Acts 14:28

χρόνον οὐκ ὀλίγον : only in Acts, where it occurs eight times, cf. Acts 12:18, etc.; on the length of time thus spent see “Chronology of the N.T.,” Hastings' B.D., and also Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, p. 74, with which cf. Lewin, Fasti Sacri, p. 288.

Additional Note. In Chapter s 13 and 14 many critics find the commencement of a new source, a belief based to a great extent upon the view that Barnabas and Saul are here introduced as if they had not been previously mentioned. But whilst some description is given of each of the remaining persons in the list (Acts 13:1), nothing is added to the name of Barnabas or of Saul, so that it seems quite permissible to argue that these two are thus simply mentioned by name because they were already known. It is therefore not surprising to find that some writers, e.g., Hilgenfeld, regard these Chapter s as part of a previous source, so too Wendt, Spitta, Jüngst. Others see in these Chapter s a separate document, possibly not used again by the author of Acts; a document composed by a different hand from that to which we owe the “We” sections, and incorporated by the author of the whole book into his work (McGiffert). Others again see in these same Chapter s the commencement of a Travel-Document, containing not only these two Chapter s, but also the later journeys of St. Paul, coming to us from the same hand as the “We” sections, and from the same hand as the rest of the book (Ramsay). It is disappointing to find how Clemen, while referring 13, 14 to his good source, Historia Pauli, goes even further than Spitta in breaking up the different parts of the narrative: e.g., Acts 14:8-11, we owe to the Redactor Judaicus, and Acts 14:19-20; Acts 14:22 b, Acts 14:23 in the same chapter to the Redactor Anti-Judaicus. (See on the whole question Hilgenfeld, Zeitschrift für wissenschaft. Theol., 1 e Heft, 1896; Wendt (1899), p. 225, note; Zöckler, Apostelgeschichte, pp. 243, 244 (second edition).) It is no wonder in face of the unsatisfactory attempts to break up these Chapter s, or to separate their authorship from that of the rest of the book, that Zahn should maintain that a man like Luke needed for the composition of Chapter s 13 28 no other source than his recollections of the narratives recited by St. Paul himself, or of the events in which he, as St. Paul's companion, had participated, Didache 1 N. T., ii., 412 (1899), cf. Nösgen, Apostelgeschichte, pp. 25, 26. Certainly the unity of authorship between the two Chapter s under consideration and the rest of the book seems most clearly marked in language and style: e.g., κατασείειν, Acts 13:6, only found elsewhere in N.T., Acts 12:17; Acts 19:33; Acts 21:40; ἐπαίρειν τὴν φωνήν, Acts 14:11, only elsewhere in N.T., Luke 11:27; Acts 2:14; Acts 22:22; παραχρῆμα, Acts 13:11, elsewhere in N.T., ten times in Luke's Gospel (only twice in St. Matthew, and not at all in the other Evangelists), Acts 3:7; Acts 5:10; Acts 12:23; Acts 12:16 :(26), 33; ἧ, with participle, Acts 13:48; Acts 14:7; Acts 14:12; Acts 14:26; δή Acts 13:2; ἄχρι, Acts 13:6; Acts 13:11; ἱκανός with χρόνος, Acts 14:3, elsewhere in N.T. in Luke only, and eight times in Acts in all parts; ἀτενίζειν in Acts 13:9 and Acts 14:9 and the frequent recurrence of τέ in both Chapter s. It is also perhaps worthy of observation that out of some twenty-one words and phrases found only in the “We” sections, and in the rest of Acts (Hawkins, Horæ Synopticæ, p. 151), six occur in these two Chapter s, and two of them twice: ἀποπλέω, Acts 13:4; Acts 14:26; διατρίβω with accusative of time, Acts 14:3; ἔξειμι, Acts 13:42; ἡμέραι πλείους, Acts 13:31; προσκέ κλημαι with accusative, Acts 13:2; Acts 13:7; ὑπονοέω, Acts 13:25. On the position of these two Chapter s relatively to chap. 15 see below.

Additional note on Acts 14:23. On the rapid spread of Christianity in Asia Minor see Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i., pp. 87, 94, 95, 135 137, and Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 161, 397. The old nature religion with its negation of moral distinctions and family ties was doomed, a religion which on the one hand made woman the head of the family, and on the other hand compelled her to a so-called sacred service which involved the surrender of all which in a civilised community womanhood held most dear. The strength of the old ritual, however, was so great that it seems to have been maintained in Phrygia even after a higher type of society became known in the Roman period. But with the growth of Roman organisation and educational influences the minds of men were at least prepared for new ideas, and at this juncture St. Paul came preaching a gospel of home life, of Christian purity; and wherever higher social ideas had already penetrated he found converts disposed to follow his teaching as “a more excellent way”. In connection with the wide spread of Christianity in Asia Minor see also Orr, Some Neglected Factors in the Study of the Early Progress of Christianity, p. 48 ff. (1899).