THE SPEECHES IN ACTS*
SIMON J.
KISTEMAKER
Reformed
Theological Seminary
About
half of the Book of Acts consists of speeches, discourses, and
letters. Counting both
the short and the long addresses, we number at
least 26 speeches
that are made by either apostles and Christian leaders
or by non-Christians (Jews and
Gentiles). Classifying these speeches,
we have eight addresses delivered
by Peter,1 a lengthy sermon of
Stephen
before the Sanhedrin (7:2-53), a brief explanation by Cornelius
(10:30-33),
a short address by James at the Jerusalem Council (15:13-
21),
the advice to Paul by James and the elders in
and nine sermons and speeches by
Paul.2 The rest of the discourses
were given by Gamaliel the Pharisee (5:35-39), Demetrius the silver-
smith (19:25-27), the
city clerk in
lawyer (24:2-8), and
Festus the governor (25:24-27).3 In addition, Luke
relays the text of two
letters: one from the Jerusalem Council to the
Gentile
churches (15:23-29), and the other written by Claudius Lysias
addressed to Governor
Felix (23:27-30).
I.
Sources
The speeches in Acts make the book
interesting, because when
people talk we learn
something about their personalities. Luke gives
* A few paragraphs in this article
have been taken from my commentary An
Exposition of
Acts
(New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990).
1 See Acts 1:16-22;
2:14-36, 38-39; 3:12-26; 4:8-12, 19-20; 5:29-32; 10:34-43; 11:5-
17;
15:7-11.
2 See Acts 13:16-41;
14:15-17; 17:22-31; 20:18-35; 22:1-21; 24:10-21; 26:2-~, 25-27;
27:21-26;
28:17-20.
3 H. J. Cadbury,
"The Speeches in Acts," The
Beginnings of Christianity: The Acts
of the Apostles (repr.
ed.; 5 vols.;
"Speeches
in Acts," The Bible Today 65
(1973) 1114-17.
32
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
the reader an opportunity to listen
to the speakers and by listening to
come to know their
personalities. Luke was personally present when
Paul
addressed the Ephesian elders, spoke in
self before Felix,
and delivered speeches before Festus and Agrippa.
We
presume that Luke received from Paul the wording of Paul's
sermon in Pisidian Antioch and his Areopagus
address. Perhaps Paul
and other witnesses provided
information on Stephen's speech before
the Sanhedrin. From Peter, Luke
gathered material on the addresses of
Peter
in the upper room, at Pentecost, near Solomon's Colonnade,
before the Sanhedrin,
and at the
he received the details concerning
the Jerusalem Council.
If Luke collected his information from
eyewitnesses, does he faith-
fully reproduce the
speeches which they and others made? As can be
expected, the context
reveals that Luke presents the addresses in sum-
mary form. But are
these summaries true to fact or have they been
placed in the mouths
of speakers? Some scholars are of the opinion that
the speeches are the creation of the
writer of Acts. By comparison, they
point to the Greek
historian Thucydides and claim that Luke adopted
the methodology of Thucydides. This
historian declared that in com-
posing his speeches he
"adhered as closely as possible to the general
sense of what was
actually said."4 The apparent intention of this
ancient writer was to
state that the speeches he wrote were historically
accurate and not based
on his own imagination.5 Even though the
words of Thucydides
have been a topic of much debate, the inclination
to take his saying at face value
prevails. The task which the ancient
historian assumed was to
give an account of the events just as they
happened. He reported
facts not fiction.
If we listen to Luke's own words in
the preface to his Gospel, we
learn that he gives
an account of the things that have happened and
which people have
accepted as true (Luke 1:1; cf. Acts 1:1). Thus at the
beginning of his
writings, Luke informs the reader that his reporting as
a historian is true to fact.
II.
History
The question that concerns the student
of Acts is whether Luke is
giving a truthful
presentation in this historical account. Does he ac-
curately report the
speeches he himself did not hear?
4 Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War,
1.22.1.
5 M. Dibelius,
Studies in the Acts of the Apostles
(London: SCM, 1956) 141,
expresses doubt; but W.
W. Gasque accepts the statement as true, in "The
Speeches of
Acts:
Dibelius Reconsidered," New Dimensions in New Testament Study (ed. by R. N.
Longenecker and M. C. Tenney;
F.
Glasson, "Speeches in Acts and Thucydides," Exp Tim 76 (1964-65) 165.
Simon J. Kistemaker: THE SPEECHES IN ACTS 33
Before
we examine some of the speeches in Acts, let us first note
that Luke's
reporting reflects linguistic peculiarities that show the area
and setting in which a dialogue took
place. In many sections of his
Gospel
and Acts, Luke expresses himself in excellent Greek. This is
evident, for instance,
from the Greek in the introduction to his Gospel
(Luke
1:1-4). But throughout the birth narratives (Luke 1 and 2), his
diction and word choice
bear a distinct Aramaic stamp. It is as if Mary
herself relates to Luke
the accounts of Jesus' conception and birth in
Aramaic Greek. Indeed, so Luke
reports, Mary kept all these things in
her heart (2:19, 51).
Also in Acts, Luke varies the choice
of words with reference to the
locale. He reflects
the diction, vocabulary, and culture of the area he
describes. In the
chapters that depict
has an Aramaic coloring. The second
half of the book (16-28) reflects a
Gentile
setting and is written in fluent Greek that, at times, rivals
classical Greek. To
illustrate, of the 67 times that the optative mood
occurs in the NT, 17
of these are in Acts. These 17 instances appear
mostly in the second
half of the book and often come from speakers
who know Greek well.6
Another aspect of a Jewish backdrop that Luke
portrays in Acts is the
use of Semitisms. For instance, Jesus addresses
Paul
on the way to
the Grecized
form Sau?loj (9:4; 22:7;
26:14; and see 9:17; 22:13). By
contrast, when Governor
Festus alludes to Emperor Nero as o[ Sebasto<j
and o[
ku<rioj (25:25,26), he
exposes a typical Roman setting.
Is Luke composing speeches that he
places on the lips of the
speakers, or does he
present more or less the exact words the speakers
uttered in summarized
form? If we say that Luke is the source for these
speeches, he proves to
be an exceptionally skilled artist who writes a
masterful book with all
the possible nuances of speech and word
choice.7 His work, then,
is closer to fiction than history. But if we
contend that Luke's
source material comes directly from the speakers
or the community that heard them,
he mirrors people as they are with
their own
peculiarities and characteristics. "The question of the
his-
toricity of the speeches
is not beside the point in the study of a work
which claims to be a
historical narrative."8 Luke, then, is both a writer
and a historian.
6 These include the Greek
philosophers in
(17:27
[twice]), Governor Festus (25:16 [twice], 20), and Paul addressing King Agrippa
(26:29).
The other instances are: 5:24; 8:20, 31; 10:17; 17:11; 20:16; 21:33; 24:19;
27:12, 39.
7 Concludes J. T.
Townsend, "There is therefore, no reason to suppose that the
speeches in Acts which
are found in the mouths of Christians reflect any other mind than
the mind of the man who wrote them,
the author of Luke-Acts." 'The Speeches in Acts,"
ATR 42 (1960) 159.
8 F. F.
Bruce. "The Speeches in Acts-Thirty Years After," in Reconciliation and
Hope (ed. by R.
Banks;
34
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
Space does not permit examination of
all the discourses in Acts.
We
must be selective and refer to only a few, namely, those of Stephen,
Peter,
and Paul, with a passing reference to the ones of Tertullus
and
Festus. In the last
part of Acts (20-28), Luke discloses that he himself
was present and, therefore, he speaks
as an eyewitness.
