Introduction

ὁδός, which is found 101 times in the NT, can be used both literally and figuratively and means ‘way’, ‘road’, ‘journey’, or ‘way of life’. I will argue that ἡ ὁδός is used as a self-designation with the meaning of ‘the Way’ in Acts on eight occasions. But why is it restricted to Acts? Was it used historically by some early ‘Christians’ or is it a Lucan theological phrase? I will seek to answer these questions.

Usage as a self-designation

In Chapter 1, I noted that self-designations are ‘used to describe or to evaluate, to…characterise and categorise people’. In a range of passages, ‘the Way’ is used to do exactly this. For example, Acts 9:2: Saul asked the high priest ‘for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way (τῆς ὁδοῦ ὄντας), men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem’; and Acts 24:22: ‘But Felix, who was rather well informed about the Way (περὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ)’. The same usage is found in Acts 19:9, 23; 22:4, and 24:14.