point to, in the first place, is the naturalnes.i of the whole history. There were the germs of universal- ism in Christianity, but these needed opportunity to develop ; and the whole history shows that the expansion arose from the natural reaction of events on the Christians, not from any deliberate purpo.se or from any one definite event. Take first the per- secution. Zeller (Eng. tr. vol. i. p. 229) lays great stress on the fact that in the early chapters the Sadducees are the persecutors, in the later the Pharisees. But this inconsistency is thoroughly natural. At first the Sadducees oppose the Christians, because, being the official hierarchy responsible to the Romans for the order of the country, they fear disturbances ; the Christians are merely a sect of devout and zealous Jews in favour with the Pharisees. But when once the universalist element inherent in Christianity is made apparent by the teaching of Stephen, the devout and zealous Jews are offended, the Pharisees take up the persecution, and it becomes a reality. We may notice again incidentally how it is the entrance of the freer Hellenic spirit in the person of Stephen which first brings out this universalistic element. The persecution leads quite naturally to a dispersion of the Christians, more particularly of those associated with Stephen, and consequently to the spread of Christianity. In all that follows St. Peter takes the lead, a position which is quite in accordance with what we know from Galatians (see above, § ix. 2). The stages work out gradually and naturally, the pressure of faith and enthusiasm leads the preachers of Christianity onwards. First come the Samaritans, then ' devout men ' who are yet not circumcised ; then the preaching to Gentiles ; then the growth of a definite Vhriiitian community in Antioch, i.e. a community which the outer world clearly recognised as something distinct from Judaism, and which would naturally appear first in a place removed from older associa- tions ; then the first recorded journey of St. Paul, ■with its unexpected and far-reaching developments, and ils subtle corroborations in the Romans (10'^). Xaturally enough, there gradually arises a Juda- ising party in Jerusalem, and the older apostles find themselves acting as mediators between the two parties. The position which is ascribed to them by the Acts is always recognised by St. Paul, and he claims equally to be recognised by them ; while both the Acts" and St. Paul recognise the extreme party as claiming their authority although without entire justification (Ac IS^-i, Gal 2i-). The whole story as told in the Acts is natural and consistent, and gives a much more credible account of the development of Christianity than any modern one constructed on a priori ideas.
5. The Early Communil;/ in Jerusalem. — The first section of the Ac (11--5''-) has been often treated as the least liistorieal portion of the book. It is less true to say that it has been attacked. It is rather the case that it has been set on one side ('the idealised picture of the Jerusalem com- munity,' Holtzmann). And the examination of it is difficult, for we have little that is definite with which to compare it. Tlie theory, however, put forward is that this was written from the point of view of the author's own time, and from that aspect we can examine it. We know how the writer of the Clementine Homilies reproduces in the earliest days of the Church the doctrine and the organisation of his own time — he represents St. Peter as appointing bishops in every church. Now, at any rate, the writer of the Acts lived forty years later^ and at a time when both the doctrine and the organisation of the Church were much more developed ; yet we find absolutely no traces of this either in tlie speeches or in the narrative of the first five chapters.
ACTS OF THE Al'OSTLES
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
33
To work this out in detail would be beyond the scope of the present article, but it may be illus- trated in some points. The ChrisUiliiijn is through- out primitive. Our Lord is called 'h|<roi)i Xpurrus i Na(,a'pa.os (2-"- 3« 4'''), a name which occurs in the Gospels, but elsewhere only twice, when St. Paul, in llie later chapters of the Acts, is referring to his earlier life. So again the next phrase that meets us is irors $eov (3'^- -' 4'-'-*'), which occurs nowhere else in ST of our Lord, and elsewhere is used of llim in the Didache, which clearly represents very early tradition. Again, we notice how very markedly .Xpioros is not a pereonal name, rhf ■irpoKfy_fipLrT^.4vov ufiiv Xp. 'iTjir. (3-^), ttvpiov aurhf Hal Xpurriv 6 Bebt 4roirj<rcv (2''). One more phrase we may notice, apxiyi" (3" 5")i which occurs el.sewhere in Hebrews twice (2'" 12-), and nowhere else in NT. \Ve find nowhere the expression i;.!)s Beov. Whereas St. Paul 'placarded' Chri.st crucified (Gal 3'), we find here, as we might expect, that St. Peter has to take towards the death of Christ a purely defensive altitude (3'*). We have no reference to Cliri.st's pre-existence. We have, in fact, a re- presentation of what must have been, and what we have independent evidence to show was the eai'iest Christian teaching about Christ: — the proof that lie was the Messiah, afforded by His resurrection, of which the apostles were witnesses, and by the Scriptures. Similar is the relation to the universal character of the Gospel. We are told that the Acts was written from a universalist (loint of view, and the statement is (piite true in a sense ; but we find that St. Peter's speeches are not affected by it. God raised up Jesus to give re- pentance to Israel (5-") ; Ye are the sons of the prci))h(ts and of the covenant (3^). There are i-lenients of univer.salism, but they are incidental. The promise is to Israel first (3*) ; so (2''''') ' to you is the promi.se and to your children, and to all those that are afar off ; 3-' ' in Israel all the families of the earth shall be blc.s.sed.' The standpoint of these chapters is, in fact, that of the Jewish prophets. There is the germ from which future development can come, but the development is not there. (.)ne last point we may mriition in this conitexion is the eschaUiloiiij. It is thoroughly Jewish and primitive, ' that He may send the Christ, who hatli been appointed for you, even Jesus: whom the heavens nmst receive until the times of the restoration of all things,' S'"- -' ; the Messianic kingdom is called the Kaipol an- i//u{«ui. There is nothing about the iiersonal resurrection, which, of course, is a point which would not trouble the primitive community In the first years of its existence ; and it is difficult to understand how a Greek writer who had seen the Neronian persecutions, and knew the needs of ;i later generation, could have invented this primi- tive idea of things.