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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Acts 1 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/acts/1.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/acts/1.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/acts/1-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../acts/">Acts</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../john/21.htm" title="John 21">◄</a> Acts 1 <a href="../acts/2.htm" title="Acts 2">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap">THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.The Acts of the ApostlesBYTHE VERY REV. E. H. PLUMPTRE, D.DINTRODUCTIONTOTHE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.I. The Author.—The opening words of the Acts, addressed, like the Gospel of St. Luke, to Theophilus, and referring to a former book, as containing a history of the life and teaching of the Lord Jesus, such as we find in that Gospel, are, at least, primâ facie evidence of identity of authorship. The internal evidence of style, [1] yet more, perhaps, that of character and tendency as shown in the contents of the book, confirm this conclusion. A tradition, going back to the second century, falls in with what has thus been inferred from the book itself. The words of Stephen, “Lay not this sin to their charge,” are quoted in the Epistle of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne to those of Asia and Phrygia (A.D. 177), given by Eusebius (Hist. v. 2). Irenæus and Clement of Alexandria quote from it, the latter citing St. Paul’s speech at Athens (Strom. v. 2); as also does Tertullian (De Jejun. c. 10). The Muratorian Fragment (see Vol. I., p. 13) dwells on its being largely the work of an eye-witness, as seen in its omission of the martyrdom of St. Peter, and St. Paul’s journey to Spain. Eusebius (Hist. iii. 4) ascribes both books to him, in the same terms; and Jerome (De Vir. Illust. c. 8) almost repeats the words of the Fragment: “Luke wrote his Gospel from what he had heard, but the Acts of the Apostles from what he saw.” It will be enough, therefore, as far as the authorship of this book is concerned, to refer for all that is known or conjectured as to the writer to the Introduction to St. Luke. There also will be found all that it is necessary to say as to Theophilus as representing the first readers of the Acts.[1] Not fewer than fifty words are common to the two hooks, and are not found elsewhere in the New Testament. Many of these are noticed in the Notes.II. The Title.—It does not follow that the present title was prefixed to the book by the writer himself. For him, probably, it would only present itself as the “second treatise,” or “book,” which came as a natural sequel to the first. It was not strange, however, especially when the books of the New Testament came to be collected together in a volume, and the “former treatise” took its place side by side with the other Gospels, and was thus parted from its companion, that a distinct title should be given to it. In the title itself the Greek MSS. present considerable variations—“Acts of the Apostles,” “Acts of all the Apostles,” “Acts of the Holy Apostles,” sometimes with the addition of the author’s name, “Written by Luke the Evangelist,” “Written by the Holy and Illustrious Luke, Apostle and Evangelist.” The word “Acts” seems to have been in common use in the first and second centuries after Christ for what we should call “Memoirs” or “Biographies,” and appears conspicuously in the apocryphal literature of the New Testament, as in the Acts of Pilate, the Acts of Peter and Paul, of Philip, of Matthew, of Bartholomew.III. The Scope of the Book.—It is obvious that the title, whether by the author or by a transcriber, does but imperfectly describe its real nature. It is in no sense a history of the Apostles as a body. The names of the Eleven meet us but once (<a href="/acts/1-13.htm" title="And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where stayed both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.">Acts 1:13</a>). They are mentioned collectively in <a href="/acts/2-37.htm" title="Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brothers, what shall we do?">Acts 2:37</a>; <a href="/context/acts/2-42.htm" title="And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.">Acts 2:42-43</a>; <a href="/context/acts/4-33.htm" title="And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was on them all.">Acts 4:33-37</a>; <a href="/acts/5-2.htm" title="And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.">Acts 5:2</a>; <a href="/acts/5-12.htm" title="And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders worked among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.">Acts 5:12</a>; <a href="/acts/5-18.htm" title="And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.">Acts 5:18</a>; <a href="/acts/5-29.htm" title="Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.">Acts 5:29</a>; <a href="/acts/6-6.htm" title="Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.">Acts 6:6</a>; <a href="/acts/8-1.htm" title="And Saul was consenting to his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.">Acts 8:1</a>; <a href="/acts/8-14.htm" title="Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John:">Acts 8:14</a>; <a href="/acts/8-18.htm" title="And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,">Acts 8:18</a>; <a href="/acts/9-27.htm" title="But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.">Acts 9:27</a>; <a href="/acts/11-1.htm" title="And the apostles and brothers that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.">Acts 11:1</a>; <a href="/acts/15-2.htm" title="When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.">Acts 15:2</a>; <a href="/acts/15-4.htm" title="And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.">Acts 15:4</a>; <a href="/acts/15-6.htm" title="And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.">Acts 15:6</a>; <a href="/context/acts/15-22.htm" title="Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brothers:">Acts 15:22-23</a>; <a href="/acts/15-33.htm" title="And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brothers to the apostles.">Acts 15:33</a>. St. John appears only in <a href="/acts/3-1.htm" title="Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.">Acts 3:1</a>; <a href="/acts/4-13.htm" title="Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.">Acts 4:13</a>; <a href="/acts/8-14.htm" title="Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John:">Acts 8:14</a>. Nothing is told us of the individual work of any other. Looking to the contents of the book, it would be better described, if we were to retain the present form at all, as the “Acts of Peter and of Paul,” the former Apostle occupying a prominent place in Acts 1-5, 10-12, 15, the latter being the central figure in <a href="/acts/7-58.htm" title="And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.">Acts 7:58</a>; <a href="/acts/7-9.htm" title="And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,">Acts 7:9</a>; <a href="/context/acts/11-25.htm" title="Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:">Acts 11:25-30</a>; Acts 13-27. From another point of view a yet more appropriate title would be (using the term in its familiar literary sense) that of the Origines Ecclesiœ—the history of the growth and development of the Church of Christ, and of the mission work of that Church among the Gentiles. The starting-point and the close of the book are in this respect significant. It begins at Jerusalem; it ends at Rome. When it opens, circumcision is required, as well as baptism, of every disciple; the Church of Christ is outwardly but a Jewish sect of some hundred and twenty persons (<a href="/acts/1-15.htm" title="And in those days Peter stood up in the middle of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)">Acts 1:15</a>). When it ends, every barrier between Jew and Gentile has been broken down, and the Church has become catholic and all-embracing. To trace the stages of that expansion both locally and as affecting the teaching of the Church is the dominant purpose of the book. The “acts” of those who were not concerned in it at all, or played but a subordinate part in it, are, we may venture to say, deliberately passed over. Some principle of selection is clearly involved in the structure of such a book as that now before us, and even without going beyond the four corners of the book itself, we may safely affirm that the main purpose of the writer was to inform a Gentile convert of Rome how the gospel had been brought to him, and how it had gained the width and freedom with which it was actually presented.IV. Its Relation to the Gospel of St. Luke.—The view thus taken is strengthened by the fact that it presents the Acts of the Apostles as the natural sequel to the Gospel which we have seen sufficient reason to assign to the same writer. For there also, as it has been shown (Vol. I., p. 241), we trace the same principle of selection. It is more than any of the other three a Gospel for the Gentiles, bringing out the universality of the kingdom of God, recording parables and incidents which others had not recorded, because they bore witness that the love of God flowed out beyond the limits of the chosen people on robbers and harlots, on Samaritans and Gentiles. It remained for one who had led his catechumen convert to think thus of the Christ during His ministry on earth, to show that the unseen guidance given by the Christ in Heaven, through the working of the Holy Spirit, was leading it on in the same direction, that, though there had been expansion and development, there had been no interruption of continuity. I have ventured to say (Vol. I., p. 242) that the Gospel of St. Luke might be described as emphatically “the Gospel of the Saintly Life.” The natural sequel to such a Gospel was a record of the work of the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier. Looking to the prominence given to the work of the Spirit, from the Day of Pentecost onwards, as guiding both the Church collectively and its individual members, it would hardly be over-bold to say that the book might well be called “the Gospel of the Holy Spirit.” At every stage His action is emphatically recognised. Jesus, after His resurrection, had, “through the Holy Ghost, given commandment to the Apostles whom He had chosen” (<a href="/acts/1-2.htm" title="Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen:">Acts 1:2</a>). They are to be “baptised with the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/1-5.htm" title="For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.">Acts 1:5</a>), are to “receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon them” (<a href="/acts/1-8.htm" title="But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come on you: and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.">Acts 1:8</a>). The Holy Ghost had spoken through the mouth of David (<a href="/acts/1-16.htm" title="Men and brothers, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spoke before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.">Acts 1:16</a>). Then comes the great wonder of the Day of Pentecost, when all the disciples were “filled with the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/2-4.htm" title="And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.">Acts 2:4</a>), and spake with tongues, and the prophecy, “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh” (<a href="/acts/2-17.htm" title="And it shall come to pass in the last days, said God, I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:">Acts 2:17</a>), is quoted as on the verge of fulfilment. Jesus has “received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/2-33.htm" title="Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.">Acts 2:33</a>). Once again all were “filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake the word with boldness” (<a href="/acts/4-31.htm" title="And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.">Acts 4:31</a>). The sin of Ananias is a “lie unto the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/5-3.htm" title="But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?">Acts 5:3</a>). He and his wife have “tempted the Spirit of the Lord” (<a href="/acts/5-9.htm" title="Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried your husband are at the door, and shall carry you out.">Acts 5:9</a>). The “Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him,” is a witness that the Christ is exalted at the right hand of God (<a href="/acts/5-32.htm" title="And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey him.">Acts 5:32</a>). The seven who are chosen in Acts 6 are “full of the Holy Ghost, and of wisdom” (<a href="/acts/6-3.htm" title="Why, brothers, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.">Acts 6:3</a>). Stephen is pre-eminently “full of faith and of the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/6-5.htm" title="And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:">Acts 6:5</a>). His leading charge against priests and scribes is that they “do always resist the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/7-51.htm" title="You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you.">Acts 7:51</a>). His vision of the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God is closely connected with his being at the moment “filled with the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/7-55.htm" title="But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,">Acts 7:55</a>). Peter and John go down to Samaria that those who had been baptised by Philip “might receive the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/context/acts/8-15.htm" title="Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:">Acts 8:15-17</a>): and the sin of Simon the sorcerer is that he thinks that that gift of God can be purchased with money (<a href="/context/acts/8-18.htm" title="And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,">Acts 8:18-20</a>). It is the Spirit that impels Philip to join himself to the Ethiopian eunuch (<a href="/acts/8-29.htm" title="Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.">Acts 8:29</a>), and carries him away after his baptism (<a href="/acts/8-39.htm" title="And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.">Acts 8:39</a>). Ananias is to lay his hands on Saul of Tarsus, that he “may be filled with the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/9-17.htm" title="And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared to you in the way as you came, has sent me, that you might receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.">Acts 9:17</a>). The churches of Judæa and Galilee and Samaria in their interval of rest are “walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/9-31.htm" title="Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.">Acts 9:31</a>). The admission of the Gentiles is attested when “the gift of the Holy Ghost” is poured out on Cornelius and his friends (<a href="/context/acts/10-44.htm" title="While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.">Acts 10:44-47</a>), and Peter dwells on that attestation in his address to the Church of Jerusalem (<a href="/context/acts/11-15.htm" title="And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.">Acts 11:15-17</a>; <a href="/acts/15-8.htm" title="And God, which knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did to us;">Acts 15:8</a>). Barnabas, when he is sent to carry on that work among the Gentiles at Antioch, is described, as Stephen had been, as “full of the Holy Ghost and of faith” (<a href="/acts/11-24.htm" title="For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added to the Lord.">Acts 11:24</a>). It is the Holy Ghost who “separates Barnabas and Saul for the work of the ministry,” and they are sent forth by Him (<a href="/context/acts/13-2.htm" title="As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.">Acts 13:2-4</a>). Saul, roused to indignation by the subtlety of Elymas, is “filled with the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/acts/13-9.htm" title="Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him.">Acts 13:9</a>). It is He who guides the decision of the council assembled at Jerusalem (<a href="/acts/15-28.htm" title="For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay on you no greater burden than these necessary things;">Acts 15:28</a>), and directs the footsteps of Paul and his companions in their mission journey (<a href="/context/acts/16-6.htm" title="Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,">Acts 16:6-7</a>). The twelve disciples at Ephesus, baptised before with the baptism of John, “receive the Holy Ghost” when Paul lays his hands on them (<a href="/acts/19-6.htm" title="And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied.">Acts 19:6</a>). He it was who witnessed in every city that bonds and imprisonment awaited the Apostle in Jerusalem (<a href="/acts/20-23.htm" title="Save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.">Acts 20:23</a>; <a href="/acts/21-11.htm" title="And when he was come to us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus said the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that ownes this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.">Acts 21:11</a>). It was the Holy Ghost who had made the elders of Ephesus overseers of the Church of God (<a href="/acts/20-28.htm" title="Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.">Acts 20:28</a>). Well-nigh the last words of the book are those which “the Holy Ghost had spoken by Esaias,” and which St. Paul, in the power of the same Spirit, applies to the Jews of his own time (<a href="/acts/28-25.htm" title="And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spoke the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet to our fathers,">Acts 28:25</a>).V. Its Relation to the Controversies of the Time.—I have thought it right to go through this somewhat full induction because it presents an aspect of the book which has hardly been adequately recognised in the critical inquiries to which it has been subjected. But subject to this, as the dominant idea of the Acts of the Apostles, I see nothing to hinder us from recognizing other tendencies and motives, partly as inferred from the book itself, partly as in themselves probable, looking to the circumstances under which it must have been written. An educated convert like Theophilus could hardly have been ignorant of the controversy between St. Paul and the Judaisers, which is so prominent in the Epistle to the Galatians and the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. He would know that the Judaising teachers in the Galatian Church had spoken of the Apostle as a time-server seeking to please men (<a href="/galatians/1-10.htm" title="For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.">Galatians 1:10</a>); as having no authority but that which he derived from the Church of Jerusalem (<a href="/galatians/1-1.htm" title="Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)">Galatians 1:1</a>; <a href="/galatians/1-12.htm" title="For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.">Galatians 1:12</a>; <a href="/galatians/1-17.htm" title="Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.">Galatians 1:17</a>; <a href="/galatians/1-22.htm" title="And was unknown by face to the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:">Galatians 1:22</a>); that they used the name of James in support of their exaggerated rigour, and worked upon the mind even of Peter, so as to lead him to, at least, a temporary inconsistency (<a href="/context/galatians/2-11.htm" title="But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.">Galatians 2:11-13</a>); that others of the same school had appeared at Corinth, boasting of their “letters of commendation” (<a href="/2_corinthians/3-1.htm" title="Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, letters of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?">2Corinthians 3:1</a>); taunting the Apostle with his “bodily presence weak, and speech contemptible” (<a href="/2_corinthians/10-10.htm" title="For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.">2Corinthians 10:10</a>); speaking of him as a “fool” and madman (<a href="/2_corinthians/11-16.htm" title="I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.">2Corinthians 11:16</a>); arrogating to themselves something like an ultra-apostolic authority (<a href="/2_corinthians/11-4.htm" title="For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.">2Corinthians 11:4</a>); boasting that they were Hebrews and ministers of Christ (<a href="/2_corinthians/11-22.htm" title="Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.">2Corinthians 11:22</a>). The language of Romans 14 shows that disputes analogous in their nature had sprung up at Rome even before St. Paul’s arrival; differences as to days and meats (<a href="/context/romans/14-2.htm" title="For one believes that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eats herbs.">Romans 14:2-6</a>); connected with the very question of eating “things sacrificed to idols,” which had given occasion to one of the canons of the Council of Jerusalem (<a href="/acts/15-20.htm" title="But that we write to them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.">Acts 15:20</a>; <a href="/acts/15-29.htm" title="That you abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if you keep yourselves, you shall do well. Fare you well.">Acts 15:29</a>) proposed by James, the bishop of that Church, and which had been discussed fully in the Epistle which St. Paul addressed to the Church of Corinth, at a time when its numbers were largely made up of Roman Christians (1 Corinthians 8-10). These facts were patent to any one who had any knowledge of St. Paul’s work. If Theophilus were, as is probable, an Italian, probably even a Roman, convert (see Introduction to St. Luke’s Gospel, Vol. I., p. 241), they would be forced upon his notice.There are, however, other materials for estimating the attitude of the Judaising party towards St. Paul, and the language they habitually used in reference to him. I do not assume that the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, Recognitions, and Epistles are of an earlier date than the second century, but it is a legitimate inference that they represent the traditions of the party from which they emanated, and they help us to fill up the outline which has been already sketched. In them, accordingly, we find James, the bishop of Jerusalem, as the centre of all church authority, the “lord and bishop of the holy Church” (Epist. of Peter, c. 1), the “archbishop” (Recogn. c. i. 73). Peter complains that “some among the Gentiles have rejected his preaching, which is according to the Law, and have followed the lawless and insane preaching of the man who is his enemy” (ibid. c. 2. Comp. <a href="/galatians/4-16.htm" title="Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?">Galatians 4:16</a>). He complains that he has been misrepresented as agreeing with that “enemy” (ibid.). James declares that circumcision is an essential condition of discipleship (ibid. c. 4). Under cover of the legendary disputes between Peter and Simon the Sorcerer, the personal discipleship of the former is contrasted with that of one who has only heard the doctrine of Jesus through a vision or a dream (Hom. Clem. xvii., c. 14. Comp. <a href="/acts/9-3.htm" title="And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:">Acts 9:3</a>; <a href="/acts/9-17.htm" title="And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared to you in the way as you came, has sent me, that you might receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.">Acts 9:17</a>; <a href="/acts/18-9.htm" title="Then spoke the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not your peace:">Acts 18:9</a>; <a href="/acts/22-18.htm" title="And saw him saying to me, Make haste, and get you quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive your testimony concerning me.">Acts 22:18</a>; <a href="/acts/23-11.htm" title="And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome.">Acts 23:11</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/12-1.htm" title="It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.">2Corinthians 12:1</a>), and it is suggested that one who trusts in those visions and revelations may have been deceived by a demon (ibid. xvii., c. 16). Barnabas is named with praise (ibid. i., c. 9), but the name of Paul is systematically ignored. The opposition to Peter at Antioch, of which we read in <a href="/context/galatians/2-1.htm" title="Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.">Galatians 2:1-14</a>, is represented as the work of the sorcerer (Recogn. x., c. 54). Almost the only direct reference to the Apostle of the Gentiles is an allusion to the “enemy” who had received a commission from Caiaphas to go to Damascus and make havoc of the faithful (Recogn. i., c. 71), and the fact that the “enemy” afterwards preached the faith which he had once destroyed is kept out of sight. With the strange confusion of chronology characteristic of this apocryphal literature, the “enemy” is represented as entering the Temple, disputing with James, attacking him with violence and throwing him down the Temple stairs, so that he lay there as dead (Recogn. i., c. 70).Representations such as these might be met in two different ways. St. Paul, in the manly indignation of his spirit against such misrepresentations, met them, as in the Epistle to the Galatians, by asserting his entire independence of the Church at Jerusalem (<a href="/context/galatians/1-1.htm" title="Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)">Galatians 1:1-12</a>), by showing that they had learnt from him, not he from them, the fulness and freedom of the gospel which he preached (<a href="/galatians/2-2.htm" title="And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.">Galatians 2:2</a>); that the chief leaders of that Church had given to him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship in their work among the Gentiles (<a href="/galatians/2-9.htm" title="And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go to the heathen, and they to the circumcision.">Galatians 2:9</a>); that he had not given way by subjection, no, not for an hour, to the Judaising Pharisee section of the Church (<a href="/context/galatians/2-4.htm" title="And that because of false brothers unawares brought in, who came in privately to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:">Galatians 2:4-5</a>); that he had not shrunk from rebuking, with the general approval of the Church at Antioch, the inconsistency of Peter and of Barnabas (<a href="/context/galatians/2-11.htm" title="But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.">Galatians 2:11-14</a>). He meets them also, as in <a href="/context/2_corinthians/11-13.htm" title="For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.">2Corinthians 11:13-27</a>, by challenging a comparison between his own life and that of his antagonists. St. Luke thought it wise, in writing to a Gentile convert, to lay stress on the fact that the history of the Church of Jerusalem, truly stated, was against the policy and the claims of the Judaisers, that the Apostle of the Gentiles in his turn had shown every disposition to conciliate the feelings of the Jews. With this view, he records the fact that charges like those which were brought against St. Paul had been brought also against the martyr Stephen (<a href="/acts/6-14.htm" title="For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.">Acts 6:14</a>); that the Apostle had been admitted into the Church of Christ by a disciple devout according to the Law (<a href="/acts/9-10.htm" title="And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.">Acts 9:10</a>; <a href="/acts/22-12.htm" title="And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelled there,">Acts 22:12</a>); that he had been received, after the first natural suspicion had been removed by the testimony of Barnabas, by the Apostles at