'The events fulfilled among us': from Luke to Acts

Dear Colleagues,

The literary unity of Luke-Acts is now assumed by most scholars, but a major question deserves further consideration since it bears so significantly on what the author expresses as his central concern: to provide his own version (“the exact truth,” Lk 1.4, NASB) of an orderly narrative arranged, in part, around “the events that have been fulfilled among us” (Lk 1.1). What are these “events,” and how can we demonstrate their interconnectivity among themselves and within the literary whole, Luke-Acts? That is, how do they play with and off each other, and within the orally-based structuring of the whole as crafted by Luke? With attention to the word- and theme-play characteristic of narratives written within predominantly oral cultures, what do we “hear” as major events being fulfilled, their inter-connection, and their literary function in the whole?

Focus & Scope:

I propose that we use the following outline of the author’s “events” as a heuristic tool to focus and generate dialogue on the subject. Offered in the spirit of a swimming pool’s diving board, mine is, obviously, a tentative identification of events, together with hints of their interconnectivity within the larger literary unity of Luke Acts.

     THE EVENTS FULFILLED AMONG US (Lk 1.1)

From Luke

1. As promised in Scripture, Jesus arrives as Israel’s Messiah and Teacher, proclaiming and demonstrating the good news of God’s kingdom come.
2. Jesus pours out his blood for the covenant, the ancient covenant made “new” insofar as Jesus clarifies the Law upon which the covenant rests. (And, as we see in Acts, “new” insofar as the risen and ascended Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to empower a covenant faithfulness that had proven elusive).
3. As promised in Scripture, God raises Messiah Jesus from death.

From Acts

4. As promised in Luke, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to empower believers to strive to enter the kingdom of God and “be saved” (2.33; Lk 13.24-30)
5. As promised in Luke, Israel’s redemption is fulfilled—by the thousands (2.4) upon thousands (4.4) upon thousands (21.20); these “rising within Israel” (Lk 2.34) become the promised “servant Israel” (Lk 1.54) to all the world, both Jew and Gentile (Acts 3.25).
6. As promised in Luke, the kingdom of God (not a “church”) becomes a reality (eg., 2.44-47; 4.32-37).

Purpose

To generate clarity about the questions, if not solutions, that follow from the tentative outline of events above, locating responses within an articulation of Luke-Act as a literary whole:

(a) Is Israel redeemed, according to Luke?

(b) Has the kingdom arrived, in however nascent a form, according to Luke?

(c) Given the gospel as the good news of the coming kingdom, is there any place, literarily, for “church” in Luke-Acts?

(d) If the longer version of the Passover meal is accepted (Lk 20.20), containing the word “covenant” for which Jesus pours out his blood, are there literary grounds for assuming (1) a covenant that is “new” in overturning the “old” covenant, or, (2) as in Acts 3.25, does the text assume the ancient covenant as continuing into the narrative’s present, re-newed by, for example, by the clarity Jesus brings to the Law upon which the covenant has always rested and through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.33) that enables covenant faithfulness and the striving to enter the kingdom required for salvation (Lk 13.24-30)?

(e) To what extent does Luke present Israel as redeemed, and how does this answer affect the idea of  “servant Israel,” the promises of the early poems of Luke, and the mission to the Gentiles in Acts?

Submissions are solicited on any aspect of this topic,  “The events that have been fulfilled among us: from Luke to Acts.”

Preference will be shown for those papers able to incorporate the standard rhetorical techniques of repetition utilized by authors from within a mostly preliterate oral culture (see Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative). 

A Short List of Luke & Acts Scholars

My own short list: Robert Tannehill’s 2-volume The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation (1986, 1990); Luke Timothy Johnson’s Luke (1991) and Acts (1992) in the Sacra Pagina series; all of the Luke and Acts studies by Joel B. Green; the various studies including articles of David Moessner; and my own The Way According to Luke: Hearing the Whole Story of Luke-Acts (2006).

If you have any questions or would like an overview essay of mine regarding the topic, please email me at [email protected].

Sincerely, and expectantly,

Prof. Paul Borgman
Guest Editor

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• Israel
• Kingdom
• Gospel
• Repentance
• Holy Spirit