Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

Copyright © 2012–2025 DiscipleMakers, except guest articles (copyright author). Used by permission.

You are here: Home / Archives for Overview

The Difference Between Job and His Three Friends

By

The book of Job is about more than suffering; it’s about how to fear God through suffering. Let’s see how this main point plays out in the debates between Job and his three friends.

The Debates

CALI (2011), Creative Commons

CALI (2011), Creative Commons

At the end of Job 2, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar enter stage left. The play unfolds as each man gives a long speech, and Job responds to each with a speech of his own.

  • Eliphaz, Job, Bildad, Job, Zophar, Job.
  • Repeat: Eliphaz, Job, Bildad, Job, Zophar, Job.
  • Repeat: Eliphaz, Job, Bildad, Job…

The third cycle gets cut short, and Zophar never gets his third moment of fame.

I won’t list the main points speech-by-speech; I encourage you to marinate in the poetry and discover the main ideas for yourself. But I want to highlight the main threads that amaze me.

The Friends

Eliphaz is sensitive, Bildad is logical, and Zophar is hot-headed. Their personalities clearly vary, but they are still cut from the same strip of papyrus. They have one Ace in their collective hole, and they’re not afraid to use it every which way they can.

Good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people. God is holy, righteous, and good, and he will not allow his cosmic order to be upset by some self-righteous upstart like Job. On the last day, our good deeds will be weighed against our bad deeds, and God will treat us as our actions deserve. There is a place for the wicked, one filled with loneliness, despair, and terror. But it is not possible for bad things to happen to good people. And consequently, it will never be possible for God to find a way to justify the wicked.

Job begins with this same worldview, and Eliphaz begins the cycle by gently reminding him of what he already knows (Job 4:2-5). In fact, Eliphaz claims, this system of belief is what it means to fear God. And such fear of God should be Job’s confidence (Job 4:6).

Eliphaz will not be so gentle by the time he’s done with Job. He’ll accuse Job of having no true fear of God (Job 22:4), but of bereaving others, withholding generosity, and crushing the helpless (Job 22:5-11).

These three friends exhaust their arguments and end up in the same place where they began (compare Job 25:4 with Job 4:17). There are different angles on the same principles, but there is no development of their thought. Perhaps that’s why Zophar has nothing to add in the third cycle. Their tone may change as they go, but their belief does not.

Job

Job, however, goes through a radical transformation. He begins in the same place as his friends (Job 4:2-5), but he will not stay there. He knows he is innocent, and yet he’s suffering terribly. This blows up everything he thought he knew about God. Notice how his thought progresses through his eight speeches:

  • Job 7:8-10: God won’t see me anymore after I’m dead.
  • Job 9:32-33: I wish I could speak to God in person, but there is no mediator to go between us and make it possible.
  • Job 14:7-17: My suffering would have a purpose if I could die and have God’s wrath pass me by. Then he could resurrect me and forget all my iniquity. But that will never happen (Job 14:18-22).
  • Job 16:18-22: Since I am innocent and God is good, there must be a mediator between God and me! My witness is in heaven, he who will argue my case before God as a son of man does with his neighbor!
  • Job 19:23-27: Since my Redeemer lives, resurrection must also be possible! Like the dual keys required to launch a nuke, these companion truths of a mediator and a resurrection unlock Job’s hope for the first time in the book. “My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:27).
  • Job 21:7-9, 29-33: God often allows the wicked to prosper. He can do as he pleases.
  • Job 23:8-17: Though he utterly terrifies me, all I want is to see God.
  • Job 26:6-7: Even if I die, I will be laid bare and visible before God.

Though the friends end up in the same place they begin, Job does not. He has completely changed his mind.

The Main Difference

The main difference between Job and his friends is not that Job suffers and they do not. Nor is it that Job understands suffering in a way they do not. The main difference is that Job fears God and they do not.

While Job’s suffering provides the raw material for their debate, the heart of their conflict is over what it means to fear God (Job 4:6, 6:14, 13:11-16, 15:4, 22:4, 23:14-17, etc.). The message of this book is not so much about how to deal with suffering as about how to fear God, even through suffering.

Without the fear of God, one must hold to a religious system of cosmic karma, where we’re good with God as long as we try to be good people. But the true fear of God acknowledges the possibility – no, the necessity – of innocent, substitutionary suffering. If a really, really good person can suffer terrible things, then maybe, just maybe, the wicked can somehow be justified and made right with God.

But it all hangs on both a Redeemer who lives and a tenacious hope of resurrection.

What is the Book of Job About?

By

I wish I could poll the Christian world to answer the question, “What is the book of Job about?” And I would eat my freshly shorn grass clippings if I didn’t get a nearly unanimous answer: SUFFERING. But that answer would not be right. Well, it might be half-right, but not nearly so right as we’ve been led to believe.

Patty Mooney (2009), Creative Commons

Patty Mooney (2009), Creative Commons

Of course Job suffers. But the suffering itself moves off-stage after two chapters. The body of the book is written as a play in 5 acts, filled with many characters waxing eloquently about Job’s suffering. Perhaps the point is more about how to talk about suffering. And perhaps that’s why most readers race from chapter 2 to chapter 38 and never look back. Nobody, myself included, feels comfortable when talking about a real person’s real suffering.

I’ve read this book at least 25 times in my life, but until this year I’ve never taken the time to study and consider the speeches chapter-by-chapter. I can’t believe all I’ve missed.

The Setup

First, let’s not forget how Job got into this mess. Job fears God and turns away from evil (Job 1:1), and for that reason, when Satan goes looking for trouble in all the wrong places, God draws a bull’s-eye on his main man (Job 1:7-8, 2:2-3). Make no mistake: God draws Satan’s attention to Job, because Job fears God. If that fact doesn’t terrify you, I don’t know what will.

Second, consider what’s at stake here. Both the narrator (once) and God (twice) unequivocally assert Job’s fear of God (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3). And this fear is the very thing Satan calls into question: “Does Job fear God for no reason?” (Job 1:9). Satan places his bet: “Job doesn’t really fear God; he just loves the nice things God gives him. Take those things away, and his ‘fear of God’ will melt into face-to-face cursing of God” (paraphrase of Job 1:10-11, 2:4-5). God goes all in: “Game on” (Job 1:12, 2:6).