Jerusalem (<a href="/acts/9-27.htm" title="But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.">Acts 9:27</a>); that it had been given to Peter to be, perhaps, the first to act on the essential principle of St. Paul’s gospel, and to throw open the doors of the Church to the uncircumcised Gentiles (Acts 10; <a href="/context/acts/11-1.htm" title="And the apostles and brothers that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.">Acts 11:1-13</a>); that he and the Church of Jerusalem had sent Barnabas to carry on that work at Antioch (<a href="/acts/11-22.htm" title="Then tidings of these things came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.">Acts 11:22</a>); that St. Paul had always addressed himself to the Jews whenever there were any to listen to his preaching (<a href="/acts/13-5.htm" title="And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.">Acts 13:5</a>; <a href="/acts/13-14.htm" title="But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.">Acts 13:14</a>; <a href="/acts/14-1.htm" title="And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.">Acts 14:1</a>; <a href="/acts/17-2.htm" title="And Paul, as his manner was, went in to them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,">Acts 17:2</a>; <a href="/acts/17-17.htm" title="Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.">Acts 17:17</a>; <a href="/acts/18-4.htm" title="And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.">Acts 18:4</a>; <a href="/acts/19-8.htm" title="And he went into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.">Acts 19:8</a>); that he had lost no opportunity of renewing his friendly intercourse with the Church of Jerusalem (<a href="/acts/15-2.htm" title="When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.">Acts 15:2</a>; <a href="/acts/18-22.htm" title="And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.">Acts 18:22</a>; <a href="/acts/21-15.htm" title="And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.">Acts 21:15</a>); and that James, the bishop of that Church, had throughout received him as a beloved brother (<a href="/acts/15-4.htm" title="And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.">Acts 15:4</a>; <a href="/context/acts/15-25.htm" title="It seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,">Acts 15:25-26</a>); that he had shown his willingness to conciliate the Jewish section of the Church by circumcising Timotheus (<a href="/acts/16-3.htm" title="Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.">Acts 16:3</a>), and by his taking on himself the vow of a Nazarite (<a href="/acts/18-18.htm" title="And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brothers, and sailed there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.">Acts 18:18</a>; <a href="/acts/21-26.htm" title="Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.">Acts 21:26</a>); and, lastly, that the Council of Jerusalem had solemnly formulated a concordat by which the freedom of the Gentiles was secured (<a href="/context/acts/15-23.htm" title="And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brothers send greeting to the brothers which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.">Acts 15:23-29</a>).A principle of selection such as this is naturally open to the charge that has been pressed by unfriendly critics, that it tends to lead the writer to exaggerate the harmony between the two parties whom it seeks to reconcile; and stress has been laid on the omission of the dispute between Paul and Peter at Antioch (<a href="/galatians/2-14.htm" title="But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, If you, being a Jew, live after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compel you the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?">Galatians 2:14</a>), as showing that with this view he slurred over what was an important fact in the history which he undertakes to write. It may fairly be urged, however, on the other side, that there is absolutely no evidence that he was acquainted with that fact. As far as we can gather from his narrative, he was not at Antioch at the time. It was an incident on which St. Paul would naturally be reticent, unless forced to allude to it, as in writing to the Galatians, in vindicating his own independence. And even if he did know it, was this passing, momentary difference of sufficient importance to find a place in a brief compendium of the history of St. Paul’s work? Would the writer of a school history of England during the last fifty years feel bound, in tracing the action of the Conservative or Liberal party as a whole, to notice a single passage at arms, in which sharp words were spoken, in debate in cabinet or Parliament, between two of its leaders? Would a writer of English Church History during the same period think it an indispensable duty to record such a difference as that which showed itself between Bishop Thirlwall and Bishop Selwyn in the Pan-Anglican Conference of 1867? That he did not shrink from recording a personal dispute when important consequences were involved is shown by his treatment of the quarrel between Paul and Barnabas (<a href="/context/acts/15-37.htm" title="And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.">Acts 15:37-40</a>).VI. Its Evidential Value.—(1) In relation to the Gospels. Had the Acts of the Apostles presented itself as an entirely independent book, its evidence as to the main facts of the Gospel history would obviously have been of the highest value. It assumes those facts throughout as well known. The main work of the Apostles is to bear witness of the resurrection (<a href="/acts/4-33.htm" title="And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was on them all.">Acts 4:33</a>). Jesus of Nazareth had been “approved of God by miracles, and wonders, and signs” (<a href="/acts/2-22.htm" title="You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the middle of you, as you yourselves also know:">Acts 2:22</a>). Against Him “Herod and Pontius Pilate had been gathered together” (<a href="/acts/4-27.htm" title="For of a truth against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,">Acts 4:27</a>). God had “anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and with power;” and He “went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached” (<a href="/context/acts/10-37.htm" title="That word, I say, you know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;">Acts 10:37-38</a>). It is obvious, however, that it does not present itself as independent. It looks back to a former book, and that former book is the Gospel according to St. Luke. “It was natural,” it has been said, “that the writer should thus take for granted what he had thus himself recorded. You cannot, in such a case, cite the second volume to bear witness to the veracity of the first.” Admitting this, however—as in all fairness it must be admitted—the Acts present evidence, as has been already pointed out (Vol. I., p. xxxi.), of another kind. If they are shown, by the numerous coincidences which they present with the writings of St. Paul (see infra), by their occasional use of the first personal pronoun (<a href="/context/acts/16-10.htm" title="And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel to them.">Acts 16:10-15</a>; <a href="/acts/20-5.htm" title="These going before tarried for us at Troas.">Acts 20:5</a>; <a href="/acts/21-17.htm" title="And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly.">Acts 21:17</a>; <a href="/acts/27-1.htm" title="And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.">Acts 27:1</a>; <a href="/acts/28-16.htm" title="And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.">Acts 28:16</a>), by their stopping at St. Paul’s imprisonment at Rome, instead of going on to the close of his work and life, to be, on any fair estimate of circumstantial evidence, the work of a contemporary, and to have been written before St. Paul’s death, in A.D. 65 or 66, then it follows that the Gospel from the pen of the same author must have been of even earlier date. The reference to the “many” who had “taken in hand” to set forth a narrative of the gospel (<a href="/luke/1-1.htm" title="For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,">Luke 1:1</a>) connects itself with the quotation from “the words of the Lord Jesus” in <a href="/acts/20-35.htm" title="I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.">Acts 20:35</a>, as showing that there was not only a widely diffused oral tradition of the facts of the Gospel history (such as that implied in <a href="/context/1_corinthians/11-23.htm" title="For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:">1Corinthians 11:23-25</a>; <a href="/context/1_corinthians/15-3.htm" title="For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;">1Corinthians 15:3-7</a>), but that there was also a fairly copious Gospel literature, presenting materials for future editors and compilers. But we may go yet further. It has often been urged, as against the early date of the Gospels in their present form, that they have left so few traces of themselves in the early history and the early writings of the Church. It has been already shown (Vol. I., pp. 27-31) that, as far as the Epistles of the New Testament are concerned, those traces are far from few; but it may be admitted that they do not refer, as we might, perhaps, have expected them to refer, to any individual miracles, or parables, or discourses of our Lord. The same holds good of the Apostolic fathers; and it is not till we come to Justin Martyr that we get any such frequency of citation as to make it certain that he had one of our first three Gospels, or another resembling them, in his hands. (See Vol. I., p. xxvii.) Well, be it so; but here we have a work with the same absence of citation, the same vague generalisation in its reference to the outlines only of the Gospel history; and of this book, whatever view may be taken of its date, it is absolutely certain that the writer knew that history in all its fulness. Had the Acts come down to us without the Gospel of St. Luke, its reticence, and vagueness also, might have been urged as against the credibility of the narratives of the Gospels that bear the names of St. Matthew and St. Mark. As it is, it shows that that reticence and vagueness may be compatible with a full and intimate knowledge of the facts so narrated.(2) In relation to the Epistles of St. Paul. Here, as Paley has well put the argument in the opening of his Horœ Paulinœ, the case is different. We have a book purporting to be by a contemporary of St. Paul’s. We have thirteen or fourteen documents purporting to be Epistles from him. There is not the shadow of a trace in the Epistles that the writer had read the Acts, or even knew of the existence of the book. There is not the shadow of a trace in the Acts of the Apostles that the writer had read the Epistles, or even knew of their existence. He not only does not compile from them nor allude to them, but he does not even record, as might have been expected, the fact that they had been written. He omits facts which we find in them, and which would have been important as materials for his history. Whatever coincidences the two may present are conspicuously undesigned. So far as they do agree and throw light upon each other, they supply a reciprocal testimony each to the trustworthiness of the other.The coincidences which thus present themselves are dealt with in the Notes in this Commentary on the Acts and the Epistles, and to state them with any fulness here would be to re-write the Horœ Paulinœ with numerous additions. It will, however, it is believed, be of some advantage to the student to have at least the more important of these coincidences brought under his notice in such a form as to admit of examination without turning to other books, and the following table has accordingly been drawn up with that view. It has been thought expedient to present them as they occur in the Epistles of St. Paul, and to take those Epistles in their chronological order.<a href="/1_thessalonians/2-2.htm" title="But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God with much contention.">1Thessalonians 2:2</a>; <a href="/1_thessalonians/3-4.htm" title="For truly, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and you know.">1Thessalonians 3:4</a>St. Paul’s sufferings at Philippi<a href="/context/acts/16-22.htm" title="And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.">Acts 16:22-23</a>.<a href="/1_thessalonians/3-4.htm" title="For truly, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and you know.">1Thessalonians 3:4</a>St. Paul’s sufferings at Thessalonica<a href="/acts/17-5.htm" title="But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took to them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.">Acts 17:5</a>.<a href="/1_thessalonians/2-18.htm" title="Why we would have come to you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.">1Thessalonians 2:18</a>; <a href="/1_thessalonians/3-1.htm" title="Why when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;">1Thessalonians 3:1</a>; <a href="/context/1_thessalonians/3-6.htm" title="But now when Timotheus came from you to us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that you have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you:">1Thessalonians 3:6-7</a>St. Paul left at Athens alone<a href="/acts/17-16.htm" title="Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.">Acts 17:16</a>.<a href="/1_thessalonians/2-14.htm" title="For you, brothers, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:">1Thessalonians 2:14</a>Sufferings of the Thessalonians from their own countrymen<a href="/acts/17-5.htm" title="But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took to them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.">Acts 17:5</a>.<a href="/1_thessalonians/1-9.htm" title="For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;">1Thessalonians 1:9</a>Thessalonian converts turning from idols<a href="/acts/17-4.htm" title="And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.">Acts 17:4</a>.<a href="/context/1_thessalonians/2-9.htm" title="For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.">1Thessalonians 2:9-10</a>; <a href="/1_thessalonians/4-11.htm" title="And that you study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;">1Thessalonians 4:11</a>St. Paul’s precept and practice in working<a href="/acts/18-3.htm" title="And because he was of the same craft, he stayed with them, and worked: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.">Acts 18:3</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/2-1.htm" title="And I, brothers, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God.">1Corinthians 2:1</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/4-19.htm" title="But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.">1Corinthians 4:19</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/16-5.htm" title="Now I will come to you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.">1Corinthians 16:5</a>St. Paul’s two visits to Corinth<a href="/acts/18-1.htm" title="After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;">Acts 18:1</a>; <a href="/acts/20-2.htm" title="And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece,">Acts 20:2</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/15-32.htm" title="If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.">1Corinthians 15:32</a>Fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus<a href="/context/acts/19-29.htm" title="And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.">Acts 19:29-30</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/16-19.htm" title="The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.">1Corinthians 16:19</a>“Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord”<a href="/acts/18-18.htm" title="And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brothers, and sailed there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.">Acts 18:18</a>; <a href="/acts/18-20.htm" title="When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;">Acts 18:20</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/16-9.htm" title="For a great door and effectual is opened to me, and there are many adversaries.">1Corinthians 16:9</a>The “effectual door” opened at Ephesus<a href="/acts/19-20.htm" title="So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.">Acts 19:20</a>; <a href="/acts/19-26.htm" title="Moreover you see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:">Acts 19:26</a>.The many adversaries<a href="/acts/19-9.htm" title="But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.">Acts 19:9</a>; <a href="/acts/19-28.htm" title="And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.">Acts 19:28</a>.<a href="/context/1_corinthians/4-17.htm" title="For this cause have I sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.">1Corinthians 4:17-19</a>Timotheus sent to Corinth from Ephesus<a href="/context/acts/19-21.htm" title="After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.">Acts 19:21-22</a>.<a href="/context/1_corinthians/16-10.htm" title="Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he works the work of the Lord, as I also do.">1Corinthians 16:10-11</a>St. Paul’s doubt as to arrival of Timotheus<a href="/acts/19-22.htm" title="So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered to him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.">Acts 19:22</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/1-12.htm" title="Now this I say, that every one of you said, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.">1Corinthians 1:12</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/3-6.htm" title="I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.">1Corinthians 3:6</a>Work of Apollos at Corinth<a href="/context/acts/18-27.htm" title="And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brothers wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:">Acts 18:27-28</a>.<a href="/context/1_corinthians/4-11.htm" title="Even to this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place;">1Corinthians 4:11-12</a>St. Paul’s working for his bread at Ephesus<a href="/acts/20-34.htm" title="Yes, you yourselves know, that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me.">Acts 20:34</a><a href="/1_corinthians/9-20.htm" title="And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;">1Corinthians 9:20</a>St. Paul’s becoming to Jews as a Jew<a href="/acts/16-3.htm" title="Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.">Acts 16:3</a>; <a href="/acts/18-18.htm" title="And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brothers, and sailed there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.">Acts 18:18</a>; <a href="/context/acts/21-23.htm" title="Do therefore this that we say to you: We have four men which have a vow on them;">Acts 21:23-26</a>.<a href="/context/1_corinthians/1-14.htm" title="I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;">1Corinthians 1:14-17</a>Baptism of Crispus and Gains<a href="/acts/18-8.htm" title="And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.">Acts 18:8</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/16-1.htm" title="Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do you.">1Corinthians 16:1</a>Collection for the saints in Galatia<a href="/acts/18-23.htm" title="And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.">Acts 18:23</a>.<a href="/context/1_corinthians/5-7.htm" title="Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:">1Corinthians 5:7-8</a>Allusion to the Passover<a href="/1_corinthians/16-8.htm" title="But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.">1Corinthians 16:8</a>“Tarrying at Ephesus till Pentecost”<a href="/acts/19-22.htm" title="So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered to him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.">Acts 19:22</a>; <a href="/acts/20-3.htm" title="And there stayed three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.">Acts 20:3</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/1-1.htm" title="Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,">1Corinthians 1:1</a>Sosthenes with St. Paul<a href="/context/acts/18-12.htm" title="And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,">Acts 18:12-17</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/16-6.htm" title="And it may be that I will abide, yes, and winter with you, that you may bring me on my journey wherever I go.">1Corinthians 16:6</a>St. Paul’s wintering at Corinth<a href="/acts/20-3.htm" title="And there stayed three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.">Acts 20:3</a>; <a href="/acts/20-6.htm" title="And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to them to Troas in five days; where we stayed seven days.">Acts 20:6</a>.<a href="/1_corinthians/16-5.htm" title="Now I will come to you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.">1Corinthians 16:5</a>St. Paul’sjourney through Macedonia<a href="/acts/20-1.htm" title="And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called to him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia.">Acts 20:1</a>.<a href="/2_corinthians/1-16.htm" title="And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia to you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.">2Corinthians 1:16</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/2-13.htm" title="I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from there into Macedonia.">2Corinthians 2:13</a>St. Paul’s journey through Macedonia<a href="/acts/20-1.htm" title="And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called to him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia.">Acts 20:1</a>.<a href="/context/2_corinthians/11-32.htm" title="In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:">2Corinthians 11:32-33</a>St. Paul’s escape from Damascus<a href="/context/acts/9-23.htm" title="And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:">Acts 9:23-25</a>.<a href="/2_corinthians/1-8.htm" title="For we would not, brothers, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life:">2Corinthians 1:8</a>The trouble that came on him in Asia<a href="/context/acts/19-29.htm" title="And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.">Acts 19:29-30</a>.<a href="/2_corinthians/11-9.htm" title="And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brothers which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so will I keep myself.">2Corinthians 11:9</a>Supplies from the brethren from Macedonia<a href="/acts/18-1.htm" title="After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;">Acts 18:1</a>; <a href="/acts/18-5.htm" title="And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.">Acts 18:5</a>.<a href="/2_corinthians/1-19.htm" title="For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yes and no, but in him was yes.">2Corinthians 1:19</a>Silvanus and Timotheus as St. Paul’s fellow workers at Corinth<a href="/acts/18-5.htm" title="And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.">Acts 18:5</a>.<a href="/2_corinthians/11-25.htm" title="Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;">2Corinthians 11:25</a>“Once was I stoned”<a href="/acts/14-19.htm" title="And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.">Acts 14:19</a>.<a href="/2_corinthians/3-1.htm" title="Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, letters of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?">2Corinthians 3:1</a>Letters of commendation<a href="/acts/18-27.htm" title="And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brothers wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:">Acts 18:27</a>.<a href="/context/2_corinthians/10-14.htm" title="For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not to you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:">2Corinthians 10:14-16</a>Corinth as then the limit of St. Paul’s labours<a href="/acts/18-18.htm" title="And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brothers, and sailed there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.">Acts 18:18</a>.<a href="/context/galatians/1-17.htm" title="Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.">Galatians 1:17-18</a>His visit to St. Peter and James the Lord’s brother, after his conversion<a href="/acts/9-28.htm" title="And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.">Acts 9:28</a>.<a href="/galatians/2-1.htm" title="Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.">Galatians 2:1</a>The journey with Barnabas to Jerusalem<a href="/acts/15-2.htm" title="When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.">Acts 15:2</a>.<a href="/galatians/2-13.htm" title="And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; so that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.">Galatians 2:13</a>Barnabas with St. Paul at Antioch<a href="/context/acts/15-35.htm" title="Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.">Acts 15:35-37</a>.<a href="/galatians/5-11.htm" title="And I, brothers, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offense of the cross ceased.">Galatians 5:11</a>Persecutions from the Jews<a href="/acts/13-49.htm" title="And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.">Acts 13:49</a>; <a href="/context/acts/14-1.htm" title="And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.">Acts 14:1-19</a>; <a href="/context/acts/17-4.htm" title="And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.">Acts 17:4-13</a>; <a href="/acts/18-12.htm" title="And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,">Acts 18:12</a>.<a href="/galatians/1-18.htm" title="Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days.">Galatians 1:18</a>The shortness of the first visit to Jerusalem<a href="/acts/22-18.htm" title="And saw him saying to me, Make haste, and get you quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive your testimony concerning me.">Acts 22:18</a>.<a href="/galatians/2-9.htm" title="And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go to the heathen, and they to the circumcision.">Galatians 2:9</a>The authority of James, the brother of the Lord<a href="/acts/12-17.htm" title="But he, beckoning to them with the hand to hold their peace, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go show these things to James, and to the brothers. And he departed, and went into another place.">Acts 12:17</a>; <a href="/acts/15-13.htm" title="And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brothers, listen to me:">Acts 15:13</a>; <a href="/acts/21-18.htm" title="And the day following Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present.">Acts 21:18</a>.<a href="/context/romans/15-25.htm" title="But now I go to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.">Romans 15:25-26</a>St. Paul’s journey to Jerusalem<a href="/acts/20-6.htm" title="And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to them to Troas in five days; where we stayed seven days.">Acts 20:6</a>; <a href="/acts/24-17.htm" title="Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings.">Acts 24:17</a>.<a href="/context/romans/16-21.htm" title="Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.">Romans 16:21-23</a>Salutations from Sosipater, Timotheus, and Gains<a href="/acts/20-4.htm" title="And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.">Acts 20:4</a>.<a href="/romans/16-3.htm" title="Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:">Romans 16:3</a>Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth and Rome<a href="/acts/18-2.htm" title="And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came to them.">Acts 18:2</a>.<a href="/romans/16-27.htm" title="To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.">Romans 16:27</a>Phœbe of Cenchreæ<a href="/acts/18-18.htm" title="And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brothers, and sailed there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.">Acts 18:18</a>.<a href="/romans/1-13.htm" title="Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that oftentimes I purposed to come to you, (but was let till now,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.">Romans 1:13</a>; <a href="/romans/15-23.htm" title="But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you;">Romans 15:23</a>St. Paul’s desire to visit Rome<a href="/acts/19-21.htm" title="After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.">Acts 19:21</a>.<a href="/romans/15-19.htm" title="Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about to Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.">Romans 15:19</a>The gospel preached in Illyricum<a href="/acts/20-2.htm" title="And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece,">Acts 20:2</a>.<a href="/romans/15-30.htm" title="Now I beseech you, brothers, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;">Romans 15:30</a>Apprehension of coming danger<a href="/context/acts/20-22.htm" title="And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:">Acts 20:22-23</a>.<a href="/philippians/2-19.htm" title="But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly to you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.">Philippians 2:19</a>Timotheus known to the Philippians<a href="/acts/16-4.htm" title="And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.">Acts 16:4</a>; <a href="/acts/17-14.htm" title="And then immediately the brothers sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus stayed there still.">Acts 17:14</a>.<a href="/context/philippians/1-29.htm" title="For to you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;">Philippians 1:29-30</a>; <a href="/context/philippians/2-1.htm" title="If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,">Philippians 2:1-2</a>St. Paul’s sufferings at Philippi<a href="/acts/16-22.htm" title="And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.">Acts 16:22</a>.<a href="/context/philippians/4-2.htm" title="I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.">Philippians 4:2-3</a>Euodia, Syntyche, and the other women at Philippi<a href="/acts/16-13.htm" title="And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spoke to the women which resorted thither.">Acts 16:13</a>.<a href="/ephesians/6-21.htm" title="But that you also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:">Ephesians 6:21</a>Tychicus as known to the Ephesians<a href="/acts/20-4.htm" title="And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.">Acts 20:4</a>.<a href="/context/ephesians/6-19.htm" title="And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,">Ephesians 6:19-20</a>St. Paul as an ambassador in a chain<a href="/context/acts/28-16.htm" title="And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.">Acts 28:16-20</a>.<a href="/colossians/4-10.htm" title=" Aristarchus my fellow prisoner salutes you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom you received commandments: if he come to you, receive him;)">Colossians 4:10</a>Mark as sister’s son (better, cousin) to Barnabas<a href="/context/acts/15-37.htm" title="And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.">Acts 15:37-40</a>; <a href="/acts/12-12.htm" title="And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.">Acts 12:12</a>.Aristarchus, St. Paul’s fellow-prisoner<a href="/acts/19-29.htm" title="And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.">Acts 19:29</a>; <a href="/acts/27-2.htm" title="And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.">Acts 27:2</a>.<a href="/1_timothy/5-9.htm" title="Let not a widow be taken into the number under three score years old, having been the wife of one man.">1Timothy 5:9</a>Provision for the maintenance of widows<a href="/acts/6-1.htm" title="And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.">Acts 6:1</a>.<a href="/context/1_timothy/1-13.htm" title="Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.">1Timothy 1:13-16</a>The persecutor converted<a href="/acts/8-3.htm" title="As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.">Acts 8:3</a>; <a href="/context/acts/9-1.htm" title="And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,">Acts 9:1-10</a>.<a href="/context/1_timothy/1-6.htm" title="From which some having swerved have turned aside to vain jangling;">1Timothy 1:6-7</a>; <a href="/context/1_timothy/4-1.htm" title="Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;">1Timothy 4:1-4</a>State of the Church at Ephesus<a href="/context/acts/20-29.htm" title="For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.">Acts 20:29-30</a>.<a href="/titus/3-13.htm" title="Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting to them.">Titus 3:13</a>Apollos in Crete<a href="/acts/18-24.htm" title="And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.">Acts 18:24</a>.<a href="/2_timothy/1-16.htm" title="The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:">2Timothy 1:16</a>Onesiphorus and St. Paul’s chain<a href="/acts/28-20.htm" title="For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.">Acts 28:20</a>.<a href="/2_timothy/4-20.htm" title="Erastus stayed at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.">2Timothy 4:20</a>Trophimus left at Miletus<a href="/acts/20-4.htm" title="And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.">Acts 20:4</a>.<a href="/context/2_timothy/1-4.htm" title="Greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy;">2Timothy 1:4-5</a>The mother of Timotheus<a href="/acts/16-1.htm" title="Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:">Acts 16:1</a>.<a href="/2_timothy/3-15.htm" title="And that from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.">2Timothy 3:15</a>His education in the Holy Scriptures<a href="/acts/16-2.htm" title="Which was well reported of by the brothers that were at Lystra and Iconium.">Acts 16:2</a>.<a href="/context/2_timothy/3-10.htm" title="But you have fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience,">2Timothy 3:10-11</a>Persecutions at Antioch, Iconium, LystraActs 13, 14<a href="/2_timothy/4-11.htm" title="Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.">2Timothy 4:11</a>Mark profitable in ministering<a href="/acts/13-5.htm" title="And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.">Acts 13:5</a>.<a href="/2_timothy/4-14.htm" title="Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:">2Timothy 4:14</a>Alexander the coppersmith<a href="/acts/19-33.htm" title="And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defense to the people.">Acts 19:33</a>.It ought to be stated that the comparison of the Acts and the Pauline Epistles brings to light also some real or apparent difficulties. Of these the most conspicuous are:—(1)The omission in <a href="/context/acts/9-19.htm" title="And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.">Acts 9:19-23</a> of the journey to Arabia mentioned in <a href="/galatians/1-17.htm" title="Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.">Galatians 1:17</a>.(2)The omission in <a href="/context/galatians/2-1.htm" title="Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.">Galatians 2:1-10</a> of any notice of the journey to Jerusalem in <a href="/acts/11-30.htm" title="Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.">Acts 11:30</a>, or of the decrees of the council of Apostles and elders in Acts 15(3)The omission in the Acts of any record of the dispute between St. Peter and St. Paul at Antioch (<a href="/galatians/2-11.htm" title="But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.">Galatians 2:11</a>).These are examined in detail in the Notes on the several passages connected with them.This method of inquiry may be extended, with similar results, to the Epistle to the Hebrews, and to the two Epistles of St. Peter. It is in the account of Apollos, in <a href="/context/acts/18-24.htm" title="And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.">Acts 18:24-28</a>, that we get what many critics since Luther’s time have looked upon as the only satisfactory explanation of the phenomena presented by the first of these Epistles. Assuming the authorship of Apollos as at least a probable hypothesis, the spiritual condition described in <a href="/hebrews/5-11.htm" title="Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing.">Hebrews 5:11</a>; <a href="/hebrews/6-2.htm" title="Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.">Hebrews 6:2</a>, as that of some of those who had been under the teaching of the writer, may be compared with that of the twelve disciples at Ephesus who knew only the baptism of John (<a href="/context/acts/19-1.htm" title="And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,">Acts 19:1-7</a>). In the reference to the “saints of Italy” in <a href="/hebrews/13-24.htm" title="Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.">Hebrews 13:24</a>—apparently as distinct from Roman Christians—we may, perhaps, see a reference to the Church of Puteoli, the only Italian town, besides Rome, mentioned in the Acts as containing “brethren” (<a href="/acts/28-14.htm" title="Where we found brothers, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.">Acts 28:14</a>).I note, further, a few coincidences of some interest between the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Peter:—<a href="/1_peter/1-11.htm" title="Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.">1Peter 1:11</a>The tone in which prophecy is spoken of, as compared with<a href="/context/acts/2-16.htm" title="But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;">Acts 2:16-17</a>; <a href="/context/acts/2-30.htm" title="Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;">Acts 2:30-31</a>.<a href="/1_peter/1-17.htm" title="And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:">1Peter 1:17</a>God no respecter of persons<a href="/acts/10-34.htm" title="Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:">Acts 10:34</a>.<a href="/1_peter/1-22.htm" title="Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned love of the brothers, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently:">1Peter 1:22</a>Purity by faith and obedience<a href="/acts/15-9.htm" title="And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.">Acts 15:9</a>.<a href="/1_peter/2-7.htm" title="To you therefore which believe he is precious: but to them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,">1Peter 2:7</a>The stone which the builders rejected<a href="/acts/4-11.htm" title="This is the stone which was set at nothing of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.">Acts 4:11</a>.<a href="/1_peter/4-16.htm" title="Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.">1Peter 4:16</a>The name of Christian<a href="/acts/11-26.htm" title="And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.">Acts 11:26</a>; <a href="/acts/26-28.htm" title="Then Agrippa said to Paul, Almost you persuade me to be a Christian.">Acts 26:28</a>.<a href="/1_peter/5-12.htm" title="By Silvanus, a faithful brother to you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand.">1Peter 5:12</a>Mention of Silvanus as accounting for St. Peter’s knowledge of St. Paul’s Epistles (<a href="/2_peter/3-15.htm" title="And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given to him has written to you;">2Peter 3:15</a>)<a href="/acts/15-32.htm" title="And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brothers with many words, and confirmed them.">Acts 15:32</a>; <a href="/acts/15-40.htm" title="And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brothers to the grace of God.">Acts 15:40</a>.<a href="/1_peter/5-13.htm" title="The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you; and so does Marcus my son.">1Peter 5:13</a>“Marcus my son”<a href="/acts/12-12.htm" title="And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.">Acts 12:12</a>.(3) In relation to External History.—It is obvious that the Acts of the Apostles take a wider range, both in space and time, than any other narrative book of the New Testament. They cover a period of more than thirty years. The scene is shifted from Jerusalem to Samaria, Cæsarea, Damascus, Antioch, Cyprus, Asia Minor, Greece, and finally ends in Italy. The writer is constantly brought across some of the events of contemporary history, and the scenes which earlier or later travellers have described. Does he show himself in these respects an accurate observer, faithful in his reports, correct in his language? Does he fall into the blunders which would be natural in a man writing a fictitious narrative a century or so after the events which he professes to relate? For a full answer to these questions the reader is referred to the Notes that follow; but it may be well to indicate briefly some of the more important of these points of contact with the contemporary history of the outer world.<a href="/acts/5-37.htm" title="After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.">Acts 5:37</a>.Judas of Galilee.<a href="/acts/6-9.htm" title="Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.">Acts 6:9</a>.The synagogue of the Libertines.<a href="/acts/8-9.htm" title="But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:">Acts 8:9</a>.Simon the sorcerer.<a href="/acts/8-27.htm" title="And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,">Acts 8:27</a>.Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.<a href="/acts/9-36.htm" title="Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and giving of alms which she did.">Acts 9:36</a>.Dorcas.<a href="/acts/10-1.htm" title="There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,">Acts 10:1</a>.The centurion of the Italian band.<a href="/acts/11-26.htm" title="And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.">Acts 11:26</a>.The name of Christian at Antioch.<a href="/acts/11-28.htm" title="And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.">Acts 11:28</a>.The famine under Claudius.<a href="/acts/12-23.htm" title="And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.">Acts 12:23</a>.Death of Herod Agrippa I.<a href="/acts/13-7.htm" title="Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.">Acts 13:7</a>.Sergius Paulus of Cyprus.<a href="/acts/14-11.htm" title="And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.">Acts 14:11</a>.Paul and Barnabas taken for Zeus and Hermes.<a href="/acts/16-12.htm" title="And from there to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.">Acts 16:12</a>.Philippi a colonia.<a href="/acts/16-14.htm" title="And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul.">Acts 16:14</a>.The purple-seller of Thyatira.<a href="/acts/16-16.htm" title="And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:">Acts 16:16</a>.The damsel with a Python spirit.<a href="/acts/16-22.htm" title="And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.">Acts 16:22</a>.The strategi of Philippi.<a href="/acts/16-37.htm" title="But Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privately? no truly; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.">Acts 16:37</a>.St. Paul’s Roman citizenship,<a href="/acts/17-6.htm" title="And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brothers to the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come here also;">Acts 17:6</a>.The politarchs of Thessalonica.<a href="/acts/17-19.htm" title="And they took him, and brought him to Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof you speak, is?">Acts 17:19</a>.The court of the Areopagus.<a href="/acts/17-21.htm" title="(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)">Acts 17:21</a>.Character of the Athenians.<a href="/acts/17-28.htm" title="For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.">Acts 17:28</a>.Quotation from Aratus.<a href="/acts/18-2.htm" title="And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came to them.">Acts 18:2</a>.Jews banished from Rome by Claudius.<a href="/acts/18-12.htm" title="And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,">Acts 18:12</a>.Gallio pro-consul of Achaia.<a href="/acts/19-9.htm" title="But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.">Acts 19:9</a>.The school of Tyrannus.<a href="/acts/19-24.htm" title="For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain to the craftsmen;">Acts 19:24</a>.The silver shrines of Artemis.<a href="/context/acts/19-27.htm" title="So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nothing; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships.">Acts 19:27-29</a>.The temple and theatre at Ephesus.<a href="/context/acts/19-31.htm" title="And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent to him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.">Acts 19:31-35</a>.The Asiarchs and town-clerk of Ephesus.<a href="/context/acts/19-38.htm" title="Why if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them accuse one another.">Acts 19:38-39</a>.The pro-consuls and the lawful assembly.<a href="/acts/21-38.htm" title="Are not you that Egyptian, which before these days made an uproar, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?">Acts 21:38</a>.The Egyptian rebel.<a href="/acts/22-28.htm" title="And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.">Acts 22:28</a>.St. Paul’s Roman citizenship.<a href="/acts/23-2.htm" title="And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.">Acts 23:2</a>.The high priest Ananias.<a href="/acts/23-24.htm" title="And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe to Felix the governor.">Acts 23:24</a>.Felix the governor.<a href="/acts/24-24.htm" title="And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.">Acts 24:24</a>.Drusilla.<a href="/acts/24-27.htm" title="But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix' room: and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.">Acts 24:27</a>.Porcius Festus.<a href="/acts/25-13.htm" title="And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to salute Festus.">Acts 25:13</a>.Agrippa and Bernice.<a href="/acts/25-11.htm" title="For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.">Acts 25:11</a>.Appeal to Cæsar.Acts 27The details of the narrative throughout.<a href="/acts/28-7.htm" title="In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.">Acts 28:7</a>.The “chief man” of Melita.<a href="/acts/28-15.htm" title="And from there, when the brothers heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.">Acts 28:15</a>.Appii Forum and the Three Taverns.Under this head also it is right to notice that which appears to make against, rather than for, the credibility of the narrative, and I accordingly name the chronological difficulty connected with the name of Theudas in Gamaliel’s speech (<a href="/acts/5-36.htm" title="For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nothing.">Acts 5:36</a>).(4) Internal Evidence of Credibility.—The internal consistency of any book is not necessarily evidence of more than the skill of the writer. Every writer of fiction aims more or less at producing the impression of verisimilitude by touches that have the effect of coincidences between one part of the narrative and another; and the art that conceals art will produce, according to the skill of the author, the impression that the coincidences are undesigned. On the other hand, we feel, as we read some stories, that they contain, in the naturalness of their style, the absence of any sensational dove-tailing of incidents, primâ facie testimony to their own veracity. And it is submitted to the reader whether instances such as the following may not fairly claim consideration, as coming under the latter category rather than the former.(1)Hostility of the high priests, as Sadducees, to the preaching of the resurrection (<a href="/context/acts/4-1.htm" title="And as they spoke to the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came on them,">Acts 4:1-2</a>; <a href="/acts/5-17.htm" title="Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,">Acts 5:17</a>).(2)Barnabas of Cyprus going twice to his own country (<a href="/acts/4-36.htm" title="And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,">Acts 4:36</a>; <a href="/acts/13-4.htm" title="So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus.">Acts 13:4</a>; <a href="/acts/15-39.htm" title="And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed to Cyprus;">Acts 15:39</a>).(3)The complaints of the Hellenistae (Grecians), leading to the election of seven men with Greek names (<a href="/context/acts/6-1.htm" title="And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.">Acts 6:1-5</a>).(4)The Cilicians disputing with Stephen (<a href="/acts/6-9.htm" title="Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.">Acts 6:9</a>). The young man named Saul (<a href="/acts/7-58.htm" title="And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.">Acts 7:58</a>); afterwards described as of Tarsus (<a href="/acts/9-11.htm" title="And the Lord said to him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prays,">Acts 9:11</a>).(5)Philip’s arrival at Cæsarea (<a href="/acts/8-40.htm" title="But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.">Acts 8:40</a>). No further mention of him till we find him again at Cæsarea (<a href="/acts/21-8.htm" title="And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came to Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and stayed with him.">Acts 21:8</a>).(6)Mark’s return to Jerusalem (<a href="/acts/13-13.htm" title="Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.">Acts 13:13</a>) explained by his mother’s being there (<a href="/acts/12-12.htm" title="And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.">Acts 12:12</a>) and the pressure of the famine (<a href="/acts/11-28.htm" title="And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.">Acts 11:28</a>).(7)Agabus prophesying the famine (<a href="/acts/11-28.htm" title="And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.">Acts 11:28</a>); again appearing in the character of a prophet sixteen years later (<a href="/acts/21-10.htm" title="And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.">Acts 21:10</a>).(8)The speech of Lycaonia as accounting for the surprise of Paul and Barnabas at the preparations for sacrifice (<a href="/context/acts/14-11.htm" title="And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.">Acts 14:11-14</a>).(9)Conversion of Samaritans (<a href="/acts/8-14.htm" title="Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John:">Acts 8:14</a>). Incidental mention of the brethren in Samaria (<a href="/acts/15-3.htm" title="And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy to all the brothers.">Acts 15:3</a>).(10)Men of Cyprus and Cyrene found the Church at Antioch (<a href="/acts/11-20.htm" title="And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spoke to the Grecians, preaching the LORD Jesus.">Acts 11:20</a>). Barnabas of Cyprus sent to carry on the work (<a href="/acts/11-22.htm" title="Then tidings of these things came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.">Acts 11:22</a>). Lucius of Cyrene among the prophets of the Church (<a href="/acts/13-1.htm" title="Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.">Acts 13:1</a>).(11)Philippi a colonia (<a href="/acts/16-12.htm" title="And from there to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.">Acts 16:12</a>). Philippians speak of themselves as Romans (<a href="/acts/16-21.htm" title="And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.">Acts 16:21</a>).(12)Trophimus the Ephesian (<a href="/acts/21-29.htm" title="(For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)">Acts 21:29</a>) recognised by Jews of Asia, i.e., from Ephesus and its neighbourhood.The list might, it is believed, be easily enlarged, but these will be sufficient to put the student on the track of a method which he can apply almost indefinitely in other instances for himself.[2][2] It lies on the surface that I am largely indebted in this part of my work to Paley’s Horœ Paulinœ. I wish also to acknowledge my obligation to Mr. Birks’s Horœ Apostolicœ.VII. Sources of the History.—It will be assumed here that the use of the first person in parts of the history implies that the writer was then the companion of the Apostle whose labours he records. We have seen, in the Introduction to St. Luke, how far the facts that are thus implied brought the writer into contact with persons who could give him trustworthy information as to what he relates in his Gospel; it remains to be seen how far they point to the probable sources of his knowledge as to the events recorded in the Acts.Acts 1-5. Philip the Evangelist (<a href="/context/acts/21-8.htm" title="And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came to Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and stayed with him.">Acts 21:8-10</a>), or Mnason of Cyprus (<a href="/acts/21-16.htm" title="There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.">Acts 21:16</a>), or others—and, in particular, the “women” of <a href="/luke/8-2.htm" title="And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,">Luke 8:2</a>—at Jerusalem.Acts 6, 7. Philip or St. Paul.Acts 8. Philip.Acts 9. St. Paul.Acts 10-11. 18. Philip.<a href="/context/acts/11-19.htm" title="Now they which were scattered abroad on the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but to the Jews only.">Acts 11:19-30</a>. St. Paul, or, probably, personal knowledge gained at Antioch.<a href="/context/acts/12-1.htm" title="Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.">Acts 12:1-19</a>. John surnamed Mark (<a href="/context/colossians/4-10.htm" title=" Aristarchus my fellow prisoner salutes you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom you received commandments: if he come to you, receive him;)">Colossians 4:10-14</a>).<a href="/context/acts/13-1.htm" title="Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.">Acts 13:1-13</a>. St. Paul, or Mark, or Mnason of Cyprus.<a href="/context/acts/13-14.htm" title="But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.">Acts 13:14-52</a>; Acts 14. St. Paul; or, possibly, knowledge gained by Luke in person on his journey to Troas, or afterwards from Timotheus.Acts 15, <a href="/context/acts/16-1.htm" title="Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:">Acts 16:1-7</a>. St. Paul, or, probably, personal knowledge, as staying at Antioch, and, possibly, going up to Jerusalem.<a href="/context/acts/16-8.htm" title="And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.">Acts 16:8-40</a>. Personal knowledge.Acts 17, 18. Probable communications from the brethren who came from Philippi to Thessalonica (<a href="/philippians/4-16.htm" title="For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my necessity.">Philippians 4:16</a>), and again to Corinth (<a href="/2_corinthians/11-9.htm" title="And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brothers which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so will I keep myself.">2Corinthians 11:9</a>). General intercourse between the Romans of Philippi and the Roman Jews at Corinth.Acts 19. St. Paul; or possibly Aristarchus and Gaius of Macedonia, or Tyrannus.Acts 20-28. Personal knowledge.Looking to the manner in which the Gospel begins with what has the character of a distinct document, so strongly marked by Hebraisms that it could scarcely have been written by a Greek writer, it is probable that the first five chapters of the Acts may, in like manner, have been incorporated from an earlier document, recording, like the later history of Hegesippus, the history of the Church of Jerusalem with a special fulness. It will, at any rate, be clear that at every step in the narrative we are able, in the Acts, as in the Gospel of the same writer, to point with a very high degree of probability to those who here also were “eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word” (<a href="/luke/1-2.htm" title="Even as they delivered them to us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;">Luke 1:2</a>).VIII. Its Bearing on the Mission - work, Organisation, and Worship of the Church.