Excursus: assumptions concerning authorship, audience and interpreting Acts

Introduction

What major themes, issues or debates come to mind when someone mentions ‘the book of Acts’ to you? The answer to this question in everyday conversations about Acts inevitably includes a cluster of issues related to anything from the charismatic movement (speaking in tongues as a sign of receiving the Spirit, baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second blessing), church government and practice (congregational versus presbyterian church government, the responsibilities of deacons, infant/household baptism versus baptism of believers, baptism as a condition of salvation) to missionary methods (whether or not we should follow the same strategies). It seems that, at the popular level at least, Acts is still used more for answers to debates that were not necessarily prominent in Luke’s aims than listened to for Luke’s own emphases.

My aim in this work is not to address all of these debates but rather to offer a framework for interpreting the book of Acts so that the major themes highlighted by Luke may be identified and related to the book of Acts as a whole. One of the areas of focus for the New Studies in Biblical Theology series is ‘the articulation and exposition of the structure of thought of a particular biblical writer or corpus’. It is within this area that I seek to make a contribution. This book will especially highlight Acts as an account of the ‘continuing story’ of God’s saving purposes. Luke intends his work to be read in the light of OT promises and the continuing reign of Christ. Acts is best understood, therefore, in this ‘biblicaltheological’ framework that highlights the move from the OT to what the kingdom of God looks like now that Christ has come, died, risen and ascended to the right hand of the Father. It is in this light – the continuing reign of Christ in the inaugurated kingdom of God – that Luke’s own emphases on themes such as the saving purposes of God, suffering and opposition as the gospel spreads and local churches are established, the resurrection of Christ, Israel and the Gentiles, the Holy Spirit, the temple, law and apostolic authority are better understood and integrated. Although various studies have drawn attention to these themes, my aim is to highlight the ‘inaugurated kingdom of God’ as the organizing framework for integrating Luke’s overall emphases in Acts.

This framework, however, is not merely of theoretical or antiquarian interest. Luke emphasizes the continued outworking of God’s purposes for a reason. The rest of this chapter will show briefly that understanding Luke’s stated purpose helps us to see how we should approach Acts. A brief excursus at the end of the chapter will summarize my assumptions in this book concerning matters of authorship, audience and interpreting Acts. Those familiar with these matters of standard NT introduction may skip the excursus at the end of this introduction and continue with the biblicaltheological material in chapter 1.

Reassurance concerning God’s purposes: the purpose(s) of the book of Acts

Why did Luke write Acts? Luke’s stated purpose in the preface to his Gospel, the language and style of his writing as ‘biblical narrative’ and his explicit links between the OT, Luke’s Gospel and Acts all indicate that Luke is writing for a Christian audience familiar with the promises and language of the OT in order to provide assurance concerning the continued outworking of God’s saving purposes.

First, regarding Luke’s purpose, in the opening verse of his Gospel, Luke tells us he is joining others in compiling a narrative concerning ‘the things that have been fulfilled among us’ (Luke 1:1). The passive voice of the verb ‘fulfilled/accomplished’ indicates that the events have been fulfilled/accomplished by God, and this is in keeping with Luke’s emphasis throughout his Gospel and Acts on the fulfilment of God’s plan. In 1:4 of his Gospel Luke gives us the purpose of his writing project: he is writing in order that ‘you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught’. The indication here is that readers such as Theophilus had been taught or instructed about the faith. What Luke’s audience needed, however, was ‘certainty’ or ‘assurance’ about what they had been taught. When Luke’s Gospel and the book of Acts are read in the light of this preface, it appears that Luke is writing to provide reassurance to believers about the nature of the events surrounding Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, the spread of the message about Jesus, and the nature of God’s people following Jesus’ ascension. He is providing assurance that these events really are the work of God, that God really has been accomplishing his purposes, that Jesus really is who he said he was, and that believers in Jesus really are the true people of God. All of this is especially important in the light of the rejection and persecution faced by these believers, not the least of which came from those who also claimed to belong to the heritage of God’s people and who read the same Bible.