The narrator’s key question is this: Will Job still fear God when he loses everything he loves?

Job’s Fear

Job takes up his lament in chapter 3 with his own key question: Why is this happening to me? He knows nothing of God’s bet with Satan. He has no explanation for his loss, his bereavement, or his pain. He curses the day of his birth and the night of his conception (Job 3:1-7). He even asks others to join him in cursing that day and that night (Job 3:8).

But when he turns to consider God, he has no curse. He has only questions filled with dread (Job 3:20-26).

The Play’s Structure

As I mentioned, Job is a play in 5 acts, with a narrative prologue and epilogue. We struggle with this book for the same reasons we struggle with Shakespeare: it’s old, it’s a play, and it’s poetry. But delve this mine, and its riches will mesmerize you.

Narrative Prologue: Job suffers because he fears God – Job 1-2

Act I: Job curses his life, but still fears God – Job 3

Act II: Job and three friends debate over what it means to fear God – Job 4-26

Act III: Job meditates on the beginning of wisdom: the fear of God – Job 27-28

Act IV: Job delivers his concluding speech, and a fourth friend challenges him to excel still more in fearing God – Job 29-37

Act V: God shows up, and Job’s fear of him reaches new heights – Job 38:1-42:6

Narrative Epilogue: This dangerous Deity puts the fear of God in Job’s friends and implicitly takes the blame for Job’s suffering – Job 42:7-17

The prologue and epilogue obviously parallel one another. Acts I and V have much parallel language (for example, Job calls on those who rouse up Leviathan – Job 3:8, and God rouses up Leviathan – Job 41). Acts II and IV have Job interacting with his friends.

The book’s structural and thematic center lies in chapters 27-28, with Job’s condemnation of his friends and his praise of the fear of God as the beginning of wisdom.

Job’s Place in the Old Testament

The book of Job is traditionally considered one of the wisdom books. We should expect its main idea to have something to do with wisdom.

  • Proverbs describes the way of wisdom, beginning with the fear of the Lord.
  • Ecclesiastes describes the difficulty of wisdom: our duty is to fear the Lord, even when we can’t understand what God is doing under the sun.
  • Job provides a case study in the fear of the Lord despite desperate and inscrutable circumstances.

Conclusion

Yes, Job has much to say to help those who suffer. But the book’s main point is more focused: What does it mean to fear the Lord when you suffer? Next week, I’ll look more closely at the debates in Job 4-26 to show how the fear of the Lord paves the way for the amazing gospel of free grace through Jesus Christ.

How to Navigate the Middle of Luke

By

Of the four New Testament gospels, Luke’s is the lengthiest. And in my opinion, the longest section within the book (Luke 9:51-19:27) is the most challenging to get through. It can feel aimless and meandering, almost as though Luke indulges his personal wanderlust without a clear purpose or organization.

Image by Ales Krivec from Pixabay

Literary Stasis

At least his second volume, the book of Acts, can be organized according to travel sequences. The gospel moves out in waves from Jerusalem, into Judea, then Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. And “the ends of the earth” section is commonly subdivided into Paul’s first, second, and third missionary journeys, with a voyage to Rome appended to the end.

But in Luke, Jesus simply commits himself to going to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), and then he finally goes up to Jerusalem (Luke 19:28). And nothing really happens plot-wise in the intervening 10 chapters. There is a lot of talking and meandering, with occasional reminders that Jesus is “on the way.” But very few narrative events take place. And they are the sort of events that don’t typically show up on a summary timeline of the life of Christ.

There’s a funny thing about these 10 chapters. In a sense, Luke could have gone without them. Luke more or less puts Jesus into a literary stasis, frozen in the act of traveling toward Jerusalem (with almost no named stops along the way). And Luke’s overall themes could function without this part of the book. In Luke 1:1-4:13, Luke presents Jesus as, himself, the salvation of God. In Luke 4:14-9:50, Jesus proclaims the coming salvation of God through himself. And in Luke 19:28 to the end, Jesus goes and accomplishes the salvation of God. Luke could have jumped right from Luke 9:51 to Luke 19:28 without the intervening material, and the book would still have made sense.

The “parenthetical” nature of Luke 9:51-19:27 is so stark that commentators even have a label for it. They tend to call this section of Luke “The Travelogue” or “The Travel Narrative.”

What further sense can we make of this literary stasis?

Literary Divisions

It appears that Luke divides this large section into four sub-sections.* His literary signal, to show the beginning of a new sub-section, is a reminder that the plot is still frozen and Jesus is still “on the way” to Jerusalem.

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Luke 9:51

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village.

Luke 10:38

He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

Luke 13:22

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.

Luke 17:11

In each case, Luke makes sure to remind us that Jesus is “on the way” to Jerusalem. And then, almost immediately, somebody asks Jesus a weighty question. And Luke spends the rest of the section showing us how Jesus answered the question.

So the pattern to mark each sub-section is as follows:

  1. Luke reminds us that Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem.
  2. Somebody asks a weighty question.
  3. The following collection of scenes and dialogues answers the question.

For example, in the first section (Luke 9:51-10:37), James and John ask Jesus if he wants them to call down fire from heaven on an unresponsive village (Luke 9:54). Jesus rebukes them, and then he calls another disciple to “go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60). The rest of the section describes the plan for such proclamation.

In the second section (Luke 10:38-13:21), Martha asks Jesus whether he cares that her sister has left her to serve alone (Luke 10:40). She asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her with the work. Jesus tells Martha that he absolutely cares about what Mary has done, and that Mary has actually chosen the better portion—to sit at his feet and grow closer to him. The rest of the section describes the process for such growth in the lives of those who will sit at Jesus’ feet. We get instruction about such practical topics as the Holy Spirit, prayer, tradition, money management, and repentance.

At the start of the third section (Luke 13:22-17:10), a random person asks Jesus if those who are saved will be few (Luke 13:23). Jesus acknowledges that they will, in fact, be few. And very many will strive to enter the kingdom but will find themselves weeping outside. The rest of the section shows a great concern for how many will get in and how many will be left out.

At the start of the fourth section (Luke 17:11-19:27), the Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom of God will come (Luke 17:20). Jesus claims that it has already arrived, but they are simply unable to recognize it for what it is. The rest of the section then describes how to recognize the kingdom, how it is already upon us, and how most Jews of that generation are just about out of time to enter it.

