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The Titles of Jesus in Luke

August 28, 2023 By Ryan Higginbottom

All authors employ names and titles to convey meaning in their work. The biblical writers are no exception.

I’m in the middle of a project examining the use of titles and names for Jesus in the Gospels. My first article laid out my methodology and looked at the top 10 titles of Jesus in the Gospels. I recently wrote about the titles of Jesus in Matthew and Mark, and today we turn to the Gospel of Luke.

Top 7 Titles

Luke uses 122 titles for Jesus. So while Luke contains 30.5% of the verses in the Gospels, it contains only 27.5% (122/443) of the titles.

Here are the top 7 titles in Luke. (I’ve included 7 instead of 5 because of equal numbers at the end of this list.)

Lord (35 times)
Son of Man (25 times)
teacher (13 times)
Christ (7 times)
Master (5 times)
Son (5 times)
Son of God (5 times)

Titles Used by Luke

Luke is notable in that he himself used titles for Jesus more than Matthew (10 times) or Mark (5 times). Luke referred to Jesus by a title 16 times. He called Jesus “Lord” 13 times, “Christ” two times, and “son (as was supposed) of Joseph” once.

Compared to the writers of the first two Gospels, it seems Luke had a favorite way of referring to Jesus. This is likely related to why that particular title is used so much by other characters in Luke’s Gospel.

Titles and Luke’s Purpose

Courtesy of my co-blogger Peter Krol, we have an abundance of resources on this website related to the Gospel of Luke. Most of these articles are linked from Peter’s Interpretive Overview of Luke.

Peter stated the main point of Luke this way.

The hope of Israel, God’s plan of salvation for the world, has arrived in Jesus.

Can we draw any connections between this main point and the titles of Jesus that Luke uses?

We must remember that Luke was a historian. He wrote these investigative accounts (Luke and Acts) to “most excellent Theophilus” so that he might “have certainty concerning the things [he has] been taught” (Luke 1:3-4).

In addition to being a historian, Luke was a companion of the apostle Paul. There are moments in the narrative of Acts (such as in chapter 21) where Luke’s account shifts from “they” to “we.”

I noted above that Luke himself used the title “Lord” for Jesus quite a bit in his Gospel (13 times). When I look at those occurrences, I can’t detect any trends or patterns. I can only conclude that “Lord” was simply a natural way for Luke to refer to Jesus.

And upon reflection, this makes sense, doesn’t it? Who better to write an accurate historical account of Jesus’s life and ministry—in addition to an account of his followers in the years after his death—than someone who called him “Lord”? Luke could masterfully write about God’s salvation for the world arriving in Jesus because that same salvation had come to him.

Luke was not a modern historian, writing in stuffy remove and objectivity. Luke wrote as an ancient historian—accurate, yes, but with an accuracy compelled by love of his subject.

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More Than Doing

August 25, 2023 By Peter Krol

How do you know when you’ve successfully applied the Bible to your life?

Of course, obedience is a life-long practice, which we’ll never be finished with. But when you are studying a passage of Scripture, how do you know when you have arrived at appropriate application? At what point can you say you’ve done enough study? You now know what you must go and do, and you’re ready to go and do it.

I think it depends on your definition of “doing.”

The Definition of “Doing”

In my experience leading Bible studies, one of the most common conceptions I find people have is that application = doing. As in, until you have something concrete and particular to add to your schedule or task list, you haven’t yet done application. And if a teacher doesn’t give you specific actions for your schedule or task list, that teacher hasn’t yet helped you with application.

So I find it crucial to remind people that application involves more than doing. Yes, the Bible often calls us to do something. But sometimes it calls us believe something. And sometimes it calls us to love or value something. All such calls could be properly labeled “application.”

To put it another way, application is not only about the hands but also about the head and the heart. All three spheres can be considered legitimate ways to apply the Scripture. One of them (hands) involves doing. But that’s not the only thing application involves.

Examples

We cannot improve on the sorts of applications the apostles themselves sought from their readers.

