on any of the questions but must be in APA style format. Some answers will understandingly be short and simple others will require a little more input. The source that has been uploaded must be used but, feel free to utilize other sources as well. Harris

newtestamentinstr
 

• on any of the questions but must be in APA style format. Some answers will understandingly be short and simple others will require a little more input.
• The source that has been uploaded must be used but, feel free to utilize other sources as well.
  Harris, S. L. (2015). The New Testament: A student’s Introduction (8th ed.). Mcgraw- Hill Publishing.

1. Evaluate the arguments for and against the traditional views of the authorship of the Gospel of John. Describe the role of the Beloved Disciple and his relationship to the Fourth Gospel. 
2. What are some of the major differences between the Gospel of John and the Synoptic Gospels? Briefly describe a few events and teachings in Jesus’ life that are not found in the Gospel of John. 
3. How does John’s use of the Greek term logos connect Jesus with the creation account of Genesis 1 as well as the Greek principle of cosmic Reason? 
4. Why did the writer of the Gospel of John compile a “Book of Signs”? briefly describe one of those signs and its meaning. 
5. What does the author of John’s use of the Holy Spirit indicate about Jesus’ presence? What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the Johannine community? What are some other names for the Holy Spirit?
6. Compare the account of Jesus’ trial before Pilate with that of Paul before Pilate’s successors, Felix and Festus.
7. Identify the leaders of the Jerusalem church and the missionaries who first helped carry “the new way” into the larger world beyond the Jewish capital. 
8. In recording the events of Pentecost how does Luke emphasize role of the Holy Spirit and that Christianity is a religion for all peoples? According to the author of Luke, what ancient Hebrew prophecy is fulfilled by the Spirit’s coming upon the first disciples? 
9. Summarize the events that led to the expansion of Christianity from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria. Include in your description the role of Stephen and Philip. 
10. Summarize the results of Paul’s three missionary journeys into Gentile territories. What series of events led to Paul’s arrest in Caesarea and Rome?
11. Briefly describe Paul’s transformation from a zealous Pharisee to Christianity’s first great missionary. How does the account of his conversion in Acts ch. 9 differ from his own accounts in Gal. 1:15 and I Cor. 9:1 and 15:8-9? 
12. What is the evidence in Acts and Paul’s letters that there was approximately 17 years between Paul’s conversion and the council in Jerusalem? What two references in Acts and Paul’s letters help us place his life and ministry in historical context? 
13. How many authentic letters of Paul are there? How many disputed and/or pseudonymous letters of Paul’s exist and what generally distinguishes the authentic letters from the disputed/pseudonymous letters.
14. Briefly describe Paul’s mysticism and eschatology and explain their connection. 
15. List the ways in which Jesus is central to Paul’s theology and briefly describe one of those ways, giving appropriate detail.

Attachments area
 

PHOTO ESSAY Diverse Portraits of Jesus
Early Christian artists commonly emphasized Jesus’
relevance to their lives by portraying him dressed
as a contemporary, but they also envisioned him
in a variety of ways, ranging from a clean-shaven
youth to a mature, bearded fi gure. A fresco in the
Catacomb of Saint Domitilla in Rome ( above )
shows Jesus and the apostles as beardless, with
short hair, and wearing white linen tunics in the
Greco-Roman fashion. By contrast, the image of
Jesus on the famous Shroud of Turin ( detail left ),
a burial cloth in which Jesus’ crucifi ed body was
allegedly wrapped, shows a bearded fi gure with
long hair in what may have been the style of
Palestinian-Jewish men of the early fi rst century CE .
Although carbon 14 dating of a swath from the
shroud in 1988 indicated that it was woven in
about the fourteenth century CE , recent chemical
tests of other parts of the shroud suggest that it is
actually much older. (The cloth sample dated in
1988 reportedly was taken from a medieval-era
patch used to repair the shroud after it was
damaged by fi re.)
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In a mosaic from the mid-third century CE ( above ),
a Christian artist portrays Christ as the sun-god
Apollo, thereby expressing the glorifi ed Jesus’ cos-
mic importance. As the “light of the world,” Christ
replaces Greco-Roman solar deities and now
shines “like the sun in full strength” (Rev. 1:16).
Sixth-century mosaics in Ravenna depict scenes
from Jesus’ ministry: ( left ) A youthful Jesus sum-
mons the brothers Peter and Andrew to leave
their fi shing boat and follow him. ( below ) A
mature, bearded Jesus (with halo) and his disciples
are dressed in a style characteristic of the late
eastern Roman (Byzantine) period.
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Diverse Portraits of Jesus (continued)
( top ) As a disciple looks on, Jesus expels
demons from a man and casts them into
swine at Gergesa . ( middle ) On his fatal
journey to Jerusalem, a beardless Jesus
touches the eyes of a blind man to restore
his sight. ( bottom left ) Judas kisses Jesus
in the garden of Gethsemane, identifying
him to the guards who have come to arrest
him, as Peter draws his sword to cut off the
ear of Malchus , slave of the High Priest
(John 18:10, 26). ( bottom right ) In a
post resurrection appearance found only in
John’s Gospel, the risen Jesus allows a
skeptical Thomas to touch his wounds,
leading to Thomas’s recognition of Jesus
as “my Lord and my God.” ■
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231
Key Topics/Themes In John’s Gospel, the order
of events and the portrayal of Jesus and his
teaching are strikingly different from those in
the Synoptic accounts. Whereas the Synoptics
depict Jesus as an eschatological healer-exorcist
whose teachings deal primarily with Torah rein-
terpretation, John describes Jesus as an embodi-
ment of heavenly Wisdom who performs no
exorcisms and whose message centers on his
own divine nature. In John, Jesus is the human
form of God’s celestial Word, the cosmic expres-
sion of divine Wisdom by which God created
the universe. As the Word incarnate (made
fl esh), Jesus reveals otherwise unknowable
truths about God’s being and purpose. To John,
Jesus’ crucifi xion is not a humiliating ordeal (as
Mark characterizes it), but a glorifi cation that
frees Jesus to return to heaven. Although John’s
Gospel alludes briefl y to Jesus’ future return, it
contains no prophecies of the Second Coming
comparable to those found in the Synoptics .
Instead of emphasizing the Parousia , it argues
that the risen Christ is eternally present in the
invisible form of a surrogate—the Paraclete , or
Holy Spirit, which continues to inspire and direct
the believing community.
From the moment we read the opening lines of
John’s Gospel—“When all things began, the
Word already was. The Word dwelt with God,
and what God was, the Word was” (1:1)—we re-
alize that we have entered a world of thought
strikingly different from that of the Synoptic
Gospels. “Word,” which John uses to denote the
state of Jesus’ preexistence in heaven before he
came to earth, translates the Greek term Logos. A
philosophical concept with a long pre- Christian
history, Logos can mean anything from a divine
utterance to the principle of cosmic reason that
orders and governs the universe. To John, it is
the infi nite wisdom of God personifi ed, the ulti-
mate consummation of Israel’s long wisdom
tradition (see below).
Identifying his hero with the Greek Logos
concept is only the fi rst of John’s many astonish-
ing innovations in retelling Jesus’ story. While
the three Synoptics give generally similar ac-
counts of their subject’s life, John creates a por-
trait of Jesus that differs in both outline and
content from the other Gospels. Ninety percent
of John’s material appears exclusively in his
c h a p t e r 1 0
John’s Reinterpretation of Jesus
Divine Wisdom Made Flesh
He who has faith in me will do what I am doing; and he will do greater things still. . . .
Your Advocate [ Paraclete ], the Holy Spirit . . . will teach you everything,
and will call to mind all that I have told you. John 14:12, 26
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232 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
his fi rst coming and spotlighting his cosmic
stature.
Unlike the Synoptic writers, John gives little
indication that Jesus was remembered as an
apocalyptic prophet who announced God’s dawn-
ing kingdom and who expelled demons to show
that Satan no longer controlled humanity. In
John, Jesus does not predict Jerusalem’s fall,
prophesy about his return to earth, or perform a
single exorcism. Instead, John portrays Jesus as
effectively disclosing his “glory” during his earthly
ministry. When the divine Logos became human
as the man Jesus, his disciples could already see
“his glory, such glory as befi ts the Father’s only
Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). For
John, the Crucifi xion itself reveals Jesus’ “hour of
glory” and it is Jesus’ death and return to heaven,
his place of origin, which allows him to reveal the
“power and glory” that Mark had ascribed to the
Second Coming (Mark 13:26; cf. John 1:14;
12:27–33; 17:5, 22, 24).
In creating a portrait of Jesus so different
from those in the Synoptic Gospels, John freely
confesses that his purpose is not biographical but
theological: His account was written “in order that
you may hold the faith that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that through this faith you may
possess life by his name” (20:31). This declaration
follows the Gospel’s climactic scene—a post res-
urrection appearance in which the reality of
Jesus’ living presence conquers the doubts of his
most skeptical follower, Thomas. Confronted
with a sudden manifestation of the risen Jesus,
Thomas acknowledges him as “My Lord and my
God”—a confession of faith that the reader is
intended to echo.
Authorship
Since the late second century ce , the Gospel of
John (commonly labeled the Fourth Gospel to
distinguish it from the Synoptics ) has been at-
tributed to the apostle John, son of Zebedee
and brother of James. In the Synoptics , John
and James are Galilean fi shermen and, along
account and has no parallel in the Synoptics . The
Fourth Gospel offers a different chronology of
Jesus’ ministry, a different order of events, a dif-
ferent teaching, and a distinctly different teacher.
Instead of Mark’s humble carpenter-prophet,
John presents a divine hero whose supernatural
glory radiates through every speech he makes
and every miracle he performs. John’s Jesus is a
being of light even while walking the earth.
Writing perhaps thirty years after Mark had
invented the Gospel form, the author of the
Fourth Gospel is aware that, even after the
destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 ce ,
the End did not come and Jesus did not return.
He is also aware that, despite its disappointment
in the delayed Parousia, the Christian move-
ment had not only survived the tribulations
of  the Jewish wars and government persecu-
tions, but had grown vigorously and expanded
throughout the Roman Empire. Inspired by the
Paraclete —which he defi nes as “the Spirit of
truth” (John 14:16; 15:26)—the fourth Evangelist
boldly reinterprets Jesus’ theological signifi –
cance, emphasizing what Jesus accomplished at
The Gospel According to John
Author: Traditionally, John, son of Zebedee
and brother of James, one of the Twelve. The
writer, who does not identify himself, states
that his version of Jesus’ life is based on testi-
mony of an unnamed “Beloved Disciple.”
Scholars classify the work as anonymous.
Date: Between about 9 5 and 100 ce , after some
Christians were expelled from Jewish synagogues.
Small fragments of the Gospel found in Egypt,
dating from the fi rst half of the second century ce ,
are the oldest surviving part of the New Testament.
Place of composition: Unknown. The Gospel
may have evolved at a number of different sites
as the Johannine community moved from a
Jewish-Palestinian to a Gentile environment.
Sources: A compilation of Jesus’ miraculous acts,
the hypothetical Signs Gospel; Greek and Jewish
traditions involving heavenly Wisdom; and the oral
teachings of an unidentifi ed “Beloved Disciple.”
Audience: Communities infl uenced by a
uniquely high Christology, including belief in
Jesus’ prehuman existence as Cosmic Wisdom
(the Logos), as well as a proto-Gnostic group.
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 233
and Chapter 19 on the authorship of Revelation).
The Gospel itself does not mention the author’s
identity, stating instead that it is based on the
testimony of an anonymous disciple “whom
Jesus loved” (21:20–24). Tradition identifi es this
“Beloved Disciple” with John (whose name does
not appear in the Gospel), but scholars can fi nd
no evidence to substantiate this claim. Jesus pre-
dicted that John would suffer a death similar to
his (Mark 10:39), whereas the Gospel implies
that its author, unlike Peter, James, and John,
did not die a martyr’s death (21:20–22). Many
historians think it likely that Herod Agrippa ex-
ecuted the apostle John along with his brother
James about 41–43 ce (Acts 12:1–3).
Some critics propose that another John,
prominent in the church at Ephesus about 100 ce ,
is the author. Except that he was called “John
the Elder” (presbyter), we know nothing that
would connect him with the Johannine writ-
ings. Lacking defi nite confi rmation of tradi-
tional authorship, scholars regard the work as
anonymous. For convenience, we refer to the
author as John.
The Beloved Disciple
Although the Gospel text does not identify its
author, editorial notes added to the fi nal chap-
ter associate him with the unnamed Beloved
Disciple, suggesting that at the very least this
disciple’s teachings are the Gospel’s primary
source (21:23–24). Whether or not this anony-
mous personage was a historical character, he is
certainly an idealized fi gure, achieving an inti-
macy and emotional rapport with Jesus un-
matched by that with Peter or the other disciples.
In the Gospel, he does not appear (at least as
the one “Jesus loved”) until the fi nal night of
Jesus’ life, when we fi nd him at the Last Supper,
lying against his friend’s chest (13:23). (The
Twelve dined in the Greco-Roman fashion, re-
clining two-by-two on benches set around the
table.)
Designed to represent the Johannine com-
munity’s special knowledge of Christ, the Beloved
Disciple is invariably presented in competition
with Peter, form an inner circle of Jesus’ most
intimate followers. The most prominent of
the Twelve, the three are present when Jesus
raises Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:37), at the
Transfi guration (Mark 9:2), and in the garden
of Gethsemane when Jesus is arrested (Mark
14:33). Jesus nicknames John and his brother
“ Boanerges ,” meaning “sons of thunder,” per-
haps for their aggressive temperaments, as
when they ask Jesus to send fi re to consume a
Samaritan village (Luke 9:54) or demand fi rst
place in his kingdom (Mark 10:35–40). Writing
in the mid-50s ce , Paul describes John as one of
the three “pillars” in the Jerusalem church
(Gal. 2:6–10) during its formative period.
According to one church tradition, John
eventually settled in Ephesus, where he lived to
an exceptionally old age, writing his Gospel,
three letters, and the Book of Revelation. These
fi ve works are known collectively as the “ Johannine
literature.”
The tradition ascribing authorship to the
son of Zebedee is relatively late. Before about
180 ce , church writers do not mention the
Gospel’s existence. After that date, some lead-
ing churchmen accept it as John’s composition,
although others doubt its authenticity. Some
even suggest that it was the work of Cerinthus , a
Gnostic teacher.
One church leader, Clement of Alexandria,
states what became the offi cial view of John’s
origin. Clement (c. 200 ce ) recognized the sa-
lient differences between the Synoptics and
John and noted that after the other Evangelists
had preserved the “facts of history” John then
wrote “a spiritual Gospel.” Both traditionalists
and modern critics agree with Clement on two
counts: that John’s Gospel was the last one writ-
ten and that it profoundly “spiritualizes” Jesus.
Problems with the Traditional Theory
Most contemporary scholars doubt that the apos-
tle John wrote the document bearing his name.
Most scholars are also skeptical that the same au-
thor wrote all of the Johannine literature ( see
Chapter 18 for a discussion of the letters of John
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234 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
during the lifetimes of some original followers
was a misapprehension, a mistaken interpreta-
tion of Jesus’ teaching?
Instead of emphasizing Jesus’ return to earth,
John’s Gospel underscores Jesus’ return to
heaven, his place of origin. At the Last Supper
Jesus promises the disciples: “I will not leave you
bereft; I am coming back to you,” coming not vis-
ibly at the Parousia, but in the unseen form of the
Paraclete, which Jesus describes as “your Advocate,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name” (14:26). Explaining the necessity of his re-
turn to heaven, Jesus tells the disciples: “It is for
your good that I am leaving you. If I do not go,
your Advocate [the Paraclete] will not come,
whereas if I go, I will send him to you” (16:7). Not
the Parousia, but the Paraclete, the Spirit that as-
sures Jesus’ continuing presence among believ-
ers, will reveal Jesus’ “glory” and invisibly express
God’s will in human society (16:8-15).
One disciple clearly articulates Jesus’ intent
in thus revising expectations of his Second
Coming: “You mean to disclose yourself to us
alone and not to the world?” (14:22). In the
Johannine view, Jesus has already returned spir-
itually to dwell within believers sanctifi ed by
love, and perhaps will not manifest himself visibly
to “the world” at a Parousia (14:10–29).
Place and Date of Composition
Despite its use of Hellenistic terms and ideas,
recent studies indicate that John’s Gospel is
deeply rooted in Palestinian tradition. It shows
a greater familiarity with Palestinian geography
than the Synoptics and reveals close connec-
tions with fi rst-century Palestinian Judaisms ,
particularly concepts prevailing in the Essene
community at Qumran. Study of the Dead Sea
Scrolls from Qumran reveals many parallels be-
tween Essene ideas and those prevailing in the
Johannine community. Essene writers and the
author of John use a remarkably similar vocab-
ulary to express the same kind of ethical du-
alism, dividing the world into two opposing
groups of people: those who walk in the light
(symbolizing truth and goodness) and those
with Peter, who may represent the larger apos-
tolic church from which the disciple’s exclusive
group is somewhat distanced. At the Last Supper,
the Beloved Disciple is Peter’s intermediary, trans-
mitting to Jesus Peter’s question about Judas’s
betrayal (13:21–29). Acquainted with the High
Priest, he has access to Pilate’s court, thus gaining
Peter’s admittance to the hearing, where Peter
denies knowing Jesus (18:15–18). The only male
disciple at the cross, he receives Jesus’ charge to
care for Mary, becoming her “son” and hence
Jesus’ “brother” as well (19:26–27).
Outrunning Peter to the empty tomb on
Easter morning, he arrives there fi rst and is the
fi rst to believe that Jesus is risen (20:2–10). In a
boat fi shing with Peter on the Sea of Galilee,
the disciple is the fi rst to recognize the resur-
rected Jesus standing on the shore, identifying
him to Peter (21:4–7). Peter, future “pillar” of
the Jerusalem church, is commissioned to “feed”
(or spiritually nourish) Jesus’ “sheep” (his future
followers), but Jesus has a special prophecy for
the Beloved Disciple’s future: He may live until
the Master returns (21:20–22).
This brief allusion to the Beloved Disciple’s
surviving until Jesus’ return is one of only two
explicit references to the Parousia in John’s
Gospel. The single reference to Jesus’ coming
again in the main body of the Gospel appears in
John 14:3, where it is placed in the context of
Jesus’ receiving the disciples into their everlast-
ing home, perhaps at the hour of their deaths.
In John 21, which scholars believe is an epilogue
to the Gospel and by a writer or editor different
from that of the main narrative, the author states
that Jesus’ words about the Beloved Disciple had
been misunderstood “in the brotherhood,” the
community that produced the Gospel. “But in
fact Jesus did not say that he would not die,”
the editor points out, “he only said, ‘If it should
be my will that he wait until I come, what is it
to you?’” (21:23). By the time the epilogue was
written, the Beloved Disciple had apparently al-
ready died, suggesting that even the longest-lived
followers who had personally known Jesus had by
then passed from the scene. Does the writer
mean to imply that expectations of Jesus’ return
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 235
similarities between Essene and Johannine
thought, however, now incline many scholars to
fi x the Gospel’s place of composition (at least its
fi rst edition) in Palestine or Syria.