Summary

In summary, this lengthy section of Luke, this literary stasis, could be called “The Life of Discipleship.” This large section describes life in the kingdom of God, the life of those who would be his disciples. Luke freezes the plot to draw out the implications of what he’s told us so far in the book. What is Jesus really after? How would he describe the results he expects from his salvation? When does he expect things to play out? And what sort of people does he want his followers to be?

This lengthy section concerns four main topics:

  1. How we must proclaim his kingdom (Luke 9:51-10:37)
  2. How to grow as citizens of the kingdom (Luke 10:38-13:21)
  3. Who is a true citizen, and who is not (Luke 13:22-17:10)
  4. How to recognize that the kingdom has, in fact, come through Jesus (Luke 17:11-19:27)

Now that you grasp this skeleton, perhaps you can make more sense of the meandering parables and dialogues found there. We find some of Jesus’ most famous parables here (e.g. good Samaritan, lost sheep, prodigal son, Pharisee and tax collector, rich fool, and rich man and Lazarus). Perhaps you’ll grasp these parables—and other familiar texts—more clearly when you consider them within the context of their sub-section.

* For these structural insights, I am indebted to William Taylor’s marvelous two-volume study guide on Luke in the Read Mark Learn series (Christian Focus, 2016 & 2018).

Amazon links are affiliate links; clicking them and making a purchase will help us to indulge our wanderlust through the Bible.

The Main Point of Luke’s Gospel

By

Would you like to study Luke’s gospel? Whether you do it for your own edification or to lead a group of friends or students, you must grasp the big picture. Fail to grasp the big picture, and you will get the pieces wrong.

Too often, we study the Bible like we’re United States Navy SEALs. We infiltrate the book via HALO—high altitude, low opening—jump (learn just enough about the book’s basic historical background). We parachute in to the landing zone (the chosen text) and conduct our mission to secure the asset (a nugget of truth or practical application). We then pursue extraction under cover of darkness and radio HQ with the “all clear” (bridging contexts from the ancient world to today).

And we do this week after week, chapter after chapter, without coming away with any real grasp on the argument made by the author, or his intentions for his original audience. Therefore, like Navy SEALs, we can accomplish a narrowly-defined mission. But we haven’t taken the time to assimilate to the culture we’re infiltrating. We don’t understand that foreign nation’s political process, class consciousness, economic aspirations, folk tales, or hopes and dreams for the future. We’re not able to represent the interests of this foreign land (in this case, the book of Luke) nor serve as competent ambassadors to our own (as we seek to apply this ancient text in our setting).

Image by Günther Schneider from Pixabay

What’s at Stake

You’ve probably got some favorite or familiar passages from Luke. Maybe you’ve taught or preached them to various audiences.

  • The Christmas story
  • Simeon’s and Anna’s testimony regarding the infant Jesus
  • Jesus’ preaching of Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth
  • Simon’s great catch of fish
  • The good Samaritan
  • Martha serving while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet
  • Sending out the 70
  • Repent or perish
  • The prodigal son
  • The rich man and Lazarus
  • The disabled woman healed
  • The Last Supper
  • The crucifixion
  • The resurrection
  • Walking down the road to Emmaus
  • Explaining the Old Testament to the disciples

But can you confidently or competently explain what Luke meant by these episodes? Can you explain how they fit into his structure, or how they drive his main idea home? Can you identify why Luke cared enough to include these stories, or why Luke’s take on them differs from that of other gospel writers?

If the answer to any of those questions is “no,” how can you be certain you haven’t been using these stories the way a drunk uses a lamppost—more for support than for illumination? Can you be sure these words have been speaking to you, and you haven’t been dictating to them?

Rounding Up the Data

This is why I’ve spent many weeks overviewing this lengthiest of all New Testament books. That length can be daunting enough to dissuade us from a full-book overview and make us more comfortable to simply parachute in to a chapter here and a chapter there.

So here is where we’ve been so far in this overview:

Let me remind you of the train-of-thought outline I proposed for the book:

  1. Christianity is on trial, and this orderly account will help you to be certain regarding what you’ve heard about the movement – 1:1-4
  2. The Defendant’s Credentials – 1:5-4:13
    1. The Salvation of God – 1-2
    2. The Son of God – 3:1-4:13
  3. The Defendant’s Fundamentals – 4:14-9:50
    1. His Teaching – 4:14-6:49
    2. His Offer of Salvation Through Faith – 7:1-8:56
    3. His Followers – 9:1-50
  4. The Defendant’s Goals – 9:51-19:27
    1. Proclaiming His Kingdom – 9:51-10:37
    2. Growing His Kingdom – 10:38-13:21
    3. Numbering His Citizens – 13:22-17:10
    4. Timing His Kingdom – 17:11-19:27
  5. The Defendant’s Vindication – 19:28-24:53
    1. Judaism is Guilty – 19:28-21:38
    2. Jesus is Innocent – 22:1-23:56
    3. Israel’s Salvation has Arrived – 24:1-53

Proposing a Main Point

All that work leads me to the following main point:

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

Now I’m not saying that I’ve found the perfect or the absolute best way to state Luke’s main point that couldn’t be improved upon. It’s still possible that I’ve missed something or could refine this further. This sentence simply represents an effort to pull together all the data and be as clear and succinct as possible.

But as far as I can tell from my study, this statement captures the essence of what Luke aims to communicate. It encapsulates the entire train of thought from the book’s structure. It takes account of both primary (Theophilus) and secondary audiences (children of Abraham). It fits with the very purposes we can reconstruct from Luke’s intentions.

As we now study any and every passage within the gospel, we should be able to see how that passage advances Luke’s agenda. Some passages will riff on the hope of Israel. Others will expound on that hope as God’s plan of salvation. Others will direct our attention to see this hope of Israel being not merely for Israel but for the world. And yet others will land on the person of Jesus being himself the arrival point for all these hopes.

But when we consider each passage’s placement in the structure of the argument, and how that placement serves the overall agenda—we’ll be in the best place possible to grasp the author’s intent in that passage. Let’s not read our favorite stories from Luke in a vacuum, as though they were dropped from heaven for our next Sunday school lesson.

Let’s make sure we’ll have no need to be ashamed, because we handle these words of truth rightly.

