The Acts of the Apostles

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
On the latter hypothesis we may most probably
explain those cases where St. Luke introduces persons
with a certain unconcern, or in other places seems to
forget that he has already introduced them. Instances
of the latter kind occur in the we-sections in xxi. 10 and
xxvii. 2. In the remaining passages of the second part
of the book we notice the abrupt appearance of the
household of the jailor (xvi. 32), of Jason (xvii. 5), ot
Sosthenes (xviii. 17), of Gains and Aristarchus (xix.
29), of Alexander (xix. 33), and of St. Paul's sister's
son (xxiii. 16). In A (ix. 31) the Church in Galilee,
of which nothing has been said hitherto, appears all at
once ; likewise (xii. 17) St. James, the Lord's brother.
In the Antiochean source (vi. 1) mention is abruptly
made of Hellenists and Hebrews in the Primitive
Community, of presbyters in Jerusalem (xi. 30), of
the brethren in Syria and Cilicia (xv. 23)
; from xiii.
1 we might suppose that as little had been previously
said about Barnabas and Saul as about the other
men mentioned in the verse. From ix. 2 we suddenly
discover that there were Christians in Damascus.
Instances of redundancy, of awkward repetition,
of silence upon important points, and of extra-
ordinary brevity, can be adduced from different parts
of the book. Still greater is the number of instances
of ambiguity, of accounts and expressions whose signi-
ficance is not quite clear, of trifling cases of literary
inaccuracy. They can be easily found in the lists
given above. Nor are there wanting instances of
discrepancy. Such (though insignificant) are to be
found in the three descriptions of the conversion of
St. Paul [they do not point to different sources], in