What if it should place Christknity under its ban, prohibit its growth, and forbid its practice ? The only reBolt would be resistance and war to the death. At the time when 8. Ldke was writing the attitude of the Roman goyemment was still uncertain. Henoe 8. Luke is anxious to vindicate the legal status of Christianity. He deacribes carefnlly tiie various cases of conflict with the state authorities, and in particnhur he shews how S. Paul in all his trials before Roman governors was acquitted of any disloyalty. To make this clear is at least one reason for the great prolixity and repetition in the concluding chapters. In them Fan! stands for Christianity; and the Acts is really a ' Defence of the Church' addressed to the imperial authorities, the first of the long series of 'apdogiet.' (ii) The Jews, however, were in fact the first, as they wore the most liitter, persecutors of the church, and the Acts might be an apologia to theuL 8. Luke wonld prove that Jesus is the Messiah by the most cogent evidence of fattB, vis. by the actual establishment of the Messianic kingdom in the world. But by aj>. 60 the centre of Christianity had already shifted from Judaea to Borne; and the tone in which S. Luke writes of the Jews, the way in which he nnmasks their mad and unreasonable hatred against S. Paul, shews that was a very secondary motive. (iii) From the point of view of the world at largo, there was a more serious than Judaism, and that was false religion or superstition. The general pc^wlation of the empire (the public for whom S. Luke chiefly wrote) was in bondage to superstitions and spiritual deceits; and to set them free, it was necessary to vindicate Christianity as the Truth against aU rival religions and spiritoal powers. Accordingly the Acts is the history of a succession of victories of the Truth over Falsehood — over false spiritualism, sorcerers and exorcists, both Jewish and Qentile, divination at Philippi and magic at ; over idolatiy, whether that of simple country folk as in Lycaonia Malta or the elaborate worship of Artemis at Ephesus ; and lasUy over fiJse philosophy at Athens. B 0) The obstacles to the church from within, however, were really ■ore dangeroos. First there was the moral danger. In one aspect the hisUiry of the church is a history of a decline from the first love ; and the entry of sin into, and its lodgement within, the church must have been a problem to perplex the early Christians. S. Luke's answer is to give a faithful record of wW happened, and so to meet the danger. For the history is at the same Use the history of the oonriction of sin ; and the judgements of Ananias, of Simon Magna, and of others, are warnings for all time. On the other hand the pktnre of the origmal church life with its brotherhood and unselfishness will ever keep before the church her high ideal. xl COMPOSITION OF THE ACTS ch. (ii) The greatest menace to the unity of the church is the tendenc; dlTision or the self-will (heresy) innate in man. Natural differences of n and character, if accentuated by a zeal whidi may not be according knowledge, lead to external schism. And in the first thirty years of her the church was brought face to face with that peril in an acute form. I ▼eiy growth brought up the question of respect qf persons or priyilogi the church : are all men equal before God 1 or has the Jew any adyanta In practical life the question meant — must the Gentile be circumcised keep the Law 9 There could hardly have been a subject of greater differe of opinion : Catholic and Protestant do not stand wider apart than did « and Gentile. The history will shew that the difference did reach the yc of division. But it was S. Luke's happy task to shew how the unity of church was preserved. The Tubingen critics indeed maintained that this the main object of S. Luke*s writing, and that in carrying it out he has gro perverted the truth (p. zzxiv). Instead of S. Luke they took for their in authority on early church history the so-called Clementine writings of second century; and these writings, which emanated from sects of Jud Christians, were prompted by a virulent hatred of S. Paul. But the Tiibini views have fallen out of favour. The truthfulness of S. Luke is vindica elsewhere ; and we may add that, as he was neither a leader nor a Jew wajB not likely that he should fully realize the intensity of feeling among ' Jews on the subject The truth of his facts has been vindicated by hist itselfl No trace remained of any such actual schism in the church as tl supposed: in tradition S. Peter and 8. Paul have always stood side by side brother martyrs and brother princes of the church. 8. Luke wrote when 1 struggle of opinion was rapidly dying out, and his quiet retrospect affords the church a lesson and a guide for the right treatment of controversy. (iii) To moral weakness and schism, for the sake of completeness, we no add the danger of error. This again S. Luke has met by his carefid summar of 'the gospel' in the speeches, by his treatment of imperfect forms Christianity, as e.g. at Ephesus, and by the warnings uttered by 8. Paul the Ephesian elders. (4) The acts of the Apostles. The first thirty years of church life w a vast subject to take in hand, but 8. Luke understood the true principle dealing with it. The history should be neither a dry collection of facts li an Anglo-Saxon chronicle, nor, like the reconstructions of some modem critii something altogether ideal The secret is found in personality. The He Spirit, working in the church, works through individuals ; and so the histo of the church becomes the acts of the Apostles. These are not the acts certain individuals, but of 'the apostles' and of individual apostles only apostles ; for, as we shall see in chapter vi, the apostles are the foundation the church^. Nor are they the complete acts of any one apostle, but only thoi in which he contributed to the life of the whole and which received the sanctii I M I r ■ • T - _ _^ ^ »ce i 2, 26, ii 42-3, iv 33-7, v 2, 12, 18, 29, vi 6, viii 1, 14, 18, iz 27. i'J ITS AIM xU oihis feUows. The saocessive phases of church thought and actiyity which Mftoryhas to record find their best expression in some leader or representative; iiid so the history of the Acts is composed of chapters from the lives (or, as the Greeks expressed it> aeti) of Peter and Stephen, Philip and Apollos, Barnabas and FSauL Similarly, subsidiary currents of life and thought are also repre- sented in individuals, such as John Mark, Cornelius, Sergius Paulus, Aquila and Frisdlla, and others. In history of this character the personal predilections of the writer cannot be concealed, and in the Acts S. Paul is the dominating figure. S. Peter of course is his equal, but in extent and interest his acts are outweighed by those of S. Paul This presentation of S. Paul is a great confirmation of 8. Luke's historical insight. We may feel sure that among his contemporaries 8. Paul did not hold so large a place in respect of the other apostles. All who came in contact with him must indeed have been stirred by his powerftd personality. But there were large tracts of the church where Paul was unknown, large tracts where he was not understood, and in the eyes of the ordinary churchman the Twelve, and especially Peter, James, and John, held the first place. S. Luke, however, belonged to the group of Pauline disciples : to them 8. Paul was equal even to S. Peter ; and the place assigned to the apostle, under the influence of the personal devotion of our author, has been justified by the course of history. To this we must add that the acts of the Apostles afford the best com- meDtai7 on the meaning of the church. A true history of the church could not be complete without an account of its constitution and organization. But the diurch is a living body, and physiological processes are not subject to mechanical definition. Accordingly, like its external history, the church's internal constitution must be learnt from pictures of life ; and as the church began with the Twelve, so the laws of her life are to be studied in the account of their actions, such as the ordination of the Seven, the laying on of hands upon the Samaritans, the judgement of Ananias and Sapphira, and the holding of the conncU at Jerusalem. Similarly the creed of the church is to be looked for in the witness of the apostles, which is enshrined in their speeches. § 2 His sources <^ information For the second part of the Acts, ch. xiii-xxviii, S. Luke had the best possible sources of information. During a great part of this time ho was an sffmeiiness and a minister (Lk i 2) of the chief actor, 8. Paul ; and S. Paul oonkl have communicated to him nearly all that he has related. But in this capacity 8. Luke was frequently an eyewitness of the events also, and therefore his own authority. The accounts of Philippi in ch. xvi, and of the two voyages in xz-xxi and xxvii-xxviii, might be leaves out of his diary. In the interval, when the use of the first person disappears (xvii 1-xx 4), he may have been at 8. Paul's side from time to time ; and he may have visited Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus. In any case he was in close connexion with members oC the apostolic company who could have given him all the information he xlii COMPOSITION OF THE ACTS CH. required, ag. Silas, Timothy of Lystra, Titus, Erastus of Corinth, Aristard of Thessalonica, Sopater of Beroea, Tychicus and Trophimus of Ephesus. 1 history of the earlier journey of ch. xiii-xiy also reads as if it came fix>iii eyewitness. This may have been, as has been suggested (p. xzxl)', 8. Li himself; if not> there was at least Timothy, not to speak of Barnabas and Pt to give information. S. Mark, with whom S. Luke must hare become intim later on at Rome or elsewhere, could have told him about Cyprus (xiii 1-] For the council (xv-xvi 4) there was no lack of authorities. Besides F and Barnabas, there was the Antiochene deputation, of which Titos- possibly Luke himself— was an important member (Gal ii 3X The case is somewhat different with the first part of the Acts (i-x because the events for the most part occurred before 8. Luke had appeal upon the scene. But still, as he tells us in his preface, he had access eyevntnesses and ministers qf the word. He had unrivalled opportonii for collecting information. At one time his home was in the diurch Antioch, and there he could have gathered the traditions of that diuro cp. xi 19-30, xii 25-xiii 3, xiv 26-xv 2, xv 22-40. There also he would ha been in communication with the prophets and teachers of xiii 1, with Bamal of Cyprus, Symeon I^iger and Lucius of Cyrene (iv 36-79 u 26-30, xi 9 Maiuien, Herod's foster-brother — with whom we associate S. Luke's notic of the Hcrodian family (xii 20-3, xxv 13, cp. Lk xxiii 7-12) — and Saul , Paul. S. Paul was the original authority for ix 1-30 (as in xxii 3-21 and xx¥ he also took a leading part in the persecution and trial of S. Stephen (vi ( viii 3). Later on, if not before, S. Luke visited Jerusalem itself ; and if 1 stay in the city was short, he spent two years at Caesarea. This explains il specially full and detailed account of the origin of the church there (viii 4 ix 31-xi 18). At Caesarea moreover he was the guest of one of ' the Sevei S. Philip the evangelist^ as afterwards for a short time of Mnason. Both of thai were original disciples (xxi 8, 16). From Philip would naturally be derivi vi 1-7 and viii 4-40 ; and with 8. Paul he would be an additional authorH for the intervening persecution (vi 8-viii 3X Possibly he was also an acti in the conversion of Cornelius, and it may be he who tells the stoi (x-xi 18). John Mark we have already mentioned : he was no doubt presei in his mother's house when Peter told the story of his deliverance froi prison, and the vivid and graphic narrative of xii 1-19 is in all probabilit taken down from his lips. ^ There is now left only chapters i-v, — the history of ths beginning. '% have already enumerated some eyewitnesses from the beginning— e.g. Bamabai Mnason, Philip, Mark. Besides these there were the Twelve Uiemselves, moi prominent among whom were S. Peter and 8. John, with 8. James the Lor^j brother. Of these 8. Luke met 8. James at Jerusalem, and 8. Peter (as ij can hardly doubt) at Rome, perhaps also at Antioch (Gal ii 11). But 8. Lull himself speaks of another source of information, viz. written documents (Lk i 1 The problem of these early chapters is in fact the same as that of the Qospii itself. 8. Luke speaks somewhat in a tone of depreciation of these writtdl 1 I §2 ITS SOURCES xliii documents, and he would no doubt have preferred to rely mainly upon what was their authority also, tIz. oral tradition. Very soon, we imagine, the teeoont of what Jesus had said and done — ^that in which the disciples and new bdierers were instructed—Bsstxmed a more or less fixed form or tradition. As has been hinted (p. xxxvii), it is most pnobable that to such a fixed form would be addod some accounts of the Ascension, of the Day of Pentecost, and of tlio life of the early church as illustrated by some typical events, such as a miracle, a conflict with the Sanhedrin, and a judgement on unfaithful Christisaia. Now whatever did actually happen, S. Luke had, during his stay in Palestine, the best opportunity for making himself master of this oral timditioii in whatever form it had assumed by a.d. 55 ; and this tradition must be eonsidered as the basis of the early chapters. In forming the oral tradition, or at least in drawing up these brief typical accounts, S. Peter must have been the chief authority. But 8. Peter was not learned and there was another one of the first three, who had much greater qualifications. This S. John, about whom the history is very reticent, more than we should have expected and could wish. His activity may have taken this form ; and if he had a large hand in drawing up these early histories, it would account for the silenoe about himself (as with 8. Luke in the Acts). Certainly there are many phrases and turns which seem to suggest his hand. To take a few instances — the Father which occurs in Acts i 4, 7, ii 83 is of ecmm the famDiar JohanDine title : names (i 15) is used for persons in Rev iii 4, zi 18, ep. zxi 14 : with pricked (ii 37) op. Jn xix 34. The account of the miracle in iii is very minilar to those in Jn v and ix ; thus op. lame from his mother^s womb (S) with Jn ix 1 : the wondering (12, 10, 11) with Jn v 20, 28, vii 21 : the fjloHfying of Jesus (13) is a favourite Johuinine thought, op. Jn ii 11, vii 39, xii 41, xiii 32 de. : with Uie recognition (10) cp. Jn ix 8 : with the Holy and Righteous (14) Jn vi 69, eii 11. 25) I Jn u 1, 20: with blot out (19) Rev iii 5, vii 17 : the sending of the Son ) is a fevonrite expression in S. John, iii 17 etc. : with iv 4 op. Jn vi 10 : John aoquainted with the high-priestly family (iv 6) Jn xviii 15: the thought of being (iv 18) occurs in Jn vii 15, 49: seeing and hearing (20) is 8. John's for the reception of the revelation, Jn iii 32 etc., IJn i 1 : with iv 22 op. Jn ▼ 5 : with their own (iv 23) Jn i 11 : Solomon's Porch (v 12) is mentioned in Jn x 28 : and v 13 may be a kindred statement to Jn (iii 2) vii 13, (48) xii 42 etc. : the Life <v 20) is a favourite idea of 8. John, and cp. the words of eternal life in Jn vi C8: for the Name (v 41) cp. UlJn 7 : pleasing (vi 2) cp. Jn viii 29, 1 Jn iii 22. nere remains the question of the speeches in the Acta In classical Ifteratvire, so far from feeling bound to reproduce the speakers* words, a writer looked upon the speeches as his great opportunity of expressing his own views as to what might or ought to have been said. Are we then to look apon the speeches in the Acts as 8. Luke's own compositions or as genuine of what was said ? For undeniably on a first reading they seem very alike and they bear unmistakeable signs of 8. Luke's pen. In reply, we fint notice (1) that they are all exactly suitable to the occasion and are distinctly coloured by the particular and local circumstances. Next (2) as the eoBUDaitiry will shew, we can without difficulty detect the characteristics of the individual speaker : for instance, this is true especially of the speeches at the oooncil; and again it is easy to distinguish 8. Peter's, 8. Stephen's^ xHv COMPOSITION OF THE ACTS oh and S. Paul'fl speechesw Now some at least of these last S. Luke must 1 heard himself, and he may have taken notes. For the short speeches w we have, and which could be spoken in a very few minutes, can onl: summaries of what was actually said. They are in fad notes (whether ti by S. Luke or by others) which S. Luke afterwards wrote out in pp form, and this will account for their Lucan style and composition. For the Fetrine speeches the oral tradition may again help us. the catechetical instmction of the disciples, besides the record of d< and miracles, there was needed some formal summary of the gosp^ authoritative type of doctrinal teaching. This 'teaching' would be given in the form of discourse, as in the Gospels : and the discourses wi naturally be those of 8. Peter. Thus 8. Peter's declaration of the go to the Jews would be the first form of the Apostles* Creed. Indeed \ striking how there recurs throughout the Acts the same form of statement bX the Crucifixion and Resurrection : this we find not only in 8. Peter (ii 2! 32-3, iii 13-5, 26, iv 10, Y 30-2, z 37-43) but in 8. Luke's Gospel (zxiv 45 and in 8. Paul (Acts ziii 27-31, cp. 1 Cor. zv 3-4 tohich I aUo received tradition), and we may add in our own Apostles' Creeds In a similar ^ 8. Stephen's speech may have been committed to memory (at least on Hellenist side of the church) as a standard interpretation of the Old Testam history. But we know that 8. Paul heard it, and it probably made a d impression on his memory. lie may have been 8. Luke's source in this caa § 3 His trusttoorthiness 8. Luke's sources may be ezcellcnt, but can we rely on his use of the is he trustworthy ? Now 8. Luke was quite aware of the need of accur for a historian : the last chapters are mainly occupied with the attempts the Roman authorities to find out some certain or exact information ab 8. Paul^ Further, it was the uncertainty of the other written docum« which moved him to write ; and he claims to have written (1) with accura and (2) in order\ And our verdict must be that the claim is justified, give an illustration, 8. Luke is well aware of the importance of fized da and the need of connecting his chronology with the history of the wori Accordingly in the second part of the Acts he gives regular notes of tii which when combined with the date of the succession of Feliz by Feel (zziv 27) will make a complete system. But in the first part of the Acts sii notes are entirely absent: instead we have indefinite phrases like in th days, {after) certain days. For (as in the case of the Gospel) the origii Jewish eyewitnesses or writers were indifferent to such exactness of tin and in later years 8. Luke, while unable to correct the deficiency, faithfii resisted the temptation to make conjectures of his own. 1 With this reason for the fixed form of the early speeches, it is important notice that in the speeches there is little variation between the two recensions' the Acts. a xzi 84» zxii 30, zzv 26. > Lk i 1-4. « See Lk iii 1, 23 : Lk U Actb zi 28. §3 ITS TRUSTWORTHINESS xlv We flhall be abtmdanily satisfied as to S. Luke's historical accuracy, if we reflect on the extraordinary test to which it was put, ie. the variety of floene and circumstance with which he had to deal. The ground covered readied from Jerusalem to Rome, taking in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. In that field were comprised all manner of populations, civilizations, administrations — Jewish and oriental life, western civilization, great capitals like Antiocfa and Ephesus, Roman colonies, independent towns, Greek cities, 'barbarian' country districts. The history covers a period of 30 years which witneseed in many parts great political changes. Provinces like Cyprus and Adiaia were being exchanged between the emperor and the senate : parts of Asia Minor, e.g. Pisidia and Lycaonia, were undergoing a process of annexa- tioii and latinization : Judaea itself was now a Roman province under a procnraior, now an independent state tmder a Herodian king. Tet in all this intricacy of political arrangement S. Luke is never found tripping. Insiances of supposed mistake or anachronism have indeed been alleged and laid to his charge: but after examination (as will be pointed out in the oommentary) we are fairly entitled at least to answer that they have not jet been proved. On the other hand S. Luke is equally at home with the Sanhedrin and its parties, the priests and temple guard, and the Herodian ptinces at Jerusalem, with the proconsuls of Cyprus and Achaia, the rulers pf ike eynagogue and Jirst men of Antioch in Pisidia, the priest cf Zeu% at Lystra, the praetors, lictors and jailor of Philippi, the politarchs of Theasalonica, the Areopagus of Athens, the Asiarchs with the people, as- sembly and secretary of Ephesus, the centurions, tribune and procurator of Judaea, the first man of Malta and the captain of the camp at Rome. Such aocoracy would have been almost impossible for a writer compiling the history Mtj years later. In some cases where his statements had been impugned 8. Luke has been signally rindicated by the discovery of inscriptions, as in the caae of the politarchs of Thessalonica and the proconsul of Cyprus, Historical research is also throwing fresh light on the captain qf the camp ai Rome, and the ItcUic and Augustan cohorts at Caesarea^ This holds out 9Dod hope that further study or discovery wUl remove what difficulties and uncertainties still remain. This hope is indeed receiving a remarkable fulfilment ai this moment The one great stumbling-block in S. Luke has been the emroiment or census of Quirinius^ : and great authorities like Mommsen and Sdwrer have pronounced him guilty of error. But recent discoveries in the papyri of ^gypt seem likely to clear up the difficulty by giving fuller informa- tioQ aboat the imperial census'. Historical accuracy goes with the faculty of exact or careful observation. finch a faculty may be looked for as a natural result of a medical training ; and that 8. Luke possessed it we may consider to be proved by the aanratiTe of the voyage and shipwreck in chapter xxvii. This was most > zxvin 16: z 1, zxvii 1. > v 87, Lk ii 1. » See Prof. Ramsay's Wtu Christ ol Bethlehem f (Hodder and Stoughton, 1898). xlvi COMPOSITION OF THE ACTS ch. hi carefully examined by an expert, Mr James Smiths He concluded that S. Luke was quite free from mistakes such as a landsman might easily make ; and from his accurate description Mr Smith was able to trace the course of the voyage and to identify the scene of the wreck. To these two qualities we must add a third — moral honesty or fidelity to truth. We began with an example of this in S. Luke's refusal to conjecture dates. We have also seen his faithfulness in his unfaltering record of short- comings in the church — discontent, division, sin (p. xxxiv). This extends even to his master: he makes no effort to conceal or gloze over the unhappy 'paroxysm' or sharp contention between S. Paul and S. Barnabas. Then we have faithfulness in style. When the scene is in the Jewish church at Jerusalem the narrative is thoroughly Hebraic: elsewhere, in the west or in a governor's court, the slyle tends to lose this Hebraic character. The last chapters (xxii-xxviii) afford an illustration: for in S. Paul's two great speeches, which describe his past life, there is a remarkable return to the phrascol(>gy and ideas of the early chapters, especially of chapter ix^ This however is but an element in a wider fidelity, ie. in describing the situation or state of ideas generally. Juist as in the historical setting, so tiiere are no anachronisms in the thought We have an exact reflection of the mind of the apostles before Pentecost, of the ideas and conditions of the church at Jerusalem before the persecution broke out, and of the relation of parties in the church before the question about circumcision had died away ; and without the church, of the attitude — (1) of the Jewish rulers towards the Nasarenes, and of the Jewish parties among themselves before the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70 ; and (2) of the Roman government, and the Gentiles generally, towards Christianity before the out- break of persecution in a.d. 64 and the growth of popular odium in the decade between 60 and 70. Such a representation, so true to life, it would have been hard to paint after a.d. 70. S. Luke*s success in these points is largely due to his artistic power and his truly human character. First, he has got the sympathetic insight which can thoroughly enter into the feelings of different parties — such as Pharisees and Sadducees, Hebraists and Hellenists ; different classes of society — Jews and Greeks, the populace and better classes, local magistrates, Roman ofi&cials, Herodian princes ; different interests — Pharisaic rabbis and Sadducean priests, Ephesian silversmiths and Jewish sorcerers, Roman aristocrats and Greek citizens; differences of culture — ^Athenian philosophers and rustic Lycaon- ians; different professions — soldiers and sailors. Then this appreciativeness is made effective by a gift of style. By a few vigorous touches he can make a scene live before us — whether a scene in the Temple, or a service in a synagogue, or a riot at Ephesns, or S. Paul in the marketplace at Athens or before Agrippa at Caesarea or on board ship in a wreck. In a few words he ^ in his Voyage and Shipwreck of S. PatU, 1848. ' Besides the very olose agreement with ix 3-9, notice in ch. zxli Jesus of Nazareth^ the God of our fathers, the Righteous One, thou shalt he a witness, seen ajid heard, call upon his Name ; in xxvi the Name, the saints. §3 ITS TRUSTWORTHINESS xlvii can draw a character. In the Acts we come across 110 names, besides many other persons or groups whose names are not giren, and of these how extra- ordinarily their individuality is preserred. We have given some instances of women (p. xxxiii) : among the men we have Peter and John, James and Paul the rabbi Gamaliel and Ananias the high priest; Barnabas and Ananias St^hen and Philip; Simon the 'magus' and Barjesus the £Etlse prophet COTnelioB and Julius; Agabus and Apollos; Herod Agrippa I and Agrippa II John Mark and Timothy ; Sergius Paulus and Gkdlio ; the jailor of Philippi and Publius of Malta ; Demetrius and the town-clerk of Ephesus ; Claudius Lydas and Tertullus; Felix and Festus. Finally, S. Luke has demonstrated his artistic skill by wdding this complex variety of persons and places, times and seasons, characters and circumstances, into one whole — a whole in which no tendency or side issue dominates : and a whole so complete, that we entirely foi^t the variety, we are unconscious of the personality of the author nnd his method : our attention is simply riveted on the growth of the church nnd on the personalities of S. Peter and S. Paul ; and without any jar or break firom the small beginning at Jerusalem we are led on step by step with increasing interest and enthusiasm to the great climax of Paul at Rome. § 4 Hii method A. As the work of an arUstic writer the Acts must be constructed on some definite plan and method. The architecture (so to speak) of the history will appear more clearly in its analysis : but there is a characteristic of the acheme which calls for special note, that is its parallelism. (1) Firsts there is a general parallel between the first and second books. La the Gospel and the Acts. After a prefatory sentence, both alike begin with an introductory period of waiting and preparation, which is more or less in private (Lk i-ii = Acts i). Then comes a baptism of the Spirit (Lk iii = Acts ii), followed by a period of active work and ministry. This is concluded by a *pasai<m' or period of suffering, which in each volume occupies a seemingly disproportionate space. The analogy here will appear more convincing as we folk>w the later chapters in the commentary, but the main outline stands out clear. After early anticipations (Lk ix 51 = Acts xix 21) and a detailed jofimey up to Jerusalem (Lk xvii 11-xix 48 f= Acts xx-xxi 17) with 'last words' of the sufferer (Lk xx-xxi = Acts xx 17-38), we have the 'passion' proper (Lk xxii-iii = Acts xxi 17-xxviii). And then in each case the book ends with a period of victorious but quiet preparation for a further advance, or another volume. (2) The Acts itself obviously falls into two divisions — Part I ch. i-xii. Put II ch. xiii-xxriii ; and between these parts there is a similar parallolism. Bach opens vrith a special manifestation of the Holy Spirit (ii l-4=xiii 1-3). A period of work and preaching, persecution and opposition, follows (ii 14-xi sxiii 4-xix). And each ends with a 'passion' or rather a 'passing' of the chief actor, who in each case passes through suffering to a state of deliverance (zii=xx-xxviii). These actors are S. Peter and S. Paul, and the two parts xlviu COMPOSITION OF THE ACTS ch. might well be headed: I ACTS OF PETER, II ACTS OF PA\ Further, there is a most striking parallel between the history of these < apostles individually. Whatever Peter does, Paul does, and (we might a more also. The two aposUes are represented as a pair of athletes, wrestling behalf of the church : they are like the two prophets Elijah and Elisha, and two witnesses in Rev xL The parallelism extends even to verbal details, and most dwell on this in order to be convinced that S. Luke was conscious of i Like Simon Peter, Saul after his conversion receives a new name. Petei baptized 1^ tiie Spirit, Paul separated (ii 1-4, xiii 1-3). Peter is thoaght to drunken, raul to be mad : and both made a solemn forth-speaking (ii 13, 1' ixvi 24, 25). In oh. ii and oh. xiii we have their * gospel' for the Jews. B^ heal a lame man which brings them into trouble (iii 1 f. — xiv 8 f.). Peter si Silver and gold have I none, Paul coveted no man*8 silver or gold (iii 6 — xx 3 Bo^ are arrested in the Temple and brought before the Sanhedrin (iv 1 f., v 25 f xxi 27 £, xxiii). Both were inspired by, JiUed with, the Holy Ohost (iv 8— xiii But Peter was found to be unlearned, Paul the opposite (iv 13 — ^xxvi 24). The i of Ananias and Sapphira is analogous to the piaotice of curious arts at Ephesi and in each case fear feU upon aU (v 5, 11 — xix 17). By the hands of be •apostles signs and wonders are done (ii 43, iv 30, v 12 — xiv 3) : at two epochs an almost superstitious manner by Peter's shadow and PauVs skin (v 15-16 xix 11-12): their success incurs the jealousy of the Jews (v 17 — ^xiii 4 Gamaliel's policy resembles that of Gallic (v 34-39 — xviii 14-17) : a beating foUo' in each case ; Paul himself shares the glory of being beaten elsewhere (xvi 22— v 4( Gamaliel instances Theudas and Judas, Lysias thinks of the Egyptian Jew (xxii 3i Peter ordains the Seven, Paul presbyters (vi 6 — xiv 23). By the laying on of ban Peter and John give the gift of the Holy Ghost, Paul does likewise (viii 17-S xix 6 : for the speaking with tongues cp. x 46 — ^xix 6). Peter denounced Simc Magus, as Paul Barjesus (viii 20 f. — xiii 9 f.). Peter heals Aeneas when lying on bed of palsy, Paul heals Publius' father who was lying sick with dysentery : Pet presented Dorcas aUve again ; so Eutychus also was brought up alive (ix 32-41- xxviii 8, XX 9-12). ^Peter's first Gentile convert bears a Latin name, Comeliu; Sergius Paulus was Paul's first Gtentile hearer. Cornelius was a centurion i Gaesarea: so at Caesarea Paul is given into the charge of another centurioi Julius. Before his mission to Gomdius Peter is hungry (x 10 — ^ix 9, 19), falls inl an eestacy (x 10 — xxii 17) at midday, sees a vision, hears a voice &om heave three times : and the story is told three times (x 9-16, 28, xi 5-10). Compare tl thrice-told story of S. Paul's conversion at midday with the voice which likewii came from heaven three times (ix 1-9, xxii 6 f ., xxvi 12 f .