The presentation of the lesson in class may be begun somewhat in the manner suggested in the Student's Text Book. The student should be made to appreciate the practical problem of a missionary in a new city. Various solutions of the problem may be adopted. The missionary may simply engage in conversation with individuals in the street, or he may hire a room and advertise his preaching. In any case the securing of an audience is usually no easy matter. It is difficult to know how to begin.
The case might naturally have been the same with Paul and his companions when, for example, after the journey up from Perga they arrived at Pisidian Antioch. Complete strangers were perhaps not much better received in those days than they are now. How could the missionaries get a hearing for their message? In some cases, they might simply take their stand in the market place and talk to the passers-by. Paul tried that method in Athens. It might do when nothing better offered. But fortunately there was usually a far better opportunity. The synagogue offered an audience. What is more, it offered just exactly the most promising audience that could possibly have been secured.
The scene in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch is typical of what happened again and again. The student should be made to appreciate the remarkable liberality and informality of the synagogue customs. There seem to have been no set preachers. Any Jew who really had a message could be heard. He needed only to go in and sit down. Acts 13:14. Paul and Barnabas had no difficulty in making their fitness known. "Brethren," said the rulers of the synagogue, "if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on." Acts 13:15. They had a word of exhortation indeed. "Jesus is the Messiah for whom you are waiting. He has died for your sins. He has risen from the dead, and is now alive to save you." It was a powerful word, and it bore fruit.
The native Jews, it is true, soon came out in opposition. Thereasons for their opposition are not far to seek. Jealousy was an important factor. Christianity was evidently too radical a thing to be simply a sect of Judaism. If allowed to continue, it would destroy the prerogatives of Israel. It could not be controlled. Its success was too great. On that next Sabbath in Pisidian Antioch, "almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God." The Jewish mission had never had a success like that. "When the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy." Christianity had taken away the heritage of Israel.
In one way the Jewish opposition displayed genuine insight into the situation. Christianity was really destined to be a fatal rival to the older Judaism. What took place on a small scale at Antioch was repeated on the larger stage of history. When the Christian mission began, Judaism was a successful missionary religion. Soon afterwards it had withdrawn hopelessly into its age-long isolation. Various causes contributed to this result. The destruction of the national life in Palestine and the increasing influence of the strict rabbinical schools both had an important part. But at least one factor in the process was the competition of the Christian Church. Christianity offered the world everything that Judaism could offer, and more. It offered the knowledge of the one God, and the lofty morality, and the authoritative Book. In addition, it offered a way of redemption—and the men of that time were preëminently seekers after redemption—through the sacrifice of Christ. It offered all these things, moreover, without requiring any relinquishment of purely national characteristics. Christianity did not demand union with any one race. It had a gospel for the world.
No wonder, then, that those who had been attracted by Judaism now became adherents of Christianity. The Jews were filled with envy. It was natural from their point of view, but it was a sad mistake. Had they themselves accepted the gospel, the gospel would have been to their glory. How glorious was the mission of Israel! A blessing to the whole world! Far better than any narrow particularism! But they were not willing to accept the message. Nevertheless, despite their opposition, the Church should not forget the debt which she owes to Israel. The dispersion was like the Judaism of Palestine. In both cases the men themselves were opposed to the gospel. But in both cases they had preserved the deposit of divine truth. Judaism, despite itself, opened the way for the Christian Church.
One service which the dispersion rendered to Christianity has been illustrated by the scene at Pisidian Antioch. That service was the providing of an audience. Another service was the assurance of legal protection. This may be illustrated by another incident in The Acts—the appeal to Gallio. Acts 18:12-17. There the opposition of the Jews appears in all its bitterness. No doubt that opposition was a serious hindrance to the work of the Church. Just because Christianity was regarded as a Jewish sect, the Christians were subject to persecution by the Jewish authorities. But persecutions by the Jews, annoying though they were, were far less serious than opposition on the part of the Roman authorities. And the latter was, at first, conspicuously absent. Gallio's decision is a fair example of the general attitude of the Roman magistrates. Christianity, as a Jewish sect, was allowed to go its way. Judaism, despite itself, afforded the Church legal protection.
Beginning with these two striking scenes, the teacher may proceed to the more general presentation of the lesson. In what follows, the outline of the Student's Text Book will be supplemented at one or two points.
Deportations of Jews to foreign countries took place at various times. The most famous of those deportations was carried out by Nebuchadnezzar after his conquest of Judah, about 600 B. C. Many of Nebuchadnezzar's captives did not join in the return under the Persian monarchy, but remained permanently in the east and formed the nucleus of the large Jewish population of Mesopotamia. When Pompey conquered Palestine in the first century before Christ, he carried many Jews as slaves to Rome. Afterwards they were liberated, and formed a large Jewish colony at the capital of the empire. These are merely examples. Part of the dispersion was due to forcible exile.
Other causes have been mentioned in the Student's Text Book. It is a question, however, whether all of these causes combined are sufficient to account for the extraordinary growth of the dispersion. Schürer believes that the vastness of the Jewish population presupposes the merging of large bodies of proselytes into the Jewish people. He also believes, however, that these thoroughgoing conversions were less numerous in New Testament times than they had been before.
Harnack calculates that at the time of the death of Augustusthere were from four million to four and a half million Jews in the Roman Empire, including about seven hundred thousand in Palestine, and that, if that estimate be correct, then the Jews formed perhaps some seven per cent of the total population. Of course, Harnack is himself the first to admit that such calculations are exceedingly uncertain. But so much at least is clear—the Jews in the first century were surprisingly numerous.
The name "Septuagint," derived from the Latin word for "seventy," has been applied to the Alexandrian translation of the Old Testament in reference to an ancient story about its origin. According to this story, the translation was made by seventy-two men summoned from Jerusalem by Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, in order to add the Jewish law to the royal library at Alexandria. The story is certainly not true in details, and is probably not even correct in representing the translation as destined primarily for the royal library. More probably the translation was intended for the Greek-speaking Jews of Egypt.
The Septuagint is a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek world language of the period, and into the popular, spoken form of that language, not into the literary form. The translation differs widely in character in the different books, for many different translators had a part in it. Some of the books are translated with such slavish literalness as to be almost unintelligible to a Greek. Everywhere, indeed, the influence of the Hebrew original makes itself felt to some degree. Hebrew idioms are often copied in the translation instead of being remolded according to the peculiarities of the Greek language.
