Luke: Starting Volume 2

Introduction:

This study has been five years in the making mainly because of Covid.

It disrupted the conclusion of our long study of Luke.

History is clearly important to the biblical writers.

Our study of Ps. 119 reinforced why.

God has at certain times and in various ways acted in the world to reveal His true nature and that He alone is the true creator to whom all are accountable.

It remains important to the writers of the New Testament although Acts is the only work of genuine ancient history.

The gospels follow more of the genre of biography.

Biblical Christianity is unique because its claims rests on historical claims not on faith claims.

It calls for trust based on the examination of historical facts.

Without the factual claims being true, then Christianity in its entirety should be abandoned because it lies about God (see 1 Cor. 15:12-19).

Acts was probably written within a twenty year window between 60-80 AD.

The general consensus among most scholars is that whoever wrote the third gospel, ie Luke, also wrote Acts.

The two works together comprise roughly 30% of the NT.

The work focuses on some of the apostles:

Peter

John (usually in conjunction with Peter).

Phillip

James (will require care to identify the correct one).

Paul (and those who aided or accompanied him).

They faced opposition, yet they preached the message about Jesus…why would they do that at great personal cost to themselves?

The early converts deferred to the apostles as their leaders, indeed, other than a few outlier examples, their role as teachers and leaders went unquestioned. Why?

The Opening:

Acts’ introduction immediately draws the reader to make connections with Luke’s Gospel.

It refers to “a previous” or “earlier” account made by the author.

It addresses Theophilus: “Divine friend,” “God-lover.”

It describes the parameters or outline of the previous work.

We might wrestle with “why” or the purpose of the work in light of these overt connections to the previous Gospel.

Lk. 1:1-4.

The goal most likely remains certainty, and this goal remains relevant for us as well.

We have to proceed in anxious times.

We want to be certain that what we believe is true, and that requires thinking about its claims and analyzing why we, much less anyone else, should take the message seriously.

The Parameters: Jesus and the Apostles

Jesus

Two important things are happening simultaneously starting in Acts 1:1:

Connections are made to the previous work.

The core argument of this work is being developed.

This is formed around the references to Jesus and the apostles.

What was the basic structure to Luke’s gospel?

The things Jesus began to do and to teach (Luke 3-24).

Until the day he was taken up.

Beginning in Acts 1:3, he specifies things Jesus did to his apostles (see Acts 1:2):

He presented himself as living after his suffering in many evidences (proofs).

28.45 τεκμήριον, ου n: that which causes something to be known as verified or confirmed—‘evidence, proof, convincing proof.’ παρέστησεν ἑαυτὸν ζῶντα μετὰ τὸ παθεῖν αὐτὸν ἐν πολλοῖς τεκμηρίοις ‘by many convincing proofs he showed himself alive after his death’ Ac 1:3. In a number of languages ‘convincing proof’ is rendered as ‘that which causes one to know for sure’ or ‘… with certainty.’

Introduction Part 2: Jesus Cont’d

We need to return to Luke’s evidences for Jesus’ resurrection.

The resurrection is the sine qua non historical event in the message about Jesus.

Luke 24:13-35: The road to Emmaus esp. Lk. 24:28-31.

Lk. 24:36-43: He appears to the Apostles and eats with them. They physically touched him.

He was being seen by them “through 40 days” (over the course of 40 days?) and speaking the things about the kingdom of God.

These we’re important days for them

The Apostles:

We note from Acts 1:2 what Jesus before he was taken up.

He commanded his apostles through the Holy Spirit. Luke clearly shifts to drawing the reader’s attention to the apostles in Acts 1:3. This despite the fact that Jesus’ actions remain the focus of the text. Apostolic leadership in the days after the ascension of Jesus was not random.

Furthermore, the authority recognized by the second generation of disciples wrested on:

Jesus chose the apostles.

He commanded them before his ascension.

They, mainly though not exclusively, saw him alive.

Jesus presented himself to them with proofs that he was alive.

He commanded them to wait in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit.

He told them they were to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the whole world.

Jesus commanded them not to leave Jerusalem rather to be remaining/awaiting the promise of the Father.

Lk. 24:49.

The connection back to John the Baptist is important.

All four gospels include John making this statement, a rarity.

John uses the statement to indicate that:

He is not Messiah.

The one coming after him is superior to him.

He is judge.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit, then, indicates something about the individual.

It points to Jesus as the Messiah.