Some critics once thought that John’s
Gospel was composed late in the second cen-
tury, when Christian authors fi rst mention it.
However, tiny manuscript fragments of John
discovered in the Egyptian desert have been
dated to about 125 to 150 ce , making them
the oldest surviving part of a New Testament
book. Allowing time for the Gospel to have
circulated abroad as far as Egypt, the work
could not have originated much later than
about 100 ce . The Gospel’s references to be-
lievers’ being expelled from Jewish synagogues
(9:22, 34 –35)—an extended process that be-
gan about 85 or 90  ce —suggest that the deci-
sive break between church and synagogue was
already in effect when it was written. Hence,
the Gospel is usually dated to between about
9 5 and 100 ce .
Relation to the Synoptic Gospels
Despite some verbal parallels to Mark (cf. John
6:7 and Mark 6:37; John 12:27–28 and Mark
14:34–36), most scholars do not think that the
author of John’s Gospel drew on the earlier
Gospels. A few scholars, however, such as Thomas
Brodie (see “Recommended Reading”), argue
that the author created his account by
appropriating material from the Synoptics and
thoroughly transforming it. After carefully ana-
lyzing John’s presumed reworking of his sources
(primarily Mark, Matthew, Ephesians, and the
Mosaic Torah), Brodie concludes that John’s
Gospel is basically a theological reinterpretation
of previously existing traditions about Jesus’ life
and meaning. Instead of deriving from a mar-
ginal Christian group, the supposedly indepen-
dent Johannine community, John’s narrative
actually represents mainstream Christianity.
The enormous differences between the
Synoptics and the Fourth Gospel, however, per-
suade most scholars that John’s vision of Jesus
does not derive from the older canonical Gospels
who walk in darkness (symbolizing deceit and
evil). In comparing John with the Dead Sea
Scroll known as the Rule of the Community, schol-
ars fi nd not only an almost identical use of dis-
tinctive terms but also a comparable worldview
according to which the universe is a battle-
ground of polar opposites. In this dualistic cos-
mos, the devil (synonymous with “liar”) and his
“spirit of error” oppose Jesus’ “spirit of truth”
(cf. John 8:44; 12:35; 14:17; 15:26 with Rule of
the Community 1QS 3.13, 17–21).
The Qumran and Johannine communities
are also alike in that each is apparently based on
the teachings of a spiritually enlightened founder.
As the mysterious Teacher of Righteousness had
earlier brought the light of true understanding to
the Essenes , so the Johannine Jesus—“the light
of  the world”—came to illuminate humanity’s
mental and spiritual darkness.
Although the unidentifi ed Essene teacher
receives nothing comparable to the exaltation
the Johannine writer accords Jesus, the two
groups display similar attitudes, regarding them-
selves as specially chosen to fulfi ll the divine will.
Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Johannine
writings claim exclusive knowledge of God de-
nied to outsiders and both view their respective
groups, tiny as they were, as the only guardians of
light and truth in a fatally benighted world.
Before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered,
many scholars believed that John’s Gospel—with
its seemingly Platonic dualism and use of Greek
philosophical terms such as Logos —originated in
a Hellenistic environment, perhaps in Ephesus,
the traditional home of the apostle John in his
old age. A wealthy seaport and capital of the
Roman province of Asia (western Turkey),
Ephesus was a crossroads of Greek and Near
Eastern ideas. With a large colony of Jews, it was
a center for Paul’s missionary work, as well as the
base of a John-the-Baptist sect (Acts 19:1–7). If
the Gospel was composed in an area where the
Baptist was regarded as Jesus’ superior, it would
account for the writer’s severe limitation of
the Baptist’s role in the messianic drama, reduc-
ing his function to that of a mere “voice” bear-
ing witness to Jesus (1:6–9, 19–28). The many
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236 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
Concept of the Logos: Before coming to earth,
Jesus preexisted in heaven, where he was
God’s mediator in creating the universe
(1:1–18).
Miracle at Cana: Jesus changes water into wine
(the fi rst “sign”) (2:1–12).
Principle of spiritual rebirth: the conversation with
Nicodemus (3:1–21; see also 7:50–52; 19:39).
Conversation with the Samaritan woman (4:1–42).
Jesus healing the invalid at Jerusalem’s Sheep
Pool (5:1–47).
The “I am” sayings: Jesus speaks as divine Wisdom
revealed from above, equating himself with
objects or concepts of great symbolic value,
such as “the bread of life” (6:22–66) and “the
resurrection and the life” (11:25).
Cure of the man born blind: debate between
church and synagogue (9:1–41).
The raising of Lazarus (the seventh “sign”)
(11:1–12:11).
A different tradition of the Last Supper: washing
the disciples’ feet (13:1–20) and delivering the
farewell discourses (13:31–17:26).
Resurrection appearances in or near Jerusalem to
Mary Magdalene and the disciples, including
Thomas (20:1–29).
Resurrection appearances in Galilee to Peter and
to the Beloved Disciple (21:1–23).
b o x 1 0 . 1 Representative Examples of Material Found Only in John
(see Boxes 1 0 .1 and 1 0 .2). Concentrating on
Jesus as a heavenly revealer of ultimate truth,
John does not present his hero in Synoptic
terms. Most of the material that appears in the
Synoptics does not appear in John; conversely,
most of John’s contents are not even alluded to
in the Synoptic Gospels.
A dozen representative differences between
John and the Synoptics follow, along with brief
suggestions about the author’s possible rea-
sons for not including characteristic Synoptic
material:
1. John has no birth story or reference to Jesus’
virginal conception, perhaps because he
sees Christ as the eternal Word (Logos) who
“became fl esh” (1:14) as the man Jesus of
Nazareth. John’s doctrine of the Incarnation
(the spiritual Logos becoming physically
human) makes the manner of Jesus’ human
conception irrelevant.
2. John contains no record of Jesus’ baptism
by John, emphasizing Jesus’ independence
of and superiority to the Baptist. Besides de-
nying the Baptist an Elijah role, the author
shows Jesus conducting his own baptism
campaign, thus competing with the Baptist
(3:22–23; 4:1).
3. John includes no period of contemplation
in the Judean wilderness or temptation by
Satan. His Jesus possesses a vital unity with
the Father that makes worldly temptation
impossible.
4. John never mentions Jesus’ exorcisms,
which play so large a role in Mark’s and
Matthew’s reports of his ministry. Instead,
Jesus himself is accused of “having a demon”
(7:20; 8:46–52; 10:19–20).
5. Although he recounts some friction between
Jesus and his brothers (7:1–6), John does
not reproduce the Markan tradition that
Jesus’ family thought he was mentally un-
balanced or that his neighbors in Nazareth
viewed him as nothing extraordinary (Mark
3:20–21, 31–35; 6:1–6). In John, Jesus meets
considerable opposition, but he is always too
commanding and powerful a fi gure to be ig-
nored or devalued.
6. John presents Jesus’ teaching in a form
radically different from that of the Synoptics .
Both Mark and Matthew state that Jesus
“never” taught without using parables
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 237
love. In both the Gospel and the Epistles,
this is Jesus’ single explicit directive; in the
Johannine community, mutual love among
“friends” is the sole distinguishing mark of
true discipleship (13:34–35; 15:9–17).
8. Conspicuously absent from John’s Gospel
is any prediction of Jerusalem’s fall, a con-
cern that dominated the Synopticists ’
imaginations (Mark 13; Matt. 24–25; Luke
21). Viewing events a full generation after
the Jewish Revolt, the Johannine author
effectively disassociates Jesus from the
apocalyptic hopes that many early Christians
had linked to Jerusalem’s destruction
(see below).
9. Instead of apocalyptic prophecies of Jesus’
Second Coming (Mark 13; Matthew 24–25;
and Luke 21), John’s Gospel focuses on
two vital concepts: Jesus has already com-
pleted his role as Israel’s Messiah and he
is already present in the believing commu-
nity. For John, the Paraclete, the Holy
Spirit that serves as Christians’ Helper,
Comforter, or Advocate (14:25–26; 16:7–
15) and that inspires the Johannine fel-
lowship, is Jesus’ surrogate, marking his
invisible presence. To this Evangelist, Jesus’
fi rst coming means that believers have life
now (5:21–26; 11:25–27) and that divine
judgment is a current reality, not merely a
(Mark 4:34; Matt. 13:34), but John does not
record a single parable of the Synoptic type
(involving homely images of agricultural or
domestic life). Instead of brief aphorisms
and vivid comparisons, the Johannine Jesus
conducts long dialogues with fi gures like
Nicode mus and delivers philosophical
speeches in which Jesus’ own nature is typi-
cally the subject of discussion. In John, he
speaks both publicly and privately in this
manner, in Galilee as well as in Jerusalem.
The Synoptic Jesus almost never speaks as
he does everywhere in John; the Johannine
Jesus almost never speaks as he does through-
out the Synoptics .
John stands alone in his adaptation of
Jesus’ teaching, decisively outvoted four to
one by the other Evangelists and their re-
spective sources. Not only Mark but also Q
and the special material in Matthew (M)
and Luke (L) agree that Jesus taught chiefl y
in aphorisms and parables.
