Acts’ Intertextual Component

Intertextuality is an important strategy since it sets Acts’ story within the bigger Old Testament story471 _{of, Israel’s history,}472 _{the main characters Abraham,}473 _Moses,474

and David,475 _{and many allusions to the Scriptures.}476 _{This creates an important sub-}

plot477 _{and pattern}478 _{for Acts. The scholarship on a broad intertextuality is extensive}

464 _{Byerly, “Narrative Legitimation”, 170, has the same top six with minor numerical}

inaccuracies of Stephen (1013), Paul before Agrippa (499), Peter at Pentecost (482), Paul at Pisidian Antioch (424 without 13:46b, 47). He extends the list to the top fourteen speeches with minor differences at Peter/Cornelius (230), Paul/Festus (223), and Paul/Felix (200).

465 _{Liefeld, Acts, 65.}

466 _{Acts 2:14b–40b; 3:12b–26; 4:8b–12; 5:29b–32; 7:2–56; 13:16–47; 22:1–21; 23:1–6;}

28:17b–20, 25b–28.

467 _{Acts 1:16–22; 11:5–17; 15:7b–11; 15:13b–21; 20:18b–35; 21:20b–25. This corrects the}

erroneous view often given that Paul’s Miletus speech is the only one to believers in Acts.

468 _{Peter to Cornelius (10:34b–47), Paul at Lystra (14:15b–17), Paul at Athens (17:22b–31),}

Paul to Felix (24:10b–21), Paul to Agrippa (26:2–23).

469 _{Hemer, Acts, 416.}

470 _{Soards, Speeches in Acts, 143–157; Keener, Acts, 1:258–319.}

471 _{James A. Meek, The Gentile Mission in Old Testament Citations in Acts. Text,}

Hermeneutic and Purpose, LNTS 385 (London: T&T Clark, 2008), 133.

472 _{Acts 7:2–47 and 13:17–25. Keener, Acts, 1:477–491.} 473 _{Acts 3:13, 25; 7:2, 5, 16, 17, 32; 13:26.}

474 _{Acts 3:22; 6:11, 14; 7:20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 35, 37, 40, 44; 13:39; 15:1, 5, 21;}

21:21; 26:22; 28:23.

475 _{Acts 1:16; 2:25, 29, 34; 4:25; 7:45; 13:22, 34, 36; 15:16. Yuzuru Miura, David in Luke-}

Acts: His Portrayal in the Light of Early Judaism, WUNT 2.232 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007).

476 _{Scriptures and Old Testament (OT) are used interchangeably in this study. See Kenneth}

D. Litwak, Echoes of Scripture in Luke-Acts: Telling the History of God’s People Intertextually, JSNTSup 282 (London: T&T Clark, 2005), 1, prefers “Scriptures of Israel” since the designation, Old Testament, was not used in the first century AD.

477 _{Alexander, “Acts”, 1029.} 478 _{Cook, “Traveller’s Tales”, 450.}

in the fields of Graeco-Roman,479 _literary480 _{and biblical studies.}481 _{This study seeks}

a simpler intertextual component which better serves the purpose of discerning literary shape.482 _{This is done by narrowing the focus to twenty-six}483 _quotations,484

although scholars differ on the exact number485 _{with the most variation being in}

Stephen’s speech (7:2b–53). Most of the quotations are from the Septuagint (LXX)486 _{with which any variations are compared rather than the Hebrew text. This}

479 _{E.g. Dennis R. Macdonald, Mimesis and Intertextuality in Antiquity and Christianity}

(Harrisburg: Trinity, 2001), 219, gives example of Chariton, Chaer. citing Homer’s Il. and Od. Verbatim; Sean A. Adams, “Greek Education and Composite Citations of Homer”, in Composite Citations in Antiquity, Volume One: Jewish, Graeco-Roman and Early Christian Uses, ed. Sean A. Adams and Seth M. Ehorn, LNTS 525 (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), 17–34, citing 18–21, gives examples of citations from Homer, Il. in Plato, Resp. 3.391a, Xenophon, Mem 1.2.58, Plutarch, [Cons. Apoll.] 24, Porphyry, Quaest. Hom 12.127–32, §5; Seth M. Ehorn, “Composite Citations in Plutarch”, in Adams and Ehorn, Composite Citations, 35–56, citing 56, gives examples of citations in Plutarch, Mor. 543f; 742a (Homer, Il.), Mor. 505c (Plato, Leg.), and Mor.1006b (Aristotle, De an.).

480 _{E.g. Lucien Dällenbach, The Mirror in the Text, trans. Jeremy Whiteley with Emma}

Hughes (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1989); Heinrich Plett, ed., Intertextuality (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1991); Graham Allen, Intertextuality (London: Routledge, 2000).

