Supernatural Religion Volume III Part 1

Supernatural Religion.

Vol. III.

by Walter Richard Ca.s.sels.

SUPERNATURAL RELIGION: AN INQUIRY INTO THE REALITY OF DIVINE REVELATION

PART IV. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

CHAPTER I. THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCE

Before we proceed to examine the evidence for miracles and the reality of Divine Revelation which is furnished by the last historical book of the New Testament, ent.i.tled the "Acts of the Apostles," it is well that we should briefly recall to mind some characteristics of the doc.u.ment, which most materially affect the value of any testimony emanating from it. Whilst generally a.s.serting the resurrection of Jesus, and his bodily ascension, regarding which indeed it adds fresh details, this work presents to us a new cycle of miracles, and so profusely introduces supernatural agency into the history of the early church that, in comparison with it, the Gospels seem almost sober narratives. The Apostles are instructed and comforted by visions and revelations, and they, and all who believe, are filled with the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues. The Apostles are delivered from

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prison and from bonds by angels or by an earthquake. Men fall dead or are smitten with blindness at their rebuke. They heal the sick, raise the dead, and handkerchiefs brought from their bodies cure diseases and expel evil spirits.

As a general rule, any doc.u.ment so full of miraculous episodes and supernatural occurrences would, without hesitation, be characterized as fabulous and incredible, and would not, by any sober-minded reader, be for a moment accepted as historical. There is no other testimony for these miracles. Let the reader endeavour to form some conception of the nature and amount of evidence necessary to establish the truth of statements antecedently so incredible, and compare it with the testimony of this solitary and anonymous doc.u.ment, the character and value of which we shall now proceed more closely to examine.

It is generally admitted, and indeed it is undeniable, that no distinct and unequivocal reference to the Acts of the Apostles, and to Luke as their author, occurs in the writings of Fathers before one by Irenaeus(1) about the end of the second century. Pa.s.sages are, however, pointed out in earlier writings as indicating the use and consequent existence of our doc.u.ment, all of which we shall now examine.

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Several of these occur in the "Epistle to the Corinthian s," ascribed to Clement of Rome. The first, immediately compared with the pa.s.sage to which it is supposed to be a reference,(1) is as follows:--

The words of the Epistle are not a quotation, but merely occur in the course of an address. They do not take the form of an axiom, but are a comment on the conduct of the Corinthians, which may have been suggested either by written or oral tradition, or by moral maxims long before current in heathen philosophy.2 It is unnecessary to enter minutely into this, however, or to indicate the linguistic differences between the two pa.s.sages, for one point alone settles the question. In the Acts: the saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," is distinctly introduced as a quotation of

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"words of the Lord Jesus," and the exhortation "to remember" them, conveys the inference that they were well known. They must either have formed part of Gospels now no longer extant, as they are not found in ours, or have been familiar as the unwritten tradition of sayings of the Master. In either case, if the pa.s.sage in the Epistle be a reference to these words at all, it cannot reasonably be maintained that it must necessarily have been derived from a work which itself distinctly quotes the words from another source. It would be against every principle of evidence, under such circ.u.mstances, to affirm the pa.s.sage to be an allusion to this special work, of whose previous existence we have no independent evidence.(1) The slight coincidence in the expression, without indication that any particular pa.s.sage is in the mind of the author, and without any mention of the Acts, therefore, is no evidence of the existence of that work.

A few critics point to some parts of the following pa.s.sage as showing acquaintance with Acts:--"Through jealousy Paul also pointed out the way to the prize of patience, having borne chains seven times, having been put to flight, having been stoned; having become a preacher both in the East and in the West, he gained the n.o.ble renown due to his faith; having taught the whole world righteousness, and come to the extremity of the West, and having suffered martyrdom by command of the rulers, he was thus removed from the world and went to the holy place, having become a most eminent

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example of patience."(1) The slightest impartial consideration, however, must convince any one that this pa.s.sage does not indicate the use of the "Acts of the Apostles." The Epistle speaks of seven imprisonments, of some of which the Acts make no mention, and this must, therefore, have been derived from another source.(2) The reference to his "coming to the extremity of the West" [------], whatever interpretation be put upon it, and to his death, obviously carries the history further than the Acts, and cannot have been derived from that doc.u.ment.