The Usefulness of Luke’s Gospel

By

I’ve now written a number of posts presenting an overview of Luke’s gospel. I’ve addressed numerous background issues, but not simply for historical knowledge. My purpose has been to lay the groundwork for a fruitful study of Luke’s gospel. And for such study to bear fruit, we must be able to grasp the main point of the entire book. All the discussion on genre, audience, occasion, and structure has been working to this end: proposing a main point for the book.

And I have one last issue to cover before I can finally propose that main point. How did Luke expect his book to be used?

Two Audiences, Two Uses

As I’ve covered so far, Luke has at least two audiences in mind. His primary, explicit audience is the Roman official named Theophilus, serving some role or other in the Apostle Paul’s trial before Caesar (Luke 1:1-4). And the secondary, implicit audience is the Jews—both ethnic Jews who need to repent before it’s too late, and spiritual Jews, who become such by trusting in Christ.

So it’s not difficult to imagine two main ways Luke might expect people to make use of his book.

Image by Ольга Фоломеева from Pixabay

He wants Theophilus to read, understand, and consider the evidence in support of Paul’s innocence. Luke wants him to corroborate the testimony, check out the source documents, and confirm the facts. In short, Luke writes his book in order to defend Paul.

And he also wants those who would be children of Abraham to read, understand, and consider the evidence in support of Christianity’s legitimacy. Luke wants both Jews and Gentiles to corroborate the testimony, check out the source documents, and confirm the facts. In short, Luke writes his book in order to defend Christianity.

For more information, you may be interested in checking out Daniel Wallace’s overview article on Luke which argues further for this dual purpose of Luke’s gospel.

Two-fold Usefulness

With Paul on trial, Christianity is on trial. And Luke (and the Holy Spirit who inspired him) feels no embarrassment going on record in the Roman court system to stake his claim that this movement is the real deal. Christianity’s God is real. Christianity’s beginnings are real. Christianity’s truth claims are real. And Christianity’s ringleaders are trustworthy.

Luke expects his work to be cross-examined and thoroughly vetted. So go right ahead. Consider these claims. Look for holes in the testimony. Review the cited documentation. Give it your best shot; Luke is not afraid of political, historical, or scientific verification. He’s presented his material in an orderly fashion to make it easier to cross-examine and verify.

And in the end, the evidence will, in fact, show two things:

  1. Paul is innocent.
  2. Salvation is here.

The first conclusion is of historical interest to Luke. He wants his friend to go free.

The second conclusion is of apologetic interest to Luke. He wants the world to be saved from sin and attain to the hope of resurrection.

With this in mind, we’re ready to finally craft a main point for the book. I plan to do so next week, when I’ll also show how the main point ought to guide your study of each passage on your way through the book.

Why Study Ezra

By

Have you ever read Ezra? Have you bothered to study it? If not, Jesse Johnson thinks you should.

After explaining one of the Bible’s most incredible prophecies (Isaiah 44:24-45:1), Johnson says this about Ezra:

The proclamation is that Israel would return, and is what is fulfilled in the book of Ezra.

Ezra is worth studying because it is a full-color illustration of Yahweh’s sovereignty. Nearly every chapter speaks of the meticulous application of that sovereignty for the purpose of rebuilding Israel. Nehemiah will focus on rebuilding Jerusalem’s physical architecture, but before God gets to that, Ezra first describes the rebuilding of Israel’s spiritual architecture, namely the temple and the priests.

The most remarkable thing about the book of Ezra is that despite their zeal in the return, and despite the miraculous nature of God’s prophetic word, the return doesn’t go well. In fact, it ends in failure.

He concludes:

Study the book of Ezra. As you do, the more you are in awe of God’s meticulous sovereignty, let that impress upon you that for those apart from Christ, they don’t need a miracle. They don’t need a new start. They need a new heart, which only comes through New Covenant.

This analysis is great. Check it out!

The Structure of Luke’s Gospel

By

Luke wrote a two-volume history of the early Christian movement to Theophilus, a Roman official who likely had some role in Paul’s trial before Caesar. The charges against Paul guided Luke in his selection of themes, and led him to appeal to the Jews to turn around before their doom fell upon them.

So how does Luke structure his gospel? How does he arrange his material in order to persuade both the Romans to acquit Paul and the world (including Jews) to receive God’s salvation?

Major Divisions

Matthew uses five major speeches to shape his gospel. Mark uses disciples and predictions. John uses signs and conversations. But Luke’s primary mechanism for signaling literary divisions is his use of setting, especially geography.

After a short preface (Luke 1:1-4), Luke opens with a statement of time and place (Luke 1:5). Since he’s presenting an “orderly account” (Luke 1:3), he goes out of his way to refer to his sources and extensive research. So we ought to expect such organization to continue.

In Luke 4:14-15, Luke tells us that Jesus returned to Galilee, and he gives us a summary statement of Jesus’ work there (“he taught in their synagogues”). Such summary statements appear to serve as Luke’s main signals that a section is beginning or ending. And Jesus remains in Galilee until Luke 9:50.

In Luke 9:51, Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem. From here until Luke 19:27, Luke peppers his narrative with reminders that Jesus was “on the way” (Luke 10:38, 13:22, 17:11).1

In Luke 19:28, Jesus finally goes up to Jerusalem, and he remains there until the end of the book.

So Luke’s geographical markers give us the following major divisions for the book:

  1. Preface (Luke 1:1-4)
  2. Groundwork for ministry (Luke 1:5-4:13)
  3. Ministry in Galilee (Luke 4:14-9:50)
  4. Ministry on the way to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-19:27)
  5. Ministry in Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-24:53)

Now Luke is a long book. Can we subdivide these major sections any further?

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Luke 1:5-4:13

The early chapters begin with scenes that alternate between John and Jesus:

  • Prediction of John’s birth – Luke 1:5-25
    • Prediction of Jesus’ birth – Luke 1:26-38
      • Celebration of the two coming children, who will bring salvation – Luke 1:39-56
  • John’s birth – Luke 1:57-80
    • Jesus’ birth – Luke 2:1-20
      • Celebration of Jesus’ coming, which brings salvation – Luke 2:21-52

Then we get another major statement of setting (Luke 3:1-2) and another alternation between John and Jesus:

  • John’s baptism and credentials, preparing for the true son of God – Luke 3:3-20
    • Jesus’ baptism and credentials as the Son of God – Luke 3:21-4:13

So Luke’s first major division has two subdivisions:

  1. The salvation of God – Luke 1:5-2:52
  2. The Son of God – Luke 3:1-4:13

Luke 4:14-9:50

I’m frankly uncertain regarding how to subdivide this section. I’ve come across two schemes that both make sense.

