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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2017
This essay argues that Acts is essentially kerygmatic in its literary texture and purpose. It assumes that literary purpose, even genre to some extent, can be determined by examining how language is used in two respects: (1) through the authorial voice of the narrative, and (2) by the direct speech of characters within the story. This is especially the case when there is a strong convergence in the pattern of usage in the narrative voice and the dialogical voice. Three literary aspects are investigated: (1) kerygmatic vocabulary, (2) the speeches, and (3) the expression ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ/ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου. The operative kerygmatic vocabulary in Acts is displayed in two appendices containing statistical information comparing Lukan usage with other NT writings.
Presidential address given on 3 August at the 71st General Meeting of SNTS, held on 3–5 August 2016 at McGill University in Montreal.
1 See the April issue of The Bible Translator 67 (2016), which is devoted to the Erasmus New Testament, with articles by Marijke H. de Lang, J. K. Elliott, H. J. de Jonge, Grantley McDonald, Alejandro Coroleu and Wim François. Worth noting are the following celebratory exhibits in the United States: Houston Baptist University (25 February– 16 December 2016): www.bpnews.net/46449/erasmus-greek-nt-changed-history-500-years-ago; University of Illinois (5 May–6 August 2016): http://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/exhibits.html; and Pitts Theology Library, Emory University, Candler School of Theology (15 July–15 September 2016): http://pitts.emory.edu/erasmus. These websites and other helpful information from the Erasmus exhibit at Emory were kindly provided to me by Richard (Bo) M. Adams, Head of Public Services, and Reference and Systems Librarian at Pitts Theology Library. I am grateful to Henk de Jonge for his editorial assistance related to Erasmus and for bibliographical material cited in nn. 2–6. I also wish to thank my Emory colleague Steven J. Kraftchick, who read earlier drafts of this paper and offered many helpful suggestions, and who, along with Alex Thompson, responded to an earlier version of this paper at the Emory New Testament Colloquium, which met on 4 April 2016. Other Emory doctoral students, including Steve Marquardt and Devin White, along with Tyler Dunstan, also provided valuable feedback and editorial assistance.
2 In a letter written at Basel to Urbanus Regius on 7 March 1516, Erasmus declares: ‘The New Testament is published’ (Novum Testamentum editum est). See Letter 394 in Allen, P. S., Allen, H. M. and Garrod, H. W., eds., Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami, 12 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1906–58) ii.209Google Scholar, line 36; English translation in Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. iii: The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 298 to 445, 1514 to 1516 (trans. Mynors, R. A. B. and Thomson, D. F. S.; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976) 252Google Scholar. This reference is reported by Elliott, J. K., ‘“Novum Testamentum editum est”: The Five-Hundredth Anniversary of Erasmus' New Testament’, The Bible Translator 67 (2016) 9 n. 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 de Jonge, H. J., ‘ Novum Testamentum a nobis versum: The Essence of Erasmus' Edition of the New Testament’, JTS n. s. 35 (1984) 394–413 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 395. This article was originally presented as a paper at the 1984 SNTS General Meeting in Basel.
4 For an excellent, modern critical edition of all five of Erasmus's editions of both his Latin and Greek NT, see the so-called Amsterdam (ASD) Erasmi opera omnia: Brown, A. J., ed., Novum Testamentum ab Erasmo recognitum, vol. vi.2: John-Acts (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2001)Google Scholar; vol. vi.3: Epistolae Apostolicae, Pt. 1: Romans–2 Thessalonians (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004)Google ScholarPubMed; vol. vi.4: Epistolae Apostolicae, Pt. 2: 1 Timothy–Hebrews, Catholic Epistles, and Revelation (Leiden: Brill, 2013)Google Scholar; vol. vi.1, Matthew–Luke, is in preparation.