—(1) Mission-work. It will not, it is believed, be unprofitable to look at the records of the Acts of the Apostles as presenting the type and pattern for all future labours in the work of evangelising the world. It is obvious that the preaching of the Apostles is something very different from that of those who offer to men’s acceptance simply a lofty ideal of virtue or high-toned ethical precepts. The central fact of all their teaching is the resurrection of Christ (<a href="/context/acts/2-32.htm" title="This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.">Acts 2:32-33</a>; <a href="/acts/4-10.htm" title="Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.">Acts 4:10</a>; <a href="/context/acts/10-40.htm" title="Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly;">Acts 10:40-41</a>; <a href="/context/acts/13-32.htm" title="And we declare to you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made to the fathers,">Acts 13:32-37</a>; <a href="/acts/17-31.htm" title="Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.">Acts 17:31</a>; <a href="/acts/26-23.htm" title="That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light to the people, and to the Gentiles.">Acts 26:23</a>). Upon that proclamation of a fact in the past they build their assurance that He will come again as the Judge of the living and the dead (<a href="/acts/3-21.htm" title="Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.">Acts 3:21</a>; <a href="/acts/10-42.htm" title="And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.">Acts 10:42</a>; <a href="/acts/17-31.htm" title="Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.">Acts 17:31</a>); that in the meantime He calls men to repent and believe in Him (<a href="/acts/2-38.htm" title="Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.">Acts 2:38</a>; <a href="/acts/5-31.htm" title="Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.">Acts 5:31</a>; <a href="/acts/10-43.htm" title="To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins.">Acts 10:43</a>; <a href="/context/acts/13-38.htm" title="Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:">Acts 13:38-39</a>; <a href="/acts/14-15.htm" title="And saying, Sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:">Acts 14:15</a>; <a href="/context/acts/17-30.htm" title="And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:">Acts 17:30-31</a>); and that thus they may receive remission of their sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost (<a href="/acts/2-38.htm" title="Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.">Acts 2:38</a>; <a href="/acts/8-15.htm" title="Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:">Acts 8:15</a>; <a href="/acts/10-45.htm" title="And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.">Acts 10:45</a>; <a href="/acts/19-2.htm" title="He said to them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.">Acts 19:2</a>). They are naturally brought into contact, as they preach this gospel, with men of very different habits of thought, varying in their training, their knowledge, and their culture; and they adapt themselves, as far as lies in their power, to all these variations in their hearers. With the Jews of Jerusalem, Antioch in Pisidia, Corinth, and Rome, they draw their arguments almost exclusively from the correspondence between the acts and death and resurrection of Jesus with what had been written in the Law and Prophets as pointing to the coming Christ (<a href="/context/acts/2-14.htm" title="But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said to them, You men of Judaea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known to you, and listen to my words:">Acts 2:14-36</a>; <a href="/context/acts/3-19.htm" title="Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.">Acts 3:19-26</a>; <a href="/context/acts/7-2.htm" title="And he said, Men, brothers, and fathers, listen; The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelled in Charran,">Acts 7:2-53</a>; <a href="/context/acts/13-17.htm" title="The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelled as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.">Acts 13:17-41</a>; <a href="/acts/28-23.htm" title="And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.">Acts 28:23</a>). With peasants, such as those at Lystra, they lay their foundation on what we should call the broad lines of a simple natural theology, and appeal to the goodness of God as manifested in the order of nature, in rain from heaven and fruitful seasons (<a href="/context/acts/14-15.htm" title="And saying, Sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:">Acts 14:15-17</a>). With the Stoics and Epicureans of Athens, St. Paul (he alone, it may be, of the glorious company of the Apostles was fitted for that work) rises to the level of the occasion, and meets the thinkers on their own grounds, appeals to the witness of their own poets, and sets before them what we have ventured to call the outlines of a philosophy at once of worship and of human history (<a href="/context/acts/17-22.htm" title="Then Paul stood in the middle of Mars' hill, and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.">Acts 17:22-31</a>).And it may be noted how carefully in all these cases the preachers abstain from the weapons of terror and of ridicule which men have sometimes used in dealing with the heathen whom they were seeking to convert. There are no statements that the world outside the range of the gospel was sentenced to hopeless condemnation—that the forefathers of those to whom they preached were for ever in the dark prison of Gehenna. They recognised, on the contrary, that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him. (See Note on <a href="/acts/10-35.htm" title="But in every nation he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted with him.">Acts 10:35</a>). They speak of the times of ignorance which God “winked at” (<a href="/acts/17-30.htm" title="And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:">Acts 17:30</a>). They are no “blasphemers” even of the worship which they are seeking to supplant (<a href="/acts/19-37.htm" title="For you have brought here these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.">Acts 19:37</a>). They present the gospel to men’s minds as realising at once the conscious prophecies of Israel and the unconscious prophecies of heathenism. They come, it is true, with some weapons in which modern missionaries are wanting. They claim to work signs and wonders as attestations of their divine mission (<a href="/context/acts/3-6.htm" title="Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.">Acts 3:6-7</a>; <a href="/acts/5-15.htm" title="So that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.">Acts 5:15</a>; <a href="/acts/6-8.htm" title="And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.">Acts 6:8</a>; <a href="/acts/8-13.htm" title="Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.">Acts 8:13</a>; <a href="/context/acts/9-34.htm" title="And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ makes you whole: arise, and make your bed. And he arose immediately.">Acts 9:34-40</a>; <a href="/acts/14-10.htm" title="Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. And he leaped and walked.">Acts 14:10</a>; <a href="/acts/19-12.htm" title="So that from his body were brought to the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.">Acts 19:12</a>; <a href="/context/acts/28-5.htm" title="And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.">Acts 28:5-8</a>); but they lay far less stress on these than on the “demonstration of the Spirit”—the prophecy that reveals the secrets of the heart, the conscious experience of the power of that Spirit to give a new peace and a new purity to souls that had been alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them (<a href="/context/acts/2-38.htm" title="Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.">Acts 2:38-39</a>; <a href="/context/acts/11-17.htm" title="For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did to us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?">Acts 11:17-18</a>; <a href="/context/romans/8-23.htm" title="And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.">Romans 8:23-26</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/2-4.htm" title="And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:">1Corinthians 2:4</a>).(2) Organisation and Worship. And, it may be noted further, they do not rest satisfied with the conversion of individuals as such, nor with leaving with each believer a book or a rule of life for his own personal guidance. Everywhere they seek to organise a society: the “brethren,” the “disciples,” the “saints,” are formed into a church—i.e., an ecclesia, or congregation; and that society receives a distinct and definite constitution. Elders, otherwise known as bishops (<a href="/acts/20-28.htm" title="Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.">Acts 20:28</a>; <a href="/philippians/1-1.htm" title="Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:">Philippians 1:1</a>; <a href="/titus/1-5.htm" title="For this cause left I you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you:">Titus 1:5</a>; <a href="/titus/1-7.htm" title="For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;">Titus 1:7</a>), are appointed in every city (<a href="/acts/11-30.htm" title="Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.">Acts 11:30</a>; <a href="/acts/14-23.htm" title="And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.">Acts 14:23</a>; <a href="/acts/20-17.htm" title="And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.">Acts 20:17</a>), to teach, and preside in worship, and administer the discipline and laws of the congregation. There are ministers or deacons under them, who assist in baptising, in the subordinate offices of worship, in the relief of the sick and poor, and, if they have special gifts, in preaching the gospel to Jews and heathen, and teaching converts also (<a href="/context/acts/6-3.htm" title="Why, brothers, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.">Acts 6:3-6</a>; <a href="/philippians/1-1.htm" title="Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:">Philippians 1:1</a>; <a href="/1_timothy/3-8.htm" title="Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;">1Timothy 3:8</a>). The Apostles appoint both elders and deacons, with the consent—and therefore the implied right of veto—of the congregation, and exercise over them an authority analogous to that of the later bishops (<a href="/acts/14-23.htm" title="And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.">Acts 14:23</a>; <a href="/acts/20-17.htm" title="And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.">Acts 20:17</a>). There is an organisation of the charity of the Church on the basis of systematic almsgiving; and the Apostles, and, in their absence, the bishop-elders of the Church, act, where necessary, with the help of others as representing the laity of the Church, as treasurers and almoners (<a href="/acts/4-37.htm" title="Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.">Acts 4:37</a>; <a href="/acts/5-2.htm" title="And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.">Acts 5:2</a>). The disciples meet to break bread, as their Lord had commanded, on the evening of every day; afterwards, as the Church included men of various classes and employments, on that of the first day of the week—probably, i.e., on Saturday evening (<a href="/acts/2-46.htm" title="And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,">Acts 2:46</a>; <a href="/acts/20-7.htm" title="And on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached to them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.">Acts 20:7</a>); and the history of the institution of what came to be known as the Supper of the Lord formed the centre of the celebration of that feast (<a href="/context/1_corinthians/11-23.htm" title="For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:">1Corinthians 11:23-26</a>). The feast itself was preceded by a solemn blessing, and closed with a solemn thanksgiving. Psalms, hymns, and unpremeditated bursts of praise, chanted in the power of the Spirit, such as those of the gift of tongues, were the chief elements of the service (<a href="/context/acts/4-24.htm" title="And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, you are God, which have made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:">Acts 4:24-30</a>; <a href="/ephesians/5-19.htm" title="Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;">Ephesians 5:19</a>; <a href="/colossians/3-16.htm" title=" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.">Colossians 3:16</a>). The right of utterance was not denied to any man (women even seem at first to have been admitted to the same right; <a href="/acts/21-9.htm" title="And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.">Acts 21:9</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/11-5.htm" title="But every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.">1Corinthians 11:5</a>) who possessed the necessary gifts (<a href="/context/1_corinthians/14-26.htm" title="How is it then, brothers? when you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to edifying.">1Corinthians 14:26-33</a>) and was ready to submit them to the control of the presiding elder or Apostle. There were in the unwritten traditions of the Church; in its oral teaching as to our Lord’s life and teaching (<a href="/1_corinthians/11-23.htm" title="For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:">1Corinthians 11:23</a>; <a href="/context/1_corinthians/15-1.htm" title="Moreover, brothers, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand;">1Corinthians 15:1-8</a>); as in its rules of discipline and worship (<a href="/2_thessalonians/2-15.htm" title="Therefore, brothers, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or our letter.">2Thessalonians 2:15</a>; <a href="/2_thessalonians/3-6.htm" title="Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.">2Thessalonians 3:6</a>); in the “faithful sayings” which were received as axioms of its faith (<a href="/1_timothy/1-15.htm" title="This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.">1Timothy 1:15</a>; <a href="/1_timothy/4-9.htm" title="This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.">1Timothy 4:9</a>; <a href="/2_timothy/2-11.htm" title="It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:">2Timothy 2:11</a>; <a href="/titus/3-8.htm" title="This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that you affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.">Titus 3:8</a>), the germs at once of the creeds, the canons, the liturgies, the systematic theology of the future. It is, lastly, instructive and suggestive to note that throughout the history there is no record of any effort to set apart a separate place of worship for the members of the new society. They meet in private houses (<a href="/acts/2-46.htm" title="And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,">Acts 2:46</a>; <a href="/acts/20-8.htm" title="And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.">Acts 20:8</a>; <a href="/romans/16-5.htm" title="Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ.">Romans 16:5</a>; <a href="/romans/16-15.htm" title="Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them.">Romans 16:15</a>; <a href="/romans/16-23.htm" title="Gaius my host, and of the whole church, salutes you. Erastus the chamberlain of the city salutes you, and Quartus a brother.">Romans 16:23</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/16-19.htm" title="The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.">1Corinthians 16:19</a>), or in a hired class-room (<a href="/acts/19-9.htm" title="But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.">Acts 19:9</a>), as opportunities present themselves. There would apparently have been no difficulty in their claiming the privilege which Roman rulers conceded freely to other Jews and proselytes, of erecting a synagogue of their own; but they left this to come in due course afterwards. Their own work was of a different and higher kind. They were anxious rather to found and edify the society which, as built of “living stones,” was to be the temple of the living God, than, in the modern sense of the term, to be the builders of churches.IX. Its Bearing on the Church History of the Future.—Nor is the record which we owe to St. Luke less instructive considered as the first volume of the history of Christendom. Fairly considered, while it brings before us the picture of primitive Christianity as a pattern to be followed in its essential features, it is as far as possible from presenting it as a golden age of unalloyed and unapproachable perfection. It tells us of men who were of like passions with ourselves, not free from the bitterness of personal quarrels (<a href="/acts/15-39.htm" title="And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed to Cyprus;">Acts 15:39</a>), or from controversies in which party was arrayed against party on a question on which each held that it was contending for a vital truth (<a href="/context/acts/15-1.htm" title="And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brothers, and said, Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved.">Acts 15:1-5</a>). It records, as if with an unconscious prevision of future? controversies, how that dispute ended in an amicable compromise, each party making concessions, within certain well-defined limits, to its opponents, neither insisting on what an inexorable logic might have looked on as the necessary conclusion from its premises (<a href="/context/acts/15-23.htm" title="And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brothers send greeting to the brothers which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.">Acts 15:23-30</a>). The writer tends, partly by his natural instincts, partly of deliberate purpose, to dwell on the points of agreement between men rather than on their points of difference; to bring out the good which was to be found in men of different degrees of culture and very varied training. Peter, James, Apollos, Paul, are not for him what they were for so many others—leaders of parties, rivals for allegiance. He is able to recognise in each and all men who are ministers of Christ, fitted for the work of that ministry by the gift of the Holy Ghost. And in striking contrast to the martyrologists and other annalists of the Church who followed him, he avoids what we may call the sensational element of history; does not dwell (with the one marked exception of St. Stephen) on the deaths and sufferings of the disciples; understates the work, the hardships, and the perils of the Apostle who is the chief figure in his history; aims rather at presenting the results of the actual contest between the new and the old societies, now favourable and now quite otherwise, than at representing the two as in irreconcilable enmity. There is, so to speak, a hopefulness and healthiness of tone, which contrasts favourably with that of later writers after the sword of systematic persecution had been unsheathed, or even in some measure with that of the later writings of the New Testament, such as the Epistles of St. Peter and the Apocalypse, and which may fairly be allowed some weight as evidence for the early date of its composition.CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF APOSTOLIC HISTORY.It will, it is believed, be helpful to the reader to have before him something like a general survey of the history of the Apostolic Age, indicating, at least approximately, the probable succession of events, and the relation which they bore to what then occupied the minds of men as the prominent facts in the history of the world in which they lived; and with this view the following Table has been compiled. Where the dates are uncertain, and have therefore been variously placed, the doubt is indicated by a note of interrogation (?).A.D.EMPERORS.APOSTOLIC HISTORY.CIVIL RULERS.HIGH PRIESTS.CONTEMPORARY EVENTS.A.D.28Tiberius, from A.D. 14.The Day of Pentecost, May (?). (Other dates, varying from A. D. 30-33, have been assigned for this.)Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judæa from A.D. 26.Caiaphas from A.D. 25, son-in-law of Annas, or Ananus.282929303031Death of Sejanus.3132The growth of the Church as described in Acts 2-5. may be referred to this period, but there are no data for going further into detail.Tiberius at Capreæ. New Sibylline books brought under notice of Senate.3233Drusus, son of Germanicus, starved to death3334Vitellius, Prefect of Syria.Phœnix reported to have been seen in Egypt.3435Vitellius in Mesopotamia.3536Martyrdom of Stephen (?).Philo at Alexandria.3637Caligula.Peter and John in Samaria. Conversion of Saul.Herod Agrippa I.Jonathan, son of Ananus.Aretas in possession of Damascus.3738Conversion of Cornelius. Saul at Damascus.Theophilus, son of Ananus.Philo’s mission to Rome.3839Saul at Damascus.Herod Antipas goes to Rome, and is banished to Gaul. Birth of Lucan.3940Paul at Jerusalem and Tarsus.Petronius, Prefect of Syria.Caligula orders his statue to be set up in the Temple of Jerusalem. Philo at Rome.4041Claudius.Barnabas sent to Antioch. See of Rome founded by St. Peter (??).Simon Cantheras.Birth of Titus.4142Paul at Antioch. Disciples called Christians.Matthias, son of Ananus.Herod Agrippa made King of Judæa by Claudius.4243Paul and Barnabas go to Jerusalem. The Gospel according to St. Matthew (??).Elionæus, son of Cantharas.Claudius conquers Britain.4344Death of James the son of Zebedee. Peter imprisoned.Cuspius Fadus, Procurator of Judæa.Death of Herod Agrippa at Cæsarea. Plautius in Britain.4445Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus. Epistle of St. James (?).Joseph, son of Canis.Apollonius of Tyana in India and Persia.4546Paul and Barnabas in Pisidia and Lycaonia.Tiberius Alexander, Procurator of Judæa.4047Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch.Ventidius Cumanus, Procurator of Judæa.Ananias, son of Nebedius.Ludi sœculares at Rome. Plautius returns from Britain.4748Death of Messalina. Claudius under the influence of Narcissus and Pallas.4849Paul’s dispute with Peter (??).Herod Agrippa II., King of Chalcis.Herod. Agrippa II. made King of Chalcis. Seneca appointed as Nero’s tutor. Jews banished from Rome.4950Council at Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas return with Silas to Antioch.Caractacus captive in Rome. Foundation of Cologne by Agrippina.5051Paul and Silas start on another mission. Paul’s dispute with Peter (?).Felix, Procurator of Judæa.Burrus made Prefect of the Praetorian Guards. Astrologers expelled from Italy.5152Paul at Philippi, Thessalonica, Berœa, Athens, Corinth.Herod. Agrippa II., King of Batanæa and Trachonitis.Herod Agrippa II. made King of Batanæa and Trachonitis.5253Paul at Corinth. First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians·Marriage of Nero with Octavia.5354Nero.Paul’s journey to Ephesus, Cæsarea, Jerusalem, Antioch. Apollos at Ephesus. Dispute with Peter (?).:Narcissus put to death by Nero.5455Apollos at Corinth. Paul in Asia.5556Tumult at Ephesus (May). First Epistle to the Corinthians. Paul in Macedonia. Epistle to the Galatians. Second Epistle to the Corinthians.Tumult in Judæa, headed by the Egyptian of <a href="/acts/21-38.htm" title="Are not you that Egyptian, which before these days made an uproar, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?">Acts 21:38</a>, Birth of Trajan.5657Paul at Corinth. Epistle to the Romans. Journey to Jerusalem (April, May). Trial before Felix.Trial of Pomponia Graecina.575859Paul at Cæsarea.Paul at Cæsarea.Ishmael, son of Phabi.Poppæa Sabina, Nero’s mistress. Agrippina, Nero’s mother, put to death.585960Paul at Cæsarea. Appeal to Cæsar. Voyage to Italy.Porcius Festus, Procurator of Judæa.6061Paul at Melita. Arrives at Rome (April), Lives in his own house.Joseph Cabi.Revolt in Britain, under Boadicea, Queen of the Iceoni. Apollonius of Tyana at the Olympic Games.6162Paul at Borne. Epistle to the Philipplans.Albinus, Procurator of Judæa.Ananas.Burrus dies, and is succeeded by Tigellinus. Persius dies. Josephus at Rome.6263Paul at Rome. Epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon. Release. First Epistie of St. Poter.Jesus, son of Damnæus.Earthquakes in Asia Minor.6364Paul in Spain (?), Asia (?), Nicopolis (?). First and Second Epistles to Timothy. The Gospel according to St. Luke and Acts of the Apostles (?). Epistle to Titus. Second Epistle of St. Peter.—Jude.Gessius Florus, Procurator of Judæa.Great fire at Rome. Persecution of Christians.6465Death of Paul and Peter (?) at Rome. Linus Bishop of Rome (?).Seneca and Lucan put to death by Nero. Death of Poppæa,6566Epistle to the Hbrews (?). The Gospel according to St. Matthew (?).Nero in Greece. Apollonius of Tyana ordered to leave Rome. Martial at Rome.6667Death of Peter and Paul (?).The Gospel according to St. Mark. Epistle of St. James (??).Josephus gains favour with Vespasian after the capture of Jotapata.6768Galba.St. John in Patmos (?). The Apocalypse (?).Vespasian takes Jericho.6869Otho. Vitellius. Vespasian.Death of James, the Bishop of Jerusalem (?).6970Simeon Bishop of Jerusalem; Ignatius of Antioch (?).The Capitol rebuilt by Vespasian. Jerusalem taken by Titus (Aug. 31). Josephus released.7071Temple of Janus closed. Destruction of the Onias Temple in Egypt. Triumph of Titus and Vespasian.717272737374Berenice at Rome with Vespasian and Titus. Philosophers banished from Rome.747576Temple of Peace at Rome dedicated by Vespasian.Coliseum begun. Birth of Hadrian.7576777778Cletus Bishop of Rome (?).Britain conquered by Agrícola.7879Titus.Pompeii and Herculaneum destroyed. Death of Pliny the Elder.7980Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (??)Coliseum finished. Pestilence and fire at Rome. Baths of Titus built.8081Domitian,81828283Domitian banishes all philosophers from Rome.8384Agricola in Caledonia.84858580Antoninus Pius born.86878788Quintilian at Rome from A.D. 6888898990Philosophers again banished from Rome, Epictetus among them.9091Clement Bishop of Rome.91929293St. John thrown into boiling oil before the Latin Gate (??).Death of Agricola and Josephus.9394Juvenal banished.9495Epistle of Clement (?). The Apocalypse (??). Flavius Clemens put to death. Domitilla banished.Grandsons of the brethren of the Lord brought before Domitian.9596Nerva.The three Epistles of St. John (?).9697The Gospel according to St. John (?).Death of Apollonius of Tyana.9798Trajan.Cerdon Bishop of Alexandria; Ignatius of Antioch; Simon of Jerusalem.Pliny and Plutarch in favour with Trajan.9899Death of St. John (?).99100Death of St. John (?).Pliny’s Panegyric on Trajan. Martial retires to Spain.100EXCURSUS ON NOTES TO THE ACTS.EXCURSUS ON THE LATER YEARS OF ST. PAUL’S LIFE.THE date of St. Paul’s arrival at Rome may be fixed, with little risk of error, in the spring of A.D. 61. Festus had gone to the province of Judæa, according to the computation of the best chronologists, in the autumn of A.D. 60. He had lost no time in despatching the arrears of business which Felix had left behind him, had inquired at once into the Apostle’s case, and, on his appealing to the Emperor, had sent him off. Then came the voyage, the shipwreck, the three winter months at Melita, and, early in the spring, the voyage to Puteoli, and the land journey to Rome. It was the seventh year of Nero’s reign, the twenty-fourth of his life. The emperor had already begun to show the baseness and cruelty of his nature. The murder of his mother, Agrippina, by his orders, had been perpetrated in the previous year. False rumours had been circulated as to the manner of her death, but the letter which Nero sent to the Senate, giving his account of it, and which Seneca was suspected of having helped to write, heaped up charges of crimes, old and new, on the memory of the wretched woman, so that it seemed to men almost as an apology for matricide (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 4-12).