One framework divides the text thematically:

  1. Jesus’ teaching – Luke 4:14-6:49
  2. Jesus’ offer of salvation through faith – Luke 7:1-8:56
  3. Jesus’ followers – Luke 9:1-50

This framework fits with the content of the material. The statement, “After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people” (Luke 7:1), sure sounds like a concluding transition statement into a new section. And it’s exactly the sort of thing Luke would say to “order” his account. But there is no clearly corresponding transition statement at Luke 8:56 or Luke 9:1 to suggest a division there. But “faith” is certainly a major theme in chapters 7-8. And Luke 9 appears to switch topics.

So a second possible framework is worth considering:

  1. Jesus’ first tour of Galilee – Luke 4:14-7:50
  2. Jesus’ second tour of Galilee, with his disciples – Luke 8:1-56
  3. Jesus’ third tour of Galilee, sending his disciples – Luke 9:1-50

The best evidence in favor of this framework is the presence of clearer literary signals in the text (Jesus’ “going out” or “sending out” at the beginning of each of the three sections). The downside to this framework is that it can be difficult to see a unified message in each of the sections.

So I prefer the first framework, but I could easily be persuaded to reconsider.

Luke 9:51-19:27

In this part of the book, it’s easier to identify clear subdivisions, because of Luke’s reminders that Jesus was “on the way” (Luke 10:38, 13:22, 17:11).1 These are not incidental statements without purpose. They serve as literary markers for the sections. In addition, each of the four sections opens with a question from someone for Jesus, and the rest of the section proceeds to answer the question.

  1. Do you want us to call down fire to consume them? – Luke 9:51-10:37
  2. Do you not care that I’m left to serve alone? – Luke 10:38-13:21
  3. Will those who are saved be few? – Luke 13:22-17:10
  4. When will the kingdom of God come? – Luke 17:11-19:27

The outline will be more memorable and concise, though, if we use the answers instead of the questions:

  1. Proclaiming his kingdom – Luke 9:51-10:37
  2. Growing his kingdom – Luke 10:38-13:21
  3. Numbering his citizens – Luke 13:22-17:10
  4. Timing his kingdom – Luke 17:11-19:27

Luke 19:28-24:53

Once again, we ought to expect some signals from Luke to show us the “orderly” nature of his account. So what do we find?

First, Jesus draws near to Jerusalem by drawing near to Bethphage and Bethany, at “the mount that is called Olivet” (Luke 19:28-29). So as we look for structural markers, we should look for a corresponding summary statement of setting. And we find it in Luke 21:37-38, where Jesus was “teaching in the temple” every day, but retiring to “the mount called Olivet” every night. So Luke 19:28-21:38 make up the first subdivision. In between these bookends, we see the content of Jesus’ “teaching in the temple”—a condemnation of Israel’s current generation.

Second, the next verses tell us that the Passover drew near, and the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to put him to death (Luke 22:1-2). This setting reaches its completion, of course, when Jesus is dead and seemingly done away with on the feast’s Day of Preparation (Luke 23:54-56). In between, we’re told repeatedly that Jesus was innocent and undeserving of this conspiracy (Luke 23:4, 14, 22, 41, 47, etc.).

This leaves us with chapter 24, the grand climax, where the living is not to be found among the dead (Luke 24:5), where the hope of Israel (Luke 24:21) is found in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27, 32, 44-46), and where the worship of Jesus is found at Bethany (Luke 24:50-52) and the blessing of God is found at the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 24:53).

To summarize, we’ve got the following subdivisions:

  1. Israel is guilty – Luke 19:1-21:38
  2. Jesus is innocent – Luke 22:1-23:56
  3. Israel’s salvation has arrived – Luke 24:1-53

Summary and Conclusion

To summarize, the structure shows us the following train of Luke’s thought:

  1. Christianity is on trial, and this orderly account will help you to be certain regarding what you’ve heard about the movement – Luke 1:1-4
  2. The Defendant’s Credentials – 1:5-4:13
    1. The Salvation of God – 1-2
    2. The Son of God – 3:1-4:13
  3. The Defendant’s Fundamentals – 4:14-9:50
    1. His Teaching – 4:14-6:49
    2. His Offer of Salvation Through Faith – 7:1-8:56
    3. His Followers – 9:1-50
  4. The Defendant’s Goals – 9:51-19:27
    1. Proclaiming His Kingdom – 9:51-10:37
    2. Growing His Kingdom – 10:38-13:21
    3. Numbering His Citizens – 13:22-17:10
    4. Timing His Kingdom – 17:11-19:27
  5. The Defendant’s Vindication – 19:28-24:53
    1. Judaism is Guilty – 19:28-21:38
    2. Jesus is Innocent – 22:1-23:56
    3. Israel’s Salvation has Arrived – 24:1-53

1I’m grateful for William Taylor’s Read, Mark, Learn volumes on Luke, which persuaded me of Luke’s structural use of these “on the way” statements. The Amazon link is an affiliate link. If you click it and buy anything, you’ll provide a small commission to this blog at no extra cost to yourself.

Luke’s Secondary Audience

By

Upon analyzing Luke’s treatment of the Jews in both Luke and Acts, I concluded that neither Jesus, nor Paul, nor Luke gleefully wished doom on the Jews. Paul says as much regarding himself, in both Acts (Acts 28:19-20) and his own letters (e.g. Rom 9:1-3, 10:1). Yet he remains confident in the justice of that coming doom as retribution for the way the Jews treated both their God and his message (1 Thess 2:14b-16).

So throughout both Luke and Acts, we ought to notice a consistent thread of appeal to the Jews to turn around before it’s too late. Though Luke’s primary audience is Theophilus (Luke 1:3, Acts 1:1), a “most excellent” Roman official, Luke extends persistent invitations to a secondary audience, the Jewish people, to repent while they still can.

