Exegesis of Luke- Acts

Luke.1:1-4; Acts1:1-2

LECTURE NOTE
P R E PA R E D B Y
R E V. B E L A Y N E H G E S H E R E
DECEMBER 2024
Introduction
 Our course is called Exegesis on Luke- Acts. The
reason why the two books come together is that
they are written by one person called Luke.
 The course explores key ideas in the book of
Luke- Acts
 It includes the exegesis of the key texts which
illumine the Over all witness of Luke-Acts.
 It consists of main issues, and it introduces you
to major exegetical parts from some of the main
chapters of the books.
Pages 2-10 tells us about aim of the course,
course objectives, how to working through
the course, course over view, how to get the
best from the course and course preview.
Therefore, it is important to study them
before working through the books.
1. Luke–Acts
 This course is the composite work of
the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the
Apostles in the New Testament.
They also describe the narrative of those who
continued to spread Christianity, ministry of
Jesus and the subsequent ministry of
the apostles and the Apostolic Age
Paul was under prison in Rome. The Nobles of
Rome and other people had questions about
the new teaching of Paul
To respond their questions, Luke wrote two
volume books that tells about the beginning
of Christian faith, the identity of the man
Jesus, how the new religion spread from
Jerusalem to the big city of Rome.
These two books would confirm and instruct
Theophilus, as well as the church of Christ, in
the faith (cf. Luke 1:1-4).
There are theological themes in Luke-Acts
which need attention: Specially themes in the
book of Acts
2. Authorship of the Books
 Luke was considered to be the author of the Books of Luke
and Acts
 As many Church Fathers’ agreed Luke was Hellenistic, a
Gentile Christian who wrote his gospel and Acts of the
Apostles for the person called Theophilus, the Gentile
Church of the first century(Luke.1:1 ; Acts 1:1)
 Nothing is known of Luke's birthplace or the circumstances
of his death.
 He was probably a Gentile and physician, because Paul
distinguishes him from his Jewish coworkers (see Colossians
4:10-14).
 He may have been “Lucius of Cyrene” (Acts 13:1)—that is, a
resident of Cyrenaica in northern Africa.
As the use of the first person plural in Acts 16:10-17
indicates, Luke apparently joined Paul at Troas, the
chief city of the Roman province of Asia.
Afterward, he may have accompanied Paul on his
second missionary journey as far as the ancient
Macedonian city of Philippi.
He was remaining there for several years while Paul
traveled through Greece and Macedonia and rejoining
him when Paul passed through Philippi on his journey
to Jerusalem (see Acts 20:5-6).
Luke seems to have remained with Paul thereafter and
probably was with him during Paul's last imprisonment
(see Philemon 24).
3. The Gospel of Luke
 Source of the Book
 Some argue that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are so similar that they
must have used each other’s Gospels or another common source.
 This supposed “source” has been given the title “Q” from the German
word quelle, which means “source.”
 In many ways he followed Mark’s ways of writing. But he added three
long sections. These are:
1. Virgin Mary’s history, about the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus
(Ch.1&2 )
2. Jesus' teaching and parables on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem
on good Samaritans, the lost son and about the rich man and
Lazarus (Luke.9:51- 19:10)
3. Jesus’ appearance, teaching and ascending after his resurrection
(24:13-53)
 This Gospel has 24 chapters
 To whom the Gospel was written?
As tradition Luke was a gentile Christian who wrote his
Gospel for the Gentile Church of the late first century
Although this Gospel and the book of Acts were
addressed to Theophilus, we know surprisingly little
about him.
 His title most excellent suggests that he was a
government official. (cf. Acts 23:26; 24:3; 26:25). His
name means a friend of God.
 Probably he was a Christian who held a position of
honor and responsibility in the foreign service of the
Roman Empire.
 Why did Luke Write the Gospel?
As Luke 1:4 indicates, Luke’s purpose was
to give Theophilus a written account that
would confirm the trustworthiness of all
that he had been taught concerning the life
and ministry of the Lord Jesus(Luke 1:1-4).
The written message would afford fixity by
preserving it from the inaccuracies of
continued oral transmission.
His aim was to tell the gentiles the reality of
the coming of Jesus the Son of Man and the
Church of Christ.
Luke present Christ as the Son of Man- he
want to connect Jesus to all human race
Luke shows the availability of salvation for all
human being vehicle Israel
His concern was the services of Christ to the
individual persons specially those out casted
individuals.
When did Luke write the Gospel?
It was written around late sixties and late
seventies (62-62/70-80)
 Peculiar to the Gospel of Luke:
 The references to Christ as “The Son of
Man”( Luke 17:22;18:8)
 The third book of NT-the Gospel of Luke
shows that God is manifested in flesh
 It concerned with the humanity of our Lord
 It presents Christ as “The Son of Man”
 This shows the Lord of glory as having come
down to our level, entering into our
conditions (sin),subject to our circumstances,
and living His life on the same plane as ours.
