Luke’s Divine Call of Jesus. Part One

Robert Lee Williams


B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary, Irving TX, USA (United States)
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2742-8898

Abstract

Luke represents Jesus’ death as the martyrdom of a prophet. M. Dibelius has noted this in 1919. C.H. Talbert adds in 1982 that Jesus’ death “is not an atoning sacrifice.” Such an assessment of Jesus and his death, for the “Christ” who “atones for sins,” is anemic to some scholars. F. Bovon, prefers to say, “[T]he attitude of the people . . .  testifies not only to the exemplary character but also to the redemptive nature of the passion.” The question is thus joined for this paper. Was Jesus’ passion in Luke “redemptive”? The answer is found in Luke’s divine call of Jesus.

Luke finds that Jesus is informed progressively of God’s plans for him on five occasions, evidently from time at prayer. The first, after his baptism (3:21b-22), reveals to him divine approval in royal and servant terminology. Next, after a night of prayer (6:12) he selects twelve as apostles and proclaims new teaching, the “Sermon on the Plain.” Then come two times of prayer (9:18, 29), the first prior to and the second on the occasion of visible transformation on a mountain, the “transfiguration,” regarding Jesus’ prophetic role and his coming suffering.

After declaring at his final meal the beginning of a new covenant, but without reference to sacrifice for sins, he prays for guidance a final time on the Mount of Olives (22:41-44), preparing for anticipated suffering and vindication. We conclude that Jesus’ death for Luke is the martyrdom of a prophet that does not atone for sins but does seal a new covenant (22:20).

The study will be published in two parts, the first extending through the four occasions above and the subsequent one in the issue to follow beginning with the fifth and final instance.


Keywords:

Luke, Gospel of Luke, Jesus, Isaianic servant of Yahweh, prophet, Christ, martyrdom, new covenant

Allison, D.C., Jr., (1992). Mountain and Wilderness. In J.B. Green, S. McKnight, & I.H. Marshall (Eds.), Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (pp. 563-66). Downers Grove, IL: IVP.
  Google Scholar

Bock, D.L. (2012). A Theology of Luke and Acts. God’s Promised Program, Realized for All Nations. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
  Google Scholar

Bourdieu, P. (1990). The Logic of Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503621749   Google Scholar

Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  Google Scholar

Bovon, F. (1973). Le salut dans les écrits de Luc: Essai. Revue de théologie et de philosophie, 23 (4), pp. 296-307.
  Google Scholar

Bovon, F. (2002). Luke 1. A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50. (C.M. Thomas, Trans.). Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress.
  Google Scholar

Bovon, F. (2012a). Luke 2. A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 9:51-19:27. (D.S. Deer, Trans.). Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress.
  Google Scholar

Bovon, F. (2012b). Luke 3. A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 19:28-24:53. (J.S. Crouch, Trans.). Hermeneia Minneapolis: Fortress.
  Google Scholar

Bowman, C. (2004). The Spirit of God in the Ministry of the Old Testament Prophets. Leaven: 12 (3), Article 3. Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol12/iss3/3, accessed 2/11/2024.
  Google Scholar

Brawley, R.L. (1987). Luke-Acts and the Jews. Atlanta: Scholars Press.
  Google Scholar

Brawley, R.L. (2016). Luke. In Aymer, M., Kittredge, C.B., & Sάnchez, D.A. (Eds.), The Gospels and Acts. Fortress Commentary on the Bible Study Edition. Minneapolis: Fortress.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b3t6xx.13   Google Scholar

Carlston, C.E. (1975). The Parables of the Triple Tradition. Philadelphia: Fortress.
  Google Scholar

Cosgrove, C.H. (1984). The Divine Δεῖ in Luke-Acts. Novum Testamentum, 26, pp. 168-90.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/156853684X00301   Google Scholar

Cullmann, O. (1965). The Christology of the New Testament (S.C. Guthrie and C.A.M. Hall, Trans.; Rev. ed.). Philadelphia: Westminster. (Original work published 1957).
  Google Scholar

Dibelius, M. (1965). From Tradition to Gospel. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1965.
  Google Scholar

Dinkler, M.B. (2023). Luke: Introduction. In McKenzie, S.L., De Troyer, K, & Spencer, F.S., (Eds.), The SBL Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version Updated Version (pp. 1827-32). HarperCollins.
  Google Scholar

Ellis, E.E. (1974). The Gospel of Luke, Rev. ed. New Century Bible. London: Oliphants.
  Google Scholar

