Luke's Portrait of Gentiles Prior to Their Coming to Faith (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 108)

Christoph W. Stenschke examines Luke's portrait of the Gentiles' state prior to their coming to Christian faith. Following the history of research, he commences with Luke's direct references to the Gentiles prior to faith and then draws conclusions concerning their state from the Gentile encounter with Jesus and Christian salvation. This includes Luke's notes on the condition of Gentiles and on their appropriation of salvation. Finally conclusions from Luke's portrayal of Gentile Christians are drawn.With his approach Christoph W. Stenschke challenges some previous contributions to Lukan anthropology. He argues that the main study in the field (J.-W. Taeger, Der Mensch und sein Heil) does not sufficiently consider all the evidence. By concentrating on the Gentiles in Luke-Act (including Samaritans and God-fearers) the author's thesis covers all the relevant material. Contrary to Taeger, who suggests that Gentiles do not need 'salvation' as much as 'correction', he discovers that Luke portrays Gentiles prior to faith in a condition requiring God's saving intervention. Thorough correction has to accompany and follow this salvation. Though allowing for distinct Lukan emphases, this portrait is not essentially at odds with that of other NT authors.These results further show that the Areopagus speech needs to and can be satisfactorily interpreted in its context and in conjunction with similar statements. The author further argues that Luke's narrative sections and the characterization they present should no longer be neglected in favour of the speeches. Luke's portrayal of Gentiles prior to faith also bears on his understanding of sin and provides additional justification for the Gentile mission. Christoph W. Stenschke challenges proposals of Luke's alleged anti-Judaism and provides some hitherto little-noticed correctives. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 3 Preface......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Table of Contents......Page 11 Abbreviations......Page 19 1. Introduction......Page 21 2. Survey of Research......Page 22 3. Conclusion......Page 71 2. The Gospel of Luke......Page 75 3. The Acts of the Apostles......Page 80 4. Conclusion......Page 117 1. Introduction......Page 123 2.1. Luke's Gospel: contacts between Jesus and Gentiles......Page 124 2.2. Acts; The Christian Mission and the Gentiles......Page 164 3.1. Introduction......Page 263 3.2. The state of Gentiles prior to faith......Page 264 3.3. The appropriation of salvation by Gentiles; the implications of Luke's statements about how Gentiles are saved......Page 295 4. Conclusion......Page 337 1. Introduction......Page 339 2. Luke's Gospel......Page 340 3.1. Luke's designations for Gentile Christians......Page 342 3.2. The difference made by the Spirit......Page 353 3.3. The ministry to Gentile Christians......Page 355 3.4. Luke's sketches of Gentile Christians......Page 381 4. Conclusion......Page 395 V. Conclusion......Page 397 1. Luke's comprehensive portrait of Gentiles prior to faith......Page 398 2. The theological significance of Luke's comprehensive portrait of Gentiles prior to faith......Page 403 3. Some methodological implications of Luke's comprehensive portrait of Gentiles prior to faith......Page 408 Appendix: The portrayal of Gentiles prior to faith in Luke-Acts and in the pseudo-Philonic sermons De Iona and De Sampsone......Page 414 1. Commentaries on Luke's Gospel and the Book of Acts......Page 425 2. Other commentaries, monographs and articles......Page 427 Index of References......Page 446 Index of Authors......Page 463 Index of Subjects......Page 470 Back Cover......Page 479