 But His humanity is different from others
 There is great difference between Christ as
the Son of Man, and any of us as the son of
man
 There is also great difference between Christ
as the Son of God, and any believer as a son
of God
 The humanity of Christ was miraculously
begotten
 His humanity was different character
 The type “lamb” in the OT portrayed Him as
the appointed Sacrifice for sin must be
“without spot and blemish,”
 The “manna,” which spoke of Christ as the
Food for God’s people, is described as being
“white” in color (Ex.16:31)
 The Meal offering, which directly pointed to
the humanity of Christ was to be only of “fine
flour” (Lev.2:1)
 The Prophets also indicated the special
humanity of Christ
 The womb that carried Him was “virgin”
(Isa.7:14)
 NT tells us the mystery of His humanity
(1Tim.3:16)
 His humanity was sinless, holy flesh and God
manifest
 He did not sin (1Pet.2:22),without sin
(Heb.4:15)
 In Luke we have the fullest particulars
concerning the miraculous birth of the Lord
Jesus Luk.1:26-27
 As Son of Man He is the universal Man. He is
linked with the whole human race . Therefore,
it can be called the Gentile Gospel as Matthew
called Jewish Gospel
 Luke gives more attention on Jesus’ ministry
that explains:
[Link] comes to the world even though he served
among Jewish people ([Link];3:3-6;4:25-27 etc…)
2. He comes to the people (1& 2; 10:38-42; 19:1-10)
 He used parables that gives more concern to the
people where Matthew gave attention to the
parables of God’s Kingdom. (Priest Zechariah,
Elizabeth, virgin Mary, the two sisters Mary and
Martha, etc…
 Marginalized people like tax collector, women,
children, etc..
[Link] comes to be an example for his follower
(3:21;5:15-16)
 Exegesis of the Gospel of Luke PP.55-128
Luke 1:1-4 is called dedicatory preface
Luke 1:5-[Link]-The Infancy prologue
(Introduction)
The section recounts in parallel the origins of
John and Jesus, and establishes between
them the relationship of transcending
parallelism
This Module gives more attention on this part
 The forms/structures/setting of this section
Majority of scholars rightly recognize Luke 1:5-2:52 as
the first major section of Luke’s account.
The materials concerning the infancies of John the
Baptist and Jesus are bound together by close
parallelism (1:5-20cf.1:26-38; 1:57-66 cf.2:1-12; etc.)
These two events are miraculous. See Pages 115-128
 Zechariah and Elizabeth had gotten a son at their Old
ages
 Virgin Mary conceived a child Jesus without male part
 Zechariah doubt the message of Angel announcement
about the birth of John (1:12-20). His question was
“How Shall I know this?” question of doubt..
 Virgin Mary accepted the message of angle
announcement about the birth of Jesus ( 1:26-35).
Her question was “ How will this be, since I am a
virgin?” Question of clarification.
In his writing Luke used Old Testament style in
comparing John’s and Jesus’ infancy history with
individuals and events in the Old Testament
Ex: Zechariah and Elizabeth with Elkanah and Hannah
(1Sam.1:1-2); Manoah and is wife (Judges 13:2)
The Book of Acts (PP.129-352 of the module)
Introduction
 Acts is the second volume of Luke.
 It is a historical book. Its dominant literary form is
narrative. It is concerned with telling the story or giving
an account of something in the order in which they
happened.
 Since it is a narrative we can not turn it into a doctrinal
declaration
 This course discuss several important features of Acts,
including the speeches, the purpose of Acts, the
structure of the book as a whole, its major themes and
some important dimensions of its background
1. The Speeches (PP.132, with pp. 221-253)
 Speeches are a unique means of communication in their
written form, as well as in their original oral form
 The speeches that are scattered through out the
narrative of Acts are clearly evangelistic and
didactic/teaching/
 The speeches of Acts are intended to be understood
within the narrative frame work and not as isolated oral
discourses. Ex. Acts 7:2-47; 22:2-21)
 Using the speeches are important to approve the
accuracy of events. Acts 25:13-22; 26:3032.
 To know how to interpret the speeches- read pp.230-
253
2. The Purpose of Acts (Pp.132-133 with
pp.142-170)
 Purpose is the reason why the writer write
his/her book.
 Knowing the purpose is helpful for
interpretation of the book.
