As is natural, Paul did not abandon the old and familiar usage of the term Ecclesia, when the new and more technical usage developed in his mind and Ian-
Sec. 12. The Churches. 127
guage. The process is apparent in Gal. I 13, where the new sense occurs, though hardly as yet, perhaps, with full consciousness and intention. Elsewhere in that letter the term is used in the old sense, " the Churches of Galatia ". In I Cor. I 2 the new sense of Ecclesia is deliberately and formally employed.
The term Ecclesia is used in Acts in both these ways, and an examination of the distinction throws some light on the delicacy of expression in the book. It occurs in the plural sense of "congregations" or " every congregation " in XIV 23, XV 41, XVI 5. In each of these cases it is used about Paul's work in the period when he was employing the term in its earlier sense ; and there is a fine sense of language in saying at that period that Paul went over the con- gregations which he had founded in Syria and Cilicia and in Galatia. In all other cases (in the Eastern Text at least), Luke uses Ecclesia in the singular, in some cases markedly in the sense of the Unified Church {e.g., IX 31), in some cases as "the Church in Jerusalem " (VIII 1), and in some cases very pointedly " the Church in so far as it was in Jerusalem " or " in Antioch" (XI 22, XIII 1); and in some cases where the sense " congregation " might be permitted by the context, the sense of " the Church " gives a more satisfactory meaning.
The author, therefore, when he speaks in his own person, stands on the platform of the developed Pauline usage, and uses Ecclesia in the sense of " the single Unified Church," but where there is a special dramatic appropriateness in employing the earlier Pauline term to describe Paul's work, he employs the early term.
128 Foundation of the Churches of Galatia. Chap. V.
An exception occurs to this rule, in an addition of the Bezan Text, according to which Apollos went to Achaia and contributed much to strengthening the con- gregations (reus €KKM}<riai<;). We have here not the original words of Luke, but an addition (as I believe, trustworthy in point of fact) made by a second century Reviser, imitating passages like XV 41, XVI 5, Gal. I. 2, 22. This case stands in close analogy to IX 31, where many authorities have {Codex Bezcg is defective) "the Ecclesiai throughout the whole of Judaea and Galilee and Samaria," but the singular is used in the Accepted Text founded on the great MSS.
Note I. Date. On our view this journey began in March 47, and ended about July or August 49.
Note 2. Declension of Lystra. The variation in the declen- sion of the word Lystra x is sometimes taken as a sign that the author employed two different written authorities (in one of which the word was declined as feminine singular and in the other as neuter plural), and followed them implicitly, using in each case the form employed in the authority whom he was following at the moment. This suggestion has con- vinced neither Spitta nor Clemen, who both assign XVI 1-3 to one author. Only the most insensate and in- capable of compilers would unawares use the double declension twice in consecutive sentences. The author, whoever he was and whenever he lived, certainly con- sidered that the proper declension of the name was Avcnpot,?, Avarpav ; and the only question is this : was
Accusative Avarpav XIV 6, XVI I, dative Aiarpois XIV 8, XVI a-
Note 2. Declension of Lystra. 129
that variation customary in the Lystran Greek usage ? If it was customary, then its employment in Acts is a marked proof of first-hand local knowledge, and if it was not customary, the opposite. We have unfortunately no authorities for the Lystran usage : the city name occurs in the inscriptions only in the nominative case, Lustra. It is certain that many names in Asia Minor, such as Myra, etc., occur both in feminine singular and in neuter plural ; but there is no evidence as to any local usage appropriating certain cases to each form. Excava- tions on the site may yield the needed evidence to test the accuracy of this detail.