IV. Time and place of Writing. — These are still more uncertain. As the history is continued up to the close of the second year of Paul's imprisonment at Rome, it could not have been written before A.D. 56; it was probably, however, composed very soon after, so that we shall not err far if we assign the close of the year 58 as the period of its completion. Still greater uncertainty hangs over the place where Luke composed it; but as he accompanied Paul to Rome, perhaps it was at that city and under the auspices of the apostle that it was prepared. Had any considerable alteration in Paul's circumstances taken place before the publication, there can be no reason why it should not have been noticed. And on other accounts also this time was by far the most likely for the publication of the book. The arrival in Rome was an important period in the apostle's life; the quiet which succeeded it seemed to promise no immediate determination of his cause. SEE THEOPHILUS.
V. Style. — This, like that of Luke's Gospel, is much purer than that of most other books of the New Testament. The Hebraisms which occasionally occur are almost exclusively to be found in the speeches of others which he has reported. These speeches are indeed, for the most part, to be regarded rather as summaries than as full reports of what the speaker uttered; but as these summaries are given in the speaker's own words, the appearance of Hebraisms in them is as easily accounted for as if the addresses had been reported in full. His mode of narrating events is clear, dignified, and lively; and, as Michaelis observes, he “has well supported the character of each person whom he has introduced as delivering a public harangue, and has very faithfully and happily preserved the manner of speaking which was peculiar to each of his orators” (Introduction, 3, 332). SEE LUKE.
VI. Contents. — Commencing with a reference to an account given in a former work of the sayings and doings of Jesus Christ before his ascension, its author proceeds to acquaint us succinctly with the circumstances attending that event, the conduct of the disciples on their return from witnessing it, the outpouring on them of the Holy Spirit according to Christ's promise to them before his crucifixion, and the amazing success which, as a consequence of this, attended the first announcement by them of the doctrine concerning Jesus as the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world. After following the fates of the mother church at Jerusalem up to the period when the violent persecution of its members by the rulers of the Jews had broken up their society and scattered them, with the exception of the apostles, throughout the whole of the surrounding region, and after introducing to the notice of the reader the case of a remarkable conversion of one of the most zealous persecutors of the Church, who afterward became one of its most devoted and successful advocates, the narrative takes a wider scope and opens to our view the gradual expansion of the Church by the free admission within its pale of persons directly converted from heathenism, and who had not passed through the preliminary stage of Judaism. The first step toward this more liberal and cosmopolitan order of things having been effected by Peter, to whom the honor of laying the foundation of the Christian Church, both within and without the confines of Judaism, seems, in accordance with our Lord's declaration concerning him (Mat_16:18), to have been reserved, Paul, the recent convert and the destined apostle of the Gentiles, is brought forward as the main actor on the scene. On his course of missionary activity, his successes and his sufferings, the chief interest of the narrative is thenceforward concentrated, until, having followed him to Rome, whither he had been sent as a prisoner to abide his trial, on his own appeal, at the bar of the emperor himself, the book abruptly closes, leaving us to gather further information concerning him and the fortunes of the Church from other sources. SEE PAUL.
VII. History. — While, as Lardner and others have very satisfactorily shown (Lardner's Credibility, Works, 1; Biscoe, On the Acts; Paley's Horae Paulinoe; Benson's History of the First Planting of Christianity, 2, etc.), the credibility of the events recorded by Luke is fully authenticated both by internal and external evidence, very great obscurity attaches to the chronology of these events (see Davidson's Introd. to the N.T., 2, 112 sq.; Alford's Greek Test., 2, Proleg. p. 23 sq.; Meyer, Commentar, 3d ed. pt. 3, s. fin.).
The following is probably the true order of events in the Acts (see Meth. Quar. Review, 1856, p. 499 sq.). For further discussion, see Burton, Attempt to ascertain the Chronology of the Acts (Lond. 1830); Anger, De temporum in Actis Apostolorum ratione (Lips. 1834); Greswell, Dissert. 2, 1, etc.; Wordsworth, Greek Test. pt. 2; Wieseler, Chron. d. ap. Zeit (Gott. 1848).
A.D. 54. [1st Epistle to the Corinthians.]
A.D. 54. [2d Epistle to the Corinthians.]
A.D. 55. [Epistle to the Romans.]
A.D. 56-58. Paul's first visit and imprisonment at Rome....