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heart that he now defended himself against the very charge that had been laid against the
man to whose death he had consented years before. That the ethos of the fathers was not
to be confined to superficial customs is made clear from its use in Acts 15: 1, where
"circumcision after the manner of Moses" is in view. Paul's present imprisonment had
been brought about because he had sought to rebut the charge made against him that he
"Taught the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they
ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs" (Acts 21: 21).
and Paul acted as he did, so that all might know that, as the elders said to him, "those
things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing, but that thou thyself
walkest orderly and keepest the law" (Acts 21: 24). These most explicit statements
reduce the issue to two heads. Either Paul did walk orderly and kept the law, or he did
not. If he did, then the truth of the Mystery could not have been made known during the
period of the Acts. If he did not, then his statements are false and we are of all men the
most miserable.
"The fathers." To whom do these words refer? Again, and for the third time, we
return to the synagogue at Antioch and hear the Apostle speak.
"We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the
fathers God hath fulfilled" (Acts 13: 32, 33).
His own written testimony in the epistle to the Romans is conclusive, "My brethren,
my kinsmen according to the flesh; who are Israelites . . . . . whose are the fathers"
(Rom. 9: 3, 5). In Acts 28:, immediately before he said "this people", the Apostle
exclaims, "Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers"
(Acts 18: 25). Further on in his statement to the chief of the Jews the Apostle used
another expression, "My nation" (Acts 28: 19). The word translated "nation" is
ethnos, and is frequently rendered "Gentiles", when found in the plural, as it is in
Acts 28: 28. Paul mostly used the word to designate the Gentiles, but when he said:
"I came to bring alms to my nation" (Acts 24: 17).
"My own nation at Jerusalem" (Acts 26: 4).
it is evident that he speaks of Israel, "the nation", as distinct from the rest of the
"nations". At Acts 28: 19, Israel was still Paul's nation.
Up to this point, however, what has been brought forward is negative in character:
e.g., Paul had committed nothing against this people or its customs. But lest his
testimony should be misconstrued he recapitulates, introducing a positive note.
"For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you,
because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain" (Acts 28: 20).
In his defence before Agrippa, who was expert in all "customs" of the Jews and who
therefore would be able to appreciate the Apostle's definite avowal, he said: