John Carter - The Speeches in the Acts - Class 1 - Introduction to the Speeches in the Acts

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Is in the nature of a little skirmish. We’re being introduced. We’re getting to know something about the book and the purpose of it, and something about the author of it and the quality of his work. And then we can only promise you in the afternoons that follow some fairly hard thinking. It has been said that one reason for the progress of Christianity was that the Christians outthought their opponents. And we cannot read the epistles of the New Testament without recognizing that they did some very high thinking. And we can’t read the speeches in Acts either, without realizing with what cogency and power they put forward their case.

2. 0:54

   It’s an object lesson for us that we in a similar manner know what we believe, and put it forward with a similar power of presentation that they used. We think of the Epistle to the Ephesians or the Epistle to the Colossians, and we say we’ll make a study of it. But those epistles and all the others were written off to meet a particular situation.

3. 1:21

   And one day when the residents and sisters were assembled in Colossus Day, the recording brother, but with his brother so and so who’s brought an epistle from Paul, and he will read it to us or some other brother. Ability for reading was given the job of reading it and it was written to be understood then when it was written and when it was read.

4. 1:51

   I wonder sometimes if we under little small in stature compared to the 1st century Christians in their thinking power concerning the faith which was in Christ Jesus. Well, in keeping with that high thinking we get the record of what they did. Just think, our destitute we would be if we hadn’t got the Acts of the Apostles.

5. 2:18

   It takes us to somewhere in the 7th decade of the 1st century. All that is written in Acts occurred before the fall of Jerusalem. We all know something about that. But how much do we know of what happened after the fall of Jerusalem? How much of church’s history does any one of us know of the period that followed Acts, let alone the 2nd century and the 3rd? And maybe a few among us with a a bent for history who have made the study of it.

6. 2:55

   But what I want us to impress upon ourselves is that if we hadn’t got the Acts of the Apostles, we would be just as destitute of knowledge concerning the first half century of Christian life. And that was the vital half century. And therefore, within the Canon of Holy Writ, we have an inspired record of the beginnings of Christianity, of the outworking of the divine purpose after the ascension of Jesus Christ, in the work that the apostles did in pursuit of the Commission that he gave unto them. Acts is a record of the beginning of this divine work upon earth, of taking out of the Gentiles a people for His name. It has been assailed, and assailed with considerable vigor.

7. 3:48

   A little over 100 years ago there was a school in Germany which gave the name to a mode of thought with regard to the Epistles and the writings of the New Testament. At Tubingen, a school in Germany, there were a company of scholars who dismissed most of the New Testament writings to the 2nd century. We needn’t go into the philosophy of the matter, that is to say their philosophy history, whereby they explained it.

8. 4:21

   There’s something much more interesting, more important to do than that. But what we must recognise is that they somehow acquired A dominant indirect, so that 50 years ago most scholars would have approached the New Testament from what they thought was an established position. That all the epistles of Paul, except the four greater epistles were not written by Paul at all. That the Acts of the Apostles and in fact most of the Gospels belong to the 2nd century.

9. 4:59

   Now, if that were the case, we wouldn’t have very reliable history. If the first written record of the beginning of Christianity were dated in the 2nd century, we couldn’t expect that they would be very, very dependable. And therefore Luke’s writings were very suspect and there were a number of points in his record which were assailed as being particularly vulnerable. And I want to tell you about one or two of those as illustrating how modern discovery has vindicated in a wonderful way the truth of the record which we have in the writings through Luke.

10. 5:48

    He tells us in his gospel of the birth of Jesus. And it was the insight of a historian. And in all these relative remarks concerning the writer, we do not forget that behind it all was the inspiration and guidance of the power of God. But nevertheless, God used the men and used their aptitudes and abilities.

