An Interpretation of the English Bible
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AN INTERPRETATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE BY B. H. CARROLL Late President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas Edited by J. B. Cranfill BAKER BOOK HOUSE Grand Rapids, Michigan New and complete edition Copyright 1948, Broadman Press Reprinted by Baker Book House with permission of Broadman Press ISBN: 0-8010-2344-0 VOLUME 12 ACTS CONTENTS I Historical Introduction and Analysis II The Dedication, the Introduction, and the Waiting Church (1:1-26) III An Introduction to the Second Chapter of Acts, and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (2:1-36) IV Pentecost and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (2:1-47) V Pentecost and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (Cont.) (2:1-47) VI Pentecost and the Kingdom (2:1-47) VII The Theory of Baptismal Regeneration (2:38) VIII The Theory of Baptismal Regeneration (2:38) IX The Gift of the Holy Spirit – The Habit of the Early Church (2:39-3:1) X The Sadducean Persecution (3:1-5:42) XI The Office of Deacon, the Pharisaic Persecution, Stephen and Saul to the Front, a New Issue, and the Rejection of the Holy Spirit and the Anointed Church by Jerusalem (6:1-8:3) XII Philip to the Front (8:4-40; 21:8-9) XIII The General Superintendence of the Apostles Over the Work Outside Jerusalem, The Samaritans Welcomed into the Kingdom (8:14-26; 9:1-12:25; Gal. 1:18-20) XIV An Introduction to a Study of Paul XV Paul's Early Life Before He Enters the New Testament Story (21:39; 22:3; 23:6, 34; 26:4-5) XVI Saul, the Persecutor (7:57-68; 8:1-4; 22:4-5, 19-20; 26:9-11) XVII Saul's Conversion, His Call to the Apostleship and His Commission (9:1-19, 22:5-16; 26:12-20) XVIII Saul – From His Conversion to His Ordination (21:1-36) XIX Antioch of Syria, the Center, and Paul's First Missionary Tour to the Heathen (13:1-14:28) XX Antioch of Syria, the Center, and Paul's First Missionary Tour to the Heathen (Continued) XXI The Great Conference at Jerusalem Concerning a Vital Question of Salvation and the Private Conference at Jerusalem on Paul's Independent Apostleship and Gospel (15:1-35) XXII The Great Social Question at Antioch and the Separation of Paul and Barnabas in Missionary Work (15:36-39) XXIII Paul's Second Missionary Tour, or the Gospel Carried Into Europe (15:40-16:40) XXIV The Ministry of Paul and His Companions at Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens (17:1-34) XXV Paul at Corinth and the End of the Second Missionary Tour (18:1-22) XXVI Paul's Third Missionary Tour – Paul at Ephesus (18:23- 21:16) XXVII Paul's Third Missionary Tour (Cont.) XXVIII From Ephesus to Jerusalem (21:1-36) XXIX Paul in the Hands of His Enemies at Jerusalem and His Speech on the Stairway (21:37-23:30) XXX Paul Before Felix and Felix Before Paul (23:31-24:27) XXXI Paul and Festus: Festus and Agrippa; Paul and Agrippa (25- 26) XXXII From Caesarea to Rome (27-28) I. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS That Luke is the author of this book appears from its first sentence (Acts 1:1), making it a continuation of his Gospel, and from the use of the personal pronoun, first person, in some chapters, showing that he was a companion of Paul, as in 16: 10_16; 20:5; 28:16. The book was probably written at Rome, during Paul's first Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:30), Luke being then with him (Acts 28:16), and as we also see from the references in Philemon 24 and Colossians 4:14. Its date was about A.D. 63. The person addressed was Theophilus (Arts 1:1), to whom his Gospel was dedicated (Luke 1:1). There are several New Testament references to the author. We learn from Colossians 4:14 that he was (1) a physician; (2) a Gentile Christian, probably one of Paul's converts; (3) the author of two New Testament books (see Luke 1:1; Acts 1:1); (4) a companion and fellow worker with Paul from whom he received many of the facts, given both in his Gospel and in Acts; (5) he first appears in the story at Troas (Acts 16:10-11) and again at Philippi (Acts 20:5) and so continues with him to end of the book, and (6) he was with Paul in both of his Roman imprisonments. In the first imprisonment we have the testimony of Philemon 23; Colossians 4:14; Acts 28:16; and in the second Roman imprisonment we have the testimony of Paul in 2 Timothy 4:11. The title of the book is, as the manuscripts say, "Acts of the Apostles" or, without the article, simply, Acts. Two of the general limits of the book are (1) the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, to Rome, the capital of the world; (2) the time period, AD. 33 to A.D. 63, i.e., thirty years. Many commentaries contest the propriety of its title, "Acts of the Apostles", but that propriety is supported by the following considerations: (1) It does give some of the acts of all the apostles, i.e., it recites the names of eleven of the original twelve, and of their place of meeting in an upper chamber (1:13); (2) it gives the history of the filling of the place of Judas by Matthias (1:15-26) ; (3) it gives an account of the baptism of all of them in the Holy Spirit (2:1-4) ; and subsequently of the teaching of all of them (2:42) ; (4) it gives an account of their great prayer meeting (4:23-31); (5) it teaches us that they all wrought miracles (5:12), and were all imprisoned in the Sadducean persecution (5:18), and were all delivered by an angel of the Lord (5:19), and were all beaten with stripes (5:40), and that they continued their teaching (5:42) ; (6) it shows that they all participated in the ordination of the deacons (6:2-6); (7) they all remained in Jerusalem when the disciples were scattered abroad by the Pharisee persecution led by Saul (8:1); (8) it shows that they all participated in sending Peter and John to confer the power of the Spirit on Philip's converts in Samaria (8:14); (9) it shows that some of them received Paul when he was introduced by Barabbas (9:27); (10) they all received and justified Peter's account of the conversion of the Gentile, Cornelius (11:1-18); (II) it shows that they all participated in sending Barabbas to Antioch to look into the preaching unto the Greeks there (11:20-22); (12) they were all suffering under the Herodian persecution, one of them, James, the brother of John, being killed (12:9-24), and Peter imprisoned; (13) they all participated, including Paul, in the decision of the great question – the greatest of the apostolic times – whether Gentiles must become Jews in order to be saved (15:1-21), and joined in the decree to the churches officially settling this great question (15:22- 30; 16:4) ; (14) there was also full and official recognition of Paul's independent apostleship and of the division of labor – Paul and Barabbas to go to the Gentiles, and the others to the circumcision (this we learn from Gal. 2:1-10); (15) from chapter 13 to the end of the book we have the acts of the Apostle to the Gentiles. From these fifteen particulars, the propriety of the title is sufficiently evident. It must be observed that the title in the manuscripts is without the article, and hence makes no claim to record all the acts of all the apostles. Indeed, its first beginnings at Jerusalem, then in Samaria, then among the Romans at Caesarea, then the Greeks at Antioch and various Greek cities of Asia Minor and in Europe, and finally at Ro me . Another important matter is settled by the book, viz.: that the apostles, though inspired, illumined, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, were "set in the church." We find the church, the whole 120, participating in the selection of Matthias; we find the church participating in the baptism of the Spirit, in the institution of the office of deacon, and in every detail of the worldwide character of the gospel. For example, the action of the church in the case of the Samaritans receiving the gospel, the action of the church in the case of the Greeks getting it, and in the great judicial decision of Acts 15, as set forth in Acts 15:2, 6-7, 11-12, 15. This is a very important matter – to know that even inspired, illumined and Spirit- empowered apostles were set in the church and worked through the churches. Many special names, or ascriptions, have been given to this book, e.g.: Barnes calls it, The Gospel of the Holy Spirit. Chrysostom, the great Greek orator, The Demonstration of the Resurrection. Luther calls it, A Commentary on Paul's Epistles. Eichorn, A History of Missions Propagating Christianity. Lekebusch, A Continuous Fulfillment of the Promise in 1:8. Grotius, A Biographical Description of the Work of Peter and Paul. Baumgarten, The Teachings and Deeds of the Risen and Ascended Savior. Others, "An unfinished history of the church of the first century." Yet others, "The growth of the church, external and internal, from its foundation in Jerusalem, the center of Judaism, to its establishment in Rome, the center of heathendom." Canon Norris has named it, The Continued Action of the Risen Lord, Through the Spirit, in the Interval Between the Gospels and the Epistles.