2. Κληθήσεται. In his Date of Acts Harnack underlines this verb, as a Lukan trait, wherever it occurs in the “We” Sections, which he prints on pp. 4-12. Out of the total number of cases in which it occurs in the New Testament, no less than 44 per cent. are found in the Lukan writings. In the Gospel it is present 41 times. It should also be noted that when we compare καὶ τὸ γ. ἅγιον κληθήσεται with the analogous phrase in Mt. 1. 20, τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου, in the latter the Lukan καλέω is absent. Of course καλέω is a common word, but St. Luke's use of it is distinctive, and with this usage κληθήσεται in verse 35 agrees.
3. We have referred to δύναμις already,[63] and have said that while frequent in Lk., it is too common a word to be important for our present purpose. The case is otherwise with the phrase δύναμις Ὑψίστου. St. Luke is fond of using δ. in composition with other words in the genitive. In his Gospel, he employs [pg 065] it with τὸ πνεῦμα, ὁ θεός, Κύριος, οἱ οὐρανοί, and ὁ ἐχθρός. In the Acts (viii. 10) we have ἡ Δύναμις τ. θεοῦ ἡ καλουμένη Μεγάλη. In Mt. we find this usage twice; in Mk. once; in the main epistles of St. Paul it occurs 13 times; elsewhere in the New Testament 7 times. That is to say, out of 29 instances in the New Testament (other than i. 35),[64] St. Luke has 6 (or 20 per cent.). We may therefore say that this again is a marked characteristic of St. Luke's usage, and though the phrase δ. Ὕ. does not occur again in Lk. (it occurs nowhere else in the NT.), it is thoroughly congruous with the Lukan style. We have also to note the word Ὕψιστος. Out of 12 instances in the New Testament St. Luke actually has 8, or 75 per cent. As, however, three of these occur in chaps. i and ii, it might be argued that the interpolator has introduced Ὕ. in verse 35 under the influence of these very chapters. That, however, he should combine it with δ. is interesting. Indeed, on the theory of interpolation, our interpolator has combined a distinctively Lukan word (Ὕψιστος) with another word (δύναμις) which St. Luke often uses (24 times), to produce a characteristic Lukan phrase (δ. in composition with a noun in the genitive)!
4. Διὸ καί. Elsewhere St. Luke uses διό 9 times (once in the Gospel and 8 times in the Acts). In this respect he may be compared with St. Paul, who uses the word 25 times, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who employs it 8 times. In the Catholic Epistles it appears 6 times. There is but one instance in Mt. and a doubtful case in Mk. The results are also interesting when we take διὸ καί. Out of 10 instances in the New Testament, St. Luke has 2 (Ac. x. 29 and xxiv. 26), St. Paul has 6, and Hebrews 2. There is not an instance in Mt. or Mk., or anywhere else in the New Testament. We are far from suggesting that no one else could use διὸ καί.[65] The point is that the supposed interpolator has introduced the phrase into the work of a writer who, with St. Paul and the author of Hebrews, alone among New Testament writers employs it!
5. Ἐπισκιάσει σοι. Ἐπισκιάζω appears in four other places in the New Testament. Of these, three are connected with the [pg 066] story of the Transfiguration (Mt. xvii. 5, Mk. ix. 7, Lk. ix. 34). That the remaining instance should be Acts v. 15 is, in connexion with our present problem, an interesting fact. Thayer-Grimm remarks that the verb occurs in “profane” authors, “generally with an accusative of the object, and in the sense of obscuring”. In the Septuagint, however, it is used of the divine covering or overshadowing (cf. Ps. xc. (xci.) 4; Ps. cxxxix. (cxl.) 8; Ex. xl. 29 (35)). We have to ask whether these passages, especially the last, have influenced the writer of i. 35. We cannot assume the point, of course, but there is much to be said for it. The thought of the cloud of Yahweh overshadowing the tent of meeting may very well have shaped the thought and the phrasing of δ. Ὕψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι. If there is any weight in this suggestion (cf. Plummer, op. cit., p. 24), again it tells for Lukan authorship—so far, that is to say, as the undoubted fact that chaps. i and ii have a distinctly Old Testament atmosphere will take us. Apart, however, from such considerations it is a remarkable fact, on the theory of interpolation, that a word so rare in the New Testament, and one which St. Luke uses more than any one else, should appear in the suspected verses. Acts v. 15 (ἵνα ἐρχομένου Πέτρου κἂν ἡ σκιὰ ἐπισκιάσει τινὶ αὐτῶν) is enough in itself to raise the gravest doubt that we have here to do with an interpolator.
6. Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ. Here we have first to call attention to the verb ἐπέρχομαι. Apart from Eph. ii. 7 and James v. 1, this verb is limited to the Lukan writings, where it occurs six times (i.e. besides i. 35). We have already spoken of Πνεῦμα ἅγιον and remarked that, while it is characteristic of St. Luke, we could not lay stress upon that fact, since even an interpolator would naturally introduce a reference to the Holy Spirit in such a connexion as i. 35. If, however, as now we take the whole phrase, we come to a very different conclusion. For in Acts i. 8 we have the significantly close parallel, ἐπελθόντος τ. ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς. The parallel speaks for itself!
7. We consider lastly, εἶπεν δὲ ... πρός. A comparison of passages in the four Gospels and the Acts gives the following results:
εἶπεν δέ: Jn. 1 (& 2?); Lk. (G.) 60; Acts 15; Lk. (G. & Ac.) 75
εἶπεν ... πρός: Mt. 1?; Mk. 2; Jn. 9; Lk. (G.) 79; Acts 26; Lk. (G. & Ac.) 105
εἶπεν δὲ ... πρός: Lk. (G.) 25; Acts 2; Lk. (G. & Ac.) 27
To the facts noted in the foregoing table we may add that εἶπεν πρός occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. St. Luke, therefore, has it 105 times out of 116. Still more is εἶπεν δὲ ... πρός limited to St. Luke. No other New Testament writer uses the phrase, and St. Luke has it 27 times.[66]