^ : Ananias and Comelic also see visions (ix 10— x 3) : cp. also the vision before tne mission to Macedoni (xvi 6-10). Cornelius ofifers Peter worship, as the Lycaonians to Paul (x 25 — xiv II cp. the Maltese in xxviii 6) : for like the jailor at Philippi (xvi 29) Cornelius fell t Peter's feet. Both apostles are called to task by those of the circumcision (xi 3- XV 1-5) ; Peter makes a defence, Paul several. Peter was arrested by Agiippa I Paul made a defence before Agrippa II. Peter was put in prison at Jerusalem Paul and Silas at Philippi; and both parties were delivered (xii 11 — xxvi 17 miraculously (xii — xvi). With the appearance of the angel in xii 7 cp. xxvii 23 : fo the prayer followed by earthquake in xvi 25-26 cp. iv 24-31. Notice the details chains (xii 6 — xxvi 29 etc.), light (xii 7 — xxii 11 etc.), mad (xii 15 — xxvi 24) beckoning with the hand (xii 17 — xiii 16, xxi 40). In the end the apostles go to tin houses of Mary and Lydia respectively, and depart to another place (xii 17 — xvi 40) This parallelism is a weapon in Uie hands of those critics who impugi S. Luke's honesty. It is obvious, they say, that he has the deliberate intcntioi ^ Some of these instances which may appear strained in the case of the tw( apostles are added with a view of emphasizing the literary parallel between the tw( parts of the book. §4 ITS METHOD xlix of magnifyiog his favourite apostle into a position of equality with S. Peter. But, we can answer, the coincidences occur in the narrative in a most natural way: nothing could appear less artificial Besides, had S. Luke had such a deliberate intuition he could have done much more. We notice indeed that the balance seems to be on S. Paul's side : thus Paul has several visions of the Lord himself Peter none (after the intercourse of ch. i) ; Paul works miracles greater in number and effect; and again the 'passing' of Paul altogether outweighs that of Peter in its length. And yet S. Peter seems to hold the first plaoei The relation of the two is very much that of Elijah and Elisha. In Part I S. Peter occupies Uie leading position among the apostles ; nor does 8. Luke mention later on — what would have been very much to his purpose and what actually did make S. Paul equal to S. Peter — the compact made at the time of the council by which Paul was accepted as the apostle of the nscircumcision, as Peter was the apostle of the circumcision. This compact indeed points to the true explanation. The parallelism arises out of the fiMts ; for each of them was chosen by God for an especial work and an especial apostolate. Besides, we find the parallelism outside of the Acts ; thus both apostles write Epistles to the churches of Asia Minor. Both alike worked in Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Antioch ; and tradition unites them also in dties which we specially associate with the name of S. Paul — viz. Corinth and Roma There is a deeper explanation, which is to be found in the similarity of all Christian experience. If we had the lives of other apostles, we should find vei7 similar historiea— of prayer and preaching, of wonders and persecu- tion : the special parallelism between 8. Peter and S. Paul is due to the special positions they occupied in the apostolate. This experience is ex- emplified above all in the Son of Man himself; and his apostles and servants must foUow in the path he trod. The same Spirit is at work in all, and he woHls by the same laws. Two such laws lie on the surface : (1) the law of work — which follows the course of preparation, baptism by the Spirit^ work, opposition, rictory ; and (2) the law of victory — that success is won through suffering. This simflarity of experience S. Luke observed, and it is with the idea of tracing out these laws of Christian life that he forms his plan. This might be expressed otherwise by saying that S. Luke has a sym- bolical mind, in which he greatly resembles S. John. This means that his mind was open to see the underlying significance of the events and facts of life and history. Such minds are ready to perceive similarities or parallels ; and a law had already been discovered by the son of Sirach. He found that 'aH things are douUe one against another' (Ecclus xlii 24). Certainly the method of conveying emphasis by repetition prevails throughout the Bible. The Lord's life itself is Ml of such repetitions. Hence, as in the old kingdom there had been two prophets and as S. John saw in the Revelation two witnesses, so in the Acts the new kingdom is built up by two apostles. B. Besides this love of parallelism we notice a definite method of com- podtimi, which if understood wiU obviate a criticism. At fint sight as a B. A. d 1 COMPOSITION OF THE ACTS ch, church history the Acts ia very disappointing, because it is so incompi There are sach great gaps : not a word, for instance, about the churcl Eg^Tpt^ or in the further East^ or even about the founding of the churcl Rome. There is also so much we want to know about the church's const tion and worship, and on so many points S. Luke keeps a tantalizing sile fiat the feeling of disappointment is really due to want of ability to predate S. Lake's historical method. As he knew that the secret of hisi lies in personality, so he know that the true way of writing history is to compile bare records but to draw living pictures. Accordingly inst of writing a dictionary of historical names and ecclesiastical usages, he gi us a succession of virid pictures which present to us a living church. T we have pictures — of the preaching in the Temple (ii, iii), of the apos before the Sanhedrin (iv, v), of the internal discipline of the church (▼) the working of signs (iii, ix, xiv), of the election and ordination of chu officers (vi), of a martyrdom (vli fin.), of apostolic laying on of hands, i of the work of a Christian prophet (viii). We assist at a proconsul's court (z a sabbath service in the synagogue (xiii), a city riot (zix), a meeting Christian worship (xx 7-12) and so forth. This method really gives us all want For these scenes are intended for typical pictures. Having once fi] in the details in one picture, S. Luke does not repeat them elsewhere : must take them for granted. Thus we have no doubt that vi 1-6 is me for a typical ordination, viii 14-17 for a typical apostolic confirmation of newly baptized, xy 5-29 for a typical Christian 'council,' and xx 7-12 fo typical Christian service. In the same way we have a typical sermon to Jews (xiii), a typical address to philosophers (zvii), a typical appeal to ' unenlightened heathen (xiv), and a typical defence before a Roman goven (xxiv). § 5 The date of publication We have already found one limit for the date of the Acts, viz. it ^ written in the life-time of S. Luke. Can we fix it more precisely? . ordinary reader, finding that the book ends without any mention of the roa of the appeal to Caesar and that it leaves Paul working at Rome for t years in a kuid of 'free custody,' would naturally conclude that the autl had written his book in those two years and come to an end because he h no further information to giva If the reader was further aware that shor after these two years not only 8. Paul but S. Peter also was put to dei in a fierce outburst of persecution at Rome, and knew that the account of th deaths (which would have formed the natural close of the book) would hi been of intense interest not only to their contemporaries but to all futi generations of Christians, his conclusion that the Acts was written before i martyrdoms took place would become an irresistible conviction. In support of that conclusion there are very weighty arguments. (1) In investigating the date of a book, tho first stop is to look for i latest event mentioned. Now in tho Acts we cannot find any allusion ITS DATE li sh happened after the close of these two years (a.d. 58-60). And yet 9w years there occurred stirring events with an intimate bearing liistory, e.g. the martyrdom of S. James in 62, the persecution at 4 with the martyrdom of 8. Peter and S. Paul, and tiie destruction dm and the Temple in 70. He must have been a skilful writer not a hint of these things escape him. ' these events the most important in this connexion is the death (a) It seems incredible that if S. Luke had known it, he should Qentioned it. Had he deliberately intended not to mention it, yet ftve been difficult not to let some passing allusion escape from him. ispel of course there are definite predictions of the end. And if el between the Gospel and the Acts is intended, how flur more it would have been, if the latter closed with the actual laying down 's life. As it is, all the preliminary parts of the great process are great length— the journey to the place of arrest, the accusations, i4Journments at Jerusalem, and the voyage to Rome, — the reader's ad anxiety are keenly aroused, and then the narrative breaks off, word about the final result Surely it is not what we should have from an artist like S. Luke, to arouse the reader's curiosity and eave it unsatisfied. This argument may be developed fiuiher. ve reason to believe that at Uie end of these two years at Rome IS set free. Why has not S. Luke told us that 9 Surely the hearing the witness before the emperor, the sentence of the Caesar himself nore important than the trials at Jerusalem before procurators and princes ; and a successful issue of the appeal, a favourable decision peror, would have been the best 'defence' of Christianity, if that S. Luke's aim. We can only conclude that when he wrote, the not yet been decided. Otherwise S. Luke is open to the very serious of having committed a great error in the matter of proportion: iborated the first part of the process and omitted to mention its ., which would form the natural climax and conclusion of the book, lore, there is not a word of anticipation, which would have given such power to the narrative. And yet of the arts of composition S. Luke iter. As it is, the journey up to Jerusalem is full of dramatic pathos, r the shadows of the future cast before, — ^bnt that future is limited and imprisonment awaiting Paul at Jerusalem. How much mora . would be, if the reader were reminded that Paul is on his way as in the last journey of the Lord to Jerusalem in the Gospel ! mplete this argument, S. Paul's martyrdom would have greatly the balance of the book. The first part ends with the martyrdom es. Before this there is a vivid account of the deaUi of Stephen, presence. In the subsequent sufferings of S. Paul the writer hints tion for that death, — how much clearer the law of retribution would made by the apostle's own death ! Again, if it was at all S. Luke's monstrate the unity of the church, could he have found any fitter d2 lii COMPOSITION OF THE ACfTS cm condusion or proof of brotherhood than to exhibit the two leading, supposed rival, apostles united in death at Rome ? A very forcible rep| these arguments is that S. Luke is reserving the deaths of the apostlel a third volume. But we may point out that neither (jk>8pel nor Acts b^ with persecution and crucifixion, rather they begin with life and the pouring of the Holy Spirit And we may still ask, — to what purpose 1 is the great and even disproportionate length of the narrative of what i all was only the first part of S. Paul's process in chapters xx-xxviii ? (3) Two matters of detail reinforce this argument If S. Luke was ai that after his liberation S. Paul visited Ephesus again (as the Pastoral Bpi imply), it is not likely that he would have left Acts xx 25 and 38 as they stand. Again, if S. Paul visited Spam as tradition alleges, to have mentU it would have excellently fulfilled the purpose of the Acts to shew how witness was borne * unto the uttermost part of the earth ' (i 8). And the was not new, it had been in S. Paul's mind as early as 54 (Rom xv 24). (4) After the silenoe as to S. Paul's death, the weightiest argumei the fidelity with which the Acts presents a situation that could only ) existed before 64. The attitude of Rome to the church in the Ad evid^itly still undecided, not to say favourable; and S. Luke is writii defence of Christianity with good hopes of success. But all this was dai to the ground by the great fire of 64 and Nero's persecution. From that i the relation of the empire to the church is better painted by the Revela Rome is the scarlet woman drunk with Uie blood of the martyrs, and emperor is the beast It is true that the actual persecution was after a t relaxed, yet the line of defence had been quite changed. At any rat £L Luke wrote after that disaster, his peaceful joyful optimism would be ] to understand. No doubt the Acts itself shews how persecution leads to g but it is hard to conceive S. Luke, with all his personal devotion to S. I sitting down after his death and so calmly finishing the Acts with his preae at Romo— none forbidding him (xxviii 31). Similarly on the Jewish the continued existence of the Temple and the Jewish polity is, s< speak, taken for granted in the Acts. The Ust we hear of the Jewish chi is that there are myriads among the Jews who believe (xxi 20); thei no hint that the churoh of Jerusalem with the successor of S. James i the moment in exile at Pella. The destruction of the temple was also final solution of the question which so vexed the early church as to observance of- the Law; but no hint of this divine decision is given at tune of the discussion in ch. xv. Nor is there any hint that chapters : and xxi represent a scene and situation which no longer exist (5) Lastly thera is the evidence of language. The Acts faithfully refli as the ideas, so the phraseology of the early church. In style it takei place with the Gospels ; and the roference to the words qf the Lord J (xx 35) points to a time when they wera in process of formation. Whf moro decisive is the fact that among his authorities S. Luke makes no uf S. Paul's Epistles, the earliest of which was written in 49, While he }5 ITS DATE liii acem to the liring apostle^ there was no need of his letters. But some refer»ioefly at least to explain apparent inconsistencies, must have been in- entaUe in the years after his deatii. If the Epistles were already in circulation afid & Luke was holding a copy of Galatians in his hand, he must have been moire explicit as to ix 19-30 and xt. We may go further: the Acts m Uaidf suggests living intercourse with the apostle. For in the later diapien there is much resemblance in style to the Pastoral Epistles. These arguments are sufficiently obvious and their weight is fidly admitted by critics. Professor Hamack, for instance, is so impressed by the joyful and optimistic tone of the Acts as to maintain that, if vn-itten after 64, it must have been written after a considerable interval; he also finds no evidence of the use of the Pauline Epistles. Dr Ramsay also argues '* that the plan of the Acts has been obscured by the want of the proper climax and conclusion V But we bftTO had to labour the point, because nevertheless these and the majority of critics, even of those who accept the Lucan authorship, agree in putting the date much later, about a.d. 80: thus Dr Sanday puts it between 75 and 80. This is based upon one argument which is considered strong enough to upset aD the rest; and it is this. The Acts was written after the Gospel; but the Gospel was written after 70, because the diflferenccs between S. Lukes and the other (Gospels in the form of our Lord's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem shew that it had already taken place. The diflferenccs are these. 8. Luke omits the warning let him that readeth understand ^ and for the words When therrfore ye see the abomination of desolation, which losf spoken qf by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place substitutes Bui wken ye see Jeriualem compassed tcith armies, then know that her deeokUicM if at hand (Mt xxiv 15, Lk xxi 20). In verse 24 he adds pnticalars : And they shall faU by the edge qf the sword and shall be led mpHee into aU the nations: and Jentsalem shall be trodden down of the Gmfiletf until the times qf the Gentiles be fulfilled. Then he con- tiHies And there shall be signs etc., omitting the note of time in S. Matthew (xxiT S9) Bui immediately after the tribtdation qf those days. Again in Lk six 43 we have another detailed prophecy : For the days shall come upon iksst ufhen thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee and compass thee fwmd and keep thee in on every side, and shall dash thee to the ground and tk§f children within theCy and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon JScm there are several considerations to rob this argument of its force. In Base it is certain that the Lord predicted, and the Christians expected, the oterthiow of JerusalenL We need only quote a striking phrase of S. Paul in I Tbess ii Id, to^ up their sins alway : but the wrath is come upon them to ike mUermosL These words were written at least as early as 49, and there are echoes of them in the Lucan passage (Lk xxi 22-23). Then S. Luke was writug Cor GeotHe readers at Rome, and the note of warning had no application to 1 Pmd the Traveller etc. p. 28. Hamaok*8 judgement is given in his Chronologie itr eUckr. Literatur i pp. 246--50 ; Dr Sanday's in his Inspiration pp. 278-9. Uv COMPOSITION OF THE ACTS ch. in § them. Nor would they haye understood the enigmatical words abominoH of desolattan; so he translates them into ordinary language. This process ' see at work in 8. Mark's (Gospel also, for he omits the mention of Daniel and 1 the holy place writes tohere he ought not\ Moreover the detailed langus which S. Luke uses is nothing more than would be implied in the destructi of a dty. Least of all was that experience new to the city of Jerusale Twice within the preceding century, or century and a half, had Jerusalem be taken, with great slaughter and misery and desecration of the holy place. S these disasters were far eclipsed by the way in which, under Antioch Epiphanes, the Gentiles had trodden the temple under foot; and soi centuries before that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed and burnt the wh( city. So in fact 8. Luke had no lack of precedents for his language the Old Testament, where in reference to Jerusalem we can find parallels i nearly all of his details*. After all, besides the general phrases, there is detail specially characteristic of the fall of Jerusalem in particular. In t history of Josephus there are many incidents to which 8. Luke could ha referred : for instance, the burning of the temple. But it is indeed strikL that 8. Luke should have omitted all mention of the holy place in 1 prophecy ^ Lastly, if he wrote even ten years after the destruction of the dt in spite of the omission of the immediately (which 8. Mark also omits) tl difficulty of the conjunctions And,„and remains. For we still read A% there shall be 9iffru...and then shall they see the Son qf Man coming {\ 25, 27), There is a similar argument used against the earlier date, of about a.i>. C viz. that it does not allow sufficient time for the written 'attempts' at gos| narratives to which 8. Luke alludes in his preface. But a whole generat» is allowed ; and there are suffident writings dating from that period shew that Christian literature had already attained to maturity. For ti Epistles to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans, were i written between about 49 and 54. 8. James* Epistle was written before 6! and i! 8. Peter was martyred in 64 we must add at least his First Epistle, is admitted also that the Gospels of 8. Matthew and 8. Mark were writti before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 (and on that depended the point the preceding argument). But if there was a considerable interval betwe< these Gospels and his own, 8. Luke would have probably seen them, and the he could hardly have used the somewhat depreciatory language of his preface We see, then, nothing in these arguments to invalidate the natural infe ence that the Acts was written during 8. Paul's two years* imprisonmen And we may go a step further. It has been noticed already that the Ac 1 Mk xiii 14 : S. Mark may represent the original form, and then S. Matthew would be as mnoh an Hebraic version as B. Luke's a Gentile one. ' For tl sword op. Jer zx 4; captivity Dt zxviii 64, I K viii 46; treading Isai v 5, Iziii 1( Dan viii IS, Zech zii 8, 1 Mac iv 60; bank Isai zzix 8, zzzvii 33, Jer vi 6, Esst iv 2 ; dcuhing Ps czzzvii 9, Hos ziii 16. S. Matthew is not without details : li speaks of one stone not being left upon another. > This argument is all against the use of Josephus by S. Luke (above p. zviii). ca IV § 1 THE HISTORY Iv ihewB agoB of want of finish, as if it bad not receiyed its author's final renskm. May we not conjecture that that final reyision was interrupted or prefented by this Tory outburst of persecution in 64, by the martyrdom of a, Paul and possibly of S. Luke himself? Professor Ramsay has come to a simflar oonclosion. To quote his words again : " We shall ai^gue/' he says, ''that the plan of Acts has been obscured by the want of the proper climax and condosion, which would haye made it clear, and also that the author did Bot lire to put the final touches to hia second book... .If the work was left moom^ete^ the reason, perhaps, lay in the author's martyrdom under DomitiaiL'' This conclusion we may readily adopt for our own, only sub- stitatiiig for DomUian — NeroK CHAPTER IV The History of the Act8 § 1 7%« political and social enmronment (A) Borne. It is hard for us to realize to what an extent Rome was the entre of the world in the age when the Acts was written. In the middle ages long after its old empire was gone, the Christian poet and philosopher Dante AW in it a diyine creation ; and certainly the Roman empire was one of the greatest factors in the preparation for the gospel and instruments in its propagation. More almost than Paris to France and London to England was Rome to aQ the countries which bordered on the Mediterranean Sea. And those eountriea formed the whole ciyilised world, if we omit the alien and riyal CBpire of the east This world Rome had made one; and to all intents lad purposes the ciyilised world was the Roman Empire or the Kingdom of Rome. This political unity brought (1) peace— the famous Pax Bomana: (1) unity of civilization— that Graeco-Roman ciyilization which at our epoch ns rapidly assimilating Asia Minor and the eastern proyinces, as also the more btrUroos frontiers on the nortii : and (3) unity of language and law with freedom of inierooorse and communication. (4) More than this, it gaye rise to a sense of mity and brotherhood. It seemed to realize the ideal of philosophers, tiien the human race should form one society, one kingdom, one brotherhood ; ttd of this unity the Roman citizenship was the crown, it was the entrance ■to the inheritance. At the centre of this kingdom sat the city of Rome— a city powerful and popolooa and sfrfendid. Like the centre of grayity, it attracted the whole tmfin: thither ran all roads and all lines of commerce; thither fiocked lasdeis of society and fashion, seekers after fortune and pleasure, philosophers nd the setters forth of new doctrines. Rome was also the pivot upon which the whole military and dyil administration of the empire. Her hands > Poatl the Traveller etc. p. 28. Nero first peneonted the ChriBtians in 64, and fisd in 68 : Domitian was emperor 81-96. Ivi THE HISTORY CH.J grasped tbe reins which controlled the movements of the legions by which i had won and kept this great inheritance. She sent forth the governors officials who worked the machinery in the provinces ; and to her, as the fi| court of appeal, resorted all unsatisfied litigants. Rome, then, was indeed t mistress of the world. And now at her head was no longer an aristocracy democracy, but a single ruler : one head, one absolute king, sitting as it wc in the place of God. No wonder that the provincials deified the city and h ruler ^; that the worship of the emperor became universal, and formed t chief bond of unity in the empire; and that the emperor^s own head n turned, and like the mad Caligula he believed himself divina Nor did the Christians escape the contagion of this influence. This grc kingdom of Rome with its citizenship and emperor took the place of t commonwealth of Israel as the pattern of the new kingdom of Ood — t kingdom which was one and universal, whose citizenship was heavenly, who capital was the Jerusalem which is above, and whose king was the Lord Jes Christ '. In the richness of the thought and language of the Epistle to ti Ephesians we may find a sign that S. Paul's imagination was deeply stirrc when he witnessed the pomp of Rome, of the city and its imperial systei 6. Luke also must have felt some patriotic admiration, for these imperj ideas lie at the basis of the Acts. To S. Luke the Roman takes the place the Jewish citizenship : Rome, and not Jerusalem, is the capital of the wori and Uie world is the empire — the eastern kingdoms are out of his horizoi The Acts indeed describes the growth of a new and spiritual kingdom but the dty of Rome is the goal even of this kingdom. In &ct» we shall on understand the Acts when we see in it the history of the advance of ti church from Jerusalem to Rome, or, to be more exact, of the apostle Paul Rome. Paul the Jewish Pharisee preaching the gospel of the kingdom Jesus at Rome — ^that is the climax. Later, when this great power hi become the adversary of the church, the impression it made on the Christu imagination is vividly portrayed in the Revelation. There it has become ti type of the world power, of Antichrist In the 17th and 18th chapters, v are almost drawn within the fascinatioQ of the spell cast over the worid by ti glorious dty, the lady of the nationsi dothed in scarlet and puple^ who seated on the seven Idlls ; while the beast who carries her, and who also d on the throne of this world and is worshipped and overcomes the saints^ is ti power of the empire personified in the emperor. There are four departments where the chordi in the Acts comes inl contact with the Roman qrston, and they were all making for unity. (1) Ths ffovemmenL The empire was divided into provinces, whidi vei neariy corresponded with modern or at least mediaeval kingdoms, and each < these was under a Roman governor. It appointed (as all had been original^ ^ Cp. zxv S6 and oommentaiy. * xvii 7: the Ormk words for king an kingdom aie those used for emperwr mod fw^r$, ' Tliey are only mentionc in a Jewish enumeration (ii 9>. Cp. xi 88, xvii 6, xix 27, xxiv & * xri 8^ xxii 25 : i 8, 6, xxriii 31. §1 THE ENVIRONMENT Ivii bgr the Mnatey he was a Proconnd ; if by the emperor he waB a Pr^eet, or in an inferior proyiuce a Procurator. But, however appointed, ho was under the iinniediAt4^ control of the Caesar or Augustus^. The governor then, together with his suite of Roman 'companions' (comites) who formed his court (comi- taius) in both senses of the term', was the centre of Roman influence in the prorince and the chief bond of connexion with Rome. He was also the snprome anthority, from whom an appeal lay only to the emperor, and his judicial action was directed everywhere alike by Roman law and customs'. In the Acts we come across two proconsuls, Gallio and Sergius Paulus, and two procnrmtors, Felix and Festusl (2) Ths army was the foundation of the Roman power. It was composed of legions, subdivided into cohorts and centuries under tribunes and centurions respectively. The legions were by no means recruited from Latin races only ; the barbarians of the north, for instance, were beginning to contribute a large element to the army : but wherever the legions went they took with them the Romao discipline. In the times of the Roman Peace, the main bulk of the legions was stationed on the frontiers, along the Rhine, the Danube, and the Saphrates; and their own militia sufficed for the inner provinces. But a torbulent country like Judaea required a permanent garrison. Five cohorts were ttaUoned at Caesarea, and one at Jerusalem in the tower of Antonia oTcriooking the temple. With both of these forces we are brought into contact; but the particular Augustan and Italian cohorts mentioned have not jet been identified. The influence of the army chiefly made itself felt through the centurions, who were officers of great power in the provinces. The characters of those whom we meet with in the Gospels and Acts, e.g. Cornelius and Julias, give a very high testimony to the Roman service*. (3) The Raman colonies were almost more important than the army in keeping a hold on the provinces. They were often composed of veteran •oldien, and so formed regular garrisons. But these cities possessed the Roman dtixenship and their constitutions were modelled on that of Rome; aad so they served as centres of latinization, and by their citizenship as it were brought Rome into the provinces. S. Paul's work in the colonies would be a preparation for work in Rome, and among such were Antioch of Pisidia, Troas, Fhilippi, and Corinth, although S. Luke uses the name of Philippi only. (4) Military needs gave rise to the Roman roads, which were made by the soktiera. These fiunons roads ran throughout the empire and, like the iron railroads of to-day, formed the main arteries of civilization. As they all coDverged on Rome^ they were a great factor in the centralization and unity of tlie whole. Th^ made communication at once easy and rapid : so much so^ that until lailways were laid down, never was travelling in Europe so frequent and easy as in the days of the Roman ompira Of this facility of intercourse we faave ample evidence in the Acts. > XXV 26, in a Beian authority. » xxv 12, xiii 7, » xxv 10-12 : xxii 25, ' 16. * xiii 7, xviii 12, xxiii 24, xxiv 27. » Cp. x 1, xxi 32 f., xxiii 28 f., zxvii 1, 43, xxviii 16. The soldiers of xii 4 were Jewish, of Herod's army. Iviu THE HISTORY ch. n It is easy, then, to see what a help the empire was to the missionary worl of the church. For instance, it enabled S. Panl to pass freely from oni country to another and to keep up regular correspondence with his churches his Roman citizenship gave him everywhere the same priyileges and a recognized status; the Roman goTemors and their law protected him against the ianatica persecution of his own nation and popular violence : the Roman roads were the guiding lines of his missionary enterprises, and they led him at last tc Rome itselt The provinces which form the scene of the Acts are thesa (1) We b^^ in SYRIA. As this was the frontier province on the east, touching the powerful empire of the Parthians, it was one of the most important commandi in the empire. In wealth and prosperity it almost ranked next to Sgypt Certainly its capital Antioch was the third city in the empire. Dependent on the prefect of Syria were (i) CILICIA, which was practically separated from the west by Mt Taurus and so was induded in the east, and (ii) JUDAEA. This difficult country was at one time (a.d. 41-44) independent, under a Jewish king Herod Agrippa I, but for the rest of our period it was under a governor of the second class, a procurator. This official was subject to the higher authority of the prefect of Syria, but he was appointed directly by the emperor and was often one of his freedmen. (2) Crossing Mt Taurus by the Cilician gates, we come to OALATIA. This province was in the course of formation. The central part of Asia Minor west of Cappadocia had been split up into a variety of territories and nationalities. There were Calatia proper, the part of Pbrygia outside of the province of Asia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, the tetrarchy of loonium, and the territory of the king of Commagene. The first century witnessed the consolidation of these various elements into one province, which took its name f^om its chief district, Galatia or the land of the Gaul& At the time of the apostles' mission this process of organization was still going on. (3) The roads to the west led through Galatia into ASIA. This province comprised the western coast of Asia Minor, taking in Mysia, Lydia and Caria, and behind them the greater part of PhrygiiL It was ftdl of prosperous and wealthy towns, among them being the seats of ^ the seven churches of Asia.' Indeed Asia with its capital Ephesus was almost a rival of Syria and Antioch. Asia and Africa were the two most important senatorial appointments, which were always g^ven to senators of consular rank. (4) Taking the land route to Rome, we should cross from Troas to join the Egnatian way at Philippl This road leads across the province of MACEDONIA, which bordered on Dalmatia or Ulyricum and included Thessaly. This was Rome's first province beyond the Adriatic, and more than any of the eastern provinces Macedonia retained its national feeling. To break this feeling the Romans had divided it into four districts, with separate jurisdictions ; and it was of one of these districts that Philippi claimed to be the capital Thessalonica was the capital of the whole province. (5) Taking the sea route to Rome from Ephesus, we should cross the Aegean sea to Greece and take ship again the other side of the isthmus of Corinth. Greece formed the province of ACHAIA, and the fiourishing §1 THE ENVIRONMENT lix colony of CoriDtb was its capital. Athens, out of respect for her ancient gkniea, had been left by the Romans a free city ; and at one time, as a com- pliment to Greek art, Nero gave freedom to the whole of Achaia. Besides that there had been some political nnsettlement, for the province had been the subject of exchange between the emperor and senate more than once. Apart from its art and its traditions Greece was not an important government. (6) One province has been omitted, which we should have passed if sailing direct from Syria to Italy, viz. the island of CYPRUS. This too had been exchanged between the emperor and senate, and so like Achaia gives an- opportamty of testing