Accepted Text. Bezan Text.
AT LYSTRA THERE SAT A THERE A CERTAIN INFIRM CERTAIN MAN IMPOTENT MAN SITTING, IMPOTENT IN IN HIS FEET, A CRIPPLE HIS FEET, WHO FROM HIS FROM HIS BIRTH, WHO BIRTH NEVER WALKED. (9) NEVER WALKED. (9) THIS THIS MAN LISTENED MAN WAS A HEARER OF GLADLY TO PAUL'S PAUL'S PREACHING, WHO, SERMON, AND HE WAS IN LOOKING FIXEDLY ON HIM THE FEAR OF GOD. AND AND SEEING THAT HE HAS PAUL, LOOKING FIXEDLY THE FAITH THAT BELONGS AT HIM, AND DISCERNING TO SALVATION, (10) SAID, THAT HE HAS THE FAITH WITH A LOUD VOICE, THAT BELONGS TO SALVA- " STAND UP ON THY FEET TION, (lO) SAID, WITH A UPRIGHT". AND HE LEAPED, LOUD VOICE, "I SAY UNTO AND BEGAN TO WALK. THEE IN THE NAME OF
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, STAND ON THY FEET UP- RIGHT, AND WALK". AND IMMEDIATELY ON THE MOMENT HE LEAPED UP, AND BEGAN TO WALK.
Sec. 7. Lystra. 115
In v. 8 we observe the marked emphasis laid on the real physical incapacity of the lame man. Though Luke, as a rule, carries brevity even to the verge of obscurity, here he reiterates in three successive phrases, with growing emphasis, that the man was really lame. The three phrases are like beats of a hammer : there is no fine literary style in this device, but there is real force, which arrests and compels the reader's attention. Luke uses the triple beat in other places for the same purpose, e.g., XIII 6, " Magian, false prophet, Jew," and XVI 6, 7 (according to the true text, p. 196).
The author therefore attached the utmost importance to this point. The man was no mendicant pretender, but one whose history from infancy was well known. The case could not be explained away : it was an in- contestable proof of the direct Divine power working through Paul and guaranteeing his message to the Galatic province as of Divine origin. The sign has extreme importance in the author's eyes as a proof that Paul carried the Divine approval in his new departure in Galatia, and we can better understand its importance in his eyes if it were the first which he had to record on distinct evidence (p. 108) ; but he attributes to it no influence in turning the people to Christianity. The result was only to persuade the populace that the deities whom they worshipped had vouchsafed to visit their people ; and at Malta the same result followed from the wonders which Paul wrought. The marvels recorded in Acts are not, as a rule, said to have been efficacious in spreading the new religion ; the marvel at Philippi caused suffering and imprisonment ; to the raising of Eutychus no effect is ascribed. The importance of
1 16 Foundation of the Churches of Galatia. Chap. V.
these events lies rather in their effect on the mind of the Apostles themselves, who accepted them as an encouragement and a confirmation of their work. But the teaching spread by convincing the minds of the hearers (XIII 12).
The Bezan Text adds several details which have the appearance of truth. The most important is that the lame man was "in the fear of God," i.e., he was a pagan of Lystra who had been attracted to Judaism before he came under Paul's influence : after some time Paul recognised him as a careful hearer (ijfcovev, corrupted r)Kovcrev in the Bezan Text) and a person inclined to- wards the truth. Several other authorities give the same statement at different points and in varying words ; and it therefore has the appearance of a gloss that has crept into the text in varying forms. It has however all the appearance of a true tradition preserved in the Church ; for the idea that he was a proselyte is not likely to have grown up falsely in a Gentile congrega- tion, nor is it likely to have lasted long in such a con- gregation, even though true. It is therefore a very early gloss.