The Close of Acts and its Hellenistic Greek Vocabulary

Abstract

In this article I propose to examine some of the Greek words used in Acts 28. 30–31.1 shall argue that the associations of these words become more apparent when we search the Hellenistic sources which use them. This searching can now, with the aid of the compact disc supplied by the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, be done more thoroughly than before. Though the disc in use in 1988 at the time of writing is not complete, it does contain some 40 million words of Greek, and its predecessor also contains a substantial (but incomplete) collection of the papyri. Although I do not claim to have examined every use in Greek texts of the words discussed below, I have examined a very substantial proportion of them based upon a sample containing at least two thirds of the entire corpus. I argue that at least three of the terms used have clear and specific legal connotations. They do not all retain those connotations in the present literary context of Acts, but they have a technical background incivilrather than criminal law and there may be some echo here of details of Paul's stay in Rome. Though I am arguing for a technical background incivillaw for some of the terms, I am ready to agree that the description of Paul's stay in Rome does also have implications for the leniency with which he was treated during proceedings on a criminal charge, and also significant theological resonances. These further connotations will emerge from a detailed discussion of some of the key words and phrases in the Greek of the closing verses of Acts.