Of course, the apostles sometimes proposed hands (doing) applications:

Outdo one another in showing honor … contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Romans 12:10-13

Yet sometimes, the primary application they’re after is head application:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
1 Cor 3:16-18

And yet other times, they go for the heart. They want Christians to become people of character who receive and rest upon Jesus Christ and nothing else.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:30-31

Have At It

Of course, doing is one of the spheres, so I would never encourage you not to get applications on your schedule or task list.

But if a particular text lends itself more to believing or loving, have at it. Don’t feel guilty. Don’t conclude that you haven’t yet “applied” the Scripture.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
1 Thess 1:2-5

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Rescuing the One Anothers from our Presumptive Familiarity

August 23, 2023 By Peter Krol

The greatest enemy of observation is familiarity. When you think you know something, you stop trying to learn from or about it. Perhaps you understand that in theory, but what does it look like in the practice of our Bible study?

I recently published a piece on the Logos blog with “4 Tips for Reading the One Anothers in the Bible.” In this post, I evaluate the practice of mushing together the many “one-another” commands of the New Testament into an overarching framework for Christian ethics. Along the way, I attempt to show how our broad familiarity with these one-anothers as a whole has prevented us from properly understanding some of them.

What are the four tips?

Remember that you are reading someone else’s mail
Consider the historical context
Consider the train of thought
Focus on the main point

The article will explain these tips further, with examples along the way.

Check it out!

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No Need to Push; Just Blow

August 18, 2023 By Peter Krol

The climax of interpretation is to determine the author’s main point. And while there’s rarely a single, “correct” way to word the main point, some ways of phrasing it are more helpful than others.

Arrive at the Cliff’s Edge

As the climax of interpretation, the main point is the final rest stop before entering the territory of application. Your statement of the author’s main point represents the sum total of all your work to that point. The main point answers your most important why questions. And your main point ought to be 40-weeks-and-two-days pregnant with the answers to your most important so what questions.

As you craft your statement of the author’s main point, avoid the temptation to include everything the passage says. Your goal is not to include every thing but only to capture the main thing.

And the way you capture that main thing matters. Think of observation and interpretation as a high plateau covered in a dense forest. You’ve examined the trees, but you’ve grasped the way they fit together into that forest.

But at the edge of that forest is a cliff, dropping off into a vast canyon. That canyon represents application. And the closer your main point gets to that cliff’s edge, the better it is—both for yourself and those you lead in Bible study. Aim to get close enough to the cliff’s edge that you won’t need to push yourself or others too hard to get into application. All you have to do is blow, and you’ll all fall right into it.

In other words, your main point is the Roadrunner. Your goal in crafting a main point is to get that Wile E. Coyote (be he yourself or those you lead) out of the forest and up to the edge of the cliff. Even better, get him six feet out beyond the cliff’s edge. Once he realizes he’s there, all he needs to do is fall.

What This Looks Like

Your main point should be a clear, concise, and compelling statement of the truth of the text. You don’t want it to be obscure, such that nobody knows what it means. You don’t want it to be lengthy, such that nobody can hold it in mind. You don’t want it to be dry and dusty, such that nobody knows what to do with it.

You’re not inventing the idea; you’re only phrasing it in a compelling way. So your main point should clearly capture the truth of the text while also clearly implying a variety of applications.

For example, I could state the main point of Eph 4:1-16 as follows: “As a church, we must walk in the sort of unity worthy of God’s calling on us in Christ.” That would be true and accurate, scoring bonus points for using the very language of the passage. However, I can take the same truth and rephrase it in a more compelling way, getting myself and my people right up over the canyon of application: “Diversity shouldn’t divide the church.” Once I put it that way, I raise all kinds of questions about our church and what sorts of things we permit to divide us.

Let’s take Proverbs 30:1-6 for another example. I could state the main point as: “God’s Son and his Word communicate his truth and wisdom to us, providing refuge to the weary.” Or I could state it as: “You can find heaven’s wisdom on earth.” If we had more time to discuss it, I’m sure we could improve it even further.