III. Stephen
The most extensive speech in Acts is
the one Stephen delivered
before the members of
the Sanhedrin (7:2-53). Stephen traces the
history of the people
of
Solomon's temple. But the speech
is much more than a chronicle of
historical events. Stephen
imparts that he is an expert theologian who is
thoroughly acquainted with
the Scriptures. He is knowledgeable in
drawing implicit
conclusions and displays the same theological acumen
as the writer of the Epistle to the
Hebrews unveils.
Stephen directly quotes no less than
15 OT passages, of which 13
are from the Pentateuch and two from
the Prophets. Of the 40 OT
quotations cited in Acts,
15 are in Stephen's speech.9 The repeated
appeal to the OT is
not a characteristic of Luke's style but rather points
to a theologian of Stephen's
stature (6:9-10). Moreover, Stephen has
selected considerable
detail from the primary events of
history. "The
major events and details which are included are carefully.
chosen and presented
to indicate convincingly the accuracy of Ste-
phen's interpretation
of
In his speech, Stephen shows that God
is not bound to an earthly
temple built by human
hands: God revealed himself to Abraham in
Mesopotamia,
to Joseph in
burning bush. Stephen
proves that the Jews are unable to confine God's
dwelling place to the
temple in
themes of God,
worship, the Law, the covenant, and the person and
message of the Messiah.
Through the work of the Messiah, the house of
mentioning the name of
Jesus but teaches that God has raised up a
Savior for the house of
9 Gen 12:1 = v 3; Gen
48:4 = v 5; Gen 15:13-15 = vv 6-7; Exod 3:12 = v 7; Exod
1:8
= v 18; Exod 2:14 = vv 27-28; Exod
3:2 = v 30; Exod 3:6 = v 32; Exod
3:5 = v 33;
Exod3:7,
8, 10 = v 34; Exod 2:14 = v 35; Deut 18:15 = v 37; Exod 32:1, 23 = v 40; Amos
5:
25-27 (LXX) = vv 42-43; Isa 66:1-2 = vv 49-50.
10 J. J. Scott, Jr.,
"Stephen's Speech: A Possible Model for Luke's Historical
Method?" Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society 17 (1974) 93. Consult A. F. J.
Klijn,
"Stephen's Speech-Acts VII. 2-53," NTS 4 (1957) 25-31. C. H. H. Scobie
thinks
that Luke used a
Christian tract as source material in "The Use of Source Material in the
Speeches
of Acts III and VII," NTS 25
(1979) 399-421.
Simon
J. Kistemaker: THE SPEECHES IN ACTS 35
We are unable to ascertain from whom
Luke received the sub-
stance of Stephen's
speech. We surmise that Luke gained access to the
speech that Stephen
delivered before the Sanhedrin from Paul and
those members of the
Sanhedrin who later became Christians. The
speech came to Luke's
attention through a fixed tradition either in oral
or written form. With reference to
Acts 7--a study of word choice,
references to the temple
and to Moses, and the absence of typical
Lucan
constructions--all these facts indicate that Stephen's speech did
not originate in the mind of Luke.
Thus, the words promise and affliction
have their own significance
in the context of Acts 7 and do not
correspond to their usages in the rest
of Acts. Next, Stephen's manner of
speaking about Moses and the
temple is confined to
this particular discourse. Luke writes nowhere
else in Acts in a
similar manner. And last, in Stephen's speech are at
least 23 words that
do not occur again either in Acts or in any other
book of the NT;
also, numerous literary forms, peculiar to both the
Gospel
of Luke and Acts, are absent from Stephen's speech.11 We
cannot assume that
Luke has presented a verbatim account of Stephen's
speech, but we
confidently assert that he allows the original speaker to
be heard in words and concepts that
belong to Stephen, the first
Christian martyr.
We infer that as a faithful historian
Luke has incorporated the
discourse of Stephen at
this juncture of Acts to prepare the reader for
the persecution subsequent to
Stephen's death and for extending the
church beyond the
confines of
Luke,
who provided the impetus to further the church's development.