Image by 정훈 김 from Pixabay

Luke’s Appeal to the Jews

Luke wants the Jews to repent and turn to Jesus.

We see this appeal in Jesus’ tearful regret over his people (Luke 19:41-44). We see it in Jesus’ stern warning after they try to implicate Pontius Pilate (Luke 13:1-5). Luke follows that warning with a parable (Luke 13:6-8) and healing episode (Luke 13:10-17) whose allusions to the rotten vine of Isaiah (Isaiah 5:1-7) and the subsequent ethical condemnation (Isaiah 5:8-25) must not be missed.

We see the appeal in Jesus’ inaugural sermon in Luke, where he offers himself to the people of Israel, for the sake of their liberty, sight, and reception of God’s favor (Luke 4:17-21). We see the appeal in one of Jesus’ final discourses, where he foretells the precise signs that generation should look for to recognize the doom before it hits (Luke 21, especially Luke 21:29-33).

We see the appeal in the words of Peter when he begs his fellow Jews to save themselves from “this crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). We see it again when Peter exposes once again the Jews’ rejection of their Messiah, even while once again offering the ignorant a chance to trust the Prophet whom God sent to give them life (Acts 3:12-26).

We can see the appeal in the words of Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon, who offer help to Israel (Luke 1:54-55), mercy to Israel (Luke 1:72), and glory to Israel (Luke 2:32). It is the unrequited hope in this redemption for Israel that has crushed the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:21). This hope in the restoration of Israel is on the minds of Jesus’ disciples even in their last days with him (Acts 1:6-7). This same hope, sometimes labeled as hope in the resurrection, inspires Paul at every step (Acts 23:6, 24:15). Paul’s hope in these promises have put him in chains (Acts 26:6-7, 28:20).

Through both volumes, Luke constantly appeals to the Jews—perhaps even the same Jews who now accuse Paul before Caesar—to find the very hope they seek (Acts 26:6-7). But to find it, they must stop doing what they are doing (Luke 3:7-8) and receive cleansing on the inside from the mighty one (Luke 3:15-16).

An Appeal for Salvation

And this hope which Luke, Jesus, and Paul share for the Jews, this “hope of Israel” for which Paul is in chains (Acts 28:20), can be summarized in a single word which Luke uses more than any other gospel writer: salvation.

Besides Luke, only John uses the noun, and only once (John 4:22). Luke uses it 5 times in his gospel (Luke 1:69, 1:77, 2:30, 3:6, 19:9) and 6 times in Acts (Acts 4:12, 7:25, 13:26, 13:47, 16:17, 28:28). Luke alone includes Isaiah’s line about all flesh seeing “the salvation of God” in his description of John the Baptist’s ministry (Luke 3:6). Simeon sees this salvation in the infant Jesus (Luke 2:30), and it can come to any house of Abraham’s true children (Luke 19:9)—those who repent and believe.

Luke uses the verb form “save” (sometimes also translated “made well” or “healed”) more times than any other gospel writer. And he is the only one beside John (again, only once, in John 4:42) to use the personal title Savior (Luke 1:47, 2:11).

Luke is deeply concerned with salvation. It’s the thing a Savior effects when he saves people. This salvation is something the Jews can find nowhere but in Jesus the Savior (Luke 2:11, Acts 4:12).

And yet, when they reject it, God offers it freely to the Gentiles instead (Acts 28:28). “They [the Gentiles] will listen” are Paul’s last words in Luke’s body of writing. They are the last words put in the mouth of any character. They represent Luke’s parting shot, his fourth-quarter Hail Mary pass. His desperate appeal to the Jews, motivating them through jealousy (Rom 10:19).

Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay

Conclusion

Though we have good reason to read Luke (and Acts) as a trial-brief to help exonerate the Apostle Paul from the charges laid against him by the Jews, that defense of Paul before the Roman official Theophilus is clearly not Luke’s only purpose. Luke also seeks to win the Jews who accuse Paul—and Jews around the world—to receive their own Messiah, and with him the salvation of God. That Messiah rose from the dead to make it possible.

Yet even if the Jews don’t receive their Messiah, God remains eager to save (Luke 14:15-24). Therefore his offer of “salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:77) will find a warm reception among the other nations of the world (Luke 2:30-32, 4:25-27, 11:29-32, Acts 8:5-8, 10:1-5, 13:48-51, etc.).

We could therefore possibly identify a tertiary audience for Luke’s gospel in the Gentiles of the world who likewise need and will receive God’s salvation offered in Christ. But I find it simpler to see them as part of the same “secondary audience.” In other words, faithful Jews are not those who are Jews merely outwardly—via ancestry—but those who are Jews inwardly, with circumcised heart (Rom 2:28-29). True Jews are those who repent and believe in Jesus the Messiah. And God is able to raise up such children for Abraham from the stones if he pleases (Luke 3:7-8).

So while Luke addresses Theophilus directly, he also implicitly writes his book for all of Abraham’s children, be they Jew or Gentile, to lead them to repentance and faith in the risen Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke’s Treatment of the Jews

By

The themes of Luke and Acts are shaped by the charges brought against Paul by the Jewish leadership. So in continuing our overview of Luke’s gospel, we ought to look at how Luke portrays the Jews, and especially the leadership. In this post, I’ll land on the key points in Luke’s gospel, but I’ll end with a few comments from Acts as well.

The Jews in Luke’s Gospel

Of course, no people group is monolithic. So authors rarely treat them as such. Therefore, we should not be surprised to see a variety of portraits of Jewish people in Luke’s gospel.

  • While some of the greatest acts of faith, in Luke’s gospel, take place among foreigners (Luke 7:8-9, 17:17-19), many Jews still demonstrate sincere faith in the identity or promises of Jesus: the paralytic’s friends (Luke 5:20), a sinful woman (Luke 7:50), a bleeding woman (Luke 8:48), a synagogue ruler (Luke 8:50), and a blind man (Luke 18:42).
  • Jesus’ own mother is in many ways a faithful, model Israelite, trusting the Lord’s word (Luke 1:38), ruminating on God’s ancient promises (Luke 1:46-55), and obeying everything written in the law of Moses (Luke 2:22-24, 39).
  • A few select witnesses understand who Jesus is and what he came to do (Luke 2:15-17, 34-35, 36-38).
  • While multitudes of Jews seek Jesus out for teaching and healing, at least 11 stuck close to him (Luke 6:13-16).
  • A number of marginalized Jews play key roles in making Jesus’ ministry possible (Luke 8:1-3).
  • Yet notwithstanding these positive examples, Jesus wonders whether he will, in the end, find faith among those who ought to be faithful (Luke 18:1-8). This leads him into severe criticism of the Jewish leadership (Luke 18:9-14).
Image by MoneyforCoffee from Pixabay

Jewish Leaders in Luke’s Gospel

Luke’s portrayal of the Jewish leaders is quite bleak. This ought not surprise us, as this is likely the very group of people Luke must defend Paul against.

