lius seems to contradict
the context of Peter's own explanation in Acts xi., and may well be
redactorial. On the other hand, the later chapters agree with these
redactorial additions in regarding baptism as the source of the gift of
the Spirit, and there can here be no question of editorial additions,
for the references to baptism are clearly part of the fabric of the
narrative. The most illuminating evidence, however, is afforded by the
chapters describing Philip's work: in these baptism in the name of the
Lord Jesus is represented as the custom of Philip, but it does not
confer the gift of the Spirit. This may be the best clue to the
historical development of the rite. The Seven, including Philip, were
probably the first to convert Gentiles, and inasmuch as the complete
breach with Judaism had not yet come, must have regarded their converts
as proselytes, and treated them accordingly. Baptism was part of the
usual treatment of a proselyte, and the formula "in the name of the
Lord Jesus" would merely distinguish these proselytes from others.

A little later the practice would certainly be interpreted by Greeks,
or Graeco-Orientals, in the light of the cults which they knew; baptism
would become the magical or, at least, sacramental means of {88}
salvation, and the Name of Jesus its necessary formula. The
development is exactly similar to that passed through by the word
"Lord,"--though its origin was Jewish its interpretation was Greek.[7]

The expectation of immortality conferred by Baptism and membership in
the Church of the Lord Jesus varied in form. The Greek eschatology was
different from the Jewish, and looked for an immortality for each
individual immediately after death. It was, moreover, an immortality
of the soul, not of the body. Probably there were many variations of
thought on the subject. Some of the most highly educated Greeks may
have understood the arguments for and against immaterial Reality, and
accepted or rejected them. Roughly speaking, Platonists accepted,
Stoics and Epicureans rejected; and it was at least possible for
Platonists, if they identified Mind with immaterial Reality, to believe
in the immortality of the human mind. But did such Platonists actually
exist before Plotinus, or possibly Ammonius Saccus? The fragmentary
evidence which exists seems to show that philosophic Greeks were
interested in other problems--mainly epistemological and psychological.
The belief in the immo