The Acts of the Apostles

EXCURSUS IV 285
Luke maintains its authority among Jews, whether
Christian or non-Christian. This he makes St. James
say expressly. No one ought to offend against the
Temple and the Law ; St. Paul also had never done
this (Acts XXV. 8). It appears to have been other-
wise in the case of St. Stephen, but St. Luke evidently
takes the speech—which he had not drafted him-
self—in such a way that its point lies in the announcement
of the future downfall of the Temple. This was
a thing that St. Luke could not pass over, because it
had been prophesied by our Lord Himself. As for
St. Stephen's reference to a change in the customs
delivered by Moses, St. Luke understood this to mean
that now, seeing that the Jews had hardened their
hearts. Salvation would pass over to those who were
not bound to observe the Law; for with those who
were Gentiles by birth the Law and Circumcision
were not in force—as St. Luke had learned from St.
Paul. Yet it was still clearly recognised by St. Luke
that this view and the ultimate recognition of Gentile
freedom from the Law were arrived at by a process
of historical development which he seeks to investigate
and to describe to his readers (vide siipra, pp. xxvi.^.).
But though St. Luke acknowledges that the Law was
not in force for Gentiles by birth, he does not by
any means therefore imply that the Law possessed
no saving power. It is true that he not only appro-
priated the Pauline doctrine of Universalism, but also
the Pauline doctrine of Justification. Yet in sharp
contrast with St. Paul he regarded the latter doctrine
as only complementary^ at least for Jews by birth.
The Gentiles must trust in Justification by Faith