11. 6:12

    And we can discern the difference between John Gospel and Matthew’s Gospel and Duke’s as his own distinctive style and method of approach. Well, Luke with then, with the historian’s sense of proportion and fitness, put the birth of Jesus in the framework of world events, and he tells us that when Jesus was born, Mary, at great inconvenience, must accompany Joseph or his spoused husband to Bethlehem.

12. 6:46

    No easy Rd. from Nazareth in the north to Bethlehem just below Jerusalem. But she must per she must perforce take this journey because a decree had gone forth from Augustus that there should be an enrolment. And Luke tells us that this enrolment was first made when Korenius was governor of Judea. And the critic comes in to play and he says it’s altogether impossible.

13. 7:18

    Augustus never ordered an enrolment. In any case, Luke has made a mistake. Poquarinius was governor of Judea 10 years after the date of the birth of Jesus. And even if there were an enrolment, they wouldn’t have to go to their native place, because it would be so very inconvenient and so recent as the turn of the century. In fact, in the last commentary, complete commentary on the New Testament text, I’m showing you this isn’t a book that has been superseded.

14. 7:57

    The writer who had spent a lifetime as a teacher of theological students could say. Concerning these opening verses of Luke chapter 2. The passage has given rise to a host of questions which have been discussed with bewildering conflict of opinion in an extensive critical and apologetic literature. The difficulty is not so much as to the meaning of the Evangelist’s word, but rather as to their truth. And he chooses out four points.

15. 8:30

    1 Apart from the Gospel, history knows nothing of a general imperial census in the time of Augustus. Second, there could have been no Roman census during the time of Herod the Great. And third, such a census at such a time could not have been carried out by Quiranius, for he was not governor in Syria then, not till 10 years later, when he did make a census which gave rise to a revolt on the Judas of Galilee. And fourthly, under a Roman census, it could not have been necessary for Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem or Mary to accompany him.

16. 9:03

    And on those two he has this comment. One could almost wish it had been omitted, or that there were reasoning to believe, or, as has been suggested by several writers, that it is a glass that has found its way into the text, and that Luke is not responsible for it. So much trouble as it given to commentators.

17. 9:25

    Now if these men, who were professed adherence of the Christian religion for the most part had been loyal to their text, they would have said that Luke is a credible witness, and if he tells us something that seems to have been omitted from other histories, well, so much the worse for them. But through the magnificent work of Sir William Ramsay there has been an entire reversal of the attitude of scholars to Luke’s writings on this particular issue.

18. 10:03

    Papyrus papers found in Egypt have shown that there was a regular system of enrolment every 14 years. These bits of papyri have been discovered in Egypt because the dryness of the climate there has been the means whereby they have been preserved, but what obtained in Egypt would obtain elsewhere, and the sufficient theories have been discovered to show that this enrolment took place every 14 years.

19. 10:37

    So far as we know, there has been no discovery of any scrap of the first enrolment, but the theories takes us back to the year when Christ was born and it tells us that they had to go to their native place as a family to be enrolled. But an inscription which has been discovered by Sir William Ramsey himself in Antioch, in Presidio in Asia Minor.

20. 11:04

    I’ve established that Quranius was sent on a military mission to call a tribal revolt in Asia Minor, and the strategy of it required that there should be an attack. A pincer movement from Asia Minor and from Syria, and a military officer in charge of such a matter took precedence over the governor for the time being.

21. 11:37

    And the inscription shows that at that time Quirenius was in charge and therefore the edict would be issued by him. And on every point where Luke was thought to be wrong, the discoveries of the last 50 years have shown him to be marvellously right. Now Ramsay went out to Asia Minor in the 80s of last century, and he says that when he went, he accepted without question the decisions of the Tubingen school. He was familiar with what scraps of history have survived concerning the history of Asia Minor, and he began an exploration, an archaeological exploration in Asia Minor, his interest being particularly bound up with the meeting place of East and West which was there, and as the result of his discoveries on the spot, he was driven to regard at as a 1st century document, absolutely accurate in every detail. All was true in matters of boundaries, always correct in matters of names concerning the rulers of cities, or of provinces, or of whatever it may be. I am going to quote you from his call. The Traveller.

