The Acts of the Apostles

xxxvi
INTRODUCTION
Of the ancient historian's liberty to insert speeches
at appropriate places in his work, whether reports
of speeches actually made or free compositions, St.
Luke has made an extensive and a happy use. Just
as in the Gospel we find a succession of actions and
sayings of our Lord (Acts i. 1, 'irepi ttolvtoov (ov tjp^aro
'Itjaovi iroielv re kou SiSatTKeiv), so also in the second
part of his work he must report both actions and
discourses. The discourses predominate in the first
and in the last quarters of the Acts; while in the
second and third quarters, though occupying less
space, they are only the more weighty in substance.
The highest level, according to our taste and perhaps
also according to the taste of the first readers, is
reached in the speeches of chapters xv., xvii., and xx.
but the speeches at the beginning of the work are
really fundamental in their Christology, and those
at the close assure the readers that their great
missionary St. Paul was the divinely appointed
instrument of the mission, and the great witness for
Christ before governors and kings.
During the last decade ever deeper insight has
been gained into the language in which St. Luke
has composed his work, and in consequence hasty
generalisations of old standing have been corrected.
In this connection Blass deserves specially high credit.
A very large portion of the supposed Semitic idioms
have vanished—the " Koivij '' already included these
Semitisms—nor as a rule should they be so regarded,
but rather as natural productions of the K.oivi] that
more or less accidentally coincide with Semitic forms.
Some, of course, are still left, especially in well-marked
;