Note I.1 — INTRODUCTION. CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
Reading edition
The author of the Acts does not directly give to St. Paul the title of apostle. This title is, in general, reserved by him for the members of the central college, at Jerusalem.
[I.2] Hom. Pseudo-Clem., xvii. 13–19.
[I.3] Justin, Apol. i. 39. In the Acts also is seen the idea that Peter was the Apostle of the Gentiles. See especially Chap. x., comp. Petri i. 1.
[I.4] I. Cor. iii. 6, 10; iv. 14, 15; ix. 1, 2. II. Cor. xi. 2, etc.
[I.5] Letter of Denys of Corinth in Euseb. Hist. Eccl. ii. 25.
[I.6] French readers, for ample details upon the discussion and comparison of the four narratives, may see Strauss, Vie de Jésus, 3d sect., chapters iv. and v. (traduction Littré); Nouvelle Vie de Jésus, 1. i., § 46, &c.; 1. ii. § 97, &c. (translation Nefftzer and Dollfus).
[I.7] The Church early admitted this. See the canon of Muratori (Antiq. Ital. iii. 854), (Neutestamentliche Studien, Gotha, 1866), lines 33, &c.
[I.8] Luke i. 1–4; Actsi. 1.
[I.9] See especially Acts, xvi. 12.
[I.10] The paucity of language in the New Testament writers is so great that each one has his own dictionary; so that the writers of even very short manuscripts can be easily recognised.
[I.11] The use of this word, Acts xiv. 4, 14, is very indirect.
[I.12] Comp. for example, Acts xvii. 14–16; xviii. 5, with I. Thess. iii. 1–2.
[I.13] I. Cor. xv. 32; II. Cor. i. 8; xi. 23, &c.; Rom. xv. 19; xvi. 3, &c.
[I.14] Acts xvi. 6; xviii. 22–23, compared with the Epistle to the Galatians.
[I.15] For instance, the sojourn at Cesarea is left in obscurity.
[I.16] Mabillon, Museum Italicum, i. 1 pars, p. 109.
[I.17] Col. iv. 14.
[I.18] See above, p. xii.
[I.19] Almost all the inscriptions are Latin, as at Naples (Cavala), the port of Philippi. See Heuzey, Mission de Macédoine, p. 11, &c. The remarkable familiarity with nautical subjects of the author of the Acts (see especially chapters xxvii-xxviii), would give rise to the belief that he was a Neapolitan.
[I.20] For example, Acts x. 28.
[I.21] Acts v. 36–37.
[I.22] The Hebraisms of his style may arise from careful reading of Greek translations of the Old Testament, and above all, from reading the manuscripts of his co-religionists of Palestine, whom he often copied word for word. His quotations from the Old Testament are made without any acquaintance with the original text (for example, xv. 16, &c.).
[I.23] Acts xvii. 22, &c.
[I.24] Luke i. 26; iv. 31; xxiv. 13.
[I.25] Luke i. 31, compared with Matthew i. 21. The name of Jeanne, known only to Luke, is dubious. See, however, Talm. de Bab. Sota, 22 a.
[I.26] Acts ii. 47; iv. 33; v. 13, 26.
[I.27] Acts ix. 22, 23; xii. 3, 11; xiii. 45, 50, and many other passages. It is the same with the fourth gospel also compiled out of Syria.
[I.28] Luke x. 33, &c.; xvii. 16; Acts viii. 5, &c. The same in the fourth gospel: John iv. 5, &c.
[I.29] Acts xxviii. 30.
[I.30] See Vie de Jésus.
[I.31] Luke xxiv. 50. Mark xvi. 19, shows a similar arrangement.
[I.32] Acts i. 3, 9.
[I.33] See especially Luke i. 1, the expression τῶν πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων
[I.34] Ch. x. xxii. xxvi.
[I.35] The centurion Cornelius, the proconsul Sergius Paulus.
[I.36] Acts xiii. 7, &c.; xviii. 12, &c.; xix. 35, &c.; xxiv. 7, 17; xxv. 9, 16, 25; xxvii. 2; xxviii. 17–18.
[I.37] Ibid. xvi. 37, &c.; xxii. 26, &c.
[I.38] Similar precautions were by no means rare. In the Apocalypse and the Epistle of Peter, Rome is alluded to in disguised language.
[I.39] Luke i. 4.
[I.40] Acts i. 22.
[I.41] See Vie de Jésus, p. xxxix. &c.
[I.42] This is obvious, especially in the history of the centurion Cornelius.
[I.43] Acts ii. 47; iv. 33; v. 13, 26. Cf. Luke, xxiv. 19–20.
[I.44] Acts ii. 44–45; iv. 34, &c.; v. 1, &c.
[I.45] I. Cor. xii-xiv. Comp. Mark xvi. 17, and Acts ii. 4–13; x. 46; xi. 15; xix. 6.
[I.46] Comp. Acts iii. 2, &c., to xiv. 8, &c.; ix. 36, &c., to xx. 9, &c.; v. 1, &c., with xiii. 9, &c.; v. 15–16, to xix. 12; xii. 7, &c., with xvi. 26, &c.; x. 44, with xix. 6.}
[I.47] In a speech attributed by the author to Gamaliel, about the year 36, Theudas is spoken of as anterior to Judas of Galilee (Acts v. 36–37). Now the revolt of Theudas was in the year 44 (Jos. Ant. xx. v. 1), and certainly after that of the Galilean (Jos. Ant., xviii. i. 1; B. J., II., viii. 1).
[I.48] Those who cannot refer to the German works of Baur, Schneckenburger, Wette, Schwegler, Zeller, where critical questions relative to the Acts are brought to almost a definite solution, may consult Etudes Historiques et Critiques sur les Origines du Christianisme, by A. Stap (Paris, Lacroix, 1864), p. 116, &c.; Michel Nicolas, Etudes Critiques sur la Bible; Nouveau Testament (Paris, Lévy, 1864), p. 223, &c.; Reuss, Histoire de la Théologie Chretienne au siècle Apostolique I. vi. ch. v.; other works of MM. Kayser, Scherer, Reuss, in the Revue de Théologie of Strasburg, 1st series, vol. ii. and iii.; 2d series, vol. ii. and iii.
[I.49] For the exact meaning of οὐ προσανεθέμην σαρκὶ και αἴματι, comp. Matt. xvi. 17.
[I.50] He declares it on oath. See chapters i. and ii. of the Epistle to the Galatians.
[I.51] Acts xii. 1.
[I.52] Jos. Ant. XIX. viii. 2; B. J. II. xii. 6.
[I.53] The quotation from Amos (xv. 16–17), made by James according to the Greek version, and in non-accordance with the Hebrew, also shows that this speech is a fiction of the author.
[I.54] We shall show later that this is the true sense. Any way, the question of the circumcision of Titus is of no importance here.
[I.55] Comp. Acts xv. 1; Gal. i. 7; ii. 12.
[I.56] I. Cor. viii. 4, 9; x. 25, 29.
[I.57] Acts, xxi. 20, &c.
[I.58] Above all, the Ebionites. See the Homilies Pseudo-Clem. Irenæus. Adv. hær. I. xxvi. 2; Epiphanius, Adv. hær., hær. xxx; St. Jerome. In Matt. xii.
[I.59] I would nevertheless willingly lose Ananias and Sapphira.
[I.60] De Divinatione, ii. 57.
[I.61] Preface to the Etudes d'Histoire Religieuse.