[5] Even Burrus, hoping still to retain some hold on him, had congratulated him on his deliverance from a great and standing danger (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 10). Poppæa, after her fashion, half a proselyte to Judaism (Jos. Life, c. 3), was living with the emperor, as his mistress, in his palace on the Palatine Hill. The supreme passion of his life was an insane desire for popular applause. To gain this, descending step by step to lower and lower depths, he drove his chariots in an enclosed circus on the site now occupied by the Vatican. He played on the lyre, and sung his odes at supper. He instituted games known as Juvenalia on attaining to the dignity of a beard, and men of the highest rank were compelled to bear their part in representing, in dramas or in tableaux, the foulest and most prurient of the myths of Greece. The emperor and his lyre were conspicuous everywhere (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 14). A body-guard of the equestrian order was formed (probably the Augustan band of <a href="/acts/27-1.htm" title="And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.">Acts 27:1</a>), who acted as his claqueurs, and led the applause of the multitude. Centurions and tribunes had to attend officially at spectacles which seemed to them to dishonour the Roman name. Even Burrus, “consenting thus far to avoid worse deeds,” stood by, praising with his lips and groaning in his soul (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 15). By way of showing the extent and variety of his culture, he gave his leisure also to painting and to poetry. He would cap verses or display his skill as an impro-visatore among his companions. As if he had not altogether forgotten the teaching of Seneca, he would summon philosophers after a banquet and listen to them as they discussed their theories as to the chief good and true law of duty (ibid. c. 16).[5] May we see a passing reference to Nero’s guilt in the mention of “murderers of mothers” in 1 Timothy 1?With this form of life, entering into various relations with those who were, in greater or less measure, sharers in it, St. Paul was now brought into contact. Strange as it may sound, it presented, in some degree, a more favourable opening for his work than if he had found Rome under a wise and vigorous rule, like Trajan or Aurelius. Poppæa was, as has been said, a proselyte to Judaism, a patroness of Jews. Aliturius, a Jew (a Jew taking his part in the mimes of Nero!), was high in the emperor’s favour as an actor. When Josephus came, in the second year of St. Paul’s stay in Rome, he found that he had a friend at Court. He obtained the liberation of some priests whom Felix had sent as prisoners to Rome, and returned laden with gifts which Poppæa had presented him (Jos. Life, c. 3). The names in Romans 16 coinciding, as they do largely, with those in the Columbaria of the imperial household on the Appian Way, confirm the natural inference from <a href="/philippians/4-22.htm" title="All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.">Philippians 4:22</a> as to the presence of Christians, some Gentiles and some of the Circumcision, among the freed-men of the palace.[6] And St. Paul, we must remember, was in Rome as a Jew, and the favour thus shown to other Jews would naturally be extended to him also. And we have seen that there was no lack of friends: Aquila and Priscilla, and Rufus and his mother, probably the wife of Simon of Cyrcne (see Note on <a href="/mark/15-21.htm" title="And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.">Mark 15:21</a>), and the slaves and freed-men of Narcissus,[7] and Tryphena, and Tryphosa, and probably Phœbe also. And with these, we may believe on good grounds, there were others. Only four years before (A.D. 57) the conqueror of Britain. Aulus Plautius, brought his wife before a family tribunal as accused of holding “a foreign superstition.” She was acquitted by her husband’s judgment, but her habits before and after the trial, for forty years (she died A.D. 83), were those of an outward unworldly life and of continual sorrow (Tacit. Ann. xiii. 32). The “foreign superstition “may have been only Judaism or some Oriental cultus, like that of Isis and Serapis, but the vague way in which it is described suggests the idea of a new religion rather than of one with which men were already familiar, and it does not seem an over-bold inference to rest in the conclusion that she was a Christian.[6] A list of names may be given as common to both lists, or found in other like records :—Amplias, Urbanus, Stachys, Apelles, Aristobulus, Narcissus, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Hermes, Hermas, Patrobas, Philologus, and Nereus (Lightfoot, Philipp, pp. 169-176.) To these may be added Tyehicus, Trophimus, Onesimus, Dorcas among New Testament names. (Comp. Notes on <a href="/acts/9-36.htm" title="Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and giving of alms which she did.">Acts 9:36</a>; <a href="/acts/20-4.htm" title="And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.">Acts 20:4</a>.)[7] Narcissus, the freed-man and favourite of Claudius, had been put to death by Nero (A.D. 54), but the household may have continued to be kept by some member of the family. An interesting inscription records the name of Dikœosyne (=Righteousness) the wife of T. Claudius Narcissus, who is described as pientissima et frugalissima (“most devout, and simple in her life”). The name is not, so far as I know, found elsewhere. Was it taken by one who had learnt from the preachers of the gospel what true righteousness consisted in? (Muratori, Inscriptt. 1325; Orelli, 720.) The appearance of new names in the epitaphs of the Roman catacombs, expressing new thoughts and hopes, is singularly suggestive. Elpis (=Hope), Euphrosyne (=Joy), Redempta, Simplicitas, Eusebius (=Devout), Kyriakos (=the Lord’s), may be noted as examples.And connected with Pomponia there were probably two other converts. The names of Claudia and Pudens are coupled together in the salutation of <a href="/2_timothy/4-21.htm" title="Do your diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brothers.">2Timothy 4:21</a>. They are coupled together as husband and wife in the epigrams of Martial. And the Pudens of Martial bears the name of Aulus, and he is married to Claudia, and Claudia is descended from the blue-eyed and fair-haired Britons (Epig. xi. 53). Martial, usually so scurrilous in his jests, treats them both with a marked respect. He writes an epithalamium on their union, and, instead of licentious innuendoes, utters his wishes thus:—“O Concord, bless their couch for evermore,Be with them in thy snow-white purity,Let Venus grant, from out her choicest store,All gifts that suit their married unity;When he is old may she be fond and true,And she in age the charms of youth renew.”—Epig. iv. 13.A child is born to them, and he is again ready with his salutations to the father—“Grant, O ye gods, that she may ever proveThe bliss of mother over girl and boy;Still gladdened by her pious husband’s love,And in her children And perpetual joy.”—Epig. xi. 53.He jestingly remonstrates with Pudens for objecting to the coarseness of his epigrams—“You urge me, Pudens, to take pen in hand,And prune and purge these epigrams of mine;How much thou lov’st them now I understand,When thou would’st have each quip a faultless line.”—Epig. vii. 11.He has been ill while Pudens was absent in the north, and has sighed for his presence—“Yea, all but snatched where flow the gloomy streams,I saw the clouds that shroud the Elysian plain;Still for thy face I groaned in weary dreams,And cold lips ‘Pudens, Pudens’ cried in vain.”—Epig. vi. 58.The juxtaposition of the two names, and the character thus assigned to those who bore them, justify us, I believe, here also, in spite of some difficulties that have been raised on chronological or other grounds, in identifying them with those whom St. Paul mentions.The chronological difficulty lies in the fact that Martial, born in Spain, circ. A.D. 40, did not come to Rome till A.D. 66, nor collect his epigrams till A.D. 86. It is clear, however, that the former date, the very year after St. Paul’s death, is certainly not incompatible with his knowing St. Paul’s Claudia and Pudens, and the collected poems may well have ranged over the whole period of his stay in Rome. It is perfectly inconceivable that such a man could have lived in Rome for twenty years without writing epigrams. It may be added that the identification does not assume that Pudens and Claudia were married when St. Paul wrote the Second Epistle to Timothy (A.D. 66), but only that both were then disciples of Christ. If Martial came to Rome in A.D. 66 he might, therefore, have known the young officer before his marriage, and written his congratulatory lines shortly afterwards. The insertion of the name of Linus between Pudens and Claudia is, as far as it goes, against the hypothesis that they were at that period husband and wife.Another objection has been taken to the identification, on the moral ground that, in some of his epigrams, Martial insinuates that his Pudens shared in the foul immorality of his time. It is not expedient to examine such a question in detail, but it will be found that the incidents to which he alludes (there is literally nothing more than the fact that a young slave of Pudens had cut his hair as a votive offering[8]) admit, in themselves, of a perfectly innocent interpretation, and that the innuendoes are but the scurril jests of a tainted mind coming into contact with a purity which it cannot comprehend.[9] They deserve no more attention than the analogous charges which were whispered against St. Paul (see Note on <a href="/2_corinthians/7-2.htm" title="Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.">2Corinthians 7:2</a>), or those which were brought against Athanasius and Hooker. Such charges are often, indeed, brought against the pure in proportion to their purity.[8] The cutting of the hair may, indeed, even have been, after St. Paul’s example (<a href="/acts/18-18.htm" title="And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brothers, and sailed there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.">Acts 18:18</a>), the completion of a Nazarite vow.[9] It is right, perhaps, to state that Dean Merivale (St. Paul at Rome, p. 149) looks on the supposed Christianity of Pomponia as a “hypothesis of the flimsiest character,” and rejects the conclusions drawn as to Claudia and Pudens on the strength of objections to which I seem to myself to have given a sufficient answer.Further coincidences connect themselves with an inscription discovered in Chichester in A.D. 1723, which runs thus:—To Neptune and MinervaThis TempleFor the welfare of the Divine (i.e., the Imperial) House,By the authority ofTiberius Claudius CogidubnusLegate of Augustus (i.e., the Emperor) in Britain,The Guild of Smiths and those in itWho minister in sacred things, haveAt their own cost dedicated,The site being given byPudens the son of Pudentinus.Cogidubnus, we learn from Tacitus (Agricola, c. xiv.), was king of the Regni, a tribe occupying the modern Sussex, and was the faithful ally of Rome under Claudius, when Aulus Plautius, the husband of Pomponia. was governor of Britain (A.D. 43-52).[10] His daughter, if he had one, would naturally bear the name of Claudia. We find him connected with a Pudens; and it is, to say the least, a highly probable inference that the attachment of the latter to his British bride began during a service in the North prior to that of which Martial speaks, and that she came to Rome under the protection of Pomponia, and, embracing the same faith, was married to her lover.[10] A note is, perhaps, necessary as to the dates thus given. If this, it has been urged, gives the limits of the date of the inscription, then Martial was a boy of ten when Pudens was old enough to be an officer in Britain, and was therefore not likely to have been on the terms of intimacy with him which the epigrams indicate. The date of the inscription, however, may have been considerably later. Cogidubnus was the ally of Rome for many years after the conquest of Caractacus by Ostorius Scapula (Tacit. Ann. xii. 11), and even as Tacitus says “within his own memory.” The temple to which the inscription refers may easily therefore have been erected, say, circ. A.D. 60-64.It may be well to mention another, though less probable, coujecture, that Claudia was the daughter of Caractacus, who had been brought to Rome, with his wife and children, under Claudius, and that Linus was identical with the Llin who appears in Welsh hagiography as the son of Caractacus (Lewin, St. Paul, ii. 397).St. Paul’s acquaintance with Pudens may have begun through Pomponia; but it is also probable that, through the courteous kindness of the centurion Julius, himself of the Augustan band (see Note on <a href="/acts/27-1.htm" title="And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.">Acts 27:1</a>), he was commended to the favourable notice of Burrus, the Prefect of the Prætorian camp; and that thus, and through the frequent change of soldiers who kept guard over him, his bonds in Christ would become known (as he says) through the whole Praetorian barracks[11] (<a href="/philippians/1-13.htm" title="So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;">Philippians 1:13</a>), and that this may have either originated or strengthened their friendship.[11] The Greek word is Prœtorium, on which see Note on <a href="/matthew/27-27.htm" title="Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered to him the whole band of soldiers.">Matthew 27:27</a>.Did the Apostle become acquainted with the great philosophic thinker Seneca, the friend of Burrus, who, though his influence was waning, still endeavoured to reach the mind of Nero by writing ethical treatises for his benefit? We cannot return a decisive answer to that question. Letters were extant in the fourth century, and are mentioned by Jerome as very widely read (Vir. Illust. xii.), purporting to be a correspondence between Seneca and St. Paul; and though these are certainly apocryphal, the fact of the forgery may well have rested on some tradition of intercourse between the two. The numerous parallelisms of thought and language between the two writers (comp. Lightfoot’s Philippians: “Excursus on St. Paul and Seneca”) may be accidental, but they at least suggest the probability of some communication, direct or indirect. One who saw as clearly as St. Paul did the weak and the strong points of Stoicism, and was necessarily known to Seneca’s friend, was not likely to remain altogether outside the range of his acquaintance. If we adopt the suggestion already made (see Introduction to St. Luke’s Gospel), that there was some previous connection between the Lucas or Lucanus who was St. Paul’s companion and the poet who was Seneca’s nephew, the probability becomes yet stronger; nor can we quite exclude the probability that Gallio, Seneca’s brother, who was now at Rome, and in high favour with the emperor, may have renewed his acquaintance with the Apostle. (See Note on <a href="/acts/18-17.htm" title="Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.">Acts 18:17</a>.) The traditional identification of Clement of Rome with the Clement of <a href="/philippians/4-3.htm" title="And I entreat you also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.">Philippians 4:3</a>, presents some serious chronological difficulties which have led Dr. Lightfoot (Philipp., Exo. on 4:3) to reject it. Apart from this, however, it is in the nature of things probable that those who were appointed to take the oversight of the Church of Rome after the death of the Apostles would be men who had known St. Paul; and we may, therefore, think, with no undue boldness of conjecture, of his knowing Linus, who, indeed, is named in <a href="/2_timothy/4-21.htm" title="Do your diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brothers.">2Timothy 4:21</a>, and who became bishop in A.D. 66, and Cletus, or Anacletus (A.D. 79), and possibly Clement also (A.D. 91).[12] The full name of this last, Titus Flavius Clemens, indicates that he was probably the first convert of the Flavian imperial house, which in Vespasian and Titus had been brought into close contact with Judaism, and which under Domitian furnished, in Flavius Clemens the Consul and his sister Flavia Doraitilla, two illustrious sufferers for the new faith.[12] The succession and dates are given, it must be remembered, as only approximately correct. The origines of the Church of Rome are singularly obscure and uncertain.Leaving these interesting, even if they are also precarious, inferences, we pass to the more solid ground of the statements in St. Paul’s own writings.A year or more passed, during which he was waiting for his appeal to be heard, and which we cannot fill up with any accurate precision. Timotheus, his true son in the faith, joined him soon after his arrival, or possibly was even one of his companions in the voyage (<a href="/philippians/1-1.htm" title="Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:">Philippians 1:1</a>). Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, came to him; Luke, the beloved physician, and Aristarchus remained with him. Linus, whose name appears in the list of Roman bishops as St. Peter’s successor, and who was probably even then exercising some pastoral functions, is named as in the same circle of friends with Claudia and Pudens (<a href="/2_timothy/4-21.htm" title="Do your diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brothers.">2Timothy 4:21</a>); and Eubulus may well have been another presbyter. A Jew named Jesus, and bearing (probably, as in other cases, as a recognition of character) the surname of Justus, and Demas, were among his fellow-workers (<a href="/context/colossians/4-10.htm" title=" Aristarchus my fellow prisoner salutes you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom you received commandments: if he come to you, receive him;)">Colossians 4:10-14</a>). Onesiphorus, probably an Ephesian freed-man (the name, like that of Onesimus, indicates his class), found out his lodging, was not ashamed of his chain, and ministered to him diligently there, as he had done, or did afterwards, at Ephesus (<a href="/2_timothy/1-16.htm" title="The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:">2Timothy 1:16</a>). Onesimus, the runaway slave of Philemon of Colossæ, at one time joined apparently with St. Paul in a partnership, as Aquila and Priscilla had been (<a href="/philemon/1-17.htm" title="If you count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.">Philemon 1:17</a>; <a href="/acts/18-3.htm" title="And because he was of the same craft, he stayed with them, and worked: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.">Acts 18:3</a>), had come to him, had been converted by him, had ministered to him with the loyalty and affection of a son (<a href="/context/philemon/1-10.htm" title="I beseech you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:">Philemon 1:10-12</a>). Either with him or about this time came Epaphras, as a messenger from the churches of the valley of the Lycus—Colossae, Laodicea, and Hiera-polis (<a href="/colossians/4-12.htm" title=" Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.">Colossians 4:12</a>). Tychicus (see Note on <a href="/acts/20-4.htm" title="And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.">Acts 20:4</a>), the Ephesian, who had gone with him to Jerusalem, or at least to Ephesus, had also found his way to him (<a href="/ephesians/6-21.htm" title="But that you also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:">Ephesians 6:21</a>; <a href="/colossians/4-7.htm" title=" All my state shall Tychicus declare to you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord:">Colossians 4:7</a>). Nor was the Apostle without communications from the Macedonian churches who were so dearly loved by him. Possibly in the “true yoke-fellow” of <a href="/philippians/4-3.htm" title="And I entreat you also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.">Philippians 4:3</a> we may trace a temporary return of St. Luke to the church with which he had been so closely connected.[13] If so, his stay was short, and he returned afterwards to Rome, where we find him when the Apostle writes to the Colossians (<a href="/colossians/4-14.htm" title=" Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.">Colossians 4:14</a>). In the meantime Epaphroditus (the name is that from which Epaphras is contracted, but the difference in the two forms indicates almost certainly difference of persons) had come bearing gifts, probably in money. which were sent by the Philippian converts to their beloved teacher (<a href="/context/philippians/4-10.htm" title="But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me has flourished again; wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity.">Philippians 4:10-17</a>), as they had sent to him some ten years before, when he was at Thessalonica, and afterwards, probably, at Corinth also (<a href="/2_corinthians/11-9.htm" title="And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brothers which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so will I keep myself.">2Corinthians 11:9</a>). Epaphroditus, while at Rome, had been sick nigh unto death[14] (<a href="/philippians/2-27.htm" title="For indeed he was sick near to death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow on sorrow.">Philippians 2:27</a>), and there had been time for a messenger to go from Rome to Philippi reporting his sickness, and bring back tidings of the anxiety of the Church there (<a href="/context/philippians/2-25.htm" title="Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.">Philippians 2:25-28</a>). It was not in St. Paul’s nature to neglect the opportunities which thus presented themselves for reopening communication with the churches from which he had now for some two or three years been parted. The first of these letters of the Imprisonment was in all probability the EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.[15] When he wrote it he was exulting in the spread of the gospel. It was becoming known at once in the Praetorian camp, and among the slaves and freed-men of the Palace of the Caesars (<a href="/philippians/1-13.htm" title="So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;">Philippians 1:13</a>; <a href="/philippians/4-22.htm" title="All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.">Philippians 4:22</a>). His personal defence was becoming identified with the apologia of the gospel (<a href="/philippians/1-17.htm" title="But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.">Philippians 1:17</a>) There were, indeed, darker shades in the picture. There were some—probably of the party of the Circumcision, or, as he calls them, as if they were unworthy of the old time-honoured word, of the “concision” (<a href="/philippians/3-2.htm" title="Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.">Philippians 3:2</a>), “dogs,” tainted, as the word implies (comp. <a href="/deuteronomy/23-18.htm" title="You shall not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD your God for any vow: for even both these are abomination to the LORD your God.">Deuteronomy 23:18</a>; <a href="/revelation/22-15.htm" title="For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.">Revelation 22:15</a>), by sharing, as did Aliturius and the other Jews who hung about Poppæa, in the shameless license of the time—who preached Christ, i.e., made his name known, in the-spirit of contentious rivalry, and sought to add affliction to the Apostle’s bonds. He was hoping, however, to be released shortly, and to revisit his Philippian friends. In the meantime he would send Timotheus, as soon as-he saw his way clearly to the probable course of events. He would, at all events, not delay to send Epaphroditus with a letter (<a href="/context/philippians/2-19.htm" title="But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly to you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.">Philippians 2:19-30</a>). Probably about a year passed between this and the next letters, the EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS, TO THE COLOSSIANS, and TO PHILEMON. The three were manifestly written at the same time. Tychicus is the bearer both of the letter to the Ephesians, itself probably an encyclical letter to the churches of Asia, and of that to the Colossians. Epaphras, in his turn, is connected with the Epistle to the Colossians and that to Philemon (<a href="/colossians/1-7.htm" title=" As you also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;">Colossians 1:7</a>; <a href="/colossians/4-12.htm" title=" Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.">Colossians 4:12</a>), and Timothy also is with St. Paul when he writes these last (<a href="/colossians/1-1.htm" title=" Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,">Colossians 1:1</a>; <a href="/philemon/1-1.htm" title="Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow laborer,">Philemon 1:1</a>). In the interval that had passed since the letter to the Philippians was despatched, Burrus had fallen a victim to the emperor’s suspicions, and had been succeeded by the infamous Tigellinus (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 51, 57). The influence of Seneca was waning, and that of Poppæa was more and more in the ascendant (ibid. xiv. 52). Octavia was formally repudiated, banished to the island of Pandataria (now Santa Maria), and finally murdered (ibid. xiv. 63), while the Senate welcomed the birth of Poppæa’s child as though it were a gift from heaven (ibid. xv. 23). It does not appear, however, that these changes affected St. Paul’s condition for the worse. Though he was still the prisoner of the Lord (<a href="/ephesians/3-1.htm" title="For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,">Ephesians 3:1</a>; <a href="/ephesians/4-1.htm" title="I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation with which you are called,">Ephesians 4:1</a>), an “ambassador in bonds” (<a href="/ephesians/6-20.htm" title="For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.">Ephesians 6:20</a>), he was not less hopeful than before as to his release, when he sent Tychicus and his companions with their Epistles. He formed the plan of visiting the churches of Colossæ and Laodicea. He wrote to Philemon, as if looking forward to resuming his partnership with him, to prepare him a lodging at the first-named city (<a href="/philemon/1-22.htm" title="But with prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given to you.">Philemon 1:22</a>).[13] The “yoke-fellow” has also been identified with Lydia, but see Note on <a href="/philippians/4-3.htm" title="And I entreat you also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.">Philippians 4:3</a>.[14] It is not without interest to note the fact that Rome was visited about this time by a violent epidemic, a catarrh with inflammation of the tonsils. Nero was one of the sufferers; he lost his voice, and sacrifices were offered in the temples for his recovery (Philostr. Life of Apollonius, iv. 44).[15] I follow Dr. Lightfoot in this order of the Epistles of the first imprisonment. Some writers, however, place the Epistle to the Philippians as the last of the four.If we accept the PASTORAL EPISTLES as genuine, we are led partly by their style, partly by the difficulty of fitting them into any earlier period of St. Paul’s life, partly by the traces they present of a later stage of development both of truth and error, to assign them to a date subsequent to the two years of the imprisonment of <a href="/acts/28-30.htm" title="And Paul dwelled two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in to him,">Acts 28:30</a>. This leads, in its turn, to the conclusion that he was released from that imprisonment, and started on a fresh journey. How his release was brought about we do not know. His appeal may have come on for hearing, after the long two years’ delay, and, in the absence of any “respondents appearing, personally or by counsel, against it, have been allowed. This seems, at any rate, more probable than the picture drawn by some writers (Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, c. xxvii.; Lewin, ii., p. 380) of a formal trial before the emperor, with priests from the Sanhedrin, and Alexander the coppersmith as prosecutor, Jews from Asia as witnesses, and an advocate like Tertullus to conduct the case against him. A curious synchronism, however, suggests the thought that there may have been wheels within wheels, working to bring about this result. Josephus, the Jewish historian, then in his twenty-seventh year, came to Rome about the close of the second year of St. Paul’s confinement. He was shipwrecked, on his voyage, picked up by a ship of Cyrene, landed at Puteoli, and made his way to Rome. His main object in coming was, he says, to obtain the release of certain priests who had been sent to Home by Felix as prisoners, and he accomplished his purpose through the influence of Poppæa, to whom he was introduced by Aliturius, the Jewish actor, already mentioned (Jos. Life, c. 3). May we not think it probable that St. Paul reaped the benefit of a general order for the release of Jewish prisoners sent by the Procurator of Palestine obtained through this instrumentality? The reticence of Josephus in regard to the Christian Church, the Gamaliel-like tone in which he speaks (not to dwell on passages of doubtful genuineness) of John the Baptist and of James the Bishop of Jerusalem (Ant. xviii. 