Steven Carr

Acts 23:25 says 'Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix greeting.

The word for 'greeting' is 'Chairo'. Astonishingly, this is the same word used in the Epistle of James 1:1.

As Layman observes in his article http://www.geocities.com/christianca...b/cp_acts.html

'Additionally, there are some impressive similarities between the speech and letter of James in Acts, and the Epistle of James in the New Testament. First, both the opening words in James 1:1 and the letter in Acts 15:23 are a distinct Greek phrase for Greeting--"chairo." No other New Testament author introduces there letter in a similar fashion.'

Notice that this use of the word 'chairo' as a greeting in a letter is an IMPRESSIVE similarity.

Should we be IMPRESSED that another letter in Acts itself, also uses this impressive similarity - the word 'chairo'?

Layman gives 'brethren' and 'hearken' as other impressive similiarites.

'Adelphos' occurs (I believe) over 300 times in the NT and 'hearken' , a mere 400.

Impressive indeed.

People who want to see real examples of impressive similarities should look at
http://www.bowness.demon.co.uk/mirc1.htm where I show that Luke has simply rewritten Old Testament miracles to become miracles about Jesus.

Perhaps Layman might be impressed by the impressive similarities I document.

Certainly, they are rather more startling than the use of 'chairo' in a letter , where Layman maintains silence over other New Testament uses of this greeting, perhaps because even his gullible readers would wonder why the Epistle of James was written by Claudius Lysias (It must have been because James uses 'chairo'. just as Claudius did)

Layman

Here is the section at issue:

It is part of a larger section showing points of contact between the speeches of Acts and traditions associated with the purported speech giver.

This includes Stephen's speech, Peter's speech in Jerusalem, and Paul's speech in Miletus. Some of the similarities are by theme and some by linguistic similarities. These similarities count against the idea of free Lucan invention of his speeches or the idea that Luke simply inserted his own theology into every speech-giver's mouth.

As far as I know, there are no traditions association the Epistle of James with Claudius. Nor are the themes or theology of the two letters similar.

As for Luke and the LXX, I have no doubt it influenced his writing. That certainly does not equal free invention. Indeed, through Luke's use of Mark and Q (or Matthew if you prefer) we know Luke used plenty of source material, including preexisting material about miracles.

Christians and Jews often used OT language and themes to describe historical events.

http://www.bede.org.uk/price6.htm

Josephus did it. The DSS community did it. The Talmud did it. First Maccabees did it. Eusebius did it. Luke did it elsewhere when referring to preexisting source material. And Paul did it.

Let's focus on Luke for a second:

The Gospel of Luke provides ample New Testament evidence of the Christian tendency to describe historical events in Hebrew Bible language and themes.

Luke describes John the Baptist in terms of Isaiah 24:3-5 at Luke 3:1-6. Thus, did Luke invent John the Baptist?

Luke refers to the Twelve, which are obviously symbolic of the Twelve Tribes of Israel described throughout the Hebrew Bible at Luke 9:1-2. Did Luke come up with the idea of the Twelve?

Luke refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in terminology gleaned from the Hebrew Bible (Daniel 9:26 and 12:7) at Luke 21:22. Did Luke invent the destruction of Jerusalem?

Luke, confirmed by Paul himself, describes Paul being let down through a wall, in a story similar to the Hebrew Bible (Joshua 2:15 and 1 Samuel 19:12) at Acts 9:25 (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:33). Did Luke invent this episode?

Luke describes a successful ministry to the Gentiles, explicitly citing Amos 9:11-12 at Acts 15:16. Was there no successful outreach to the Gentiles by early Christianity?

Steven Carr

So Layman is unabashed by his claim that 'chairo' was an 'impressive linguistic similarity to the Epistle of James, when Luke uses it in Acts to write other letters (letters that he would not have had access to, but such details hardly disturb Layman)

Layman doesn't even pretend to give references for claims that miracles in Josephus, the DSS, the Talmud , First Macabees, Eusebius, and Paul were similar to OT miracles, in the way that the plots of the miracles of Jesus are often almost the same as OT miracles.

Look at the documentation I give in http://www.bowness.demon.co.uk/mirc1.htm and Layman's inability to show that Jospehus did the same thing.

No, Luke just invented the Isaiah connection, just as Luke invented connections from Jesus to Elijah by rewriting old miracles stories.

Layman doesn't even bother to show how this is remotely analogous to the documented copying I give in http://www.bowness.demon.co.uk/christ.htm

Here is Luke 9:1-2 'When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.'

Compare the use of the word '12', with the similarities in the Gospel stories of a raising from the dead :-

In 2 Kings 4:27-37 a distraught parent of an only child comes to Elisha just as in Mark 5:22-24 (which continues in verses 35-43) a distraught parent of an only child comes to Jesus,pleading for help.

In both stories someone tries to discourage the parent from bothering Elisha and Jesus.

In both stories it is unclear to some people in the story whether the child is dead ,dying or asleep.

In both stories the child is in a house some distance away.

In both stories a second source comes from the house and confirms that the child is dead.

In both stories Jesus and Elisha continue anyway to the house.

In both stories the parent precedes Elisha or Jesus

In both stories Elisha and Jesus seek a high degree of privacy by turning people out of the house before their miracle .

The story in Mark is such an obvious rewrite of the story in Kings that if I remind you that Jairus in Mark 5 falls at Jesus's feet, you can guess what the parent in 2 Kings 4 did.

As can be seen, the similarities go far, far beyond simply using the word 'Twelve', yet Layman wants people to believe that this use of 'twelve' is analogous to what I give in my article.



Layman doesn't even bother to pretend that he can give word-for-word copying by Luke from Joshua or Samuel in Luke's account.

Here is the word-for-word copying that Luke employed in Luke 7.

Jesus in Luke 7 raises the son of a widow from the dead. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah raises the son of a widow from the dead. Both stories employ exactly the same words - and he gave him to his mother.The Greek is 'kai edoken auton te metri autou', copied word for word from the Septuagint version of 1 Kings 17.


Did Luke use 1 Kings 17 as a basis for his story? Jesus met the widow at the gate of a city. Elijah met his widow in 1 Kings 17:10. It should come as no surprise that it was at the gate of a city. Luke 7 also copies other phrases from the Septuagint version of 1 Kings 17.

Luke writes 'tay pulay tays poleos kai idoo' (to the gate of a city and behold), which is almost identical to the Old Testament Greek of 'tou pulona tays poleos kai idoo'.


Layman pretends that this copying is no more than Luke did when he wrote in Acts 9 about Paul's escape.

As can be clearly seen, there is just no comparison , and Layman's 'analogy' is quite irrelevant.