Luke,
therefore, is reporting factual information based on historical
events.12 He is a
historian who, in the manner of Thucydides, reports
speeches as closely as
possible to the general sense of what the speakers
actually said.
IV. Peter
Peter's Pentecost sermon is the first
of the three major addresses
Peter
delivered (2:14-36; 3:12-26; 10:34-43). Some scholars are of the
opinion that Peter's
Pentecost sermon is much more a theological
11 M. H. Scharlemann, "Stephen's Speech: A Lucan
Creation?" Concordia Journal 4
(1978) 57. See also L. W.
Barnard, "Saint Stephen and Early Alexandrian Christianity,"
NTS 7 (1960-61) 31.
12 Compare M. H. Scharlemann, Stephen:
A Singular Saint (Analecta Biblica
34;
and Redactional Study of Acts
7, 2-53 (Analecta Biblica 67;
Press, 1976) 113.
36
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
discourse written by Luke
than a historical report of the apostle's
speech.13 We know that
Luke himself was not present in
the Day of Pentecost, but that he
received his information from "'eye-
witnesses and servants of
the word" (Luke 1:2). We presume that Peter
served as Luke's
informant who gave him the pattern and wording of
the sermon. In fact, "Both the
pattern and the basic theology are older
than Luke and probably
reach back into the early days of the church."14
Luke
presents a summary of Peter's sermon, which is also the case in
the other discourses. Luke indicates
that much more was said, for Peter
warned the people with
many other words (2:40).
In his speeches, Peter employs
concepts that have an echo in his
epistles. He even
exhibits similarities in his word choice. Comparing
these similarities in
both his speeches and letters, we find some in-
stances that are
striking not only in the Greek but even in translation.
Acts 1
Peter
by the set
purpose and according to
the
foreknowledge
of God (2:23) foreknowledge of God
(1:2)
silver or
gold I do not such as
silver or gold that
have (3:6) you were
redeemed (1:18)
the faith
that comes you
believe in God
through him
(3:16) through him
(1:21)
as judge of
the living to judge the
living
and the dead
(10:42) and the dead
(4:5)
When Peter addresses the household of
Cornelius, he tells the
Gentile audience that "God shows no
favoritism" (10:34). Next, he
repeats this thought in
slightly different wording when he speaks at the
Jerusalem
Council in favor of admitting the Gentiles to membership in
the church. He says that God
"made no distinction between us and
them" (15:9).
Third, in 1 Peter he writes that God "impartially judges
each man's
work" (1:17). And last, when Peter proclaims the good
news to the crowd at
Solomon's Colonnade, he instructs the people to
repent in order to
hasten the coming of Christ (3:19-21). He expresses
the same sentiment in a brief
sentence in 2 Peter. He writes, "You ought
13 Among others, R. F. Zehnle, Peter's
Pentecost Discourse: Tradition and Lukan
Reinterpretation
in Peter's Speeches in Acts 2 and 3 (SBLMS 15; ed. by R. A. Kraft;
14
taries; ed. by R. V.
G. Tasker;
The Apostolic
Preaching and its Developments (London: Hodder
& Stoughton, 1936)
72-74.
Simon J. Kistemaker: THE SPEECHES IN ACTS 37
to live holy and godly lives as you
look forward to the day of God and
speed its
coming" (3:11b-12a, NIV).
We admit that all these resemblances
are no more than proverbial
straws in the wind.
Nevertheless, these similarities point in the same
direction and lend verbal
support to the historicity of Peter's dis-
courses.15 In these speeches, Peter clearly teaches
both the humanity
and divinity of Jesus Christ (e.g.,
2:22, 33-36). Also throughout his
writings, Peter refers
to Jesus as God and man (e.g., 1 Pet 1:2, 3; 2:21,
24;
3:15; 2 Pet 1:1). In brief, Peter presents Jesus Christ as God and man
in both his addresses and epistles.