5, § 2; xx. 9, § 1), his avowed Pharisaism, the tone in which he speaks of Ananias of Damascus (see Note on <a href="/acts/9-10.htm" title="And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.">Acts 9:10</a>), all make it probable that he would, at least, not be unwilling that the Apostle, “a Pharisee and son of a Pharisee,” should share in the freedom which he had obtained for others.As regards the details of this last journey we are again dependent upon inferences more or less precarious. It is clear that, if he left Rome at all, it must have been before the great fire and the persecution of the Christians which followed on it, and from which a prisoner in St. Paul’s position could scarcely have escaped—probably, therefore, about the close of A.D. 63 or the beginning of 64. A vague phrase of Clement of Rome (1 Ep. ad Cor. c. 5), stating that he travelled to the “furthest limits of the West,” has given rise to wild conjectures. On the one hand, looking to the connection with natives of Britain already traced, and to the fact that the epithet ultimi was commonly applied to them, it has been contended that he preached the gospel in this island. A more probable hypothesis is that he started, on his release, to carry into effect his long-intended journey to Spain, to which the epithet “limit of the West” would be nearly as applicable. There, especially at Corduba (now Cordova), he would find many Jews, and Luke, as we have seen (Introduction to St. Luke’s Gospel), had probably earlier points of contact with it. Of such a journey to Spain we find traces in the Muratorian Fragment (see Vol. I., p. xiii.), which speaks of St. Paul as ab urbe ad Spaniam proficiscentis, and the language of Jerome, who echoes Clement’s phrase, stating that he had been set free that he might preach the gospel in Occidentis quoque partibus (Cat. Script. Illusi. “Paulus”), and of Chrysostom (on 2 Timothy 4), who says that “after being in Rome he went on for Spain,” shows that the tradition was widely accepted. In our own time it has been received even by some critics who do not admit the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles (Ewald, Geschichte Israel, vi. 621, 631; Renan, L’Antechrist, p. 106). We have seen reason to fix the liberation of St. Paul in A.D. 63 or 64, i.e., in the tenth or eleventh year of the reign of Nero. The date of his death is fixed by Jerome in the emperor’s fourteenth year, i.e., in A.D. 66 or 67. We have, therefore, a period of between two or three years towards which we have only the scanty materials furnished—assuming their genuineness—by the Pastoral Epistles. To these, accordingly we turn. They indicate, as might have been expected, that St. Paul was eager to revisit the Greek and Asiatic churches from which he had so long been separated. Timotheus and Luke, who were with him towards the close of his first imprisonment, were probably his companions in travel. They came—if from Corduba, probably by sea from Gades, and through the Straits of Gibraltar, probably taking Crete on the way (<a href="/titus/1-5.htm" title="For this cause left I you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you:">Titus 1:5</a>)—to Ephesus. The state of things there was altered greatly for the worse. The grievous wolves, some of them in sheep’s clothing, had done their worst. Hymenæus, and Philetus, and Alexander were conspicuous as the teachers of heresies that led practically to a denial of the Christian’s hope, and the Apostle felt that he had no alternative but to pronounce the sentence which cut them off from Christian fellowship and exposed them to the supernatural chastisements in which lay the only hope of their reformation (<a href="/1_timothy/1-20.htm" title="Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.">1Timothy 1:20</a>; <a href="/context/2_timothy/2-17.htm" title="And their word will eat as does a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;">2Timothy 2:17-18</a>). Alexander the coppersmith, probably altogether distinct from the heretic of the same name, succeeded in stirring up the passions of men against him (<a href="/2_timothy/4-14.htm" title="Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:">2Timothy 4:14</a>), and “wrought him much evil.” Everywhere in Asia (the proconsular province of that name) he met averted glances, even, where, as in the case of Phygellus and Hermogenes, he might have expected better things (<a href="/2_timothy/1-15.htm" title="This you know, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.">2Timothy 1:15</a>). In Onesiphorus, who had ministered so faithfully to him at Rome, alone, or all but alone, had he found the loyal and loving care which had once been general, and he had to think of him as having passed away, with the prayer that “he might find mercy with the Lord in that day” (<a href="/context/2_timothy/1-16.htm" title="The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:">2Timothy 1:16-17</a>; <a href="/2_timothy/4-19.htm" title="Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.">2Timothy 4:19</a>), The inspired utterances of the prophets foretold dark and evil times, times at once of apostasy, and heresy, and persecution (<a href="/context/1_timothy/4-1.htm" title="Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;">1Timothy 4:1-4</a>). The churches had lost their first love and their first purity. Their very organisation of charity was becoming the source of great evils, leading some to shift on others the burden of the duties which of right devolved on them, and encouraging a systematic pauperised idleness in others (<a href="/context/1_timothy/5-3.htm" title="Honor widows that are widows indeed.">1Timothy 5:3-8</a>). The women of the Christian Church, even its deaconesses, widows, virgins, were sinking to the old level of their heathen lives in dress and scandals, in idleness and frivolity (<a href="/context/1_timothy/5-11.htm" title="But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;">1Timothy 5:11-13</a>; <a href="/2_timothy/3-6.htm" title="For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,">2Timothy 3:6</a>). It seemed necessary to the Apostle to meet these dangers by asking his true son in the faith—half-shrinking, it would seem, from so grave a responsibility—to remain at Ephesus clothed with a larger measure of authority than before, while he continued his journey and went to Macedonia (<a href="/1_timothy/1-3.htm" title="As I sought you to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that you might charge some that they teach no other doctrine,">1Timothy 1:3</a>). If we were to receive the note attached in the Authorised version to the FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, he passed on from Macedonia to Laodicea, but these foot-notes are of too late a date and too uncertain an authority to be relied on. We must treat them, then, as though they were non-existent, and proceed with our inferences from St. Paul’s own words. What his actual movements and plans were we are informed in the EPISTLE TO TITUS. There we learn that either before or after he went to Asia—more probably the former—he had visited Crete. There also the same evils were showing themselves as at Ephesus. Jewish fables and lives “abominable” and “reprobate” were bringing scandal on the name of Christians, and they were aggravated by the proverbial untruthfulness and sensuality of the national character (<a href="/titus/1-5.htm" title="For this cause left I you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you:">Titus 1:5</a>; <a href="/titus/1-12.htm" title="One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.">Titus 1:12</a>; <a href="/titus/1-16.htm" title="They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.">Titus 1:16</a>). Apollos, it is true, was there, and with him Zenas, a “lawyer,” in the Gospel sense of the term (see Note on <a href="/matthew/22-35.htm" title="Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,">Matthew 22:35</a>), a Christian teacher, i.e., like Apollos, mighty in the Scriptures, a trained interpreter of the Law of Moses in a Christian sense (<a href="/titus/3-13.htm" title="Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting to them.">Titus 3:13</a>); but their influence was confined within the narrow circle of their own immediate followers, and those of whom St. Paul speaks as “ours” (<a href="/titus/3-14.htm" title="And let our's also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.">Titus 3:14</a>) needed more direct superintendence. For this purpose, Titus (possibly the Justus of Corinth; see Note on <a href="/acts/18-7.htm" title="And he departed there, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.">Acts 18:7</a>), who had once before brought a like special mission to a successful issue (<a href="/context/2_corinthians/7-13.htm" title="Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yes, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.">2Corinthians 7:13-14</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/8-6.htm" title="So that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.">2Corinthians 8:6</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/8-23.htm" title="Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you: or our brothers be inquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ.">2Corinthians 8:23</a>), was despatched with a delegated authority which made him what we might fairly call a “vicar apostolic” rather than a bishop. When St. Paul wrote to him he was himself apparently travelling, or intending to travel, in Macedonia, revisiting, we may believe, in accordance with the promise of <a href="/philippians/2-24.htm" title="But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.">Philippians 2:24</a>, the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica and Berœa, and was intending to winter at Nicopolis. It is a natural inference from this, and from the urgency with which he entreats Titus to come to him quickly (<a href="/titus/3-12.htm" title="When I shall send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.">Titus 3:12</a>), that the Epistle was written in the autumn. The name of Nicopolis ( = “the city of victory”), to which, we may believe, he now directed his course, was borne by three cities, one on the borders of Thrace and Macedonia, one in Cilicia, and a third, more conspicuous than the others, on the Bay of Actium, which had been built by Augustus to commemorate his great victory there over the combined fleets of Antonius and Cleopatra.In a previous journey through Macedonia to the Illyrian frontier, probably that of <a href="/acts/20-2.htm" title="And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece,">Acts 20:2</a> (comp. <a href="/romans/15-19.htm" title="Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about to Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.">Romans 15:19</a>), he had already laid the foundations of a church in that region of Greece, and may well have been anxious to revisit it.In the meantime a great change had come over the policy of the imperial court at Rome. Poppæa, with her tendency to protect the Jews, and probably the Christians of “Cæsar’s household,” who at first passed for a sect of Jews, had died under the brutality of the emperor (A.D. 65),[16] and the influence of Tigellinus, base, brutal, and cruel, was altogether dominant. The great fire of A.D. 64 had broken out at the foot of the Cœlian and Palatine Hills, after an entertainment which he had given in the gardens of Agrippa, with surroundings of shameless foulness, in honour of the emperor (Tacit. Ann. xv. 37-40); and when, after being partially subdued, it renewed its devastations in the Æmilian district of the city, where Tigellinus had large estates, he shared with Nero the odium of having either originated it, or at least looked on it with an Epicurean indifference, if not, as the emperor was reported to have done, with a kind of æsthetic complacency. That suspicion had to be stamped out. The Christians of Rome, those especially whose presence in the palace reproved the vices of Tigellinus and his master, were sacrificed as victims to the popular indignation, and the tide of suspicion was turned only too successfully on the strange people who lived in the world but not of it, and talked much of a King who was to come in flaming fire and devour his adversaries (<a href="/2_thessalonians/1-8.htm" title="In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:">2Thessalonians 1:8</a>). The language of Juvenal implies that the better Romans knew that the martyrs whose lurid flames were as torches in the gardens of Nero on those fearful nights were sacrificed to the jealousy and vindictive hatred of the favourite—[16] It is not without interest to note the fact that the body of Poppæa was embalmed, as if in deference to her known tendencies, after the Jewish manner, and not burnt, after the custom of Rome (Tacit. Ann. xvi. 6).“Dar’st thou to speak of Tigellinus’ guilt?Thou too shalt flare as they did, whom we saw,Standing and burning, throat impaled, in smoke,And make wide furrows in the thirsty sand.”—Sat. i. 155.That of Martial shows that they suffered as Christians, and might have purchased safety by apostasy, He refers to the well-known story of Mucius Scævola thrusting his hand into the fire, which apparently had been dramatised under Nero, and received with much. applause—“You saw, enacted on the stage of sand,How Mucius thrust into the flames his hand;Think ye that act true hero’s deed to be?Dull as Abderas[17] dotards then are ye;[17] The town was proverbial for the stupidity of its people. The men of Abdera were as the men of Gotham of our nursery rhyme.Is it not more, when robe of flame is nigh,To say, ‘I will not sacrifice,’ and die,Than with the order ‘Burn thy hand,’ comply?”—Epig. x. 25.The populace, excited, as the Athenians had been by the mutilation of the Hermæ busts, as that of England was by the Fire of London in 1666, rushed upon the members of the “sect everywhere spoken against” with a ferocious eagerness, and beheld their sufferings at first without a shudder. Only in a few, like Juvenal and Tacitus, did a touch of pity mingle with their aversion. All the old calumnies were revived, and the presence of the Christians at Rome was looked on as a reproach to be got rid of with all convenient speed.Fanaticism is naturally contagious, and though there was no formal organised persecution throughout the empire,[18] old enmities revived, and the opportunities for acting on them were utilised. The Epistles of St. Peter, written about this time, bear witness to the “fiery trial” that was coming upon all the provinces of Asia Minor (<a href="/1_peter/4-12.htm" title="Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you:">1Peter 4:12</a>), to the fact that men spoke against the disciples of Christ as criminals at large, that the very name of Christian exposed them to persecution (<a href="/1_peter/4-16.htm" title="Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.">1Peter 4:16</a>). The fact that a medal had been struck at Laodicea, in which the very name of “God” was assigned to Nero, would naturally rouse the horror of all believers, and make them think that the Antichrist had indeed come—the “man of lawlessness” who exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped.[19] It only needed that he should follow in the footsteps of Caligula to verify the whole predicted description of one who “sitteth in the Temple of God showing himself that he is God” (<a href="/2_thessalonians/2-4.htm" title="Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.">2Thessalonians 2:4</a>). Was not the day of the Lord at hand? Was not a more terrible conflagration than had already been witnessed about to destroy the city on the seven hills, the new “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots . . . drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus”? (<a href="/context/revelation/17-5.htm" title="And on her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.">Revelation 17:5-6</a>.)[18] The inscription found in Spain and recording the success of Nero in extirpating the new superstition which had spread over the empire (“NERONI CL. CÆS. AUG. PONT. MAX. OB PROVING. LATRONIBUS ET HIS QUI NOVAM GENER. HUM. SUPERSTITION. INCULCAB. PURGATAM”), is now commonly regarded as spurious (Gruter, Inscriptt, p. 238, No. 9).[19] For the medal, see Note in Brotier’s Tacitus (Ann. xv. 74). Even in the Roman senate, however, the title Divus, reserved for other emperors as a posthumous apotheosis, had been applied to Nero while he lived (ibid.).It was under these conditions that the warrant was issued, as we must believe, by Tigellinus, for the arrest of St. Paul. It lies in the nature of the case that the charge could not have been the original accusation brought against him by Tertullus (<a href="/context/acts/24-1.htm" title="And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.">Acts 24:1-8</a>), for that was simply a question of Jewish law, a charge of having profaned the Jewish Temple. But Tigellinus must have known that for two years he had been the central figure among the Christians of Rome—that he was on terms of friendship with officers of the Augustan band and of the Prætorian Guard. True, he had left the city before the fire; but what if he had planned it, or even suggested the idea, and left others to work it out?It is a reasonable, though not certain, inference, from the facts of the case, that the officers who were in charge of the warrant arrested their prisoner at Nicopolis; and if so, the notes of travel in the SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY must be referred, as above, to the hasty journey which had led him to that city, and in which he had revisited Corinth, Miletus, and Troas (<a href="/2_timothy/4-13.htm" title="The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come, bring with you, and the books, but especially the parchments.">2Timothy 4:13</a>; <a href="/2_timothy/4-20.htm" title="Erastus stayed at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.">2Timothy 4:20</a>). When he wrote that Epistle, he was, beyond all doubt, at Rome. And he was there not now, as before, in a hired apartment, and with the comparative freedom of a libera custodia (see Note on <a href="/acts/28-16.htm" title="And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.">Acts 28:16</a>), but in bonds, as a malefactor and a criminal (<a href="/2_timothy/2-9.htm" title="Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even to bonds; but the word of God is not bound.">2Timothy 2:9</a>). The Roman tradition that he was confined in the lower dungeon of the Mamertine prison, dark and damp, with no opening but a hole through which the prisoners were let down, has in it nothing in itself improbable.[20] The persecution that had been raging since his departure had naturally thinned the ranks, and tried the fidelity, of his friends. Aquila and Priscilla had once again been forced to leave Rome, and were now at Ephesus (<a href="/2_timothy/4-9.htm" title="Do your diligence to come shortly to me:">2Timothy 4:9</a>). Demas had forsaken him (<a href="/2_timothy/4-10.htm" title="For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.">2Timothy 4:10</a>). Tychicus, still acting as the courier of the Apostolic Church, was the bearer of the Epistle to Timotheus (<a href="/2_timothy/4-12.htm" title="And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.">2Timothy 4:12</a>). Crescens had gone to Gaul or to Galatia. Titus, who, we may infer, left Crete, and joined him at Nicopolis, had gone thence, without coming to Italy, to Dalmatia (<a href="/2_timothy/4-10.htm" title="For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.">2Timothy 4:10</a>). One friend only, Luke, the beloved physician, probably finding some protection even now in his connection with Seneca and Gallio, was found willing to continue with him (<a href="/2_timothy/4-11.htm" title="Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.">2Timothy 4:11</a>). It was probably before Tigellinus, rather than Nero himself, that the Apostle, in the utter loneliness of which he speaks so plaintively, made his first defence against the charge of treason.[21] Possibly the judge was, for a time, moved by his dauntless innocence; possibly, as when, about the same time, the celebrated impostor, Apollonius, of Tyana, stood before the same judge (Philostr. Vit. Apollon, iv. 42-44), he shrank from condemning one who was believed to possess supernatural powers. St. Paul’s entreaty that Timothy would bring the books and parchments which he had left at Troas (<a href="/2_timothy/4-13.htm" title="The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come, bring with you, and the books, but especially the parchments.">2Timothy 4:13</a>) may imply a delay during which he was waiting for documentary evidence (possibly the “parchments” of <a href="/2_timothy/4-13.htm" title="The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come, bring with you, and the books, but especially the parchments.">2Timothy 4:13</a>), to prove his citizenship. The “cloak” may well have been wanted if he had to spend the winter months in the Mamertine prison. It was after that first hearing (<a href="/2_timothy/4-16.htm" title="At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.">2Timothy 4:16</a>), filled with the conviction that the end was near, that the Apostle penned the last words which tell us of his hope and joy at seeing the crown of righteousness at last within his reach (<a href="/2_timothy/4-8.htm" title="From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing.">2Timothy 4:8</a>).[20] Recent excavations by Mr. J. H. Parker have shown that what is now known as the Mamertine prison was probably only part of a much larger building used as a state prison (Macduff’s Footsteps of St. Paul, p. 76).[21] It is hardly probable that St. Paul should have referred in these words to a trial during his former stay at Rome. The whole tone is that of a man writing of what had passed recently. Timotheus would naturally, having been with St. Paul at Rome (<a href="/philippians/1-1.htm" title="Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:">Philippians 1:1</a>; <a href="/colossians/1-1.htm" title=" Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,">Colossians 1:1</a>), know the whole history of the first imprisonment.The confinement of St. Paul probably lasted for several months after this first hearing of his case. Before long, according to traditions which were current in their simplest form in the time of Clement of Rome, and were recognised in their fuller details by Eusebius (Hist. ii. 25) in the fourth century, he was joined by the great Apostle of the Circumcision, and the two who, as far as we know, had not met since the memorable dispute at Antioch (<a href="/galatians/2-14.htm" title="But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, If you, being a Jew, live after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compel you the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?">Galatians 2:14</a>), were brought together at last once more in the Mamertine prison. The later Roman fiction of a pontificate of twenty-five years,[22] the earlier myths in the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions of a conflict with Simon Magus in the streets of Rome (see Notes on <a href="/acts/8-24.htm" title="Then answered Simon, and said, Pray you to the LORD for me, that none of these things which you have spoken come on me.">Acts 8:24</a>), may be dismissed as belonging altogether to the region of the fabulous; but there is nothing improbable in the supposition, either that he had come from the literal to the spiritual Babylon (<a href="/1_peter/5-13.htm" title="The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you; and so does Marcus my son.">1Peter 5:13</a>) to look after the welfare of the suffering Christians there,[23] or that the wide-spread net of Tigellinus, which had taken in its meshes St. Paul at Nicopolis and Apollonius at Rome, had caught him also. The story perpetuated by the Domine, Quo Vadis? chapel on the Appian Way, that he had endeavoured to effect his escape, and after he had passed the Capuan Gate (now the Porta San Sebastiano) had seen the well-remembered form of the Master he had loved, and on asking the question, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” received the answer, “I go to be crucified again,” and then returned to the city to face the doom which he was seeking to avoid, has in it, I venture to think, the likelihood which is involved in the fact that it was altogether unlikely that such a story should have been invented at a later age, when the name of the Prince of the Apostles had been identified with the notion of the primary, if not the infallibility, of his successors. It is at all events, somewhat over-sceptical, in spite of much uncertainty as to dates and details, to reject the tradition that the two Apostles were at last tried and condemned together. For the last time the free-born citizen of Rome was allowed the privileges of his citizenship, and escaped the degradation of the servile punishment of crucifixion. The Galilean Apostle, on the other hand, who had seen the Crucified One, chose, according to a current tradition, to be placed upon the cross head-downwards, unwilling to present himself to the eyes of the disciples as suffering as their Lord had suffered (Euseb. Hist. iii. 1). As the story runs, the two Apostles were led out together by the Ostian Gate (now the Porta San Paolo), and a small chapel about a mile from the city indicates the spot where they took their last farewell. St. Peter was led, according to one tradition, to the hill of the Janiculum, on the left bank of the Tiber, and a chapel attached to the church of San Pietro in Montorio, was built over the spot where the cross was believed to have been fixed; while his brother Apostle was taken further on the Ostian road to the spot now known as the Tre Fontane, from the legend that as the head was struck off by the sword of the executioner it bounded three times from the ground, and that a spring of water sprang up at each spot where it had touched the earth. Both bodies were placed, according to the Roman tradition of the time of Gregory the Great, in the catacombs on the Appian Way, under the modern church of San Sebastiano. Thence that of St. Peter was removed, possibly by the Jewish Christians of Rome, to the site in the Vatican, where the stately temple of Michael Angelo has replaced the old Basilica, the marbles and mosaics of which still remain in the Confession[24] under the central dome, while that of St. Paul was interred by the pious care of a Gentile convert, Lucina on the Ostian road, and the Basilica of San Paolo-fuori-le-Mura, built by Theodosius and Valentinian in A.D. 388 on the site of a smaller church erected by Constantine, claims for its Confession the glory of containing his sarcophagus. In the full-blown development of the rival traditions of Roman churches, that of St. John Lateran boasted of possessing the heads of both Apostles, while each of the Churches of St. Paul outside the walls and St. Peter in the Vatican, admitting the claims of its rival, exulted in the thought that it could claim half of the body of each of them.