7. John includes none of Jesus’ reinterpreta-
tions of the Mosaic Law, the main topic of
Jesus’ Synoptic discourses. Instead of the
many ethical directives about not divorcing,
keeping the Sabbath, ending the law of
retaliation, and forgiving enemies that we
fi nd in Mark, Matthew, and Luke, John
records only one “new commandment”—to
Andrew, Peter’s brother, as a speaking character
(1:40–42, 44; 6:8–9; 12:20–22)
Philip, one of the Twelve (1:43–49; 6:5–7;
12:20–22; 14:8–11)
Nathanael, one of the Twelve (1:45–51)
Mary as a participant in Jesus’ ministry (2:1–5)
and at the cross (19:25–27)
Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee (3:1–12;
7:50–52; 19:39)
A Samaritan woman (4:7–42)
The woman taken in adultery (8:3–11; an appen-
dix to John in the NEB)
A man born blind (9:1–38)
Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha (11:1–44;
12:1–11)
An unidentifi ed disciple whom “Jesus loved”
(13:23–26; 18:15–16; 19:26–27; 20:2–10;
21:7, 20–24)
Annas , father-in-law of Caiaphas, the High Priest
(18:12–14, 19–24)
b o x 1 0 . 2 Characters Introduced or Given New Emphasis in John
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238 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
the writer’s special theological convictions
(20:30–31; 21:25). From his opening hymn
praising the eternal Word to Jesus’ prom-
ised reascension to heaven, every part of
the Gospel is calculated to illustrate Jesus’
glory as God’s fullest revelation of his own
ineffable Being.
Differences in the Chronology
and Order of Events
Although John’s essential story resembles the
Synoptic version of Jesus’ life—a public minis-
try featuring healings and other miracles fol-
lowed by offi cial rejection, arrest, crucifi xion,
and resurrection—the Fourth Gospel presents
important differences in the chronology and
order of events. Signifi cant ways in which John’s
narrative sequence differs from the Synoptic
order include the following:
1. The Synoptics show Jesus working mainly in
Galilee and coming south to Judea only
during his last days. In contrast, John has
Jesus traveling back and forth between Galilee
and Jerusalem throughout the duration of
his ministry.
2. The Synoptics place Jesus’ assault on the
Temple at the end of his career, making it
the incident that consolidates offi cial hostil-
ity toward him; John sets it at the beginning
(2:13–21).
3. The Synoptics agree that Jesus began his
mission after John the Baptist’s imprison-
ment, but John states that their missions
overlapped (3:22–4:3).
4. The earlier Gospels mention only one Passover
and imply that Jesus’ career lasted only about
a year; John refers to three Passovers (2:13;
6:4; 11:55), thus giving the ministry a duration
of about three years.
5. Unlike the Synoptics , which present the Last
Supper as a Passover celebration, John states
that Jesus’ fi nal meal with the disciples oc-
curred the evening before Passover and that
the Crucifi xion took place on Nisan 14, the
day of preparation when paschal lambs were
future event (3:18; cf. 9:39; 12:31). Scholars
fi nd in John a realized eschatology, a belief
that events usually associated with the escha-
ton (world’s End), such as divine judgment
and the awarding of eternal life, are even
now realized or fulfi lled by Jesus’ spiritual
presence among believers. For John, the
earthly career of Jesus, followed by the
infusion of his Spirit into the disciples
(20:22–23), has already accomplished
God’s purpose in sending the Messiah. For
the Johannine community, in his hour of
“glory” (crucifi xion), Jesus had essentially
fi nished his work (19:30). Just as John’s
doctrine of the Incarnation made the con-
cept of a virgin conception theoretically
unnecessary, so his view of the Paraclete
effectively mutes the expectation of the
Parousia .
10. Although he represents the sacramental
bread and wine as life-giving symbols, John
does not preserve a communion ritual or
the institution of a New Covenant between
Jesus and his followers at the Last Supper.
Stating that the meal took place a day be-
fore Passover, John substitutes Jesus’ act of
humble service—washing the disciples’
feet—for the Eucharist (13:1–16).
11. As his Jesus cannot be tempted, so John’s
Christ undergoes no agony before his arrest
in the garden of Gethsemane. Unfailingly
poised and confi dent, Jesus experiences his
painful death as a glorifi cation, his raising
on the cross symbolizing his imminent as-
cension to heaven. Instead of Mark’s cry of
despair, in John, Jesus dies with a declara-
tion that he has “accomplished” his life’s
purpose (19:30).
12. Finally, it must be emphasized that John’s
many differences from the Synoptics are
not simply the result of the author’s trying
to “fi ll in” the gaps in his predecessors’
Gospels. By carefully examining John’s
account, we see that he does not write to
supplement earlier narratives about Jesus;
rather, both his omissions and his inclu-
sions are determined almost exclusively by
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 239
(cf. John 3:9–11 and 9:13–35). Nonetheless ,
the Evangelist states that “salvation comes”
“from the Jews” (4:22).
The Work of the Paraclete :
Jesus and Believers Are “One”
John’s Double Vision Many commentators have
noted that John’s Gospel portrays Jesus not
as a fi gure of the recent historical past, but as
an immortal being who still inhabits the au-
thor’s community. In John’s narrative, Jesus’
ministry and the similar activities of his later
followers—the Johannine “brotherhood”—
merge into an almost seamless whole. To artic-
ulate his vision that Christ and the members of
his own group are “one” (17:12), John employs
a double vision, creating in his Gospel a two-
level drama in which Jesus of the past and
believers of the present perform the same
Spirit-directed work.
John is able to blend past and present in
Jesus’ biography through the operation of the
Paraclete , a distinctively Johannine concept in-
troduced in Jesus’ farewell speeches at the Last
Supper ( chs . 14–17). This long section presents
Jesus explaining precisely why he must leave his
disciples on earth while he dies and ascends to
heaven. His death is not a permanent loss, for
he returns to the Father only in order to em-
power his disciples with the Paraclete , the Holy
Spirit, which acts as his invisible self among
them (14:12–26). Functioning as a manifesta-
tion of the post resurrection Jesus, the Paraclete
guides the Johannine community to interpret
Jesus’ teachings as no other group could: “It
will teach you everything, and will call to mind
all that I have told you” (16:26). This Spirit,
Jesus’ own double, allows the author to portray
Christ in his full theological splendor . It also
enables John’s group not only to continue
Jesus’ miraculous works, but even to surpass
his deeds. He who has faith, Jesus promises,
“will do what I am doing; and he will do greater
things still because I am going to the Father.
Indeed, anything you ask in my name I will
do” (14:12–14). In this vow—found only in
being sacrifi ced (13:1, 29; 18:28; 19:14). Many
historians believe that John’s chronology is
the more accurate, for it is improbable that
Jesus’ arrest, trial, and execution took place
on Nisan 15, the most sacred time of the
Passover observance.
Scholars also note, however, that John’s
probable reason for his dating of the Crucifi xion
is more theological than historical. Because
he identifi es Jesus as the “Lamb of God” at the
beginning of his Gospel (1:29), it is themati-
cally appropriate for John to coordinate the
time of Jesus’ death with the ritual slaying of the
paschal lambs (prescribed in Exod. 12:3–10; cf.
Isa. 53:7–12).
John’s Purpose and Method
As an author, John states that his goal is to
elicit belief in his community’s distinctively
high Christology, an emphasis on Jesus’ divin-
ity (17:3–5; 20:30–31), but other purposes also
can be inferred from his text. Like the other
Evangelists, John writes partly to defend his
community against hostile criticism, particu-
larly from Jewish leaders. Unlike the Synoptic
authors, however, John does not generally
differentiate among his Jewish opponents;
instead of identifying them as scribes, Phar-
isees, or Sadducees, he generally lumps them
all together simply as “the Jews”—as if his fel-
low countrymen belonged to a group from
which he is entirely disassociated. Scholars be-
lieve that John’s blanket condemnation of “the
Jews” echoes the bitterness that developed in
the decades following 70 ce , when the church
and the synagogue became increasingly di-
vided. Refl ecting a social situation com-
parable to that in Matthew’s Gospel, John
indicates that his group—perhaps because of
their increasingly vocal claims that Jesus is
equal to God —has been banished from fel-
lowship in the synagogue. The expulsion
was  evidently traumatic for John, who re-
sponds by retrojecting the event back to the
time of Jesus and insisting that his group is
spiritually superior to their synagogue critics
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240 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
that this passage refl ects a perspective that
developed long after the incident supposedly
took place.
Apparent Stages in the
Composition of John
Evidence of Editing In his extended meditations
on Jesus’ cosmic stature and their Lord’s ongoing
relationship with the Johannine group, the
author/redactor apparently modifi ed his Gospel
text from time to time, not always smoothing over
his editorial changes. Recognized “seams” in
John’s narrative include passages in chapter 8,
where Jesus fi rst addresses “Jews who had believed
him” (8:31) but then suddenly accuses his sup-
posedly friendly audience of planning to “kill
[him]” (8:37). In chapter 11, the narrator identi-
fi es Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, as “the
woman who anointed the Lord with ointment”
(11:2), but doesn’t actually show her performing
this action until the next chapter (12:2–8).
The most obvious disconnections appear
during Jesus’ farewell speeches at the Last
Supper. Partway through the present form of the
discourse, Jesus states that he will “not talk much
longer with you [the disciples]” and then orders
them to stand “up” and “go forward,” as if he has
fi nished his conversation with them (14:31). Yet
his farewell oration continues for another three
chapters (15:1–17:26). Only in John 18 does Jesus
actually leave the room and “cross the Kedron
ravine” to the garden of Gethsemane (18:1).