The Septuagint exerted an important influence upon the language of the New Testament. The Septuagint was the Greek Bible of the New Testament writers, and the influence of a Bible upon language is very strong. A good example is afforded by the influence of the King James Version upon the whole development of modern English. It is not surprising, therefore, that as the Septuagint was influenced by Hebrew, so the language of the New Testament also displays a Semitic coloring. That coloring was induced partly by the Septuagint, but it was also induced in other ways. Part of the New Testament, for example the words of Jesus, goes back ultimately to an Aramaic original. All the New Testamentwriters except one were Jews, and had spoken Aramaic as well as Greek. No wonder, then, that their Greek was influenced by the Semitic languages. This Semitic influence upon the language of the New Testament is not so great as was formerly supposed, but it cannot be ignored. The New Testament is written in the natural, non-literary form of the Greek world language. That is the main thing to be said. But upon this base is superposed an appreciable influence of Hebrew and Aramaic.
The importance of the Septuagint for the early Christian mission was inestimable. Every pioneer missionary knows how difficult it is to create the vocabulary necessary to express new religious ideas. In the case of the earliest Christian mission, that labor had already been done. It had been done by the Jews of Alexandria. By the Septuagint, the great ideas of the Old Testament—and upon these ideas Christianity was based—had already been put into a Greek form. The Christian Church needed only to develop what had been begun. The Church made good use of her opportunity. The influence of the Septuagint upon the religious vocabulary of the New Testament writers was profound. The Septuagint had provided a vocabulary which was understood already by great masses of people—by the Jews of the dispersion and by the hosts of the "God-worshipers" who attended the synagogues. Naturally the Christian missionaries used the words which people could understand.
The Judaism of the dispersion was a wonderful preparation for the gospel. Israel ought to be regarded with gratitude and sympathy. But the ultimate object of gratitude is God.
The Church was founded in a time of opportunity. The Roman Government had brought peace. The Greek language had welded the nations together. The dispersion of the Jews had prepared the way. These things did not come by chance. The nations were instruments in the hand of God. But instruments for what? A mighty, age-long plan! Centuries of preparation! At last the Saviour came. But did he come for naught? Or is he Saviour of you and me?
In the Library.—Edersheim (revised by White), "History of the Jewish Nation," pp. 45-79. "The Jewish Encyclopedia": Reinach, article on "Diaspora." Hastings, "Dictionary of the Bible": Schürer, article on "Diaspora," extra volume, pp. 91-109.
The teaching of this lesson may be begun with Acts 2:17-21. Surely the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was something new. Yet even that was explained by a reference to prophecy. And the reference is of remarkable aptness and beauty.
The Pentecostal speech of Peter is full of the appeal to prophecy. Primarily, indeed, the claims of Jesus are supported by the direct testimony to his resurrection. Without the facts, of course appeal to prophecy would have been useless; for it was just the wonderful correspondence of the facts with the prophecies that could induce belief. Along with the direct testimony to the facts went the appeal to prophecy. The promised king of David's line at last has come. Acts 2:30; II Sam. 7:12,13; Ps. 89:3,4; 132:11. And David's son is David's Lord—David's Lord and ours. Acts 2:34,35; Ps. 110:1; compare Matt. 22:41-46.
This speech of Peter is typical of the preaching of the early Church. The appeal to prophecy was absolutely central in the presentation of the gospel. Proof of that fact does not need to be sought. It is written plain on the pages of the New Testament. Old Testament prophecy was found to apply not merely to one side of the work of Christ, but to all sides. Israel had looked not merely for a king, but also for a prophet and a priest. Peter, after his first arrest, for example, could appeal to the notable prophecy of Deuteronomy: "A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me." Acts 3:22; Deut. 18:15,19. The author of Hebrews could appeal to the priest after the order of Melchizedek, Heb. 5:6; Ps. 110:4, and to the symbolic sacrifices of the temple which found their fulfillment on Calvary.
The appeal to prophecy extended even to those things which were most distinctive of the Christian message. "I delivered unto you first of all," says Paul, "that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he wasburied; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures." I Cor. 15:3,4. Here the death and the resurrection of Christ are both declared to be according to the Scriptures. That means that they were the subject of prophecy. But the death and the resurrection of Christ were the fundamental elements of the gospel. The gospel, then, in the form of prophecy, is to be found in the Old Testament.
What Old Testament passages has Paul here in mind? With regard to the death for our sins, the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah was probably in his mind. That passage was being read by the Ethiopian when Philip met him, and Philip made the passage a basis for preaching about Jesus. Acts 8:27-35. With regard to the resurrection, it is natural to think of Ps. 16:10. Paul himself quoted that passage in his speech at Pisidian Antioch. Acts 13:34-37.
The appeal to prophecy did not begin with the apostles. It was initiated by Jesus himself. "To-day," said Jesus at Nazareth after the reading of Isa. 61:1,2, "hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears." A large claim! No wonder they found it difficult to accept. When John the Baptist asked, "Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?" it was to "the works of the Christ" that Jesus appealed. Matt. 11:2-6; Isa. 35:5,6; 61:1. These are merely examples. Throughout, Jesus represented himself and his kingdom as the fulfillment of the ancient promise. "O foolish men," he said to the disciples on the way to Emmaus, "and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Luke 24:25-27.
When the gospel was preached to pure Gentiles, a great deal of preliminary labor had to be done. Under what title should the claims of the Saviour be presented? "Christ" to the Gentiles was almost meaningless, till explained. "Son of God" was open to sad misconception. There were "sons of God" in Greek mythology, but they were not what the early Christians meant to show that Jesus was. These difficulties were overcome, and speedily. Gentile Christians were imbued with a lofty and adequate conception of the Lord. The labor was great, but it was gloriously accomplished.
In this labor, however, the missionaries were assisted by thesynagogues of the Jews. In the synagogues, "Christ" was no new term, and no new conception. In the synagogues, one proposition needed first to be proved, "This Jesus ... is the Christ." Acts 17:3. If that were proved, then the rest would follow. The Jews knew that the Messiah was Lord and Master. Identify Jesus with him, and all the lofty claims of Jesus would be substantiated. How the identity was established may be observed in the speech of Peter on the day of Pentecost, or in the speech of Paul at Pisidian Antioch. Acts 13:16-43.
It will be remembered that the synagogues attracted not merely Jews but also Gentiles. The Gentile "God-fearers," as well as the Jews, were acquainted with the Messianic hope. Even the Gentile mission, therefore, was prepared for by the prophets of Israel.
