The gentiles and the gentile mission in Luke-acts

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is twofold. First, to make a detailed study of the theme of the Gentiles and the Gentile mission in Luke-Acts. And second, to use these results as an avenue of approach to broader problems in the teaching of both Jesus and Luke. As regards Jesus, how his teaching on the Gentiles is related to his eschatology. As regards Luke, both how he sees the relationship between Jesus’ view of the Gentile mission and eschatology and how far his account of this mission in Acts squares up with the actual course of events so far as they can be deduced from the illogicalities and tensions within Acts itself and from the first-hand accounts of Paul. Jesus' attitude to the Gentiles is studied and used as a key to understanding his eschatology. Luke's presentation of Jesus’ attitude to the Gentiles is then examined, to see how far it differs from the views both of Mark and of Jesus himself. Luke's presentation of Jesus' eschatology is then considered, to see if and how he alters Jesus' eschatology to fit his presentation of Jesus' attitude to the entiles. The main sections in Acts which relate to Luke’s presentation of the Gentile mission are then examined, in order to discover both Luke's view of the Gentile mission and how close his account is to the historical facts. The main conclusions are that Jesus did not foresee a Gentile mission such as occurred after his death, a fact which is explained by his eschatology and which explains many of the problems which arose in the early stages of the Gentile mission, that Luke’s presentation of the Gentile mission and Jesus' eschatology shows him to be a pastor and a historian rather than a theologian, a point which is emphasized by a comparison with Paul, and that while Luke’s account in Acts is often misleading, he has left enough loose ends to make it a valuable historical source for the careful and critical reader.