Secondly, this leads us to a further observation helpful for determining Luke’s purposes – the genre of Acts. Vanhoozer describes a genre as a kind of literature that indicates ‘literary practices’ which bear ‘family resemblances’ to other kinds of literature. Although a full discussion concerning the genre of Acts cannot be entered into here, the ‘family resemblances’ between the narrative of Acts and OT historical narrative indicate that Luke is not only writing history; he is writing ‘biblical history’. Rosner’s evidence in support of this includes:

Thus ‘the author is continuing the story of Israel where it left off. That is to say, he is intending to write biblical narrative.’ In addition to these observations concerning the language, style and themes of OT narrative, we may note Paul House’s observations regarding narrative summaries of OT history in ‘the narratives of Old Testament narrative’, such as Deuteronomy 1 – 4; Joshua 23 – 24; Judges 1 – 2; 1 Samuel 12; 2 Kings 17; and Psalms 78, 89, 104 – 106. One of the functions of these historical summaries, according to House, is that ‘the writers place themselves and their audiences . . . into that story’. In the context of the narrative of Acts the major speeches of Acts 7 and 13 are largely narrative accounts of OT history from different perspectives in order to highlight continuing participation in that history. In Acts 7 the pattern of rejecting and persecuting God’s messengers is noted, and in Acts 13 the pattern of God’s saving provision for his people, which finds fulfilment in the death and resurrection of Jesus and which now includes Gentiles, is emphasized.

Thirdly, three strategically placed texts (at the beginning and end of Luke’s Gospel and then at the beginning of Acts) also indicate that Luke wants his readers to read along a historical line from the OT to the Gospel of Luke and on to the book of Acts to see the outworking of God’s saving plan:

(1) Luke 1:1 ‘the things that have been fulfilled among us’

(2) Luke 24:44–47

(a)‘everything must be fulfilled . . . written . . . in the Law . . . Prophets . . . Psalms’

(b)‘the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day

(c) and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached . . .’

(3) Acts 1:1 ‘in my former book . . .’

At the beginning of Luke’s Gospel (1) the links between the OT and Luke’s writing are indicated (‘the things that have been fulfilled among us’). At the end of Luke’s Gospel (2) the links between (a) the OT (‘everything must be fulfilled . . . Law . . . Prophets . . . Psalms’) and (b) the account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection in Luke’s Gospel (‘about me . . . the Christ will suffer and rise’) are confirmed, and the links between (a) the OT and (c) the spread of the Gospel in Acts are also identified (‘everything must be fulfilled . . . and repentance and forgiveness . . . will be preached’). At the beginning of Acts (3) the link between Luke’s Gospel and Acts is highlighted (‘in my former book. . .’). These three texts indicate that Luke intends Acts to be read as a continuation of this line as he recounts the continued outworking of God’s saving purposes (see the ).

The above observations concerning the purpose and genre of Acts help us to see how we should approach Acts. Since Acts is written for a Christian audience for the purpose of providing reassurance concerning God’s actions, and since the narrative of Acts is patterned after the style and features of OT narrative, which highlight the accomplishment of God’s purposes in history, then, as in OT narrative, the main character in the narrative of Acts is God. That is, Acts is not merely ‘objective history’ to satisfy our curiosity about various events. Nor is it necessarily prescriptive of everything it describes (though it is not merely descriptive either). The main concern of the author for his readers is that we look to see what God is doing in the narrative, how God is accomplishing his purposes and how we may embrace and identify with these purposes and so glorify the God of the biblical narrative.

Of course, the main salvation-historical development that has taken place following the OT is the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. In the following chapters we will see that the focus of Acts is on the continued accomplishment of God’s saving purposes through the risen Lord Jesus. The kingdom has indeed been inaugurated in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is continuing to reign and all who come to him in repentance and faith are truly God’s people and will receive the promised blessings of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit. God’s people may be assured therefore that, because the Lord Jesus continues to reign, they will be enabled by the Holy Spirit to serve him and reflect his character, the word will continue to spread even in the midst of opposition, and local churches will be established and strengthened with the apostolic message about the Lord Jesus. Luke’s emphasis on the nature of the kingdom of God, therefore, is as relevant for Christian readers today as it was for the first century. All who follow the Lord Jesus this side of the cross and resurrection need to know that God is continuing to accomplish his purposes even now through the reign of the Lord Jesus. It is to the theme of the inaugurated kingdom of God, therefore, that we turn in chapter 1.