The editorial expansions of Jesus’ last dis-
course result in further disjunctions. When Jesus
fi rst mentions his imminent departure (for
heaven), Peter asks where he is going (13:33–36),
a question that Thomas later repeats (14:5). Yet
in John 16, Jesus states that “None of you asks me
‘Where are you going?’” (16:5). Thus Jesus seems
to have forgotten the disciples’ earlier inquiries.
For the Johannine Evangelist, however, the mate-
rial in these added chapters—featuring the
activity of the Paraclete, the necessity of commu-
nal love, and the “oneness” of Jesus and his
friends—was too signifi cant to leave out. Guided
by the Paraclete, John was moved to include
John—the writer fi nds his key to understand-
ing the continuity between the Master and his
later disciples.
John’s singular method of telling Jesus’
story becomes especially clear in chapter 9. In
narrating Jesus’ restoration of sight to a man
born blind, John skillfully melds traditions
of  Jesus’ healing miracles with the works that
members of his community currently perform.
John’s narrative can equate the two parties—
Jesus and his later disciples—because the same
Paraclete operates through both. An aware-
ness of John’s method, confl ating past and
present, will help readers understand the his-
torical forces at work in this episode. After
Jesus cures the man’s lifelong blindness, a se-
ries of confrontations and arguments ensue
between the man, his parents, and offi cials of
the local synagogue. The Jewish offi cials’ inter-
rogation of the man replicates circumstances
prevailing not in Jesus’ day but in the writer’s
own time. Explicit references to the expulsion
of Jesus’ followers from the synagogue (9:22,
34)—a process that began well after Jesus’
death, during the last decades of the fi rst cen-
tury ce —are sure indicators of John’s two-level
approach.
John employs a comparable blending of
past and present in Jesus’ dialogue with the
Pharisee Nicodemus (3:1–21). Jesus’ pretended
astonishment that Nicodemus— depicted as
one of Israel’s most famous teachers—does not
understand or experience the power of the
Holy Spirit motivating the author’s community
could not have taken place in Jesus’ lifetime.
But it accords well with what we know of much
later debates between Jewish authorities and
the author’s group, which proclaimed the
Paraclete’s role in their lives. Using the fi rst-
person plural “we” to signify the whole be-
lieving community, John affi rms that his
brotherhood intimately knows the Spirit’s cre-
ative force, whereas “you” (the unbelievers)
stubbornly refuse to credit the Johannine testi-
mony (3:9–11). Readers will also note that in
this dialogue Jesus speaks as if he has already
returned to heaven (3:13), another indicator
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 241
cross (see discussion of the J ohannine Letters in
Chapter 18).
Although he sometimes uses Gnostic terms,
John—despite his doctrine of Jesus’ heavenly
origins and divinity—avoids Gnosticism’s ex-
tremism by insisting on Jesus’ physical human-
ity (1:14). Even after the Resurrection, Jesus
displays fl eshly wounds and consumes ordinary
food (20:24–29; 21:9–15). To show that Jesus
was a mortal man who truly died, John elimi-
nates from his Passion story Mark’s tradition
that Simon of Cyrene carried Jesus’ cross (lest
the reader think that Simon might have been
substituted for Jesus at the Crucifi xion). John
also adds an incident in which a Roman soldier
pierces Jesus’ side with a spear, confi rming his
physical vulnerability and mortality (19:34–37).
Despite its conviction that the divine Logos
“became fl esh” (1:14), John’s Gospel was popular
in many Gnostic circles (which may account for
its relatively slow acceptance by the church at
large). Besides the metaphysical concepts of
Christ’s preexistence and his inherent divinity,
John contains other statements that accord with
Gnostic ideas. To know the “true God” and his
Son is to gain “eternal life” (17:3); the assertion
that “the spirit alone gives life; the fl esh is of no
avail” (6:63); and the teaching that only spiritual
rebirth can grant immortality—all found only
in John—are classic Gnostic beliefs. Considering
John’s emphasis on Jesus’ spiritual invincibility
and God-like stature, it is not surprising that the
fi rst commentaries written on John were by
Gnostic Christians—or that some church leaders
suspected that the author himself was a Gnostic!
Organization of John’s Gospel
John’s Gospel is framed by a prologue (1:1–51)
and an epilogue (21:1–25). The main narrative
( chs . 2–20) divides naturally into two long sec-
tions: an account of Jesus’ miracles and public
teachings ( chs . 2–11) and an extended Passion
story focusing on Jesus’ private speeches to the
disciples ( chs . 12–20). Because John regards
Jesus’ miracles as “signs”—direct evidence of
his hero’s supernatural power—the fi rst section
these ongoing communications from the risen
Jesus as if his Lord had delivered them on the
night before his death.
Relation to Gnostic Ideas In addition to refuting
Jewish critics offended by the Johannine com-
munity’s proclamation of Jesus’ divinity (viewed
as an attack on Jewish monotheism) and its
claim to spiritual superiority, John appears to
defend his view of Jesus’ nature against incipi-
ent Gnostic infl uences. Gnosticism was a com-
plex religious/philosophical movement that
developed into Christianity’s fi rst major chal-
lenge to what later became offi cial church
teaching. Whereas the church eventually es-
poused a doctrine that declared Jesus both fully
human and fully divine, many Gnostics tended
to focus on Jesus as pure spirit, free of human
weakness (see Box 18.3). Although Gnosticism
took many forms, it typically held a dualistic
view of the cosmos. This dualism saw the uni-
verse as two mutually exclusive realms: The in-
visible world of spirit is eternal, pure, and good,
whereas the physical world is inherently evil, the
creation of a deeply fl awed deity, whom some
Gnostics identifi ed with Yahweh. According to
Gnostic belief, human beings gain salvation
only through special knowledge ( gnosis ), im-
parted to a chosen elite through communion
with spiritual beings. A divine redeemer (pre-
sumably Christ) descends from the spirit realm
to transmit saving knowledge to persons whose
souls are suffi ciently disciplined to escape the
body’s earthly desires. Transcending the mate-
rial world’s false reality, the soul can then per-
ceive the eternal truths of the spirit world.
A sometimes baffl ing mixture of elements
from Greek philosophies and mystery cults, as
well as aspects of Judaism and Christianity,
Gnosticism embraced a variety of ideas about
Christ. One branch of Gnosticism, called
Docetism (a name taken from the Greek verb “to
seem”), argued that Christ, being good, could
not also be human; he only seemed to have a phys-
ical body. The Docetists contended that, as God’s
true Son, Christ was wholly spiritual, ascending
to heaven while leav ing another’s body on the
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242 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
John’s supreme irony is that the very world
that the Word created rejects him, preferring
spiritual “darkness” to the “light” he imparts.
Nonetheless, the Word “became fl esh”—the
man Jesus—and temporarily lived among hu-
mans, allowing them to witness his “glory, such
glory as befi ts the Father’s only Son” (1:10–14).
Greek and Jewish Background
As noted previously, Logos (Word) is a Greek
philosophical term, but John blends it with a
parallel Hebrew tradition about divine Wisdom
that existed before the world began. According
to the Book of Proverbs (8:22–31), Wisdom
(depicted as a gracious young woman) was
Yahweh’s companion when he created the uni-
verse, transforming the original dark chaos into
a realm of order and light. As Yahweh’s darling,
she not only was his intimate helper in the cre-
ative process but also became God’s channel
of  communication with humanity. As  Israel’s
wisdom tradition developed in Hellenistic
times, Wisdom was seen as both Yahweh’s agent
of creation and the being who reveals the di-
vine mind to the faithful ( Ecclus . 24; Wisd . of
Sol. 6:12–9:18).
In the Greek philosophical tradition, Logos
is also a divine concept, the principle of cosmic
Reason that gives order and coherence to the oth-
erwise chaotic world, making it accessible to hu-
man intellect. The Logos concept had circulated
among Greek thinkers since the time of the phi-
losopher Heraclitus (born c. 540 bce ). In John’s
day, Logos was a popular Stoic term, commonly
viewed as synonymous with the divine intelligence
that created and sustained the universe.
These analogous Greek and Hebrew ideas
converge in the writings of Philo Judaeus , a
Hellenistic-Jewish scholar living in Alexandria
during the fi rst century ce . A pious Jew profoundly
infl uenced by Greek rationality, Philo attempted
to reconcile Hellenistic logic with the revelation
contained in the Hebrew Bible. Philo used the
Hebrew concept of Wisdom as the creative inter-
mediary between the transcendent Creator and
the material creation. However, he employed the
is commonly known as the Book of Signs. Many
scholars believe that the author uses a previ-
ously compiled collection of Jesus’ miraculous
works as a primary source (see below). Because
it presents Christ’s death as a “glorious” fulfi ll-
ment of the divine will, some commentators
call the second part the Book of Glory.
The Gospel can be outlined as follows:
1. Prologue: hymn to the Logos; testimony of
the Baptist; call of the disciples (1:1–51)
2. The Book of Signs (2:1–11:57)
a. The miracle at Cana
b. The cleansing of the Temple
c. The dialogue with Nicodemus on spiri-
tual rebirth
d. The conversation with the Samaritan woman
e. Five more miraculous signs in Jerusalem
and Galilee; Jesus’ discourses witnessing
to his divine nature
f. The resuscitation of Lazarus (the seventh
sign)
3. The Book of Glory (12:1–20:31)
a. The plot against Jesus
b. The Last Supper and farewell discourses
c. The Passion story
d. The empty tomb and post resurrection ap-
pearances to Mary Magdalene, Peter, and
the Beloved Disciple
4. Epilogue: post resurrection appearances  in
Gal ilee; parting words to Peter and the Beloved
Disciple (21:1–25)
Hymn to the Word (Logos)
John’s opening hymn to the Word introduces
several concepts vital to his portrait of Christ.
