divinely appointed Apostle of the Gentiles advocating complete immunity from the Mosaic law, and enunciating Pauline principles in peculiarly Pauline terms. When Peter declares that "God put no distinction between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles), purifying their hearts by faith,(1) but by the grace [———] of our Lord Jesus Christ we believe we are saved even as also they," do we not hear Paul's sentiments, so elaborately expressed in the Epistle to the Romans and elsewhere? "For there is no difference between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord of all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"(2).... "justified freely by his grace [———] through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."(3) And when Peter exclaims: "Why tempt ye God to put a yoke [———] upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" have we not rather a paraphrase of the words in the Epistle to the Galatians? "With liberty Christ made us free; stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke [———] of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ will profit you nothing. But I testify again to every man who is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law.(4)... For as many as are of works of law are under a curse," &c(5) These are only a few sentences of which the speech in Acts is an echo, but no attentive reader can fail to perceive that it contains in germ the whole of Pauline universalism.
From the Pauline author of the Acts this might fairly be expected, and if we linguistically examine the speech, we have additional evidence that it is simply, like others which we have considered, a composition from his own pen. We shall, as briefly as possible, refer to every word which is not of too common occurrence to require notice, and point out where they are elsewhere used. The opening [———] occurs elsewhere in the Acts 13 times, as we have already pointed out, being the favourite phrase placed in the mouth of all speakers; [———], x. 28, xviii. 25, xix. 15, 25, xx. 18, xxii. 19, xxiv. 10, xxvi. 3, 26, and elsewhere only 5 times. The phrase [———] at the beginning of a sentence has been pointed out, in connection with a similar way of expressing the personal pronoun in x. 28, [———], and [———], as consequently characteristic of Peter, and considered "important as showing that these reports are not only according to the sense of what was said, but the words spoken, verbatim."(1) This is to overlook the fact that the very same words are put into the mouth of Paul. Peter commences his speech, xv. 7: [———] Paul begins his speech at Miletus, xx. 18: [———]; and at Ephesus, Demetrius the silversmith commences his address, xix. 25: [———] Cf. xxiii. 15. [———], xv. 21, xxi. 16; Luke ix. 8, 19; elsewhere 6 times; the expression [———] does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament, but [———] is common in the Septuagint. Cf. Ps. xliii. 1, lxxvi. 5, cxlii. 5, Isaiah xxxvii. 26, Lament, i. 7, ii. 17, &c, &c. [———], i. 2, 24, vi. 5, xiii. 17, xv. 22, 25; Luke
4 times, elsewhere 11 times, and of these the following with inf., Act* i. 24 f., xv. 22, 25, Ephes. L 4. With the phrase [———](1) may be compared that of Paul, xiii. 17,[———], and 1 Cor. i. 27, in which [———] occurs twice, as well as again in the next verse, 28. [———] i. 16, in. 18, 21; iv. 25; Luke i. 70; and the whole phrase [———], may be compared with the words put into Paul's mouth, xxii. 14: [———] xx. 24, in Paul's Epistles (4) 33 times, and elsewhere 42 times. Verse 8. [———] only occurs here and in i. 24, [———] where it forms part of the prayer at the election of the successor to Judas. We have fully examined the speech of Peter, i. 16 ffi, and shown its unhistorical character, and that it is a free composition by the author of the Acts; the prayer of the assembly is not ascribed to Peter in the work itself, though apologists, grasping at the [———], assert that it must have been delivered by that Apostle; but, with the preceding speech, the prayer also must be attributed to the pen of the author; and if it be maintained that Peter spoke in the Aramaic tongue(2) it is useless to discuss the word at all, which of course in that case must be allowed to belong to the author. [———], Acts 12- times, Luke 2, rest frequently; with the phrase [———] may be compared Paul's words in xiii. 22, [———]. Verse 9, [———], x. 20, xi. 2, 12, Paul 7 times, &c
[———], xii. 6, xiii. 42; Luke xi. 51, xvi. 26; rest 4 times. [———], Acts 27 times, Luke 3, Paul 9, rest 15 times; re... [———]Acts 33 times, Luke 5, Paul 4, rest 10 times—[———] is clearly characteristic of the author, [———], Acts 15, Luke 11 times, rest very frequently. [———], x. 15, xi. 9; Luke 7, and elsewhere 20 times, [———], x. 33, xvi. 36, xxiii. 15; an expression not found elsewhere in the New Testament, and which is also indicative of the Author's composition. Verse 10, [———], v. 9, xvi. 7, xxiv. 6; Luke iv. 2, xi. 16, xx. 23, rest frequently; the question of Jesus in Luke and the parallel passages, [———]; will occur to every one. [———], Acts 12, Luke 6 times, the rest frequently. [———] does not occur elsewhere, either in the Acts or third Gospel, but it is used precisely in the same sense by Paul, Gal. v. 1, in a passage to which we have called attention a few pages back(1) in connection with this speech. [———], xx. 37, Luke xv. 20, xvii. 2; Romans xvi. 4, Matth. xviii. 6, Mark ix. 42; [———] occurs 4 times, [———], vi. 10, xix. 16, 20, xxv. 7, xxvii. 16; Luke 8 times and elsewhere 15 times. [———], iii. 2, ix. 15, xxi. 35; Luke 5, Paul 6, rest 12 times. Verse 11, [———] Acts 1? times, Luke 8, Paul 61 times, rest frequently. [———], Acts 38, Luke 9 times, rest frequently. [———], Acts 12, Luke 18 times, rest frequently, [———], is also put into the mouth of Paul, xxvii. 25, and is not elsewhere found in the New Testament; [———], i. 11, vii. 28; Luke xiii. 34; Matth. xxiii. 37, 2 Tim. iii. 8. [———], v. 37, xviii. 19; Luke xi. 7, 2, xx. 11, xxii. 12 and elsewhere in the New Testament 17 times. It cannot be doubted that the language of this speech is that of the author of the Acts, and no serious attempt has ever
been made to show that it is the language of Peter. If it be asserted that, in the form before us, it is a translation, there is not the slightest evidence to support the assertion; and it has to contend with the unfortunate circumstance that, in the supposed process, the words of Peter have not only become the words of the author, but his thoughts the thoughts of Paul.