Of course these phrases, * the Lord Jesus,' ' the [our] Lord Jesus Christ,' witness to the prevalence In the Christian community of the simpler des- *Lord' ignation ' Lord ' of Jesus, and this prev- alence is otherwise copiously illustrated In Acts. As the narrative does not concern what Jesus began to do and teach while In His own person on earth, but what " after He was received up " He did through His servants. His own person Is not a figure In the narrative, subsequent to the few opening verses which tell of the period before the ascension. Ac- cordingly outside of these verses (i^) there Is no occa- sion to record words directly addressed to Jesus, except In visions [(f'^^'^^ 22^'^"'^^ 26^^), or In prayers (i^* ,^59,60^ . On all these occasions, however. He Is ad- dressed by the supreme honorific ' Lord,' except In 7^*^, where He Is addressed more fully as ' Lord Jesus.' It Is clear that this formula Is employed In all cases with the profoundest reverence, and is meant to be the vehicle of the highest possible ascription. Perhaps It will be well to focus our attention upon the two or three Instances In which It Is employed in direct prayer to Jesus (i^^ -759,60^^ jj^ these He Is not merely treated as divine — for to whom but God Is prayer to be ad-
2o8 The Designations of Our Lord
dressed? — but also directly characterized as the pos- sessor of divine powers and the exerciser of divine functions. It is as He " that knoweth the hearts of all men " that He is appealed to at i"^;* as the forgiver of sin at 7^";^ and as the receiver of the spirits of the dying saints at y^''. All these traits are assigned to Jesus in the Gospel narratives, where Jesus claimed authority even on earth to forgive sins (Mk 2^*^ ||) and represents Himself as the judge before whom all were at length to stand and receive according to the deeds done in the body (Mt 25^-) : where He is represented as knowing what was in men and needing not that
8 De Wette, Meyer, Wendt, Nosgen, Blass, in loc, wish this passage to be understood as addressed to God; so also Sven Herner, Die An- ivendung des Wortes xoptog im N. T., 1903, p. 17: "In the sen- tence, 'Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men' (i-*), God is probably meant. According to 15^ (4"^) and Lk 16^^ God is the searcher of hearts, and the prayer of the primitive Church recorded at ^24-30 is aisQ addressed to God. Several exegetes, however, are of the opinion that it is directed to the Lord Christ; and the 6 xvpio's 'Irjffoug of V. 21 can be urged in support of this." Among the exegetes who consider it to be addressed to Christ are Bengel, Olshausen, Baumgar- ten, Lechler, Bisping, and van Oosterzee (see the solid statement of the last) : as also Alexander, Hackett, Gloag, Barde, Felton, Kendall. Rackham prefers to leave the question undecided.
^ That the prayer in 7^*' is addressed to Jesus is pretty generally allowed. Cf. e.g. Sven Herner, p. 16: "We think we can maintain that in Stephen's prayer the words, ' Lord, lay not this sin to their charge' (7''^), are directed to Jesus, since the immediately preceding verse has the expression ' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' " Also A. H. Blom, p. 126: "It is probable that the same person is addressed by the xijpce as was called xvpte ^I-qaoo in v. 59." Blom points out that it is the dominant conception of Acts that the forgiveness of sins is to be had in Christ: therefore men are baptized in His name (2^^ 22^^), and He has been exalted to God's right hand as a Prince and a Saviour (5^^), and all who believe in Him receive forgiveness through His name (lo*^) ; "and therefore," he adds, "Stephen can have had Him in mind when he prayed for his foes, Lord, reckon not this sin to their charge (7^^)."
The Designations in Acts 209
anyone should teach Him what were the thoughts of their hearts (Mk 2^) : and where His promise to the thief was that he should be that day with Him in Para- dise (Lk 23'*^). It can occasion no surprise, therefore, that He should be appealed to after His return to His glory as at once the searcher of hearts, the forgiver of sins, and the receiver of the spirits of the saints. What we learn in the meanwhile is that to the infant community the ascended Jesus was their God, whom they addressed in prayer and from whom they sought In prayer the activities which specifically belong to God. Quite naturally in these circumstances the chief nar- rative name for Jesus in Acts becomes the honorific * Lord' as 'the Lord,' which is employed about Narrative twIce as frequently as the simple Name i Jesus,'^° and which is occasionally given