The appeal to prophecy, however, was not merely valuable to the early Church. It is of abiding worth. It represents Jesus as the culmination of a divine purpose. The hope of Israel was in itself a proof of revelation, because it was so unlike the religious conceptions of other nations. The covenant people, the righteous king, the living God, the world-wide mission—that is the glory of Israel. The promise is itself a proof. But still more the fulfillment. The fulfillment was an unfolding. Wonderful correspondence in detail—and far more wonderful the correspondence of the whole! The promise was manifold. Sometimes the Messiah is in the foreground. Sometimes he is out of sight. Sometimes there is a human king, sometimes Jehovah himself coming to judgment; sometimes a kingdom, sometimes a new covenant in the heart; sometimes a fruitful Canaan, sometimes a new heaven and a new earth. But manifold though the promise, Christ is the fulfillment of it all. "How many soever be the promises of God," in Christ is the yea. II Cor. 1:20. There is the wonder. In Christ the apparent contradictions of the promise become glorious unity, in Christ the deeper mysteries of the promise are revealed. Christ the keystone of the arch! Christ the culmination of a divine plan! That is the witness of the prophets. It is a witness worth having.
After the close of the Old Testament, the promise did not die. It was preserved in the Scriptures. It continued to be the life ofthe Jewish nation. But it was not only preserved. It was also interpreted. Some of the interpretation was false, but much of it was true. The Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament promise is worthy of attention. What did the Jews of the first century mean by the Messiah, and what did they mean by the Messianic age?
In the first place, they retained the hope of a king of David's line—a human king who should conquer the enemies of Israel. When it was held in a one-sided form this was a dangerous hope. It led logically to materialistic conceptions of the kingdom of God and to political unrest. It led to the effort of the Jews to take Jesus by force and make him a king. John 6:15. It led to the quarrel of the disciples about the chief places in the kingdom. Matt. 18:1-4; Mark 9:33-35; Luke 9:46,47. This conception of the Messiah had to be corrected by Jesus. "My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36.
Yet even where the Messiah was conceived of as an earthly ruler, the spiritual hope was by no means always and altogether lost. The "Psalms of Solomon," for example, Pharisaic psalms of the first century before Christ, though they look for an earthly ruler, picture him as one who shall rule in righteousness. "And a righteous king and taught of God is he that reigneth over them; And there shall be no iniquity in his days in their midst, for all shall be holy and their king is the Lord Messiah" (Ps. Sol. xvii, 35, 36. See Ryle and James, "Psalms of the Pharisees," especially pp. 137-147). No iniquity in the days of the Messiah! That is true understanding of the Old Testament, even joined with the political ideal.
In the second place, however, the Messianic age is sometimes in later Judaism conceived of as purely supernatural. The Messiah is not an earthly ruler, merely helped by God, but himself a heavenly being, a preëxistent "Son of Man," judge of all the earth. The Messianic age is ushered in not by human warfare, but by a mighty catastrophic act of God. Not a liberated Canaan is here the ideal, but a new heaven and a new earth.
This transcendental, supernaturalistic form of the Messianic hope appears in the "Book of Enoch" and other "apocalypses." Its details are fantastic, but it was by no means altogether wrong. In many respects it was a correct interpretation of the divine promise. The new heavens and the new earth are derived from Isa. 65:17. The doctrine of the two ages was accepted by Jesus and by Paul—for example Matt. 12:32; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 1:21.The heavenly "Son of Man" goes back to Dan. 7:13,14. The Book of Enoch was not altogether wrong. Its use of the title "Son of Man" prepared for the title which Jesus used.
Finally, the Messianic hope was held in a pure and lofty form by the "poor of the land"—simple folk like those who appear in the first two chapters of Luke. In the hymns of Mary and Zacharias and Simeon, purely political and materialistic conceptions are in the background, and the speculations of the apocalypses do not appear. The highest elements of prophecy are made prominent. "For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." Luke 2:30-32. In those circles, the hope of Israel burned still and pure.
Later Judaism thus preserved the manifoldness of prophecy. There was exaggeration and there was one-sidedness; but in Judaism as a whole the promise was preserved. One element at most was forgotten—the suffering servant and his sacrificial death. The death of the Messiah was no easy conception. The disciples had difficulty with it. When Peter heard of it, he took Jesus, and began to rebuke him. Matt. 16:22. The lesson was not easy, but it had to be learned. And it was worth learning. The cross is the heart of the gospel.
Thus in Jesus nothing was left out, except what was false. The whole promise was preserved. The revealer of God, the ruler of the kingdom, the great high priest, the human deliverer, the divine Lord—these are the elements of the promise. They find their union in Christ. Leave one out, and the promise is mutilated. Such mutilation is popular to-day. The whole Christ seems too wonderful. But the Church can be satisfied with nothing less.
In the Library.—Beecher, "The Prophets and the Promise," pp. 173-420.
The teaching of the lesson may be begun with some very simple questions. If rightly put, they will open up a fresh way of looking at a New Testament book. The way will thus be prepared for considering the deeper elements of the lesson. If interest can be aroused in the book itself, the contents of the book, in the lessons which follow, will be studied with much livelier attention.
Who wrote the book of The Acts? How do you know? The former question will probably be answered without difficulty, but the latter may reveal difference of opinion. Many of the students will know that The Acts was written by the same man as the Gospel of Luke. But that does not settle the question. How do you know that Luke was written by Luke? The name does not occur in the Gospel itself. The title, "According to Luke," was probably added later. So, in order to determine the authorship both of Luke and of The Acts, recourse must be had to Christian tradition.
Fortunately, however, tradition in this case is quite unimpeachable.
In the first place, although the author of The Acts is not named in the book, yet the book is not an anonymous work. Undoubtedly the name of the author was known from the beginning. For the book is dedicated to an individual, Theophilus. Evidently Theophilus knew who the author was. Information about the author could thus be had from the start. If, therefore, Luke did not really write The Acts, some one has removed the name of the true author and substituted "Luke" in place of it. That is an exceedingly unlikely supposition.
In the second place, it is evident quite independently of any tradition that the book was written by an eyewitness of part of Paul's missionary journeys. This fact appears from the so-called "we-sections" of the book. In certain portions of the narrative the author uses the first person instead of the third. Of this peculiaritythere is only one satisfactory explanation. The author uses the first person when he is describing the experiences in which he himself had a part. When, for example, the author says, not, "They made a straight course to Samothrace," but "We made a straight course," Acts 16:11, he means that he was present on that voyage. This natural supposition is confirmed by the character of the "we-sections." These sections are full of such a wealth of artless detail that no one but an eyewitness could possibly have written them.