S. Lake's accuracy. Gut off by the sea, Cyprus did not occupy an important place in the life of the empire ; but Jews formed a very laige element in the population, and it became one of the early cradles of Christianity. (B) JndaisBL Over against Rome stood another capital of the world — and no unworthy rival — Jerusalem. The city itself was by no means ignoble : it was wealthy and splendid, and its chief glory was its famous temple rebuilt on a magnificent scale by Herod the Great Pliny calls Jerusalem '* by &r the meet glorious city of the easf But Jerusalem owed its greatness to another caoae. It was the holy dtj. As opposed to Rome the world power, the city of the king of this world, Jerusalem represented the spiritual power ; it ?ras the dty of the Great King, and its people were the People of God. The Jewish race was then, as now, widely scattered — certainly dl over the eastern half of the empire. But wherever Jews were to be found, they were sharply separated off from the rest of the world, or t?ie Gentiles {natiorut) as they called them. With Romans and Greeks the Jews formed a third ^nation' in the empira They were, again as to-day, numerous, wealthy, and influential ; but also hated, with a universal hatred which they cordially reciprocated. And one of the first obstacles the church had to overcome was this mutual hatred aud contempt between Jew and Qentfle^. All these Jews looked to Jerusalem as their mother dty with an intense loyalty ; thither they all sent temple tribute and offerings ; thither they flocked at the great feasts, and every Jew at least oooe in his lifetime hoped to make the pilgrimage'. Thus as a capital Jerusalem could not help being a rival of Rome, and Judaea was the centre of an intense anti-Roman feeling. To every Jew the idea of subjection to the yoke of the Gentiles was intolerable ; it was wholly eootradictory to their choice and election by God. They were convinced that God would speedily send the Messiah to break the hated yoke and to subdue the kingdoms of the world beneath the feet of Israel. Extremists taught that to pay tribute to the Gentile was contrary to the law of God, and that rebellion wae a rdigious duty. With such a fanatical faith Judaea was growing more and more restless, and the restlessness was increased by Roman misgovemment The Jewish authorities, the Sadducean high-priests, tried to stem the tide : hut rebeUion became more and more the popular creed, preached and acted 1 Cp. e.g. X 28, xi 8. * Cp. u 5-11, (viii 27), xx 16, xxi 27, xxiv 11, 17, xxviU 21. Ix THE HISTORY ch.iv upon by the faction of Zealots, until at last the flame burst out in the Jewish war of 66 ; and the end was the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple in 70. This was after our period, but we can trace clear signs of the growing turbulence of the fiEuiatical party ^. Outside Palestine 'the Dispersion' (as they were called) of the Jews formed a great element in the preparation for the preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles. The Jewish colonies and synagogues in the foreign cities gaTe the apostles at once a home, a starting-place for preaching, and a pattern of organization. The Jewish communities, recognized by the law as self-goyem- ing societies, with their own officers and discipline and courts, formed the model for the Christian conmiunities : similarly the worship of the synagogue, which was distinct from the service of the temple, was the trunk on which was grafted the public worship of the church : and again the souse of brotherhood among the Jews, which was a great reality, paved the way for the Christian 'love of the brethren' and hospitality^. But the greatest service which the Dispersion rendered was to act as the stepping-stone by which the church crossed over from Judaism to the Gentiles; just as in fact the synagogues of the Dispersion already provided for the apostles a Gentile congregation ^ Notwithstanding racial hatred and prejudice, great numbers of the Gentiles, in their craving for spiritual satisfaction, were attracted by the pure monotheism of the Jews and attached themselves to the synagogua Some were circumcised and became regular proselytes. Others, declining that crucial step, became adherents under varying degrees of compliance with the Jewish law. These formed the class of the clevoui or Godrfearing (often called the (xreeks\ which we find in every synagogue^ Among a far wider circle must have spread at least some knowledge of the Jewish scriptures and the Jewish faith in one God. (C) Hellenism. Between these two antagonistic forces of Romanism and Judaism stood a third factor, viz. Greek culture or Hellenism. The Greeks were no longer a political power or a nationality like the Jews and Romans. But they had conquered the world by their language and literature, their art and philosophy. Their very masters, the Romans, proved ready disciples; and the resulting Graeco-Roman civilization was the great unifying force which went hand in hand with the conquering legions. The east had already been Hellenized by the Macedonian conquests : Rome came in to put her seal on the process and to g^ve it the necessary stability. Thus Greek became the recog- nized language of good society, and 'a Greek' was synonymous with an educated person. From this point of view the world was divided into two classes 'Greeks' and ' Barbarians V just as to a Jew all men were either Jews w Gentiles. This Hellenism, then, filled the part of mediator between the Jews and Romans ; on the one hand it prepared Gbntile minds for the religious 1 V 26-8. 86-7, xxi 30, 88, xxii 22, xxiii 12. « xxii 6, xxviii 21 : xvi 15, xvii 7. xviii 3, xxi 8, 16, xxvui 14. » xiii 6, 14, xiv 1, xvii 1-2. 10, 17, xviu 4, 19, 26, xix 8. < vi 5, viii 27, x 1-2, xi 20: xiii 16, 43, 60, xiv 1, xvi 14, xvii 4, 12, 17t xviii 4, 7. ' xxviii 2 ; cp. xiv 11: also Bom i 14, Col iii 11. § 1 THE ENVIRONMENT Ixi ideas of the Jews, on the other it had a great effect in softening Jewish fonatidsm. The mass of the Jews of the Dispersion spoke the Greek language and used Greek translations of the scriptures. Their Hebrew brethren of Palestine called them, not without a tone of oontempt» Oreciant {UeUeni$U)K For these Hellenists were not proof against the subtle influence of a more cosmopolitan experience and a broader education. They became impregnated with Greek ideas. The Alexandrian Jews were the most liberalized; and the school of Philo deyoted themselves with enthusiasm to the study of the Greek dassicB and philosophy, and attempted the reconciliation of Plato with Moses. In their turn it was the Christian Hellenists who were the mediators be- tween the church and the world. As soon as the gospel reaches them we find a sadden expansion of ideas and widening of the horizon : Stephen, Philip, and the men of Cyprus and Cyrene', were Hellemsts. ApoUos was a Jew of Alex- andria. Paul himself, though a Hebrew of the Hebrews, was a citizen of Tarsus. So in the Gentile cities it was the two classes of ' Grecian ' Jews and ' devout' Greeks which formed the seed-plot of the church. Hellenism had thus done almost as great a work as Rome in educating the world for Christianity. It had provided a common language and rendered unnecessary a g^ft of strange tongues. It had provided a common culture and a common intellectual atmo- sphere. Paul, for instance, could speak freely at Jerusalem or in Asia Minor, at Ephesus or at Corinth, at Athens or at Rome, and everywhere be understood. But Hellenism had rendered the greatest service in the sphere of religion. Greek criticism and philosophy had tmdermined the old pagan beliefs and religions. Superstition dies hard, and the empire (as we see in the Acts) was fun of all manner of worships and sorceries and mysteries, but as far as thinking men were concerned the old idolatry was dead. The elementary principles of natural religion had been thought out — the spirituality of the divine nature, the unity and beneficence of God, the brotherhood of man. But that was all, and religious minds were now atbirst for some positive revelation. This the apostles were commissioned to g^ve ; and, finding ready to hand the first principles, they make them their starting-point At least so we find S. Stephen doing at Jerusalem, and S. Paul at Lystra and Athens. Accordingly we have now to trace the fortunes of this fourth power, new-bom into the world, — Christianity. This will best be done in a brief analysis of the history of its beginnings. § 2 Analytis qf the hUto$T/ The Acts obviously faUs at once into two Parts, viz. chapters i-xii and ziii-xxviii: and each of these parts may be divided into three Divisions. From the personal or apostolic point of view we may call the parts—I Acts of Peter : II Acts of PaoL In analysing their contents a double line of growth is to be traced. Externally, Part I records the extension of the church from Jerusalem to Antioch ; Part II from Antioch to Rome. Internally, in Part I the church, which starts as a purely Jewish body, expands to the point * vi 1, xi 20 marg. « vi II., xi 20. i Ixii THE HISTORY ch.iv of admittiDg GreekB : in Part II we pass from the ratification of this admission to the fall deyelopment of Gentile churches. So we can give the parts other titles— I The church of Jerusalem or The chnrch of the circnmcision! II The church of the Empire or The church of the nncircnmcision. Part I The acts of Peter Division i (i-y) relates the baptism and establishment of the chnrch at Jerusalem. (1) Chapter i Is preparatory : i 1-5 or 1-14 is really introductoiy to the whole volume. For before the Holy Spirit can be poured forth, (a) the Lord must ascend to heaven in order to receive the power of bestowing him, (6) and the church must be prepared to receive the gift by prayer and the completion of its outward form, ie. the filling up of the apostolate. (2) Tlie descent of the Spirit at Pentecost is the baptism of the church, and the presence of his power is manifested at once — ^in the preaching and conversions without, and in the new life of the faithful within. After this (3) the church is consolidated through opposition from without and temptation from within. The opposition is aroused by the working of the Spirit in miraculous signs, and the Christian answer is prayer : the common life which is the result of the presence of the Spirit wiUiin is the occasion for the sin of covetousness, which is compensated for by the self-sacrifice of others. Jesus is preached to the Jews as their Lord and Messiah, their Prince and Saviom* ; and the final result is joy and progress (v 41-42). Division H (vi-xi 26) begins the history of the expansion of the church. It opens with mention of Hellenists and ends with Greeks at Antioch. Tlie immediate cause of expansion was a persecution, which was itself brought on by the action of a vigorous personality; and the division accordingly falls into two sections, which describe his acts and their manifold consequences. (1) Ths (Uts qf Stephen, The ordination of the Seven (including a proselyte of Antioch) leads to the ministry of Stephen. Stephen's deeper teaching about the law precipitates a conflict with the Jews. His death and the consequent persecution bring Saul on the staga (2) The things that arose about Stephen, (2a) The acts of Philip, Philip's preaching of the Christ to schismatic Samaritans is sanctioned by the apostles and the Holy Spirit ; he also baptizes an Ethiopian proselyte — an eunuch and a child of HauL The church is planted in Samaria and reaches Caesarea the Roman capital of Palestine. .(2b) The acts of Saul, There are disciples already at Damascus, and on his way thither Saul the persecutor is converted. This conversion is pregnant for the fature : but for the present he is sent away to Tarsus. Meanwhile the presence of a new force in the church is seen in his preaching Jesus as the Son of God. (2c) The acts of Peter, These ought to begin a new section, but the next section keeps up the connexion with Stephen's death (xi 19). Peace returns after the persecution, the total result of which was the spreading of the church throughout Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria. After an apostolic visitation as far as Joppa, Peter formally opens the door of the church to a Gentile adherent of the synagogue, Cornelius, and so establishes the church at §2 ITS ANALYSIS Ixiii Cunrea. He preached Jesus io Cornelius as the Lord and Judge of all, and the toorce of forgiveness for everyone that believetlL At Jerusalem are heard the fnt sounds of human reluctance, but the baptism of Cornelius is ratified ^7 the Spirit and accepted by the church. (2d) The acU qf the Hdlenitti. The church reaches Phenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Here the Lord Jesus is preached directly to 'the Greeks/ ie. probably Gentile adherents of the fTDSgogne. This advance is sanctioned by the church in Jerusalem through its delegate Barnabas. Barnabas also brings back Saul on to the stage of the Jtistory. The whole advance of this division b summed up in the title given at Antiodi to the disciples, hitherto known as 'Nazareans' or 'Galileans,' vis. *the Christians.' Division iii (xi 27*xii) closes Part I and at the same time is transitional The centre of interest passes from Jerusalem to Antioch, and the rOle of chief actor from Peter to Paul. The church at Jerusalem is weakened by fieunine and persecution. Peter, the last of the Twelve to remain, leaves the city, after a miracolous deliverance from death which is a type of resurrection* The pkce of Peter and the Twelve is taken by James the Lord's brother and the presbyters. The death of Herod Agrippa, which is a divine judgement, is followed by renewed growth of the word of God. The mission of Barnabas and Saul from Antioch is the connecting link with Part XL Part n The acts of Paul We now turn westwards, and the political interest lies in the steady advance through the provinces to Rome, and the occasions on which the apostles are broo^t in contact with the Roman authorities : also in the attitude towards Christianity of the various classes and interests in the empire. When the princ^ile of the admission of Greeks has been fully established, the theological interest centres on the relation of Christianity to its various rivals in religion. The usual division into the three missionary journeys of S. Paul is very mis- leading. However convenient it may be geographically, — but the convenience m rmj modi open to question, — it certainly does not fall in with S. Luke's scheme and marks of division, which are somewhat as follows. Dividon i (xiii-xvi 5). The new start is from Antioch and it begins in xiii 1*3 with a special manifestation of the Spirit, by which S. Paul is separated for his work as an apostle. Henceforward he steps into the place of Peter, and the ■ew departure is marked by the change of name from Saul to Paul These vensB are really the introduction to the whole of Part II : and the remainder €i divisioo i comprises two sections. First (1) the work qf Paul and Bamabae, It begins with PauTs first appearance before a Roman governor, and a con- viction of a false prophet Baijesus. At Antioch in Pisidia Paul delivers to tbe Jews his gospel of Jesus as Saviour : when they reject it, he turns to the GcntOes, Le. to those who are quite independent of the synagogue. This is the first absolute break with Judaism, and it brings persecution from the Jews, but the Lord confirms the apostles' action by signs and wonders. As a result vs have Paul's gospel for the Gentiles, Le. the ' barbarian ' Gentiles, at Lystra; Ixiv THE HISTORY CH. and tlie definite organixation of Gentile cfaurchee, in this case 'the chnrchea Gftlatia.' That the door of faith is opened to tlie Gentiles. (2) The recepti of the Gentiles on equal terms aronses protest and opposition in the chun bat it is solemnly ratified bj the chnrdi at Jemsalem and the Holy Gho This gjLvet occasion for a statement of the yiews of Peter and James ; and i latter whidi conTeyed the result of the council at Jerusalem is joyfully accept bj the churches of Antioch, Syria, Cilida, and GahiUa. In response S. Pi shews his loyalty to the council and eren circumcises Timothy. DiTiaion ii (xyi 6-xix 20). The principle of Gentile churches being fu established, there followB the advance of the church from Antioch to Bphesi or the foundation of the churches of Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia. (1) Ma donia. After preparatory leading by the Holy Spirit, Paul comes to Philip and the character of the new epoch is marked by his assertion of his Rom dtisenship. At Phib'ppi the CTangelists are accused of teaching Jewi customs, at Thessalonica of treason against Caesar. (2) Achaia. At Athe Paul is chai^ged with breaking the city's law by the introduction of straiii deities: In reply he gires his gospel for the educated Gentiles and Gre philosophers. At Corinth is forged the first definite link with Rome throu| the meeting with Aquila and Prisdlla ; on the other hand there is a seooi broach wiUi the synagogua At Corinth, for the first time since leaTil Antioch, Paul settles down for prolonged work and his action is sanctioni by an appearance of the Lord. (3) Ana, After 18 months at Corinth Paul Indicted in the proconsul's court for teaching an 'unlawful religion': he lea? (Jorlnth and touches at Ephesus, whither he shortly returns for permane work. Meanwhile the acts qfApollos bring out the relation of the church lm|H>rfeot forms of Christianity, such as 'the way' of John the Baptist C Paul's return a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the dirine preface tlio work at Kphosus, which succeeds to Antioch as the third metropolis • mother city of Cliristianity. A breach with the Jews leads to the oiganisatM of an Independent church with a body of presbyters, and in two years tl goNiwl sprtMMU through the whole province. The presence of the Spii vlntlUmtuN itself by a conTiction of superstitious practices without and p\irlfloatlou of the church within : and the yictories of the churdi at Ephew mark the climax of its advance. In the next division the personal elemei predominates. For Division ill (xix 21-xxviii) condudes the book with the 'passing' of Pac With 8. Paul the licadquartors of Christianity moves on from Ephesoa 1 Rome, and tlie main subject is the Apologia or Defence of Pau^— that is, j etToct, of Christiuuity. (1) First, on the fulfilment of his work, his fiioe directed by the Spirit Romewards. (a) The work at Ephesus is cut short by conflict with the jKigan worship of Artemis ; the Christians are for the fir time aocuseil of impiety towanis the goddess, Leu the later charge of *athdsn (6) After flnisliiug his work in Macedonia and Achaia, Paul goes up to Jemsalei thence to make a new start for Rome. On his way he makes a defence of h apostolato to tltc church of Ephesus, which contains at the same time his Hai §2 ITS ANALYSIS Ixv words' and his gospel for the Christians. (2) At Jerusalem Paul is arrested and his process begins, (a) First the unity and brotherhood of the church is Tindicated in his reception by James. Then the riot in the temple calls forth his d^ence to the Jewish people. Failmg to disarm their hostility, Paul dissociates himself from Judaism by claiming his Roman citizenship. This strong action, with his lino of defence in the Sanhedrin, is approved by a consolatory vision of the Lord. Then his cause is taken out of the hands of the JewS) and the apostle himself 'delivered into the hands of the Romans.' (6) At Caesarea the Jews indict him in the Roman court, and Paul makes his defence to the procurator. There is a private preaching to Felix ; then, failing to obtain jnstioe even from a juster judge, Festus, Paul appeals to the supreme court, to the Caesar at Roma His final defence, ' before kings and governors and the people of Israel,' is answered by the third declaration of his innocence on the part of the Romana (3) The journey to Rome proves to be a 'going down into the deep' : but 8. Paul is brought out of it by a great deliverance. An interval of quiet rest at Malta follows. Next spring, the season of resurrection, the voyage is resumed: Paul reaches Puteoli, is welcomed by the Roman Christians, and enters the city of Rome. At Rome the lesson of the past history is summed up in a final rejection of the gospel by the Jews with the consequent turning to the Gentiles. Then the whole book ends with two years' quiet work : though a prisoner, Paul exercises his apostolate in the a^ital of the kingdom of Caesar by preaching the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus to all men alike ' without any hindrance.' For convenience of reference the analysis is given in tabular form at the end of the Introduction, pp. cix-xi. §3 The chronology We have already noticed that in the earlier part of the Acts there are no fixed dironological data. To the early Christians, expecting the immediate retom of their Lord, chronology was supremely unimportant ; and there was no Luke among them. So by his time uncertainty had crept in. Indeed we may doubt whether 8. Luke himself knew the date of the crucifixion ; otherwise we are left to wonder why he did not give us the date of the great Pentecost in ch. ii, to correspond with his date for the baptism of Jesus in the Gospel (Lk iii 1). In the second part, however, he gives several dc6nite notes of time: eig. xi 26 a tehole year, xviii 11 a year and six months, xix 8 three months^ 10 ifto years, zx ^ the days of unleavened bread (cp. xii 3), 16 the day </ Penteeosiy 31 three years. There is a regular diary of the journey marked in XX 6, 14, 16, xxi 1, 4, 7 ; and of the early proceedings in Paul's case in xxi 27, xxii 30, xxiii 11, 12, xxiv 1, 11, 27 {ttoo years\ xxv 1, 6. Finally, we have xxvii 9 the Fast, 27, xxviii 7, 11 three months, 12-14, 17, 30 two whole years. These notes enable us to construct a more or less certain chronological scheme for the ktter part of S. Paul's work, viz, from ch. xv (or even xiii) to xxviii. With the aid of two data given us by the apostle in the Epistle to the Ixvi THE HISTORY CH. CkUatians^, we can carry our scheme back to his conversioD and the martyrd of B. Stephen, and so include within it ch. vi-ix. What we want, howersi to connect this scheme with secular chronology, or to find out the dates of years after Christ Now among all the points of contact between the i and pro&ne history, there is only one fact of whose date we are certain ; I is the death of Herod Agrippa in aj>. 44. And unfortunately S. Luke hasi us without any definite links of time between chapter xii, where that OTen recorded, and the chapters which follow and precede it. There is indeed an event whose date, if ascertained, would at once on the chronology of the Acts to that of secular history. That date \ perfectly familiar to S. Luke, but unfortunately he has omitted to spei it. It is the date of the succession of Felix by Festus as procurator Judaea (xxiv 27, xxy 1). Arguing in the main from the supposed requiremt of Jewish history as recorded by Josephus, Wieseler fixed it at aj>. 60 ; I this date has been adopted by Bp Lightfoot and the majority of Eng^ scholars. Little attention was paid to the fact that we had the informal already giren us. Eusebius had put the date down in his Chronicle, wta gives the second year of Nero. The Chronicle, however, was not compi until the fourth century, and it has only come down to us in Armenian i Latin translations ; and so its evidence was disregarded. But quite recM Professor Hamack has argued strongly in its favour. He accepts its date Festus' arrival at Caesarea, viz. 56, and on this basis has drawn up a chro logy of the Acts. His scheme, however, appears to make most of the eve fall a year or two too early ; and Mr Turner, who has since examined 1 whole subject with the greatest care, selects the year 58 for Festus* I pointment'. Mr Turner, however, has himself given a hint for a solution, which i enable us to accept the Eusebian date and at the same time to advance t clironology by the required year. By acute calculations he claims to hi made the discovery that Eusebius reckons the first regnal year of an empei fi-om the September next after his actual accession. The second year of Ns who succeeded Claudius in Oct 54, would then be Sept 56~Sept 57, and we can take 57 for the date of Festus' arrival^. From this date, a.d. 57, for xxiv 27-xxv 1, we can work forward aa foll<y Ch. xxv-xxvi fall in the summer of 57, the voyage (xxvii-xxviii 6) in \ autumn; the stay at Malta lasted from Nov. 57 to March 58; the pil arrived at Rome in the spring of 58, and the two years at Rome extend from the spring of 58 to the spring of 60, when the Acts closes. EuseU puts S. Paul's martyrdom in 68, which will allow eight years for the laboi subsequent to his liberation, which are implied by the Pastoral Epistles. I ' i 18 three yean^ ii 1 fourteen years : but there is an unoertaiuty as to whetl these dates are mutually inclusive or exclusive. ^ In Hastings' DieHonary the Bible : art. Chbokolooy. ' Mr Turner's theory leads to the somewl strange result that Nero must have reigned 11 months before his first regnal j4 began. But it is quite easy to imagine that by some diflerenoe in reokoning I regnal years, Eusebius should be just a year out §3 ITS CHRONOLOGY Ixvu tbngh Bp Lighifoot accepted this date, there are reasons (abo traditional} tot lopposing that here Eusebins made a mistake. He has in fact put the Fin of Borne in that year. But the date of the fire was 64 ; and if S. Paul was pot to death in the same year as the fire, Le. in the persecution which flDRied upon it (as is implied by Eusebius' reckoning), then S. Paul was Birtyred in 64, and an intenral of four years is left after hia liberation for the Pastoral Epistles. Working backwards from 57, the last journey to Jerusalem (xx 6-xxi 26) fiJb between Easter and Pentecost of 55, and the riot in the temple (xxi 27 foil.) liappened immediately after Pentecost Winter 54-55 was spent at Corinth, the summer of 54 in Macedonia (xx 2-3), and S. Paul left Ephesus about PentecoAt 54 (xix 21-xx 1). Accordingly he arrived at Ephesus about the autumn of 51 (xix 1, 8, 10) ; and in the spring of that year he left Corinth (xTiii 12-21). This fixes his first arrival at Corinth to the autumn of 49 (xviii ly 11). The summer of that year was occupied in the first visit to Macedonia and Achaia (xvi 6-xvii), and the preceding spring and winter 48-49 were spent in Qalatia, Cilicia, and Syria (xv 36-xvi 5). If Paul and Silas left Antioch in the late summer of 48, the council at Jerusalem would have been in the same year, probably about Pentecost, and the disputation had raged at Antioch during the preceding winter 47-^48 (xv 1-35). Allowing 18 months for the first missionary journey, if Paul and Barnabas returned to Antiodi at the close of the sailing season of 47, then they started at the opening of the sailing season, Le. in the spring, of 46 (xiii-xiv). We have now got back to chapter xii and Herod's death in 44. The mission of Paul ind Baniabas to Jerusalem probably took place in the intervening year 45 (xii 25) ; and the visit of the prophets to Antioch, which is closely connected with Herod's persecution, was paid in 43, the year before his death (xi 27). Tbea the whole year of xi 26 will be 42-43, and Barnabas fetched Saul from Tanas in 42. From Gkjlatians ii 1 we learn that Paul's visit to Jerusalem in ix S5-dO took place 14 years before the council of 48, viz. in 34. This was <Arw years c^fter or in the third year <\fler (Gal i 18) his conversion, which therefore fell in 32 (ix 1-19). This year will also be the date of Stephen's death and the persecution, or vi 8-vii ; and Philip's work in ch. viii will fall iu H Ai 8. Luke generally writes in order, the baptism of Cornelius (ix 31- ^ 18) probably followed Paul's visit of 34, but very soon after, so as to &0 within the days qf the beginning (xv 2). Allowing some interval for the wanktaj of the Seven (vi 7), we may put their appointment in 31 (vi 1-6). hkisg 29 for the date of the crucifixion and therefore of the first Pentecost (i-ii)^ we have left two years 29-31 for ch. iii-v. Ibis chronology will agree very well with our other data^ Thns (1) it appears that Aretas king of Arabia (2 Cor xi 32) could hardly have been in possession of Damascus before 33-34. According to this scheme 1 For anthoriiies and fuller information I would refer to the article on Ghbono- LOST in Hastinga* Diet, of the Bible. e2 Ixvui THE HISTORY ch.iv S. Paul wa« Met down in a basket bj the wall' in 34 (ix 25) : in the preceding interFal 32-34 he had visited Arabia (Gkil i 17). (2) It is Buppoeed from the order of events in Josephns that the famine mider Claudins (xi 28) could not have taken place before 46. We place it in 45. Josephns fi^ves no dates at all, and there is nothing to prevent oar supposing it to have been due to the £ulure of the harvests of 44 and 45. S. Luke closely connects it with the death of Herod in 44. (3) We know the names of the proconsuls of Cyprus for the years 51 and 52: as Seigius Paulus is not one of these, he must have been proconsul either after 52 or before 51. In this scheme he was in Cyprus in the year 46. (4) Orosius, a late historian, assigns the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Claudius (xviii 2) to his ninth year, viz. 49 ^ We make Paul arrive at Corinth in the autumn of 49 and then he could quite well have found Aquila and Priscilla lately come from Italy, (5) Qallio's brother Seneca was in banishment before 49 ; and it is not likely that, while Seneca was in disgrace, his brother should have been treated with honour. Seneca was recalled in 49. Acts xviii 12 seems to imply that Gallic was a new governor, and according to our plan he would have arrived at Corinth at the beginning of 51 or the end of 50. (6) Paul speaking in 55 says to Felix thou hast been qf many years a judge unto this nation : as Felix was appointed to Judaea in 52 this only gives three years which are hardly many. But according to Tacitus' Felix had previously been in command of Samaria, while Cumanus was procurator of Judaea. (7) In 62 Nero married Poppaea, a Jewish proselyte. It is, then, not very likely that he would have acted fairly to S. Paul in 62. Besides, in 60 (our date for his liberation) Seneca and Burrhus still had influence. Pro£ Ramsay has made an ingenious calculation which would fix 57 for the final journey up to Jerusalem. He calculates that the apostolic party left Philippi on a Friday, and therefore the passover that year must have fallen on a Thursday (xx 6). Now this was the case in 57, but not in 55, 56, 68, 59' Mr Turner has examined his aigument and comes to the conclusion that it is not convincing, but that it leaves a certain presumption against the year 55. However, considering the general uncertainties of chronology due to the possibility of mistakes, intercalations etc, and considering the uncertainty of many points about the passover in particular, such an align- ment is too minute to carry conviction or seriously disturb a scheme which otherwise satisfies the requirements. The greatest objection to Prof. Ramsay's theory is that there are points in the journey where our diary fails us ; thus for instance at the outset, we do not know for certain that the party left Philippi the next day after the passover. An objection which may be made to our scheme is that it allows only 1 ClandiuB acceded Jan. 41. His actual ninth year was from Jan. 49 to Jan. 50 : according to Mr Tnmer, in Ensebius' reckoning it would be Sept. 49 to Sept. 50. ^ Ann. xii 64. » Paul the Traveller pp. 259-GO. 13 ITS CHRONOLOGY Ixix three jeun, 29-32, for the development of the church at Jeruialem as rocQfded in ch. i~Tii, and that this time is not sufficient By reckoning the 14 jevB of Gal ii 1 as inclusive of the 3 years of Gal i 18, we might advance & Panics conversion to 34 and thus get two more years ; but we do not really wuki them. In &ct three years seems the outside limit of time required. Far (1) sodi a long period of quiet deyelopment as five years would have been almost impossible. It is incredible that the church could have been g^rowing for sudi a time without a conflict with the Jewish authoritiefli After the crucifixion of Jesus, how could they have allowed Peter to go on preaching in the temple and using such language as is recorded in ii 23, iii 15 ? The arrest of iy 1-3 must have followed speedily. Moreover the language of the priests in y 28 shews that at the later arrest the crucifixion was still a recent eyent A second time the apostles were threatened and admonished. But they did not obey (v 29, 42), and we cannot imagine tliat the high-priests would far long have tamely submitted to such defiance. Further (2) the rapid growth of the church elsewhere shews how short a time was needed for the development at JerusalenL S. Paul had only stayed for 18 months at Corinth, and the church there had only been founded about four or five years, when he wrote I and II Corinthians. At Ephesus his work, which resulted m the spreading of the word all over Asia, did not exceed three years. But there is a better illustration. Our Lord's active ministry only lasted for little more than one full year, or on the outside reckoning two years. The results of the scheme are arranged in tabular form at the end of the Introduction, pp. cxii-xy, and there the references to current events will make fvttier explanations unnecessary. CHAPTER V The Theology of the Acts In the Acts we find the religion of Jesus Christ as originally set forth in tbetesching of the apostles. This consisted of: (A) A bearing witness to, or prodamation of, certain facts, viz. the death and resurrection of Jesus and the sift of the Holy Spirit This message was the Word^ and it will be found to tofnaponA werj much to our Apostles' Creed. (B) A practical appeal for coodnet whidi should result from these facts : and in this appeal is contained the apoatlei^ account of salvation and of the Christian life. § 1 (A) The theology Ths word qf Ood in the main part consisted of the enumeration of the fiMts about our Lord which are contained in tho Apostles* Creeds But the remaining articles of the creed can also be gathered firom this book. 1 The chief passages are U 22-4, 82-8, iii 13-6, 18, iv 10, v 80-2, x 86-48, iiiiS7-Sl. Lxx THE THEOLOGY ch, (i) I believe in Qod the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earl The Jews already possessed the doctrine of the one Ood, so now it ib pi claimed to the Gentiles — the educated at Athens, the uneducated at Lystn What the Jews needed was a more spiritual conception of the divine Data and a less material one of the divine kingdom (yii 48-50). That we are ti ofbpring of God is taught at Athens (xvii 28): but the doctrine of his Fatbi hood is one of the inner mysteries of the brotherhood. The name of i Father occurs only in i 4, 7, and ii 33^ To the Gentiles God (the Fathi is presented as Maker qf heaoen and earth^i to the Jews he is the (h of the Old Testament — the Ood qf our faihevMy qf the people lerael^ ai qf the glory or the ' shekinah/ the divine dwelling placed (ii) And in Jesus Ghrist his only Son our Lord. The apostles preached ^Jenu'^ both to Jews and Gentiles. To the form they vindicated lus claim to be the Messiah or Chriit, and therefore Lord their message to the latter was that this Christ was anointed to be Lord €UP, To the Christian he was generally the Lord, or the Lord JesuSy or oi Lord Jents Christ. 