have discussed the story of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost
in the _Earlier Epistles of St. Paul_, pp. 241 ff., and have added some
critical remarks on the various forms of the tradition in the
_Prolegomena to Acts_, i. 322 f.

[2] I have discussed the history of early Christian attempts to
distinguish false from true prophets in "De strijd tusschen het oudste
Christendom en de bedriegers" in the _Theologisch Tijdschrift_, xlii.
395-411.

[3] The history of the phrase in the Old Testament and in Jewish
literature is discussed by G. F. Moore in the _Prolegomena to Acts_,
pp. 346 ff.

[4] W. C. Allen is a noteworthy exception. See his note on Matt. iii.
17 in the _International Critical Commentary_. See further
_Prolegomena to Acts_, pp. 397 ff.

{57}

III

ANTIOCH

According to Acts the result of the persecution of Stephen was the
spread of Christianity outside Palestine. As the narrative stands it
seems to imply that before this time there had been no Christian
propaganda outside Jerusalem. But significant details show that this
impression is wrong and merely due to the fact that the writer gives no
account of the earlier stages.

After the death of Stephen Paul appears to have continued his
persecuting zeal, and obtained authority to go to Damascus and
prosecute the Christians resident there. Obviously, then, the
Christian movement had already spread to Damascus, but there is no hint
in Acts as to how it did so. That in so doing it had advanced beyond
the limits of the Synagogue is not clear, but Damascus was essentially
a Gentile city, and the following considerations suggest that it had
done so. We know that the Jews of the Diaspora at this period were
filled with a proselytising zeal of which the fact is more certain than
the details. It is also tolerably plain from Philo that {58} there was
a strong tendency to Hellenise and go further than orthodox Jews were
willing to tolerate. It is also certain that the outcry against the
Christians in Jerusalem which led to the death of Stephen did not start
among the native Jews but among the Hellenists--those who belonged to
the synagogues of the freedmen and of the Cyrenaeans, Alexandrians,
Cilicians, and Asians, who had synagogues in Jerusalem.[1] In addition
to this, though Acts suggests that the origin of the Seven was the
necessity of administering the funds of the community, it is clear that
in point of fact it was their preaching which