than with the Acts. In no case could such slight coincidences prove acquaintance with the Acts of the Apostles.(1)
Only one passage 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 God, 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 God 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
necessary to add anything to this. There is of course no trace of the use of Acts in the Epistle.(1)
It is asserted that there is a "clear allusion"(2) to Acts in the Pastor of Hermas. The passages may be compared as follows:— [———]
The slightest comparison of these passages suffices to show that the one is not dependent on the other. The Old Testament is full of passages 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 passages of a similar tenour. For instance, the passage 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)
The only other passage 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 God or of Jesus is the symbol used to represent the concrete idea, and in the heavenly Jerusalem of the Apocalypse the servants of God and of the Lamb are to have "his name" on their foreheads. The one expression, however, which is peculiar in the passage: "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 God for them and glory in the churches of God for the patience and faith with which the Thessalonians endure
