king" as being in possession of Damo.sCllB at the t.ime of St. Paul's escape (2 Cor. xi. 32), which is thought to indicate the beginning of the reign oi' Caligula., A..D. 87; the famine in the reign of Clandiue Cresa.r (eh. xi. 28), who began to reign A..D. 41; the proconsnlate of Sergins Paulus (eh. xiii. 7), who is quoted by Pliny a.bout twenty years after St. Paul's visit to Cyprus; the proconsulate of Gallio ( eh. xviii. 12), indicating the reign of Claudine, by whom Achaia was given back to the senate, and therefore governed by a. proconsul; and lastly, the high priesthood of Ananias (eh. xxiii. 2) and the procuratorship of Felix ( eh. xxiii. 24), pointing, by their coincidence, to abon t A..D. 58. These indications, though not sufficient for the construction of a.n exa.ot chronology, yet clearly mark a trne historical sequence of events occurring in their proper place and order, and capable of being arranged accurately if ever the events of secular history to which they a.re tied a.re rednced by further light to an exact chronology. The only apparent anachronism in the Acts is the mention of Theudas in the speech of Ga.maJiel given in eh. v. 36. The reader is refeITed to the note on that passage, where it is attempted to show tha.t the mistake is Josephns's, not St. Luke's. It is not the purpose of this Introduction to give a scheme of exact chro- nology. The materials for it, and the difficulties of constructing snch a scheme, have been pointed out. Those who desire to enter fully into this intricate subject, are referred to Lewin's 'Fasti Sacri,' orto the great works of Anger,1 Wieseler,1 and others; .or, if they merely wish to know the principal views of chronologists, to the Synoptic Table in the appendix to the second volume of Farrar's ' Life and Works of St. Paul ; ' to Dean AHord's 'Prolegomena to the Acts ; ' to Bishop Wordsworth's Chronological Synopsis, appended to his Introduction t-o the Acts ; to the Chronological Table with annotations at the end of voL ii of Conybeare and Howson's ' St. Paul ; ,' and also to the able note at pp. 244-252 of vol. i. ; to the Chronological Summary in Meyer'e Introduction (pp. 17-26); or to the Ohronological Table at the end of Dean Plumptre's 'Commentary on the Acta.' 1
§ 9, PLAN o• THIS 00M111ENTARY, The Revised Version of the New Testament (A.D. 1881) has been taken as the text on which this Commentary is founded. Whenever the Revised Version differs from the Authorized Version of A.D. 1611, the words of the Authorized Version are appended for comparison. By this means every change made by the Revisers is brought to the notice of the reader, whose 1 'De Temporum in Aotis Apostolornm Ratio.' 1 'Ohronologie des Apostolisohen Zeitalters.' 1 The writer did not become acquainted with this work unf;il he was writing the
chrcnologioal section of this Introduction, 11ond the &at twent7-two chapters were gone to preBB and the twenty-third wholly written. xiv INTRODUCTION TO THE ACTS OF THE APOS'l'LEB.
jndgment ie thne directed t.o the reason or expediency of the change. The writer has not thought it neceeea.ry in general to expreee any opinion on the changes made, but has done eo occasionally in terme of agreement or die• agreement, Ill! the case may be. To diecoverand elucidate the exact meaning of the origins.I ; to illuetr&te the evente na,rrated by e.11 the helpe he could get from other writere; to help the etudent to note the peculiarities of the diction of the inspired author, as cluee to his education, his reading, hie profeesion, hie genuineness, his age, hie fitness for his task ; to mark the historical and geogr&phical and genera.I &ecuracy of the author as evidencee of the time when he lived, a,nd of his perfect trustworthiness as to a,ll that he relates ; and then, both in the Exposition and in the Homiletical remarks, to try and make the text so elucidated profitable for correction and instruc- tion in righteousness ;-has been the writer's aim, however imperfectly it has been a,ttained. The l&bour it has cost him ha.s been considerable, &midst const&nt interrnptions and unnumbered hindr&nces, but it has been a eweet and pleasant l&bour, fnll of interest and reward and growing delight, as the blessed Book yielded up its treasures of wisdom and truth, and the mind and hand of God beca.me more and more visible amidst the words and works of ma.n.
In the notes R.V. denotes Revised Version; A.V. denotes Authorized Version; T.R. Textns Receptns, i.e. the Greek Text from 1which the Authorized Version wae made; and R. T. Revised Text, i.e. the Greek Text from which the Revised Version was made. Whenever the R.V. differs from the A.V. in consequence of the R.T. differing from the T.R., this is shown by appending to the words of the Authorized Version quoted in the note the letters .A. V. and T.R. In some few Clllles where the difference in the Greek Text makes no difEerence in the version, the variation in the R.T. is not noted. Mere difEerencee of punctuation, or in the use of capit&ls or italics, or ~ &1ersa, in the R.V. as oompa.red with the A.V., are not; noted &ther. • THE