22. 13:07

    I may fairly claim to have entered on this investigation, without any prejudice in favour of the conclusion which I shall now attempt to justify to the reader. On the contrary, I began with a mind unfavourable to it, for the ingenuity had at one time quite convinced me. It did not then lie in my line of life to investigate the subject minutely. But more recently I found myself often brought in contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the Topography, Antiquities and Society of Asia Minor.

23. 13:42

    It was gradually borning upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvellous truth. In fact, beginning with the fixed idea that the work was essentially a second century composition and never relying on its evidence as trustworthy for 1st century conditions, I gradually came to find it a useful ally in some obscure and difficult investigations. And Ramsey challenged the critics and the critics attempted to meet the challenge, which led to further examination, further discussion.

24. 14:22

    And Ramsay considered contributed to magazines a number of articles, all bearing upon 1st century life, many of which have been issued in volumes. And they fill a shelf, something like that. And very interesting reading they are. Ramsay, in his book The Bearing of Modern Discovery, tells us with some indignation of a German writer whose name is Wilkin, who now declares that Luke’s record of the birth of Jesus is a legend. And the reason he claims it is a legend is because in the externals it is so perfectly accurate. And he says that someone who knew exactly the circumstances, external circumstances, the details of the history, took them and pushed into them this legend of the birth of Jesus, in order that it might be by the appearance of being put in a framework of history, be regarded as being a statement of historical fact.

25. 15:33

    Now Ramsey is careful to say that the marvels described in Acts do not concern. His purpose is there to test matters which are testable, and obviously such a matter as the birth of Jesus cannot be testable by ordinary canons of history. But he says that wherever and whenever anything that Luke has been said can be tested, Luke is always found to be right. And Ramsey, in his enthusiasm for Luke’s writings, exhaust his vocabulary to extol the magnificence of what Luke has written in the perfection of its statement, the precision of his description, and the general way in which he presents his case. Ramsey characterizes Luke as a first rate historian. And so that assured of the accuracy of what Luke has written, we can come to it with renewed confidence. Here is the work of a mastermind, quite apart from the fact that there was the guidance of the Spirit of God behind it. Now there is a way which we’re going to try and illustrate in the hope that if it is necessary, this bit can be cut out of the record where Ramsay came to see that what Luke has written is perfectly accurate.

26. 17:18

    He tells us of Paul’s visit to the churches of Prisidian, Antioch, Lystra, Iconium and Derby. Now we have no record in acts of a visit to a Galatia which was known to earlier scholars. The 1st century was a time of frequent changes of geographical boundaries and of administrative systems. In the 1st century, the Romans had established a Roman state of Galatia, a Roman province of Galatia. Now I’m going to just turn to the map to illustrate this for you.

27. 18:04

    I hope you can see that’s what I’m on this side. The better here is H here is Palestine and Paul travelled up fast. Starsus and Paul went across to Cyprus and then across there, then up into the Highlands and there are the cities of that southern portion of Galatia. Here they are. He then returned to Palestine.

28. 18:31

    The second journey was overland past, past the Syrian Antioch there and then through the Civicilian gates and up to the uplands here. And then he hurried on to Troas. Now if you can see this brown patch, I’ll run my pencil round it. There. Those are the boundaries of the Roman province of Galatia.

29. 19:00

    But that Roman province didn’t exist in the 1st century BC. It didn’t exist in the 2nd century BC because there’s been changes. Now the ethnic territory, the territory of the old Galatians was in this northern portion here. And because Paul wrote a letter to the Galatians, it was necessary to insert into the history in Act a visit to the Galatians.

