The Acts of the Apostles

EXCURSUS I
SURVEY OF THE NARRATIVES OF ST. LUKE (CONCERNING
THE PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY AND THE EARLIER
HISTORY OF ST. PAUL, ACTS I.-XIV.) WHICH ARE CON-
FIRMED BY THE PAULINE EPISTLES.
(1) Jerusalem, not some town in Galilee, is the seat
of the Primitive Community, the centre and, so to
speak, the Forum of the Christian Movement (Acts
passim Gal. ii. &c.).
(2)
Christian communities were also in existence
outside Jerusalem, and especially in Judaea, at a very
early date ; there was a time when Christendom was
described as " the Churches of Judaea " either a parte
fortio7'i or in the literal sense (Acts ix. 31 : »/ eKKKrjcrla
Ka6\o\rjg rrjg 'lovSaiag, Acts xi. 1: ot airoa-TokoL kol
ol aSeXcbol OL ovreg Kara rrjv 'louSalai/f xi. 29 : ol
KaroiKOvvreg ev rri ^lovSala aSeXipOh 1 Thess. ii. 14<
Gal. i. 22).
(3) The Christian communities are called both at
eKKXtjarlai (Acts and Pauline epistles, vv. 11.) and ^
^ The comparison of the second half of the history of St. Paul
(including Acts xv.), according to the record of the Acts and of
St. Paul himself, though it is still by no means superfluous labour,
may here be left out of consideration. We are here practically
concerned only with Acts i.-xiv., and our purpose is to show to
what extent these chapters also receive confirmation from the
epistles of St. Paul.
261
^
;