5 Letter 809 to Marcus Laurinus. The translation is by Mynors and Thomson, Collected Works of Erasmus, v.363–5, lines 118–21. For the Latin text, see Allen et al., Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami, iii.266, lines 102–5: Edidi Novum Testamentum, praeter alia multa; et ut publicis commodis inservirem, neglexi iter periculosissimum, neglexi sumptus, neglexi tantum laborum, quibus bonam valetudinis ac vitae partem attrivi.
6 Jackson, F. J. Foakes and Lake, K., eds., The Beginnings of Christianity, Part i: The Acts of the Apostles, 5 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1920–33)Google Scholar; see also Winter, B. W., ed., The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting, 5 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993–6)Google Scholar.
7 Some of the more noteworthy include Kremer, J., ed., Les Actes des Apôtres: traditions, rédaction, théologie (BETL 48; Gembloux: J. Duculot/Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1979)Google Scholar; Verheyden, J., ed., The Unity of Luke-Acts (BETL 142; Leuven: Leuven University Press/Peeters, 1999)Google Scholar; and Frey, J., Rothschild, C. K. and Schröter, J., eds., Die Apostelgeschichte im Kontext antiker und frühchristlicher Historiographie (BZNW 162; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009)Google Scholar.
8 Dibelius, M., Studies in the Acts of the Apostles (ed. Greeven, H.; London: SCM, 1956) 123–37Google Scholar; see Marguerat, D., The First Christian Historian: Writing the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ (trans. McKinney, K., Laughery, G. J. and Bauckham, R.; SNTSMS 121; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 Dibelius, Studies, 138–85.
10 Dibelius, Studies, 183.
11 Dibelius, Studies, 185.
12 van Unnik, W. C., ‘The “Book of Acts”: The Confirmation of the Gospel’, NovT 4 (1960) 26–59 Google Scholar, reprinted in Sparsa Collecta: The Collected Essays of W. C. van Unnik (4 vols.; NovTSup 29–31, 156; Leiden: Brill, 1973–2014) i.340–73; also see Minear, P. S., ‘Dear Theo: The Kerygmatic Intention and Claim of the Book of Acts’, Int 22 (1973) 131–50Google Scholar.
13 Van Unnik, ‘Confirmation’, 36.
14 Van Unnik, ‘Confirmation’, 46. See also Wedderburn, A. J. M., ‘Zur Frage der Gattung der Apostelgeschichte’, Geschichte, Tradition, Reflexion: Festschrift für Martin Hengel zum 70. Geburtstag, vol. iii: Frühes Christentum (ed. Hermann Lichtenberger; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996) 303–22Google Scholar.
15 My choice of the term ‘essentially’ is cautiously deliberate. Aware of recent debates about essentialism and the risks entailed in making essentialist claims, I want to highlight a dimension of Acts that tends to be overshadowed, and sometimes ignored, in debates about the literary genre and purpose of Acts. In making this claim, I do not mean that Acts is exclusively kerygmatic, for this would constitute yet another form of reductionism that flattens what all recognise is a complex, multidimensional narrative.
16 In this paper I use ‘kerygma’ and ‘kerygmatic’ with specific reference to early Christian proclamation and thus roughly synonymous with ‘preaching’.
17 Κήρυγμα occurs once in the Gospel of Luke (hereafter GLuke) (11.32 || Matt 12.41), nowhere else in the Gospels (except once in the shorter ending of Mark; κηρύσσω occurs twice in the longer ending at vv. 15 and 20), four times in Paul (Rom 16.25; 1 Cor 1.21; 2.4; 15.14) and twice in the Pseudo-Pauline letters (2 Tim 4.17; Tit 1.3). Κῆρυξ occurs in 1 Tim 2.7; 2 Tim 1.11; and 2 Pet 2.5.
