The Evidential Value of Acts

Dr. Timothy McGrew, May 16, 2015

Matthew 13:52And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

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The keystone in the arch•Acts bridges the gap between the Gospels and the

epistles• It is authenticated in multiple ways• By numerous points of external confirmation• By undesigned coincidences• By internal evidence of authenticity

• It provides a natural way to authenticate the Gospels

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Points of external confirmation•Beginning with chapter 13 and the missionary

journeys of Paul, the book of Acts intersects what we know about the Greco-Roman world in numerous ways. What follows is a very brief and incomplete sample of the points where the historical accuracy of Acts is confirmed by sources outside of the Bible.

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Things Acts gets right: the details1. A natural crossing between correctly named ports.

(Acts 13:4-5) Mt. Casius, which is south of Seleucia, is within sight of Cyprus.

2. The proper port (Perga) along the direct destination of a ship crossing from Cyprus (13:13)

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Things Acts gets right: the details3. The proper location of Iconium in Phrygia rather

than in Lycaonia. (14:6) • This identification was doubted because it challenges

some sources reflecting boundary changes from a different date, but the ethnic inclusion of Iconium in Phrygia is confirmed by the geographical distribution of Neo-Phrygian texts and onomastic study.

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Things Acts gets right: the details4. The highly unusual but correct heteroclitic

declension of the name Lystra. (14:6) This is paralleled in Latin documents.

5. The Lycaonian language spoken in Lystra. (14:11) • The preservation of the local language is attested

by a gloss in Stephanus of Byzantium, who explains that “Derbe” is a local word for “juniper.” Hemer lists many other native names in the Lystra district.

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Things Acts gets right: the details6. Two gods known to be associated with Lystra—

Zeus and Hermes. (14:12) These are paralleled epigraphically from Lystra itself.

7. The proper port, Attalia, that returning travelers would use. (14:25) • This was a coasting port, where they would go to

intercept a coasting vessel, by contrast with Perga (13:13), a river port.

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Things Acts gets right: the details8. The correct order of approach (Derbe and then

Lystra) from the Cilician Gates. (16:1; cf. 15:41)9. The form of the name “Troas,” which was current

in the first century. (16:8)10.The place of a conspicuous sailors’ landmark,

Samothrace, dominated by a 5000 foot mountain. (16:11)

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Things Acts gets right: the details11.The proper description of Philippi as a Roman

colony, and the identification of its seaport as Nea Polis, which is attested both in manuscripts and in numismatic evidence. (16:12)

12.The right location of a small river (the Gangites) near Philippi. (16:13)

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Things Acts gets right: the details13.The identification of Thyatira as a center for dyeing

cloth. (16:14) This fact is attested by at least seven inscriptions of the city.

14.The precise designation for the magistrates of the colony as στρατηγοὶ (16:22), following the general term ἄρχοντας in verse 19.

15.The proper locations (Amphipolis and Apollonia, cities about 30 miles apart) where travelers would spend successive nights on this journey to Thessalonica. (17:1)

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Things Acts gets right: the details•… and about seventy other points of detail involving

the locations of synagogues, proper nautical terminology, Athenian slang, an altar in Athens to “the unknown god,” the name of the proconsul in Corinth between the summer of 51 and the spring of 52, the worship of Artemis at Ephesus, the voyage and shipwreck of Paul, and many, many other types of detail.

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A Roman historian’s judgment• “For Acts the confirmation of historicity is

overwhelming. … [A]ny attempt to reject its basic historicity even in matters of detail must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted.”• A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in

the New Testament (Oxford University Press, 1963), p. 189

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Undesigned coincidences• These are places where the text of Acts and some

passage in one of the Pauline epistles interlock in a way unlikely to arise in mere fiction or from simple copying. • The interlocking suggests that both texts are truthful

accounts.

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Letters of recommendation•2 Corinthians 3:1: Are we beginning to commend

ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?•Acts 18:27: And when he [Apollos] wished to

cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.• The emperor Augustus had made Corinth the capital

of Achaia

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Paul and Apollos at Corinth: 1 Cor. 1:12 and 3:6

•1 Corinthians 1:12: Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” …•1 Corinthians 3:6: I planted, Apollos watered, but

God gave the growth.•Paul’s language suggests that Apollos came and

preached at Corinth after Paul had left the city. This accords with the timeline in Acts 18:1, 24-28, 19:1.

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Paul’s short visit to the Apostles: Galatians 1:18

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. • Fifteen days seems like a very short time for

someone whose life has turned around so dramatically to spend with the Apostles in Jerusalem. What can account for the shortness of the visit?

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Why Paul’s visit was cut short: Acts 9:29

And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

•No further comment is necessary.

“When Timothy comes …”•1 Cor. 4:17: That is why I sent you Timothy, • So Timothy has already been sent; but …

•1 Cor. 16:10: When Timothy comes,• Paul expects this letter to arrive before Timothy does

•We therefore infer that Timothy must have taken some indirect route to Corinth; and in Acts 19:21, we see that he did, going up and around through Macedonia

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Paul’s ministry change (Acts 18:3-5)• [A]nd because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

A natural question

•What caused the shift from Paul’s working all week and doing evangelism on the Sabbath to his devoting himself completely to the word?

• It apparently had something to do with the arrival of Silas and Timothy from Macedonia.

The question answered: 2 Cor. 11:8-9• I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.

The three accounts of Paul’s conversion

•Acts 9: Luke narrates Paul’s conversion•Acts 22: Paul makes his defense to an unfriendly

mob at the Temple in Jerusalem•Acts 26: Paul makes his defense before Festus and

Agrippa

Do the variations in the accounts fit these very different conditions?

