The Acts of the Apostles

THE SOURCES AND THEIR VALUE 171
2. In order to remove the causes of the dispute
seven Hellenists are chosen as deacons;
3. One of them, Stephen, contends with the rigidly
orthodox Hellenists, and is accused of uttering blasphemy
against " the holy place " and the Law and
of proclaiming the destruction of the Temple and
the abolition of the eOr] of Moses ;
4. A persecution arises, Stephen is put to death,
and the Christians of Jerusalem (except the Apostles
—thus not all the Christians of Jerusalem but most
probably only the Hellenistic Christians) are compelled
to leave Jerusalem
;
5. At first they are dispersed throughout Judaea
and Samaria, where they preach, but afterwards they
wander farther, extending their mission to Phoenicia,
Cyprus, and Antioch; and some of them, men of
Cyprus and Cyrene, preach the Gospel to the Greeks
in Antioch.
This is evidently a single connected narrative, the
goal of which is from the first Antioch and the
mission to the Gentiles, and which for this very reason
begins with the controversy in Jerusalem itself be-
tween Hebrews and Hellenists. Its unity can, more-
over, be proved from considerations of form ; for
in the story of St. Philip not only is there no special
emphasis laid upon the circumstance that the Samari-
tans differed in religion from the Jews, but also this
story is itself obviously and confessedly a digression.
In fact, in viii. 4, St. Luke already makes a start to
tell what he is about to tell us in xi. 19. He com-
mences with the words : oi juev ouv SiacrTrapei/reg Si^\-
6ov, i.e. with the same wm'ds with which he commences