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Luke/Acts

Luke/Acts. Dr. Matthew R. Anderson Concordia University, Montreal. Authorship. The only Gospel with a prologue “most excellent Theophilus” The only Gospel to acknowledge sources Only Gospel to admit being non-witness The best Greek The only Gentile Gospel writer in the canon?

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Luke/Acts

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  1. Luke/Acts Dr. Matthew R. Anderson Concordia University, Montreal

  2. Authorship • The only Gospel with a prologue “most excellent Theophilus” • The only Gospel to acknowledge sources • Only Gospel to admit being non-witness • The best Greek • The only Gentile Gospel writer in the canon? • The most concerned of the four with the Gentile mission

  3. Authorship (continued) • Tradition (from Muratorian Canon – 4th century?) and Irenaeus (mid to late 2nd) of “Luke the physician”, travelling companion to Paul (Colossians 4:14, Philemon 24, 2 Tim 4:11) • PRO: a. the odd “we” passages in Acts (16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1) and the tradition • CON: a. Acts contradicts Paul’s letters on a few key points • b. author doesn’t seem to know Paul all that well, but treats him more like a long-past ‘hero of faith’ • c. there is no mention in Acts of Paul’s many letters, • d. some of the speeches seem not to reflect Paul’s thoughts at all

  4. An apologia • (definition) “a reasoned explanation of the faith” • to show that Christianity was a legitimate and non-threatening Gentile religion with strong continuity with its Jewish roots, a religion that had validation both from God (by being blessed with God) and with its Jewish and Roman contexts (by its first believers worshipping in the Temple and being in favour with their neighbours, and by then being peaceful within the Roman empire).

  5. The dedication of Luke/Acts • Lk is the only Gospel with a dedication ( Lk 1:1; Acts 1:1) • Theophilus means ‘lover of God’. We know nothing more. • Could be a generic title for the Gentile churches, or the title of a real individual, perhaps a Christian patron of Luke who commissioned a Gospel.

  6. Luke/Acts and patronage • “the economy of honour and obligation” • Importance cannot be overestimated; patronage was important to the whole social, artistic and financial structure of Roman society – basically, to every aspect of that society. • Much much than today, artists, writers and certainly businesspeople did their work via patronage. • For their part, patrons helped the arts and even civic buildings, events etc. • Luke was almost certainly written by its author for a new (and wealthy) Christian patron

  7. The Lost Letters of Pergamum • Note that there is a very interesting fictional set of letters between Luke and a Palestinian-Roman nobleman named Antipas, contained in the book “The Lost Letters of Pergamum” Grand Rapids Mich: Baker Academic, 2003. • I highly recommend this book. although it is fictional, as in many historical novels there is much of historical value brought alive in its careful narrative.

  8. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • Christianity as a world religion, that should be respectable to educated Romans and Greeks. • Song of Simeon (2:32) ‘a light to the Gentiles’ • Lk’s geneology goes right past Abraham, where Mt stops, and traces Jesus through Joseph right to Adam, the universal and not just Jewish progenitor. • Acts 1:8 is like a schematic description of Christian growth: from Jerusalem through Samaria and to the ends of the earth. This is in fact also the progression of the books, from Lk through the early parts of Acts and to the end of Acts, where Paul is headed to Rome. As Christianity grows, its “physical base” moves from Jerusalem to Rome

  9. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • Christianity as a legal and law-abiding religion that is not anti-Roman. • the Romans were not as concerned about religious diversity as they were about political threat • In Luke’s version of the Passion account, Pilate is careful to exonerate himself for the crucifixion of Jesus (Lk 23:22). In Acts, (esp with Paul) the apostles are likewise falsely misunderstood to be causing trouble, when it is ‘really the Jews’ (according to Lk).

  10. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • Jesus as Saviour (term used Lk 1:69, 2:11, Acts 3: 13-15) • According to Harris, Lk is the only synoptic writer to use this term. • It is more understandable than ‘Son of Man’ or ‘Teacher of the Torah’ (Mt) to a Greco-Roman world, where the term soter was well-known. It means ‘deliverer’ and is thus another example of Lk making Jesus’ story more understandable to a Greco-Roman audience.

  11. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • The Role of the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ ongoing presence in the church • the HS plays a role in Jesus’ birth, ministry and death, and then is passed onto the church at Pentecost (Acts 2) • The role of the HS ties together Lk and Acts. The ministry of Jesus toward Jerusalem and the church’s spread out from Jerusalem are parallel, with the Spirit directing both • Lk uses the term the HS 14 times, more than both Mt and Mk combined • VERY IMPT. In Acts, it is the fact that the Gentiles have received the HS that ‘proves’ to the Jerusalem disciples that Gentiles can also become Christians

  12. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • Jesus’ concern for the outcast, weak and unrespectable. The “social dimension of the Gospel” • Note Lk’s special parables: the Prodigal Son 15:11-32 and Good Samaritan (10:29-32) • this emphasis begins right with the Magnificat: ‘he shall raise up the lowly’, and Mary as template of the lowly who are lifted up • The Magnificat also acts as a template of Jesus’ later ministry • Other examples: Lk 7:37-50’s woman of ill-repute and Lk’s version of the sermon on the mount/plain, which just reads: ‘blessed are the poor’. Finally, Lk’s ‘wedding banquet’ is for the outcasts (14:12-24) • MA – all of this could STILL be a part of Lk’s apologetics – perhaps explaining and giving a divine reason why Christianity was spreading quickly among the ‘lower’ classes

  13. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • An emphasis on Prayer • in both the Gospel and Acts a constant emphasis on prayer. Jesus’ conception is bracketed by prayers and later, the disciples are praying when they are ‘reborn’ in Acts 2. Likewise, the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus, not exactly at his baptism, but later when he is praying.

  14. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • Journey Theme – Luke uses the theme of “journey” again and again. Firstly for Jesus “on his way” to Jerusalem, and then for the early church in Antioch, where Christians are known, quite literally, as followers of “The Way” (Luke 4:30; 9:51, 56-57; 22:22 and in Acts) • Theological Geography – (so named by Graham Stanton) c.f. Acts 1:8 “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”, and of course in the combined books of Luke-Acts, this is precisely what happens, with Paul in Rome at the end of the books.

  15. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • A Salvation History in three parts (c.f. Hans Conzelmann, 1953). Luke divides all of human history into three parts, which are: • - the Old Testament period, ending only with John the Baptist (Lk 16:16) • - the “kairos” time and the Satan-free time of Jesus (cf Luke 4:13, 22:3) • - the birth and struggle of the church

  16. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • The author’s use of parallelisms: Peter and Paul • Preach sermons to Jewish crowds (Peter) Acts 3 (Paul) Acts13 • Responsible for miracles (Peter) Acts 5:15 (Paul)Acts 19:12 • Imprisoned but delivered by God (Peter) Acts 12:1-11 (Paul) Acts 16:19-34 • Convinced that Gentiles don’t need to be Jewish (Peter) Acts 10-11 (Paul) Acts 15

  17. Characteristics of Luke/Acts • Parallels between Jesus and the Early Church • Ministry starts - baptism and Holy Spirit • Spirit enables miracles and preaching • Heals sick, casts out demons, raises dead • Confrontation with Jewish authorities • Imprisonment, condemnation and execution

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