30. 19:30

    And if the only Galatian known was the old territory where the Galatians proper lived, then obviously with a serious gap in Acts. And even scholars of the traditional line like Lightwood, who was a magnificent scholar in the field of Acts in the Epistles of Paul in the last century, had to admit that from his point of view there were some strange and inexplicable gaps in the writings.

31. 20:02

    Inept. But immediately it was seen that Luke is speaking and Paul is thinking when using the word Galatia of the provincial Galatia, the Roman provincial Galatia. Then it is seen that those cities that Paul visited on the first journey. Antiochian Presidium, this I call him, and David, but they are the Galatian cities. Now this map, as you see, is a new map. And I’m going to point out that all those new map is perpetuate Panera, for there is a dotted travel line that takes us right up there to Penisus and to Ankara. Ankara is the capital of modern Turkey and then back down here. But there’s nothing enacted to correspond to that journey there.

32. 20:51

    Nothing at all. But it didn’t enact because it didn’t occur. And it has been postulated because of the hypothesis that Galatia refers to the ethnic Galatia, not the political Galatia of the 1st century. But Jake Luke has recorded the facts of the time and all his references are true concerning boundaries and so on.

33. 21:14

    Then we see that what he said was perfectly true and accurate and we’ve no need to think of gaps and to say that his history is a hotspot. In fact, it’s a marvellous, it’s systematic unfolding. And so you see, in that way our discovery has not only illustrated the meaning of Luke, but has also established the perfect accuracy of what he has written. Now I just want to give one more illustration on this head. I have here Rackham’s Acts of the New Testament. Now this is perhaps the best commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, but you won’t find much of what I shall say to you later in these addresses in here. But still I’ve brought it with me for this reason. I thought if there were some questions on external matters, well, I could fall back on him instead of falling back upon my memory if there’s a standby.

34. 22:22

    But I want to quote you just a few sentences from him. We shall be abundantly satisfied, he says in his introduction. As to Luke’s historical accuracy, if we reflect on the extraordinary test to which it was put, that is, the variety of scene and circumstance with which he had to deal. The ground covered reached from Jerusalem to Rome, taking in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. In that field were comprised all manner of population, civilizations, administrations, Jewish and Oriental life, Western civilization, great capitals like Antioch and Epicus, Roman colonies, independent towns, Greek cities, barbarian country, district.

35. 23:03

    The history covers a period of 30 years, which witnessed in many parts great political changes. Provinces like Cyprus and Akaya were being exchanged between the Emperor and the Senate. Parts of Asia Minor, for example, Presidio and La Keonia, were undergoing a process of annexation and Latinization. Judea itself was now a Roman province and Reprocurator now an independent state under her Herodian king. Yet in all this intricacy of political arrangement, Luke is never found tripping.

36. 23:34

    Instances of supposed mistake or anachronism have indeed been alleged and laid to his charge. But after examination, as will be pointed out in the commentary, we are fairly entitled at least to answer that they have not yet been proved. On the other hand, Luke is equally at home with the Sanhedrin and its parties, the priests and temple guard, and the Erodian Princess of Jerusalem, with the proconsules of Cyprus and the Kaia. And now Mark And Luke gives the perfectly right word to describe all these varied offices, The rules of the synagogue and first men of Antiochem.

37. 24:10

    Pisidia, the priest of Zeus at Lister, the Praters, victors and jailer at Philippi, the polytopes of Thessalonica, the Ariopagus of Athens, the Asiats with the people, Assembly and secretary of Ephesus, the centurions, tribune and procurator of Judea, the first man of Malta, and the captain of the camp at Rome. And in every case, he’s got the right proper description of the man concerned.

38. 24:41

    Now to illustrate how easy it is to fall into a pitfall. A fortnight ago I spotted this note in the Weekly Spectator, an English serious journal, and the editor indulges a column or two of lighter matter, but always interesting. Now Vicon Simon, who is a very well read, very learned man, was replying to a proposal in a debate in the House of Lords.