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Three accounts of Paul’s conversion

•Only Luke notes the medical details of the restoration of Paul’s sight (Acts 9:18)• In the speech at the Temple (Acts 22), Paul is careful

to appeal to Jews• He speaks in Aramaic• He calls his listeners “brothers and fathers”• He explains that he was raised in Jerusalem• He says he was trained under Gamaliel

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Paul speaks to the Jews, Acts 22•How Paul appeals to the Jews in Acts 22• He speaks of “the law of our ancestors”• He says that he was “as zealous for God as any of you

are today”• He describes Ananias as “a devout observer of the law

and highly respected by all the Jews living there” (22:12)• He delays, for as long as possible, using the word

“gentiles,” until he must (22:21)—and immediately the riot breaks out again.

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Paul speaks to the Gentiles, Acts 26•Here Paul speaks with no fear of sudden

interruption or an outbreak of violence; he has time to develop more doctrine•His strategy is to draw a sharp contrast between

himself and the Jews• The Jews are his accusers and adversaries (2)• He calls the Christians in Damascus “saints” (10)• He says that he tried to force them to blaspheme (11)

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Paul speaks to the Gentiles, Acts 26

•Paul’s contrast between himself and the Jews, continued:• He does not mention Ananias at all• His references to his own mission to the Gentiles are

obvious and not at all disguised or delayed (17, 20, 23)• He mentions that the voice on the road to Damascus

spoke to him “in Aramaic” (14)

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From Acts to the Gospels: Authorial unity

• Luke and Acts come from the same writer• There is good evidence from the “we” passages in

Acts 16 ff that the author was a companion of Paul• If Acts comes from a meticulous historian who

seems to have firsthand knowledge of at least some of the life and doings of Paul, this fact should increase the credibility of Luke.

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From Acts to the Gospels:Thematic unity• Each Gospel ends with the empty tomb and/or the

resurrection• The resurrection is the central theme in Acts 1, 2, 3,

4, 5, 10, 13, 17 …•… and also in the epistles• Romans 1:4• 1 Corinthians 15:4• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15• Galatians 1:1

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From Acts to the Gospels: Implicit unity

• In Acts, the ordinance of baptism is everywhere practiced and presupposed• Yet there is nothing in Luke either about Jesus’

baptizing or about Jesus’ institution of baptism as an ordinance•We find this in other Gospels, and most strikingly

in Matthew 28:19

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From Acts to the Gospels: Implicit Unity

• The Christian community in Acts practices the breaking of bread as a memorial for the death of Christ. • This is not merely consistent with Jesus’ reported

command in Luke 22: it is incomprehensible unless the shame of that death were somehow transformed.

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A word from one of our top theologians• “It is, when you think about it, remarkable

that a religion should adopt an instrument of torture and execution as its sacred symbol, often worn around the neck. Lenny Bruce rightly quipped that ‘If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.’”

—The God Delusion (2006), p. 285

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Sherlock Holmes on Richard Dawkins• “What seems strange to you is

only so because you do not follow my train of thought or observe the small facts upon which large inferences may depend.”•—Sherlock Holmes, in “The

Sign of the Four”

The Evidential Significance of Acts• The historical accuracy of the book of Acts is

fantastically well supported by evidence of all kinds• Historical and geographical details verified by secular

documents, archaeology, coins, cartography, …• Internal interconnections with multiple Pauline epistles• Realistic variation in the manner in which the same story

is told to different audiences

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The Evidential Significance of Acts• It affords significant support to the Gospels• By demonstrating Luke’s reliability as a historian• By presupposing material from other Gospels not found

in Luke• By emphasizing the widespread observance of the Lord’s

Supper, which can only be explained by something like the resurrection

Resources• Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History• Howson, The Evidential Value of the Acts of the Apostles• Leathes, The Religion of the Christ, Lecture 6• Paley, Horae Paulinae• Smith, The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul•Wace, The Authenticity of the Four Gospels

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Bonus undesigned coincidence•1 Thessalonians 3:1-6: … we were willing to be left

behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy ... But now that Timothy has come to us from you ...

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Paul Alone in Athens• From 1 Thessalonians 3:1, 2, 6, it appears that

Paul was alone at Athens, having sent Timothy to Thessalonica, and that Timothy joined him afterwards.•Acts 17:14ff agrees with this—except that instead

of being sent to Thessalonica, Timothy was left at Berea.

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Paul Alone at Athens: Integrating the Accounts• Berea is less than 50 miles west of Thessalonica. Paul left

Berea for Athens in haste because Jews from Thessalonica came to Berea to stir up the people against him (Acts 17:13).• Under the circumstances, Paul was worried about the

Christians in Thessalonica. He therefore commissioned Timothy to go back to Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 3:1ff) to check on the church there.• Luke, in Acts, has just omitted the sending of Timothy from

Berea to Thessalonica, thus leaving the cause of his separation from Paul unexplained.

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Journey to Jerusalem: Romans 15; Acts 20, etc.

• Late in Paul’s ministry (Romans 15:19; Acts 20)• Planning to go to Jerusalem (Romans 15:25; Acts 20:22)•With funds for the relief of the church in Jerusalem

(Romans 15:26, 28; Acts 20:2, 3, 24:17)• From churches in Macedonia and Achaia (Romans 15:26,

28; Acts 20:2, 3)• Anticipating danger in Jerusalem (Romans 15:31; Acts

21:27ff)