The Acts of the Apostles

THE SOURCES AND THEIR VALUE 191
the very next day (even the first Hsteners could have
invented it, vide xii. 15 ; 6 ayysXo^ ecmu avrov) ;
apart from this many secondary traits, having all the
characteristics of authenticity, give to the greater part
of the story an appearance of probability and trust-
worthiness.^
—
Here, however, we receive a hint as to the origin
of these traditions. If we note that the horizon of
this source includes both Jerusalem and Ca^sarea, and
that St. Philip—and no other, so far as we are told
in the book belonged to the churches of both Jerusalem
and Ccesa7'ea, and that St. Luke has not only expressly
recorded St. Philip's migration to Caesarea (ix. 40),
but has also told us that he himself met him there
and stayed with him (xxi. Sf.) for a fairly long time
(perhaps a week) ; if we further consider that though
many Christians preached the Gospel in the Trepi^
TToAez? 'l€pov(ToXy]/uii yet the Acts only records the
mission of St. Philip together with that of St. Peter
1 The fact that, according to chap, xii., St. Peter (and the
Apostles) definitely vanish from the scene is an additional proof
that with chap. xii. this source comes to an end, and that we now
pass over to another source (namely, the Antiochean). He who
writes : " Peter departed to another place," shows that he intends
to let this person drop out of his narrative. The fact that St. Peter
again appears abruptly—and that in Jerusalem—in chap. xv. seems
necessarily to point to the use of another source, and to a certain
carelessness on the part of the editor. This, however, makes it
probable that at least one written source lay before St. Luke.
Wellhausen remarks {Nachrichtcn d. 1c. Gcsdlsch. d. W. z. Gottingev,
1907, s. 9, n. 1) : "We may conjecture that ets ^rtpov tottov is a
correction of St. Luke perhaps for Antioch ; for the name of this
city could not be left standing if xv. 1-34 was to follow." The conjecture
is very daring ; for why could not St. Luke have mentioned
the return of St. Peter to Jerusalem before chap. xv. ?
;