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To: editor-surveyor
Theopolis is an imaginary recipient whose name means God’s People.
Please get real and think for a change.

WRONG! If you want to argue this point, I can guarantee you will lose.

THEOPHILUS (PERSON) [Gk Theophilos (Θεοφιλος)]. The name, meaning “friend or beloved of God,” appears in literature, inscriptions, and papyri of both Jews and gentiles from the 3d century B.C. (BAGD 358). In the NT, Theophilus is the only person mentioned to whom writings were dedicated (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1). Many scholars believe that he was a real person, because dedications of the time customarily referred to real persons. However, this specific person is not easy to identify, and the pseudonym “Theophilus” was probably used to protect this individual from the political authorities. Any number of suggestions have been made about Theophilus’ identity: (1) Theophilus, the brother-in-law of Caiaphas; (2) Theophilus, an Athenian official convicted of perjury by the Areopagus; (3) Theophilus of Antioch; (4) Sergius Paulus, proconsul (Acts 13:6–12); (5) Lucius Junius Annaeus Gallio (Acts 18:12–17), the brother of Seneca; (6) Titus Flavius Clemens, the husband of Domitilla and the heir presumptive of Domitian, who may have been executed because of his interest in Christianity; (7) Philo; or (8) Agrippa II (Acts 25:13–26:32; Marx 1980: 18–26). The title which Luke gives Theophilus, “most excellent” (Luke 1:3; cf. Acts 23:26; 24:3; 26:25), suggests that he was a person of social and political prominence, perhaps a Roman governor, procurator, or magistrate, but this is by no means certain (Minear 1973: 133). Very likely, he was a leading figure in the group that Luke was addressing (Maddox 1982: 12).

O’Toole, R. F. (1992). Theophilus (Person). In (D. N. Freedman, Ed.)The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday.

The apostles didn’t carry on conversation in any language but Hebrew, and that is most likely the language that he heard everything in. Most of “God’s People” at that time were still Hebrews.

Wrong, wrong, wrong! In fact when the Jews rejected the Gospel, Paul took the message to the Gentiles.

But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ac 18:6). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

1,378 posted on 11/12/2013 8:23:54 PM PST by GarySpFc (We are saved by the precious blood of the God-man.)
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To: GarySpFc

>> “Many scholars believe that he was a real person” <<

I’d love to sell them some of my ocean front property near Phoenix.

.
>> “In fact when the Jews rejected the Gospel, Paul took the message to the Gentiles.” <<

.
Those few gentiles were attending Jewish synagogues; read Acts 15.


1,379 posted on 11/12/2013 8:28:04 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: GarySpFc; redleghunter
I can post well over 100 articles like this to kill your phantom Hebrew Bible speculations.

THEOPHILUS [thē ŏfˊə ləs] (Gk. Theophilos “dear to God” or “friend of God”). A person (rather than, as some suggest, a symbolic “friend of God”) to whom Luke dedicated his gospel (Luke 1:3) and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:1). Theophilus may have been a member of the equestrian class, though the honorific title “most excellent” (Gk. krátistos; Luke 1:3) is used both in addressing Roman officials, notably procurators (e.g., Acts 23:26; 24:2; 26:25) and as a common courteous address (Josephus Vita 76 [430]; Ap. i.1 [1]). Since a fruitful reading of the third gospel and Acts requires some acquaintance with Judaism and, in the case of the gospel, the topography of Palestine, Theophilus was most likely a Gentile “God-fearer” in need of an “orderly account” of the gospel, about which he may have had some knowledge.

Eerdman's Bible Dictionary

1,382 posted on 11/13/2013 5:30:32 AM PST by GarySpFc (We are saved by the precious blood of the God-man.)
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