| Luke gives the impression of being well-informed about, and favorably disposed toward, Judaism and its scriptures, main figures, practices, and ordinances. He depicts a positive continuity between Judaism and Christianity. He was familiar with Jewish beliefs and practices, and was not bent on criticizing them. He believed that the salvation wrought by God in Jesus the Messiah was intended for all--both Gentiles and Jews.;Unlike his synoptic counterparts, Luke does not place on Jesus' lips any reduction of the law to the "golden rule" or the command to love. The Lukan Jesus offers no sweeping "reinterpretation" of the law; nor does he criticize Moses or elevate one commandment over another. Similarly, Luke's Paul does not engage in the kind of theological critique of the law contained in certain portions of Paul's letters.;As a Christian, Luke certainly believed that the locus of salvation was Jesus. But he is not willing to denigrate the law or shove it completely into the background. It had functioned as a predictor of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.;In Acts 15, Luke depicts the apostolic council trying to "hammer out" the details of "salvation through Christ" for an ethnically mixed body of believers. Observance of the law had been the mark of Israel until the coming of Christ. Luke saw no need for that distinguishing mark suddenly to be erased. Obeying the law (or the stipulations of the Decree in the case of gentiles) was part of Luke's church order: it facilitated association among Christians of disparate ethnic backgrounds, and it assured acceptable ethical conduct among its adherents.;What, then, is the function of the law in Luke's scheme of things? Understood as "Scripture," the law functions as a "predictor" of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But, on a "flesh and blood" level, the law was a behavioral norm to which pious Jews had aligned themselves.;Perhaps the best explanation for the things that Luke says in passages like Acts 13:38-39; 15:10-11; and Luke 16:16-31 is that his view of the law was similar to that of the Old Testament: one can obey God's will as revealed in the law without nullifying the fact that he is ultimately the one who saves. The law is often highly extolled, and the rewards for doing it are great; but doing what God commands does not eclipse the fact that it is he who brings salvation.;If Luke operated with something akin to this Old Testament view, then the law-observing piety of his main figures, his positive attitude toward Judaism, his statements about the law's validity, and his reluctance to criticize or downgrade it, become easily understandable. The coming of Christ was God's ultimate act of deliverance for his people. But that did not mean that piety and righteous conduct suddenly were no longer needed. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.). |