V. Paul
Luke has recorded three of Paul's
missionary discourses: the syna-
gogue sermon in Pisidian Antioch (13:16-41), the Areopagus
speech in
(20:18-35).
Of these three, Luke personally heard the third one;
he
appears to have
received information for the first two discourses from
Paul and his travel companions.
The Pisidian
Antioch sermon is a type that Paul delivered through-
out
sermon basically
consists of three parts: (1) a survey of
(2)
the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; and (3)
the application of
the gospel message.16
Many aspects of this sermon resemble features in
the sermons delivered by Peter in
one Stephen preached before the
Sanhedrin (7:2-53).
Paul's sermon in Pisidian
Antioch discloses aspects of his epistolary
teaching. When Paul
preached in the synagogue at
his sermon by mentioning the
doctrine of justification. He said, "Every-
one who believes in [Jesus] is
justified from all things from which you
could not be
justified through the law of Moses" (13:39). There is a
discernible link between
his sermon and his epistles, for Paul expresses
the doctrine of justification in his
Epistles to the Romans, the Galatians,
and the Ephesians.17 This
fundamental tenet he taught both in sermons
and letters.
15 Cadbury is skeptical
of these similarities and parallels, for he points to compar-
able word choices in
other NT writers. "The Speeches in Acts," Beginnings, 5.413.
16 Refer to J. W. Bowker, "Speeches in Acts: A Study in Proem and Yelammedenu
Form," NTS 14 (1967-68) 101-2.
17 Cf. Rom 3:20,21,28; Gal 3:16; and Eph 2:9. Rejecting
that Luke wrote Acts, J.
Roloff says that in
general the speeches which the writer places on the lips of Paul have
nothing in common with
the Pauline theology and characteristics known from his
epistles. Die Apostelgeschichte
(NTD 5; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1981) 3.
38
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
Strictly speaking, Paul's Areopagus address in
defense of the
Christian faith. Rather, his speech is both a challenge to
the pagan religion and a
proclamation of the gospel. When Paul stood
before members of the Areopagus Council, he faced an audience that
was different from that of the
synagogue worship services. In the
presence of the Athenian
philosophers, he could not assume that they
had any knowledge of the Scripture
or of Jesus who fulfilled Scripture's
prophecies. Paul had to
begin his speech by teaching his audience the
doctrines of God and
creation. He continued his teaching with the
doctrine of man, for man
is God's offspring. And he concluded his
oration with the
doctrines of judgment and the resurrection.
We affirm the historicity of Paul's
visit to the Council of the
Areopagus. In that
meeting, Paul the apostle to the Gentiles introduced
a pagan audience to the teachings
of the Christian faith. He commented
that God created
man, appointed a day for judgment, and overlooked
man's sins of the
past. Paul's speech and writing reveal similarity. In his
letter to the Romans,
Paul mentions that God has made himself known
in creation, that God judges men's
secrets through Jesus Christ, and
that God has shown
his forbearance by leaving sins unpunished (Rom
1:19-21;
2:16; 3:21-26). Comparing these comments with his Areopagus
address, we assert that
Paul himself addressed the council membe(s of
the Areopagus.18 We
assume that at a later time he gave Luke the
wording of this speech.
Even though Paul alludes to an altar
inscription (“to an unknown
God”)
and quotes some lines from pagan sources, he nowhere indicates
that the gospel
occupies common ground with pagan religion and
philosophy."19
Paul uses these pagan aspects as points of contact with
his audience but refuses to
accommodate and compromise the gospel
message. In this
respect he is true to his God, who gives man the law
not to have any gods before him.
When Paul refers to pagan gods, he
skillfully employs the
neuter gender: “What [o!], therefore, you worship
in ignorance, this [tou?to] I am
proclaiming to you" (17:23); and “We
ought not to think
that the divine being [to> qei?on] is like an
image”
(17:29).
He refrains from calling an idol “God,” but classifies it with
impersonal objects.