8. Paul reached the climax when he proclaimed Jte that he is the Son qf God (ix 20). The facts of the crucifixion and resurrection are the core of the gosp The crucial event was the resurrection, and to bear witness to this was t special function of an apostle^ For steered, see i 3, iii 18, xvii 3, xxvi 23 : und Pontius Pilate iii 13, xiii 28 : was crucified ii 23, iv 10, v 30, x 39, xiii S dead ii 23, iii 15, v 30, vii 52, x 39, xiii 28, xxv 19 : and buried xiii 29, cp. ii i xiii 36 : he descended into hell {hades) ii 31 : rose again the third day x * Ch. i narrates the Lord's ascension, which was his exaltation, his being tak up (i 11, 22) or exalted (ii 33, v 31) by the right hand qf Ood (ii 33, v 3 At that right hand he is now sitting (ii 34) or standing (vii 55-6). A thence he shall come again (i 11, iii 20-1) to judge the quick and the de (x 42). This last doctrine, as one of the elementary principles of religi< is declared chiefly to Gentile hearers, e.g. in x 42, xvii 31, xxiv 24-5. (iii) I beUeve in the Holy Ghost. The Acts may be described as the gospel of the Holy Spirit, as will shewn below (p. Ixxiv). It begins with his descent, and is a record of his wo This work is manifested in the Church, The Spirit acts through men w form a society — a brotherhood or kingdom. And when this society is baptii with the Spirit at Pentecost, then at once it shews signs of a divine vitality. The church is holy as composed of the holy\ i.e. those who by the gift the Spirit have been consecrated^ to God. The great controversy of the A arose out of the vindication of the catholic character of the church, vis. that 1 xvii 22-Bl : xiv 15-7. « Cp. Lk x 21-2. » xiv 16, xvii 24: cp. iv 1 vu 50. « iii 18, xxii 14, xxiv 14 : xiii 17 : vii 2. » viii 35, xvU 3, : xix 13. • ii 36, iii 20. v 42, viu 5, ix 22, xvu 3, xviii 5, xxvi 23. ' x S cp. ii 86. 8 i 22, ii 24, 82, iU 15 (26), iv 10, v 80-2, x 40-1, xiii 80-3, xvii 18, 81, xxii 15, xxv 19, xxvi 8, 23 : cp. I Cor ix 1, xv 8-8. * or saints ix : 32, 41, xxvi 10. ^ i.e. made holy or tacred xx 32, xxvi 18. §1 THE DOCTRINE OF GOD Ixxi ii open to all men, to Jew and Gentile alike, without respect of persons *; and Uie history ahewB the gradoal translation of this ideal into fact The church is 'ipostolic' also, as founded by the apostles and cleaving stedfasUy to their laidHog (ii 42), its very history being comprised under the acts qfthe apostles. Listlj it forms a eommunian 0/ saints : there is one common life of the whole body, in which each member has a common share in the privileges of the in- beiittnoe of God, and which is manifested externally in the common sharing of their worldly goods'. The entrance to the churdi was through baptism*. This baptism was for the forgiveness of sins (ii 38) : and the offer of forgiveness with the •oeompanying gift of the Holy Spirit was the 'gospel,' or 'good tidings of grett joy,' brought to men through the work of Christ^ The resurrecticn—firom the dead^ of dead men, both of just and unjust, ii the natural consequence of the resurrection of Jesus, the representative 80D of Man^ As being closely connected with the doctrine of the judgement to oome it was preached mostly to Gentiles. Among the Jews, being already held by the Pharisees, it was mainly preached in opposition to the scepticism of the Saddacees*. The belief in eternal life (xiii 46-8) flowed, not necessarily from the doctrine of the resurrection, but from the character of the life already ooouDunicated to and enjoyed by the church (v 20): for this life is that of the Spirit, divine and therefore eternal But the Christians still walk by hope^, bectoae the promise, i.e. the ideal, is not yet fully realized. They still wait for the return of the Lord, who will bring in the restoration of all things or ' the world to oome '(iii 20-1). It ti evident from the Acts that the fundamental doctrines of the Christian foith— of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement — were not taught by the ■poiUes dogmatically; they were rather contained implicitly in their teaching. ^ forms another point of resemblance to our Apostles* Creed. The reason ii foirly obvious. Life comes before thought ; action before reflection upon it. The church had first to live upon the doctrines before she preached them ; to nioifeit and verify them in her living experience, before she attempted to ttilyie and define them. Thus the doctrine of the Trinity, of the three Persons in one God, is lovbere asserted in the Acts in plain terms; but it is implied throughout, and v&hoat it the mutual relations of the Father, of the Son, and of the 8ratiT, would be inexplicabl& For (1) the three Persons are often mentioned as cooperating in the same act : in many more places the names are found in dose proximity, as if they were inseparable. An instance occurs in the opening paragraph (i 4) where 1 ii 21. X 43: xviii 5, 10, xx 21, xxvi 19-28 : x 84. * ii 42: xx 82, ii 44-5, tv 32. > ii da, 41, viii 12-8, 88, ix 18, x 47-^, xvi 15, 88, xviii 8, xix 5, xxii 16. • ▼ 31, X 43, xiii 88, xxvi 18. b iy 2, xvii 18, 82, xxiv 15, 21. • i.e. the BBwuigctiop of men apart from that of Jesus: cp. iv 2, xxiii 6-8, xxvi 8. ' xxiii 6, xxiv 15, xxvi 6-7, xxviii 20. kxii THE THEOLOGY ch.v Jesus says JVait for the promUe of the Father which ye heard from, me. The other instances are found for the most part in S. Peter's speeches^ ; but also in those of S. Paul, and in the narrative^. (2) The same functions are indifferently assigned to different Persons. Thus {A) the Fatheb and the Son alike pour out the Holy Spirit (ii 17-33X chooee (i 2-xiii 17), appoint (xxii 14~xxyi 16) and ffive commandment to — the apostles (i 2-xiii 47), and deliver (yii lO-xxvi 17, xii 11) by their presence (vii 9-xyiii 10, cp. xiv 27). Other instances will be given below. Each of these Persons is alike the Lord: and this causes ambiguity as to the paraHelsL We have, for instance, the grace (xiv 26-xy 40, xx 24-32, xi 23-xy 11, xiy 3-xiii 43), word (viii 14-26, xiii 46-49, xiii 6-xy 36, xiii 7-xix 10, yi 7-xix 20), way (xviii 25-26), and will (xxi 14-xxii 14)— both of God and (fthe Lord: compare also giving eigne (xiy 3-xy 12, cp. ii 19), and turning to (ix 35, xi 21-xxyi 20). In many of these cases it is undoubtedly Christ who is referred to tts the Lord : but the yery fact of the ambiguity is itself the strongest argument Most striking of all, the Spirit qf the Lord (y 9, yiii 39) is the Spirit of Jesus (xyi 7). {B) Both the Father and the Spntir spake through tfie prophets (i 16-iy 26, iii 21-xxviii 26, ii 17-xxi 11), call to work (xiii 2-xvi 10, cp. ii 39), set or appoint (i 7-xx 28). A lie to the Holy Ohost is a lie unto God (v 3, 4) : at one time S. Peter speaks of tempting the Spirit qf the Lord, at another of tempting Grod (v 9, xy 10). (C) Between the conversion of S. Paul and the baptism of Cornelius there b a remarkable parallelism : one is distinctly the work of the Lord (Jesus), the other of the Spirit. So the Son as well as the Spirit is holy (iii 14, iv 27, 30, cp. also Lk i 49) : and the word promise is used of both (i 4, ii 33-xiii 32). Baptism is generally in the name of Jesus Christ, but it is also in the Holy Ghost (i 5, xi 16); and this sacrament is the great occasion for the cooperation of these two Persons (ii 38, xix 6-6, cp. ix 17). A similar coordination is found in yii 51-52 and ix 31. (D) Sending and witnessing are predicated of all three Persons in turn. See xy 8-xx 23-y 32, cp. xiy 3 : x 36-ix 17-x 20, cp. xii 11, xxii 21, xxyi 17. (3) Functions that are unmistakeably divine are ascribed to the Son and the Spirit, as we shall see. But at the same time the unity of God remains unquestioned, as an axiom. The doctrine of the Incarnation is similarly implicit No doubt the apostles themselves did not fully realize at the first all that was intellectually contained in their attitude towards their Lord. But they lived by their fiuth in him, and it is easy to trace the gradual unfolding to their conscious under- standing of what that faith meant At first Jesus is the apostles' master — the Lord Jesus (i 6, 21). At Pente- cost S. Peter proclaims him as Jesus qf Nazareth, the man approved qf God and his holy one : he (as a true Adam) has been anointed to be the head of the human race, ia the Christ, the Lord and Conqueror, who sits on the throne 1 i 7-8, ii 33, 38-9, iv 8-10, 30-1, v 30-2, x 38, 4fr-8, xi 17, xv 8-11. " xx 23-4, 28: vU 66, xi 23-4, xvi 6-10, xxviu 23-5. § 1 - THE DOCTRINE OP GOD Ixxui of Darid^. In the next sennou he is th^ Servant qf the Lord, holy and ■ righteous^ Le. the fulfiOer of the law^ : the PHnce qf life and Saviour, i.e. | the gi?er and restorer of life both bodily and spiritual, or a greater Joshua 3:7 the Prophet like unto Moses, ie. the revealer of God's will^: and the Seed q/f^^ Abr<iham, the source of blessing and the fis^ther of the new Israeli Before th^j Sanhedrin Peter declares Jesus to he the Stone, the foundation of €K>d'stempl#|; or the Jewish polity, now exalted to be its crown or the Head qf the comer jL i.e. head of the renonited temple or church of God (iv 11). S. Stephen adds J by the way of figure, the title of Redeemer or Deliverer, the office of BiUefi and Judge, and the position of Mediator*. He also declares the perfect hamanity of the SON qf MAN: to which the complement is given (whether by Philip first or Saul) in the climax of the SON qf QOD\ This name however had been already implied in the name of the Fathbe in i 4, 7, ii 33. S. Philip sees in Jesus the Lamb led to the slaughter (viii 32). 8. Paul, in his first sermon, finds in Jesus the fulfilment of the Promise — as, later on, he is the Hope—<^ Israel ; and by inference gives him, as the true David, the supreme title of KingK The whole revelation is summed up, in the lost verse of the Acts, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Some of the functions of the Son mentioned above are divine. But it is the position of Jesus which cannot otherwise be explained without blasphemy. For he is at the right hand of God, in the divine glory or ' shekinah,' and receives prayer (vii 56, 59, 60). To the Jews the revelation of God was summed xxpixi the Naxae, La the divine name of jhvh which might not be uttered^: but in the Acts the Name is always that of Jesus Christ; the Christians caU upon his name (as upon that of jhyh), and his name is borne by them^^. The church is the kingdom of God, but it is Jesus who restores it and is its king^; and in appointing Paul to be an apostle, his choice is identical with that of the God qf our fathers^. If God is Lord qf heaven and earth, Jesus is also Lord of all *.. and if God giveth life to all, Jesus is the Prince qfl\fe — he 18 the Living one^. But what exceeds all, he bestows the divine Spirit ; and this Spirit qf the Ia>rd is his own spirit, t^JSpirit of Jesus. Instances have already been quoted of the way in which Jesus impercepGBIy, as it were, glides into the phice of the Lord (Jehovah) of the Old Testament^^ The crucial passage of course is xx 28, where we read of the church of God which he purchased tcith his own blood. We may possibly translate with blood which is Ms very own. But taken plainly as it stands, unless we are to make S. Paul speak of the blood of the Fatheb — which is an impossible thought, — the passage must mean that Christ is God. In this connexion we must notice that there is one point where the 1 u 22, 27: 31,36: cp. Lki32. > iiilS, 14; iv27, 30; vii 62, xxu 14. Holy hereisa different word from that in ii 27. * iii 15, v 31 ; i 6, iv 9, 12, v 31, ix 34, ziii 23. « iii 22, vii 37. ^ iii 25-6: xiii 17, 26. S. Paul speaks of the Seed of David xiii 23, Bom i 3, cp. Acts ii 30. • vii 35, 27, 88. ' yu 66, viii 37 AV, ix20. • ziu 23, 32, xzviii 20 : xiii 22. • See Lk i 49, zi 2. iov42: a 14, 21, xxii 16 (ii 21) : ix 16 (xv 17). " i 6, iii 20-1, xvu 7. » xxvi 16— xxu 14. » xvu 25— X 30 : xiv 16— i 3. " See especiaUy u 33—17, i 24— iv 29, xviii 10. Ixiiv THE THEOLOGY CH.^ coincidence of the Acts and the Apostles' Creed falls. The Acts is siliil as to the article Wfto was conceived by the Holy Ohost, bom qf the Ftr^ Mary, But the Acts is only a second volume, and the first began with ^ explicit narrative of the facts of the miraculous conception (Lk i-iiX reason for the silence in the Acts is the same as for the silence in the sequent chapters of the Gospel. The Jews had to learn the meaning of person of Jesus from his own revelation of himself in his words and woi To have begun with proclaiming the story of his miraculous birth would hn^ created prejudice and hindered the reception of that revelation. Similarly I the Acts, both Jews and Gentiles had first to learn in the experience the life of the church tchat Jesu$ had done and iaid (i 1). Only wl they had learnt that^ was it time to go on and ask Who was he? and whei came he ? Accordingly the preaching of the gospel by the apostles began y the Lord's baptism, with which their own experience had begun ^. For in the apostles could not bear personal witness of the miraculous conception the same way that they could of the crucifixion and resurrection. They 1 that he was the Son of God, and for the present it sufficed to declare Ood had raised him up\ We may notice however that Mary is called mother qf Jeeue^ and Jesus was of the seed of Abraham and David ; there is no allusion to a human father'. The doctrine of the Atonement is also implicit No theory or e] nation is given, but we have the fact that through the death and resi of Ohrist there has been won for x^eaforgirieMse of tine and peace with God| The necessity that the Christ should suffer is also asserted ; and the law liki^ wise holds for his followers^ S. Stephen implies that he is the great redeem^! like Moses who delivered Israel out of Egypt : S. Paul teaches that he pui^ chased or acquired the church with his own blood". But the early church dH not require a new theory. The doctrine of atonement by vicarious sufferii^ however it may be explained, was enunciated in the Old Testament^ especiatt in the great prophecy of Isaiah liii. And the apostles made its teaching thel own, when Peter odled Jesus the Servant qf the Lord, and when PhilH declared him to be the sheep led to the slaughter and the larnb dumb (</bH his shearer'^. The disciples however had no wish to theorize on the pail They were content to receive the forgiveness of their sins, and their mindl were occupied with the present work of Jesus. This work is represented by The doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Acts is the gospel of the Spiria It contains almost as distinct a manifestation of the Spirit, as the Gospel doip of the Son. There is a new revelation of the Holt Ghost alike (1) in his owi person, (2) in his relation to man, and (3) in his relation to the divine nature. (1) The reason is clear, for the Spirit is the intermediary between Go| and man. God is Spirit; and it is only in the Holy Spirit that man can hoU M 22, X S7, xiu 24, Mk i 1. > iii 26, xiii 23. • i 14, iii 25, xiii 2^ * u 88, xiii 88 : x 36. • iu 18, xvii 8, xxvi 28: ix 16, xiv 22. • vii 86| XX 28. » iii 18, 26, iv 27. 80: viu 82. § 1 THE DOCTRINE OF GOD Ixxv communion with him \ just as it is in his Spirit that Jesus is present in and works amongst men. We might almost say that the Holy Ghost is Qod (or rather, God in Christ) working in the world. But we are saved from Sabol- lianism (the idea that the Son and the Spibit are only names for different aspects of God) by the distinct assertions of the Spirit's personality. He speaks with an emphatic first person : *go with the men, for / have sent them/ ' separate >br me Barnabas and SaulV He is not only given by the Father and poured out by the Son, he also comes and falls upon man as of his own will'. (2) The 'gospel' of the Acts is the gift of the Spirit, or his new relation to man. In the OT he had acted on or through man as an external force. The Gospel deals with his relation to Jesus the Son of Man. In the Acts he is given to man and dwells in man, as his very life. So close is the communion that at times (as in S. PauFs Epistles) we do not know whether to vmte ipirit with a big or little S*. The human spirit is absorbed into the divin& The gift of the Spirit, then, makes the Christian. The Christian is one filled with the Spirit^ But this normal indwelling does not exclude Ri)ecial inspirations', nor special gifts or manifestations of the Spirit, such as the working of signs, speaking with tongues, and prophecy^. As there is but one Spirit, so all who receive the gift are made one body, the church; and the reception of the Spirit efiects or completes admission into the church^. The essential fruit of his presence is unity and fellowship'; indiridualism is the contradictory of the true spiritual condition. And so the church is the great sphere of the Spirit's activity. The Acts is the history of his work in the church ; and it is to be noticed that there is no allusion to any action of the Spirit outside the church. By his descent at Pentecost he fills the church with life and power ^^ He starts it on its living course ; and he acts as its guide, manifesting himself at every critical moment and initiating every new departure ^^. As the Paraclete he nurtures the church ; as the Spirit of truth he guides it into the truth ^'. In the OT his great work had been speaking by the mouth of the prophets; so now he inspires the apostles and prophets of the new covenant ^. And lasUy, as the giver of spiritual gifts and the source of inspiration, his special care and charge is the ministry of the church : he, as God, appoints the bishops to tend the church of God^^ (3) This revelation of the work of the Spirit proves him divine. Equally with the Son and the Father we find the Spirit directing the cliurch^^ ; and as in the Gkwpel blasphemy against the Spirit is the most heinous sin, so in the Acts tempting the Spirit is equivalent to a lie against God^^ The relation » tU 66. » X 19-20, xiii 2: cp. viii 29, 39, xi 12, xiu 4, xvi 6-7. » i 8, xix 6 : viii 16, x 44, xi 16. « as in vi 10, xviu 26, xix 21. » ii 4, ix 17, xiii52: viS, 6, vii 65, xi 24. • iy 8, 81, xiii 9. ' Powers cp. i8,vi8: tanffues u 4, x 46, xix 6: prophecy xi 28, xx 23, xxi 4, 11. ^ Ym 16-9, ix 17, X 44-8, xv 8, xix 2-6. » See ii 1, xv 26 and 28. ^^ i 8, iv 33 and v 32, vi 6 and 8, X 38 : the Spirit reaUy is the Great Power of God (viii 10). ^> See ii 4, iv 8, vi 8, 6, viii 16, 29, 89, ix 17, x 19, xiii 2, xv 28, xvi 6-7 (xix 1 Bezan), xix 21, XX 22. " ix 31 : xv 28. " i 16, iv 26, xxviii 25 : op. vii 61-2. " xx 28 : cp. the Utyiug on of hands in vi 6, xiii 3. ^ x 20, xiii 2. i* Lk xii 10, Acts v 3, 4, 9. Ixxvi THE THEOLOGY oh. between the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity is also dear. Tlie Spir proceeded from the Father and the Son, He is the promise and the gi of the Father. Jesus the Son of Man is first anointed by the Father with tl Spirit and power. Bat having thus received the Spirit in his human natnr as soon as he is exalted to the Father's right hand and glorified, Jesus the So of Ood pours forth the Spirit upon the church^. ^ 2 (B) The ioteriology The practical appeal of the apostles is the best commentary on the thir paragraph of the Apostles' Creed. As expressed in S. Peter's first sermon, th: appeal is unmistakeably clear.'; and we can distinguish three stages in th process of becoming a Christian. (1) Repentance^ This is the name for change of mind in relation to God (xx 21) and to sin. True repentanc necessitates a corresponding change in the outward life which shews itse in works, i.a a manner of life, worthy qf repentance (xxvi 20). Hence it pentance involves, or may be described as, a conversion or turning of th whole being to God'. (2) This change finds its public expression and divin ratification in Baptism into the name of Jesus Christ^. Baptism itself ha two sides. Outwardly it is the public profession of faith in Jesus made b the individual, and the church who receives him makes response in th symbolical signs of washing with water and of blessing by the laying on c hands. Inwardly it is the conveyance of a firee gift and a blessing from God viz. the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit^ The latter gif was conveyed by the laying on of hands, which usually followed immediatel; upon the ' washing ' ; but an interval might occur, as in Samaria^ (3) By this glf man is brought into a new relation to God. He is made 'holy' or sanctified i.e. he is made one of God's people and called into communion with him. He i also brought into a new relation to the rest of those who have been sanctified La he is added to the fellowship of the apostles^. In other words, baptism i the entrance into the Church, And henceforth the life of the baptized is lifi in the church. For the church is a toay or mode of living. The way, as seei firom without, is the common life of the brotherhood ; to walk in it is to wall in the ways qf life, which means eternal life ; and so the church can hi described as this Hfe^, To be walking in the church, then, brings safety foi the individual He is in a state of salvation or being-saved ; and the churcli is the way qf salvcUion or this salvation^. The spiritual foundation of thii new life in the individual is faith in God through Jesus Christ; so the members of the church are the faithful or believers, and the new life oi salvation is also called thefaith^\ §2 THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION Ixxvii Ab time advanced, reflection and the experience of life brought into g^roater prominence the sabjective side of this process, and that in three ways, in each of which we can feel the personal influence of S. Paul (1) The faith of the believer by which he took hold of Jesus is discovered to bo the crucial element in baptism; it is that which enables the gift of Qod to become effective in him. Hence faith is regarded as the instrument; in baptism God deansei the heart by faith (xv 9, cp. xxvi 18). Similarly the word faith sums up the process of repentance : besides Repent and turn we have Believe and turn (iii I9-xi 21). S. Paul's formula also runs Believe on the Lord Jesue Christ and thou ihalt be saved (xvi 31). Now two tenses are used in the Greek for the English believing — the present which describes a continuous state, and the aorist which denotes an act which takes place at a definite moment In this case the definite moment when a man believed will be that of the public profession in baptism, and so S. Paul's process is the same as S. Peter's. The three stages are expressed in xxvi 18: (a) conversion or repentance, (p) forgiveness of sins, which is given through baptism, {e) the lot among the sanctified, or life in the church : and the whole is by the faith which is in me. This expression which emphasizes the personal element, viz. faith in Christ Jesus, is characteristic of S. PauU. (2) Corresponding to this is the greater emphasis on what we may venture to call the subjective side on God's part, Le. his marvellous kindness in giving such gifts so freely, in other words the grace of God in this redemption. To S. Paul the teord of the Lord becomes the word qf his grace or the gospel (f the grace qf God : and to continue in the grace qf €hd corresponds to continuing in the faiths (3) The growing experience of the new life soon shewed tiiat baptism was bat a beginning, and after it there still remained a struggle. The life of the Jews was regulated by the Law of Moses. From this the church after a struggle won its emancipation. But life cannot be lived without law, even though it be a law of liberty or a royal law. And the solution of the difficulty inTolved in the requirement of obedience was found by S. Paul in the doctrine of justification by faith, which he declares in xiii 39 — by him every one that beiieveth is justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. But these ideas were not novelties, they were implicit from the beginning ; nor was their expression wholly new or confined to S. Paul. S. Peter echoes the doctrine of justification by faith when he says We believe that we shall be saved (from the yoke qfthe law) through the grace qf the Lord Jesus Christ : it was 8. Peter also who spoke of cleansing by faith. Long before this he had borne witness that it was faith in the name of Christ which had healed the lame man : and this faith he characterizes in an expression which corresponds to, and is as fundamental as, S. Paul's faith in Jesus— it is the faith which is through him\ 1 XX 21, xxiv 24, xxvi 18. » xiv 3, xx 24, 82 : xiU 48— xiv 22. » xv 11, 9: iu 16 : and tot faith op. ii 44, vi 6, xi 24. Ixxviii THE THEOLOGY ch. v § ^S The will qf God Behind these doctrines and processes lies the ultimate problem of tl relation of Qod and man, which is presented to us as soon as we raise tl question of man's free will. The supremacy of the will of Qod was the foui dation doctrine in the theology of Uie Jews ; and their own selection by Uu will, with the absolute and irrevocable character of that choice and vocatic (Rom xi 29), was their favourite and most accepted deduction. In dealiv with the great scandal or stumbling-block of the cross the apostles ha recourse to the same doctrine : it was the plan and will of God. This doctrlE was also the basis of the Jews' reverence for the scriptures. The inspire writings revealed the will of God, the prophets unfolded his plan and purposi The scriptures then must be fulfilled (i 16) ; and for the apostles it was sufficient explanation of the crucifixion — a sufficient answer to the Jews an satisfaction to their own faith — to prove that it, with the resurrection thf followed, was according to the scripturesK Among the Greeks there was a belief in an overruling Necessity or Fat< and so S. Luke would not be unprepared for the doctrine of an ovemilin will of God. The divine vocation, appointment, and foreordaining held prominent place in the teaching of the apostles ; no one has expressed thei ideas more forcibly than S. Paul himself ^ And in this matter S. Luke prove a ready disciple. No writer can altogether conceal his own predilectioni And so we find him using in his narrative expressions which bear a stroi^ predestinarian sound, e.g. in xiii 48, ii 47 ; and cp. xxii 10. But when th Greek is accurately translated and carefully examined, it will be foun impossible to build upon them any doctrine of predestination which ignore or overrules the free will of man. For the very point of the context of thes passages is that man— even the chosen people, even an apostle chosen by Jesn himself, — ^retains the power of resisting and rejecting the call to salvatioi which is offered by God'. But when this proviso is carefully safeguarded the doctrine that the will of Gt)d lies at the bottom of the world's history an of man's salvation remains as one g^reat lesson of the Acts of the Apostles. CHAPTER VI The Church a/nd Ministry in the Acts The Acts is the history of the establishment of the kingdom of Ckx (i 3, xxviii 31) or, as we generally call it, the church. And as the organizatioi and constitution of the church is ever a matter of practical importance, th< history needs careful study. The best method will be to study the historica development in its various stages. 1 ii 23-3, 34, iu 18-21, iv 26-8, xiii 22, 27-9. 36. M 2, 24, ix 15, xiii 17 iii 20, xxii 14, xxvi 16: ii 23, iv 28, x 41, xvii 26, 31: and cp. Bom viii 28, 29 ix 20 etc. » i 2, 24-6: xiii 40-1, 46, xviU 6, xxviii 26-7. CH. VI § 1 CHURCH AND MINISTRY Ixxix § 1 General surrey of the history a. Preparation (ch. 1) The Acts beginB with the twelve apostles. The list of their names is giTOD, and the only event recorded before Pentecost is the filling up of the vacant place. It is tme there are other disciples or 120 namet, but S. Luke's opening words make it clear that the recipients of the special commandments and promises of the Lord were the apostles whom he had chosen}. We find then (1) the twelve apostles : (2) certain bodies closely attached to them — Mtf women who had seen the Risen Lord, Mary the mother of Jesiu^ and bis brethren^ among whom James had also 'seen the Lord' after his resur- rection : (3) the remaining disciples, who are simply the brethren^ Among the last must have been many who had companied with the apostles since John's baptism, and who had been of the number of the Seventy. In the one event recorded the apostles consult the brethren, and all act together as one body : yet the initiative lay with the apostles, the decision was left to the divine ordering, and the result was the numbering of a new ' apostle ' with the Eleven. This action is a striking vindication of the authority given by the Lord to his disciples to act as an independent church — ^the more striking that it happened before Pentecost. This unique position of the twelve apostles will be quite intelligible, if we remember that the Acts is but the continuation of the Gospel of S. Luk& In the Gospel the Lord begins after John's baptism with proclaiming the near advent of the kingdom', and his ministry is the preparation for it. Epochs in this preparation are maiked by (1) The choice of the Twelve, to whom the Lord gave the name of 'apostlea' These are always with him, and are 'the disciples' par excellence; they receive special instruction in private, for to them it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God^ (2) The nussion or sending of the Twelve : they receive authority to cast out devils and heal diseases, and a charge to proclaim the kingdom of God, — which are the exact features of the Lord's own ministry^ 8. Luke also adds, and he alone, a similar mission of seventy disciples. Nothing more is heard of these seventy, but their i4>pointment is typical of the appointment of other officers besides the Twelve ; they will help to account for the appearance of apostolic powers outside the Twelve ; and the Twelve and the Seventy suggest the later 'aposUes and prophets ^' As the Lord's work developes, the position of the Twelve becomes more dearly defined. (1) A special confession of faith is won from them, and this qualifies them to hear the first, and privately uttered, prophecy of the ^ i 2, q>. lik vi 18. ^ (I) i 13, (2) verse 14— cp. Lk xxiv 83 the eUven and they that were with them, (3) verse 15— cp. Lk xxiv 9 the eleven and all the rest. >Lkiv4d,vi20,x9,ll: op. Mt iii 2, lik i 16. « Lk vi 18-6 (Mk iii 14) : viii 2 : viii 9, 10 (Mk iv 10, 34). > ix 1-6, 10. « x 1-20 : other analogies —with the presbyters (ep. the 70 elders of £xod xxiv 1) or the Seven— may be piefecred* Ixxx CHURCH AND MINISTRY ch. v pasdon : from S. Matthew we learn that Peter, their spokesman, was rewardei with a promise that he should be made the foundation of the church an* receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven with the power of binding aii< loosing ^ (2) S. Peter evidently assumes that the position of the Twelve i distinct from that of the rest^ and in response the Lord characterijces it as i stewardship : vnth this we may connect the carrying of the keys, a steward' office*. (3) Some special teaching about offences and forgiveness is given t the apostles. Comparison with S. Matthew shews that this refers to ih exercise of discipline in the church, and it leads to another promise of iba power of binding and loosing'. (4) It is evident that the Twelve wen looking forward to offices of high authority in the kingdom which the^ expected to be shortly established : the request of the sons of Zebedee is ai illustration. They had indeed in a special sense left all and followed Christ and in reply to Peter's question the Lord promises them an abundant reward Comparison with S. Matthew again shews that in particular they were to Ix judges and rulers of the twelve tribes of Israel^. It is however the closing scenes of the passion and resurrection whicl give the definite seal to the authority of the Twelve. (1) The Lord specially associates them with himself in the going up to Jerusalem, and repeats tc them privately the prophecy of what was to come to pass^ (2) The apostlei alone sit down with him at the last supper^. (3) They accordingly receive the command to celebrate the Eucharist in his memory, vnth what is added by S. John — Hhe new commandment' of love'^ (4) Special teaching is given as to the conduct of officers in Christ's kingdom, and enforced by the symbolic washing of feet^ (5) A definite legacy of the kingdom is made to them, and in his testament the Lord entrusts to them its disposition. In the kingdom theur part will be to eat and drink at his table — which is the pledge of communion and shews that they are no longer servants but in the place oi masters— and to sit on thrones as judges of the twelve tribes of Israeli (6) The great discourses in S. John, containing the promise of the Paraclete, were spoken to the apostles; and they were the special subject of the Lord's great intercession, by which he sanctified them^^. (7) On the morning of the resurrection the Lord calls them his 'brethren' and sends them a special messaged Others were with them when he appeared in the evening, but it is evident that the manifestation was directed specially to the Eleven ^ (8) S. Matthew and S. Mark make it clear that the commission to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations was given to the Eleven in the 1 ix 18-23 (cp. xvii 6) : Mt xvi 13-20. » Lk xu 41-8 (q). the key of knowledge xi 52). 