18 Some examples make the point. In the Cornelius sermon, Peter reports that the risen Lord instructed the apostles ‘to proclaim to the (Jewish) people’ (κηρύξαι τῷ λαῷ, 10.42). At Miletus Paul recalls his time among the Ephesians ‘proclaiming the kingdom’ (κηρύσσων τὴν βασιλείαν, 20.25). In addition to these dialogical uses of κηρύσσω we find several narrative uses. Ιn the final verse of Acts the narrator reports Paul's ‘proclaiming the kingdom of God’ (κηρύσσων τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ, 28.31). Earlier Philip is said to have ‘proclaimed the Messiah’ (ἐκήρυσσεν τὸν Χριστόν, 8.5) to the Samaritans. Saul's first post-baptismal activity occurs in Damascus synagogues, where, the narrator tells us, ‘he began proclaiming Jesus, (saying) that this one is the Son of God’ (ἐκήρυσσεν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, 9.20). Other uses of κηρύσσω in Acts include 10.37 (of John the Baptist); 15.21 (of Moses); and 19.13 (of Paul). It occurs frequently in the Synoptic Gospels (Matt 9x, Mark 12x and Luke 9x), but is absent in the Johannine writings; also frequently in Paul (16x in the undisputed letters, 3x in the disputed letters). Προκηρύσσω is a NT hapax legomenon, occurring in Acts 13.24 with reference to John the Baptist's baptism of repentance; cf. 3.20 v.l.
19 According to Haenchen, E., The Acts of the Apostles: A Commentary (trans. Noble, B., Shinn, G., Anderson, H. and Wilson, R. McL.; Oxford: Blackwell, 1971) 104 n. 1Google Scholar, speeches comprise approximately one third of the narrative. Pervo, R., Acts: A Commentary (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009) 17Google Scholar assigns 51 per cent of Acts to direct speech, an unusually high percentage compared with other examples of ancient historiography or biography, a calculation that aligns Acts more closely with ‘popular literature’ (39).
20 The terms comprising Luke's kerygmatic vocabulary are displayed in Appendixes 1 and 2. Word counts are based on NA28. In addition to Moulton and Geden (19634) and Moulton, Geden and Marshall (20026), I have also consulted Boismard, M.-É and Lamouille, A., Le texte occidental des Actes des Apôtres, vol. ii: Apparat critique, Index des caractéristiques stylistiques, Index des citations patristiques (Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, ‘Synthèse’ No. 17; Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1984)Google Scholar; Hoffmann, P., Hieke, T. and Bauer, U., eds., Synoptic Concordance (4 vols.; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1999–2000)Google Scholar; and Denaux, A. and Corstjens, R., with Mardaga, H., The Vocabulary of Luke (Bible Tools and Studies 10; Leuven: Peeters, 2009)Google Scholar. In some cases my word counts differ from those listed in the aforementioned sources. Such discrepancies in word counts are inevitable for several reasons, such as the different ways in which textual variants are counted. This is a worthwhile reminder that statistical analysis, while ostensibly objective, is inescapably subjective in certain respects.
21 Some other terms or phrases that are used in Acts with specific reference to proclamation, but which are not easily displayed in a chart showing comparable usages in other parts of the NT, include the following: ἀνοίγω + στόμα (8.35; 10.34; 18.14); ἐπαίρω + φωνή (2.14); κράζω (14.14; 23.6; 24.21); ἀποκρίνομαι (3.12; 4.19; 5.29; 24.10); ἐξηγέομαι (15.12, 14; 21.19); διηγέομαι (9.27; 12.17); ἐκδιηγέομαι (15.3; cf. 13.41, citing Hab 1.5); φάσκω (25.19); νουθετέω (20.31); συμβιβάζω (9.22); συγχέω (9.22); διανοίγω (17.3); παρατίθημι (17.3); and ἐκτίθημι (11.4; 18.26; 28.23). Another identifiable, somewhat related, set of expressions includes ῥῆμα/ῥήματα used with various verbs (2.14; 5.20; 6.11, 13; 10.22, 37, 44; 11.14; 13.42; 26.25; 28.25). For the sake of comprehensiveness, several other terms should also be noted: κατηχέω (18.25); πληρόω + διδαχή (5.28); ὁμολογέω (24.14); παραδίδωμι (16.4); συμβάλλω (18.27; cf. 17.18); προσκαλέω (2.39); ἐπιδείκνυμι (18.28); ὑποδείκνυμι (20.35); σημαίνω (11.28); and various uses of ζήτημα (15.2; 18.15; 23.29; 25.19; 26.3) and ζήτησις (15.2, 7; 25.20); and possibly στάσις (15.2).