The only possible way of avoiding the conclusion that a companion of Paul wrote the book of The Acts is to maintain that although such a man wrote the "we-sections" some one else wrote the rest of the book. But that is unlikely in the extreme. If a later author had been simply using as a source a diary of a companion of Paul, he would surely either have told us he was quoting, or else have changed the first person to the third. By leaving the third person in he would simply have been producing nonsense. Everyone knew who the author of the book was. The book is dedicated to a definite man. The author evidently could not have palmed himself off as a companion of Paul even if he would. And if he desired to do it, he would not have chosen this remarkable way of doing it. Of course if he had been a mere thoughtless compiler he might have copied his source with such slavish exactness as to leave the "we" in without noticing that in the completed work it would produce nonsense. But he was most assuredly not a mere compiler. If he used sources, he did not use them that way. The book shows a remarkable unity of style. Modern research has demonstrated that fact beyond peradventure. There is a remarkable similarity of style between the "we-sections" and the rest of the book. Only one hypothesis, then, does justice to the facts. The author of the "we-sections" was also the author of the whole book. When he comes to those parts of the narrative in which he himself had a part, he says very naturally "we," instead of "they."
The book of The Acts, then, was written by a companion of Paul. That fact stands firm, even apart from any tradition. And that is the really important fact. If the book was written by an eyewitness, the particular name of the eyewitness is comparatively unimportant. But the tradition as to the name is without doubt correct. There is not the slightest reason for calling it in question. What the book of The Acts itself says about its author fits exactly what Paul says about Luke.
The authorship of The Acts is certain. The date, however, is not so clear. The book was written by Luke. But when was it written? The latter question cannot be answered with perfect precision. At least, however, since the book was written by Luke, it must have been written during the lifetime of a companion of Paul. A. D. 100, for example, would be too late, and A. D. 90 would be unlikely. A good deal can be said for putting the date at about A. D. 63. This early date would explain the abrupt ending of the book.
One of the most curious things about The Acts is that the narrative is suddenly broken off just at the most interesting point. The trial of Paul is narrated at very great length, but we are not told how it came out. The final decision, the climax of the whole long narrative, is just at hand; but with regard to it we are left altogether in suspense. Was Paul released? Was he condemned and executed? The author does not say. His silence requires an explanation.
The simplest explanation would be that Luke wrote his book at the very point of time where the narrative is broken off. Of course he could not tell us any more if nothing more had happened. He brought his narrative right up to date. Nothing more was possible.
It is true, other explanations may be proposed.
(a) It has been suggested, for example, that The Acts closes so abruptly because the author was saving something for another work. As The Acts is the continuation of the Gospel of Luke, so a third work, it is said, was planned as the continuation of The Acts. But even so, it seems rather strange that the author should not have given at least a hint of the outcome of that trial in order to take the edge off our curiosity. He has done something like that at the conclusion of his Gospel; why not also at the conclusion of The Acts?
(b) But perhaps the ending is not so abrupt as it looks. The author's purpose, it is said, was not to write a biography of Paul, but to show how the gospel spread from Jerusalem to Rome. When Rome was reached, then the narrative was broken off. Biographical details—even the most interesting details about the most interesting character—were ruthlessly excluded. The plan of the book had been accomplished. For this explanation there is much to be said. But the trouble with it is that especially in the latter part of the book the author as a matter of fact does show considerable interest inbiographical details. The trial and shipwreck of Paul are narrated with a fullness which is quite out of proportion to the rest of the history. After such a full account of the trial, it remains rather strange that the author has said not a word about the outcome.
Either of these last two explanations is perfectly possible. Possibly The Acts was written as late as A. D. 80. But the early date at least explains the peculiar ending best of all.
Where did Luke get the materials for his work? Did he use written sources as well as oral information? The question has been discussed at very great length, but without much uniformity in the results. If he used written sources, at least he used them skillfully, placing upon them the imprint of his own style. The book possesses genuine unity.
The really important fact about the sources of the book of The Acts is a negative fact. Whatever the sources were, the Pauline epistles were not among them. Compare the passages where Paul and Luke narrate the same events—for example Gal., chs. 1, 2, with the corresponding passages in The Acts—and it becomes evident that the two narratives are entirely independent. Luke did not use the Pauline epistles in writing his book. That is an exceedingly significant fact. It shows that The Acts is an independent witness. What is more, it strengthens materially the argument for the early date of The Acts. The Pauline epistles at a very early time began to be collected and used generally in the Church. In A. D. 100, for example, they would certainly have been used by anyone who was writing an account of Paul's life. Since, therefore, the book of The Acts does not use them, that book must have been written earlier, and probably very much earlier. Even in A. D. 80, it would perhaps have been strange that the epistles should not have been used.
The proper purpose of a historian is to tell the truth. And Luke was a genuine historian. His own account of his method, Luke 1:1-4, shows that he knew the meaning of historical research, and the character of his books bears this out. Luke did not permit any desire of putting Christianity in a good light, or of defending one kind of Christianity against another, to interfere with the primary duty of truthfulness.
That does not mean, however, that the book of The Acts is like some modern university dissertations—written simply and solely in order to say some new thing, whether interesting or no. No great historian goes to work that way. Of course Luke had an interest in his subject matter. Of course he was convinced that Christianity was a great thing, and was full of enthusiasm in narrating its history. In that he was perfectly right. Christianity really was a great thing. The best celebration of its greatness was a narration of the facts. Christian faith is based on fact. Luke wrote, not only in the Gospel but also in The Acts, in order that his readers might know the certainty concerning the things wherein they were instructed. Luke 1:4.
The author of The Acts was well acquainted with the Old Testament. He was able to catch the spirit of the primitive Palestinian church. His books exhibit the influence of the Semitic languages. But he was also capable of a Greek style which would have passed muster in the schools of rhetoric. Luke 1:1-4, for example, is a typical Greek sentence. Evidently Luke could move with ease in the larger Greek world of his time. His references to political and social conditions are extraordinarily exact. His narrative is never lacking in local color. He knows the proper titles of the local officials, and the peculiar quality of the local superstitions. His account of the shipwreck is a mine of information about the seafaring of antiquity. Evidently he was a keen observer, and a true traveler of a cosmopolitan age. His narrative is characterized by a certain delightful urbanity—an urbanity, however, which is deepened and ennobled by profound convictions.