8 xvu 1-7, Mt xviii 1-20. * Lk xix 11-28 (op. Acts i 6), xxu 24, Mk X 85-45, ix 34-6, etc. : Lk xviu 28-^, Mt xix 27-8. » Lk xviii 81-4 (cp. Mk X 32). « xxii 14. ' xxil 19 : Jn xiU 34. « xxii 25-7, the aposUes are contrasted with the kings of the Gentiles and they that have authority over them: Jn xiii 4-20, in this passage the word apostle oocurs — the only time in S. John's Gospel. • Lk xxii 28-^0. i*» Jn xiv-xvi : xvii 6-19, cp. Lk xxii 31-2. " Mt xxviii 10, op. 16 : Mk xvi 7 : Lk xxiv 9, 10, Jn xx 2, 17-8. " Lk xxiv 33, Mk xvi 14. § 1 GENERAL SURVEY Ixxxi fint placed S. John gives the foUest account of their commiuion. (a) The Lord sent them to be his apostles, Le. representatives, as he was the apostle of the Father. Thus they are definitely clothed with the authority which the Son of Man enjoyed on earth. This included {b) authority to remit and retain sins ; and (c) the office of being shepherds and rulers of the flock'. Thus the Gospel entirely confirms the later Christian tradition which looked upon the twelve apostles as in a unique sense the founders of the church. In the Apocalypse, on the twelve foundations of the Xew Jerusalem corresponding to the twelve tribes, S. John saw the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb^. b. The church at Jertualem (ch. ii-v) Accordingly, after the descent of the Holy Spirit and the establishment of the kingdom in power, the church seems embodied in the apostles. The first stage of the history is simply the record of what the Twelve said and did. Of course there were others^ 'the body' or the mvUiiude, but their very existence as a society is based upon the Twelve. The church is the society of those who toere cleaving to the teaching and fellowship qf the apoetlee (ii 42). In detail we find that the apostles (1) preach or speak the word to the outside world^ : and (2) teach the people^, giving like rabbis regrular iDstmction, and their teaching is the test of the truth. (3) They preside at the meetings of the Christian society for the breaking of bread and other purposes*. (4) They work signs and wonders, which appear to be a special mariL of apostolic authority ^ (6) They form a kind of coll^;e separate from the rest id the brethren : meeting both at home for consultation and special prayer, and in the temple where, like other rabbis, they have a special place of resort in Solomon's Porch ^ (6) As presidents of the Christian assemblies, they administer the funds of the conununity*. (7) On Joseph the Levite they ooniier a special name, Barnabas, which probably marks the conferring of some office in the church or his official recognition as a prophet ^^. (8) In the case of Ananias and Sapphira we see Peter exercising discipline as judge, with fwoportionate effect on the whole society, which is filled with awe and here for the first time is called the church^K (9) When the Sanhedrin detennines to put down the new sect of Nazarenes, they arrest the ' apostles' as r^nresentatives of the Xame and the recognized rabbis of the society^'. 1 Mt xxviii 16, Mk zvl 14 : Acts i 2 f . shews that Lk xziv 44-9 was specially directed to the apostles. ^ (a) Jn xz 21 ; cp. xvii 18, xiii 16 and 20. (&) Jn XX 83 ; op. Lk y 24 with ix 1 {authority), (c) Jn xxi 15-7 : the charge is given to Peter, bnt he is representative of the Twelve. ^ Bev xxi 14. Cp. Eph ii 20 ; Jnde 17, II Pet iii 2; and the titles of the early manuals of instruction and discipline — the Didaehe of the Twelve ApottUi, the Didascalia of the ApostleSt tfie Canons of the ApoMtlee etc. * ii 14, 87, 41, iii 12, iv 29, 31, v 20, 42 (evange- Ute) : ii 32, iii 15, iv 2, 88, v 32. ^ i.e. both the people of the Jews and their own, ii 42, iv 2, v 21, 26, 28, 42. « ii 42, iv 35, 37, v 2 (cp. xxii 3). ^ a 43, iii 4-7, iv 10, v 12, 15-6: op. II Cor xu 12. 8 («) jy 23-dl^their own (23) is eontratted with the multitude (32) : (b) v 12, the regt of the Nazarenes hold aloof, op. 21, 25. > iv 84-v 10, the money is laid at their feet, ^^ iv 36. " V 1-11, cp. vui 18-24. ^ V 18, 2S, 40. Ii. A. / Ixxxii CHURCH AND MINISTRY ch. vi (10) This position Peter accepts, and he claims for the Twelyo a special gift of the Holy Spirit enabling them to fulfil their work^ Thos in the first stage the apostles are practically the church, and the repositories of aU authority: it is they who 'act and teach' (i 1). But this state of things obviously could not last (a) The Twelve by themselves would be unequal to the work ; (b) in the rest of the body would rise up men of great gifts and new ideas, men who might receive divine inspirations; (e) bodies of ' Nasarenes ' would spring up in cities fur from Jerusalem and outside the limits of the Holy Land. Hence the remainder of the Acta is the history of (a) the devolution of apostolic authority, (6) the differentiation of function and adjustment of mutual harmony, together with (c) the pre- servation of the unity of the body. c. Firgt expannon qf the church (ch. vi-viii) The next stage opens with a scene which is typical of the devolution of apostolic authority. It is the appointment of officers with definite authority in the church outside of the Twelve. (1) We start with the multitude — in which we already discern the beginnings of organization in the mention of the widow* and the younger men\ — and they choose the Seven. But the proposal had been submitted to them by the apostles, who also appoint the chosen candidates by laying on hands with prayer'. The growth of the body, however, is iUustrated bj the fact that in this section we read almost for the last time of the apostles acting alone^ (2) As the scene, so the Seven are typical They are generally regarded as the first deacons. But their office rather seems to stand as a type of all the higher offices which subsequently appeared in the church below the apostolate^; and in this they correspond to the Seventy. Their office however was quite definite. They were to superintend the daily service at the common table and the distribution of alma Prayer and the service of the word were to be reserved to the apostles. And yet the apostolic laying on of hands is not without effect in this direction also, (a) Both Stephen and Philip work signs and wonders; {h) they speak the word, proclaim the kingdom, evangelise; and {c) Philip baptizes". (3) Stephen and Philip are the first examples of new ideas and independent action in the church. But this action is prompted by the Holy Spirit, and Philip is a striking tyi)e of a Christian prophet'. (4) Their independence, however, only brings out more clearly the differentia of apostolic authority. We note that the apostles remained in Jerusalem during the persecution ; that Philip's new departure in Samaria required their sanction; and that they exercise judgements But the most significant point is that Philip's work in Samaria could be com- pleted only by the apostles : for in spite of his prophetic gifts Philip could not 1 V 32, cp. iv 8, 31. a yi 1 2 : V 6, 10. « vi 2-6. * viu 14: in iz 27 Barnabas brings Saul to the apottles. " Barnabas' position at first was rather oharismatio thui official. * (a) vi 8, viii 6, 7, 13 : (&) vi 10, vii 2 f., viii 5, 12, 35, 40 : (c) viii 38, op. 12, 16. ' vi 3, 5, 10, vii 55 : viu 26, 29, 39. • viiil: 14: 20-3. § 1 GENERAL SURVEY Ixxxiu convey the Holy Spirit, bat — as it is now laid down as a general principle — by the laying onqfthe hands qfthe apostles the Holy Ghost is gioen\ d. Extension to Antioch (ch« ix-xii) The problem of the next stage (which chronologically overlaps the pre- ceding) is rather that of extension in space. (1) We begin with hearing of disciples at Damascus, among whom is a brother of some importance, Ananias*. Then the church is spread over the whole of Judaea and OalHee and Samaria ; bnt it is still one, the church, and a hint as to the maintenance of unity is supplied by a visitation of S. Peter throughout all parts. Similarly other apostles are throughout Judaea^, But the section ends in the far more distant city of Antioch. Here grows up a body which appears almost on a level with the church of Jerusalem. Its founders shew very independent action in preaching to the Greeks ; it is spoken of as fA^ church ; in sending alms it acts towards the church at Jerusalem as a sister^ and its delegates are men of almost apostolic rank^ (2) This extension was largely due to individual action under divine g^dance. Ananias (who may have been one of the Seventy) by special com- mand of the Lord exercises the apostolic function of laying on of hands, that Saul may he JiUed with the Holy Ohost\ Besides Philip others had gone as evangelists. Such were the men qf Cyprus and Cyrene who had founded the diurch at Antioch, and who marked a new departure by speaking the word unto the Greeks also, but their action received the divine sanction of signs and wonders^ More striking and more pregnant with future development is the appearance of Saul, himself a man of as great a position in the world as any of the church, and nothing less than an apostle bom out qf due time. This he was made by the vision of Jesus, which raised him to the level of the Twdve as an eye-witness of the resurrection ^ For the time, however, the ftdl significance of this is not realized. After an interval he preaches and teaches in Damascus, as a rabbi vrith his disciples. Then he disappears from view at Tarsus; but at the close of the period Barnabas brings him to Antioch, and there together, as recognized teachers, they consolidate tiie dnirch^ (3) The new developments, however, still require apostolic sanction. SaoTs poeition, for instance, is not fully assured until he has been brought to the aiKMtles and received by them into fellowship*. Philip's work at Gaeearea (as in Samaria) is followed by a visit from S. Peter. S. Peter's admlsaion of Cornelius into the church, according to a divine revelation, gives apotlolic sanction to the new preaching to the Gentiles^. And finally, the new dqwrture at Antioch has to be ratified^. At the same time^ except in the case of Peter (who did in feict take six witnesses with him), we no Xoagn find the apostles acting by themselves alone. News of Peter's conduct 1 Tiiiie. a ix 2, 10-8, xxii 12. » ix 31, 32 : xi 1. < xi 20-1, 26. 29-30. " ix 17, cp. viii 18. • viii 4, xi 19-21. ' i Cor xv 8, ix 1 ; Aels ix 17, xxii 14-5, xxvi 16. ^ ix 20, 22, 25 : xi 26. » (going in and out wUh them) ix 26-^ : cp. Gal i 18. ^^ x-xi 18. " xi 22-4. /2 Ixxxiv CHURCH AND MINISTRY OH-vi at Caesarea roaches the apostlet and the brethren thai were throughout JudoM^ and they qf the circumcision (probably holding some official position) even rebuke the apostla The report of Antioch came to the ears qf the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas, like Peter and John on a former occasion* The Antiochenes send their alms to the presbyters {elders\ and Peter the news of his deliyerance to James and the brethren^ (4) The last references are very significant for the history of the devolution of apostolic office, (i) We now find a body of church rulers at Jerusalem, called, after Jewish precedent, the presbyters. This body has taken the place of the Seven, a college which was probably broken up by the persecution. It is clear that as the ruling body it includes different classes, e.g. among them are chiff men and prophets^; and the term the presbyters when it stands by itself (as in xi 30) may include apostles, who sometimes call themselves by this name'. These presbyters are no doubt the brethren of zi 1 and zii 17 (cp. xxi 18). (ii) Even more significant is the mention of James : he appears to take the place of the apostles as president of the churdi in Jerusalem, and later he acts as their equal in the coundL He belonged indeed to one of those bodies of special dignity — the brethren qfthe Lord-, he also had seen the risen Lord^ Thus, as it also includes the story of Saul, this stage is marked by the appearance of two who could be reckoned apostles in the strictest sense, although their position was only gradually recognized by the church. With S. James and S. Paul we might join S. Barnabas. At present he ranked before Saul, and being sent to Antioch as an apostolic delegate^ he was probably sent with apostolic powers, e.g. to lay on hands. e. The churches qf the Circumcision and qf the Gentiles (ch. xiii-xvi 4) 'The church of the circumcision' seems now fully equipped. There is a body of rulers : provision is being made for the permanent continuance of iq)ostolic authority : and the church at Jerusalem forms a centre of unity. The problems are opened afresh by the springing up of definitely Oentile churches outside of Jewish cirdos — or the 'church of the uncircumdsioa' This is the subject of the next stage. (1) The start is made from Antioch; and as the church at Jerusalem arose out of the apostles, the churches of the Gentiles need the same foundation of 'apostles,' i.e. men sent by the Lord to represent him and to bear witness to him, to 'make disciples,' and to exercise his authority in the building up of the church. Accordingly at Antioch we begin with an enumeration of the heads of the church, who stand in the next rank to the apostles as prophets and teachers^. Of these two, Barnabas and Saul, have already some primd facie claim to possess apostolic authority. But to make 1 xi 1-2: 22-3: 30: xii 17, cp. the. brethren in ix 30. « xv 29, 82, » I Pet v 1, II Jn 1, III Jn 1. M 14, I Cor ix 5, Gal i 19 : I Cor xv 7 * i.e. like Peter and John to Samaria. The mention of the Holy Spirit is signifi cant (xi 24). « xiii 1. § 1 GENERAL SURVEY Ixxxv all certaio, by a special divine inter?entioii they are set apart by the laying on of hands, and henceforth they act as, and are called, apostles, and the TweWe recognize them as brothers ^ In their work among the Gentiles they speak the word, evangelize, 'make disciples,' work signs and wonders, exercise the power of judgement, and on their own responsibility deliberately Hum to the GentilesV (2) They also make provision for the due administration of the churches in their absence, and that on the same linos as in the church of Jerusalem : they appoint a body of presbyters in every church. Personally attached to themselves we find ministers — first John Mark, later Timothy'. (3) How to preserve the unity of the church, is taught by the history of the relations of the two mother churches — Jerusalem and Antioch. Disputes had arisen out of a divergence of teaching, and the matter was settled by a great meeting at Jerusalem. The apostles and presbyters of that church were gathered together, and with them delegates from Antioch of similar rank, apostles and no doubt presbyters. This council is, as it were, the Senate or Sanhedrin of the new i)eople, — ^their high-priests and elders*. The presbyters discuss, the aposUcs sum up the discussion, the president of the church at Jerusalem acts as chairman, the people give their consent, and the unanimity of the assembly proves the guidance of the Spirit. The decision of the council, which is practically that of the church of Jerusalem, is con- veyed to the multitude of the church at Antioch, who joyfully accept the conclusions ^ 1 Consolidation of the churchss of the Gentiles (ch. xvi 5-xix) The great crisis is now past, and the next stage — which is the history of the founding of the churches of Macedonia, Achaia and Asia — only illustrates church organization incidentally. (1) It centres round the apostolate of S. Paul, which is now brought into unquestioned prominence. He acts and teaches with independent authority, exactly like S. Peter in the early church at Jerusalem. He works miracles, he breaks the bread, but above all he possesses the special apostolic power of conveying the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands ^. (2) The unity of discipline and order in the churches is vindicated by the treatment of Apollos and the disciples of John^. (3) In the ministry of the church we find (i) some who might be reckoned as ' apostolic men' (corresponding to the Seventy of the Gospel and those w/io toere with ths apostles^ of the early years) such as Silas, and also Apollos — a teacher, who was ranked by some of the Corinthians as the equal of S. Paul and S. Peter'. Then there were Aquila and Priscilla, who instructed Apollos ^^ 1 xiii 2-8 ; xiv 4, 14 : XV 12, 25. « See xiii 6, 82, xiv 7, 21, 25 : xiv 8, 9-10: ziii 9-11 : xiii 44-8. » xiv 23 : xiii 6, xvi 3. * v 21, iv 28. » ch xv, q). vv. 2, 4, 6 : Peter, Barnabas, Paul, James are the only speakers mentioned : w. 19, 22-3, 80-1, xvi 4. « Cp. especiaUy xix 6. ' xviii 24-xix 7, on which see commentary. > Gp. all the brethren which are with me (Gal i 2), and Acts XX 34. 'I Cor i 12. S. Paul almost recognizes this position, cp. iii 4- iv 13 (esp. we apostles), ^'^ xviii 26. They had a church in their house. Ixxxvi CHURCH AND MINISTRY ch. v Besides these there were a number of disciples specially attached to S. Paal- they who were with him, they who ministered to him, — whom he aasc dated with himself in his work and used as delegates. Such were Timotb and Brastus, Aristarchos and Gains, and S. Lnke himself ^ Such companion are represented in the body of the seven * messengers ' of the Gentile chnrdie who accompanied S. Paul to Jerusalem and who correspond to the Seyei of ch. yi'. (ii) For the normal administration of the diorch we find th* same provbion as heretofore, riz. bodies of presbytere\ (iii) Besides offick ministries there is evidence that the Gentile churches were richly endowe< with charismatic gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy \ (iv) In the mentioi of Lydia, Prisciila, and Philip's daughters, there are signs of an active ministry of women*. This picture is abundantly confirmed by the notices in S. Paul's con temporary epistles. In the Thessalonian church there were thote who laboure( and presided, who among other works helped the weak\ In the Epistle to thi Galatians we read of him who instructs (catechizesy. The Epistles to thi Corinthians afford a very rich picture. (1) There is a long discussion as U the spiritual gifts, which are thus enumerated — the word of wisdom, the wort qf knowledge, faith, gifts qf healings, workings of mirades, prophecy, die cemings qf spirits, kinds of tongues, interpretation qf tongues^ (2) Th4 hierarchy of the church is also given, in which chaiismatic gifts are not ye( clearly distinguished from official position,— -apostles, prophets, teachers, then miracles, then gifts qf healings, helps, gocemments, kinds qf tongues^ (3) There is much discussion as to the authority and qualification of th€ apostolate^®. (4) Much light is thrown on the position of Timothy and Tituf as S. Paul's delegates, and also on that of other delegates or apostles of thi ehurehes^K (5) The house of Stephanas set themselves to minister unto thi saints, and the Corinthians are urged to submit themselves to such, and tc everyone that helpeth in the work and lahoureth^. In the Epistle to the Romans (1) there is another enumeration of charismatic f^^A— prophecy^ ministry, he that teaeheth, he that exhorteth, he that distributeth, he thai presideth, he that sheweth mercy^. (2) S. Paul commends Phoebe a deaeonest qf the church at Cenchreae^*. (3) In the list of salutations we find fellou workers, Prisca and Aquila, Urbanus and Timothy ; women who laboured^ Mary, Tryphaena and Ti^phosa, and Persis ; while Andronicus and Junias are conspicuous among the apostles^K Finally we note that each epistle is ad- dressed to the church as a whole, and in response each church is to act as one body, in judging, exercising discipline, and so forth. ^ xiz 22, 29, xz 84 : for the association cp. zvi 13 wt spake, II Cor i 19, and the addresses of the Epistles. ' xx 4 (op. xxi 8). * e.g. at Ephesos xx 17. « Cp. XX 28, and esp. I Cor xii-xiv. • zvi 14, 40 (op. PhU iv 2-8), xviii 2, 18, 26, xxi 9. * I Thess v 12-5, ep. Acts xx 35 {labour and Mp the weak). 7 Gal vi 6. » I Cor xu-xiv; xu 8-10. » xii 28. i« e.g. I i-iv, esp. iv 1, 9, 15, ix 1-6, xii 28-9, xv 5-11 ; n x-zii, esp. xi 5, 13, 23, xii 11-4), cp. also Gal i-ii. ^^ I iv 17, xvi 10-1 ; H vu 6-16, viii 6, 16-24, zii 17-8. i« I xvi 15-6. " Bom xii 6-8. " xvi 1. ^ xvi 3, 9, 21 : 6, 12 : 7. § 1 GENERAL SURVEY Ixxxvii g. Conclusion (ch. xx-xxviii) The conclofiion is for the most part a narratiye of S. Paul's sufferings, but it is important for our present purpose as containing his own account of his call to the aposUeship^. The narrative also brings out the unity of the church. Thus (1) Paul and the SeveUy the representatives of the Qentile church, are received by Jamts and the presbyters of the Jewish church^. Again (2) Paul is received by the Roman Christians, the great and independent church of the west ; and in Rome he continues to exercise his apostolate*. Further, one of the great texts on the ministry occurs in S. Paul's address to the Ephesian presbyters. He is taking farewell of the church of Ephesus and providing for its administration in the future. The presbyters are to rule the church as its shepherds, and it is very remarkable that S. Paul makes use of a new word bishops : Take heed... to all the flock in the which the Holy Ghost appointed (or set) you bishops to tend the church qf GodK The solemnity of the occasion and the occurrence of the new name might almost suggest the ^pointment of some (or all) of the presbyters to a higher grade of oflSce ; nor is the speech itself without indications that the apostle has in view different groups of persons. But the words of the text, taken in their simple and obvious sense, plainly declare that the presbyters are bishops. Bishop and presbyter are used as synonymous terms, and it is clear that S. Paul looks upon this body of presbyter-bishops as sufficient for the local admiuistratiou of the church. The review of the Acts must be completed from the other writings of the NT in their chronological order. First, within five years of this date S. Paul writes to Ephesus from Rome and now describes the ministers of the church as apostles, prophets, evangelists, sJiepherds and teachers^ In the Philippians he addresses aU the saints together with {the) bishops and deacons^ At Oolossae Archippus had received a ministry in the Lord''. The Epistles of S. Peter and S. James cannot be very distant in time. S. Peter, also writing from Rome, calls the Lord the Shepherd and Bishop qfour souls ; and as sl fellow pred^ter he gives a charge to the presbyters, who fill the place of shepherds and rule the flock ^ S. James is more explicit about the presbyters of the church. They visit the sick and anoint them with oil ; they pray over them ; and the closely connected allusion to confession and forgiveness of sins implies that they also exercised that power of discipline committed to the Twelve in John xx 23 ^ The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of your rulers or ehi^ men ; and that is the title given to those who had first spoken the word of God to them and now were dead^". 1 xxii G-21, xxvi 12-23. » xxi 18. « xxviii 16, 80-1. * xx 28. The word bishopric (epiacopi) had been applied in i 20 to the ofBoe of Judas, one of the Twelve. ' Epb iv 11, the catalogue of eharinmaia of I Cor is now omitted. • PhU i 1. 7 diaconia, Col iv 17, Philem 2 ; q). Acts xx 24. » I Pet ii 26, T 1-4. * Jas V 14-6 ; the Twelve also anointed the sick toith oil in Mk vi 18. ^ Hebr xiii 17, 24 ; 7. The word is used of Judas Barsabbas and Silas in Aots XV 22: it also ocours in xiv 12, Lk xxii 26, Mt ii 6. Ixxxvui CHURCH AND MINISTRY oh. V The Pastoral Epistles mark a later stage, not so much in years as ii matter. S. Paul, in view of his speedy departure, deliberately arranges for tb organization of Uie church, and we may sum up the position thus : (1) There i the final yindication of S. Paul's own apostolate — his office is that of a herali and apostle and teacher qf the Oentileeh (2) Timothy and Titus have noi definitely, as it were, stepped into the apostle's place. Like S. Paul they tead and preach, rule and organize the church'. Accordingly they hold a positioi of authority over the presbyters, whom they appoint by laying on of hands an< oyer whom they exercise discipline'. One of their functions on which S. Pan lays most stress is that of guarding the deposit (of faith) and holding th pattern qf sound words. This is evidently with a view to the future, when th< apostles shall have passed away ; and Timothy is specially charged to provid< for a succession of teachers — ^to commit the faith to faithful men who will Ix able to teach others aiso\ For his work Timothy had received at the laying on qf hands a special charisma which was the same Spirit which S. Paul had received^ (3) The presbyters are appointed by laying on of hands : bul the presbytery had itself taken part in the laymg on of hands upon Timothy. The presbyters preside^ and among them are different offices ; thus some ol them specially labour in the word and teaching, and those who nUe toeli receive a double portion of honour or honorarium ^ (4) Besides the pres- byters we hear of the bishop, and his office of oversight or bishopric. He ii spoken of as taking care qf the church qf €hd, as a steward qf Ghd, and at having a special responsibility in the matter of teaching and the preservation of the true doctrine^. From Titus i 5-7 and the position of tfie bisJvop io 1 Tim iii 1-7 it is plain that, as at Ephesus, bishops and presbyters are still identical officers. Perhaps, if the presbyters was a general term for the whole body of the church's hierarchy, the title of bishop was given to those presbyter- bishops who ruled the local church, in distinction from those ministers whose sphere of ministry was not local but universal (such as apostles and prophets), and from those whose ministry was local but did not include any special authority of government (5) The di<iconate now appears for the first time as a definite office®. Lastly (6) there is abundant information about the organization of widows and the conduct of women ^. A long interval separates off the vmtiugs of S. John. In his second and third epistles he writes as the presbyter, and in the church to which he ad- dresses the third epistle one Diotrephes loveth to Jtaee the preeminence and acts as an arbitrary ruler of the church (vv. 9-10). Whatever conclusion we may come to about the date of the Revelation, it concludes the New Testament In the opening epistles to the seven churches, each church is represented by an angel or messenger, — a word very kindred to apostle or one *en^,— and this 1 I Tim i 11-6, u 7, Hi 11. « Cp. e.g. I Tim i 3, iii 16. iv 6-7, ll-». 16, vi 2, 17 ; n ii 14-6, iv 2 : Tit i 6, ii 1, 16, iii 10-1. » I Tim v 1, 17-22. Tit i 6. * I Tim vi 14, 20. 11 i 13-4 : H ii 2. » I Tim iv 14, U i 6-7. • I Tim v 22 ; iv 14 ; V 17. 