22 See MM s.v. προσφώνεω, noting its use introducing a speech by Nero in 67 ce (SIG 3 ii.506, no. 814, line 5).
23 See Acts 2.17–18; 19.6; 21.9; cf. Luke 1.67; 22.64.
24 Whether φθέγγομαι in 4.18 signals inspired or ordinary speech is unclear.
25 See LSJ s.v. δημηγορέω, noting e.g. Demosthenes 18.60, 19.9–10; Aristotle, Rhet. 1.1.10 (1354b).
26 Responsibility for taking Jesus down from the cross and laying him in a tomb is assigned to the ‘residents of Jerusalem and their leaders’ (13.27, 29).
27 See Attridge, H. W., The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1989) 14, 408Google Scholar.
28 By ‘typify’ I mean that these terms occur in both GLuke and Acts. Within the Gospel tradition their use in GLuke compared with Mark and Matthew reflects different patterns. Λαλέω, διδάσκω and κηρύσσω also occur frequently in Mark and Matthew, while εὐαγγελίζομαι is used almost exclusively in Luke-Acts.
29 Possibly παρακαλέω should be included here, although its use in Acts with explicit reference to proclamation is infrequent (2.40; cf. 13.15).
30 GLuke employs διαλογίζομαι (6x) and διαλογισμός (6x). Neither term occurs in Acts. See BDAG 232–3 s.v. διαλογίζομαι, διαλογισμός.
31 For λαλεῖν τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου, see 2 Kgs (4 Kgdms) 15.12; cf. 2 Kgs (4 Kgdms) 19.21; also Barn. 19.9; for λαλεῖν τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ, see Did. 4.1; Acts Paul 40.5; Origen, Comm. Matt. 11.18.40.
32 Also belonging to this semantic domain is the complementary expression ‘hearing the word’ (τῶν ἀκουσάντων τὸν λόγον, 4.4; 10.44) and its amplified forms ‘hearing the word of God’ (ἀκοῦσαι τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ, 13.7), ‘hearing the word of the Lord’ (ἀκοῦσαι τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου, 13.44; 19.10), ‘hearing the word of the gospel’ (ἀκοῦσαι … τὸν λόγον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, 15.7), ‘receiving the word’ (ἐδέξαντο τὸν λόγον, 17.11; cf. 2.41) and ‘receiving the word of God’ (δέδεκται … τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ, 8.14; 11.1). Somewhat, though more distantly, related semantically are the NT hapax legomena ἐνωτίζομαι (2.14) and ἐπακροάομαι (16.25); similarly γνωστός + γίνομαι/εἰμί (2.14; 4.10, 16; 9.42; 13.38; 19.17; 28.22, 28).
33 The technical sense of λαλεῖν τὸν λόγον is already present in Mark 2.2; 4.33; cf. Heb 13.7. The phrase in various forms appears in the LXX: Deut 3.26; Judg 8.3; 2 Sam (2 Kgdms) 20.18; 1 Kgs (3 Kgdms) 2.23; 2 Kgs (4 Kgdms) 5.13; cf. Origen, Hom. Jer. 9.1.32 (SC 232.378–9); also 1 En. 13.10.
34 These include 2.41; 4.4, 29, 31; 6.2, 4, 7; 8.4, 14, 25; 10.36, 44; 11.1, 19; 12.24; 13.5, 7, 15, 26, 44, 46, 48, 49; 14.3, 25; 15.7, 35, 36, 16.6, 32; 17.11, 13; 18.5, 11; 19.10, 20; 20.32.