 In the book of Acts we can see overall
purposes and individual narrative purposes
 The overall reason why did Luke write Acts
is:
1. Luke is telling us the great change in the way
that people thought about God as the result of the
coming of Jesus
2. He realized that God loved and cared about all
races and note about the Jews alone
3. This was good news for him that he spent the rest
of his life in making it known
4. In both book he had this special purpose to show
that God’s spirit inspired Jesus and the followers
of Jesus to break down things which separated
people of different religions and races and
countries.
 Example: 1. Luke 2:32;17:16
 Ex.2. Acts 1:8- then from chapter 2 to the end of the
book, he shows us the stages through which the
Christians passed, as they reached new groups or
individuals and bridged the divisions which
separated Jews from others
 He describes the sort of people whom the Christians
reached (Acts 2:10; 8:5-25;8:26-40;9:15; 15:36-
18:38 etc…)
 Finally, he records how Paul arrived in Rome, the
centre from which missionaries could reached every
part of the Roman Empire (28:14)
 His purpose was not only reporting events in
detail.
 He seems to have had three other aims also
1. To show that God’s Spirit was active in the
lives of the first Christians, just as he was
active in the life of Jesus (1:1)
2. To defend Christians against those Romans
who accused them of being disloyal to the
Empire (1:1a)
3. To encourage Christians at a time when the
Apostles were no longer there to lead them
Why do we read Acts today?
 We read and study Acts because:
1. To submit our selves to the Holy Spirit who lead the
early Christians in every aspects of lives
2. To live for the unity of all Christians
3. To take the good news to all people in the world
4. We see in it how the followers of Jesus lived the
teaching of which we read in the Gospels.
 The good news is not only what Jesus said and did,
but what He enabled and still enables believers to do.
 The gospel is about events rather than ideas
3. Structure of Acts (Pp.133-135 with
pp.171-198)
 Structure is the literary division of the book or
grouping the body of the book
 Acts can be analyzed under several different
structural schemes
 This makes the task of grouping narrative
sequences such as we find in Acts quite
different from the others
1. There are different types of structural
patterns in the book of Acts
These are:( Pp.173-195)
[Link] structure
Acts 1:9-8:3 Jerusalem
Acts 8:4-11:18 Judea and Samaria
2. Socio-Ethnic- Jews Aramaic speaking to
Hellenists(6:1-7); City to province (9:31)
3. Cultural Frontiers-
4. Peter and Paul-
5. Speeches – (Ch.2 and 22-26)
6. Alternating Patterns- Paul among Jews and
Gentiles
[Link] of Space-
8. Summary Statement-
2. Look a Sample Outline (Pp.195- 198)
4. Major Themes in Acts (Pp.135-136 and pp.256-293)
 Several themes are prominent in Acts and help the
interpreter at every appearance which require careful
attention by the interpreter.
1. The Exalted Christ
 His resurrection, ascension and return associated with
His exaltation. Jesus’ ascension is special to Luke (Acts
1:2,9-11,22; Luke.9:51;24:50-51).
 The word exalted occurs in Acts 2:33-36 cf. Psalm 110:1
 The two persons in Acts who have a visionary
experience of the exalted Christ are Stephen (7:55) and
Paul (9:5)
Three themes which associated with exaltation are: the
name of Christ, the title of Christ and the Christology in
Paul’s defense
1. Name-
 His name in connection with faith that comes through
him is significant in healing (Acts 3:16)
 The name of Jesus is significant in salvation (Acts 4:12)
 The disciples taught in the name of Jesus (4:17,18;5:28
 They were disgraced and suffered for His name
(5:41;9:16)
 Converts called on the name of Jesus and were baptized
in his name (2:21;10:43,48;22:16)
2. The Title of Christ- God made him both
Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36)
3. Christological value- Paul used Christ’s
nature and actions to defend (22:8-10;23:6-8;
24:15,21; 24:24;26:9,12-18,23)
2. The Holy Spirit
 References to the Holy Spirit occur frequently
and with considerable evenness across the
entire Book of acts
 The Holy Spirit permeates Christian life and
ministry at every conceivable points
3. Prayer-
 Acts shows us the church in prayer at several points
in the narrative (1:14; 2:42; 3:1;4:24;6:4,67:59-
60;8:15; etc…).
 In his Gospel Luke tell us how Jesus prayed(Luke
3:21;9:29 etc…) and in Acts how his followers pray
following His examples (Luke 6:12 and Acts1:24-25).