481 _{E.g. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “The Use of the Old Testament in Luke-Acts”, in Society of}

Biblical Literature 1992 Seminar Papers, SBLSP 31 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), 524–538; Rosner, “Biblical History”; G. J. Steyn, Septuagint Quotations in the Context of the Petrine and Pauline Speeches of the Acta apostolorum, CBET 12 (Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1995); Robert L. Brawley, Text Pours Forth Speech. Voices of Scripture in Luke-Acts (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995); Johnson, Septuagintal Midrash; Litwak, Echoes of Scripture; I. Howard Marshall, “Acts”, in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 513–606; Meek, Mission; Kenneth D. Litwak, “The Use of the Old Testament in Luke-Acts: Luke’s Scriptural Story of ‘The Things Accomplished Amongst Us”, in Adams and Pahl, Issues in Luke-Acts, 147–169.

482 _{Christopher D. Stanley, “The Rhetoric of Quotations: An Essay on Method”, in Early}

Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel, ed. Craig A. Evans and James A. Sanders, JSNTSup 148 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1997), 44–58, citing 57. Cf. Meek, Mission, 21, notes the use of quotations, particularly as an appeal to authority, offers insight into the author’s purposes and expectations of the intended readers.

483 _{See Diagram X, p.110. NA}28_{, 28, 50, 82, 83, has thirty-three in its margin, but a close}

examination adjusts this with six rather than eleven in Stephen’s speech, omits 3:13; 4:24 and 14:15 as allusions, and includes 4:11 (Ps 118:22) which is omitted by NA28_.

484 _{A distinction is sometimes made between a citation as having an introductory formula}

such as “it is written” or “it is said” and a quotation that does not, but is readily identifiable as close to Scripture. This study uses quotation since it also embraces a citation.

485 _{The range includes twenty-one (Witherington, Acts, 123, 124); twenty-two or twenty-}

three (Fitzmyer, “Old Testament in Luke-Acts”, 526); twenty-five (Steyn, Septuagint Quotations, 29, has twenty-five, but is actually twenty-seven with double references at 1:20 and 3:22, 23. Marshall, “Acts”, 527, follows Steyn); twenty-seven (Richard N. Longenecker, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 86–87); thirty (Charles K. Barrett, “Luke/Acts”, in It Is Written: Scripture Citing Scripture: Essays in Honour of Barnabas Lindars, ed. D. A. Carson and H. G. M. Williamson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 231–44, citing 238–40; thirty- six (Keener, Acts, 1:478, 29–43. Meek, Mission, 17–20, notes this is the number in NA27 _{); thirty-eight}

(Holladay, Acts, 54, 55); forty (Steve Moyise, The Later New Testament Writers and Scripture (London: SPCK, 2012), as number in UBS4_{); and forty-three (Moyise, New Testament Writers, 141–}

43).

486 _{Meek, Mission, 4–5. However, this study uses the chapter and verse referencing system}

from the Hebrew text since this appears in Protestant translations such as RSV and NIV rather than the LXX numbering which differs in the Psalms and Joel quotations. Cf. Billie Jean Collins, Bob Buller, and John F. Kutsko, eds., The SBL Handbook of Style. For Biblical Studies and Related Disciplines, 2nd _{ed. (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2014), 265–68, for specific details of}

study also follows the suggestion that a quotation leads to a retrospective interpretative reading of the whole Old Testament passage in which it is located.487

Though every story borrows from another story, this does not negate a text-centred approach since the selective intertextuality contributes to the literary shape.

Diagram X, on the following page, outlines the literary shape of the intertextual component.

There are a number of pertinent observations.

All but one of the quotations are located in speeches488 _{and are very brief}

with Joel 2:28–32 being the largest (2:17–21).489

The literary structure has an uneven distribution of seventeen quotations in “Act I”, one in “Act II”, six in “Act III” (with the key quotations of Isaiah 49:6 (Acts 13:47) and Amos 9:11–12 (Acts 15:16–18) either side of the central scene in Acts 14:8–20a), none in “Act IV” and two in “Act V”.

There is a reduction of quotations in the second half of Acts490 _{which is}

attributed to either sources491 _{or an unsuitability for use in Gentile mission.}492 _{As an}

original suggestion, I propose that since the quotations support an invitation to Israel as a nation and remnant-church be an instrument for worldwide mission, their decline suggests that the emphasis on the invitation also reduces.

487 _{Charles H. Dodd, According to the Scriptures: The Sub-Structure of the New Testament}

Theology (London: Nisbet, 1952), 126; Dodd, The Old Testament in the New (London: Athlone, 1952); G. K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 4; Beale, Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 5; Richard B. Hays, Reading Backwards (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2014); Meek, Mission, 5–7.