35 For similar language, cf. Col 1.25; 1 Tim 4.6. Other examples of Luke's creative variation include: Peter's mention of ‘the word that [God] sent to the sons of Israel announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ’ (τὸν λόγον [ὃν] ἀπέστειλεν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ εὐαγγελιζόμενος εἰρήνην διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 10.36; cf. Eph 2.17); the Pisidian Antioch synagogue leaders' invitation to Paul and Barnabas to offer a ‘word of exhortation’ (λόγος παρακλήσεως, 13.15) to the congregation (cf. Heb 13.22); Peter's declaration at the Jerusalem conference that through him the Gentiles had ‘heard the word of the gospel and believed’ (ἀκοῦσαι τὰ ἔθνη τὸν λόγον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου καὶ πιστεῦσαι, 15.7; cf. 8.4; 15.35); or Paul's declaration that he was commending the Ephesian elders ‘to God and to the word of his grace’ (τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, 20.32; cf. Luke 4.22; Acts 14.3; Col 4.6).
36 Cf. Eph 1.13.
37 In Acts διδάσκω occurs on the lips of some characters, including an unidentified person speaking to the Sanhedrin (5.25), the Sanhedrin itself (5.28), Paul (20.20), James and the Jerusalem elders (21.21), and the Jerusalem mob (21.28). Ιt is used more frequently by the narrator either to describe Jesus' activity (1.1) or that of the apostles (4.2, 18; 5.21, 42), Paul and Barnabas (11.26; 15.35), the Judeans insisting on circumcision (15.1), Paul (18.11; 28.31) and Apollos' teaching about Jesus (18.25). Similarly, in GLuke the term occurs occasionally on the lips of characters, including a disciple speaking to Jesus (11.1), Jesus himself (12.12; 13.26) and Jesus' opponents (20.21; 23.5). More often it is used by the narrator to describe Jesus' activity (4.15, 31; 5.3, 17; 6.6; 13.10, 22; 19.47; 20.1; and 21.37).
38 Similarly, 5.42 (διδάσκοντες καὶ εὐαγγελιζόμενοι τὸν χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν); 15.35 (διδάσκοντες καὶ εὐαγγελιζόμενοι … τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου).
39 GLuke yields only one instance (20.1; cf. 20.21) in which διδάσκω is joined with another kerygmatic term to form such a couplet.
40 This is also the consistent pattern in Matthew, which tends to specify τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας as the object of κηρύσσω (4.23; 9.35; 24.14; cf. 4.17; 10.7).
41 Although the wording is different, Acts 19.8 πείθων [τὰ] περὶ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ θεοῦ and 28.23 διαμαρτυρόμενος τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ reinforce the point.
42 Paul's interest in Jesus' teachings is explicit in Acts 20.35.
43 Worth noting is the infrequent use of εὐαγγελίζομαι elsewhere in the gospel tradition: once in Matt 11.5 (Q Luke 7.22, echoing Isa 61.1 LXX), absent in Mark and John. The noun εὐαγγέλιον, however, occurs seven times in Mark and four times in Matthew. The prominence of εὐαγγελίζομαι/εὐαγγέλιον in Paul has already been noted.
44 See Eph 1.13; Col 1.5. For later occurrences of ὁ λόγος τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, see Origen, Hom. Jer. 10.8.26 (SC 232.414–15); Hom. Luc. 1.934 (GCS 9.11); 27.964 (GCS 9.157); Fr. 1 Cor. §15, line 57 (C. Jenkins, ‘Origen on 1 Corinthians’, JTS 9 (1908) 245, line 16); §76, line 5 (C. Jenkins, ‘Origen on 1 Corinthians. iv’, JTS 10 (1908) 43, line 18); Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.2.6; Dem. ev. 2.3.106; and Basil of Caesarea, Comm. Isa. 8.218.16 (PG 30.495); Ps.-Ignatius, Trall. 6.2 (F. X. Funk, Patres Apostolici, 2 vols. (Tübingen: H. Laupp, 1901–13) ii.98.13–14). References derived from TLG but confirmed independently in printed editions.