In the Library.—Warfield, "Acts, Timothy, Titus and Philemon," in "The Temple Bible," pp. i-xxvii. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": Purves, article on "Acts of the Apostles." Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 1-8. M'Clymont, "The New Testament and Its Writers," in "The Guild Text Books," pp. 41-46. Hastings, "Dictionary of the Bible": Headlam, article on "Acts of the Apostles."
Which of the books of the New Testament contain the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus? That question will serve to begin the teaching of the lesson. In answer to it, the students will probably mention the four Gospels. To the Gospels, however, should be added especially the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
The passage in First Corinthians is deserving of very careful attention. For, unlike the Gospels, that epistle can be dated to within a year or so. It was written only about twenty-five years after the crucifixion. Even though possibly some of the Gospels were written still earlier, the precision with which the epistle can be dated makes its witness particularly valuable. Furthermore, the author of the epistle is well known. No one doubts that First Corinthians was written by Paul, and Paul is the best-known man of apostolic times. Evidently his witness to the facts is of the utmost value.
Paul himself was a direct witness of the resurrection. He saw the risen Lord. I Cor. 9:1; 15:8. In I Cor. 15:1-8, however, he does not content himself with his own witness, but reproduces the testimony of others in an extended list. That testimony had come to Paul by ordinary word of mouth. "I delivered unto you first of all," says Paul, "that which also I received." In what follows there is a list of the appearances of the risen Christ. "He appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to the child untimely born, he appeared to me also." Evidently these appearances are not conceived of merely as "visions," but as events in the external world. The mention of the burial, v. 4, is a plain hint that what Peter and the rest saw was the body of Jesus raised from the tomb.
That view of the matter is amply confirmed in the Gospels and in the book of The Acts. In the Gospels, we are told that the tomb was found empty on the morning of the third day after the crucifixion. It was found empty by some women and by Peter and John. Since the tomb was empty, the body which appeared to the disciples had some connection with the body which had been taken down from the cross. Furthermore, the Gospels and The Acts make the bodily character of the appearances abundantly plain. Jesus did not merely appear to the disciples at a distance. He walked with them on the road to Emmaus. He broke bread with them. He came into the very midst of them when they were assembled in a room. Thomas could even touch his hands and his side. These are merely examples. Clearly the testimony of the disciples is testimony not to mere spiritual experiences, but to the bodily presence of the Lord. It may be admitted that the body was a glorified body. After his resurrection Jesus was freed from the limitations of his earthly life. Nevertheless, he was not merely a "spirit." Luke 24:39. There was some real, though mysterious, connection between the glorified body and the body that had been laid in the tomb. The New Testament attests not merely the immortality of Jesus, but his resurrection.
The resurrection, in these days, is hard to accept. For it is a miracle. Against any miracle there is a tremendous presumption. In this case, however, the presumption has been overcome. It has been overcome by the character of Jesus. It is in the highest degree unlikely that an ordinary man should rise from the dead; but it is not unlikely that Jesus should have risen. The resurrection is unique. But so is the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The two wonders support one another. Explain away the testimony to the resurrection, and your task is not done. You must also explain away that sinless life. If Jesus rose from the dead he had a unique experience. But that is to be expected. For Jesus himself was unlike any other of the children of men. There are mysteries in his life that have never been explained.
The resurrection of Jesus is a well-attested fact of history. The proof of it is cumulative. Any one of the proofs might be regarded as insufficient when taken alone, but when taken together they are overpowering. The sinless, unearthly character of Jesus separates him from the rest of men, so that probabilities which apply to others do not apply to him. His mysterious self-consciousness involves so lofty a claim, that if he was not divine he was a megalomaniac—hewhose calmness and strength have left an impression which the centuries have done nothing to efface! The specific testimonies to the empty tomb and to the plain bodily appearances of the risen Lord are independent and varied. Finally, unless the resurrection be a fact, the very origin of the Christian Church becomes an insoluble mystery. The resurrection alone can explain the sudden transformation of a company of weak, discouraged men into the conquerors of the world.
The resurrection of Jesus is a fact of history. It is not an aspiration of the heart. It comes ultimately through the testimony of the senses. The apostles came forward with a piece of plain information. They were witnesses to a fact in the external world. That fact has put a new face upon life. It is good news of salvation.
The resurrection is a fact of history. Accept it as true, and you can have hope for time and for eternity. At this point, however, some men experience a difficulty. How can the acceptance of a historical fact satisfy the longing of our souls? Must we stake our salvation upon the intricacies of historical research? Surely some more immediate certitude is required.
The objection would be valid if history stood alone. But history does not stand alone. It has suffered from a false isolation. A Christian certitude that is founded solely upon history is insufficient. History is necessary, but not sufficient. We need history, but we need something else as well.
A historical conviction of the resurrection of Jesus is not the end of faith, but only the beginning. If faith stops there, it will never stand the fires of criticism. We are told that Jesus lives. So much is a matter of testimony, a matter of history. If we believe the witness, then we can have hope. But the religious problem of our lives has not yet been solved. Jesus lives. But what good is it to us? If he lives, we need to find him. We need to find him, and we can find him. We accept the message of the resurrection enough to make trial of it. And making trial of it, we find that it is true. Jesus is found to be alive, for he makes answer to our prayer, and heals us. We never could have come to him unless we had accepted the historical evidence for the resurrection. But starting with that historical belief we went on to the blessed experience of salvation. Christian experience cannot do withouthistory. But it adds to history that directness, that immediateness, that simplicity of conviction, which delivers us from fear. We began with history. But we went on to experience. "Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world."
Jesus is alive. If we find him, he will heal us. But how shall we find him? In the New Testament we receive instruction.
In the New Testament a strange fact stares us in the face. The New Testament seems far more concerned with the death of Jesus than with the details of his life. Learned men have tried in vain to explain that curious fact. In elaborate treatises they have sought the explanation. But it is really very simple. The New Testament emphasizes the death of Jesus because that is what Jesus did for us—or rather, coming after his perfect obedience to the law, it is the culmination of what he did for us. In the account of Jesus' life we are told what Jesus did for others. That account is absolutely necessary. Without it we should never have been interested in Jesus at all. But it is to us a means to an end, not an end in itself. We read in the Gospel what Jesus did for others. For one he placed his fingers in the ears and said, "Be opened"; to another he said, "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk"; to another, "Thy sins are forgiven." These things are what Jesus did for others. But what has he done for us? The answer of the New Testament is plain. For us he does not say, "Arise and walk." For us—he died. That mysterious thing which was wrought on Calvary—that was his work for us. The cross of Christ is a mystery. In the presence of it theology walks after all with but trembling, halting footsteps. Learning will never unlock its meaning. But to the penitent sinner, though mysterious, though full of baffling riddles, it is plain enough. On the cross Jesus dealt with our sin. Our dreadful guilt, the condemnation of God's law—it is wiped out by an act of grace. It seemed inseparable from us. It was a burden no earthly friend could bear. But Christ is Master of the innermost secrets of the moral world. He has accomplished the impossible, he has borne our sins.