Excursus: assumptions concerning authorship, audience and interpreting Acts

Authorship and audience

I am assuming throughout this study that the same author wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, that this author is Luke, the ‘sometime companion of Paul’, and that he probably wrote Acts sometime before ad 70. Who was Luke writing for? The attempt to locate a particular ‘Lukan community’ is fraught with difficulty and has now been largely abandoned. The lack of any reference to a particular community, coupled with the general nature of the prologue of Luke’s Gospel, makes any such historical reconstruction for a particular locality tentative at best. Thus clues must be examined in the narrative itself for descriptions of who the readers implied by the narrative may be.

The name of the addressee, Theophilus, mentioned in both prefaces, does not provide any further decisive evidence. A common Greek name, it was used by both Jews and Greeks. The suggestion that Acts is intended solely for a readership outside the church (i.e. as a defence of Christianity to Roman readers), however, is the most unlikely option. In addition to the problem Roman officials would have had in understanding the relevance of much of the book and the difficulty many would have had in noticing the many allusions to the LXX, Luke’s repeated use of the plural pronoun ‘us’ in his preface to the Gospel indicates an identification with the readership of his work. As Marguerat notes,

the narrative which follows (the Gospel and Acts) takes place within a readership composed of a common faith in the saving events (the ‘events . . . fulfilled among us’) and a common adherence to a tradition (‘handed on [to us] by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses’).

Thus a Christian readership is most likely implied by the preface to Luke’s Gospel.

Other clues in the narrative, however, have been the basis for conflicting claims for the readership of Acts. Many have focused on whether or not this Christian readership was primarily Gentile or Jewish. Those in favour of a Gentile-Christian readership point to (1) the emphasis on the Gentile mission, (2) the absence of primarily Jewish preoccupations (such as Matt. 5:21–48), (3) the use of the LXX and the absence of Hebrew and Aramaic terms, and (4) Luke’s Greco-Roman preface. Those in favour of a Jewish-Christian readership, however, respond by pointing out (1) that the emphasis on Gentile mission needs to be understood in the context of Israel’s restoration and does not necessarily entail a complete rejection of the Jews, (2) Luke’s many references to primarily Jewish concerns (e.g. the clean/unclean issue in Acts 10), (3) the fact that a Greek-speaking Jewish readership could explain Luke’s use of the LXX and the absence of Hebrew and Aramaic terms, and (4) that many of the Gentile converts in Acts were God-fearers who had already attached themselves to Judaism (without undergoing circumcision). It seems, therefore, that in the light of such seemingly conflicting claims for the audience of Luke-Acts, it would be wise to follow the course proposed by Marguerat, that ‘the Lucan work implies a diversified readership’. That is, the intended audience may include both Jewish and Gentile Christian readers. A Jewish or Gentile Christian audience familiar with the language and promises of the OT, however, appears to be the primary target.

Interpreting Acts

My focus in this book will be on the text of Acts itself. Although I am not arguing for Luke’s reliability as a historian in this book, I do not assume there is a necessary disjunction between Luke’s role as historian and theologian. Since Luke’s Gospel and the book of Acts cannot be dealt with entirely separately, there will be some reference at times to Luke’s Gospel. There are sufficient distinctives in style and focus, however, to warrant treating Acts independently.

Although much has been written about interpreting biblical narrative in general and the narrative of Acts in particular, I have found it particularly helpful to look out for various forms of repetition in seeking to observe Luke’s emphases. This is sometimes the best way to determine the difference between what some call ‘descriptive’ and ‘prescriptive’ elements in the narrative of Acts. For example, the appointment of a leader (Matthias) by lot is unlikely to be ‘prescriptive’ for the appointment of all church leaders just because it has been ‘described’ once (Acts 1:23–26). The frequent references to the way material possessions are used, however, indicate that Luke is trying to make a point (i.e. that he is arguing for or ‘prescribing’ something). In the case of material possessions it appears that by both positive and negative portraits he shows that the reality of one’s allegiance to the Lord Jesus is evidenced in the way one uses material possessions ( Luke 16:13). It seems that if Luke wants to make a point, he highlights something by repetition. This repetition may be seen in

It is not always easy to determine with certainty what Luke may be ‘prescribing’ in the narrative of Acts. In addition to the observations above concerning Luke’s purposes and audience (assurance for believers concerning the outworking of God’s purposes in Christ), however, keeping an eye out for these kinds of repetitions will at least help to alert us to the fact that something is being emphasized! Although much more could be said about Luke’s narrative techniques, my aim here is merely to summarize briefly the approach taken in this book as I focus primarily on the text of Acts in order to highlight the biblical-theological framework of the inaugurated kingdom of God in Acts.

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