The Acts of the Apostles

EXCURSUS IV 287
St. Paul. In spite of the theory of " final hardening,"
St. Luke does not regard the Jews as a massa
proditionis et perditionis, but differentiates between
them according to their natural and spiritual quali-
ties (vide supra, pp. xxiii.j^.). Again, passages like St.
Luke i. 72-79 ; ii. 31, 32, &c., show that he conceived
of the Gospel as the " consolation of Israel," and that
he recognised in it a twofold function : it both fulfilled
the promises given to the people of Abraham Kara
a-dpKa, and it was a light to the Gentiles.^ If St. Luke
held this view of the Gospel it necessarily follows that
a thought like that of Rom. xi. 25 f. could not have
been so very far from him, or that he at least
cherished similar thoughts. According to him, St.
Paul contended for the Resurrection as for a hope that
was common to both Jews and Christians. Above
all, we must once again (vide supra, pp. 50 /.) point
out that " o Xaos " (6 Xaog rov Oeov) is for St. Luke
the Jewish nation. Bejbre his eyes Christendom stands
in two camps—still, indeed, separate from one another
first the Jewish people, that is, the pious Israelites who
had accepted Jesus as the Lord ; secondly, the eOpij, who
had been cifterwards called to the standard.'^ This
Gentile Christian author is still very retiring, and his
self-consciousness as a Gentile Christian is still un-
developed. He is certain that he and his fellow
1 The canticles in St. Luke i. ii. are, in vocabulary, style, and
thought, the property of St. Luke. If, however, it is thought that
he received them from elsewhere, we can prove from other passages
in the Lukan writings that these conceptions are Lukan.
2 St. Luke nowhere regards Jewish and Gentile Christians as
bound together in such unity as is pictured in the Epistle to the
Ephesians. Their separation from one another does not disturb him.
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