[64:2] Acts xi. 20.

[65:1] John xix. 19-22.

[65:2] Acts xi. 27-30.

[66:1] It is obvious from Acts ix. 31, xxvi. 20, and Gal. i. 22, that such churches now existed.

[66:2] Acts xii. 3, 24, 25.

[66:3] Clem.  Alex.  Strom, vi. p. 742, note; Edit.  Potter.  Eusebius, v. 18.

[66:4] “Antiquities,” xix. c. 8, Sec. 2, xx. c. 2, Sec. 5.

[66:5] Acts xii. 20-23.

[66:6] From the comparative table of chronology appended to Wieseler’s “Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters,” it appears that the date given in the text is adopted by no less than twenty of the highest chronological authorities, including Ussher, Pearson, Spanheim, Tillemont, Michaelis, Hug, and De Wette.  It is also adopted by Burton.  Wieseler himself, apparently on insufficient grounds, adopts A.D. 45.

[67:1] Though Peter was taught, by the case of Cornelius, that “God also to the Gentiles had granted repentance unto life” (Acts xi. 18), and though he doubtless felt himself a debtor, both to the Greeks and to the Jews, yet still he continued to cherish the conviction that his mission was, primarily to his kinsmen according to the flesh.  James and John had the same impression.  See Gal. ii. 9; James i. 1; 1 Pet. i. 1.

[68:1] Acts xii. 2.

[68:2] Acts xxii. 17-21.

[68:3] I here partially adopt the translation of Conybeare and Howson.  Their work is one of the most valuable contributions to sacred literature which has appeared in the present century.

[68:4] The Second Epistle to the Corinthians was written about fourteen years after this, or towards the close of A.D. 57.  See Chap.  IX. of this Section.  The Jews often reckoned current time as if it were complete.

[68:5] 2 Cor. xii. 2-4.

[68:6] Exodus iii. 2-10.

[68:7] Isaiah vi. 1, 2, 8, 9.

[70:1] Acts xiii. 1-3.

[70:2] Acts iv. 36.

[71:1] Deut. xxxiii. 10.

[72:1] Rom. i. 1.

[73:1] Gen. xlviii. 13-15.

[73:2] Lev. viii. 18, and iv. 4.

[73:3] Num. xxvii. 18.

[74:1] 1 Tim. v. 17.

[74:2] This portion of the apostolic history may illustrate 1 Tim. iv. 14, for Paul had official authority conferred on him “by prophecy,” or in consequence of a revelation made, perhaps, through one of the prophets of Antioch, “with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery.”  Something similar, probably, occurred in the case of Timothy.  But, in ordinary circumstances, the rulers of the Church must judge of a divine call to the ministry from the gifts and graces of the candidate for ordination.

[75:1] Acts xiii. 4.

[75:2] Acts xiii. 4.

[75:3] Acts iv. 36.

[75:4] Until this date we read of “Barnabas and Saul,” now of “Paul and Barnabas.”  Paul was the Roman, and Saul the Hebrew name of the great apostle.  His superior qualifications had now full scope for development, and accordingly, as he takes the lead, he is henceforth, generally named before Barnabas.