45 The phrase τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ is unique to Acts, but occurs later, e.g. Basil of Caesarea, Hom. 14.1 (PG 31.445.1); similarly, Serm. de Mor. 2.1 (PG 32.1133.29–30); John of Damascus, De sacris jejuniis (PG 95.73.20); it also occurs in Basil of Caesarea, Moralia 13.296 (PG 31.828.29–30 (quoting Acts 20.23–4)). The phrase also appears in authors commenting on Acts, e.g. John Chrysostom, Hom. Act. 45.2 (PG 60.309). The phrase τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς χάριτος occurs in Ps.-Justin Martyr, Quaestiones et responsiones ad orthodoxos 455.B2 (PG 6.1284.17); cf. Theodoret, Interpretatio in Psalmos on Ps 59.10 (PG 80.1321.30). Even so, neither the shorter nor the longer form is a common phrase. References derived from TLG but confirmed independently in printed editions.
46 For Luke's use of κηρύσσω and cognates, see discussion in section 3 above.
47 J. Schniewind, ‘ἀγγελία, κτλ., including καταγγέλλω, καταγγελεύς’, TDNT i.58–73, esp. 70–3. Citation on p. 70.
48 J. Schniewind, ‘ἀγγελία, κτλ.’, 71.
49 J. Schniewind, ‘ἀγγελία, κτλ.’, 71.
50 J. Schniewind, ‘ἀγγελία, κτλ.’, 72.
51 Paul's mission in Beroea is similarly described, once again with ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ as the specified content of καταγγέλλω (17.13). Elsewhere, καταγγέλλω occurs on Paul's lips, as when, in urging Barnabas to consider a return trip to south-central Asia Minor, he recalls the cities where they had earlier ‘proclaimed the word of the Lord’ (κατὰ πόλιν πᾶσαν ἐν αἷς κατηγγείλαμεν τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου, 15.36). The Philippian slave girl's characterisation of Paul and Silas as those ‘who are announcing … a way of salvation’ (οἵτινες καταγγέλλουσιν … ὁδὸν σωτηρίας, 16.17) dovetails with Paul's self-description in Thessalonica: ‘that this one is the Messiah – Jesus whom I proclaim to you’ (ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ χριστὸς [ὁ] Ἰησοῦς ὃν ἐγὼ καταγγέλλω ὑμῖν, 17.3). In a similar vein, Paul insists before the Athenians: ‘what, therefore, you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you’ (ὃ οὖν ἀγνοοῦντες εὐσεβεῖτε, τοῦτο ἐγὼ καταγγέλλω ὑμῖν, 17.23).
52 Also belonging to the same word family, ἀπαγγέλλω, a general term for public proclamation, is used fifteen times in Acts, usually in the ordinary sense of ‘tell’, ‘report’ or ‘announce.’ In 26.20, however, it is used with specific reference to Paul's preaching (ἀπήγγελλον) ‘first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance’. Cf. 1 John 1.2–3. Interestingly, διαγγέλλω occurs on Jesus' lips in Luke 9.60, when he instructs would-be followers to ‘go and proclaim the kingdom of God’. It is used in Acts 21.26 but not in a kerygmatic sense.
53 See H. Strathmann, ‘μάρτυς, κτλ.’, TDNT iv.474–514, esp. 492–4.
54 Although Paul uses the term μάρτυς is his letters, it is not a term of self-description that refers to his experience of the risen Lord and the resultant proclamation. Nor does Paul typically use the language of witnessing to describe his missionary preaching or his ministry generally. A rare exception is 1 Cor 15.15.