'I Tim iu 1-7. Tit i 7-9 : the qualifications of the bishop much resemble those of the slave of the Lord^ i.e. the apostolio man, II Tim ii 24-6. » I Tim iii 8-13. » I Tim v 1-lC, iii 11. § 1 GENERAL SURVEY Ixxxix suggestft a single ruler of each 8e?eral church. In heayen ronnd the throne of Grod are ranged four and twenty thrones on which sit/our and twenty preibyiet% in the goise of kings and priests. The picture is prohably taken from the seats of the presbytery in the local churches, but the presbyters in heaven are ob- yioosly 'apostles' — twelve for the church of the Old Jerusalem and twelve for that of the New. After this brief surv^ we may sum up its leading features thus. i The church b^^ in the twelve apostles, who as the accredited witnesses and representatives of the Lord, sent by him with a definite commission, are the repositories of all doctrine and authority in the church. At the same time, on the principle of the unity of the church, the church generally acts as one body. The apostles and other officers are members of the one body. ii From the beginning the apostolic ministry is supplemented by (1) the rich outpouring of charismatic gifts from the Spirit— of which the most conspicuous was prophecy, — and by (2) groups marked by special privilege, e.g. the brethren of the Lord, the women who had seen the risen Lord, those who had oompanied with the apostles from the time qf John's baptism, those brethren besides the Twelve who had seen the risen Lord. iii As time advances, the need for a more definite official organization in view of the ftiture makes itself felt. And first, there are unmistakeable signs that the apostolic office is to continue in the church. Besides S. Matthias, S. Paul and 8. James become apostles in the strict sense. There is also 8. Barnabas, and other 'apostolic men' on the borderland such as Silas. lY Under the apostles we find from early times a definite body of church rulers or ministers. After Jewish analogy they are called the elders {presbyters) of the church, and such a body is found universally. It was some time before official titles became fixed; and later on S. Paul calls the presbyters in his churches bishops. Probably, in ordinary language the expression ' the elders of the church' would often have been used to denote the whole body of the dmreh's higher ministers, such as apostles and prophets, pastors and teachers; and therefore for the sake of distinction the title bishop was confined to those elders or 'presbyter bishops' who bare rule in the local churches. As the diurch extended, the question of government became more and more important, and ultimately led to further restriction in the application of the word bishop, y Before their departure from the world the apostles had to make provision for the continuance of apostolic oversight There were already 'apoatolic men' (iii); and then we find S. Paul definitely using Timothy and Titas as his delegates. For the same purpose the chief presbyter-bishops in the local churches were evidently very suitable persons ; and for apostolic representatives the name of bishop {overseer) was most appropriata Thus from sUch successors of the apostles— apostolic delegates and the chief rulers of the local churches — ^have descended our present order of ' bishops.' Ti Here and there are scattered in the Acts hints of lower ministries and xc CHURCH AND MINISTRY CH. M sernoea (specially attached to the aposUes), which by the time of the Pastoral Epistles haye been eonsolidated in the order of deacons. yii Lastly, there is mnch eyidenoe of the ministry of women. § 2 OfBLces and ministries It will be convenient to group the evidence and references under eadi title, but before doing so certain cautions must be given. (1) The characteristic which marked the birth of Christianity was the outpouring of the Spirit This was exceedingly rich and abundant: like Jordan in time of harvest, it overflowed all its banks. The Spirit, then, flooded the church with an outburst of spiritual gifts, of which prophecy was most typical ; and it took some time for this river of living water to work out for itself regular channels, so that the spiritual gifts should be recognised as the proper and normal endowments of Christian character and of ecclesi- astical offica Naturally, at first, there could hardly be drawn a sharp line between individual spiritual gifts and official position. Further, the ex- pectation of the immediate return of the Messiah, with the establishment of his kingdom in glory, would cause less attention to bo paid to the need of the organizing a permanent ministry. (2) Similarly in the terminology, there was an interval, so to speak, of experiments and local divergence before the question was finally settled by the survival of the fittest terms. Thus we find different meanings of apottle^ various synonyms for presbyters^ different titles for the twelve apostles etc^ Further the terms used had not as yet become technical. Presbyter was indeed already technical, but a presbyter was still as a rule an elder; an apostle was one sent, deacons were those who served, presidetits those who presided etc. (3) The final terminology was practically the creation of Christianity. It is true that, as was natural, the organization of the Christian communities was more or less modelled upon the lines already familiar to them in their old national life. There were bishops (episcopoi) among the Greeks, and presbyters among the Jews. But apostle and deacon are certainly new terms : bishops also were officials so rarely found, and of so little importance, among the Greeks that the title as well as the office was practically a new creation. Presbyter is the only term which remains to mark the continuity of the church under the Old and the New Covenants. Apostles The Lord himself bestowed this title upon the Twelve, and by so doing he marked them out as his representatives. The word is similar in meaning to angel, but is found only once in the Greek OT'. In the NT it occurs diiefiy in the writings of S. Paul and S. Luke, elsewhere only eleven times. In the Acts it is most frequent in the early chapters ; it ceases altogether after xvi 4. ^ Compare the variety of terms in nse to-day for a clergyman : priest, pastor, minister, rector, vicar, incumbent, curate, clergyman, clerk in holy orders etc. 3 I KiugB xiv 6. § 2 OFFICES xci In the rtrictest sense — viz. that which prevailed in Christian tradition, and is abeady established in the New Testament (in the Reyelation, II Peter and Jade, and Ephesians^) — ^the apostles were the twelve founders, or rather foundations, of the chnrch. This they were in virtue of two qualifications. (1) The distinctive work of the Twelve in the early chapters is to bear witness to the resurrection^. This they were enabled to do in virtue of having seen the Risen Lord with their own eyes* This, then, was the first essential for an apostle; when S. Paul wrote I Corinthians it was plainly accepted as such, and the appearances to S. Paul and to S. James were the charter of their (^[KMstokte'. Other disciples however shared this privilege, — indeed more than five hundred had seen him — ^and to such in one or two places S. Paul seems to give the name of apottle*. But what these other witnesses lacked vras (2) The definite apostolic commission from the Lord. How this com- mission was conveyed before the day of Pentecost, and how the history after Pentecost illustrated its content, has been fully shewn. In this aspect the apostles were the rulers of the church, and this function of their apostolate could be continued in the church. A hint of this is given at the outset by the appointment of & Matthias to Judas' vacant place. The office of apostle included implicitly all the offices which were subsequently evolved out of it ; and it IS noticeable that in the Acts it is called an apostolate, episcopate and diaeanate^: while in various places of the NT apostles speak of themselves as witHesses, prophets, teachers, presbyters, heralds (i.e. preachers), deacons, ministers, ministers-at'the-^tar, servants (la slaves) of Jesus Christ^: they evangelize, prophesy, speak tvith tongues, they have knowledge, revelMons, gifts qf healing, they help, etc^ These various 'parts and duties' were by degrees communicated to others ; but one gift was reserved as the special 'difierentia' of apostolic authority: through the laying on qf the apostM handt the Holy Ghost is given\ But the term apostle was used of others than the Twelve, and its uses may be distinguished thus. (1) It denotes the Twelve. This is the general use in the NT outside of S. PnuL S. Luke uses it in a wider sense only twice ^, and the rest of the writers of the NT only three times out of 11, and of these passages one applies 1 Bev zviii 20, zxi 14, Jude 17, U Pet ill 2 : Eph u 20. iii 5. > See the references given on p. Ixx note b, and add xxvi 16. ' I Cor iz 1, zv 7, 8. ^ In I Cor zv 7 all the apostles seem to be a larger body than the twelve of verse 5 : psdiaps this explains Aidronious and Jonias, who were in Christ before S. Paul, being eonspieuous among the apostles (Bom zvi 7). ' i 20, 25, zz 24. < Op. t^^Bevi2, 9, zizlO, zzii9: I Tim ii 7,11 i 11: I Pet v 1, II, lUJn 1 : nCorvi4, Bph iii 7, Col i 25: Acts zzvi 16, Lk i 2, I Cor iv 1: Bom zv 16: Bom i 1, Jas i 1, n Pet i 1, Bev i 1. ' Cp. e.g. v 42 ; ii 17, Bev z 11; Acts ii 4, 1 Cor ziv 18, n Cor zii 1 : Acts zz 35. ^ viii 18, ziz 6. In I Cor iz S. Paul speaks of the right (authority) of an apostle to be supported by the church (cp. I Thess ii 6): in n Cor zii 12 he speaks of signs and wonders and powers as the credentials (riynf) of an apostle. * Acts ziv 4, 14 (of Barnabas and Paul). xcii CHURCH AND MINISTRY cbli it to Christ and another uses it in the general sense of one 9mt\ S. Pa claims the title for himself also in this strict sense, — i.e. as being on a le? with the Twelve, — when he speaks of himself as an apostle qf Jents €fhru or the apostle qf the Gentiles : and he gives the title in the same sense i S. James. S. Luke extends the term to include both S. Barnabas and S. Paul (2) In 1 Cor i? 9 S. Paul uses the term in the plural and his argnmei seems to rank Apollos with himselt Then in 2 Cor z-xiii we have the groi controversy about certain teachers who claimed to be apostles qf Christ, ai questioned S. Paul's apostolate. S. Paul calls them false apostles, and no distinguishes the Twelve as the very chi^est apostles. In Rev ii 2 we fii (&lse) teachers claiming to be apostles. This use of the term for teachers < high authority other than the Twelve is reflected in the Didachf, wfaei apostles and prophets are two very similar orders of wandering teachers, < chief authority in the church^. (3) Lastly, the word is used in its literal sense of messenger, i^ fii delegates of the church. The brethren sent to Corinth from Macedonia \ the matter of the collection were apostles qfthe churches, EpaphroditoSi wli brought the contribution of the Philippians to S. Paul at Rome, was the apostle\ This is the sense in which it came into use among the Jews later oa after the final expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem in the second centur Their ' apostles' were the messengers who collected the half shekel which evei Jew continued to pay to the central national authority in Palestine. The consideration of the apostolate raises a further question as to rank aa office among the Twelve themselves. As S. Peter was called the rock o which the church was to be built, so in the early chapters of our book li certainly acts with a prominence and independence which might imply thf he had some superior authority as head of the apostles. But further coi sideration shews that this was not the case. It is the teaching and fellowshi of the apostles, and not of S. Peter, which is the test of the church. It is li the hands qf the apostles, and not of Peter only, that signs are vnx>ught and tli Holy Spirit is given. Tlie apostles form a college, they are and act cUl togethe (v 12) : but every college must have its chairman and spokesman, and it is i that capacity that S. Peter acts. In ii 14 we are told explicitly that PeU stood up together with the Eleven; and his hearers answered Peter an the rest of the apostles (verse 37). So in iv 19 Peter and John, and in v S Peter and the apostles, made their defence before the Sanhedrin^. Furthei the power of the whole apostolic college over individual apostles is shewn i viii 14 where the apostles who were in Jerusalem sent Peter and John on mission to Samaria. Again in xi 1 S. Peter's action at Caesarea Ib even calle in question by them that were qf the circumcision, i.e. some of the apoUU 1 Heb iii 1, Jn ziii 16: the third instance is Bev ii 2. ' Another ose of tb term by S. Paul in I Cor xv 8» Bom xvi 6 has been noticed above, p. xo * n Cor viii 23, Phil ii 26. « A comparison of Acts ix 27 and Gal i 18-9 shen that S. Peter's action is valid as representing the apostles. § 2 OFFICES xcffi cmd the brethren that were in Judaea, So whatever authority Peter assumes in taking the lead is representatiye authority. It is true that S. Paul seems to assign a preeminence to S. Peter. He implies that the apottieship cf the circumcision had been entrusted to 8. Peter : he went up to Jerusalem to visit — not the Twelve but — Cephas^ : in 1 Cor ix 5 he writes as if S. Peter had a special position — the rest qf the apostles and the brethren qfthe Lord and Cephas, But if this is varged as a proof of Peter's single headship of the church, it proves too much. For the whole point of S. Paul's argument is that he had been entrusted with the sameaposUeship among the Gentiles which Peter held among the Circumcision ; if the argument implies headship, the conclusion will be that there are — not one but — ^two heads of the church of equal rank. Paul claims to be not a whit behind 'the very chiefest apostles,' and his daim is supported by the history of the Acts. We cannot fail to see that Paul occupies in the second part precisely the same position that Peter holds in the first parti All that Peter does he does, and more also. He acts with the same authority and independence; we might even say greater, for among the Gentiles there is no college of eleven fellow apostles to act as a restraint upon his action. Nor is this alL As the history advances, Peter's position in Jerusalem seems to recede, and, in proportion, another personality comes into view. This is 8. James. As the eldest of the ^brethren of the Lord,' and fiBivoured by a special api)earance of his risen 'brother,' he enjoyed great honour in the church. Soon we find him acting as president of the local church at Jerusalem (xii 17) ; and in that capacity at the great meeting of the Christian Ecclesia in ch. xv he acts as chairman, giving his decision after S. Peter and S. Paul have spoken. Further, his extreme piety and asceticism won for him an immense personal authority in the Jewish side of the church. The extreme partisans looked upon him as head of the church rather than Peter who was half a Pauline at heart*. At any rate this became the tradition among the Judaistic section subsequent to NT times. For in the ClementiDes, the anti-Pauline literature of the second and third centuries, James, as bishop of Jerusalem, is the bishop qf bishops and the head of the church, to whom Peter himself is subject. In treating of S. James we have already mentioned t?ie Brethren of the Lord, To ask what the relationship actually was belongs to a commentary on the GkMipels, but it is obvious that it gave them a special place of dignity in the churdi (which was handed on to their descendants). This is shewn by Acts i 14, 1 Cor ix 5 and the Epistle of S. Juda The Twelve was a common designation of the original apostles. It occurs 22 times in the Gospels ; also in 1 Cor xv 5 and Acts vi 2 {the Eleven in Acts ii 14, i 26). The typical character of the Seven (xxi 8) has already been pointed out. There is no aUusion to them outside of the Acts. Accordingly we pass on to the body which generally ranked next to the apostles, viz. the ^ Gal ii 8, i 18. ' See pp. xlviii-iz. On one oooasion S. Paul withstood Cephas to the face (Gal ii 11). > Cp. Gal ii 12. xciv CHURCH AND MINISTRY CH.1 PropheU A prophet is one to whom the word of the Lord comes and who 'speaks : forth.' He is the subject of special inspiration ; and so in the OT the prophet were the chief medimn of reTelation^. There, as in the NT, we already find ti classes : (1) great inspired individuals, who are ' the prophets' par excdlene (2) a class of professional prophets. In this Israel and Jxhotah wa« w peculiar, for prophecy was not confined to them« Jezebel had her proj^ets i Baal and of the Asherah, and the surrounding nations had thdr prophet who were like the modem dervishes. In the Greek world also the prophi was a fiuniliar figure', but he was rather the interpreter of the god than th immediate forthteller of the divine word. The staff of an Egyptian tempi also included prophets; and at the commencement of the Christian ert prophets, soothsayers et hoc gentu amne abounded in the eastern half c the empire. Prophecy formed a great link between the Old and the New Testameol For prophecy had not ceased. As we learn from Josephus, there were prophei among the Jews, especially among the Essenes^. Caiaphas uttered a propheq on one occasion ^ The Jews expected the kingdom of the Messiah to b preceded by the return of Elijah or one of the prophets; and this expectatio] was answered in the ministry of the Forerunner, John the Baptist, who wa the greatest, as he was the last, of the OT prophets^ The birth of the Obria took place in an atmosphere of prophecy. Zacharias prophesied at the birth o the Baptist ; Simeon received a warning from the Holy Spirit ; and Anna wIm spake of the infant Jesus was a prophetess^. Jesus himself was regarded far; the people as a prophets If sudi was the preparation, the kingdom itself was first established ii power by a great outpouring of the Spirit and consequent outbunt o prophecy. Indeed one mark of the new kingdom is what we may call the neii prophecy. For the gift of the Spirit was to be no longer something ezceptloDa or extraordinary: it was to be 'poured out on all flesh,' so all should prophes] and see visions, even slaves and handmaidens (ii 17-8). Accordingly Um whole church is richly endowed with spiritual and prophetic gifts. A1 Pentecost all spake with tongues, and the community lived in a state ol ecstasy or spiritual exultation (ii 46). The discussion of the spiritual gifts in I Cor xii-xiv, with their enumeration in xii 8-10, shews that at their birtk the Gentile churches also eigoyed a like endowment of the Spirit : at the Xmblic meeting there was hardly one who had not a psalm or a teaching or t revelation or a tongue or an interpretation (xiv 26). For prophecy was hot ^ n Pet i 21. 3 S. Paul calls Epimenides of Crete a prophet (Tit i 12). The ' prophet * of Apollo at Chalcedon was one of the great magistrates of the city : so was the prophet of Apollo of Branohidae in Bfiletos. The enmneration of the Egyptian hierarohy on the Bosetta stone begins with The Mgh-priesU and prophett^ whidi is a parallel to * apostles and prophets.' ' Gp. Ant. zv 10. 5 for Mena- hem'e proj&esying. ^ Jn xi 61. * Mk vi 15, iz 11, Jn i 21 : Lk i 76, vii 26-8. • Lk i 67, u 26, 86-8. ' Mt xxi 11. Jn vi 14, vii 40, ix 17. § 2 OFFICES xcv the greatest of those spiritoal eharUmata — siieaking with tongues, seeing TiaonSy receiying revelatioiiSy etc., — ^with whidi it was closely allied and of which it is the type. Prediction was not the distinctive function of the prophet^ though that power was sometimes given to him^. Prophecy rather denotes the effect of the inspiration of the Spirit, as it finds utterance in exhortation, instruction, ^couragement, and consolation, — aids which are now conveyed by means of preaching. The Revelation of S. John was a prophecy ; and the true spirit of prophecy was evinced in bearing witness to Jesus'. Prophecy, then, was confined to no class. S. Paul says Ye all can prophegyy just as all spoke with tongues at Pentecost' ; and the gift of the Spirit, as recorded in the Acts (whether the occasions indicate what normally happened or no), was always followed by prophetic phenomena, even in the case of Gentfles like Cornelius*. Nor was it confined to men. Women prophesied ; and there were women ' prophets,' such as (apparently) the daughters of Philip, who correspond to Anna and the OT prophetesses ^ Some however would possess the gift in a higher degree than their fellows ; others again would sperially devote their lives to the exercise of prophecy. In either case then it would be natural to speak of such men as Prophets ; and those who possessed the gift most abundantly, as being specially inspired by the Spirit, would rank next the apostles*. In the Acts we find the following instances of prophecy. Whether S. Barnabas' name is correctly interpreted as Son of prophecy or no, he was undoubtedly a prophet Philip is not called a prophet, but his aetion was exactly like that of one of the OT prophets. Agabus and those who came down to Antioch from Jerusalem are definitely called prophets, Agabus appears again; and on each occasion he utters a prediction enforced by a symbolic action, which was a common method of prophetic teaching^. At Antioch a body of prophets and teachers — Barnabas, Symeon Niger, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul — presided over the church and led the public worship I Two chi4^ men in the church of Jerusalem, Judas Barsabbas and Silas, were also prophets. Lastly we hear of Philip^s daughters as prophesying^. Like apostle, the word prophet acquired a double signification. (1) The leading prophets of the first era soon won a preeminent position hi Christian tradition. The Twelve themselves were no doubt prophets as well as apostlesL Paul and Barnabas were prophets ; so probably were Philip and Stephen (who ms/tdl of the Holy Ghost vi 5, vii 55), besides the others just mentioned. Such early prophets were closely associated with the apostles as founders of the church, and seemed to keep up the succession of the OT prophets. Thus we find the phrase, the apostles and prophets, in Eph ii 20, iii i. Rev xviii 20, where the order of the words shews that the Christian 1 zi 28, zx 28, xxi 11. > Bev i 8, ziz 10, I Jn iv 1-8, I Cor zii 3. s I Cor ziv 81. « Acts ii 4, viii 18 (fatr), z 44-6, ziz 6. ^ n 17-8, I Cor zi 5 ; Aote zzi 9, Lk ii 86 ; cp. the false prophetess Jezebel in Bev ii 20. * I Cor zii 28, Eph iv 11. ^ zi 27-8, zzi 10-1 ; for other symbolic aoUons cp. ziii 61, zviii 6. ^ So in the DidaehB the prophets offer the euoharist (z 7), ' for th^ are your high-priests ' (ziii 8). ' ziii 1-3 : zv 22, 32 : zzi 9. # xcvi CHURCH AND MINISTRY ch.vi prophets are referred to^ : later on, when Christian prophecy was puiiiig away, or rather was changing its character, the phrase was interpreted of the OT prophets. (2) Besides these there had arisen a class of less eminent prophets who were, so to speak, more professional. These abounded: we find them at Thessalonica, in g^reat numbers at Ck>rinth, and in every city (zx 23). Of mdi prophets Agabus is perhaps the type, and they correspond to the order of wandering prophets in the DidachS, This class gradually dedined in repute ; as early as a.d. 49 S. Paul has to exhort the Thessalonians not to detpiie prophesying (1 Thess v 20). This is easy to understand. As a charismatic gift, prophecy was from the nature of the case independent of regulatioii and oflScial control Accordingly it aflforded a great opportunity for self-adyertise- ment, or other forms of self-seeking' ; and the weaker men could not always rise superior to the temptation. Again, the ecstatic utterances of the prophets, when heedless of control, caused great disorder in the public meetings of the church, and they received a sharp rebuke from S. Paul'. What howeyer brought most discredit upon prophecy was its counterfeit False prophets abounded, both of greater and lesser reputation. Such were Simon Magus and Barjesus, Theudas and the Egyptian, and in the next century Barcochba^ False prophets even found their way into the church, where their presence was a great danger. Claiming to speak from the Holy Ohost and so to be above criticism^, they would lead astray the unwary'. Hence there was a great need of the discernment of spirits — a fiaculty enumerated among spiritual gifts. S. Paul and S. John both give a test of true and false prophecy — ^the test consisting in the testimony qf (ie. witness to) Jetm^. Labouring under these diflSculties, it is easy to understand how 'prophecy' gradually died away in the Christian church. Men like Ignatius and Polycarp were 'prophetic'; but as a special dass 'the prophets' passed away, their place being taken by teachers and preachers of special power and capacity. Teachers In xiii 1 we hear of prophets and teachers^ and the connexion seems obvious. The man to whom the word of the Lord comes has the best authority to impart it to others ; and thus the OT prophets had their 'schools of the prophets.' On the other hand the preacher is not always the best teacher; and beside the word of the Lord there was another subject of ^ So probably in I These ii 16, whore S. Paul is speaking of the perseoution of Christians. In the Bevelation the prophets are gener^lj Christian prophets. Compare the order of the Tt I)eum\ apostles, prophets, martyrs. On the other hand Lk zi 49 (before Christian prophecy) has prophets and apostles. ^ The Didaehe shews now. If a prophet orders a table (i.e. an agape or feast), says in the Spirit *give me money or something else,* or does not practise what he teaches, he is no true prophet (oh. xi). 'I Cor xiv 26-33. * Op. the false prophet of Bev xiii 11-7, xiz 20, xx 10. '^ Cp. Didaehe xi 7 'every prophet speaking in the Spirit ye shall not try nor prove.' ^ Mt vii 15, xxiV 11, 24. 1 Jn iv 1. ' »ev xix 10, I Jn iv 2, II 7. 1 Cor xii 3. § 2 OFFICES xcvii teaefaing, Yic. the law. Thus under the old coTenant the priest's lips also ' kept kQOwledge ' and they ' songht the law at his mouth>/ Later, when the Law of Moses was codified and revelation enshrined in books, a new class of teachers arose, yiz. students and interpreters of the written scriptores. These were the 'scribes' and 'lawyers' of the NT. The greatest of them became heads of schools with disciples. They were known as 'rabbis/ and in the popular religion held the most prominent position; for they were practically the authorities on religious doctrine and practice. When the Lord came he i^ypeared as a new rabbi with his disciples; and the popular comment was at first A new teaching/ The Lord accepted the position, and the disditoi generally called him Eabbi or Maeter, Le. Teacher*. When the Lord was taken away, the twelve apostles stepped into his place as it were. They became the rabbis of the new teaching or school, and were formally recognised as such by the people and their rulers'. Thus Ohristianity took over, with the prophecy of the old dispensation, its teaching also ; but at the same time it made it new. The newness lay in its subject This oompiBed, (1) in its forefront, the facts of the crucifixion and resur- rection, together with (2) the report of aU that Jesus said and did ; and the cycle of teaching fixed by the apostles and handed on by oral tradition is the basis of our first three Gospels. (3) Such tradition also included the Lord's moral teaching — ^the new and expanded interpretation of the Commandments. (4) Besides this the apostles would have to decide practical matters of worship and observance ; and their teaching on these subjects, ag. concerning baptism and the laying on of hands, would contain the 'first principles' of church worshq), ritual, and di8cipline^ (5) Lastly, there would gradually be given deeper teadiing about the Lord's person — such as S. Paul alludes to^ and sudi as is found in S. John's Gospel^ It is obvious that much of this teaching could be devolved on others ; and atoo that the church would need more teachers than the Twelve. So we can trace the growth of a class of teachers. First, the apostolic function is exercised by Paul and Barnabas, who teach (xi 26, xv 35, xxviii 31) : S. Paul calls himself the teacher (rabbt) qf the GentileSf as the Twelve were the rabbis of the drcurndsion. Then in xiii 1 we hear of the five prophets and teachers at Antioch^ Li xv 1 certain who came down from Jerusalem taught ; and so did ApoUos (xviii 25). Outside of the Acts the teachers appear more definitely as a class. In I Cor xii 28 they rank next to prophets. Later, in Eph iv 11 they are in the fourth rank together with shepherds. This shews, as we learn from elsewhere, that those who taught had a definite position among the presbyters : the presbyters who Idbcmr in teaching are worthy of double honour, and capacity to teach is required of the bishop {episcopus)\ The necessity of preserving the right teaching was obvious. At first 1 Mai ii 7. « Mk i 27: cp. e.g. Jn iii 2, xiii IS. » See above, p.lxxxi. « Cp. AotB XV 1, xxi 21 : Heb vi 1-2. » I Cor ii 6-16, op. Hebr v 11-4. ' and also in the synoptiBtB, as in Mt xi 27 and parallelfi. ' So Jezebel the CUse prophetess taught. Rev ii 20. ^ I Tim v 17, ii 2, Titus i 9. B. A* a xcviii CHURCH AND MINISTRY cn.vi the apostles were the only anthorized teachers, and their teaching was the test of the church's fiaith (ii 43). As the office was more and more delegated to others, diyergences of teaching would arise, of which xv 1 giyes an instance. We also hear of false teachers^, as well as of false apostles and false prophets. This explains the important place held by teaching in the functions of the presbyterate ; and the true teaching was to be preseryed by handing down the tradition in an authorized succession — the things which thou hoit heard from msy the same commit thou to /ait/^ul men toho shall be abls to teach others also (II Tim ii 2). There was howeyer a great deal of teaching to be done which did not require teachers of such high authority ; and in later times the work of our schoolmasters and sunday-school teachers was performed by a class of *cate- chists/ This word does not occur in the NT ; but when S. Paul speaks of him that instructs in Qal tI 6, and S. Luke of Theophilus* instruction^ they are using the corresponding verb and so giving indications of the beginnings of such a class. These must have been early ; for oral teaching in the elements of the faith, if less interesting, was most necessary for the new converts. Indeed, before the Gospels had been written, the knowledge of what they contain must have been preserved and handed down, in the main, by such ond instruction or catechizing \ Evangelists In the apostolic ' speaking of the word,' besides the bearing witness to the resurrection in particular, brides the teaching and exhorting of the faithful, there was also the more general duty of evangelizing^ those without, i.e. proclaiming to men the 'gospel' or glad news of the kingdom of God, or (what was equivalent) of Jesus, or of 'the word^' This work was shared by others, first by Philip and the Hellenists who reached Antioch, then by Paul and Barnabas ^ For, to use modem expressions, this evangelizing was the great mission work of the church. Those who excelled as missionaries were known as evangelists^ like Philip Vie evangelist^ ; and, as the sphero of mission work expanded so rapidly, those who had a special vocation for it tended to form a class like our modem missionaries. Thus in Eph iv 11 S. Paul ranks evangelists next after apostles and prophets, and before the shepherds and teachers who tended the local churches. The apostles were the great missionaries, and the work of the missionary required i^KMtolic authority, for it involved the founding of churches : so, when S. Paid is (as it were) handing on his office to Timothy, he bids him do the work qf an evangelist^ We may see another such evangelist in Epaphras who brought the gospel to Colossae^ Eusebius has a chapter on the important work done ^ n Pet ii 1, op. Acts xx 30. ' The important part whioh such * cateohists ' may have played in the formation of the Synoptic Qospels has been vigorously put before us by tiie Bev. A. Wright — primarily in his Compositicm of tfie Four Qotpels (Maomillan 1890). » v 42, viii 26. * Cp. Lk viu 1, xvi 16, Acts viU 12 : v 42, viii 36, xi 20 : vui 4, xv 35. » viii 4, 12, 35, 40, xi 20 : xiii 32, xiv 7, 16, 21, X? 36. • xxi 8. " n Tim iv 6. ^ Col i 7. § 2 OFFICES xcix by ' the eyangeluts' after the times of the apostles^. In the NT however the terminology of evangelisty evangelize etc. is ahnost confined to S. Luke and a PaoL Chi^ men Jndas Barsabbajs and Silas are called chief or leading men among the brMren (xv 22). They were in fact prophets (ver. 32), and eyidently persons of oonseqaence in the church of Jerusalem. But the use of the word in the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii 7, 17, 24) for the authorities of their church, or those that have the rule over them (as it is translated), shews that the word is not a mere complimentary title. It would seem to have been a competitor with the word preebyter for the designation of the rulers of the church— especially, we may suppose, in churches among the Jews (e^. at Jerusalem), where it disUngnished the Christian rulers from the Jewish presbytera This brings us tothe Presbyters {Elders), — a subject of very practical importance; for this is the office or, to speak strictly, designation which has become permanent in the church, — the word presbyter being the same as our priest. The association of authority with age seems part of man*s natural eonstitu- tion. In the history of most nations we find authority originally resting with the aged. The Romans were governed by their Senate of seniores or elders ; Gre^ dties had their Oerousia or council of gerontes {old men). As time advanced such bodies either lost their political power, or the titles elder and old became merely technical terms. But the terms remained. And at the time of the Acts in many Greek cities the members of the gerousia were also called presbyters {elder s)\ In Egypt presbyters seem to have been the chief village authorities, like our modem churchwardens ; and in the papyri from which this fact has been learnt, there is mention of presbyters in the college of priests attached to the temple of the god Soknopaeus in the Fayy&m'. Among the Jews however this conception or principle of authority had especial vitality. We find it throughout the OT. Inhere sjce elders {presbyters) of villages, of towns, of tribes, and of the whole people of Israel. The institation finds its typical representation in the council of Seventy Elders, who were appointed by Moses and filled with the Spirits In the NT the system is still in fidl vigour. The chief seat of authority for the whole nation is tho Banhedrin or Presbytery \ where sat together tJhe high-priests and presbyters qf the people. In the towns there were local bodies of presbyters^ who ad- the local afiairs, and acted as magistrates, with authority over the ^ E.H.m 37. ^ e.g. at Ephesos, Chios, Cos, Philadelphia, and Sinope, as we learn from inBoriptions. ' Berlin Papyri vol. i, nos. 16, 387, 392, 433 : ep. Detssmann Neue Bihelstudien pp. 60-2. An insoription (CIG 4717) may confirm the ezistence of such presbyter-priests elsewhere. * Ezod zxiv 1-11, Nam xi 16-410. ' lik xzii 66, Acts xxii 5: it is aluo called the Qeroutia in v 21. <Lkvu3. 