One more example, from a narrative: 1 Kings 21. We could phrase the main point as: “God’s people were expelled like Amorites because their kings abused power and refused justice like Amorites.” That statement captures what this narrative gets at, especially regarding how it would have landed with the original audience. But perhaps another way to phrase the same truth for a modern audience (even if that “audience” is only myself) is: “Sellouts will be found out.”

No Need to Push; Just Blow

In each case, do you see how my rephrasing of the main point hangs us out right over the canyon of application? I won’t need to push myself or others into application. All I have to do is show how deep the canyon goes. And we’ll fall right in.

Each rephrased main point raises immediate questions about our current situation, need, or status. It begs us to ask more implicational questions. And it drives us toward proper belief, values, or action in service to Christ.

Next time you work on a passage, give yourself some time to think long and hard about the main point. Not only what it is but how to phrase it. See how far you can get yourself off the cliff of interpretation and out over the canyon of application. Of course, without actually turning the main point into any particular application. This takes quite a bit of thought, but the effort is extraordinarily rewarding. Your future self—entrusted with the business of applying this text to life—will thank you.

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The Tightrope of Bible Application

August 16, 2023 By Peter Krol

For a few months I’ve been writing on the importance and the process of determining the author’s main point in Bible study. And one reason we should care about the main point is because of how dramatically it affects the way we apply the Bible.

To explain this further, I recently wrote for the Logos blog a piece called “Legalism, License, and the Tightrope of Bible Application.” Here is a taste:

So you want to apply the Bible to your life, do you?

That’s wonderful news, since the Lord Jesus (Matt 7:21–27) and his apostles (Jas 1:22–25) want you and me not only to hear the word but also to do it. But what should that “doing” look like?

Sometimes people warn of the danger of creating behavioral rules to either attain or maintain God’s favor. And at other times, people warn of cheap grace, where the gospel’s freedom is misunderstood to mean repentance is unnecessary. The tug-of-war between these perspectives may cause Bible application to feel like crossing a lava pit on a tightrope.

Both sets of warnings are on to something; the dangers on either side are real. And both sets of dangers may have the same solution: holding fast to the main points of biblical texts.

In the piece, I show how holding fast to the author’s main points provide a safeguard against drifting into either legalism or license in our application of Scripture. I’d love to know if you find my case persuasive.

Check it out!

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The Titles of Jesus in Mark

August 14, 2023 By Ryan Higginbottom

Picture filled with name tag stickers containing different names — Travis Wise (2014), Creative Commons License

All authors employ names and titles to convey meaning in their work. The biblical writers are no exception.

Top 5 Titles

There are 61 titles used for Jesus in Mark, accounting for 13.8% of the titles used for Jesus in all four Gospels combined. As Mark contains 17.9% of the verses in the Gospels, we see that there are fewer titles in Mark than we might expect.

Here are the top five titles in Mark.

Son of Man (14 times)
teacher (12 times)
king of the Jews (5 times)
Christ (4 times)
Rabbi (4 times)

The title “Lord” is missing from this list, as it is only used twice in Mark compared to 23 times in Matthew. (“Lord” is the second most-used title in Matthew.) We see “the king of the Jews” only show up toward the end of Mark; it is used three times by Pilate, once by the Roman soldiers, and once on the inscription above the cross.

Titles Used by Mark

The author of this Gospel himself used a title for Jesus five times. He called Jesus the “Son of Man” twice and referred to him as “Christ,” “Son of God,” and “Lord” one time each.

We should not skip past these references simply because they are small in number, as two of these titles occupy a key position in the book. Here is the beginning of Mark’s Gospel.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

As Peter Krol has shown in his interpretive overview of Mark, the two titles in this opening verse (“Christ” and “Son of God”) give a road map for the book. Mark aims to show his readers that Jesus is both the Christ (the Messiah) and the Son of God (the rightful king).