The last pa.s.sage, which, it is affirmed,(3) shows acquaintance with the Acts of the Apostles is the following: "But what shall we say regarding David who hath obtained a good report [------]? unto whom [------] G.o.d said: 'I found a man after mine own heart, David, the son of Jesse: in everlasting mercy I anointed him.'"(4) This is said to be derived from Acts xiii. 22: "And when he removed him he raised up to them David for king; to whom also he

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gave testimony [------]: I found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, who will do all my will."(1) The pa.s.sage, however, is compounded of two quotations loosely made from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, from which all the quotations in the Epistle are taken. Ps. lx.x.xviii. 20: "I found David my servant; in holy mercy I anointed him."(2) And 1 Sam. xiii. 14: "A man after his own heart."(3) Clement of Alexandria quotes this pa.s.sage from the Epistle, and for "in everlasting mercy" reads "with holy oil" [------]

as in the Psalm.(4) Although, therefore, our Alexandrian MS. of the Epistle has the reading which we have given above, even if we suppose that the Alexandrian Clement may have found a more correct version in his MS., the argument would not be affected. The whole similarity lies in the insertion of "the son of Jesse," but this was a most common addition to any mention of David, and by the completion of the pa.s.sage from the Psalm, the omission of "who will do all my will," the peculiar phrase of the Acts, as well as the difference of introductory expressions, any connection between the two is severed, and it is apparent that the quotation of the Epistle may legitimately be referred to the Septuagint,(5) with which it agrees much more closely

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than with the Acts. In no case could such slight coincidences prove acquaintance with the Acts of the Apostles.(1)

Only one pa.s.sage of the "Epistle of Barnabas" is referred to by any one(2) as indicating acquaintance with the Acts. It is as follows, c. 7: "If therefore the son of G.o.d, being Lord, and about to judge quick and dead [------] suffered," &c. This is compared with Acts x. 42... "and to testify that it is he who has been appointed by G.o.d judge of quick and dead" [------]. Lardner, who compares the expression of the Epistle with Acts, equally compares it with that in 2 Tim. iv. 1... "and Christ Jesus who is about to judge the quick and dead" [------], to which it is more commonly referred,(3) and 1 Pet. iv. 5... "to him who is ready to judge quick and dead" [------]. He adds, however: "It is not possible to say, what text he refers to, though that in Timothy has (he same words.

But perhaps there is no proof that he refers to any. This was an article known to every common Christian; whereas this writer (whoever he be) was able to teach the Christian religion, and that without respect to any written gospels or epistles."(4) It is scarcely

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necessary to add anything to this. There is of course no trace of the use of Acts in the Epistle.(1)

It is a.s.serted that there is a "clear allusion"(2) to Acts in the Pastor of Hermas. The pa.s.sages may be compared as follows:-- [------]

The slightest comparison of these pa.s.sages suffices to show that the one is not dependent on the other. The Old Testament is full of pa.s.sages in which the name of the Lord is magnified as the only source of safety and salvation. In the Pauline Epistles likewise there are numerous pa.s.sages of a similar tenour. For instance, the pa.s.sage from Joel ii. 32, is quoted Rom. x. 13: "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" [------](3) There was in fact no formula more current either amongst the Jews or in the early Church; and there is no legitimate ground for tracing such an expression to the Acts of the Apostles.(4)

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The only other pa.s.sage which is quoted(1) as indicating acquaintance with Acts is the following, which we at once contrast with the supposed parallel:-- [------]