By the cross he has healed us. But through whom does he apply the healing touch? Through no one, save his Spirit. For he is here himself. If we are seekers for him, then this day our search is over.
The death of Christ, in the modern Church, is often subordinated. Exclusive emphasis is laid upon the holy example and teaching of the Galilean prophet. The modern theologians would be right if there were no such thing as sin. If there were no such thing as guilt, and if there were no such thing as a dreadful enslaving power of evil, then a noble ideal might be sufficient. But to talk about an ideal to a man under the thralldom of sin is a cruel mockery.
Sin may indeed be glossed over. Let us make the best of our condition, we are told, let us do the best we can, let us simply trust in the all-conquering love of God. Dangerous advice! By it a certain superficial joy of life may be induced. But the joy rests upon an insecure foundation. It is dangerous to be happy on the brink of the abyss. Permanent joy can come only when sin has been faced honestly, and destroyed. It has been destroyed by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is true that God is loving. He has manifested his love, however, better than by complacency toward sin. He has manifested it by the gracious gift of a Saviour.
In the Library.—Denney, "The Death of Christ." Orr, "The Resurrection of Jesus." Crawford, "The Doctrine of Holy Scripture Respecting the Atonement."
The author of The Acts has given a wonderful picture of the early days of the Christian Church. The teacher should endeavor to present the picture before the mental vision of the class. History should not be studied merely as a dry record of events. The events should be seen as well as understood. They can be seen by what is called the historical imagination. The term "imagination" often contains a suggestion of unreality. But that is a secondary use of the word. "Imagination" means "picturing." You can make a picture of what really happened as well as of what happened only in fiction. The historical imagination is a very important faculty in the student of the New Testament. In many persons it is almost wholly lacking. But fortunately it may be acquired.
In the lessons that follow, great stress should be laid upon the simple memorizing of the course of events. Advanced study, or topical study, is useless unless it is based upon an orderly acquaintance with the contents of The Acts. History comes first—then the interpretation of the history.
The dominant note in the early chapters of The Acts is the note of joy. After the three dark days of discouragement, after the quiet period of waiting, the life of the Church suddenly bursts forth with power. Everything is fresh and new. Difficulties and dangers have not yet emerged. Even persecution is lacking. The Church enjoys favor with the people. Thousands are converted in a day.
The gift of tongues, as it was exercised on the day of Pentecost, is not altogether an isolated phenomenon. It appears also elsewhere in The Acts, Acts 10:46; 19:6, though it may be doubted whether in all three cases it assumed exactly the same form. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul discusses the gift at considerable length. I Cor., ch. 14. It is interesting to compare that passage with the passage in the second chapter of The Acts.
There are a number of resemblances between the two. Both Paul and Luke represent the gift of tongues as a supernatural thing,a special endowment from the Spirit of God. Both Paul and Luke, furthermore, represent the gift as an ecstatic, temporary expression of spiritual exultation rather than as a faculty intended to be practically useful in the work of the Church. On the other hand, there are such marked differences between the two accounts as to make it evident that the gift as it was manifested at Pentecost was very considerably different from that which was exercised in the church at Corinth.
The speaking with tongues as Paul describes it was a kind of ejaculation, expressive of the religious life of the speaker, but incomprehensible to others. In order, therefore, to make the gift edifying to the congregation at large there had to be some one else present who was in possession of another gift, the gift of interpretation. The speaking with tongues at Pentecost, however, was a miraculous use of various languages. Some have supposed that Luke is describing rather a new language, which possessed the supernatural quality of being understood by men of various nationalities. The most natural interpretation of the passage, however, is that which has just been suggested. The disciples, filled with the Spirit, spoke some in one language and some in another, or perhaps the same individuals used different languages at successive moments. The outsiders received various impressions of the strange phenomenon. Some, mocking, declared that the disciples were drunk. These, we may suppose, were men who came into contact with those disciples who were speaking some language known only to another group among the hearers. The general impression seems to have been wonder at the miraculous gift. The gift of tongues provided an opportunity for the first Christian preaching. In just this form it was perhaps never repeated. It was a unique gift provided for an absolutely unique occasion.
Ancient historians often put imaginary speeches into the mouths of their characters. The speeches were intended to represent not what was actually said but what might have been said under the circumstances. This procedure of the historians was not intended to deceive the readers. It was merely a literary form, a method of vivid description.
Luke, however, seems not to have allowed himself even the license which was regarded as allowable by the best historians of antiquity. The speeches in The Acts are apparently either verbatim reportsof what was actually said, or else summaries based upon trustworthy tradition. If they had been composed freely by the historian himself their characteristic differences and their perfect adaptation to different occasions would be difficult to explain.
The speeches of Peter and of the earliest disciples, in particular, are very different from those of Paul. They contain a number of features which occur either not at all or only rarely in the rest of the New Testament. The designation of Jesus as "the Servant," for example, a designation taken from the latter part of Isaiah, is characteristic of these speeches. Another characteristic designation of Jesus is "Prince" or "Prince of life." Acts 3:15; 5:31. In general, the representation of Jesus in the early chapters of The Acts is just what might have been expected under the circumstances. At the beginning of the Church's life, everything is simple and easy of comprehension even by outsiders. The apostles represented Jesus first as a man approved of God by the miracles which he had wrought. To have delivered up such a man to death was itself a grievous sin. But that was not all. This Jesus who was crucified had been raised from the dead; and both in his death and in his resurrection he had fulfilled the Messianic predictions of the ancient prophets. He was then nothing less than the Christ. Now, too, his period of humiliation was over. He had been given the full powers of Lordship. From him had come the wonder-working Spirit. It will be observed that these speeches, though they begin with what is simplest and easiest of acceptance by an outsider, really contain, at least in germ, the full doctrine of the divine Christ.
