The Acts of the Apostles

92 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
Luke was a native of Antioch still remains most
worthy of note in this connection. It of course does
not therefore follow that he was ever a member of
the Christian community of Antioch; indeed, the
form in which this ancient record has come down to
us is not even favourable to such a supposition.
Cyprus, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia.
It is characteristic of the first mission of St. Paul
and St. Barnabas in these regions that no dates are
given. This in itself is a proof that the tradition
from which St. Luke here draws was no longer exact.
This conclusion is confirmed upon closer examination.
St. Luke here only possessed the plan of the route
and some anecdotes of the mission. More exact
information concerning definite persons (eminent
Christians, magistrates, hosts, &c.) are entirely want-
ing. " The Jews," « the Greeks," and some other
generalities—of these he and his readers must make
what they can.^
The description of the journey across Cyprus,
whither the first missionaries had come from Jeru-
salem at a very early date and before the ministry of
St. Paul, through the city Salamis—here St. Luke
knows of the existence of several Jewish synagogues
(xiii. 5)—and Paphos, is correctly given (xiii. 5, 6).
That the proconsul resided in Paphos is also correct.
Nothing is told us of St. Paul's success in Cyprus
(with the exception of the gaining over of Sergius
1 Ramsay, " St. Paul," p. 89 /., reads an incredible amount of in-
formation between the lines of chaps, xiii. and xiv. , and entirely
ignores the general want of precision throughout these chapters.