Another iiulicalion of an early date is the fact that the name Xfjiirruivoi, which occurs twice in the Acts, IS only used by the two companions of Paul, who call the attention of Thamyris to this fact as a point for ac- cll^atlou. This would ]ilace the compilation of the Acfx at a time wiien the name "Christian" was sufficient to condemn any one, i. e. at about the time of Tra- jan, in tiie year 115. We may feel a reasonable conti- deiice, then, that, whether the legend of Thecia be true or false, it was composed at least before A.D. •Jdd, perliaps -somewhere between 1(1.5 and U)o, and most probably within a few years of the middle of that period.
HI. Ohji'cl of the Author. — Wiioever may have been rlie author of the Acts, the question has been asked. What was his object V It has been said that he intend- ed to defend and maintain tiie ^loiitanist theory, and the most imjiortant evidence in favor of the Moutaiiist authorshi[) of the Acts was taken from the concluding words, "she illuminated many by the word of Goil;" by which is meant — iihimination being taken as a synonym for baptism — slie also liaptized those whom she convert- ed. Now, leaving aside the statement of Jerome that " riiecla baptized a lion," a statement which lie himself calls nj'nhiila, and which he did not tind in Tertulliau, whom he follows, and who would have undoubtedly stigmatized it as nonsense, for such it is; and, without iiuestigating how he came to make such a statement, or whetlier it was originally meant that Thecia baptized a person of the name of l,eo (which means, in Latin, "lion"), we know that Thecia ba|)tized none except herself. The only ])oiiit in the argument now are the words TToWovc t^ioriaiv ti^ XiiyfjU Toi' Htov, "she il- luminated many by the word of God," which, as Basil
of Seleucia (whether he is the author of the Acts or merely their editor) says, mean that "Thecia baptized those whom she converted to Christ." Now it is true that (pixiTi^uv has been used by (Gregory of Nazianzum, (Jregory of Nyssa, Eusebius {Hist. Juvl. iii, 23, 8), and Methodius (('oiir. Ih-rim Vir;/.) in the sense of" baptize," and <piuTini_t6r for "baptism," and by Clemens Alexaiidri- nuSjAthaiiasiiis, Chrysostom, Justin "SlurtyT {Aj/o/. i,Gl ; coinp. (Jo); but this is not the only meaning, for, as Justin himself says, KaXtlTai Torro tu \ovTf)(jv (piOTiai-uig io(; 0{ii7(so/tH'aij' T))v Cuivoiav tmv ravra ^luviavovTiov, thus deriving the new siguilication of the word from the old; and Diouysius Arcopagita, Clemens Ali'xandrinus, Clirysostom, and Cyril of .Alexandria use the word (pujTi- (T^df for "illumination," " instrnctioii," which siguilica- tion is required here by the addition tijj Xoyiij toc Hiov. We have here the same usiis loquvndi that we lind in Eph. iii, 9 ; Heb. vi, •! ; x, 32 ; and so also in the Sept., where it is used for n"!in. For examples, comp. Stephanus, Thes. Gicec. Ling. s. v. (pui-i'^Hi'. We are not told that she instructed in public, which is the main point; and if she had preached at all, it probably was no sermon in the strict sense of the word, but a missionarj- discourse. This inference we make from the .1 <:■/*• themselves, ac- cording to which she lived among heathen; there was not as yet a congregation, consequently also no office. That women taught in the apostolic age was nolhing uncommon, for of Aquila and Priseilla we are told (Acts xviii, 2(j) that they took .\pollo Kai dk-pij3ta-tpoi' aiirc) i^iJei'TO Ti))' ocuv -of' BtoT' : and in IJom. xvi. 3 sq. Paul calls them rovg Tvi'ipyovc jxov tv XpLnroj.
After all, we cannot perceive any Moiitanistic tendency in the author of the A els, for his Thecia does not remind us of the Moiitanistic prophetesses, who even performed ecclesiastical functions. That Thccla baptized others we are not told; and when Basil of Seleucia states tliis of her, he does it because of his interpretation of (pwri^ei}', and indicates that in the beginning of Christianity in Asia Minor such things had happened. We need only refer to the letter of Firmiliaii, bishop of Cresarea, ad- dressed to Cyprian against pope Stephen (the 75th of Cyprian's Letters), and to the Apostolic Constitutions (iii, 9). The latter expressly forbid women to baptize and teach, it being t7rtr7(pa\fr, j-tdWo)' de Tvapavoj.iov Kci't dntjifg, as w-ell as against the Scriptures. We can very well perceive how, in the face of such tendencies, which in the 3d century could have been only of a very rare occurrence, a book must have been welcomed out of which the authority of an apostle could be (pioted iii favor of female prerogatives in the Church. Being dis- posed to generalize a single case, the difference in the time and persons was overlooked, and tliis special case w-as apjilied erroneously to different cases. For what we know of Thecla's baptism is, that she asked the apos- tle for that rite, but he exhorted her to be patient and wait. At Antioch, when in the arena, and believing that she will surely die without having received the baptism, she throws herself into the trench. After her deliverance she remains eight days with Tryplueiia, and instructs her in the word of (jlod. We are not told that she baptized some, but that most of the maid-servants be- lieved, and that there was great joy in the house. Then she comes to Paul at Myra, saying, f\o/3oi' tu XovTpov, \\av\E' 6 yap ao'i avt'tpyi)(rcig tig rb il'ayyiKtoi' Kiifxoi (n>riipyi]fTti' tig tu Xoi'aacr^nt (ch. xl). Paul does not ut- ter his disapprobation, but keeps quiet. But when she is about to leave, he does not say to her that she should teach and baptize, but "go and teach." The faculty which Je- sus gives to his disciples (Matt, xxviii, 19,20) is entirel^"^ different from the one which Paul gives to Thecia.