Titles and Mark’s Purpose

When writing about the titles of Jesus, I have emphasized that we cannot learn everything about a Gospel by looking at this small bit of linguistic accounting. And Mark’s writing provides an excellent example.

When Peter wrote about Mark for our feeding the 5000 and resurrection of Jesus series, he noted that Mark is more of a show you book than a tell you book. In other words, Mark uses narrative more than discourse to get his points across.

If this is true, then it shouldn’t be a surprise that Mark contains relatively few titles of Jesus. Many of the times when a character refers to Jesus by a title, it is in the context of a dialogue (often “Lord” in Matthew) or it precedes some extended instruction from Jesus (often “teacher” in Matthew). If Mark uses these narrative tools less frequently, then the use of titles will decrease as well.

But what about Mark’s main point? If he wanted to stress that Jesus is the king, wouldn’t we see more royal titles?

Again, Mark just doesn’t use titles very much. We have “king of the Jews” in the top five, but this is used questioningly or ironically each time.

I will write a separate post on this in the near future, but “Son of Man”—the most frequently used title in Mark—is a royal title. We often assume that “son of God” emphasizes Jesus’s divinity while “son of Man” emphasizes his humanity, but the difference is not quite this easy. Some scholars might even say that “son of Man” is the more exalted, divine title of the two.

While there are some interesting details to notice in Mark regarding the titles of Jesus, this book is a good reminder that titles were never meant to tell us everything. Names and titles are crucial observations to make when studying a passage, but we had better not stop there if we want to understand an author’s meaning!

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The Whole is Not Less Than the Sum of the Parts

August 11, 2023 By Peter Krol

I agree with the conventional wisdom that the whole of something is greater than the sum of the parts. But that yields a crucial implication we might easily overlook: the whole must then not be less than the sum of the parts.

In other words, the “whole” and the “parts” are not independent categories, with no relationship to one another. If we focus on the parts with no grasp of the whole, we’re on the wrong track. And at the same time, if our understanding of the whole has nothing to do with the parts, we’re likewise not where we wanna be.

What does this have to do with Bible study?

closed brown wooden door — Photo by Xain Sheikh on Pexels.com

The Main Point is the “Whole”

Perhaps the most important step in the Bible study process is to determine the author’s main point. Without grasping that, we’re swimming in a sea of detail, subject to being blown in uncertain directions. For example, by failing to grasp the main point, Jehovah’s Witnesses can use the Scripture to “prove” that Jesus is not God, and evangelicals can use the Scripture to claim that Christ’s strengthening is for athletic or business performance.

Observations are the “Parts”

The parts of the passage are the things we notice first. The things we must take note of when we open the text and examine it. We can observe repeated words, logical connectors, names and titles, subjects and main verbs, genre, mood, and structure. There are many, many details to observe in a passage. So many, that we may never exhaust them in a given study.

Whole Greater Than Parts

The purpose of observation (noticing what it says) is to eventually move into competent interpretation (figuring out why it says it). The peak of interpretation is figuring out the author’s main point. Until we get to that main point, we have not yet grasped the text’s own message. We might discern some truth in the text, but we haven’t grasped the truth of the text.

Therefore, the author’s main point is more important than any particular observation or group of observations. This is why our connection to Christ works best from the main point and not incidental details. This is also why our application will be strongest when it flows from the main point and not from incidental details.

The whole (main point) is greater than the sum of the parts (any particular observations).

Whole Not Less Than Parts

However, we must remember that the main point is not something of our own invention. The main point is not something altogether different from the detailed observations. Every detail is there on purpose. The author chose to include some details and exclude others in order to communicate his main idea. So my concept of the main point must be related in some way to any and every detail in the text.

The following maxim helps me to “check my work” on the main point:

If the main point really is the main point, you should be able to make any observation and I must explain how it contributes to that main point.

