Giancarlo Biguzzi, «Witnessing Two by Two in the Acts of the Apostles.», Vol. 92 (2011) 1-20
The program of Act 1,8 is carried through by the Twelve only in Jerusalem, Samaria and the Mediterranean coast, — but not «till the end of the earth». Their witness, however, is prolonged by the Seven of Jerusalem, the Five of Syrian Antioch, and the Seven companions of Paul of Act 20,4. Surprisingly, for everyone of the four groups of witnesses, the author narrates then the witnessing of only two of them. The narrative lacuna, apparently intentional since it recurs four times, allows Luke to involve the reader in reconstructing the spread of the gospel in all the directions for the remaining ten twelfths.
Witnessing Two by Two in the Acts of the Apostles
The Parallel lives of Plutarch of Chaeronea probably had a con-
siderable influence on the interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles
in which since ancient times the parallel praxeis of Peter and Paul
have been singled out. In 1990, for instance, M.-É. Boismard and
A. Lamouille gave the significant title “Les Actes des deux
Apôtres †to the three volumes of their commentary on Acts 1. The
book of Acts, however, includes much more than the parallel lives
of Peter and Paul, since it narrates the long chain of witnessing
that begins with Jesus’ eleven disciples (Matthias being the twelfth
in the place of Judas Iscariot), and reaches Paul, passing through
the Seven of Jerusalem and the Five of Syrian Antioch. This chain
d o e s not just end with Paul, whose story is intentionally
left open.
Jesus appoints the apostles (cf. v. 1,2) as his witnesses (esesue
¶ ¥
moy martyrev) in 1,8 on behalf of the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Â¥
the whole of Judea and Samaria, and finally of all the nations “till
the ends of the earthâ€. To this familiar picture it needs to be added
that in Acts the apostolic testimony is given “two by twoâ€.
This article first discusses briefly the context of Acts 1,8,
which is the geographical-theological manifesto of the book, and,
having shown how the witness is transferred from the Twelve to
Paul, it then illustrates how it progresses in Acts according to the
model “two by twoâ€, and how the time and space of the witnessing
are characterised by what is left unsaid. In this way, Luke engages
the reader in completing his narration, which remains open both
with respect to the apostolic witnessing and to Paul’s fate.
M.-É. BOISMARD – A. LAMOUILLE, Les Actes des deux Apôtres (EB ;
1
Paris 1990). That title was repeated in the same series by J. Taylor in three fur-
ther volumes of his “commentaire historique†(Paris 1994; 1996; 2000).
J.A. FITZMYER, The Acts of the Apostles. A New Translation with Introduction
and Commentary (AB; New York 1998) 119, quotes Schneckenburger, Well-
hausen, Turner, Dibelius, Renié, Cerfaux, Marxsen, as strong supporters of the
same opinion.
FOLLOW US