  • It’s no coincidence that Luke’s opening scene, after his preface, describes a Jewish priest inside the temple of God in Jerusalem. And this holy man on a holy task can’t recognize the holy word of God when he hears it. The angel Gabriel must defend his credentials to this priest before cursing him with muteness (Luke 1:18-20)—if you won’t trust God’s word, you’ll have nothing of your own to say. So while this priest comes around by the end of his story (Luke 1:63-64, 67-79), he has a rather inauspicious beginning. It’s as though Luke wants us to be suspicious from the start of Jewish priests serving in the temple!
  • When Jesus first arrives at the temple, as an infant, the two people who recognize his identity are not priests (Luke 2:25, 36-37)!
  • The civil leader closest to being Jewish refuses to repent of his sin (Luke 3:18-20), thereby finding himself utterly unprepared to meet the King of the Jews (Luke 23:8-12).
  • Unlike Matthew (Matt 3:7) and John (John 1:19), Luke doesn’t mention any Jewish leaders going out to visit John the Baptist (Luke 3:7, 10-14).
  • Luke’s first mention of the Pharisees has them questioning Jesus’ identity (Luke 5:17-21). It doesn’t take them long to start plotting his downfall (Luke 6:7, 11). Luke tells us outright that they rejected the purpose of God for themselves (Luke 7:29-30) and were lovers of money (Luke 16:14).
  • The Pharisees repeatedly extend hospitality to Jesus (Luke 7:36, 11:37, 14:1), yet Luke always uses the episode to expose their mistaken beliefs and evil motives.
  • They ask him questions under false pretenses (Luke 5:30, 6:2, 13:31, 17:20), and they lie in wait for him (Luke 11:53-54).
  • Of course, they arrest Jesus under cover of darkness and on trumped-up charges (Luke 22:52-53, 23:2).
  • They play the primary role in manipulating Pilate to execute Jesus (Luke 23:10, 13-18). We know of only one of their number who did not agree with the council’s decision to condemn Jesus (Luke 23:50-51).

Jewish Crowds in Luke’s Gospel

Under such poor leadership, it’s inevitable that the rot would likewise infect the masses.

  • Jesus’ own townspeople try to kill him (Luke 4:28-29).
  • As in all the gospels, the crowds come out to hear him teach (Luke 5:1) and to get healed (Luke 5:15).
  • However in Luke, it’s only “the multitude of his disciples”—not a broadly Jewish crowd—who acclaims his entry to Jerusalem (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees ask Jesus to shut them up (Luke 19:39-40).
  • A theme unique to Luke is Jesus’ surprising sorrow over the coming fate of the people. He weeps for them while riding his donkey (Luke 19:41-44). On the way to his own death, he ominously advises the daughters of Jerusalem to weep not for him but for themselves and their children over their coming doom (Luke 23:28-31).
  • The coming doom on that generation of Jews is a major theme for Luke (Luke 12:49-59, 13:1-9, 13:27-30, 13:34-35, 21:5-36).

Hope for Jews

Notwithstanding all the negativity toward the majority of Jews who reject or oppose Jesus, Luke presents tremendous hope for the people of Israel.

From the beginning of Luke’s history, there is much hope extended to Israel:

  • John will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God (Luke 1:16).
  • Jesus will reign over the house of Jacob forever (Luke 1:32-33).
  • In Mary’s pregnancy, God has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy to Abraham and his seed (Luke 1:54-55).
  • The prophetic calling of John involves giving knowledge of salvation to God’s people in the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 1:76-79).
  • In the baby Jesus, Simeon sees God’s salvation, which is glory for Israel (Luke 2:29-32).
  • Anna speaks of the baby Jesus finally bringing to pass the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38).

This theme of hope for Israel leads Luke to recount Jesus’ patient exposition of the Old Testament to show that he, in fact, is the one who will redeem Israel (Luke 24:21, 25-27).

Jewish Leaders in Acts

In the book of Acts, we see the Jewish leaders continuing their opposition to Jesus by escalating their opposition against Jesus’ followers. The Jewish leaders:

  • are annoyed at the apostles’ teaching (Acts 4:1-2)
  • arrest the apostles (Acts 4:3, 5:17-18)
  • ask questions under false pretenses (Acts 4:7)
  • can’t figure out what to do (Acts 4:15-17: 5:33-39)
  • command the apostles to stop speaking (Acts 4:18, 5:28, 5:40)
  • beat the apostles (Acts 5:40)
  • allow themselves to be manipulated into prosecuting Christians (Acts 6:12-14)
  • persecute the church (Acts 8:1, 9:1-2)
  • plot to kill Paul (Acts 9:23-24, 14:5, 18:12-13, 20:3, 20:18-19, 21:11, 23:12-15, 23:20-21, 23:27, 24:2-9, 25:2, 25:7, 25:15, 26:21)
  • are pleased with the death of James (Acts 12:3)
  • whip up lynch mobs (Acts 13:50, 14:19, 17:5, 17:13, 21:27-30, 22:22-24)
  • remain doggedly resistant to receiving Gentiles into the church, even after coming to faith in Christ (Acts 11:2-3, 15:1-2)

Yet even in Acts, there is hope for the Jews.

  • A great many of the priests come to faith (Acts 6:7).
  • The first converts in many towns are Jews (Acts 13:43, etc.).
  • “More noble” Jews in Berea consider Paul’s teaching in light of the Old Testament Scripture (Acts 17:11).

There is hope for the Jews precisely because Paul’s mission, all along, has been to bring the Jews their promised hope (Acts 26:6-8, 28:18-20).