What I mean is that if my conception of the main point is truly the author’s main point, then I must be able to explain any (perhaps every) detail in light of its role in communicating that main point. So I can put my main point out there for testing by inviting others to push back with concrete observations of the text. “If you think that’s the main point, then how do you explain…?”

This is quite a fun discussion to have in small group Bible studies. Once the group has come up with a provisional main point, invite group members to assault that main point with observations. Together, they can test and evaluate the strength of the proposed main point.

An Example

For example, I proposed a few weeks ago that the main point of Ephesians 4 is that diversity shouldn’t divide the church, but when it does, stop thinking about it the way Gentiles do. Someone may come along and ask: “If that’s the case, then why does he quote Psalm 68 in Eph 4:8? And what’s with all the talk about Jesus ascending and descending in Eph 4:9-10?”

And I’d respond: “That’s a great question!” And then I’d explain:

The quote of Psalm 68 (and its explanation in the next two verses) is there to provide reason or motivation for the main thesis of Eph 4:1-3, that Christians should express their calling by living in unity.
The first reason given to motivate obedience is the one-one-oneness of Eph 4:4-6, perhaps highlighting the unity of the diverse Trinity (Spirit … Lord … Father).
The second reason given to motivate obedience is the gracious gifts of Christ to his church. Jesus came down and went up (like the Ark of the Covenant in Psalm 68) to “fill all things,” so that all things would be united in him (larger thesis from Eph 1:10). He now brings diverse people together by giving them the spoils of his victory: their church leaders past (apostles, prophets) and present (evangelists, shepherds and teachers). Those leader-gifts now equip the people for works of service to build one another up in love.

So the quote of Psalm 68 supports the main point by providing a crucial piece of evidence from the Old Testament that exposes the need for the Messiah to give gifts that will serve the end of church unity.

Try This at Home

When you study a passage and come up with a proposed statement of the author’s main point, test your work by prodding it with a few random observations. Can you explain how the parts fit together to create that whole? Because though the whole is greater than the parts, it certainly is not any less than the parts. The whole must bud organically from the parts.

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Guidance for Psalms

August 9, 2023 By Peter Krol

Ian Hamilton wants you to know 3 things about the Psalms.

The book of Psalms was written over a period of one thousand years.
Approximately 40 percent of the psalms are laments.
The Psalms are all about God’s promised Messiah-King, Jesus Christ.

In only a few minutes, his brief article will provide a wealth of guidance to help you grasp the big picture of this glorious book of poems.

The Psalms portray the life of faith with searing honesty. They poignantly remind us that the pattern of death and resurrection that was etched into the holy humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ is the pattern that the Holy Spirit seeks to replicate in the lives of all God’s children. The book of Psalms is a divinely inspired songbook that reflects the highs and lows, the triumphs and tragedies, of God’s covenant people over a millennium. John Calvin described the Psalms as “an anatomy of all the parts of the soul.” Let us sing the Savior’s songbook, lest we risk impoverishing our worship and robbing ourselves of the rich spirituality contained within its songs.

Check it out!

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Why Summaries are Not the Same as Main Points

August 4, 2023 By Peter Krol

I want you to understand that you can get the main point of a Bible passage you’re studying. That’s why, in addition to providing some techniques, I’ve given you a number of examples from different text types in the Bible.

Before we move into application, there’s one last thing you should know about main points: They are not the same as summaries.

one black chess piece separated from red pawn chess pieces — Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Definitions

An accurate summary may be the climax of observation, but a main point is the climax of interpretation. A summary states what the passage says; a main point states what the passage means. A summary describes what happens; a main point captures the text’s essential argument.

A summary of Prov 31:10-31 might be “a description of a virtuous woman,” but the main point is to show what sort of woman is worthy of praise.

A summary of Luke 18:1-30 might be “parables and conversations about prayer, righteousness, and the kingdom of God,” but the main point is that the kingdom of God comes when people humble themselves, receive it as children, and leave some things to gain everything.

