ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

facts that he had no home there, but went to lodge with Lydia (16^^), and that he only supposed that there was a Jewish place of prayer at Philippi (I612 RV). His interest in Philippi may rather be accounted for by his having been left in charge of the Church there (17' 20*; in the interval between St. Paul's leaving Philippi and his return there the pronoun 'they' is used). Yet he was quite probably a Macedonian [Ac 27^ is not against this], of a Greek family once settled at Antioch; he was a Gentile not without some contempt for the Jews, and certainly not a Roman citizen like St. Paul. His Greek nationality shows itself in his calling the Maltese ' barbarians ' (28^), i.e. non-Greek speaking, and in many other ways.

4. Patristic testimony. — There are probable refer-ences to Acts in Clement of Rome (c. a.d. 95), who seems to refer to 13^2 20^ etc.; and in Ignatius (c. a.d. 110), who apparently refers to 4"; also in Polycarp (c. Ill); almost certainly in the Martyrdom of Polycarp (c. a.d. 155); and full quotations are found at the end of the 2nd cent, in TertuIUan, Clement of Alexandria, and Irenaeus, all of whom ascribe the book to Luke. So also the Muratorian Fragment (c. a.d. 200). Moreover, the apocryphal Acts, some of them of the 2nd cent., are built on our canonical Acts, and their authors must have known the latter.

5. Style. — The book is not a chronological biography; there are few indications of time (11"*' 24^'; cf. Lk 3'), yet the writer often uses vague phrases like ' after some days,' which may indicate intervals of days, months, or years. He seizes critical features, and passes over unessential details. Thus he does not relate the events of the years spent by St. Paul in Tarsus (9^"), probably as being years of education in which no striking event occurred. So he tells us practically nothing of the missionary journey through Cyprus (13'), though much work must have been done among the Jews then; while great space is given to the epoch-making interview with Sergius Paulus. The writer leaves a good deal to be understood ; he states facts, and leaves the reader to deduce the causes or inferences; he reports directions or intentions, and leaves it to be inferred that they were carried into effect, e.g. 13» (no reason given for Elymas' opposition, it is not explicitly said that Paul preached to the proconsul), 13" (the reason for Mark's departure not stated, nor yet for Paul and Barnabas going to Pisidian Antioch), IQ^ (no reason given for the Philippi praetors' change of attitude), 17'* (not said that the injunction was obeyed, but from 1 Th 3' we see that Timothy had rejoined Paul at Athens and was sent away again to Macedonia, whence he came in Ac 18' to Corinth), 20" (not stated that they arrived In time for Pentecost, but it must be understood), 27" (it must be inferred that the injunction was obeyed).

6. Crises in the history. — These may be briefly indicated. They include the Day of Pentecost (the birthday of the Church); the appointment of the Seven (among them Nicholas, a 'proselyte of righteousness, i.e. a Gentile who had become a circumcised Jew); the conversion of St. Paul; the episode .of Cornelius (who was only a ' proselyte of the gate,' or ' God-fearing,' one who was brought into relation with the Jews by obejring certain elementary rules, such, probably, as those of 15^', but not circumcised [this is disputed; see Nicolas); this means, therefore, a further step towards Pauline Christianity); the first meeting of Paul and Barnabas with a Roman ofBcial in the person of Sergius Paulus in Cyprus, the initial step in the great plan of St. Paul to make Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire (see § 7 ; henceforward the author calls Saul of Tarsus by his Roman name, one which he must have borne all along, for the purposes of his Roman citizenship); the Council of Jerusalem, the vindication of Pauline teaching by the Church; the call to Macedonia, not as being a passing from one continent to another, for the Romans had not this geographical idea, nor yet as a passing over to a strange people, but partly as a step forwards in the great plan, the entering into a new Roman province, and especially

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

the association for the first time with the author (§ 3) ; the residence at Corinth, the great city on the Roman highway to the East, where Gallio's action paved the way for the appeal to Csesar; and the apprehension at Jerusalem. These are related at length. Another crisis is probably hinted at, the acquittal of St. Paul; tor even it the book were written before that took place (§ 9), the release must have become fairly obvious to aU towards the end of the two years' sojourn at Rome (cf. Ph 2M).

7. Missionary plan of St. Paul. — (a) The author describes the Apostle as beginning new missionary work by seeking out the Jews first; only when they would not listen he turned to the Gentiles, 13'- " 14^ 16'' (no synagogue at Philippi, only a ' place of prayer') 17"- (the words 'as his custom was' are decisive) 1710. i6f. 184. a. 19 igsf. 28"; we may perhaps understand the same at places where it is not expressly mentioned, 147. n. 25_ or the Jews may "have been weak and without a synagogue in those places. — (&) St. Paul utilizes the Roman Empire to spread the gospel along its lines of communication. He was justifiably proud of his Roman citizenship (16" 22Kff- etc.; cf. Ph V [RVm] 3», Eph 2"). He seems to have formed the great idea of Christianity being the reUgion of the Roman Empire, though not confined to it. Hence may be understood his zeal for Gentile liberty, and his breaking away from the idea of Jewish exclusiveness. In his missionary journeys he confines himself (if the South Galatian theory be accepted; see art. Galatians [Epistles to the]) to the great roads of traffic in the Empire. He utilizes the Greek language to spread Christian influence, just as the Roman Empire used it to spread its civiliza^ tion in the far East, where it never attempted to force Latin (for even the Roman colonies in the East spoke Greek, keeping Latin for state occasions). Paul and Barnabas, then, preached in Greek; they clearly did not know Lycaonian (cf. Ac 14" with 14'<). The Scriptures were not translated into the languages of Asia Minor, which were probably not written languages, nor even into Latin till a later age.

Following thesame idea, the author represents the Roman officials in the colonies as more favourable to St. Paul than the magistrates of the ordinary Greek cities. Contrast the account of the conduct of the Greek magistrates_ at Iconium and Thessalonica who were active against him, or of the Court of the Areopagus at Athens who were con-temptuous, with the silence about the action of the Roman magistrates of Pisidian Antioch and Lystra, or the explicit statements about Sergius Paulus, Gallio, Felix, Festus, (Claudius Lysiaa and Julius the centurion, who were more or less fair or friendly. Even the prsetors at Plylippi ended byapologizingprofusely when they discovered Paul s status.

8 . The writer's interests. — It is interesting to observe these, as they wUl lead us to an approximate date for the work. There is no better test than such an inquiry for the detectfon of a forgerjr or of a com-pilation. The principal interest is obviously St. Paul and his mission. To this the preliminary history of the Twelve and of the beginnings of Christianity leads up. The writer emphasizes especially St. Paul's dealings with Roman offlcials. Of minor interests we notice medicine, as we should expect from 'the beloved physician ' ; and the rival science of sorcery ; the position and influence of women (1'* 8s- 12 92 13=° 16" 17<- '2- « 216. 9 22' etc.; in Asia Minor women had a much more prominent position than in Greece proper) ; the organiza-tion of the Church (2«'«- 4"ff- 6'«- 8sk- IS^"- 19'a- etc.); Divine intervention to overrule human projects (note especially the remarkable way in which St. Paul was led to Troas, 16'-*); and navigation. This last interest cannot but strike the most cursory reader. The voyages and harbours are described minutely and vividly, while the land journeys are only just mentioned. Yet the writer was clearly no professional sailor. He de-scribes the drifting in 27" as a zigzag course when it must have been straight ; he is surprised at their passing Cyprus on a different side when going westward from