[114]

[115]In v. 8 we observe the marked emphasis laid on the real physical incapacity of the lame man. ThoughLuke, as a rule, carries brevity even to the verge ofobscurity, here he reiterates in three successive phrases,with growing emphasis, that the man was really lame. The three phrases are like beats of a hammer: there is nofine literary style in this device, but there is real force, whicharrests and compels the readers attention. Luke uses the triple beat in other places for the same purpose, e.g. XIII 6,"Magian, false prophet, Jew,"and XVI 6, 7 (according to the true text, p. 196).

The author therefore attached the utmost mportanceto this point. The man was no mendicant pretender, but one whose history from infancy was well known.The case could not be explained away: it was an incontestable proof of the direct Divine power workingthrough Paul and guaranteeing his message to theGalatic province as of Divine origin. The sign has extreme importance in the author's eyes as a proof thatPaul carried the Divine approval in his new departurein Galatia, and we can better understand its mportance he had to record in his eyes if it were the first which on distinct evidence (p. 108); but he attributes to it noinfluence in turning the people to Christianity. The result was only to persuade the populace that the deifieswhom they worshipped had vouchsafed to visit theirpeople; and at Malta the same result followed fromthe wonders which Paul wrought. The marvels recorded in Acts are not, as a rule, said to have been efficaciousin spreading the new religion; the marvel at Philippicaused suffering and imprisonment; to the raising of Eutychus no effect is ascribed. The importance [116]of these events lies rather in their effect on the mind of the Apostles themselves, who accepted them as an encouragement and a confirmation of their work. But the teaching spread by convincing the minds of the hearers (XIII 12).

The Bezan Text adds several details which have theappearance of truth. The most important is that the lame man was "in the fear of God,"i.e., he was a pagan of Lystra who had been attracted to Judaism before he came under Paul's influence: after some time Paul recognised him as a careful hearer ({êkouen}, corrupted {êkousev} in the Bezan Text) and a person inclined towards the truth. Several other authorities give the same statement at different points and in varying words; and it therefore has the appearance of a gloss that has crept into the text in varying forms. It has however all the appearance of a true tradition preserved in the Church; for the idea that he was a proselyte is not likely to have grown up falsely in a Gentile congregation, nor is it likely to have lasted long in such a congregation, even though true. It is therefore a very early gloss.