39. 25:12

    And that, says the editor of the Spectator, alighted on a passage in which Lord Simon illustrated A contention by a reference to the proceedings of the Pickwick Club at the classic of Dickens, as you know, perhaps, and in particular to a derogatory epithet applied by Mr. Pickwick to a fellow member. His name, I think was Mr. Blossom of Aldwich.

40. 25:36

    That pulled me up. I said Wilson Harris, a reference to Aldwich in a book published in 1836, when the old name had been dormant for centuries. Whose was the slip? The speakers or the reporters? I cannot say. But the truth must be vindicated. And the truth is that the gentleman’s name was Blatton, which matters little, and his domicile Aldgate, which in the circumstances matters quite a lot. So you see, here is a cultured man, Lord Simon, according with Eve, the reference to what is a work that’s entered into the household tongue almost of the British people. And in one sentence he makes 2 mistakes. He gives the man’s name wrong, and by an anachronism he gives the old name Aldwich to what was afterwards changed to Algid. But the whole point of the story is lost because Algid was the place of a famous prison in the days of Dickens, and the reference put into the mouth of Mr. Pickwick is a satirical one. His name, I think, was Mr.

41. 26:51

    Blotterman. Aldwich is the representative of the prison. It’s satirical and scornful, but by the change of name it’s all lost. How easy it is to make a mistake and look at all those pitfalls which we’ve illustrated in that list of names of different places. And never once has Luke been found to be wrong. Some notes, and I want them to be distributed, please. And then while you have your notes with you, I’ll go over something concerning the structure and purpose of acts. Will someone please help in the distribution of these notes? I thought this was so important that when I was told that anything would be done that would help, I ventured to impose on the committee connected with this gathering one or two little jobs in the way of cycler styling. Note and I would like to.

42. 27:49

    Luke punctuates his history and act with a number of statements which bear a family resemblance and which might be called progress report, each of which concludes a section of his book. These guide the student in analysing the book. They indicate how the apostles fulfil their Lord’s Commission in Acts one and eight. Now in Acts one and eight we read, and Jesus is giving this Commission to the apostles.

43. 28:18

    And Luke traces out in the history how this Commission was faithfully discharged. Ye shall receive power, said Jesus. After that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. He shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

44. 28:49

    So this work, said Luke, to whomsoever it may concern and whoever is willing to read about it, this work is a work that was guided by the Holy Spirit. And this Holy Spirit was conferred by Jesus Christ, ridden from the dead, who offended to the right hand of power. But Luke tells us something more.

45. 29:15

    He tells us that the second book that he’s writing was a continuation of the first. You know that the precious of the Gospel tells us that it was written to Theophilus. And in Acts he tells us that the former treatise he wrote unto this most excellent Theophilus in order that he might know this, which Jesus began to do and teach.

46. 29:42

    And if that word began. But I think we’re justified in stressing because it’s the first record of Luke. The Gospel is an account of what Jesus began to do. Then Acts is a continuation of what Jesus did. And therefore, we have the work of Jesus continued through the instrumentality of the Spirit guiding the men.

47. 30:07

    In other words, Luke is claiming that this movement is divine in its origins and divine in its guided development during the course of the history that he is recording. And we’ve given you in the next paragraph some of the references where Luke tells us of the Spirit guidance in this witness. They were continually guided by gut Spirit.

48. 30:35

    For example, in those quotations. Now when we read Luke carefully, we find that he is very discriminating in the space that he allot to events. And if he devotes A considerable amount of space to any particular thing, it is because he attaches importance to it. He records, for example, Paul’s conversion 3 times that the index of the importance he attaches to this because Christ apprehended this one time persecutor and made him the foremost executor of his work in the spreading of the gospel throughout the Roman world. Cornelius’s receptionist twice recorded because it was important in illustrating the spread of this Gospel that it was of divine purpose too that the Gentiles were received into the Christian community.

