#1 Let's begin with an easy question:
When they had entered Jerusalem, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. Peter and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James were there. (Acts 1:13)
Sacred Tradition teaches that the Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke the Evangelist, who was also the author of the third Synoptic Gospel. By simply looking at Acts 1:13, we can infer that it was written by Luke rather than by Matthew or Mark since in this verse are two things that illustrate Luke's peculiar writing style. What are these? What two things would let you guess that Acts 1:13 was penned by Luke?
Since no one can answer this question and since today we are celebrating the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, I must answer the question I myself posed.
The first of the two things that link Acts 1:13 to the Gospel of Luke is that Luke referred in both his Gospel and in Acts 1:13 to Judas son of James
, whose name appears on the list of the Twelve given by Matthew and Mark as Thaddeus
. To compare and contrast:
Now these are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (called Peter), and Andrew his brother; James son of Zebedee and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus
; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Matthew 10:2-4)
He appointed twelve: To Simon he gave the name Peter; to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus
, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Mark 3:16-19)
Simon (whom he named Peter), and his brother Andrew; and James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas the son of James
, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. (Luke 6:14-16)
As for the second thing that links Acts 1:13 directly to the Gospel of Luke is...
I am going to answer that one hour later in case someone wants to give this question a try.