The phrase “when all things began” recalls the
Genesis creation account when God’s word of
command—“Let there be light”—illuminated a
previously dark universe. In John’s view, the pre-
human Christ is the creative Word (divine Wisdom,
cosmic Reason) whom God uses to bring heaven
and earth into existence. “With God at the begin-
ning,” the Word is an integral part of the Supreme
Being—“what God was, the Word was” (1:1–5).
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intelligence (see Box 1 0 .3). In the Hebrew Bible,
Wisdom is both the means by which God creates
and the channel through whom he communi-
cates to humankind. Hebrew Bible writers charac-
teristically picture Wisdom speaking in the fi rst
person, using the phrase “I am” and then defi n-
ing her activities as God’s agent. John casts many
of Jesus’ speeches in exactly the same form, be-
ginning with a declaration “I am” and then typi-
cally equating himself with a term of great
religious signifi cance. Wisdom’s speeches clearly
anticipate John’s concept of Jesus’ cosmic stature:
The Lord created me the beginning of his
works,
before all else that he made, long ago.
Alone, I was fashioned in times long past,
at the beginning, long before earth itself.
(Prov. 8:22–23)
Identifying Wisdom with God’s verbal com-
mand to create light (Gen. 1:3), the author of
Ecclesiasticus represents her as saying:
I am the word which was spoken by the
Most High; . . .
Before time began he created me,
and I shall remain for ever. . . .
( Ecclus . 24:3, 9)
Greek term Logos to designate Wisdom’s role and
function. (Philo may have preferred Logos be-
cause it is masculine in Greek, whereas Wisdom
[ Sophia ] is feminine.) Philo’s interpretation can
be illustrated by an allegorical reading of Genesis
1, in which God’s fi rst act is to speak—to create
the Word (Logos)—by which power the cosmos
is born.
In identifying the prehuman Christ with
Philo’s Logos, John equates Jesus with the loftiest
philosophical ideal of his age. His Christ is thus
superior to every other heavenly or earthly being,
all of whom owe their creation to him. John’s
Jesus not only speaks the word of God but is the
Word incarnate. From the author’s perspective,
Jesus’ human career is merely a brief interlude, a
temporary descent to earth preceded and fol-
lowed by eternal life above (3:13). (Compare
John’s Logos doctrine with similar ideas discussed
in Phil. 2 and Col. 1–2; see also Figure 1 0 .1.)
Jesus and Divine Wisdom
After the prologue, John does not again refer ex-
plicitly to Jesus as the Word. He does, however,
repeatedly link his hero to the concept of divine
Wisdom, a personifi cation of God’s creative
figure 10.1 John’s concept of the Incarnation (the Word made fl esh). Note that Jesus’ ascension to
heaven (return to his place of spiritual origin) is followed by a descent of the Paraclete , Jesus’ Spirit—an
invisible surrogate that inspires the Johannine brotherhood. Whereas Jesus’ human presence on earth
was brief, John implies that the Paraclete abides permanently within the believing community.
Heaven
Logos
(1) (2)
Paraclete (Spirit)
Descent
to earth
Descent
to earth
Ascension
to heaven
Incarnation
( Jesus in human form)
Johannine
community
Earth
Cross
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244 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
Wisdom searches the streets for those willing to
receive her:
Hear how Wisdom lifts her voice
and Understanding cries out.
She stands at the cross-roads, . . .
beside the gate, at the entrance to the city. . . .
“Men, it is to you I call,
I appeal to every man: . . .
Listen! For I will speak clearly,
you will have plain speech from me;
for I speak nothing but the truth. . . .
I am Wisdom, I bestow shrewdness
and show the way to knowledge and prudence. . . .
I have force, I also have ability;
understanding and power are mine.
Through me kings are sovereign
and governors make just laws . . .
from me all rulers on earth derive their nobility.
Those who love me I love,
and those who search for me fi nd me.
. . .
The Lord created me the beginning of his works,
before all else that he made, long ago.
Alone, I was fashioned in times long past,
at the beginning, long before earth itself.
When there was yet no ocean I was born. . . .
When he set the heavens in their place I was there,
when he girdled the ocean with the horizon,
when he fi xed the canopy of clouds overhead
and set the springs of ocean fi rm in their place. . . .
Then I was at his side each day, his darling and delight,
playing in his presence continually,
playing on the earth, when he had fi nished it,
while my delight was in mankind. . . .
Happy is the man who keeps to my ways,
happy the man who listens to me, . . .
for he who fi nds me fi nds life
and wins favor from [Yahweh],
while he who fi nds me not, hurts himself
and all who hate me are in love with death.”
(Prov. 8:1–7, 12–17, 22–36)
Hear the praise of Wisdom from her own mouth, . . .
in the presence of the heavenly host:
“I am the word [Logos] which was spoken by the
Most High:
it was I who covered the earth like a mist.
My dwelling-place was in high heaven;
my throne was in a pillar of cloud. . . .”
Then the Creator decreed where I should dwell.
He said, “Make your home in Jacob;
fi nd your heritage in Israel.” . . .
“Before time began he created me,
and I shall remain for ever. . . .
I took root among the people whom the Lord had
honoured
by choosing to be his special possession. . . .
Come to me, you who desire me,
and eat your fi ll of my fruit. . . .
Whoever feeds on me will be hungry for more,
and whoever drinks from me will thirst for more.”
( Ecclus . 24:1–12, 18–21)
For in wisdom there is a spirit intelligent and holy,
unique in its kind, yet made up of many parts, subtle,
free-moving, lucid, spotless, clear, invulnerable,
loving what is good, . . . kindly towards men, . . . all-
powerful, all-surveying, and permeating all intelligent,
pure, and delicate spirits. . . . She is the brightness
that streams from everlasting light, the fl awless mirror
of the active power of God and the image of his good-
ness. She is one, yet can do everything; herself un-
changing, she makes all things new, age after age she
enters into holy souls, and makes them God’s friends
and prophets, for nothing is more acceptable to God
but the man who makes his home with wisdom.
She is initiated into the knowledge that belongs
to God and she decides for him what he shall do. . . .
Through her I shall have immortality, and shall
leave an undying memory to those who come after
me. I shall rule over my peoples, and nations will
become my subjects.
Send her forth from the holy heavens, and from
thy glorious throne bid her come down, so that she
may labour at my side and I may learn what pleases
thee. For she knows and understands all things, and
will guide me presently in all I do, and guard me in
her glory. So shall my life’s work be acceptable, and
I shall judge thy people justly, and be worthy of my
father’s throne.
( Wisd . of Sol. 7:22–28; 8:4, 13; 9:10–12)
b o x 1 0 . 3 Wisdom Speeches in the Hebrew Bible and the Apocrypha
as Models for the Johannine Jesus
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Bible, only Yahweh speaks of himself (the “I
AM”) in this manner. Hence, Jesus’ reiterated “I
am . . . the bread of life” (6:35), “the good shep-
herd” (10:11), “the resurrection and the life”
(11:25), or “the way,” “the truth,” and “the life”
(14:6) express his unity with God, the eternal “I
AM” (see Box 10.4).
John attributes much of “the Jews’” hostility
toward Jesus to their reaction against his appar-
ent claims to divinity. When Jesus refers publicly
to his prehuman existence, declaring that “be-
fore Abraham was born, I am,” his outraged audi-
ence in the Temple attempts to stone him
for  blasphemy (8:56–59). Most scholars doubt
that Jesus really made such assertions. In John’s
double-vision approach, the attempted stoning
represents Jewish leaders’ response to the preach-
ing of John’s group, which made extraordinary
claims about Jesus’ divine nature.
Role of the Baptist
Readers will notice that John repeatedly inter-
rupts his Logos hymn to compare the Baptist
unfavorably to Jesus. Insisting on the Baptist’s
inferiority, the author has him bear witness
Sent by God to live among his people, Israel,
Wisdom invites all to seek her favor:
Come to me, you who desire me,
and eat your fi ll of my fruit; . . .
Whoever feeds on me will be hungry for more,
and whoever drinks from me will thirst for
more.
( Ecclus . 24:19, 21–22;)
Whereas Wisdom stimulates a thirst for knowl-
edge, the Johannine Jesus fully satisfi es it:
. . . whoever drinks the water that I shall
give him will never suffer thirst any more.
The water that I shall give him will be an in-
ner spring always welling up for eternal life.
(John 4:14)
Jesus and Yahweh
Jesus’ “I Am” Pronouncements Besides associat-
ing Jesus with the Hebrew principle of eternal
Wisdom, John’s “I am” speeches also express an
important aspect of his Christology. They echo
Yahweh’s declaration of being to Moses at the
burning bush (Exod. 3:14), in which God re-
veals his sacred personal name. In the Hebrew
Yahweh’s declaration of being as the
eternal “I AM” in Exodus 3 and Lady Wisdom’s as-
sertion of her cosmic role in Proverbs 8 and the deu-
terocanonical books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus
provide a biblical model for John’s “I am” speeches.
In Hellenistic culture, the closest parallel to these
Johannine statements occurs in hymns honoring
Isis, an Egyptian mother goddess who, in John’s
time, was recognized as a universal deity throughout
the Greco-Roman world. One text from the fi rst or
second century ce pictures Isis asserting her divine
preeminence:
I am Isis, the mistress of every land . . .
I gave and ordained laws for men, which no one is
able to change . . .
I am she who fi ndeth fruit for men . . .
I divided the earth from the heaven.
I showed the paths of the stars,
I ordered the course of the sun and the moon . . .
I made strong the right . . .
I broke down the governments of tyrants.
I made an end to murders . . .
I ordained that the true should be thought
good . . .
With me the right prevails. . . .
Although the exact form of the Johannine declara-
tions “I am the . . .” does not occur in this hymn, it
does appear in another fragmentary Isis text, where
she affi rms her eternity: “I am the deity that had no
beginning . . . I am the truth, I am the creator and
the destroyer.” (Compare John 14:6, where Jesus
says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”)
b o x 1 0 . 4 Isis and the “I Am” Statements in John
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246 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
therefore were able to attempt a reconstruction
of the text of the earlier Gospel that was John’s
principal source. Although the Signs Gospel
has not survived as an independent account,
it  seems to be preserved embedded in the ca-
nonical Gospel of John (see R. T. Fortna in
“Recommended Reading”).
The Miracle at Cana
The fi rst Johannine sign occurs at the Galilean
town of Cana (not mentioned in the Synoptics ),
where Jesus, attending a wedding with his disci-
ples and his mother, changes water into wine.
Although the transformation of water into wine
has no parallel in any other Gospel, the miracle—
reminiscent of festivals honoring Dionysus, the
Greco-Roman god of wine—is consistent with
Synoptic traditions that depict Jesus’ propensity
toward eating and drinking with all kinds of
people (Luke 7:33–35, etc.). John’s narrative of
the Cana event similarly highlights Jesus’ para-
doxical combination of ethical leadership with
almost outrageous behavior, acting in a way that
seems to invite excess. When informed that the
host’s supply of wine has run out, indicating
that the wedding guests are probably already in-
toxicated, Jesus adds to the party’s merriment
by providing an additional 180 gallons of a vin-
tage superior to that which the guests have al-
ready consumed. In John’s view, Jesus’ offering
the means for celebrants to continue imbibing
“good wine” reveals “his glory” and causes the
disciples to “believe in him” (2:11), as if con-
fi rming his qualifi cations to host the promised
messianic banquet. Presented as Jesus’ initial
“sign” that God is present in his actions, this joy-
ous celebration of life, symbolized not only by
the marriage ceremony but also by the shared
enjoyment of a divinely bestowed beverage, fore-
shadows a more solemn celebration described at
the end of John’s narrative—that of Jesus’ “glo-
rious” death on the cross. Using the images of
water and wine—and the blood these liquids
symbolize—the author thematically links the be-
ginning of Jesus’ ministry at Cana with its  cul-
mination at Golgotha, where a Roman soldier
against himself: He is neither a prophet nor the
Elijah fi gure, but only “a voice” whose sole
function is to announce Jesus. Thus, the Baptist
bears witness to seeing the Holy Spirit descend
upon Jesus, a phenomenon that Mark reports
as Jesus’ inward or private experience of his
calling (Mark 1:10–11) (see Box 8. 6 ).
Contrary to the Markan tradition of a hid-
den Messiah whose identity is only gradually
revealed, John has the Baptist immediately hail
Jesus as the “Lamb of God . . . who takes away
the sin of the world.” In John, Jesus is recog-
nized as “God’s Chosen One” right from the
start (1:6–9, 19–36).
The Book of Signs
John structures his account of Jesus’ public
ministry around seven signs—miracles that il-
lustrate Jesus’ supernatural power—to demon-
strate his hero’s divinity. The Johannine
emphasis on signs contrasts emphatically with
the Markan Jesus’ categorical refusal to give any
miraculous proof of his identity : “no sign shall
be given to this generation” (Mark 8:11–12; cf.
Matt. 12:38–40 ).
Many scholars believe that in composing
his narrative the Johannine author used an
older document, known as the Signs Gospel.
According to this theory, the Signs Gospel was a
straightforward narrative that depicted Jesus’
performing (probably seven) wondrous deeds
calculated to show that he was the Messiah (see
Box 1 0 .5). Some scholars think that the Signs
Gospel was the fi rst written account of Jesus’
public ministry, composed about the same time
as Q, the similarly hypothetical collection of
Jesus’ sayings. Presumably compiled by a group
of Jewish Christians about 50–60 ce , it served as
the narrative framework for the present Gospel
of John. Advocates of this theory believe that
the Johannine author merely inserted his elabo-
rate dialogues and lengthy speeches into the
Signs Gospel, usually without deleting or chang-
ing much of the original wording. Scholars
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dialogues, Jesus uses a fi gure of speech or met-
aphor that the person with whom he is speak-
ing almost comically misinterprets, usually
taking Jesus’ words literally. John then has Jesus
explain his fi gurative meaning, commonly
launching a long monologue in which Jesus dis-
courses on his metaphysical nature and unique
relationship with the Father.
Thus, when Jesus remarks that unless one is
“born over again”—or, in an alternative transla-
tion, “born from above”—he cannot “see the
kingdom of God,” Nicodemus mistakenly thinks
he refers to reemerging from the womb. Jesus
then explains that he means rebirth “from water
and spirit,” referring to the spiritual renewal that
accompanies Christian baptism. Found only in
John, this doctrine of becoming “born again” re-
sembles beliefs characteristic of Gnosticism and
Greek mystery religions. In both cults, converts
undergo initiation rites, commonly involving pu-
rifi cation by water, to achieve the soul’s new birth
on a higher plane of existence, leading eventually
to immortality. In the case of being “born from
above,” initiates experience the Gnostic truth that
their souls (or true selves) are of heavenly origin
and hence intrinsically divine and eternal.
Perhaps aware of non-Christian parallels to
this teaching, the author stresses that Jesus is
thrusts his spear into Jesus’ body, re leasing
a  fl ow of “blood and water” (19:34). Underscor-
ing the connection between these two framing
incidents, John has Jesus’ mother present at
both Cana and the Crucifi xion, the only two
occasions on which she appears in his Gospel
(cf. 2:1–11; 19:25–27).
Assault on the Temple
Reversing the Synoptic order, John shows Jesus
driving moneychangers from the Temple during
a Passover at the outset of his ministry. For John,
the episode’s signifi cance is Jesus’ superiority to
the Jerusalem sanctuary. The Temple is no lon-
ger sacred because the Holy Spirit now dwells in
Jesus’ person rather than in the shrine King
Herod constructed. Jesus’ physical body may be
destroyed, but unlike the Herodian edifi ce, he
will rise again as proof that God’s Spirit imbues
him (2:13–25).
Dialogue with Nicodemus
Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee
and member of the Jewish Council (Sanhedrin),
typifi es John’s method of presenting Jesus’
teaching (3:1–21). In most of the Johannine
Many scholars believe that the author
of John’s Gospel used as one of his sources an ear-
lier narrative that emphasized Jesus’ miracles.
Because John’s Gospel presents these miracles as
“signs” revealing Jesus’ glory, scholars have la-
beled this hypothetical source the Signs Gospel,
claiming that it would have contained the follow-
ing miraculous deeds (listed here in the order
found in the Gospel of John):
1. Turning water into wine at Cana (in Galilee,
2:1–11)
2. Healing an offi cial’s son (in Galilee, 2:12a;
4:46b–54)
3. Healing a crippled man (in Jerusalem, 5:2–9)
4. Feeding 5,000 people (in Galilee, 6:1–15)
5. Walking on water (in Galilee, 6:16–25)
6. Restoring sight to a blind man (in Jerusalem,
9:1–8)
7. Raising Lazarus from the dead (near
Jerusalem, 11:1–45)
Some scholars also think that the disciples’ huge
catch of fi sh (21:1–14) was originally a Galilean
miracle that the Gospel’s fi nal editor incorporated
into his appended account of Jesus’ post resurrec-
tion appearances.
b o x 1 0 . 5 The Signs Gospel
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248 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
Conversation with the Samaritan
Woman
Luke emphasizes Jesus’ positive relationships
with women, who are numbered among his
most faithful disciples. John further explores
Jesus’ characteristic openness to women, with
whom he converses freely, teaching them on
the same level as his male followers. As in Luke,
John shows Jesus ignoring the rigid social con-
ventions that segregate the sexes, even to the
point of speaking intimately with prostitutes
and others of questionable reputation.
Astonishing the disciples with his violation
of the social code (4:27), Jesus publicly discusses
fi ne points of theology with a Samaritan woman
who gives him water to drink at Jacob’s well.
Recalling the deep hostility then existing be-
tween Jews and Samaritans, we understand the
woman’s surprise at Jesus’ willingness to associ-
ate with her (see Chapter 3 for a description of
the Samaritans and Chapter 9 for Luke’s para-
ble of the “good Samaritan,” a phrase most Jews
would regard as a contradiction in terms). She
assumes that he is a prophet and seizes the op-
portunity to learn from him (see Figure 1 0 .2).
uniquely qualifi ed to reveal spiritual truths. He
is intimately acquainted with the unseen world
because heaven is his natural environment, the
home to which he will return when “lifted up
[on the cross]” (3:12–15).
In perhaps the most famous passage of the
New Testament, Jesus states his purpose in com-
ing to earth. God so intensely loves the world that
he sends his Son, not to condemn it, but to save
it, awakening in humanity a faith that gives “eter-
nal life.” Believers pass the test for eternal life
through their attraction to Jesus’ “light,” while
others judge themselves by preferring the world’s
“darkness” (3:16–21). Here, John’s attitude to-
ward the world is positive, although elsewhere
he  expresses an ambiguous attitude toward its
mixed potential for good and evil. Representing
Jesus’ ministry and crucifi xion as the world’s time
of judgment (12:31), he declares that Christians
are “strangers in the world” (17:16).