55 Since ἐπί following μαρτυρέω is highly unusual, it is omitted by an impressive group of witnesses who simply read τῷ λόγῳ (P74 א2 B C D E L Ψ 33. 81. 323. 614. 945. 1175. 1241. 1505. 1739 latt). The witnesses that include it (א* A syp copbo) are few but strong. It may result from dittography. J. H. Ropes in Jackson and Lake, Beginnings, iii.130, thinks that ἐπί as lectio difficilior is probably original and that it may preserve the Aramaic עַל. Though acknowledging its probable originality, the editors of NA28 enclose it in brackets because of the strong textual support for omission. See B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft/United Bible Societies, 19982) 371–2.
56 BDF §235(2).
57 K. Lake and H. J. Cadbury in Jackson and Lake, Beginnings, iv.161.
58 Other uses of πείθω related to Paul's proclamation include 13.43; 17.4; 18.4; 19.8, 26; 26.28; 28.24. The clustering of kerygmatic language, in this case especially disputational, is well illustrated in 17.2–4, in which διελέξατο, διανοίγων καὶ παρατιθέμενος, καταγγέλλω and ἐπείσθησαν occur together. Other terms related to Paul also signal lively argument and debate, including συγχέω (9.22), and possibly συμβιβάζω (9.22).
59 Rom 2.15; 1 Cor 9.3; 2 Cor 7.11; 12.19; Phil 1.7, 16; cf. 2 Tim 4.16.
60 Of the two occurrences of ἀπολογέομαι in GLuke, the first one occurs on the lips of Jesus in his instructions to his disciples in which he reassures them not be worried about how they will defend themselves before the authorities (μὴ μεριμνήσητε πῶς ἢ τί ἀπολογήσησθε ἢ τί εἴπητε, Luke 12.11; similarly, 21.14).
61 There is one earlier occurrence, when Alexander tries to defend himself in the theatre at Ephesus (19.33).
62 See T. Morgan, Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds (Cambridge Classical Studies; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998; repr., 2007) 190.
63 Cf. 1 Thess 4.15 ἐν λόγῳ κυρίου and 2 Thess 3.1 ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου.
64 I have attempted to nuance these statistical counts with the use of brackets in Appendix 1. The clearest Pauline uses of ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ include Rom 9.6; 1 Cor 14.36; 2 Cor 2.17; 4.2; 1 Thess 2.13; cf. Rom 3.2 τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ. Uses in the disputed letters include Col 1.25; 1 Tim 4.5; 2 Tim 2.9; Titus 2.5. For other NT occurrences of ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ see Matt 15.6 || Mark 7.13; John 10.35 (cf. 8.55; 17.14, 17); Heb 4.12; 13.7; 1 Pet 1.23; 2 Pet 3.5; 1 John 2.14 (cf. 1.10); Rev 1.2, 9; 6.9; 17.17; 19.9, 13; 20.4.
65 This is one of several places in Acts in which textual variants occur relating to ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου/θεοῦ. Here NA28 reads τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου, with strong support especially in Alexandrian witnesses (P74 א A B2 33. 81. 323. 945. 1175. 1739 gig vgst sa). Several witnesses (B* C E L Ψ 614. 1241. 1505 vgcl sy bo), however, read τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ. Extensive changes occur in the D-text, beginning with v. 43, at the end of which D (syhmg) add ἐγένετο δὲ καθ᾽ ὅλης τῆς πόλεως διελθεῖν τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ. Other witnesses (E vgmss (mae = copG67)) give a slight variation, ἐγένετο δὲ κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν φημισθῆναι τὸν λόγον. Both amplified readings help explain the claim in v. 44 that on the following Sabbath the entire city turned out to hear Paul and Barnabas. Having introduced ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ in v. 43, the D-text (D (mae = copG67)) alters the wording of v. 44b by adding after ἀκοῦσαι the words Παύλου πολύν τε λόγον ποιησαμένου περὶ τοῦ κυρίου, a change that makes explicit the christological content of Paul's proclamation. In addition to some other minor word changes, the D-text in v. 45b also inserts ἀντιλέγοντες καί between λαλουμένοις and βλασφημοῦντες. This addition reinforces the resistance already signalled by ἀντέλεγον earlier in the verse. The combined effect of these changes – specifying that the ‘Lord’ whom Paul and Barnabas proclaimed is Jesus Christ and intensifying the level of Jewish resistance – resonates with the well-established anti-Jewish tendency of the D-text. See Epp, E. J., The Theological Tendency of Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis in Acts (SNTSMS 3; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966)Google Scholar; also ‘Anti-Judaic Tendencies in the D-Text of Acts: Forty Years of Conversation’, idem, Perspectives on New Testament Textual Criticism: Collected Essays, 1962–2004 (NovTSup 116; Leiden: Brill, 2005), 699–739 Google Scholar. Also see Metzger, Textual Commentary, 368–9, and comments on 13.5, including statistics relating to the use of ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ/κυρίου in Acts (353–4, esp. n. 2). For the D-text with English translation, see J. Rius-Camps and J. Read-Heimerdinger, eds., Luke's Demonstration to Theophilus: The Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles according to Codex Bezae (trans. H. Dunn and J. Read-Heimerdinger; London: Bloomsbury, 2013) 486–9, 657 nn. 181–2.
66 See Metzger, Textual Commentary, 369–70, noting the relative frequency of δοξάζειν τὸν θεόν, the uniqueness of δοξάζειν τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ (or κυρίου) and the efforts of some witnesses (614. 876. 1799. 2412 syh) to fix the problem by reading ἐδόξαζον τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἐπίστευσαν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ κυρίου.
67 See n. 65 above.
68 See 6.2; 13.46; 15.36, already discussed above.
69 Van Unnik, ‘Confirmation’, 36.
70 Witnesses that read ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου include P74 א2 E (θεοῦ) L Ψ 33. 323. 614. 945. 1175. 1241. 1505. 1739 lat syh. Reflecting its emphasis on faith, the D-text (D*.2 [syp]) reads οὕτως κατὰ κράτος ἐνίσχυσεν καὶ ἡ πίστις τοῦ θεοῦ ηὔξανεν καὶ ἐπληθύνετο (ἐπλήθυνε D*). The more difficult reading κατὰ κράτος τοῦ κυρίου, which is adopted by NA28, is supported by א* (which reads ἴσχυσεν instead of ἴσχυεν) Α Β.
71 The first occurrence in GLuke is reported by the narrator: ‘the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God’ (ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ τὸν ὄχλον ἐπικεῖσθαι αὐτῷ καὶ ἀκούειν τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ, 5.1). The other three instances occur on the lips of Jesus, the first in the parable of the sower, when Jesus provides the allegorical interpretation: ‘the seed is the word of God’ (ὁ σπόρος ἐστὶν ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, 8.11). A few verses later Jesus defines his true family as ‘those who hear the word of God and do it’ (οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ ἀκούοντες καὶ ποιοῦντες, 8.21). In the Travel Narrative, when responding to a woman in the crowd, Jesus declares blessings upon ‘those who hear the word of God and keep it’ (μενοῦν μακάριοι οἱ ἀκούοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ φυλάσσοντες, 11.28).
72 In Matt 15.6 || Mark 7.13 ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ refers to scripture, probably Torah. John 10.35 is a possible exception.
73 Haenchen, Acts, 98 (emphasis original).
74 The terms are listed in cognate groups by relative frequency (including usage in GLuke). In an effort to display the statistical information accurately, in reporting the occurrences of the nine main verbs listed in the above discussion that comprise the core of Luke's kerygmatic vocabulary, along with the occurrences of λόγος θεοῦ/κυρίου, I have used square brackets to indicate the occurrences that do not specifically refer to early Christian proclamation. I have not done this with λαλέω because of its frequent and varied usage in the NT. Instead I have tried to display the nuances pertaining to λαλέω (and ἀκούω) when used with λόγος.