The body of disciples who were assembled before the day of Pentecost consisted of only about one hundred and twenty persons. Acts 1:15. After the notable sermon of Peter, which was spoken in explanation of the gift of tongues, three thousand were converted. A little later the Church possessed five thousand men. Acts 4:4.
The outward sign of conversion was baptism. "Repent ye," said Peter, "and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Baptism was not altogether new. It had been practiced not only among converts to Judaism, but especially by John the Baptist. Christian baptism, however, is sharply distinguished from the baptism of John. Mark 1:7,8; Acts 18:25; 19:1-6. Both were expressive of repentance. But Christianbaptism was connected specifically with Jesus, and also with the bestowal of the Spirit.
Baptism was "in the name of Jesus Christ," or "into the name of the Lord Jesus." It was the sacrament by which the convert signified his cleansing from sin and his entrance into that peculiarly close relation to Christ which is of the essence of Christian experience. In itself, of course, the rite of baptism is useless. But when accompanied by faith it is a means of real blessing. Baptism, like the other Christian sacrament, the Lord's Supper, was instituted by Christ himself. Matt. 28:19. In The Acts the full trinitarian formula of baptism is not given. "In the name of Jesus Christ" is sufficient to designate the sacrament.
The mysterious power that was working among the disciples was beneficent. It accomplished miracles of healing. As in the case of Jesus himself so now among his disciples the Spirit of God was manifested in the expulsion of demons. Matt. 12:28; Acts 5:16. The Spirit was manifested also in the healing of disease.
One cure, in particular, is narrated with a wealth of vivid detail. The healing of the lame man led to the opposition of the Sanhedrin. It led also to favor among the people. All the people ran together in Solomon's porch greatly wondering. Acts 3:11. Peter and John took no credit for what they had done. They attributed the miracle solely to the power of Jesus. It was the same Jesus against whom the crowd had shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him," only a few weeks before. Surely a reason for remorse rather than joy! But God is gracious. Through Jesus, the crucified One, salvation was offered even to the murderers. Repentance was followed by rejoicing. The envy of the Sanhedrin was held in check. A notable miracle had been wrought.
That miracle was not isolated. Many signs and wonders were wrought by the hands of the apostles. The people even "carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that, as Peter came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some one of them." Acts 5:12-15. Perhaps we are to understand that that method of seeking cure was actually successful. Certainly it was an unusual method. But God adopts unusual methods at unusual times. He adapts his mercy to the needs of men.
The general impression left by the early chapters of The Acts is an impression of light and gladness. There is opposition, butit is powerless against triumphant joy. One incident, however, introduces a discordant note. It is the incident of Ananias and Sapphira.
The early Church was animated by a spirit of self-sacrifice. Many of the disciples sold their possessions and devoted the price to the common good. One of those who did so was Joseph Barnabas, who was to be prominent in the subsequent history.
A certain man, Ananias, however, and Sapphira his wife, after they had sold their possession kept back part of the price. In itself that was not necessarily wrong. Their sin was the sin of deception. They pretended to have given all, though they had really given only a part. A more destructive sin could scarcely have been imagined. They had lied unto the Holy Spirit. Such conduct would bring contempt upon the Church. Ananias and Sapphira discovered that God cannot be trifled with. And the judgment wrought upon them inspired fear in all who heard.
It is well that this incident has been recorded. It prevents a one-sided impression of the Church's life. The power that animated the Church was beneficent. But it was also terrible and mysterious and holy. In the presence of it there was joy. But that joy was akin to fear. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The lesson is of permanent value. The Spirit of God must be received with joy. But not with a common joy. Not with the joy of familiarity. But rather with the wondering, trembling joy of adoration.
In the Library.—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 21-46. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": articles on "Weeks, Feast of" and "Temple." "The Cambridge Bible for Schools": Lumby, "The Acts of the Apostles," 1880, pp. 1-61. "The Bible Commentary," vol. ii: Cook, "The Acts of the Apostles," pp. 351-386. Ellicott, "A New Testament Commentary for English Readers," vol. ii: Plumptre, "The Acts of the Apostles," pp. 1-28. Rackham, "The Acts of the Apostles," pp. 1-69. These commentaries will be designated hereafter by the names of the authors only.
The persecution which arose in connection with Stephen marks a turning point in the history of the Church. Up to that time, the disciples had been content, for the most part, with laboring in Jerusalem. Now they were forced out into a broader field. One result of the persecution was the geographical extension of the Church.
Another result was perhaps even more important. The extension caused by persecution was not merely geographical; it was also, perhaps, intellectual and spiritual. The Church was really from the beginning in possession of a new religious principle, but at first that principle was not fully understood. Persecution probably helped to reveal the hidden riches. The Pharisees were keener than the disciples themselves. Hostility sharpened the vision. The disciples themselves were still content to share in the established forms of Jewish worship; but the Pharisees saw that they were really advocates of a new principle. Christianity, unless it were checked, would supersede Judaism. The Pharisees were right. Jealous fear detected what ancestral piety had concealed.
The hostility of the Jews perhaps helped to open the eyes of the Church. No doubt, a development was already at work. Persecution was the result as well as the cause of the new freedom. Stephen was persecuted possibly just because his preaching went beyond that of Peter. With or without persecution, the Church would have transcended the bounds of the older Judaism. It contained a germ of new life which was certain to bear fruit. But persecution hastened the process. It scattered the Church abroad, and it revealed the revolutionary character of the Church's life.
With the coming of Jesus a new era had begun. Judaism had before been separate from the Gentile world. That separation had been due not to racial prejudice, but to a divine ordinance. It had served a useful purpose. Jewish particularism should never be despised; it should be treated with piety and gratitude. It had preserved the precious deposit of truth in the midst of heathenism. But its function, though useful, was temporary. It was apreparation for Christ. Before Christ it was a help; after Christ it became a hindrance.
Persecution was not the beginning of the new freedom. Freedom was based upon the words of Jesus. It had become plainer again, perhaps, in the teaching of Stephen. Furthermore, if freedom was not begun by the persecution, it was also not completed by it. The emancipation of the Church from Judaism was a slow process. The unfolding of that process is narrated in The Acts. Even after the Church was scattered abroad through Judea and Samaria, much remained to be done. Cornelius, Antioch, Paul were still in the future. Nevertheless, the death of Stephen was an important event. It was by no means the whole of the process; but it marks an epoch.