Here again a formula is employed which is common throughout the New Testament, and which, applied as it is here to those who were persecuted, we have reason to believe was in general use in the early Church. It is almost unnecessary to point out any examples. Everywhere "the name" of G.o.d or of Jesus is the symbol used to represent the concrete idea, and in the heavenly Jerusalem of the Apocalypse the servants of G.o.d and of the Lamb are to have "his name" on their foreheads. The one expression, however, which is peculiar in the pa.s.sage: "counted worthy,"--in the Acts [------], and in the Pastor [------],--is a perfectly natural and simple one, the use of which cannot be exclusively conceded to the Acts of the Apostles. It is found frequently in the Pauline Epistles, as for instance in 2 Thes. i. 5, where, after saying that they give thanks to G.o.d for them and glory in the churches of G.o.d for the patience and faith with which the Thessalonians endure

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persecutions, the writer continues: "which is a token of the righteous judgment of G.o.d, that ye may he counted worthy [------] of the kingdom of G.o.d, for which ye also suffer [------];" and again, in the same chapter, v. 11, 12, "Wherefore we also pray always for you that our G.o.d may count you worthy [------] of the calling, and fulfil all good pleasure of goodness and work of faith with power; _that the name of our Lord Jesus may he glorified in you_ [------]" &c. The pa.s.sage we are examining cannot be traced to the "Acts of the Apostles."(1) It must be obvious to all that the Pastor of Hennas does not present any evidence even of the existence of the Acts at the time it was written.(2)

Only two pa.s.sages in the Epistles of pseudo-Ignatius are pointed out as indicating acquaintance with the Acts, and even these are not advanced by many critics. We have already so fully discussed these Epistles that no more need now be said. We must p.r.o.nounce them spurious in all their recensions and incapable of affording evidence upon any point earlier than towards the end of the second century. Those, however, who would still receive as genuine the testimony of the three Syriac Epistles must declare that they do not present any trace of the existence of the Acts, inasmuch as the two pa.s.sages adduced to show the use of that work do not occur in those letters. They are found in the shorter recension of the Epistles to the Smyrnaeans and Philadelphians. We might, therefore, altogether refuse to examine the

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pa.s.sages, but in order to show the exact nature of the case made out by apologists, we shall briefly refer to them. We at once compare the first with its supposed parallel.(1)

There is nothing in this pa.s.sage which bears any peculiar a.n.a.logy to the Acts, for the statement is a simple reference to a tradition which is also embodied both in the third Synoptic(2) and in the fourth Gospel;(3) and the mere use of the common words [------] and [------] could not prove anything. The pa.s.sage occurs in the Epistle immediately after a quotation, said by Jerome to be taken from the Gospel according to the Hebrews, relating an appearance of Jesus to "those who were with Peter,"

in which Jesus is represented as making them handle him in order to convince them that he is not an incorporeal spirit.(4) The quotation bears considerable affinity to the narrative in the third Synoptic (xxiv. 39), at the close of which Jesus is represented as eating with the disciples. It is highly probable that the Gospel from which the writer of the Epistle quoted contained the same detail, to which this would naturally be a direct

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descriptive reference. In any case it affords no evidence of the existence of the Acts of the Apostles.(1)

The second pa.s.sage, which is still more rarely advanced,(2) is as follows:-- [------]

The only point of coincidence between these two pa.s.sages is the use of the word "wolves." In the Epistle the expression is [------], whilst in Acts it is [------]. Now the image is substantially found in the Sermon on the Mount, one form of which is given in the first Synoptic, vii.

15,16, and which undeniably must have formed part of many of the Gospels which are mentioned by the writer of the third Synoptic. We find Justin Martyr twice quoting another form of the saying: "For many [------]

shall arrive in my name, outwardly indeed clothed in sheep's skins, but inwardly being ravening wolves [------]."(3) The use of the term as applied to men was certainly common in the early Church. The idea expressed in the Epistle is more closely found in 2 Timothy iii. 1 ff., in the description of those who are to come in the last days, and who will (v. 6) "creep into the houses and make captive [------] silly women laden with sins, led away with divers l.u.s.ts."