 Praying to find guidance and participate as normal
practices (Luke5:16;9:18; 11:1 cf. Acts 2:42; 6:4)
 Prayer in Acts was the means of accomplishing God’s
will and work
4. Praise
 The praise of God is a repeated theme in
Luke’s Gospel and in Acts
 The Temple is the appropriate place for
praise (Luke 2:27)
 At the beginning of Acts the believers met
together both at the temple and in homes,
praising God(Acts2:47)
[Link] and Wealth
Poverty/ wealth issues was Luke’s concern in his books(Luke
16; 12:13-48;14:8-33;Acts 2:44-45;4:32-5:11;3:6;6:1;8:18-19
etc…)
6. Eschatology
 The earliest Christians expected an immediate return of
Jesus after his ascension but were disappointed when that
return did not occur
 So Luke devised a means of explaining this delay of
parousia (Acts 1:6-7)
 It has its own time when God judge the world by the man he
appointed (Acts 17:31)
 (Like the above themes study the other themes
pp.281-294)
5. The Background of Acts (pp.135-141 And
pp.294-320)
 The characters, events, and ideas of the biblical
narrative occurred in “real” time and history and
must not be isolated from that world.
 So it is good to see
1. The book of Acts in its First Century Setting
2. In its Graeco-Roman Setting
 There was debt among scholars about the
historicity of the book (PP.136-140)
 The book of Act is a historical book that touched
with time, the culture and geographical settings
 Paul and his friend traveled by their foots
from Asia Minor to Rom to preach the gospel
 So the scholars tried to connect the story
written in the book with the real ground
 The Module used Act 16 as an example to
show how to interpret it with its background
(Pp.296-320)
6. Exegesis and Application (PP.141-142 And 320-
329)
Exegesis is a practice to find the meaning of the text
 It is interpretation, explanation and analysis of the
specific text to make it clear to the reader
Where as Application is how to apply the fruit of
exegesis to our life today that answers the question
“What should Acts mean to me today?”
 What God has done in the early church, the
comprehension of general principles to guide us in our
worship, behavior, ecclesiastical practice and mission
 The way to do exegesis has its own pattern which is
called hermeneutics
 Hermeneutics is the science and methodology of
interpreting the texts especial the texts in the Bible
 Such methodology based on genre and grammatical
studies (the form and style how a writing built, and
studies the rules of language)- pp.320-322
 The two kinds of information used in exegesis are:
1. Semantic Information-
 The writer’s word choices tell the reader what sort
of persons, things, ideas, and events are being
presented
2. Structural Information (P.324)
 Much information is conveyed by the
relationship of morphemes, words, phrases,
and clauses to each other
 Morpheme- the smallest meaningful elements of speech,
 Phrase- a string of words that are used together and have an
idiomatic meaning
 Clause- a group of words consisting of a subject and its
predicate
7. Determining Function: Normative vs.
Descriptive (Pp.328-351)
Normative- Are the practice of the early
Church given for later generations to follow
and even imitate? Or
Descriptive- Are they descriptive, providing
important and useful information for Luke’s
purposes then, but note necessarily to be
followed by the church at all times and in all
places?
 Let us investigate this issue from three
aspects:
1. The practice of the Church
 The way how the early Church selected
Judas’s successor Matthias (Acts 1:12-26)-
pp.329-332
 The role of Priscilla (Acts18:24-28) and
1Timothy 2:12- about woman teaching man
pp.332-339
 Common Possessions (Acts 2:44-45 ; 4:32;5:1-
11)-pp.340-342
2. The work of the Holy Spirit (Pp.342-
344)
 The way how the believers received the Holy
Spirit
Its connection with baptism and laying on
hand (Acts 8). It could not be normative
because there were different ways how one
receive the Holy Spirit
 At Pentecost day- Acts 2
 Ethiopian eunuch Acts 8:26-40
 Saul/ Paul’s conversion- Acts 9:17-18
 Cornelius and his household Acts 10:44-48
3. Missionary Strategy (344-349)
Choosing the target- about setting criteria
Shaping the Message- Athens
Receiving the call- From supernatural and through other
man (Paul and Timothy)
 To conclude:
The perennial question of how one determines what in
Acts is normative for our contemporary situation is
complex.
 Therefore, the interpreter who makes an application must
always keep in mind the original context of the given
event or practice and its function within the larger design
and purpose of Acts
 The book of Acts is unique in the New
Testament
 Its narratives and speeches help us to relive
the experiences of the early Christians as
they witnessed to their resurrected Lord and
savior.
 The Spirit of God has used this book in
various ways over the centuries
 Our responsibility is to seek ways to learn
from it and apply it in our own circumstances
being careful not to violate its own integrity.
Do the following Assignments
[Link] was the Gospel of Luke written?
[Link] do you compare and contrast the birth of John
the Baptist and Jesus?
3. What are some of the important messages that Luke
passes for our faith in Christ in the book of Acts?
[Link] is said that the book of Acts is unique in the NT.
What do you think about this? How do you see this
conclusion? Explain.
5. The reference to common ownership and generous
distribution of possession in Acts 2:44-45 and 4:32 has
been variously interpreted. What are they? Explain