The gradual rise of persecution should be traced in class—first the fruitless arrest of Peter and John and their bold defiance; then the arrest of the apostles, the miraculous escape, the preaching in the temple, the re-arrest, the counsel of Gamaliel, the scourging; then the preaching of Stephen and the hostility of the Pharisees. The opposition of the Sadducees was comparatively without significance. The Sadducees were not Jews at heart. They might persecute the Church just because the Church was patriotically Jewish. But the Pharisees were really representative of the existing Judaism. Pharisaic persecution meant the hostility of the nation. And it implied the independence of the Church. If the disciples were nothing but Jews, why did the Jews persecute them?
In what follows, a few details will be discussed.
Judas the Galilean, mentioned by Gamaliel, Acts 5:37, appears also in Josephus. His insurrection occurred at the time of the great enrollment under Quirinius, the Syrian legate. This enrollment was different from that which brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus. Luke 2:2-5. That former enrollment occurred before the death of Herod the Great in 4 B. C. Luke 1:5; Matt. 2:1. The enrollment to which Gamaliel referred was carried out after the deposition of Archelaus in A. D. 6.
With regard to Judas all is clear. But Theudas is known only from Acts 5:36. The Theudas who is mentioned in Josephus is different, for his insurrection did not occur till about A. D. 44, after the time of Gamaliel's speech. Gamaliel was referring tosome insurrection of an earlier period. The name Theudas was common, and so were tumults and insurrections.
It has been questioned whether the seven men who were appointed to assist the apostles were "deacons." The title is not applied to them. The narrative does, indeed, imply that they were to "serve tables," Acts 6:2, and the Greek word here translated "serve" is the verb from which the Greek noun meaning "deacon" is derived; but the same word is also used for the "ministry [or service] of the word" in which the apostles were to continue. V. 4. The special technical use of the word "deacon" appears in the New Testament only in Phil. 1:1; I Tim. 3:8,12. Compare Rom. 16:1.
Nevertheless, though the word itself does not occur in our passage, it is perhaps not incorrect to say that the seven were "deacons." Their functions were practically those of the diaconate; their appointment, at any rate, shows that the apostles recognized the need of some such office in the Church. It is not quite clear what is meant by the expression, to "serve tables." The reference is either to tables for food, or else to the money tables of a banker. If the former interpretation be correct, then the deacons were to attend especially to the management of the common meals. Even then, however, the expression probably refers indirectly to the general administration of charity, a prominent part of the service being mentioned simply as typical of the whole.
The Greek word translated "Libertines" in Acts 6:9 comes from the Latin word for "freedmen." The freedmen here mentioned were probably descendants of Jews taken by Pompey as slaves to Rome. The Jewish opponents of Stephen therefore included Romans, men of eastern and middle north Africa, and men of eastern and western Asia Minor. These foreign Jews, when they settled in Jerusalem, had their own synagogues. It is doubtful how many synagogues are mentioned in our passage. Luke may mean that each of the five groups had a separate synagogue, or he may be grouping the men of Cilicia and Asia in one synagogue. The wording of the Greek perhaps rather favors the view that only two synagogues are mentioned—one consisting of Libertines and men of Cyrene and Alexandria, and the other consisting of Cilicians and Asians.
In defending himself, Stephen gave a summary of Hebrew history. At first sight, that summary might seem to have little bearing upon the specific charges that had been made. But the history which Stephen recited was a history of Israel. "You are destroying the divine privileges of Israel"—that was the charge. "No," said Stephen, "history shows that the true privileges of Israel are the promises of divine deliverance. To them law and temple are subordinate. From Abraham on there was a promise of deliverance from Egypt. After that deliverance another deliverance was promised. It is the one which was wrought by Jesus. Moses, God's instrument in the first deliverance, was rejected by his contemporaries. Jesus, the greater Deliverer, was rejected by you. We disciples of Jesus are the true Israelites, for we, unlike you, honor the promises of God."
Other interpretations of the speech have been proposed. For example, some find the main thought of the speech to be this: "The wanderings of the patriarchs and the long period of time which elapsed before the building of the temple show that true and acceptable worship of God is not limited to any particular place." At any rate, the speech requires study—and repays it.
What was said in the last lesson about the speeches of The Acts in general applies fully to the speech of Stephen. The very difficulties of the speech, as well as its other peculiarities, help to show that it represents a genuine tradition of what, in a unique situation, was actually said.
The word "martyr" is simply the Greek word for "witness." That is the word which is translated "witness" in Acts 1:8. "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." There, of course, there is no special reference to dying for the sake of Christ. It is primarily the ordinary verbal testimony which is meant. The special meaning "martyr" is not often attached to the Greek word in the New Testament. Probably even in Acts 22:20, where the word is applied to Stephen, it is to be translated "witness" rather than "martyr."
Martyrdom, then, is only one kind of witnessing. But it is a very important kind. Men will not die for what they do not believe. When Stephen sank beneath the stones of his enemieshe was preaching a powerful sermon. The very fact of his death was a witness to Christ. The manner of it was still more significant. Stephen, crying in the hour of death, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," Stephen dying with words of forgiveness on his lips, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," was a witness indeed.
The Church can never do without that kind of witnessing. True, it may not now often appear as actual martyrdom. But bravery is needed as much as ever—bravery in business, men who will not say, "Business is business," but will do what is right even in the face of failure; bravery in politics, men to whom righteousness is more than a pose; bravery in social life, men and women who will sacrifice convention every time to principle, who, for example, will maintain the Christian Sabbath in the face of ridicule. Modern life affords plenty of opportunities for cowardice, plenty of opportunities for denying the faith through fear of men. It also affords opportunities for bravery. You can still show whether you are of the stuff that Stephen was made of—above all, you can show whether you are possessed by the same Spirit and are a servant of the same Lord.
The persecution resulted only in the spread of the gospel. Gamaliel was right. It was useless to fight against God. The disciples were in possession of an invincible power, and they knew it from the very beginning. When Peter and John returned from their first arrest, the disciples responded in a noble prayer. Acts 4:24-30. Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against Jesus, had accomplished only what God's hand and God's counsel foreordained to come to pass. So it would be also with the enemies of the Church. When the disciples had prayed, "the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness." The answer to that prayer was prophetic of the whole history of the Church.
In the Library.—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 40-42, 47-55. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": articles on "Gamaliel," "Theudas," "Judas" (6), "Deacon"; Purves, article on "Stephen." Ramsay, "Pictures of the Apostolic Church," pp. 44-65. Rackham, pp. 69-111. Lumby, pp. 61-97. Plumptre, pp. 28-47. Cook, pp. 386-406.