apostolorum sub uno libro scripta sunt, etc." Irenaeus says (III. 14. 1):
"Lucas non solum prosecutor sed et cooperarius fuit _Apostolorum_,
maxime autem Pauli," and makes use of the book to prove the
subordination of Paul to the twelve. In the celebrated passages, de
praescr. 22, 23: adv. Marc. I. 20; IV. 2-5; V. 1-3, Tertullian made a
still more extensive use of the Acts of the Apostles, as the
Antimarcionite book in the canon. One can see here why it was admitted
into that collection and used against Paul as the Apostle of the
heretics. The fundamental thought of Tertullian is that no one who fails
to recognise the Acts of the Apostles has any right to recognise Paul,
and that to elevate him by himself into a position of authority is
unhistorical and absolutely unfounded fanaticism. If the [Greek: didache
ton dodeka apostolon] was needed as an authority in the earlier time, a
_book_ which contained that authority was required in the later period;
and nothing else could be found than the work of the so-called Luke.
"Qui Acta Apostolorum non recipiunt, nec spiritus sancti esse possunt,
qui necdum spiritum sanctum possunt agnoscere discentibus missum, sed
nec ecclesiam se dicant defendere qui quando et quibus incunabulis
institutum est hoc corpus probare non habent." But the greater part of
the heretics remained obstinate. Neither Marcionites, Severians, nor the
later Manicheans recognised the Acts of the Apostles. To some extent
they replied by setting up other histories of Apostles in opposition to
it, as was done later by a fraction of the Ebionites and even by the
Marcionites. But the Church also was firm. It is perhaps the most
striking phenomenon in the history of the formation of the canon that
this late book, from the very moment of its appearance, asserts its
right to a place in the collection, just as certainly as the four
Gospels, though its position varied. In Clement of Alexandria indeed the
book is still pretty much in the background, perhaps on a level with the
[Greek: kerugma Petrou], but Clement has no New Testament at all in the
strict sense of the word; see below. But at the very beginning the book
stood where it is to-day, i.e., immediately after the Gospels (see
Muratorian Fragment, Irenaeus, etc.). The parallel creation, the group of
Catholic Epistles, acquired a much more dubious position than the Acts
of the Apostles, and its place was never really settled. Its germ is
probably to be found in two Epistles of John (viz., 1st and 3rd) which
acquired dignity along with the Gospel, as well as in the Epistle of
Jude. These may have given the impulse to create a group of narratives
about the twelve Apostles from anonymous writings of old Apostles,
prophets, and teachers. But the Epistle of Peter is still wanting in the
Muratorian Fragment, nor do we yet find the group there associated with
the Acts of the Apostles. The Epistle of Jude, two Epistles of John, the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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