The authorship of this book has been much discussed, but
it may now be affirmed with certainty that the writer of our
third Gospel is also the author of "the Acts," and that he speaks
from the standpoint of an eye-witness in the four we sections
(16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1--28:16), and is known in Paul's
Letters as "Luke the beloved physician" (Col 4:14; 2Ti 4:11; Phm
1:24). The date necessarily depends upon that of the third
Gospel. If the latter was written before the destruction of
Jerusalem, then Luke's second work may well have been issued
between 66 and 70, A.D. But the tendency, in the present day, is
to date the Gospel somewhere between 75 and 85, A.D., after the
destruction of the city. In that case "the Acts" may be assigned
to any period between 80 and 90, A.D. The latter conclusion,
though by no means certain, is perhaps the more probable.
The familiar title of the book is somewhat unfortunate,
for it is manifestly not the intention of the writer to describe
the doings of the Apostles generally, but rather just so much of
the labours of Peter and Paul--and especially the latter--as will
serve to illustrate the growth of the early Church, and at the
same time exhibit the emancipation of Christianity from its
primitive Judaic origin and environment.
It is plain that the writer was contemporary with the
events he describes, and although his perfect ingenuousness
ceaselessly connects his narrative with history, in no case has
he been proved to be in error. The intricacy of the connexions
between this record and the Pauline Letters will be best
estimated from a study of Paley's _Horae Paulinae_. We know
nothing definite as to the place where the Acts was written, nor
the sources whence the information for the earlier portion of the
narrative was obtained. But it may be truthfully affirmed that
from the modern critical ordeal the work emerges as a definite
whole, and rather confirmed than weakened in regard to its
general authenticity.