Conclusively, Luke indicates that Paul carefully
chose his words when
he addressed the Athenian philosophers.
18 F.
F. Bruce, "Paul and the Athenians," Exp Tim 88 (1976) 11. H. Conzelmann
calls Paul's speech
"not an extract from a missionary address, but a purely literary
creation." See his
"The Address of Paul on the Areopagus," Studies in Luke-Acts (ed. by
L. E. Keck and J. L. Martyn;
Hemer, "The
Speeches of Acts: II. The Areopagus Address," Tyndale Bulletin 40/2
(1989) 239-59.
19 T. L. Wilkinson, “Acts
17: The Gospel Related to Paganism," Vox Reformata 35
(1980) 12.
Simon J. Kistemaker: THE SPEECHES IN ACTS 39
Paul's
farewell address to the Ephesian elders on the beach
of
are a few illustrations:
serving the
Lord with serving the
Lord (Rom 12:11)
all humility
(20:19) with all
humility (Eph 4:2)
that I may
finish I have
finished
the race
(20:24) the race
(2 Tim 4:7)
complete the
task I complete the
task you
received from
the Lord received in the
Lord
(20:24) (
Examining the diction of Paul's
farewell speech, R. H. Charles
concludes:
There is every ground for accepting
this speech as a trustworthy record of
Paul's speech.
Some of the phrases are exclusively Pauline as plh>n o!ti, kai> nu?n
i]dou<, desma> kai> qli<yeij, nouqetei?n; others are
characteristically
Pauline and non-Lucan as mh> fei<desqai,
tapeinofronsu<nhj, u[poste<llesqai, nu<kta kai> h[me<ran, to>
sumfe<ron.20
In
view of Luke's presence, we confidently affirm the historicity of
Paul's speech recorded by his friend
Luke.
C. K. Barrett pointedly asks
why Luke would write fiction and
attach the story to
“the great city and Pauline centre
torical event, then the
address is an eyewitness report that reflects the
words Paul spoke.
The speeches which Paul the prisoner
delivered before the Jews in
able differences
even though both contain the account of Paul's con-
version experience. For
one thing, the audiences are different. In his
tion of Jesus'
self-identification (22:8). Paul purposely circumscribes
the name to avoid giving offense to
his Jewish audience. But when he
20 P. Gardner, "The
Speeches of
tions of the Day (ed. by H. B. Sweet;
includes the
investigations of R. H. Charles.
21 C. K. Barrett,
"Paul's Address to the Ephesian Elders," God's Christ and His
People: Studies
in Honour of N. A. Dahl (ed. by J. Jervell and W. A. Meeks; Oslo/Ber-
gen/Tromso: Universitetsforlaget, 1977)109. Consult G. A. Kennedy,
"The Speeches in
Acts,"
New Testament Interpretation through
Rhetorical Criticism (Chapel Hill/London:
Acts:
I. The Ephesian Elders at
40
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
addresses King Agrippa
and tries to persuade him to believe in Jesus,
he explicitly mentions Jesus' name
(26:9).
Further, addressing the Jews in
as a devout man according to the
law and respected by all the Jews
living in
looks the entire
encounter with Ananias because it detracts from his
purpose to acquaint the
king with the gospel. He delivers his
address in Hebrew or
Aramaic (21:40) but his discourse before Agrippa
and Festus in excellent Greek. In
the presence of these government
officials, military
commanders, and prominent citizens of
Paul's
diction compares with that of classical Greek. To illustrate, he
employs an Attic verb
form i@sasi instead of the
third person plural
oi@dasin (26:4); he
ingeniously quotes the words "Nothing was done
secretly in a
corner" (26:26), which philosophers pejoratively used for
uneducated teachers;22
and he uses the optative mood in his closing
remark to Agrippa: Eu]cai<mhn a@n (26:29).
What are the characteristics that
support the historicity of Paul's
speech before King
Agrippa? In summary, here are the highlights:
First, no speech either of Paul or any
other speaker in Acts is as
personal in tone as
Paul's address before Agrippa (see especially v 27).
This
speech sparkles in the beauty of its direct gospel appeal. Paul
speaks engagingly to
King Agrippa throughout his discourse by ad-
dressing him by title,
name, and personal pronoun you.23
Next, Paul fits his choice of words to
the class of his audience. That
is, his diction and syntax are
approaching classical Greek and equal that
of his Areopagus
address (17:22-31). At the same time, we hear in his
Agrippa
speech the same tone and tenor of Paul's other discourses.
Third, in his speech before Agrippa,
Paul repeats his conversion
experience (cf. 22:1-21;
and see 9:1-19). Although the three conversion
accounts reveal
differences, Paul freely selects from his own recollec-
tion those elements
that suit his present purposes. And because Paul is
the speaker, he is free to choose
his own wording to describe the event.
Last, Paul addresses Agrippa, who is
of Jewish descent and, as
curator of the
disputes of the
Jews" (26:3). Yet Paul's speech is not a one-sided gospel
appeal directed only
to Agrippa (see, for instance v 8); he presents the
doctrine of Christ's
resurrection as a light both to the Jewish people
and to the Gentiles (v 23).24
22 Consult A. J.
Malherbe, "'Not in a Comer': Early Christian Apologetic in Acts
26:26,"
The Second Century 5 (1985-86)
193-210.
23 Cf.
vv 2, 3, 7, 13, 19, 27.
24 Compare K. Haacker, "Das Bekenntnis des
Paulus zur Hoffnung Israels nach der
Apostelgeschichte des
Lukas," NTS 31 (1985) 437-51; J.
J. Kilgallen, "Paul Before
Agrippa
(Acts 26,2-23): Some Considerations," Bib 69 (1988) 170-95.
Simon J. Kistemaker:
THE SPEECHES IN ACTS 41
VI. Conclusion
The speeches in Acts accurately
portray the speakers and reflect
their individual
traits. The syntax in some of Peter's speeches is awk-
ward and in some
verses disjointed. For example, before Cornelius and
his household Peter literally said:
"The word which he sent to the sons
of
you yourselves know the thing which
took place throughout all
beginning from
(10:36-37).
Tertullus the lawyer attempts to influence Governor
Felix
with flattery. Luke,
who was present at the hearing, records Tertullus's
grammatical errors with
journalistic accuracy. The orator utters a parti-
ciple ("finding
this man to be a troublemaker" [24:2]) instead of a main
verb, and thus he
disrupts the flow of the sentence. The letter from the
hand of commander
Claudius Lysias is written in military style (23:26-
30),
while the diction and syntax of Governor Festus characterize him
as an educated Roman official who
is able to speak excellent Greek
(25:24-27).
Although Luke is the writer of the
speeches in Acts, he is not their
composer. That is, he
does not create discourses which he places in the
mouths of speakers. He
himself asserts, "I myself have accurately
investigated everything from
the beginning" (Luke 1:3; see also Acts
1:1).
Hence, we are assured that Luke's presentations are based on
factual and faithful
research. Luke presented the people as they were,
precisely because he was
personally acquainted with most of them. As
a travel companion of Paul, he
recorded the historical events relating to
Paul's words and deeds.
A close examination of Paul's speeches
to the Jews shows that
"there is much in the content that is not essentially
Lukan."25 As he
addressed Jewish
audiences, Paul regularly appealed to the OT Scrip-
tures. But this
characteristic does not fit Luke's style. Also, much of the
content and the
vocabulary of Stephen's speech is not repeated in the
rest of Acts; this
feature indicates that Luke is reporting and not
composing Stephen's
address. We conclude, then, that the speeches in
Acts
do not appear to be Lucan creations.
25 F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the
Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and
Commentary (3d rev. and
enlarged ed.;
:
The
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