49. 31:35

    It refers to the Jerusalem Decree 3 times, because that was an important arrangement made at the Mother Church in Jerusalem whereby Gentile communities and Jewish communities could live together harmoniously, and it was a provision whereby those two diverse factions could be welded together in one community. Now we might note Luke’s permission. It doesn’t tell us, although the book is called the Acts of the Apostles, of the activities of all the apostles. It centers in the work of Peter and of John. And then in the second part, it is entirely taken up, or almost entirely taken up with the work of the apostle Paul. And the Gospel is taken first into Asia Minor, then into Greece, then in the Asian province with episodes as its capital, and then lastly Paul goes to Rome as a prisoner. Now upon this basis of proportion it must be evident that Luke attaches considerable importance to the speeches. I haven’t figured out what proportion of acts is devoted to the speeches, but it’s a very considerable proportion. And it is thus evidence that the record of the speeches, which is a record of the testimony made of what was preached by these 1st century leaders, is important to the understanding of this movement, to know for what it stood, to know what the divine purpose that was embodied in it was set out to accomplish. And therefore we shall devote our time principally in the ensuing afternoons this week in an examination of the speeches. The trial speeches take up an astonishing part of Acts. About 1/3 of Acts is devoted to the time when Paul was arrested, to his arrival in Rome.

50. 33:50

    If we’ve got to write measures for the importance of things, it is evident that Paul’s arrest and the presentation of his case before the highest authorities in Rome were vital to the object that Luke had in writing his record. We shall see as we trace through the book of Acts and particularly those trial speeches, what Luke was aiming at, and I hope we shall thrill with an understanding of the experiences of these 1st century Christians.

51. 34:28

    Will you please turn to your second sheet, the analysis of Acts Roman triggers You’ve got from 1:00 to 8:00. Those are the various decision divisions of the book. You have in the second column the references, chapter one, verse 1 to 247, and underneath the words the Progress report. Now let us read down these progress reports and observe the family likenesses. Progress report number one.

52. 35:00

    And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Progress report #2. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things, and believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes, both of men and women. Progress report #3 And the word of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And the great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. 4 Then Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified. Now you’ll notice in progress three that the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem.

53. 35:41

    Luke is telling us of the progress of the work, and he punctuates his remarks by the progress reports and says how it’s been fulfilled. Jerusalem. Now in Section 4, the churches addressed throughout all Jubea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit were multiplied 5. And the word of God grew and multiplied 6. So were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily.

54. 36:13

    And that follows the account of his first missionary journey and the report at the end of the second missionary journey. Section 7. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. And the last section closes the book. And it may not seem to fit in with the suggestions we’re making, but we shall see, God willing, when we come to our last study on Saturday, how remarkably that ending of Acts conforms to the aim and purpose of these other endings. Now, if you mark your Bibles, some do, some don’t. I’m a a constant Hubble marker myself. You might, in the margins of your Bibles at these points, just indicate some ways of your own devising. So this is the end of one of Luke’s sections. And then you can have a little exercise in analysing each section and observing out perfectly. Luke, within the compass of that section, moves forward in the development of this historical theme. You have another page, which as a matter of convenience I thought would help you, which gives an outline of the events in Acts and their days.

55. 37:31

    I’m not going to go over that, but such a list is of continual help to students in relating events to the progress of time. And with that we’ll close. I’ve forgotten one thing. Perhaps I might go back to it. Who was Luke? He never tells us and he never mentions himself. And the only time we know of him is when he uses we.

56. 37:56

    We when he’s with Paul, he says we. But there’s a hint, a hint in Corinthians that Luke and Typhus were brothers. And when we think of the magnificent work that Typhus did with that very difficult ecclesia, that Corinth, we can see there were two very two brothers, a very outstanding stature, who were poor companions. And they formed with her mothers a very magnificent group of pioneers whose work is a source of continual helpfulness as we studied.

57. 38:34

    Thank you.