Friedrich, G. (1968). προφήτης κτλ. In G. Friedrich (Ed.), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (G. Bromiley, Trans., Vol. 6, pp. 781-861). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  Google Scholar

France, R.T. (1992). Servant of Yahweh. In J.B. Green, S. McKnight, & I.H. Marshall (Eds.), Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (pp. 744-47). Downers Grove, IL: IVP.
  Google Scholar

Garrett, S.B. (1990). Exodus from Bondage: Luke 9:31 and Acts 12:1-24. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 52, pp. 656-80.
  Google Scholar

Garrett, S.B. (1992). The Meaning of Jesus’ Death in Luke. Word and World 12, pp. 11-16.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2058-7058/5/12/15   Google Scholar

Green, J.B. (1995). The Theology of the Gospel of Luke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139166683   Google Scholar

Green, J.B. (1997). The Gospel of Luke. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/bci-000t   Google Scholar

Jeremias, J. (1967). παῖς θεοῦ. In G. Friedrich (Ed.), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (G. Bromiley, Trans., Vol. 5, pp. 654-714). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  Google Scholar

Junod, É. (1982). Polymorphie du Dieu Sauveur. In J. Ries (Ed.), Gnosticism et monde hellénstique. Publications de l’Institut orientaliste de Louvain 27. Louvain-La-Neuve: Université catholique de Louvain, pp. 38-46.
  Google Scholar

Liefeld, W.L. (1984). Luke. In F.E. Gaebelein, J.D. Douglas (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Vol. 8, pp. 797-1059). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
  Google Scholar

Marshall, I.H. (1978). Commentary on Luke. NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  Google Scholar

Marshall, I.H. (1988). Luke. Historian & Theologian, 3rd ed. Downer Grove: IVP.
  Google Scholar

Monloubou, L. (1976). La prière selon saint Luc. recherche d’une structure. Lectio Divina 89. Paris: Cerf.
  Google Scholar

Morgenthaler, R. (1948). Die Lukanische Geschichtsschreibung als Zeugnis. Zürich: Zwingli Verlag.
  Google Scholar

Schnackenburg, R. (1959). Die Erwartung des ‘Propheten’ nach dem Neuen Testament und den Qumran-Texten, Studia Evangelica I. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, (Vol. 73, pp. 622-39). Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
  Google Scholar

Schrenk, G. (1964). εὐδοκέω, εὐδοκία. In G. Kittel (Ed.), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (G. Bromiley, Trans., Vol. 2, pp. 738-51). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
  Google Scholar

Strauss, M.L. (1995). The Davidic Messiah in Luke-Acts: The Promise and Its Fulfillment in Lukan Christology, Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 110. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic.
  Google Scholar

Strobel, A. (1961). Untersuchungen zum eschatologischen Verzögerungensproblem. Novum Testamentum Supplementum 2. Leiden: Brill.
  Google Scholar

Talbert, C.H. (1982). Reading Luke. A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Third Gospel. New York: Crossroad.
  Google Scholar

Trompf, G.W. (1979). The Idea of Historical Recurrence in Western Thought: From Antiquity to the Reformation. Berkeley: University of California.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520312401   Google Scholar

Williams, R.L. (2024). Spectral Lives by Luke and Philostratus. Journeying of Holy Men. Lanham: Lexington.
  Google Scholar

Download


Published
2024-07-31

Cited by

Williams, R. L. (2024). Luke’s Divine Call of Jesus. Part One. Warsaw Theological Studies, 37(1), 142–160. https://doi.org/10.30439/WST.2024.1.8

Authors

Robert Lee Williams 

B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary, Irving TX, USA United States
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2742-8898

Robert Lee Williams is presently distinguished fellow at B. H. Carroll Theological Seminary (6500 North Belt Line Road, Irving TX 75063, USA), advising doctoral work. His most recent book, to which the article is related, is Spectral Lives by Luke and Philostratus: Journeying of Holy Men (Lanham: Lexington, 2024). His PhD is from the University of Chicago (1983).



Statistics

Abstract views: 18
PDF downloads: 8


License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The journal is available free-of-charge and according to the Open Access regulations (as a PDF file on the website). The authors do not incur any costs related to publication. The journal is published in accordance with the Creative Commons license standard:  CC BY-ND 4.0 (Attribution – NoDerivatives 4.0 International)  and does not follow a concrete policy of conducting research. By submitting the article, the author gives the consent to such a form of sharing the text. The authors of the published articles retain their copyrights.