9^ 1 0 CHURCH AND MINISTRY CH^Vi synagogue also : for among them were induded the arehitynoffdgos and tki rtden^ and they sat in ' the chief seats in the synagogue/ and exercised religiod disdplina The same organization prevailed among the Jewish oommnnitiel of the Dispersion ; though according to Bchiirer the word presbyter was nol used among them as an official title till late^. With such a system prenuHqi in the Jewish nation and communities, which were the birthplaces of tbi Christian societies, it was natural that the latter should almost insenriU^ deyelope a similar organization. For this indeed the Lord himself had set i precedent, when besides the Twelve he appointed other Seventy also, after tin pattern of the old covenant Accordingly (1) we soon find, in xi 30, a body of pre^tere at Jemsalen In chapter xv we have the church and the apostlee and ths pretibyters, or lA apnetlee and the preibytere toith the whole church (w. 4, 22). The asaemb^ there described in part corresponds to the Jewish Sanhedrin or Presbytery— the apoitlee and the presbyters were gathered together, as elsewhere amoii| the Jews the high-priests and the presbyters of the people*. Very likely tb use of the term presbyters was avoided by the Christians before the decisive break with Judaism (in ch. vii-viii) in order to prevent confusion with th presbyters cf the people who sat in the Sanhedrin. In xxi 18 the Christiai presbyters are associated with & James', who in his epistle speaks of them a the presbyters of the church, (2) Secondly, the local churches outside of Jerusalem were, like the loci Jewish communities, governed by presbytera Paul and Barnabas establishet them throughout Galatia, and no doubt universally, since we find them also a Ephesus^ The references to presbyters in the other NT books have alread been given. S. Peter gives them a charge, S. James mentions an importao detail of their work, the Pastoral Epistles deal with the office most fullj S. John calls himself ths presbyter, and lastly we have the picture of th four and twenty presbyters in the Revelation. In drawing some conclusions as to the office of the presbyters we mm remember the ambiguity attaching to the term. It was still used in i1 primaiy sense of elder men^; it denoted Jewish as well as Christian mien and it is used of themselves by the apostles, e.g. S. Peter and S. John. (1) In the earliest days — to judge firom Jewish usage — the presbyters wi probably a general term, which denoted not so much a particular order < officers as the whole body of church rulers. Among the Jews the presbytei (elders) of a village and the presbyters of the Sanhedrin must have bee officers of a very different standing ; so among the Christian presbyters wei probably included prophets, teachers, shepherds, presidents, 'helps,' ao 1 Jewish People etc. Index, p. 39. ' Cp. iv 6, 8, 23, vi 12 : xxiii 1 ^ Henoe the presbyters are probably the brethren of xii 17. With James and tl presbyters of the church contrast the high-priest Ananias and the presbyters < the Jews (xxiv 1, xxv 16). « xiv 23, xx 17. ^ Hence arises some amt guitv, e.g. in I Tim v 1. Also among the Jews, the elders stands for tfie aneien in the expression the tradition of the elders. § 2 OFFICES ci 'govenimentB^.' The composition of the church at Jerusalem is summed up ^us — the apostls9 and the presbyters and tlie church : and among the jnresbyiers were included 'chief men who were also prophets.' Indeed, a body consisting of apostles and presbyters together might be called Hhe presbyters'; as is shewn in the Revelation, where the twenty-four presbyters are the chief representatives of the church or apostles. When S. Paul enume- rates the hierarchy of the church, neither in I Corinthians nor in Ephesians does he mention presbyters, — no doubt because it was the general term which stood for all the prophets, teachers, and pastors alike. In the Pastoral Biristles there seem to be different classes or grades among the presbyters : there are those who preside, and those who teach ; some receive more ' honour' than others ; and if episcopus is not simply a convertible term with presbyter, then the bishops will be another class among the presbyters. In this connexion it is not without significance that we do not hear of a preebyter (in the singular) until we get to the Pastoral Epistles; similarly, while there are words for the office of apostle, episcopus, and deacon^, there 18 no mention of the presbyterate. (2) Later — and the Pastoral Epistles represent the transitional period — the general word was specialized and confined to a definite class, — ^though not absolutely, as long after NT times we find bishops calling themselves 'pres- byters.' This came about, we suppose, in some such way as this. On the one lumd the president of the college of local presbyters became the apostolic delegate, ie. to him were committed the special apostolic powers of govern- ment; his position therefore became much more distinct and the title of episcopus was confined to him. On the other hand, as the requirements of such ministries as the ' serving of tables ' increased, the deacon became, like the 'bishop' with whom he was closely associated, an officer with a very definite position. Between these two, the body of presbyters would tend to become more uniform; and this process would take place more rapidly as the special charismatic gifts became rarer, and different functions fell to the lot of the same individual. The final result was the emergence of one definite 'order' (to use a technical term) of Presbyters or Priests^ (3) The Presbyters, then, were in NT times the body of local church rulers under the apostles. Accordingly the apostles associate them with themselves in general church government, summoning them to theur deliberations, for instance about the matter of the Gentiles in chapter xv. As church rulers they administer the finances 1 S. Paul in his farewell to the Ephesian presbyters says that they were appointed to tend or rule the church, i.e. as ^ but not 'ministers' such as deacons. There is an analogy in modem usage. Our present order of Priests includes pastors, misBionaries (both home and foreign), teachers in schools and colleges, officials such as deans and arch- deacons, members of collegiate bodies each as canons and fellows, members of religious orders, etc. ' viz. apostoU^ epUcope, diaconia. * The problem to be accounted for is really not the origin of the order of bishop*^ but of the order otprUsU. * zi 30, zxi 18. di CHURCH AND MINISTRY CH. vi shepherds, and he leaves them in charge of the church as its watchmen and stewards. In the Pastoral Epistles we find that they teach, and iHreside, — which probably means at the agapd and encharist Further, they share the spiritual powers of the apostles. The presbytery joined S. Paul in the laying on of hands upon S. Timothy: and from S. James we have already learnt (p. Ixxxvii) of other spiritual functions — praying over and anointing the sick, and exercising the ministry of reconciliation. (4) They were definitely appointed to their ofiSce by apostles, e.g. Paul and Barnabas, or by ^apostolic men' like Timothy and Titus ^ The method was by laying on of hands, by which on all analogy the Spirit was conyeyed. In this they answered to the Seventy of the old covenant who reoeiyed the Spirit which was in Moses ^ In conclusion, while speaking of the presbyters as rulers of the church, we must remember to qualify this by the wholly new principle of authority and rule in the Christian church laid down by the Lord (e.g. in Lk xxii 25-7) : he who is chief shall be as he who serves, and the Christian ruler is the shepheid who tends his flock. Nowhere in the NT is the usual Greek word for ruUr^ used of Christian officers. Episcopi (Bishops) Episcopus, visitor or overseer, is a title even more important than presbyter ; for it is the same word as our bishop, and over it have raged great battles of controversy. Avoiding controversy we shall simply try to suggest what may be gathered from the NT itself, where the word only occurs five times in all. We may say at once that it has not yet acquired the definite sense which it holds in the letters of Ignatius (c. a.d. 115) and which it sUll holds to-day, viz. of a single ruler of a diocosa From Acts xx 28, Titus i 6-7, and comparison with I Timothy iii 2 f, we should conclude that episcoput was simply a synonym for presbyter, and that the two offices were identicaL As long, however, as 'the presbyters' was used in a general sense for the whole body of the higher ministers of the church, the episcopi would denote the more definite class of local church rulers, or 'presbyter-bishops' (as we may call them). The term first appears in the Greek churches, viz. in those of Ephesus, Philippi, and Crete; and it has been supposed to have been borrowed, together with the office, from contemporary Greek institutions. But episcopi are found in the Syrian (or Egyptian) Didach^ ; and though there were episcopi among the officials in Greek cities, their office was neither widespread nor significant enough to account for the Christian use of the terml The word really came 1 Acts xiv 23, Titus 15. ^l Tim v 22 : op. I Tim iv 14, U i 6, Acts vi 8, viii 17 etc. : Nam zi 25 (op. zxvii 18, Deut xxxiv 9). ' archon ; among the Jewish presbyters were archontes and archUynagdgi, ^ Two insoriptions tell us that there were some officials of this name in the Athenian confederacy in the 5th oen- tory B.C. bat no information is given aboat them beyond the mention of their name. At Rhodes in inscriptions of b.o. 40 and 50 ejpiteojpi appear as magistrates of the § 2 OFFICES ciii into the church through the Greek version of the OT, though there were no special officers of this name in the old history to suggest its adoption. The new use of the word, then, was a Christian creation, although the underljing idea was Jewish and derived from the OT. The idea of the visitation of God was deeply implanted in the Jewish mind, i.e. the idea of God coming to man, inspecting him and searching him out Such a visitation involved on the one hand judgement, for God will convict and punish what was wrong. On the other hand to the righteous it brought comfort and strength. By visiting his clients a powerful patron shews his interest in and care for them, and by staying with them he assures them of his protection. So ^e tititor passes into the overseer ; and therefore visitation is connected with the offices both of judge and shepherd. It was in this latter sense that the Jews expected and longed for the visitation of God — ^for God was their EpiseoptuK Now the joy of the gospel was that God had visited his people: the coming of the Christ was 'the time of visitation V This meant judgement for the unbelieving Jews, but for the believing joy and comfort ; for in visiting them God came to abide with them. First he separated them out from the goats to be his flock, and henceforth he would preside over them as their shepherd — for Christ is the ihepherd and bishop qfour eotds (I Pet ii 25). Naturally the term would also be given to one who visited or presided as the representative of GknL In the Greek OT the term is applied to various overseers or officers, none however of any striking significance^. But there was one text which would make a great impression on Christian teachers, vis. Isaiah Ix 17 / y^iU make thy officers (Gk archonles) peace and thine exactors (Gk episcopi) righteousness. Further, when it was seen that Ps cix referred to Judas, it was found that his office was called an episcopi or bishopric (Acts i 20). Now when S. Paul was taking his farewell of the Ephesian church and had to make provision for the future he calls the presbyters episcopi (bishops). Hitherto he had been their episcopus^ visiting them and exercising the oversight ; now he commits this office to the presbyters. We feel very much tempted to imagine that at this solemn scene he actually conferred upon them, or some of them, a new privilege or gift of the Holy Spirit : but while this idea can only remain in the region of conjecture, there is no necessity to suppose that because these presbyters are episcopi (Le. presbyter-bishops) and sufficient for the oversight of the church, therefore all presbyters every- where were in the same position. Again, the Epistle to the Philippians (i 1) shews that the same provision had been made at Philippi ; and S. Peter, eity in the third rank, after generals (ttrategi Acts xvi 22), and treasurers. An tpiaeoput is also mentioned in a list of the officials of a temple of Apollo at Camirus in Bhodes. ^ Job xx 29 (lxx), Wisdom i 6. ^ Lk i 68, 78, vii 16 : op. Acts XV 14 : Lk xix 44. * Eleazar had oversight of the tabernacle (Num iv 16) : other overteerM were oonneoted with the temple, U Kings xi 18, U Chr xxxiv 12, 17, Neh xi 9, 14, 22. On the military side we have overseers of the host in Nam xxxi 14, U K xi 15. Judges ix 28 completes the list. r civ CHURCH AND MINISTRY ch.vi writiDg shortly after, calls the Lord tlie shepherd and biihop qf 90uU\ whidi implies an office of great dignity in those who were 'shepherds and bishops' under liim. Lastly, we have the Pastoral Epistles. Here we most remember that the work of Timothy and Titus was to leave their churches fully equipped for the future — ^to commit the teaching to faithful men able to teach others aisa. In Grete Titus was to appoint presbyters in every city, and after some general qualifications 8. Paul continues For the epiecopus mtut be — and then follow qualifications, among which faithfulness in a divine stewardship and in the preservation of the right teaching is prominent. In I Timothy the apostle speaks again of the episcopS as a * noble ' work, and of the qualificar tion of the episcopta (in the singular) : here too it appears that the work ol the episoopus is to take care qf the church qf €hd. If then the predfytera was the general title for church officers, it is quite possible that the epiecopue was the one among them selected to preside and act as the chief ruler of the church. As Timothy and Titus represented S. Paul, so the epiecopiu was to represent them, and to fulfil their office in their respective churches. Thus he too would be an * apostolic man ' ; and the epUcopi as a class would be ranked with those men of eminence in the early church whom we found exercising apostolic authority besides the Twelve. Like them they would be successors of the apostles ; and if this is a fair representation of what happened, it is easy to understand how from such ancestry was developed the 'order' oif diocesaa bishops as it is found fully established in the second century. Attetidants: they that minister (serve) It is noticeable that the word deacon (servant or minister) does not occur in the Acts^; but there are several traces of subordinate ministries or services which we will briefly collect In V 6 and 10 appears a body of t?ie young men or younger men who bury AnftTiiftji and Sapphira. The words' are interesting and illustrate the use of ihe elder m^en (presbyters) with which they stand in contrasts If 'the presbyters* stand for the body of church rulers, 'the youngrer men' would denote the body of church servants. The phrase is not confined to young men in our sense of the term ; it rather stands for men in the prime of lifo as distin- guished from the definitely elder men. Elsewhere (p. 86, on vi 1-6) we shew reasons for supposing that the Seven were appointed to an office which was considerably more important than that of deacons. In &ct the 'daily ministration' (vi 1) implies the previous 1 It is interesting to note that Christ is called apottle, high-priest^ episeopus^ deacon^ mimster-aZ-the-aUar (leitawrgosy-Ami never pretiyter. He was in fact still a younger man at the time of his omcifixion — and is so represented in early Ohristian art. ' except in the Bezan text of vi 1. * Two different (though similar) words are used in the Greek. ^ e.g. in I Tim v 1, I Pet V 5. § 2 OFFICES cv existence of a class of ministers to serve the i^ostles in the distribation of food and drink at the agap^ and eucharist. On their first joomey Barnabas and Paol take John Mark as their (jUtendani. This word had not high associations. It is the Greek word for the ehazzan or sacristan of the synagogue, who hands the scriptures, executes the judge- ments of the synagogue courts and so forth ^; it is also used for the servants and officials of the high-priests and Sanhedrin who arrested Jesus and the apostles^. The word reminds us that the Christian synagogues must have required some such functionaries at an early date. John Mark however was an attendant on the ^>ostlcs, rather than on the church ; and one service which he rendered may have been to baptise'. On his second journey S. Paul took Timothy with him (xvi 1-3) ; and we find him usually surrounded by a company who minister unto (serve) Am, like Timothy and Erastns*. Of such ministers we hear much in the Epistles, and they are typified for us in the company of the Seven in the final journey to Jerusalem ^ Such were no doubt personal attendants on the apostle like S. Mark: but we see signs of a wider service. Thus the Seven were chosen by the churches of the Gentiles to convey their alms to Jerusalem. Again S. Paul often employed them as his delegates and lieutenants; and this association with the apostle would win for them an important status in the church ; just as in later times deacons presumed to place themselves before presbyters, and the diief (or arch-) deacon became the special ruler of the cleiig^. Some of them, e.g. TimoUiy and Titus, were loft by S. Paul with a definite commission of apostolic authority. We are not siurprised, then, to find that by the decade 60-70 tliese various ministries have given rise to an order of deacons^ whose qualifications are laid down by S. Paul in I Timothy iii 8-13. As these ministers were in the first place attendants on the apostles, so we find the deacons closely associated with bishops — first in Phil i 1 (cp. I Tim iii 1, 8), and afterwards in the DidaM^ and church history. Elsewhere we hear of Phoebe a deaconess qf the church at Cenchreae: at Corinth the household of Stephanas addicted themselves to the ministry (Gk diaconia) qf the saints : and in S. Paul's last letter he asks Timothy to bring Markyor he is profitable/or the ministry (Gk dictconia) — ^he may at last faHSl the office of a minister which he surrendered in Pamphylia^ The use of deacon for an official was the creation of Christianity. The word means servanty denoting a higher status than slave (doulos). In the Qospela it was used (1) of sendee at table,-~as of the servants at Cana in Galilee, of Peter's wife's mother, and of Martha': (2) from supplying with 1 Lk iv 20, Mt V 25. « Cp. e.g. Mi xxvi 68, Jn vii 82, 46-6, xviU 12, 18, 22 : Aate V 22, 26. > for apparently the apostles did not nsually baptize themseWes, ■eepagsSS. « xix 22 : cp. xx 84, Gal i 2. • xx 4. •e.g.o.xv: 'Bleot for yooxielves Hshops and deacons.* ^ Bom xvi 1 : I Cor xvi 15 : n Tim iv 11. B Jn ii 6, 9, Lk iv 89, Jn xu 2 : op. Lk xli 37, xvii 8, xzii 26^7. r cvi CHURCH AND MINISTRY CH.V food and drink, it came to include sapplying with neoeasaries of IH generally, — so certain women ministered to the Lord of their subBtanoe^ (3) then it denoted personal service — the Lord speaks of my 9ervant, an we have your iervtmt^ $&rvant €f God, qf ChrUt, qf the church^, Thei ministries in the Gospels and Acts correspond exactly to the fonctiona c the later deacons. (1) They were primarily 'ministers of meats and drinki as S. Ignatios^ phrases it: they served the table and the bishop by dii tribating the food at the agap^ and also at the encharist (2) They all served the bishop in the administration of the alms, distributing them t the i>oor and needy. (3) They were generaUy the officers of the bisho] As such their office grew greatly in importance, and the inferior forma < attendance or service were left to lower officials, to subdeacons, doorkeepen and acolytes. The Women: Widowe: Virgine It would take us too tax afield to discuss the ministry of women in th church, but we may put together the notices in the Acts. (1) In i 14, next to the apostles are grouped the toomen and Maty tA mother of Jesut, These women were they who had ministered to the Lor and had seen him risen. In fact they were the first 'witnesses' and 'evangelisti Hence they held a special place of honour in the church. (2) As early as vi 1 we hear of toidows in the church, and a body < widows is also found at Joppa in ix 39. This oi^ganization was mainly fc purposes of relief ; but in return for support the widows served the chordi b their prayers and in other offices. This system had its origin among the Jewi but in the church the organization of widows — especially for purposes of goo works— developed rapidly and is the subject of careful regulation in I Tim 3-16. Anna is the type of the widow devoted to prayer; and Dorcas of Jopp of the Christian woman devoted to good works ^ As the widowe speciaU Uunented the latter, she may have had some connexion with them — ^periiap while not needing support, she ranked as a 'widow.' (3) In the missionary work of S. Paul women play a great part (a) Lydi was a kind of mother to the church of Philippic ; and in founding that churc other women kboured with the apostles^ (&) Priscilla or Prisca, the wife c Aquila, was another great [worker. S. Paul, who puts Prisca first, calls thei together his 'fellow- workers': they had a 'church in their house,' and the instructed ApoUos in the way of the Lord, (c) The First Epistle to th Corinthians illustrates the position of women in the Gentile churches. The prayed and prophesied, even in church : but this practice S. Paul stroi^ 1 Lk vui 3, Mt xzvii 55. > Jn zii 26 : Mt zz 26, zxiii 11 : Bom ziii i II Cor vi 4 : n Cor zi 23 : Bom zvi 1. As the deacons waited on the bishopf so the apostles were the deacons of the Lord : the Lord himself was the deaoot of the Father; and in him Ignatius finds the type of the diaoonate (Magn, 6) cp. Mt zx 28, Bom xv 8. > TraU, 2. « Lk U 86-7 : Acts iz U * Mother of the eynagogue was a complimentary title in vogue among the Jewi • zvi 14, 15, 40 1 PhU iv 2, 3. 2 OFFICES cvu yrbade^ At Cenchreae there was a deaconets qf the church, Phoebe : and in Tiling from Corinth to Rome & Paul mentions the names of many women, Dme of whom lab(nired in the LordK (4) On the way up to Jerusalem, we meet the four daughters of Philip the vangelist, who were virgins and did prophesy. Of wonoen prophets we haye Iready spoken (p. xcv) ; and now virgin appears to denote a definite state of fa In pagan religions there was a recognized place for ' yii^ns ' among tbo iiimsters of the gods: bat virginity had not received any special honoor mong the Jews. It was otherwise in the church. In the Gospels we find he parable of 'the ten villus'; and Mary of Bethany figures as a type of irginity. As early as A.D. 54 the question of celibacy for the sake of similar attendance upon the Lord' had been the subject of much discussion at /Orinth, and in his first epistle to that church S. Paul lays down regulations specially concerning the virgins*. [Priest] We have found the {mrallels to the prophets, presbyters, and rabbis, of the lid eoclesia in the new. But there is one term which in the Acts is only used »f the Jewish rulers, — viz. priest (Gk hiereus). Here we must distinguish, ks in the other cases, between (1) the ordinary priests (vi 7) who did not hold k prominent place in the life of the nation, and (2) the high-priest^ the head if the nation, or — ^when grouped with his (eilowB—the high-priests. Of the soiTeqx>ndence in reality in the Christian church there was no doubt, for in dii 2 8. Luke applies to Christian prophets the word which was used of the aoerdotal service in the temple ; and S. Paul similarly describes himself as a meat offering at the altar (leitourgos)\ In the Revelation the four and twenty presbyters are both kings and priests^: and when we compare the priests and prophets of the OT and the higfi-priests and presbyters of the Fews in the NT with the apostles and prophets, apostles and presbyters, of iie church, there can be no doubt that the apostles are the priests (or high- 3rieats) of the new ecclesia*. The absence of the name is not hard to explain. 1) There was the danger of confusion with the Jewish priests and high-priests, IS also with the pagan priests in the cities of the (Gentiles. (2) The popular ileaa of priesthood were associated with the slaying of animals. But the [Christian sacrifice was no longer the slaying of animals, and 'the priesthood WBB changed': as the church had a new altar, so the priesthood likewise was lew^ (3) There is a deeper reason. Christ united in himself the supreme ^ In I Tim ii 11-6 8. Paul has again to oheok the evident desixe of women to ipeak in ohoroh and be teachers. Op. the false prophetess Jezebel who also taught (Bev ii 20). ^ Bom xvi 6, 12. Labouring is a special mark of ministers of the church, Acts zx 35, I Thess v 12, I Tim v 17. * I Oor rii 35-40. See p. 490. ^ Bom xv 15-6. > Bev iv 4 : cp. i 6, v 10. » All Christians are priests, but that does not exclude a special order of inriests : ^hey can all pn^hesy, they all know all things (IJn ii 21, 27 etc.), but this does oot exclude special prophets and teachers. ' Heb vii 12, xiii 10. / cviii CHURCH AND MINISTRY CH.VI embodiments of authority. He was High-Priest and King. Now, great as u the emphasis laid on the kingdom in the Acts, the title of king is never applied to the apostles : they are rather the princes of the church. For the same reason they are not called high-priests. As members of the Lord's body and representatiyes of his authority, they share his royalty and priesthood ; but it is only at the end that they will be manifested, sitting on their thrones and clothed in white, as kings and priests. THB ACTS OP THE APOSTLES i 1-5 Prebuse I THE ACTS OF PETEB THl CBXTBOH OV THS OIACUMCISION AKD PB00BBS8 TBOM JERUSALBM TO AHTIOCB I The baptim and establiihment qf ths church at Jeriualem (1) The preparation i 6-11 the afleension of the Lord 12-14 the waiting disciples 15-26 the filling up of the apoetolate (2) The baptism of the ohnroh at Pentecost ii 1-13 the descent of the Holt Spibit 14-40 the preaching of Peter 41-47 the church *of the beginning' (3) The consolidation of the church at Jerusalem iii 1-iv 4 the sign of healing and Peter's sermon, followed by the arrest iT 6-22 Peter and John before the Sanhedrin 23-31 the prayer of the church and confirmation of the apostles 32-37 the common life of the church: Joseph Barnabas ▼ 1-11 the entrance of sin : Ananias and Sapphira 12-16 signs and wonders, followed by 17-42 the arrest and trial of the Twelve n The extension qf the church to AvUioch and admimon qf ths Oentilee (1) The acts of Stephen and the first persecution vi 1-7 the ordination of the Seyen 8-15 the ministiy and arrest of Stephen Til 1-60 his defence and martyrdom ▼iii 1-3 the consequent persecution (2) The things that arose about Stephen (a) The acts of Philip 4-13 his preaching in Samaria 14-25 its confirmation by the apostles with the gift of the Spirit, and their conviction of Simon Magus 26-40 the baptism of the eunuch and arrival at Gaesarea (&) The acts of Saul iz 1-9 his apprehension by the Lord 10-19 his baptism 20-25 his preaching to the Jews at Damasous 26-30 his reception by the apostles at Jerusalem ex ANALYSIS 31-43 X 1-22 23-48 xi 1-18 19-26 (c) The act of Petor in opening the door to the first Gtoiilo the peace of the chnroh and preparatory signs the preparation of Cornelius and of Peter Peter at Caesarea, and his gospel for the Gkntiles: the descent of the Spirit and baptism of Cornelias Peter's defence to the church at Jerusalem (d) The acts of the Hellenists the foundation of the church at Antioch ; and preaching to the Greeks, which is confirmed by Barnabas III The patring of Peter and transition from Jerusalem to Antioch 27-30 the mission from Jerusalem to Antioch zii 1-17 the second persecution, and the deliverance of Peter 18-24 the judgment of Herod, and peace 25 the mission of Barnabas and Saul from Antiooh to Jemaalem n THB ACTS OF PAUL THS CHTTBCH 09 TH1C UNCIRCUMCIBION AND PBOOBBSS FROM ANTIOOH TO BOMB I The xiii 1-3 4-12 13-52 xiv 1-7 S-18 19-28 XV 1-6 6-29 30-35 36-xvi foork of Paul and Barnabas and its ratification by the church (1) The Holt Spirit separates Paul and Barnabas (2) The work of Paul and Barnabas in opening the door to the Qentiles and founding the churches of Galatia Cyprus Sergius Paulus and Barjesus QaUtia Antioch of Paul's gospel for the Jews, and turning to the Qentiles the work confirmed by miracles Paul's gospel for the Gentiles, and his stoning return and organization of the ohurohes (3) The oonfirmation of Gentile liberty by the whole church the oontrorersy at Antioch and Jerusalem the ooundl at Jerusalem, and its letter its acceptance at Antioch and peace 4 its acceptance in Syria, Cilicia, and Galatia Antioch of Pisidia loonium and lystra n Extension qf the church in the Roman empire : the churches of Macedonia^ Achaia, and Asia The divine call to new work (1) Macedonia Philippi xvi 5-10 11-18 19-40 xvii 1-9 10-15 16-34 xviii 1-4 5-11 12-23 24-28 xix 1-7 8-10 11-19 20 (2) Achaia (3) Asia Thessalonica Beroea Athens Corinth Ephesus the women and the *pytho' imprisonment and Boman citizenship hostile Jews friendly Jews Paul and philosophy a link ¥rith Borne breach with Jews and vision of the Loid Paul before Gallio : he touches at Asia the acts of ApoUos Paul and John's disciples the breach with the synagogue and spread of the church Jewish magic and Christian repentance the triumph of the word ANALYSIS cxi m The patting af Paul and hit dtfence of the gospel (1) The fulfilment of his work and joomey to Jerusalem 21-22 the Spirit directs him Homewards 23-41 the not at Ephesas : Paol and the worship of Artemis 1-3 a year in Macedonia and Aohaia: the start for Jerusalem 4-16 from Philippi to Miletus: the raining of Eutyohus 17-38 Paul's defence to the ohurch of Asia xzi 1-14 from Miletus to Caesarea (2) Paul the prisoner and his process 16-26 (a) Paul and the church at Jerusalem (6) Paul and the Jews at Jerusslem 27-40 the riot in the temple and arrest xzil 1-22 Paul's defence to the Jewish people, and 23-29 claim of Boman dtizenslup 30-xxiii 10 his trial before the Sanhedrin, and zziii 11 eonsolatoiy vision 12-35 the conspiracy of the Jews and delivery of Paul to the governor (e) Paul and the Romans at Caesarea xziv 1-28 Paul's defence to the Romans, and 24-27 his preaching to Felix xzv 1-12 the trial before Festus, and appeal to Caesar 13-27 the visit of A^ppa, and Paul's defence to the world (3) Paul and Some xxvii 1-8 (a) the journey towards Italy 9-xxviii o the shipwreck and deliverance xxviii 6-10 the winter at Malta 11-15 {h) the voyage to Italy and reception by the Boman Christians 16 Paul's entry into Bome 17-28 bis appeal to the Jews and taming to the GentileR 80-^1 Epilogue Paul preaching the kingdom at Bome CHRONOLOGY OF (Rome) [14] TIBERIUS emperor (PaUttine) [26] PONTIUS PILATUS procurator of Judaea Joeeph Caiaphoi high priett (The Jewt) 37 Maroh 18 CAUOULA emperor 86 MARCBLLU8 procura- tor Jonathan, eon of Annat, high prieet 87 MARULLUS procurator Theophilm, eon ofAnnae, high priett 41 Jan CLA UDIUS emperor 41 HEROD AQRIPPA I king of Judaea Simon Cantheras Matthi€u, ton of Annatt and two othtrt high priettt ^} 86 Pilate oaases slaughter of Samaritans at Oerizim and is sent to Borne by Vitelfins prefect of Syria Herod Antipas is defeated by Aretas king of Arabia 86-37 Vitellias at Jemsalem, treats the Jews with favour 37 Herod Antipas is banished to Qanl and sncoeeded by Herod Agrippa I 88 Persecution of the Jews at Alexandria Philo*s embassy to Caligula 89 Caligula orders his image to be set up in the temple: great consternation among the Jews 41-44 Golden times for the Jews under Agrippa 44 CUSPIUS FADUS procurator THE ACTS (JeruioUm) The Church {S. Paul) 29 FoMMover: The Craciftzion PenUeo§t: DeaoeDt of the Spirit 29-32 Growth of the ohnieh in Jem- Bftlem (i-T) 82 MartTrdom of 8. Stephen and per- eecQtion 82 ConTeraion of Saul who retires to Scattering of the charch in Jem- Arabia salem Philip preaches in Samaria Peter and Jolin visit Samaria and the Shephelah Hellenists preach in Phenioia and Cypma Peace and recovery of the church at Jerusalem 84 Sanl preaches at Damascus 34 Saul at Jerusalem visits Jerasalem retires to Tarsus Hellenists reach Antioch and preach to Greeks Peter viaits Caesarea and baptizes Coroellns Baniabaa sent to the church at Antioch 41 Agrippaimlavonrablatothecharoh 42 Barnabas fetches Saul from Tarsus The apostles leave Jerasalem to Antioch 42-48 One year's work at Antiooh 43 Prophets go down from Jerusalem to Antioch 44 Easter : Herod beheads James and imprisons Peter Peter leaves Jerusalem James, the Lord's brother, head of Collection made at Antiooh for the the church church at Jerasalem and sent by Herod's death restores peaoe to the Barnabas and Saul church B. A. h i 0X1? CHRONOLOGY OF (Rome) (Palettine) TIBERIUS ALEXAN' DER procurator AnaniMfion o/Nedebaioi, high priest 48 VENTIDIUS CUMA^ NUS procurator 49 Seneoa reoallad from baniehment EzpolBion of the Je wi from Borne {The Jewt) 45 Helena queen of Adiabene visits JenunJem Famine in Judaea, Helena's great generosity Alexander execntes the soxui of Judas of GalUee (v 87) Conflicts with Boman autho- rity under Ventidius Cuma- nus Herod Agrippa U made king of Ghalcis Collisions between Jews and Samaritans lead to fall of Ventidius Cumanus C2 ANTONIUS FELIX procurator 64 Oct. NERO emperor 55 Nero murders Britannicus his brother Pallas (Felix* brother) loses his influence 67 PORCIUS FESTUS procurator Felix marries Agrippa'a sisteir Drusilla Felix suppresses the brigands Assassination of Jonathan, son of Annas, and growth of the Sioarii The Egyptian Jew (xxi 3d) Biots between Jews and Gen- tiles at Caesarea cause recall of Felix 69 Nero murders his mother Agrippina c. 69 Itmaelf Joseph Kahi, Anamtt ton of -70 Annatf aiid othere, high priettt 61 ALBINUS procurator 62 Death of Bnrrhns Nero marries Poppaea a Jewish proselyte 62 0ES8IUS FLORUS procurator 64 Great fire of Bome and per- secution of Christians 65 Conspiracy of Piso and dea& of Seneoa 68 June 9 : Death of Nero 66 Outbreak of Jewish war 70 Destruction of Jerusalem THE ACTS cxv IJenuaUm) 45 Barnabas and Baal at Jernsalem The Church (S. Paul) 4S Connoil at Jerusalem 51 Faol's fourth yisit to Jernsalem 46 tpring : Paul and Barnabas start for their first journey, visit Oynms and Galatia, retom to Antiocn in 47 autumn: Disputes abont oireomd- sion ; (? Peter at Antioch ;) delegates sent to Jerusalem 48 autumn: Paul and Silas leave An- tioeh, visit Gilioia and Oaiatia, 49 MacedoniaandAohaia,reachCk>rinth by winter (I II Theualoniant) 50 Paul at Oorinth 51 tpring: Paul leaves Corinth, visits Jernsalem and Antioch {iOala- tiam), traverses (Hlatia, and Apollos at Ephesus and Gonnth autumn: comes to Ephesus 52-58 Paul at Ephesus 55 PenUcoit: Paul comes to Jerusalem His arrest and despatch to Caesarea 55-57 Paul in custody at Caesarea {^EpittU of James) 67 Paul is tried by Festus and appeals to Caesar, and late Mumnur: is sent to Bome 61 In the interval between Festus' dAsth and the arrival of Albinus Ananus son of Annas causes the death of B. James (5. Mark*i Qotpel) {8. Matthew's Gotpel) 68 Flight of the church of Jerusalem to Pella 54 ivring: (I Corinthiant) Biot at Ephesus; Paul leaves the city tum$ner: in Ifaoedonia [lOalatiatu) {II Corinthiaru) winter: at Corinth {Romatui) 55 Easter: Paul sails f^om PhiUppi for Jerusalem 57 autumn: the shipwreck 57-58 winter: at Malta 58 spring: arrival at Bome 58-tiO Paul in free custody at Bome iPhilippiaTis) Ephe*ians,Oolossians,Philemon) CO Paul liberated Misflionory journeys {S, Luke's Gospel and Acts) (PoMUyral Epistles) 64 Martyrdom of S. Paul (J Peter) Martyrdom of S. Peter {J Epistle to the Hebrews) A ADDENDA Page Ivii (2). It shotild have been made clear that the garrison of Judaea was drawn, not from the legions, bnt from the auxiliary forces, which were to some extent raised locally (Monmisen in Hermes xix (1884) p. 217). p. 170. The Latin form of Christian^ the reappearance of the term in Festns' court at Caesarea (xzyi 28), and the quasi-official epithet of tnott exeelUnt giyen to the Theophilus to whom the Acts is dedicated, — these data incline many scholars to look to the circle of Latin officials at Antioch for the origin of the name of CHRISTIAN. p. 802 note *. Mr Worrall has informed me that the quotation in the commentary is taken from the description of the city of Euryodmis, at the opening of a Greek novel 'Concerning Hysmine and Hysminia,' which was written by a certain Eumathius or Eustathius (in Didot's Erotiei Scriptaret). Very little is known of this Eumathius, except that he wrote at a late date — *not later than the twelfth century* {DicL Clauie, Biography), Henoe the words were not 'spoken of Athens by an ancient writer' — unless indeed Eumathius borrowed his sentence from a classical author. The same must be said of a quotation from Petronius, which is often met with in comments on Acts xvii 16, to the effect that [at Athens] one could sooner find a god than a man : in the original there is no reference to Athens. p. 857. To the names given on this page should be added that of Philip the apostle, who— according to Polycrates of Ephesus (quoted by Eusebius, H. E, iii 81, ▼ 24)— was buried at Hierapolis, together with two of his daughters ; a third daughter being buried at Ephesus. There may however be some confusion here with Philip the evaugelist. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES PART I (Ch. 1-12) THE ACTS OF PETER THE CHURCH OF THB CIRCUMCISION AND PROGRESS FROM JERUSALEM TO ANTIOCH / / DIVISION I (=Ch. 1-5) THE BAPTISM AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH AT JERUSALEM 'rom e. A.D. 29 to 32, Tiberitu being emperor qf Borne, Pontius Pilate governor of Jvdaea, Herod Antipas tetrareh of Galilee and Joseph Cainphas high priest. SECTION I (= Ch. 1) The Preparatioii hitroductory *The former treatise I made, 0 Theophilus, concerning uU that Jesus began both to do and to teach, 'until the day in ^Iiich he was received up, after that he had given command- Uient through the Holy Ghost unto the apostles whom he had chosen : to whom he also shewed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom ^ Qk The firtt word: cp. Lk i 1-4. ' The Btartiug point is not mentioned ^ some Bezan texts read here in the day when he chote the apostles through the H0I9 Qko»t and commanded them to preach the gospel, to whom etc. In verse 5 also Mn)« read— bu/ ye sliall baptize with the Holy Ghost wliom ye are also about to receive, 1—2 4 INTRODUCTION i i-s 4 of God : and, * being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said lie, ye heard from me : 5 for John indeed baptized with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 1 S. Luke begins his second Word, as he had begun the first, with a loDff prefatory sentence. This sums up the conclusion of the Gospel and gives the three keynotes of the treatise to follow. (1) The subject of the Acts is the same as that of the Gospel, viz. the words and deeds of Jesus. For the Gospel was only the beginning : it contained what Jestis began to do and to teach up to his as- cension. This word began, which is frequent in the first three gospels and is still characteristic of the Acts', teaches us that the worK of the church now to be described is still the work of the 2 Lord, although he has now been taken up into heaven. Before his ascension however he had (2) given commandment to the Apostles, who were to represent him and wliom he had chosen for that purpose out of the larger circle of disciples as recorded in the Grospel'. The commanchnent was, as the Bezan text adds, to preach tlie gospel^] and the Acts is the history of the fulfil- ment of their commission. Once more (3) this commandment was given through the Holy Ghost, which is another keynote of the Acts. The Lord had himself been * anointed with the Spirit,* and all he did and taught in the gospel was in tliat 'power' (x 3S\ On the evening of me resurrection when giving his charge to tne apostles he had breathed on them and said * Receive ye the Holy Ghost,' and henceforth all his work in the church through the apostles is to be in the same power. 3 For fulfilling the command the apostles needed special pre- paration. (1) They had to bear witness of the resurrection and so needed full assurance for themselves. Accordingly during an interval of forty days he appeared or rendered himself visible unto them* on several occasions, and proved himself to be living by incontestable evidence, e.g. such as that afforded by touch and bv eating*. (2) They had to establish the kingdom qf God, and therefore needed instruction concerning it. Of tiiQ instruction which the Lord gave the Gospels afford us specimens, though but fragmentary ^ ftom them we learn that it included (a) a summary of the gospel, viz, the death and resurrection of tiie Christ and forgiveness of sins through his name, which gospel was the key to 1 Marg eating with tJiem. * See especiaUy i 22, x 37 : op. ii 4, viii 85, xi 16, xviii 26. « Lk vi 13 : cp. Jn vi 70, xv 16. * x 42. The oommand ifl recorded in the Gospels — Mt xxyiii 19, 20, Mk xvi 15, Jn xx 21 and Lk xxiT 47 which is almost a summary of the Acts. ^ The Gk is a rare word, speoiaUy appropriate to heavenly appearances : cp. xxvi 19, Lk i 22, xxiy 23, 11 Cor xii 1. > The Gk word (ftigns) is technical for this kind of proof: cp. Lk xxiv 39, 43, I Jn i 1. ' Cp. Mt xxviii 18-20, Mk xvi 15-18, Lk xxiv 44-49, Jn xx 21-23. I s-5 INTRODUCTION 5 the true interpretation of the Old Testament : (6) a command to preachy this gospel to all the world and to make disciples, 'baptizing' and 'teaching' them : (V) a commission to represent the Lora as ne had represented the rather, and this representation carried with it the power to forgive and retain sins. (3) For their difficult work the apostles needed a personal equipment. As the Lord had been baptized with the Spint and power, so they needed a baptism to make them new men full of strength, and to enable them to represent tlie Lord with authority. 4 With a special view to this last need the Lord appeared to the apostles. The occasion may have been some solemn meal to which S. Peter may allude in x 41 : for the Greek word for being assembled together (a very rare one) may be taken, as by S. Chrysostom and the margm, as while eating with them. On this occasion then the Lord gave them a definite charge to wait at Jerusalem /or the promise of the Father, i.e. the Holy Spirit ^ This promise the Lord had plainly given for the first time in his discourses at the last supper as recorded by S. John. S. John however does not use the wora promise, which belongs to S. Paul's vocabulary. But the title the Father is very Johannine, and its occurrence here and in verse 7 is a sign of the genuineness of the narrative', just as the sudden change from indirect to direct speech (said he is not in the Greek) is characteristic of the dramatic style of S. Luke. The 5 Ijord himself explains the promise as baptism in the Holy Spirit, The preparation for the gospel had been a baptism of repentance*. This nad been preached by John the Baptist, and some at least of the apostles liad received that baptism. But John had only bap- tized with water, and the tnie baptism is * of water and the Spirit * (Jn iii 5). Such baptism had hitherto been impossible, for *the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glonfied ' TJn vii 39), i.e. he had not ^et ascended to heaven and in his glorifiea humanity received that gift for men. § 1 The Ascension The ascension of the Lord is a connecting link between the Gospel and the Acts, and so it occurs in both. It is the end of the Lord's 'sojoaming' on earth: it is also the immediate preparation for the descent of the Holy Ghost. The two cardinal events however are the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost : and the ascension holds an intermediate position. There was not much reference to it in the earlv apostolic teaching, and apparently it did not at first mark sach a break as it does to us now. The apostles did not know but that the Lord might shew himself again at any moment, as he did in fact to S. StejAen, to S. Paul and S. Jolm : and in I Cor xv 5-8 ^ ii 33, Lk xziT 49. ' Elsewhere in the Acts it only occurs onoe, ii 33. < Cp. X 37, xiii 24. For John's work see Mt iii, Mk i 2-11, Lk iii 1-22, Jn i 19-36: and for references to it in the Acts see i 22, x 37, xi 16, xiii 2i-^, ZTiii 24-xix 7. i 6 THE ASCENSION 1 5-6 S. Paul ennmerates the appearances after the resurrection without allusion to the ascension. The 'great forty days/ which preceded the ascension, occupy a similar intermediate position, and this may account for the scantiness of our information concerning them. It is clear that the apostles waited in Jerusalem until the 8tn day after Easter, when the Lord appeared to them the second time (Jn xx 26). Then they went to Galilee where they saw him for the third time (Jn xxi 14). At some other appearance in Galilee the Lord must have directed the Eleven once more to return to Jerusalem. For the scene of his exaltation on the cross — his own city — must be the scene of his exaltation in gloiy ; and * the law must go forth out of Zion and the word of the Lord, from Jerusalem ' (Isai ii 3). In Jerusalem he met them once more — perhaps in the same upper chamber which was the scene of the last supper. And then, after a farewell discourse, the Good Shepherd *led them out' of the city across Cedron to the mount of Olives (as seven weeks before he had led them by the same path to Gethsemane) and there was parted from them in the manner now to be related. The other accounts of the ascension are given in Mk xvi 19 and Lk xxiv 50-53 ; we must also bear in mind the kindred scene of the transfiguration in Mt xvii 1-8, Mk ix 2-8, Lk ix 28-36 together with the ascension of Elijah in the OT (II Kings ii). 6 They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying. Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to 7 Israel ? And he said unto them, ^ It is not for you to know times or seasons, wliich the Father hath 'set within Iiis own 8 authority. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the 9 uttermost part of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up ; and a doud 10 received him out of their sight. And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by 1 1 them in white apparel ; which also said, Ye men of Gralilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, which was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 1 2 manner as ye beheld him going into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey o£ 6 The apostles' (question shews how much they need the enlighten- ment of the Spirit. Still, in spite of the lesson of the crucifixion, ^ Bczan No one can know — a Johannine phrase. ' Marg c^poinUd 5y. 1 6^ THE ASCENSION 7 they retain the old Jewish idea of the Messianic ' kingdom of God * as a glorious empire of Israel : and now after the resurrection they are still more confident than when on the journey up to Jerusalem they had thought that it was * immediately to appear' (Lk xix 11). Their expectation was indeed to be realized, but m a very different way to wbat they expected ; the Acts ends with the establishment of the kingdom even at Rome, but at the cost of the rejection of the old Israel. They now ask if the time has come for the restoration to Israel of the kingdoniy which God in his original purpose had destined for Israel and which he had promised throughout the OT. The glorious promises in the prophets shewed that the 'restoration' of this kingdom would be the consummation of the present world, in tact the 'restoration of all things^' This restoration is nothing else than the manifestation of the glory of the Messiah, so the apostles really are repeating a (]juestion which they had asked beiore* — *when shall be thy coming and the end of the world?' There was among the Jews much curiosity as to the time of ' the age to come*' : just as at a later time a siimlar curiosity vexed the 7 Christians at Thessalonica. But the Lord once for all rebukes such curiosity or impatience, It is not for you to know times or seasons. To the view of the Father of all things lay open the whole plan of creation, the times or critical moments of its history and the seasons or epochs of its orderly development : but these he had set, i.e. reserved, within his own authority. The translation of the mardn which he hath appointed by his own authority* makes them equally lie within his sole jurisdiction. The time of the final hour had not even been revealed to the Son in his humanity. Authority had been given him to execute the judj^ement (Jn v 27) but not to know the time. And as he had come into the world not to satisfy cariosity but to give life : so he was sending his apostles not to 8 utter predictions but to proclaim the gospel of salvation. For this work they needed divine assistance or power, which they would receive when the Holy Ghost came upon them. The gospel itself was simply the message of what Jesus had done. The apostles had simply to bear witness to what they had heard and seen, and in Krncular to the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord. So the rd gives the definition of the apostolate which lies at the root of the Acts of the Apostles. The ' apostles ' are simply ' witnesses of Jesus' ' ; and as the resurrection was the crucial fact which proved the divine sonship of Jesus, an ' apostle ' is in particular one who can bear witness that with his own eyes he has seen the risen Jesus. This is stated again and again — i 22, ii 32, iii 15, v 32, 1 iii 21 : cp. Mt xvil 11, Mk ix 12. * Mt xxiv 3, Mk xiu 4. > This is evident from the contemporary apocalyptic literature, e.g. Apoe. Baruch xlviii 2 f. Cp. I Thets V 1 folL, n IL ^ So in xx 28, which is rather S. Paul's ase of the word : ep. I Cor xii 18, 28, 1 Th v 9. S. Luke usually means set ; cp. v 4, xix 21, Lk i 66, ix 44, xxi 44. Cp. Judith ii 2. ^ So the Lord's own work was to bear witneM to the trutli (Jn XYiii 37). 8 THE ASCENSION 1 8-1 1 X 39, 41, xiii 31, xxii 15, xxvi 16 — ^and it becomes a criterion of an 'apostle' to ask, Has he * seen Jesus our Lord ' (I Cor ix 1) ? In further defimng the sphere of the witness the Lord sums up the external history of the Acts : it is (1) to begin ^ from JeruscUem' ch. ii-vii, (2) to pass to all Judaea and Samaria^ viii-ix 31, — at present the extreme limit of the narrow Jewish ideas of the disciples : (8) but the bounds of Jewish narrowness are to be burst one after another until the church is planted at Rome, and the capital of the empire where (to quote Irenaeus' words) * all meet from every quarter ' will represent the uttermost part of the earthy x-xxviii\ 9 When the Lord had said this, as we learn from the Gospel, he lifted up his hands in blessing and so was parted from them. He was taken up from the earth m his * bodily form ' (Lk iii 22) in the sipht of their eyes until a bright cloud intervened and concealed Imn as at the transfiguration. In the language of the creed he was raised up to * the right hand of the Father.' As God is spirit, this is of course a metapnor. But the reality cannot be represented to us otherwise. What is signified is that the manhood of Jesus was exalted to heaven or glorified, A foretaste of this had been given at the transfiguration. But now, having died and risen again, the Son returns to the glory which he had with the Fathsb before the world was (Jn xvii 5) : he reassumes all those glories of deity of wliich he had emptied himself at the incarnation, and in this glorification the human nature which he then assumed has now a part. What are the conditions of a human body, glorified and united with deity, it is impossible for us in our present state to conceive or imagine. In the Old Testament the incomprehensible- ness of the divine nature was typified by a cloud which hid Jrhovah from human view : so now the numan body of Jesus is concealed by the same cloud which is the cloud of the Shekinah or divine gloiy. He is now *in glory'.' 10 The apostles gaze intently* into space. But as the women at the tomb were recalled from groping among the dead (Lk xxiv 5) so were the apostles from star-gazing. As then, so now, ttvo men clothed in white — in such a form do angels appear — address tiiem : 11 Men of Galilee — ^as if to remind them of their lowly origin* — toAy stand ye looking into hea^ven? As with the women, so reflection would suffice to shew the apostles their line of duty, for their work lay on earth. Nevertheless the angels have a 'gospel' to console them. The restoration of the kingdom will take place, the Messiah will come again : and though the circumstances will be very dijOferent^ for he will come on the clouds of heaven with all the angels and ihe glory of the Father, yet he will come iii like manner, i.e. in his ^ Cp. Lk xxiv 47. Prof. Enowling (in the Expositors* Gk Test.) points oat that in the Psalms of Solomon (viii 16) Pompey is described as he that is from the utter- most part of the earth, * vii 55-6, xxii 11, 1 Tim iii 16 : op. yii 3 CM of the plorii, * This word is characteristio of S. Luke ; op. iii 4, 12, vi 15, fix 55. z 4» xi b; xiii 9, xiv 9. xxiii 1. * Jn i 46, Tii 41, 62. I 11-13 THE DISCIPLES 9 human nature. He who will come is this same Jesus who is now 12 tcJsen up from you. Fortified by this gospel, the apostles return to Jerusalem, even 'with great joy*.' The note about the sabbath day*s journey implies a Jewish source, the expression would be strange to Gentile ears at Rome. But there would be a reason for its use if the ascension happened on a sabbath day, which is the inference drawn by S. Chrysostom : and certainly the sabbath would have been the most appropriate day for the Lord to have entered into his rest (Hebr iv 10). Ii the forty days were reckoned exclusively they would bring us to a Saturday. The observance of Ascension Day on a Thursday cannot be traced back earlier than the 4th century, and the day was probably ob- tained by counting forty days after Easter. Forty was the Jewish round number. § 2 Tlie waiting disciples S. Luke now gives us the first of his pictures of church life at Jerusalem. But it is anticipating to speak of ' the church ' : we sliall not meet with the word till v 11 (or possibly ii 47). At present we have 88 in the time of the Lord's ministry (l) a more or less unorga- nized body or multitude of disciples who are known as the brethren (verse 15). Their number amounted to about 120\ that is the number of the brethren at Jerusalem, for there must have been many more in Galilee, where the Lord had appeared to over 500. The mention of names seems almost to imply some register or roll. (2) In this body a ^oup stands out prominent and distinct from * the rest ' (Lk xxiv 9, 33;. They are the Eleven, and S. Luke marks their importance by giving their names, though in fact only three will recur again. The list agrees with that in his Gospel — except that John IB now next to Peter, as ho will appear in the history*. Thomas is also coupled with Philip : they both were brought into prominence at the passion and resurrection. The Eleven are the nucleus of the ccHnmunity, and they have as their rendezvous or headquarters the upper chamber. The Jews used the upper parts of their houses for puiposes of meditation and retirement; so S. Peter went upon the nousetop to pray at Joppa (x 9, cp. xx 8). This upper chamoer was no doubt the scene of the last supper* and of the gatnerings after the resurrection. It may have been m the house of Mary the mother of Mark (xii 12) : and it holds an important place as the cradle of the church in Jerusalem. Besides the Eleven there are other groups — first (3) the women and Mary the mother qf Jesus. A company of women Kad followed the Lord and his disciples and contributed to their support in the days of his Galilean ministay. Among them were included Mary Magdalene, ^ Lk xiiy 52 : op. Jn zvi 22. ' i.e. ten times twelve : op. the 144,000 of Bev Tii. > iii 1 : cp Lk xxii 8, Jn xx 2. ^ Tliougb a different Greek word is used in the Gospels. i 10 THE DISCIPLES i 13-14 another Mary, Salome, Joanna, Susanna, and others. They Iiad come up on the laist joume}r to Jerusalem, and some of them Iiad won the great reward of receiving the first tidings of his resurrection and of being the first witnesses of the risen Lord. It was this privilege, and the addition of the mother of Jesus, which won for tnem tto high place in the church, which was so contrary to oriental custom. Next to them came (4) a group, honoured because of their blood- relationship to the Lord, his brethren. One of these, James, will come into great prominence in the history of the church of Jerusalem. Among 'the rest* must have been some who had campanied with the apostles since the baptism of John, such as Joseph Barsabbas, Mattnias, and many of tne Seventy ; personal friends of the Lord as Lazarus, Martha and Mary; disciples such as the 'goodman of the house' (Mk xiv 14): Cleopas, John Mark and his mother Mary: Mnason of Cyprus (xxi 16). We may probably add Joseph Barnaras and Silas, and possibly Simon of Cyrene, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus. In the Gospel of S. Luke we find the same groups — ^the body of disciples (vi 13), the women (viii 2, 3) and the Twelve (vi 14, xxiv 9, 10, 33). Their life is now described. 13 And when they were come in, they went up into the .upper chamber, where they were abiding ; both Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholo- mew and Matthew, James th4i son of Alphseus, and Simon the 14 Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one accord continued stedfastly in prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. There is as yet little sign of organization. There is no mention of teaching or breaking of bread, but only of their unanimity. They were all together Tverse 15). But strictly speaking this description in w. 13-4 only applies to the Eleven and the associated groups. Their life was one of abiding or expectant waiting; its characteristic was cleaving stedfastly to the Lord and one anomer in constant prayer^. Such prayer included regular attendance at the temple worship, but no doubt the upper chamber was still a centre for reunions among them- selves. The dominant element of the prayer was praise (Lk xxiv 53). § 3 The fUling up of Hhe Twelve' The one incident of this interval which S. Luke has elected to record stamps at once the fundamental position of the apostolate, i.e. of *the Twelve.' Upon the foundations of the new Jerusalem are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Rev xxi 14), and as the foundations are now to be laid the place of the name that has been erased must be filled. The fate of Judas resembles the fete of ^ This close adhesion is a regular maik of ohorch life : cp. ii 42, 4G, vi 4, vlii 13. I 15-26 THE APPOINTMENT OF MATTHIAS 11 Ahithophel in II Sam xvii 23, and the substitution of Matthias in his room is parallel to the substitution of the house of Zadok for the house of Eli (II Sam ii 30-35, I Ki^s ii 35) and of Eliakun for Shebna the treasurer in Isai xxii 15-25. For similar contrasts compare amon^ the prophets Samson and Samuel, among the kings Saul and David. 15 And in these days Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren^ and said (and there was a multitude of * persons 16 gathered together, about a hundred and twenty), Brethren, it was needful that the scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost spake before by the mouth of David con- 17 ceming Judas, who was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered among us, and received his 'portion in this 18 ministry. (Now this man obtained a field with the reward of his iniquity ; and fiiUing headlong, he burst asunder in the 19 midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch that in their language that field was called Akeldama, that is. The field of 20 blood.) For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation be made desolate. And let no man dwell therein: and, His ^office let another take. 21 Of the men therefore which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John, imto the day that he was received up irom us, of these must one become a witness with us of his resurrection. 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who 24 was sumamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said. Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew 25 of these two the one whom thou hast chosen, to take the place in this 'ministry and apostleship, from which Judas fell 26 away, that he might go to his own place. And they gave lots for them ; and the lot fell upon Matthias ; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. 18 Into a narrative which evidently comes from an Hebraic source S. Luke has inserted a note of his own (vv. 18-9)*. It was the » Gk name$. > Gk lot {eUrot). » Pbs Ixix 25 and cix 8. * Gk episeopi, AV bithoprick, ^ Gk dietconia, * For a flimilar note see Lk vii 29-30. S 1 12 THE FATE OF JUDAS 1 15-22 tradition which he had found current about the years 55 to 57 in the church at Jerusalem as to the fiette of Judas : and this tradition was the popular Jewish explanation of a local name Akeldama. S. Matthew (xxvii 3-10) gives another and somewhat diflferent tradi- tion : and indeed there seems to have been a third account of Judas* end handed down in the church by Papias bishop of Hierapolis\ All accounts agree in the fact of a terrible end. S. Matthew makes this follow immediately upon the crime. But this is probably due to a fore- shortening in the retrospect. S. Luke's narrative plainly implies some interval, at least enough to have bought the field. When S. Peter speaks of Judas' * own place/ he does not necessarily refer to (Jehenna. He makes no allusion to Judas' fate where we might have expected it^ e.g. before the Sanhedrin. Nor do we hear of any awe fallmg upon those that heard of it, as after the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira. Accordingly we conclude that Judas did satisfy his covetousness by the purchase of an estate (verse 18) with the 30 pieces of silver, and that at some subsequent time he committed suicide on his property by hanging himself or casting himself down a precipice. Both methods are reconciled in the version which S. Augustine quotes : he hanged himself and faUing headlong on his face (through the rope breaking^ he burst asunder in the midst. This was enough to make the ground polluted or accursed : it was set apart by the authorities as a burying ground for aliens and got the name of Field of Blood. 15 In filling up the vacant place of Judas the Eleven do not as we might have expected use the method of cooptation, but notwithstand- ing their distinct position seek the cooperation of the whole body of brethren. S. Feter takes the initiative, and in his address we perceive 16 the result of the Lord's having 'opened their mind to understand the scriptures ' : S. Peter now understands * what had been written in the rsalms concerning him ' (Lk xxiv 44-5). In the Psalms among the sorrows of the persecuted righteous is the treachery of his most intimate friend : and the scripture must be fulfilled. This then explained the problem which had baffled the apostles: how could Judas have played the part of traitor— one whom the Lord himself 17 had chosen and had numbered among themselves, i.e. the Twelve, to whom he had allotted, as his portion, this service of the apostle- 20 ship ? It was part of the divine plan. But Judas must also suffer the fate of the traitor, and S. Peter probably read the whole passage of judgement in the Messianic psdm (Ixdc 22-28), out oi which S. Luke selected verse 25 because of the allusion to the habitation or * field.' But a passage in another psalm (cix 8) implies that the traitor's ojjice — in the Greek, his overseership or episcopate — is not 21 to remain vacant. As the scripture must be fidfiued, this is 22 equivalent to a command. Accordingly the apostolic college mast be filled up by the appointment of a new apostle. An apostle is *a witness of Jesus' (i 8), i.e. (1) a mitness of his resurrection, but also ^ See Gebbardt and Haraaok Pair. Apost. (ed. miuor) p. 73. 1 22-26 THE APPOINTMENT OF MATTHIAS 13 (2) of all he said and did, i.e. of his ministry which began from the baptism of John, The case of Judas was a warning to the apostles to distrust their 23 human judgement, and so the final decision is left to God. But first, out of those who were quaUfied the brethren select two, whom they put forward or set forth in the midst of the assembly. These two were Matthias and Joseph, distinguished by a surname Barsabbas^ from the numerous other Josephs, such as Josepli Barnabas, Joseph of Arimathaea : Joseph Barsaboas also rejoiced in a Latin surname — Justus or the Righteous, a name which betokened faithful observance of the law^, and so was also given by the Jews to 24 James the Lord's brother. Then to ascertain the divine choice (1) they prayed. This is the first recorded public nrayer of the church. S. Peter was no doubt their spokesman, ana he uses the same attribute of Grod as he does in xv 8 — knowinq the hearts The prayer is addressed either to God the Father as in iv 24 ; or to *the Lord,* viz. Jesus, to whom they had been accustomed to appeal in every difficulty and of whose presence (though unseen) they were fully conscious. They were convinced that he had already c/iosen one to fill this place of ministry, as he had originally chosen the 25 Twelve : and they ask him to make the appointment by shewing his choice. Judas had transgressed or stepped aside from his place of ministry to ao to the place which was his otvn. It is generally supposed that by this place S. Peter means Gehenna : and certainly Clement, Ignatius, ana Polycarp speak of *the place' of glory or punishment hereafter\ But that use was probablv taken from this passage interpreted in the light of Judas' fate. In the Scriptures 'place' is generally used of position in this world, and *his own' stands for * nome ' m Jn xix 29. However whether it were Gehenna or the old worldly life, Judas* place was his deliberate choice and his proper home in harmony with his character. The prayer of the disciples shews us the true aim of prayer. They dia not pray to alter or direct the choice of the Lord, but that they might know 26 his win. To learn