[22] The long pontificate of Pius IX. has given a fresh prominence to the traditional “years of St. Peter,” and an inscription over the chair of the Apostle in St. Peter’s records that it was given to the deceased pontiff, alone among all his successors.to equal those years. The date given in Roman Catholic chronologies to the foundation of the Church of Rome by Peter is A.D. 41.[23] This view derives a certain support from the Roman tradition that St. Peter dwelt in the house of Pudens, the centurion, and baptised his two daughters, Praxechs and Pudentiana. The absence of any mention of Claudia shows that the tradition was independent of <a href="/2_timothy/4-21.htm" title="Do your diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brothers.">2Timothy 4:21</a>, and of any inference from the Epigrams of Martial. Churches dedicated to the two sisters stand near together on the Viminal Hill, and the traditional house of Pudens is below that which bears the name of the latter.[24] The “Confession” is the technical term commonly applied in Italy to the crypt-like shrine which contains the relics of the saint to whom the church is dedicated.I have thought it best to lay before the reader as clear and connected a narrative as the imperfect data allowed, without entering on the difficult and perplexing questions which have been raised as to the year of the martyrdom of the two Apostles. It is right, however, to state that a very considerable divergency of views prevails on this point, in part connected with the question of the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles, and that the year has been variously fixed between the limits of A.D. 64 on the one hand, and A.D. 68 on the other. The above has been based on the assumption of the later rather than the earlier date being, at least, approximately true. The Western Church has for many centuries dedicated the 29th and 30th of June (two days being appointed so that due honour might be rendered to each) to the commemoration of the martyrdom of the two Apostles. The calendar of the Reformed Church of England follows that of Koine in assigning June 29th to St. Peter, but contents itself with commemorating the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25th without assigning any day as the anniversary of his death.What picture, we ask, are we to draw of the man who plays so prominent a part in the history of the Apostolic Church? What was he like? What impression did he make on men at first sight? What when they had learnt to know him? The nearest approximation to an authentic portrait is the medal (an engraving from which may be seen in Lewin’s St. Paud, ii. p. 411) found in the cemetery of Domitilla, one of the Flavian family, and assigned by archæologists to the close of the first or beginning of the second century. Closely cut hair (comp. <a href="/acts/18-18.htm" title="And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brothers, and sailed there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.">Acts 18:18</a>), slightly projecting eyes, a high forehead, a nose and mouth that indicate intellectual vigour, moustache, and a beard full rather than long,—this was what the artist gave in his attempt to reproduce a face which he may have seen himself or heard described by others. In stature, it is obvious, he was below the middle height (<a href="/2_corinthians/10-10.htm" title="For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.">2Corinthians 10:10</a>). The suffering which he describes as the thorn in the flesh, showed itself in weak eyes, probably in the nervous trembling of one who is constantly liable to severe attacks of pain. (See Notes on <a href="/2_corinthians/12-7.htm" title="And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.">2Corinthians 12:7</a>.) He went about as one who had the sentence of death on him (<a href="/2_corinthians/1-9.htm" title="But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead:">2Corinthians 1:9</a>). With this, however, there was great vigour of body. He could travel on foot some thirty miles a day (<a href="/acts/17-1.htm" title="Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:">Acts 17:1</a>), or ride on horseback (<a href="/acts/23-24.htm" title="And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe to Felix the governor.">Acts 23:24</a>), or swim rivers, or keep himself floating for many hours at sea (<a href="/acts/27-43.htm" title="But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:">Acts 27:43</a>). The indomitable energy of the man sustained him under hardships and privations of all kinds. He spoke, not with the rhetorical cadences in which Greek rhetoricians delighted, but with words that went home like an arrow to their mark, and pierced men’s hearts (<a href="/2_corinthians/11-25.htm" title="Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;">2Corinthians 11:25</a>). The voice was, perhaps, untuneable, but the words were full of life (<a href="/1_corinthians/14-25.htm" title="And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.">1Corinthians 14:25</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/10-10.htm" title="For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.">2Corinthians 10:10</a>). As men saw him in his artisan’s dress, living the life of the poor, they might have taken him for what he appeared to be; but when they came to know him they found a culture that surprised them, and a marvellous readiness to adapt himself to different natures. He became “all things to all men;” won the respect of proconsuls, chiliarchs, centurions, of the wild emotional Galatians, of the runaway slave Onesimus. He would listen to any tale of sorrow, and yet a keen sense of humour mingled with his earnestness and tenderness. He did not disdain to mingle an occasional pun (<a href="/philippians/4-2.htm" title="I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.">Philippians 4:2</a>; <a href="/philippians/4-18.htm" title="But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.">Philippians 4:18</a>; <a href="/context/philemon/1-10.htm" title="I beseech you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:">Philemon 1:10-11</a>) with serious counsel, nor to paint the weaknesses of silly women and charlatans with a pen that almost reminds us of the caustic sarcasm of Juvenal (<a href="/context/1_timothy/5-11.htm" title="But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;">1Timothy 5:11-13</a>; <a href="/context/2_timothy/3-6.htm" title="For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,">2Timothy 3:6-7</a>). And yet when the hour of prayer came, sometimes when he was alone, sometimes when in company with others, he would be absorbed as in ecstatic adoration (<a href="/1_corinthians/14-18.htm" title="I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all:">1Corinthians 14:18</a>). Strange mysterious utterances of praise, doxologiee, alleluiahs, and the like, in half-musical intonations, would pour forth from his lips. He would seem as one caught up to the third heaven, to the paradise of God (<a href="/context/2_corinthians/12-1.htm" title="It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.">2Corinthians 12:1-4</a>), and then, again, would speak, as a prophet of the Lord, with thoughts that breathed and words that burnt. And in his prayers there was an almost terrible earnestness. Groans mingled with words, and name after name of churches and beloved disciples passed from his lips, as he laid his intercessions for them before his Father in heaven (<a href="/romans/1-9.htm" title="For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;">Romans 1:9</a>; <a href="/romans/8-26.htm" title="Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.">Romans 8:26</a>; <a href="/1_thessalonians/3-10.htm" title="Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?">1Thessalonians 3:10</a>). Such are the outlines of the man as he was—very unlike to Raphael’s idealised representation of him,—which are given to us indirectly through his own writings, and each reader must fill up those outlines according to his power. The attempt has been made, not without success, by many word-painters and masters of style. Without disparaging other representations of this kind, I venture to lay before the reader two such portraits.“I dreamed that, with a passionate complaint,I wished me born amid God’s deeds of might,And envied those who saw the presence brightOf gifted prophet and strong-hearted saintWhom my heart loves and fancy strives to paint:I turned, when straight a stranger met my sight,Came as my guest, and did a while uniteHis lot with mine, and lived without restraint;Courteous he was and grave;—so meek in mien,It seemed untrue, or told a purpose weak;Yet in the mood, he could with aptness speak,Or with stern force, or show of feelings keen,Marking deep craft, methought, or hidden pride:—Then came a voice—‘St. Paul is at thy side!’ ”—J. H. Newman, Lyra Apostolica.The other is by a less known author:—“The third who journeyed with them, weak and worn,Blear-eyed, dim-visioned, bent and bowed with pain,We looked upon with wonder.—Not for himThe praise of form heroic, supple limbs,The glory of the sculptor as he mouldsThe locks of Zeus, o’erspreading lofty brows,Apollo, the far-darter, in the prideOf manhood’s noblest beauty, or the graceOf sandalled Hermes, messenger of gods:Not thus he came, but clad in raiment worn,Of roughest texture, bearing many stainsOf age and travel. In his hand he boreA staff on which he leant, as one whose limbsHave lost before their time the strength of youth;And underneath his arm a strange old book,Whose mystic letters seemed for him the wordsOf wisdom and of truth. And oft he readIn solemn cadence words that thrilled his soul,And, lighting that worn face with new-born joy,Bade him go on rejoicing.So they came;So entered he our town; but, ere the sunHad lit the eastern clouds, a fever’s chillFell on him; parched thirst and darting throbsOf keenest anguish racked those weary limbs;His brow seemed circled with a crown of pain;And oft, pale, breathless, as if life had flea,He looked like one in ecstasy, who seesWhat others see not; to whose ears a voiceWhich others hear not, floats from sea or sky:And broken sounds would murmur from his lips,Of glory wondrous, sounds ineffable,The cry of ‘Abba, Father,’ and the notesOf some strange solemn chant of other lands.So, stricken, prostrate, pale, the traveller lay,So stript of all the comeliness of form,Men might have spurned and loathed him, passing onTo lead their brighter life.—And yet we stayed;We spurned him not, nor loathed; through all the shrouds.Of poverty and sickness we could seeThe hero-soul, the presence as of OneWhom then we knew not. When the pain was sharp.And furrowed brows betrayed the strife within.Then was he gentlest. Even to our slavesHe spoke as brothers, winning all their heartsBy that unwonted kindness.”To these ideal portraits we may add such fragmentary notices as are found in ancient writers, and which, from their general consistency, may claim something like the character of a tradition. Thus in the Philopatris, ascribed to Lucian (possibly of the second century, but the book is probably spurious and belonging to the fourth), he is described as “bald, and with an. aquiline nose;” and in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla (c. i. 7), as “little in stature, bald, crook-legged, vigorous, with knitted brows, slightly aquilinenose, full of grace, appearing now as a man and now as having the face of an angel.” Malala, or John of Antioch (in the sixth century), describes him (Chronograph, c. x.) as “short, bald, with partly grey hair and beard, a prominent nose, greyish eyes, knitted brows, pale and yet fresh complexion, a well-shaped beard, with a touch of humour, sagacious, self-restrained, pleasant to converse with, gentle, yet filled by the Holy Spirit with an eager enthusiasm. Nicephorus (in the fifteenth century) reproduces the same general type; but the late date makes it impossible for us to look to his account as more than a second-hand portrait. Such as it is, he too speaks of short stature, somewhat bent and stooping; pale and yet comely; bald, and with bright grey eyes; with long and aquiline nose, and a thick beard more or less grizzled (Hist. ii. 37).[25][25] The two last quotations are taken from Lewin’s St. Paul. II p. 412.Such in outward form, such in manner and character, was the man to whom the Church of Christ owes so much. We are reminded as we read his own account of himself, what others said of him in his lifetime, the traditions that survived after his death, of such a one as Socrates, with his Silenus face, his ecstatic trances, his playful irony and humour, his earnest thought, his deep enthusiasm, his warm affection for the young, his indifference to wealth and ease. There were, of course, distinctive features, rising in part out of differences of race and culture—the difference between the Aryan and the Semitic types of character—in part out of the higher truths which had been revealed to the Apostle and not to the sage; but there is enough in the general features of the life and character of each to help us to understand the words which tell us that “Wisdom in all ages entering into holy souls maketh them friends of God and prophets.” <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-1.htm">Acts 1:1</a></div><div class="verse">The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,</div>The Acts of the Apostles.—See Introduction as to the title thus given to the Book.(1) The former treatise.—Literally, word, or discourse; but the English of the text is, perhaps, a happier equivalent than either. The Greek term had been used by Xenophon (Anab. ii. 1; Cyrop. viii. 1, 2) as St. Luke uses it, of what we should call the several “Books” or portions of his Histories. The adjective is strictly “first” rather than “former,” and the tense of the verb, “I made,” rather than “I have made.”O Theophilus.—See Note on <a href="/luke/1-3.htm" title="It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus,">Luke 1:3</a>. It has been thought that the absence of the words “most excellent” implies that the writer’s friendship with Theophilus was now of a more intimate and familiar nature. It is possible, just as a like change of relation has been traced in Shakespeare’s dedication of his two poems to the Earl of Southampton, but the inference is, in each case, somewhat precarious.That Jesus began both to do and teach.—The verb “begin” is specially characteristic of St. Luke’s Gospel, in which it occurs not less than thirty-one times. Its occurrence at the beginning of the Acts is, accordingly, as far as it goes, an indication of identity of authorship. He sought his materials from those who had been “from the beginning” eye-witnesses and ministers of the word (<a href="/luke/1-2.htm" title="Even as they delivered them to us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;">Luke 1:2</a>). <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-2.htm">Acts 1:2</a></div><div class="verse">Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:</div>(2) Until the day in which he was taken up.—We notice, as a matter of style, the same periodic structure that we found in the opening of the Gospel, made more conspicuous in the Greek by an arrangement of the words which places “he was taken up” at the close of the sentence. On the word “taken up,” see Note on <a href="/luke/9-51.htm" title="And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,">Luke 9:51</a>.That he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments.—The words admit of two possible meanings—(1) that he work of “commanding” was left to the Holy Spirit, guiding the spirits of the disciples into all the truth; (2) that in His human nature the Lord Jesus, after, as before, His passion, spoke as one who was “filled with the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/luke/4-1.htm" title="And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,">Luke 4:1</a>), to whom the Father had given the Spirit not by measure (<a href="/john/3-34.htm" title="For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God gives not the Spirit by measure to him.">John 3:34</a>). As the Apostles were still waiting for the promised gift, the latter aspect of the words is, we can scarcely doubt, that which was intended by the writer. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-3.htm">Acts 1:3</a></div><div class="verse">To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:</div>(3) After his passion.—Literally, after He had suffered. The English somewhat anticipates the later special sense of “passion.”By many infallible proofs.—There is no adjective in the Greek answering to “infallible,” but the noun is one which was used by writers on rhetoric (e.g., Aristotle, Rhet. i. 2) for proofs that carried certainty of conviction with them, as contrasted with those that were only probable or circumstantial. No other New Testament writer uses it.Being seen of them forty days.—St. Luke uses a peculiar and unusual word (it occurs twice in the LXX.: <a href="/1_kings/8-8.htm" title="And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are to this day.">1Kings 8:8</a>, and <a href="//apocrypha.org/tobit/12-19.htm" title="All these days I did appear unto you; but I did neither eat nor drink, but ye did see a vision.">Tobit 12:19</a>) for “being seen,” perhaps with the wish to imply that the presence was not continuous, and that our Lord was seen only at intervals. This may be noted as the only passage which gives the time between the Resurrection and the Ascension. It had its counterpart in the forty days of the Temptation in the wilderness (<a href="/luke/4-2.htm" title="Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungry.">Luke 4:2</a>), as that had had in the earlier histories of Moses (<a href="/exodus/24-18.htm" title="And Moses went into the middle of the cloud, and got him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.">Exodus 24:18</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/9-9.htm" title="When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:">Deuteronomy 9:9</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/9-18.htm" title="And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which you sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.">Deuteronomy 9:18</a>) and Elijah (<a href="/1_kings/19-8.htm" title="And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.">1Kings 19:8</a>). There was a certain symbolic fitness in the time of triumph on earth coinciding with that of special conflict. If we ask what was the character, if one may so speak, of our Lord’s risen life between His manifestation to the disciples, the history of the earlier forty days in part suggests the answer. Then, as before, the life was, we may believe, one of solitude and communion with His Father, no longer tried and tempted, as it had then been, by contact with the power of evil—a life of intercession, such as that which uttered itself in the great prayer of John 17. Where the days and nights were spent we can only reverently conjecture. Analogy suggests the desert places and mountain heights or Galilee (<a href="/luke/4-42.htm" title="And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came to him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.">Luke 4:42</a>; <a href="/luke/6-12.htm" title="And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.">Luke 6:12</a>). The mention of Bethany in <a href="/luke/24-50.htm" title="And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.">Luke 24:50</a>, and of the Mount of Olives in <a href="/acts/1-12.htm" title="Then returned they to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.">Acts 1:12</a>, makes it probable that Gethsemane may have been one of the scenes that witnessed the joy of the victory, as it had witnessed before the agony of the conflict.The things pertaining to the kingdom of God.—This implies, it is obvious, much unrecorded teaching. What is recorded points (1) to the true interpretation of the prophecies of the Messiah (<a href="/luke/24-27.htm" title="And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.">Luke 24:27</a>; <a href="/context/luke/24-44.htm" title="And he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.">Luke 24:44-45</a>); (2) to the extension of the mission of the disciples to the whole Gentile world, and their admission to the Kingdom by baptism (<a href="/matthew/28-19.htm" title="Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:">Matthew 28:19</a>); (3) to the promises of supernatural powers and divine protection (<a href="/context/mark/16-15.htm" title="And he said to them, Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.">Mark 16:15-18</a>); (4) to that of His own perpetual presence with His Church (<a href="/matthew/28-20.htm" title="Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you: and, see, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.">Matthew 28:20</a>). <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-4.htm">Acts 1:4</a></div><div class="verse">And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.</div>(4) And, being assembled together with them.—The MSS. present two forms of the participle: one with the meaning given in the English version, the other, but inferior reading, with the sense of “dwelling together with” the disciples. The Vulgate, convescens, “eating with,” probably rests on a mistaken etymology of the Greek term. The whole verse is in substance a repetition of <a href="/luke/24-49.htm" title="And, behold, I send the promise of my Father on you: but tarry you in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high.">Luke 24:49</a>, where see Notes. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-5.htm">Acts 1:5</a></div><div class="verse">For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.</div>(5) John truly baptized with water.—See Note on <a href="/matthew/3-11.htm" title="I indeed baptize you with water to repentance. but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.">Matthew 3:11</a>. The words threw the disciples back upon their recollection of their first admission to the Kingdom. Some of them, at least, must have remembered also the teaching which had told them of the new birth of water and of the Spirit (<a href="/context/john/3-3.htm" title="Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.">John 3:3-5</a>). Now they were told that their spirits were to be as fully baptised, i.e., plunged, into the power of the Divine Spirit, as their bodies had then been plunged in the waters of the Jordan. And this was to be “not many days hence.” The time was left undefined, as a discipline to their faith and patience. They were told that it would not be long, lest faith and patience should fail. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-6.htm">Acts 1:6</a></div><div class="verse">When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?</div>(6) Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom?—More literally, art Thou restoring . . . Before the Passion the disciples had thought that “the kingdom of God should immediately appear” (<a href="/luke/19-11.htm" title="And as they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.">Luke 19:11</a>). Then had come the seeming failure of those hopes (<a href="/luke/24-21.htm" title="But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.">Luke 24:21</a>). Now they were revived by the Resurrection, but were still predominantly national. Even the Twelve were thinking, not of a kingdom of God, embracing all mankind, but of a sovereignty restored to Israel. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-7.htm">Acts 1:7</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.</div>(7) It is not for you to know the times or the seasons.—The combination of the two words is characteristic of St. Luke and St. Paul (<a href="/1_thessalonians/5-1.htm" title="But of the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you.">1Thessalonians 5:1</a>). The answer to the eager question touches the season rather than the nature of the fulfilment of their hopes. They are left to the teaching of the Spirit and of Time to remould and purify their expectations of the restoration of Israel. What was needed now was the patience that waits for and accepts that teaching.Which the Father hath put in his own power.—Better, as free from the ambiguity which attaches to the present version, which the Father appointed by His own authority. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-8.htm">Acts 1:8</a></div><div class="verse">But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.</div>(8) But ye shall receive power.—The use of the same English noun for two different Greek words is misleading, but if “authority” be used in <a href="/acts/1-7.htm" title="And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power.">Acts 1:7</a> then “power” is an adequate rendering here. The consciousness of a new faculty of thought and speech would be to them a proof that the promise of the Kingdom had not failed.Ye shall be witnesses unto me.—The words, which are apparently identical with those of <a href="/luke/24-48.htm" title="And you are witnesses of these things.">Luke 24:48</a>, strike the key-note of the whole book. Those which follow correspond to the great divisions of the Acts—Jerusalem, Acts 1, 7; Judæa, 9:32, 12:19; Samaria, 8; and the rest of the book as opening the wider record of the witness borne “to the uttermost parts of the earth.” And this witness was two-fold: (1) of the works, the teachings, and, above all, of the Resurrection of Jesus; (2) of the purpose of the Father as revealed in the Son. The witness was to be, in language which, though technical, is yet the truest expression of the fact, at once historical and dogmatic. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-9.htm">Acts 1:9</a></div><div class="verse">And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.</div>(9) He was taken up; and a cloud received him . . .—It is remarkable how little stress is laid in the Gospels on the fact which has always been so prominent in the creeds of Christendom. Neither St. John nor St. Matthew record it. It is barely mentioned with utmost brevity in the verses which close the Gospel of St. Mark, and in which many critics see, indeed, a fragment of apostolic teaching, but not part of the original Gospel. The reasons of this silence are, however, not far to seek. It was because the Ascension was from the first part of the creed of Christendom that the Evangelists said so little. The fact had been taught to every catechumen. They would not embellish it—as, for example, the Assumption of the Virgin was embellished in later legends—by fantastic details. That it was so received is clear. It is implied in our Lord’s language, as recorded by St. John, “What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?” (<a href="/john/6-62.htm" title="What and if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?">John 6:62</a>), and such words would hardly have been brought before believers at the close of the apostolic age if they had received no fulfilment. It is assumed in the earliest form of the Church’s creed, “He was received up into glory,” the verb being identical with that which St. Luke employs in St. Peter’s speeches (<a href="/acts/2-33.htm" title="Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.">Acts 2:33</a>; <a href="/acts/3-21.htm" title="Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.">Acts 3:21</a>), and in St. Paul’s epistles (<a href="/ephesians/1-20.htm" title="Which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,">Ephesians 1:20</a>; <a href="/1_timothy/3-16.htm" title="And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.">1Timothy 3:16</a>). We may add that there was something like a moral necessity, assuming the Resurrection as a fact, for such a conclusion to our Lord’s work on earth. Two other alternatives may, perhaps, be just imagined as possible: He might, like Lazarus, have lived out His restored life to its appointed term, and then died the common death of all men; but in that case where would have been the victory over death, and the witness that He was the Son of Man? He might have lived on an endless life on earth; but in this case, being such as He was, conflict, persecution, and suffering would have come again and again at every stage, and in each instance a miracle would have been needed to save the suffering from passing on to death, or many deaths must have been followed by many resurrections. When we seek, however, to realise the process of the Ascension, we find ourselves in a region of thought in which it is not easy to move freely. With our thoughts of the relations of the earth to space and the surrounding orbs, we find it hard to follow that upward motion, and to ask what was its direction and where it terminated. We cannot get beyond the cloud; but that cloud was the token of the glory of the Eternal Presence, as the Shechinah that of old filled the Temple (<a href="/context/1_kings/8-10.htm" title="And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,">1Kings 8:10-11</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/6-1.htm" title="In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.">Isaiah 6:1-4</a>), and it is enough for us to know that where God is there also is Christ, in the glory of the Father, retaining still, though under new conditions and laws, the human nature which made Him like unto His brethren. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-10.htm">Acts 1:10</a></div><div class="verse">And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;</div>(10) Two men stood by them in white apparel.—Better, were standing, the appearance being sudden, and their approach unnoticed. The forms were such as those as had been seen at the portals of the empty sepulchre, bright and fair to look upon, and clad in white garments, like the young priests in the Temple. (See Note on <a href="/luke/1-12.htm" title="And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell on him.">Luke 1:12</a>.) <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-11.htm">Acts 1:11</a></div><div class="verse">Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.</div>(11) Shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.—So our Lord, following the great prophecy of <a href="/daniel/7-13.htm" title="I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.">Daniel 7:13</a>, had spoken of Himself as “coming in the clouds of heaven” (see Note on <a href="/matthew/26-64.htm" title="Jesus said to him, You have said: nevertheless I say to you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.">Matthew 26:64</a>), in visible ‘majesty and glory. Here, again, men have asked questions which they cannot answer; not only, when shall the end be, but where shall the Judge thus appear? what place shall be the chosen scene of His second Advent? So far as we dare to localise what is left undefined, the words of the angels suggest the same scene, as well as the same manner. Those who do not shrink from taking the words of prophecy in their most literal sense, have seen in <a href="/zechariah/14-4.htm" title="And his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall split in the middle thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.">Zechariah 14:4</a>, an intimation that the Valley of Jehosophat (= Jehovah judges)—the “valley of decision”—shall witness the great Assize, and that the feet of the Judge shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, from which He had ascended into heaven. This was the current mediæval view, and seems, if we are to localise at all, to be more probable than any other. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-12.htm">Acts 1:12</a></div><div class="verse">Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.</div>(12) From the mount called Olivet.—As to the name, see Note on <a href="/luke/19-29.htm" title="And it came to pass, when he was come near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,">Luke 19:29</a>. The mention of the distance, and the measure of distance employed are, both of them, remarkable, and suggest the thought that St. Luke’s reckoning was a different one from that which Christendom has commonly received, and that the “forty days” expired before the last renewal of our Lord’s intercourse with His disciples, and that this ended on the following sabbath—i.e., eight days before the day of Pentecost. On this supposition we get a reason, otherwise wanting, for this manner of stating the distance. Symbolically, too, there seems a fitness in our Lord’s entering into His rest, on the great day of rest, which is wanting in our common way of reckoning. On the other hand, it may be noted that it is after St. Luke’s manner as in the case of Emmaus (<a href="/luke/24-13.htm" title="And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs.">Luke 24:13</a>) to give distances. The “Sabbath day’s journey” was reckoned at 2,000 paces, or about six furlongs. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-13.htm">Acts 1:13</a></div><div class="verse">And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.</div>(13) They went up into an upper room, where abode . . .—Better, into the upper room, where they were abiding. The Greek noun has the article. The room may have been the same as that in which the Paschal Supper had been eaten (<a href="/mark/14-15.htm" title="And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.">Mark 14:15</a>). On the other hand, that room seems to have been different from that in which the disciples had lodged during the Paschal week, and to have been chosen specially for the occasion (<a href="/luke/22-8.htm" title="And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.">Luke 22:8</a>). The word used is also different in form. So far as we are able to distinguish between the two words, the room of the Paschal Supper was on the first floor, the guest-chamber, used for meals; that in which the disciples now met, on the second floor, or loft, which was used for retirement and prayer. It would seem from <a href="/luke/24-53.htm" title="And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.">Luke 24:53</a>, that they spent the greater part of each day in the Temple, and met together in the evening. The better MSS. give “prayer” only, without “supplication.” The prayer thus offered may be thought of as specially directed to the “promise of the Father.” Whether it was spoken or silent, unpremeditated or in some set form of words, like the Lord’s Prayer, we have no data to determine.Peter, and James.—On the lists of the Twelve Apostles see Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/10-2.htm" title="Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;">Matthew 10:2-4</a>. The points to be noticed are—(1) that Andrew stands last in the group of the first four, divided from his brother, thus agreeing with the list in St. Mark (<a href="/mark/3-17.htm" title="And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:">Mark 3:17</a>); (2) that Philip is in like manner divided from Bartholomew, and Thomas from Matthew; (3) that Zelotes appears here, as in <a href="/luke/6-15.htm" title="Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,">Luke 6:15</a>, instead of the Cananæan. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-14.htm">Acts 1:14</a></div><div class="verse">These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.</div>(14) With the women.—Looking to what we have seen in the Gospels, it is a natural inference that here, too, the “devout women” of <a href="/context/luke/8-2.htm" title="And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,">Luke 8:2-3</a>, were among St. Luke’s chief informants. This may, perhaps, account for the variations in the list just noticed. The women were less likely than the disciples to lay stress on what we may call the accurate coupling of the Twelve. The mention of “the women” as a definite body is characteristic of St. Luke as the only Evangelist who names them. (See Notes on <a href="/context/luke/8-1.htm" title="And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,">Luke 8:1-3</a>; <a href="/luke/23-49.htm" title="And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.">Luke 23:49</a>.) We may reasonably think of the company as including Mary Magdalene, Salome, Susanna, Joanna, Mary and Martha of Bethany, possibly also the woman that had been a sinner, of <a href="/luke/7-37.htm" title="And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,">Luke 7:37</a>. Here we lose sight of them, and all that follows is conjectural. It is probable that they continued to share the work and the sufferings of the growing Church at Jerusalem, living together, perhaps at Bethany, in a kind of sisterhood. The persecution headed by Saul was likely to disperse them for a time, and some may well have been among the “women” who suffered in it (<a href="/acts/8-3.htm" title="As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.">Acts 8:3</a>); but they may have returned when it ceased. St. Luke, when he came to Palestine, would seem to have met with one or more of them.Mary the mother of Jesus.—Brief as the record is, it has the interest of giving the last known fact, as distinct from legend or tradition, in the life of the mother of our Lord. St. John, we know, had taken her to his own home, probably to a private dwelling in Jerusalem (see Note on <a href="/john/19-27.htm" title="Then said he to the disciple, Behold your mother! And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.">John 19:27</a>), and she had now come with him to the first meeting of the Ecclesia. Here also we trace the influence of the women as St. Luke’s informants. They could not have left unnoticed the presence of her who was the centre of their group. The legends of some apocryphal books represent her as staying at Jerusalem with St. John till her death, twenty-two years after the Ascension; while others represent her as going with him to Ephesus and dying there; the Apostles gather around her death-bed; she is buried, and the next day the grave is found emptied, and sweet flowers have grown around it; Mary also had been taken up into heaven. The festival of the Assumption, which owes its origin to this legend, dates from the sixth or seventh century.With his brethren.—The last mention of the “brethren” had shown them as still unbelieving (<a href="/john/7-5.htm" title="For neither did his brothers believe in him.">John 7:5</a>). Various explanations of their change may be given. (1) They may have been drawn to believe before the Crucifixion by the great miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus. (2) The risen Lord had appeared to James as well as to the Apostles (<a href="/1_corinthians/15-7.htm" title="After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.">1Corinthians 15:7</a>), and that may have fixed him and the other brothers in steadfast faith. (3) If the mother of Jesus was with John, the brethren also were likely to come, in greater or less measure, under the influence of their cousin. It may be noted that the brethren are here emphatically distinguished from the Apostles, and therefore that James the son of Aiphæus cannot rightly be identified with James the Lord’s brother. (See Note on <a href="/matthew/12-46.htm" title="While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood without, desiring to speak with him.">Matthew 12:46</a>.) <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-15.htm">Acts 1:15</a></div><div class="verse">And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)</div>(15) The number of names together were about an hundred and twenty.—The number probably included the Seventy of <a href="/luke/10-1.htm" title="After these things the LORD appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, where he himself would come.">Luke 10:1</a>, perhaps also Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus, and some of the “five hundred” who had seen their risen Lord in Galilee or elsewhere (<a href="/1_corinthians/15-6.htm" title="After that, he was seen of above five hundred brothers at once; of whom the greater part remain to this present, but some are fallen asleep.">1Corinthians 15:6</a>). The use of “names” may be merely as a synonym for “persons,” but It suggests the idea of there having been a list from which St. Luke extracted those that seemed most conspicuous. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-16.htm">Acts 1:16</a></div><div class="verse">Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.</div>(16) Men and brethren.—Better, brethren only, the word being used as in the LXX. of <a href="/genesis/13-8.htm" title="And Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we be brothers.">Genesis 13:8</a>. The tone of St. Peter’s speech is that of one who felt that his offence had been fully forgiven, and that he was now restored by the charge given him, as in <a href="/context/john/21-15.htm" title="So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, love you me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs.">John 21:15-17</a>, to his former position as guide and leader of the other disciples. To do that work faithfully was a worthier fruit of repentance than any public confession of his guilt would have been. This, of course, does not exclude—what is in itself probable—that he had previously confessed his fault, either to his special friend St. John, or to the whole company of Apostles and other disciples.Which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake . . .—We have here, obviously, the firstfruits of the new method of interpretation in which the Apostles had been instructed (<a href="/luke/24-27.htm" title="And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.">Luke 24:27</a>; <a href="/luke/24-45.htm" title="Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,">Luke 24:45</a>). They had already been taught that the Holy Spirit which their Lord had promised to them had before spoken by the prophets. The recurrence of the same mode of speech in the “holy men of God who spake as they were moved (literally, borne along) by the Holy Ghost,” in <a href="/2_peter/1-21.htm" title="For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.">2Peter 1:21</a>, is, as far as it goes, evidence in favour of the genuineness of that Epistle.Which was guide to them that took Jesus.—The actual word “guide” is not found in the Gospel narrative, but it appears as a fact in all four, notably in that of St. John (<a href="/context/john/18-2.htm" title="And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus often resorted thither with his disciples.">John 18:2-3</a>). <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-17.htm">Acts 1:17</a></div><div class="verse">For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.</div>(17) For he was numbered with us.—Literally, he had been numbered.Had obtained part of this ministry.—Better, the portion, or inheritance. The Greek has the article, and the noun (cleros) is one which afterwards acquired a special half-technical sense in the words, clerus, clericus, “clerk,” “clergy.” In <a href="/1_peter/5-3.htm" title="Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.">1Peter 5:3</a>, as being “lords over the heritage,” we find it in a transition sense. (See Note on <a href="/acts/1-25.htm" title="That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.">Acts 1:25</a>.) <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-18.htm">Acts 1:18</a></div><div class="verse">Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.</div>(18, 19) Now this man purchased a field.—Better, acquired, got possession of, a field, the Greek not necessarily including the idea of buying. On the difficulties presented by a comparison of this account with that in <a href="/context/matthew/27-5.htm" title="And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.">Matthew 27:5-8</a>, see Note on that passage. Here the field bought with Judas’s money is spoken of as that which he gained as the reward of his treachery. The details that follow are additions to the briefer statement of St. Matthew, but are obviously not incompatible with it. Nor is there any necessity for assuming, as some have done, that there were two fields known as Aceldama, one that which the priests had bought, and the other that which was the scene of Judas’s death. The whole passage must be regarded as a note of the historian, not as part of the speech of St. Peter. It was not likely that he, speaking to disciples, all of whom knew the Aramaic, or popular Hebrew of Palestine, should stop to explain that Aceldama meant “in their proper tongue, The field of blood.” <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-19.htm">Acts 1:19</a></div><div class="verse">And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.</div>(19) In their proper tongue.—Literally, in their own dialect. The word is used frequently in the Acts (<a href="/acts/2-6.htm" title="Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.">Acts 2:6</a>; <a href="/acts/2-8.htm" title="And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?">Acts 2:8</a>; <a href="/acts/21-40.htm" title="And when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand to the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,">Acts 21:40</a>), but not elsewhere in the New Testament. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-20.htm">Acts 1:20</a></div><div class="verse">For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.</div>(20) For it is written in the book of Psalms—St. Peter’s speech is continued after the parenthetical note. His purpose in making the quotation is to show that the disciples should not be staggered by the treachery of Judas, and the seeming failure of their hopes. The Psalms had represented the righteous sufferer as the victim of treachery. They had also spoken of the traitor as receiving a righteous punishment such as had now fallen upon Judas. No strange thing had happened. What had been of old was typical of what they had heard or known. We need not in this place discuss either the historical occasions of the Psalms cited, or the ethical difficulties presented by their imprecations of evil. Neither comes, so to speak, within the horizon of St. Peter’s thoughts. It was enough for him to note the striking parallelism which they presented to what was fresh in his memory, and to believe that it was not accidental.His bishoprick let another take.—Better, as in <a href="/psalms/109-8.htm" title="Let his days be few; and let another take his office.">Psalm 109:8</a>, let another take his office. The Greek word is episcopè, which, as meaning an office like that of the episcopos, is, of course, in one sense, rightly translated by “bishoprick.” The latter term is, however, so surrounded by associations foreign to the apostolic age that it is better to use the more general, and, therefore, neutral, term of the English version of the Psalm. The use of “bishoprick” may be noted as an instance of the tendency of the revisers of 1611 to maintain the use of “bishop” and the like where the office seemed to be placed on a high level (as here and in <a href="/1_peter/2-25.htm" title="For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.">1Peter 2:25</a>), while they use “overseer” and “oversight” (as in <a href="/acts/20-28.htm" title="Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.">Acts 20:28</a>, and <a href="/1_peter/5-2.htm" title="Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;">1Peter 5:2</a>) where it is identified with the functions of the elders or presbyters of the Church. “Bishoprick” had, however, been used in all previous versions except the Geneva, which gives “charge.” <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-21.htm">Acts 1:21</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,</div>(21) Wherefore of these men which have companied with us.—From the retrospective glance at the guilt and punishment of the traitor, Peter passes, as with a practical sagacity, to the one thing that was now needful for the work of the infant Church. They, the Apostles, must present themselves to the people in their symbolic completeness, as sent to the twelve tribes of Israel, and the gap left by the traitor must be filled by one qualified, as they were, to bear witness of what had been said or done by their Lord during His ministry, and, above all, of His resurrection from the dead. That would seem, even in St. Paul’s estimate, to have been a condition of apostleship (<a href="/1_corinthians/9-1.htm" title="Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not you my work in the Lord?">1Corinthians 9:1</a>).Went in and out . . .—The phrase was a familiar Hebrew phrase for the whole of a man’s life and conduct. (Comp. <a href="/acts/9-28.htm" title="And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.">Acts 9:28</a>.) <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-23.htm">Acts 1:23</a></div><div class="verse">And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.</div>(23) They appointed.—It is uncertain whether this was the act of the Apostles, presenting the two men to the choice of the whole body of disciples, or of the community choosing them for ultimate decision by lot.Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus.—Some MSS. give the various-reading of “Joses,” which was, perhaps, only another form of the same name. Nothing further is known of him. The conditions of the case make it certain that he must have been a disciple almost from the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, and that he must have become more or less prominent, and probable therefore, as stated by Eusebius (Hist. i. 12), that he was one of the Seventy. The name Barsabas (= son of the oath, or of wisdom) may have been a patronymic, like Barjona, or may have been given, like Barnabas, as denoting character. It appears again in Judas Barsabas of <a href="/acts/15-22.htm" title="Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brothers:">Acts 15:22</a>, and on the former assumption, the two disciples may have been brothers. The epithet Justus, the just one, is significant, as possibly indicating, as in the case of James the Just, a specially high standard of ascetic holiness. Another with the same surname—Jesus surnamed Justus—meets us as being with St. Paul at Rome as one of “the circumcision” (<a href="/colossians/4-11.htm" title=" And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow workers to the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort to me.">Colossians 4:11</a>), and another, or possibly the same, at Corinth (<a href="/acts/18-7.htm" title="And he departed there, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.">Acts 18:7</a>). In both cases the use of the Latin instead of the Greek word is noticeable, as indicating some point of contact with the Romans in Judæa or elsewhere.Matthias.—Here, too, probably, the same conditions were fulfilled. The name, like Matthew (see Note on <a href="/matthew/9-9.htm" title="And as Jesus passed forth from there, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said to him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.">Matthew 9:9</a>), signified “given by Jehovah,” and had become, in various forms, popular, from the fame of Mattathias, the great head of the Maccabean family. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-24.htm">Acts 1:24</a></div><div class="verse">And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,</div>(24) Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men.—Literally, heart-knower of all men. The compound word is not found in any Greek version of the Old Testament, but meets us again in <a href="/acts/15-8.htm" title="And God, which knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did to us;">Acts 15:8</a>. The question meets us whether the prayer is addressed to the Lord Jesus, as with a recollection of His insight into the hearts of men (<a href="/john/2-24.htm" title="But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men,">John 2:24</a>; <a href="/john/6-64.htm" title="But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.">John 6:64</a>), or to the Father. The prayer of Stephen (<a href="/context/acts/7-59.htm" title="And they stoned Stephen, calling on God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.">Acts 7:59-60</a>) shows, on the one hand, that direct prayer to the Son was not foreign to the minds of the disciples; and in <a href="/john/6-70.htm" title="Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?">John 6:70</a>, He claims the act of choosing as His own. On the other hand, the analogy of <a href="/acts/4-29.htm" title="And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant to your servants, that with all boldness they may speak your word,">Acts 4:29</a>, where the Father is entreated to work signs and wonders “through his holy servant Jesus,” is in favour of the latter view.“Whether,” as used in the sense of “which of two,” may be noted as one of the archaisms of the English version. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-25.htm">Acts 1:25</a></div><div class="verse">That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.</div>(25) That he may take part of this ministry.—Better, the portion, or the lot, so as to give the word (cleros, as in <a href="/acts/1-17.htm" title="For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.">Acts 1:17</a>) the same prominence in English as it has in the Greek.From which Judas by transgression fell.—The last three words are as a paraphrase of the one Greek verb. Better, fell away.That he might go to his own place.—Literally, as the verb is in the infinitive, to go to his own place. The construction is not free from ambiguity, and some interpreters have referred the words to the disciple about to be chosen, “to go to his own place” in the company of the Twelve. If we connect them, as seems most natural, with Judas, we find in them the kind of reserve natural in one that could neither bring himself to cherish hope nor venture to pronounce the condemnation which belonged to the Searcher of hearts. All that had been revealed to him was, that “it had been good for that man if he had not been born” (<a href="/mark/14-21.htm" title="The Son of man indeed goes, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.">Mark 14:21</a>). <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/1-26.htm">Acts 1:26</a></div><div class="verse">And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.</div>(26) And they gave forth their lots.—As interpreted by the prayer of <a href="/acts/1-24.htm" title="And they prayed, and said, You, Lord, which know the hearts of all men, show whether of these two you have chosen,">Acts 1:24</a>, and by the word “fell” here, there can be no doubt that the passage speaks of “lots” and not “votes.” The two men were chosen by the disciples as standing, as far as they could see, on the same level. It was left for the Searcher of hearts to show, by the exclusion of human will, which of the two He had chosen. The most usual way of casting lots in such cases was to write each name on a tablet, place them in an urn, and then shake the urn till one came out. A like custom prevailed among the Greeks, as in the well-known story of the stratagem of Cresphontes in the division of territory after the Doriar invasion (Sophocles, Aias. 1285; comp. <a href="/proverbs/16-33.htm" title="The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.">Proverbs 16:33</a>). The practice was recognised, it may be noted, in the Law (<a href="/leviticus/16-8.htm" title="And Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.">Leviticus 16:8</a>).He was numbered with the eleven apostles.—The Greek word is not the same as in <a href="/acts/1-17.htm" title="For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.">Acts 1:17</a>, and implies that Matthias was “voted in,” the suffrage of the Church unanimously confirming the indication of the divine will which had been given by the lot. It may be that the new Apostle took the place which Judas had left vacant, and was the last of the Twelve.<div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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