The Acts of the Apostles

EXCURSUS I 273
great and at present insuperable ignorance of events,
institutions, and other details of that period, a rope is
made to hang the author of the Acts. The axiom :
" What we do not know or cannot prove cannot be
right" still exercises a tyrannical sway in the sphere
of history, though we have learned by experience that
better understanding of known authorities, and the
discovery of new ones, have again and again proved
how mistaken it is to form hasty judgments con-
cerning primitive Christian tradition. Hence in the
case of an historical work like the Acts, our attitude
towards passages containing elements that are strange
and extraordinary should be one of critical caution.
This does not mean that we are to forget that some
passages have been worked up, and that the author is
superstitious—but who was not superstitious in those
days
!
Finally, the character of the vocabulary of the
Acts is also just what we should have expected in
one who was a companion and friend, but not a
dependent disciple of St. Paul. I have already dealt
with this question in " Luke the Physician " (pp. 19^.).
The gospel of St. Luke and the genuine Pauline
epistles have in common 83 words which are not found
elsewhere in the gospels; of these 32 also occur in
the Acts; but in addition to these there are about
65 words which only occur in the Acts and the genuine
Pauline epistles. These words common to St. Paul
and St. Luke, about 148 in number, well deserve a
more detailed investigation (vide the careful collec-
tion in Plummer's " Commentary on St. Luke," 1896,
pp. liv. ss.).