488 _{The exception is Isaiah 53:7– 8 in the narrative of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (8:32–}

33). Ps 2:1–2 is in the speech-like prayer of Acts 4:24–30.

489 _{The top six quotations by word counts are: (1) 2:17–21 (Joel 2:28–32) 107; (2) 7:32–34}

(Exod 3:5–10) 66; (3) 2:25b–28 (Ps 16:8–11) 61; (4) 28:26–27 (Isa 6:9–10) 54; (5) 15:16–18 (Amos 9:11–12) 46; and (6) 8:32b–33 (Isa 53:7–8) 40. Maddox, Purpose, 44, wrongly sees Isa 6:9–10, as second longest quotation in Luke-Acts.

490 _{Stephen B. Chapman, “Saul/Paul: Onomastics, Typology and Christian Scripture”, in The}

Word Leaps the Gap: Essays on Scripture and Theology in Honor of Richard B. Hays, ed. J. Ross Wagner, C. Kavin Rowe and A. Katherine Grieb (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 214–243, citing 237.

491 _{Torrey, Composition and Date of Acts, 57.} 492 _{Rothschild, Rhetoric of History, 174.}

There is a notably even distribution of nine quotations from the Law493

pointing to Israel’s past history and religion, nine from the Prophets494 _{(five from}

Isaiah495_{) pointing to Israel’s potential future, and eight from the Psalms (of king}

David)496 _{pointing to the realisation of the kingdom of God.}

Some quotations are repeated for emphasis (highlighted with circles in Diagram X) including those from Psalm 2, Psalm 16, Deuteronomy 18, Amos, and Isaiah.

Acts 7:49 is the first Isaiah quotation which tells of the mission’s culmination in a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 66:1–2) and Acts 28:26–27 is the last Isaiah quotation from near the prophecy’s beginning which tells of the mission’s commission (Isa 6:9–10). The reversal of Isaiah’s literary order suggests that Acts moves from mission’s ultimate potential culmination to a situation in Acts 28 where the formation of a mission instrument is still underway with a fresh reminder of its commission.497

There is a disproportionate literary-spatial distribution with nineteen of the twenty-six quotations located in Jerusalem, and the remainder clustered in Pisidian Antioch, Caesarea, and Rome. This underlines the focus on an invitation for Israel/Jewish Diaspora to be a worldwide mission instrument.

There is also an even character distribution of eight with Peter (five Psalms, two Law and one Prophet), eight with Stephen (six Law and two Prophets), seven with Paul (four Prophets, two Psalms and one Law), and one each with the church (Psalm), Ethiopian eunuch (Prophet), and James (Prophet).498

493 _{Peter Mallen, “Genesis in Luke-Acts”, in Genesis in the New Testament, ed. Maarten J. J.}

Menken and Steve Moyise, LNTS 466 (London: Bloomsbury, 2012), 60–82; Dietrich Rusam, “Deuteronomy in Luke-Acts”, in Deuteronomy in the New Testament, ed. Maarten J. J. Menken and Steve Moyise, LNTS 466 (London: Bloomsbury, 2012), 63–81.

494 _{Huub van de Sandt, “The Minor Prophets in Luke-Acts”, in The Minor Prophets in the}

New Testament, ed. Maarten J. J. Menken and Steve Moyise, LNTS 377 (London: T&T Clark, 2009), 73–77.

495 _{Bart J. Koet, “Isaiah in Luke-Acts”, in Isaiah in the New Testament, ed. Steve Moyise and}

Maarten J. J. Menken, NTSI (London: T&T Clark, 2005), 79–100; Mallen, Transformation; Pao, Isaianic New Exodus.

496 _{Peter Doble, “The Psalms in Luke-Acts”, in The Psalms in the New Testament (ed. Steve}

Moyise and Maarten J. J. Menken, NTSI (London: T&T Clark, 2004), 83–118.

497 _{Contra Pao, Isaianic New Exodus, 105–109, esp. 108–109; Mallen, Transformation, 96,}

who argue that the reversal is from judgement-salvation in Isaiah to salvation-judgement in Acts. However, this relies on interpreting the use of Isaiah 6:9–10 at 28:25–28 as the final turning from Israel.

498 _{Bill T. Arnold, “Luke’s Use of the Old Testament in Luke-Acts”, in Witherington,}

James Meek argues that Isaiah 49:6, Amos 9:11–12, Joel 2:28–32 (he uses the LXX numbering of 3:1–5a), and Genesis 22:18 legitimise the Gentile mission.499

Extending his approach, I propose that all twenty-six quotations reveal a framework of missional significance.

The reason for focusing at length on the structure and story of Acts, including literary-spatial, literary-temporal, character, rhetorical, and intertextual components, is that they reveal significance.500 _{With a clear method for literary structure and story}

in place, attention now turns to the method of exploring literary significance.