Testimony ^^ Jesus plainly as God, may be illus- trated by attending to the designations employed of our Lord in the Book of Acts and in the letters of Paul. The Book of Acts and the Epistles of Paul both bring us testimony to how Jesus was thought and spoken of in Christian circles at the time, and indeed before the time, when the Synoptics were composed. The Book of Acts was not only written by the author of one of the Synoptic Gospels,^ but purports to record conversations and discourses by the actors in the great drama of the founding of the Chris- tian Church; and indeed could not have seriously mis- represented them, — seeing that it was published in their lifetime, — without having been at once corrected. We may learn from it, therefore, how Jesus was esteemed by His first followers, including those who had enjoyed
1 This certainly cannot admit of doubt: and it is pleasant to be able to record that the evidence has been recognized as overwhelming even by Harnack: cf. his Liikas der Arzt der Verfasser des dritten Evan- geliums und der Apostelgeschichte, 1906. That Harnack is unwilling to accord to Luke his true rank as an exact historian does not lessen the value of his admission of his authorship of the Gospel (including the infancy portion) that bears his name; and of the Acts, throughout.
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His daily companionship throughout His ministry. The Epistles of Paul are none of them of later date, and many of them are of earlier date, than the Synoptic Gospels, and bring us, therefore, testimony to the esti- mation in which Christ was held in the Christian com- munity at about the time when the Synoptic Gospels, or the sources on which they depend, were written. The conception of Jesus given expression alike in the Synoptics, in Acts and in Paul's Epistles, it cannot be doubted, was aboriginal in the Church.'' But this con- ception is distinctly that expressed in its own way in the Gospel of John,
The narrative of Acts does not concern the acts of Jesus during the period of His earthly life, but those
of the exalted Jesus through His serv- * Jesus ' in Acts ants the Apostles (i*: "began"). It
is natural, therefore, that the simple des- ignation ' Jesus ' should occur less frequently in its pages than in the Gospel narrative ; and that even when Jesus is spoken of, which is of course comparatively Infre- quently, He should be spoken of by a designation more expressive of the relation existing between Him and His followers, whose acts it is proximately the business of this book to describe. Accordingly in Acts the rever- ential ' the Lord ' becomes the ruling designation of Jesus, and the simple ' Jesus ' takes a subordinate place, both as the narrative designation and In the reports
2 Harnack, in the Preface to the above-mentioned work, says: "The genuine epistles of Paul, the writings of Luke, and Eusebius' Church History are the pillars for the knowledge of the history of the earliest Christianity." This is true testimony: and it only remains to give to the testimony of these three pillar-witnesses its real validity to rise in our conception of early Christianity far above not only the average " critical " conception, but Harnack's own.
204 "I" he Designations of Our "Lord
of the remarks of our Lord's followers Incorporated in the narrative. Nevertheless it is employed by Luke himself with sufficient frequency to show that It sug- gested Itself on all natural occasions. Thus, for ex- ample, Luke uses It in the first chapter where he is himself narrating what Jesus did before His ascension (i^'^*), and elsewhere currently in such phrases as "preaching Jesus" (5^- 8^^ 9^^ 17^^)5 "proving that Jesus is the Christ " (q-^ i 8^'-» 2%^^) , and the like (4-^3,18 ^40 ^55 ^27 1 8-5). And he records It as employed In a natural way by the two chief spokesmen in Acts, Peter in the earlier portion (i^^ 2^'-^^ [s^^-oj ^.30^ ^f. 42^'^«), and Paul in the later portion ( [9'''*^] I3''''' if 19^'^''^), as well as occasionally by other actors in the historical drama (418.27,30 ^4o ^17,120] j^7 j^eisi.is 2519), Including
the angel explaining the ascension (i") and Jesus Him- self revealing Himself to Paul (9^ 26^^).
The fuller form, 'Jesus of Nazareth' (10^^), or more frequently, 'Jesus the Nazarene ' (2^^ 6^^ 22^ 26^) also occurs, not as a locution of N^areth' Luke's own, indeed, but upon the lips of Peter (2" lo^^), and Paul (22^ 26^), and in one case as a description of Jesus by Himself (22^) ; and also on the lips of the Inimical Jews de- scribing with some contempt the great claims made by His followers for "this Jesus the Nazarene" (6^^). Twice, indeed, the full name ' Jesus Christ the Naza- rene ' is employed, as a solemn designation throwing up for observation His entire personality in all its grandeur (3^ 4^*^).
From these two last-named instances we may learn, what otherwise is sufficiently illustrated, that the full
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