A summary of Ephesians 4 might be “unity in the body of Christ, and the new life,” but the main point is that diversity shouldn’t divide the church; but when it does, stop thinking about it the way Gentiles do

Uses

Why does this distinction matter?

Sometimes folks who study the Bible mistake the main point for a summary. They put in the work of analyzing a text and they can outline its contents. But it’s dangerous to then take those contents and attempt to apply them, because they have little rational basis for applying them in one way and not another.

A summary is most helpful when you need to find something or remember where it’s located in the Scriptures. (“There’s a great parable about two men who prayed to God from a desire to be righteous before him. Let’s take a look at Luke 18 to see how that worked out for them.”) But a main point is crucial when it comes time to provoke change unto Christlikeness.

We’re on shaky ground if we apply only select details of a text to our lives. It’s shaky because it’s possible to go in nearly any direction with application. Using only the details enables us to steer the ship of our own lives on a heading most pleasing to us.

But the best way to express submission to the Scripture and the Holy Spirit who inspired them is to grasp the author’s main point. Then there’s nowhere to hide and we must give account to the one who exposes our every thought, word, and deed.

That’s right: A clear grasp of the author’s main point is the best way to ensure your application is clear, direct, and organically arising from the text and not from your own invention.

An Example

For example, Genesis 1 clearly teaches about the creation of the world. There’s your summary of the chapter: The creation of the world. But until we can explain—from the text!—why this chapter narrates the creation of the world in the way it does, we have not yet grappled with the author’s agenda. His message. His main point.

So if all we come away with is “the creation of the world,” then we can apply the text in all sorts of ways. We can expect folks to line up with a particular view of how the creation took place. We can promote it as something to be taught in schools. We can debate the findings or usefulness of scientific theories based on their relationship to the details of Genesis 1.

Please note: I am not saying that any of those applications are necessarily bad things to do. I would argue only that they are somewhat ancillary to the author’s main message. Therefore, we’re in danger of putting most of our attention on things other than the thing the Lord wanted us to get from this text. And the Lord Jesus tends not to look favorably on those who ignore the “weightier matters” of his word in favor of secondary matters, however true those secondary matters might be.

In my book Knowable Word, I argue that the main point of Genesis 1 is that God’s creative work sets a pattern for human dominion of the earth—a pattern of illuminating, shaping, and filling. Every detail in the text moves the reader in this direction. I would argue that God certainly did the creation the way he describes it in this chapter; this is neither theological poetry nor historical fiction. However, the mechanics of the act of creation are not the main thing; the main thing is the pattern set for humanity.

Once we recognize the author’s intent to establish a divine pattern for human dominion—for the way life on earth was designed to work best—we’re ready to develop robust application for any community, anywhere in the world. We’ll understand how this pattern becomes the template for evaluating what happens to humanity in the rest of Genesis, and the rest of the Bible. And we’ll take greater delight in the Lord Jesus who lived out the pattern on behalf of his people and now transforms them to follow him in it.

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How to Respond When People Treat the Bible Like a Code to Crack

August 2, 2023 By Peter Krol

I really appreciate this recent piece by Mark Ward entitled “The Secret Meaning of YHWH.” He responds to a widely shared social media post about how each Hebrew letter has a particular “meaning,” leading the posted to identify the meaning of the Lord’s name as “Behold the nails in my hands.”

When such “deeper” or “secret” meanings of Scripture get circulated, how ought we to respond? How does one evaluate or rebut such claims?

Ward’s primary approach is to show what sort of absurdity results when the method is applied to other biblical words or sentences. By this method, God’s title Adonai must mean “Ox door serpent hand.” And the secret meaning of Genesis 1:1 is “The house’s head ox had a tooth in his arm—marked with a house head ox, in fact. And an ox goad in the window had a hand on the water ox. But, mark well, the window tooth also had a water arm, a water hook, and an ox mark window. Ox heads are papyrus plants.”

Ward show us how to respond to such theories with grace and kindness—along with a strong dose of reality. Remember that studying the Bible is not code breaking.

Check it out!

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