The Acts of the Apostles

CHAPTER V
THE SOURCES AND THEIR VALUE
If St. Luke the Physician is the author of the Acts,
the question of sources is simply and speedily settled
for the whole second half of the book. So far as
a considerable portion of this second half is con-
cerned, he has written as an eye-witness, and for the
rest he depends upon the report of eye-witnesses who
were his fellow- workers. For what occurred during
the second and third missionary journeys Timothy
and Ga,ius and Aristarchus of Macedonia (xix. 29;
XX. 4 ; XXV ii. 2) come into the first line of considera-
tion (vide supra^ p. 149). As for the narrative of
what occurred during the Jlfial visit to Jerusalem and
Caesarea we cannot point to any definite person who
formed the author's authority here ; but during the
long voyage from Cassarea to Rome which immediately
followed these events, St. Luke was actually the com-
panion of St. Paul. It is in itself improbable that the
second half of the book (from xvi. 6 onwards) depends
upon written sources, nor do we anywhere find indica-
tions of their existence.^ It has, however, been already
shown (pp. 141^.) that the records which stood at the
author's service for this portion of the book are
^ Whether the cases of discrepancy presuppose the use of sources
is discussed later.
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