Conclusion

Across the entire two-volume history of Luke and Acts, all these observations boil down to a few key assertions:

  1. Jesus came to fulfill all God’s promises to the Jews, putting Israel at the center of God’s work in the world.
  2. The apostles (especially Paul) preached a message consistent with Jesus’ mission to fulfill God’s promises to the Jews.
  3. A few Jews received and participated in that message.
  4. Many Jews, especially leaders, rejected that message and tried to squash it out by any means necessary.
  5. Because of this rejection of their own Messiah, Luke expects the first century Jews to suffer a terrible doom on their temple and nation.
  6. In the first century AD, the Christians are not disturbers of the Roman peace; the Jewish leaders are. Therefore Rome will herself serve as the agent of God’s vengeance on the Jewish people (Luke 21:20-24). Jesus—and Paul, for that matter—is like a new Jeremiah, weeping over a new calamity coming upon Jerusalem and its temple at the hands of a new Babylon.

Neither Jesus, nor Paul, nor Luke gleefully wish this doom on the Jews. Perhaps this trial-brief could have another purpose besides simply persuading Theophilus of Paul’s innocence…?

How the Charges Against Paul Frame Luke’s Purpose

By

Last week, I presented evidence from both Acts and Luke to argue that Luke wrote his two-volume history of the early Christian movement to the Roman nobleman Theophilus as a trial-brief for the Apostle Paul’s first hearing in Rome. Part of that evidence is the excessive amount of space Luke dedicates to Paul’s legal situation and to 5 defenses of his innocence (Acts 22-26). I believe this material presents the framework of Luke’s purpose, providing an outline of Luke’s essential thesis regarding Paul’s innocence.

The Charges

In particular, the third of Paul’s five defenses (and the one that presents itself most clearly as a legal/courtroom drama) is preceded by a listing of the charges against Paul, as recounted by Tertullus, the prosecuting attorney hired by the Jewish leaders (Acts 24:4-8).

In particular, through Tertullus the Jews make the following three charges against Paul:

  1. He is a disturber of the Roman peace: “We have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world” (Acts 24:5).
  2. He is in charge of a new, and non-Jewish, religion: “This man…is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5).
  3. He has committed a capital offense under Roman law: “He even tried to profane the temple” (Acts 24:6).
Image by succo from Pixabay

What’s At Stake

If charge #1 is true, then Paul is a threat to the Pax Romana. He cannot be trusted with freedom in the public sector. And in light of charge #2, Paul is not the only threat to the public welfare; all “Nazarenes” (Christians) everywhere are equally threatening.

If charge #2 is true, then Paul, and his Nazarene followers, ought not to be granted the religious exemptions granted to the Jewish people. The Roman Empire, you see, compelled all citizens, colonists, and conquered peoples to offer not only allegiance but also worship to the emperor. They gave an exemption to only one people group: the Jews. Rome had learned the hard way not to mess in any way with the religion of Israel lest they cause more rioting and upheaval than they bargained for. So they had learned to leave the Jews alone, as far as their religion was concerned. By disassociating from Paul and “the sect of the Nazarenes,” the Jews are bringing this exemption into question for the newfound Christian movement.

If charge #3 is true, then, by nature of the religious freedom Rome has granted to the Jews by law, they must allow the Jewish leaders to put Paul to death.

In summary, with Paul on trial, Christianity is on trial. Luke probably seeks to exonerate Paul because he is a dear friend (he is both “beloved” to Paul—Col 4:14—and the only one who stuck with him to the end—2 Tim 4:11). But he also likely wants to prevent the newborn Christian movement from being suffocated before it can truly take off.

How This Frames Luke’s Gospel

Nearly every commentator and overview article highlights a number of major themes that receive exceptional emphasis in Luke’s gospel: the poor, women, Gentiles, outsiders, prayer, the word, and the Holy Spirit. The charges against Paul explain why these themes mattered so much to Luke.

Luke highlights the roles of the poor, women, Gentiles, and outsiders to show time and again, with respect to charge #1, that Christianity is not a threat to the Roman peace. In fact, Christianity is the opposite: a tremendous blessing to the public welfare! In both Luke and Acts, the ones who stir up public turmoil and instigate riots are usually the Jewish leadership (and sometimes pagans who feel personally threatened by the Christians’ extreme monotheism). The Christians—particularly Jesus himself, Peter, and Paul—are supporting the needy in local communities and calming things down.

Luke highlights the place of prayer and the word of God to show, with respect to charge #2, how closely connected the Christian movement is with ancient Judaism. Christianity is not a brand new religion; it is the fulfillment of the promises of God to Abraham and David, as recorded in Jewish Scripture. Luke begins his gospel with “ministers of the word” (Luke 1:2), and he ends it with Jesus explaining all the things written about him in the law, the prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24:44-49). And the focus on prayer shows the Christians as pious believers in these promises to Israel; they are walking in the faith of the ancient faithful. It is the Jews who fail to recognize their own God when he visits them and who will suffer dearly for it (Luke 7:16, 19:44, etc.).

Luke highlights the Holy Spirit to show, with respect to charge #3, the early Christians (especially Jesus, Peter, and Paul) following the direction of their God and Father, as communicated by his Spirit. And they were already becoming new temples, with the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. Paul was not some rogue who came to profane the temple and start a new world order; he was acting under orders (Acts 22:20-21) and clearly never profaned the Jerusalem temple (Acts 24:17-19). In the gospel, Luke portrays Jesus under similar orders (Luke 3:22, 4:1, 4:14, 4:18, 10:21) and acting in conformity to God’s intentions for the temple (Luke 19:45-46).

Conclusion

How does knowing all this help us to study Luke’s gospel? I haven’t yet laid enough groundwork to propose a main point for the book, but I can list a few ways Luke’s purpose helps us to read his book.

  1. We can have tremendous confidence in the evidence Luke presents for the historicity of these events. Here we have two books, inspired by God, where God was willing to go on record in the Roman court system regarding “the things that have been fulfilled among us” (Luke 1:1).
  2. We’ll get a lot of help from this book to embolden us to face direct opposition.
  3. By fitting this text within its time-and-space circumstances, we’re more likely to read it the way Luke intended it.
  4. Finally, we’ll see how Luke, in contrast to the other 3 gospels, focuses not primarily on the person of Jesus, but on the Christian movement founded by him. We’re not “missing the gospel” if we teach this book accordingly.