"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 passage 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 circumstances, to affirm the passage 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 passage 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 passage 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 noble 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
example of patience."(1) The slightest impartial consideration, however, must convince any one that this passage 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 document.
The last passage, 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 [———] God 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
gave testimony [———]: I found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, who will do all my will."(1) The passage, 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. lxxxviii. 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 passage 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 passage 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