Despite acknowledging the world’s capac-
ity to believe (17:21, 23), the author shows Jesus
telling Pontius Pilate that his “kingdom does
not belong to this world”—at least not the kind
of system that Pilate and the Roman Empire
represent (18:36).
f i g u r e 1 0 . 2 Ravenna mosaic
showing Jesus conversing with a
Samaritan woman drawing water
from Jacob’s well (John 4). Both
Luke and John emphasize Jesus’
characteristic concern for women.
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penance on the woman, merely instructing her
not to “sin again.” Neither blamed nor lectured,
she is left to ponder the meaning of her rescue.
Whether this episode belongs in John or not, it is
consistent with Jesus’ nonjudgmental attitude
toward individual “sinners” in all four Gospels.
Further Signs and Miracles
Jesus’ second sign is his curing a nobleman’s dy-
ing son in Cana (4:46–54). His third is his healing
a crippled man at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem, a
controversial act because it occurs on the Sabbath
(5:1–15; see Figure 10.3) . Criticism directed at
Jesus’ alleged Sabbath breaking provides the
opportunity for an extended discourse on his
special relation to the Father. In John’s view,
God’s work (sustaining the universe) continues
unceasingly and provides a model that the Son
imitates in ministering to God’s human creation
(5:16–17).
When accused of claiming “equality with
God,” Jesus clarifi es the nature of his authority.
The Son initiates “nothing” on his own; he can
only imitate the Father. As God creates life, so
the Son grants “eternal life” to those trusting
him. In Jesus’ ministry, the long-hoped-for
resurrection to immortality is already a reality
(5:18–26). Emphasizing his dependence on the
Father who sent him, Jesus states that he acts as
he is told, dutifully obeying a superior intelli-
gence (5:30). Those who reject him also mis-
read the Hebrew Bible that anticipated God’s
ministry through him. If his critics really under-
stood the Torah (including the Sabbath’s true
meaning), they would believe him (5:31–47).
John’s presentation of the next two signs
parallels the Synoptic tradition, but they are
followed by a typically Johannine speech in
which the author signifi cantly reinterprets their
meaning. The miraculous feeding of 5,000 peo-
ple (the fourth sign) is the only miracle that
appears in all four Gospels (6:1–12; Mark 6:30–
44; Matt. 14:13–21; Luke 9:10–17). As in Mark,
the miracle is immediately followed by Jesus’
walking on water (John’s fi fth sign) (6:16–21;
Mark 6:47–51).
As Jesus later instructs Martha in the mysteries
of the Resurrection (11:17–27), so he reveals to
the Samaritan woman that he is the “living wa-
ter” that satisfi es humanity’s spiritual thirst.
Disclosing that neither the Jerusalem Temple
nor the Samaritans’ rival shrine at Mount
Gerizim is the only right place to worship, Jesus
teaches her that “spirit and truth” transcend the
claims of any earthly sanctuary.
John uses this episode to illustrate several
provocative ideas. Although the woman’s situa-
tion is ambiguous (she has had fi ve husbands and
now lives with a man to whom she is not married),
Jesus selects her to fi ll an important role. She is
not only the fi rst non-Jew to whom he reveals that
he is the Christ (4:25–26) but also the means by
which “many Samaritans” become believers (4:39).
The woman’s rush to inform her fellow villagers
about Jesus anticipates Mary Magdalene’s later
role as prophet to the male disciples when she
brings the news that their crucifi ed Lord still lives
(20:1–2, 10–18) (see Box 10.6) .
The Woman Taken in Adultery
Because it does not appear in the oldest New
Testament manuscripts, editors of the New
English Bible relegate the story of the adulterous
woman (8:1–11) to an appendix following chap-
ter 21. In some manuscripts, the incident shows
up in Luke, where it well suits the Lukan theme
of forgiveness. The episode in which Pharisees
demand that Jesus judge a woman “caught in the
very act” of illicit sex was apparently a well-known
tradition that had diffi culty fi nding a home in
the canonical Gospels, perhaps because many
early Christians found it shocking.
Asked to endorse the Torah rule that pre-
scribed death by stoning for adulterers (Lev.
20:10; Deut. 22:20–21), Jesus turns the responsi-
bility for deciding the woman’s fate back on her
accusers. Only the person who is “faultless” (with-
out sin) is qualifi ed to enforce the legal penalty.
Forcing those who would judge her to examine
their own consciences, Jesus fi nds that the assem-
bled crowd melts away, leaving him alone with
the accused. He neither condemns nor imposes
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250 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
Most striking in John’s Gospel is the
way he employs women characters to advance cru-
cial theological ideas. In Jesus’ conversation with a
Samaritan woman—the longest dialogue between
Jesus and a single individual in any canonical
Gospel (4:7–26)—the Evangelist shows Jesus relat-
ing to the woman at Jacob’s well on both a reli-
gious and a personal level. When Jesus mentions
that she has had fi ve husbands and is not married
to her present male companion, he does not nec-
essarily imply that the woman has misbehaved; she
may have been widowed repeatedly or legally di-
vorced through no fault of her own. After perceiv-
ing that Jesus is an authentic “prophet,” the
woman asks about the correct place to worship
God, a major controversy then dividing Jews and
Samaritans. Her question elicits Jesus’ reply that
geographical location is no longer signifi cant, for
now people “must worship in spirit and in truth,”
a spiritualized form of honoring God that can be
accomplished anywhere. The woman’s eager re-
sponse is to affi rm the Messiah’s future coming
and his promised revelation of  “everything,” which
in turn is the catalyst for Jesus’ statement that he is
the Christ, the Johannine account’s fi rst such ad-
mission to a non-Jew.
Immediately, the woman abandons her water-
jar and dashes back to town, her testimony inspir-
ing neighbors to invite Jesus to stay with them. As a
result of the woman’s speech, many Samaritans
listen to Jesus and become believers, declaring him
“the Savior of the world.” Although most villagers
believe because of their direct experience of Jesus,
it is the woman’s initial perception of Jesus’ iden-
tity that makes possible their faith (4:3–42).
In the story of Lazarus, the Evangelist uses Jesus’
conversations with Lazarus’s sister Martha to move
from a general expectation that resurrection will oc-
cur “on the last day” to a realization that in Jesus’
presence people rise from the dead now . When
Martha learns that Jesus is “on his way” to their town
of Bethany, she seizes the initiative by traveling alone
to meet him. Still on the road to Bethany, Jesus and
Martha discuss the concept of resurrection, leading
to his climactic revelation: “I am the resurrection
and I am life . . . no one who is alive and has faith
shall ever die.” Even before the resuscitation of her
brother, Martha professes her absolute trust in Jesus,
whom she recognizes as “the Son of God” (11:20–
27). Even so, the practical Martha later reminds
Jesus that if he removes the stone blocking the en-
trance to Lazarus’s tomb, “there will be a stench”
from her brother’s decaying corpse (11:38–41).
At a dinner party celebrating Lazarus’s return to
life, his sister Mary demonstrates a faith that equals
that of Martha when she anoints Jesus’ feet with an
expensive perfume, symbolically preparing him for
burial and, with the perfume’s fragrance fi lling her
house, banishing memories of physical decay. She
alone of Jesus’ friends seems to understand the fact of
his imminent death. When she tenderly dries Jesus’
feet “with her hair,” Mary’s humility anticipates Jesus’
later action in washing and drying the disciples’ feet
at the Last Supper (12:1–8; cf. 13:3–17).
In the Johannine vision, women continue to
play indispensable roles to the Gospel’s conclu-
sion. As if to emphasize her importance as the fi rst
witness of Jesus’ resurrection, John shows Mary
Magdalene acting alone when she visits Jesus’
tomb the fi rst Easter morning. (The Synoptic tra-
dition has Mary accompanied by other Galilean
women.) After informing Peter and the Beloved
Disciple that Jesus’ tomb is empty, she remains
alone at the crypt, conversing fi rst with angels and
then with the risen Jesus, who instructs her to con-
vey his message to the disciples. Mary Magdalene
thus precedes the male disciples in proclaiming
that Christ is risen, an appointed prophet who
bears the original “good news” to Peter and the
others (20:1–16).
b o x 1 0 . 6 The Role of Women in John’s Gospel
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charged that Christians practiced bloodthirsty
rites, including cannibalism, during their se-
cret meetings.
Jesus’ sixth sign—bestowing sight to a blind
man (9:1–41)—illustrates John’s theme that
Christ is “the light of the world” (8:12). His gift
of sight dispels the darkness that affl icted the
man and refl ects Jesus’ identity as the Word
that originally brought light out of dark chaos
at the world’s creation (Gen. 1:1–5). As men-
tioned previously, this lengthy episode proba-
bly mingles traditions about Jesus’ healings
with similar miraculous cures performed by
Christian prophets in John’s church. The dia-
logue in the synagogue that follows the miracle
illustrates the tension that prevailed between
church and synagogue in John’s day.
The Raising of Lazarus
The seventh and most spectacular miracle—
raising Lazarus from the dead (11:1–44)—
demonstrates another Johannine conviction, that
Jesus literally possesses power over life and death.
Concluding the Book of Signs, the narrative of
Lazarus’s miraculous resuscitation also functions
to connect Jesus’ good works with his arrest and
crucifi xion. As John relates it, Jesus’ ability to re-
vive a man who has been dead for four days is the
act that consolidates Jewish opposition to him
and leads directly to his death (11:45–53).
Although no other canonical Gospel men-
tions the Lazarus episode, some scholars sug-
gest that John may have drawn upon the oral
traditions behind Luke’s parable of Lazarus and
the rich man, which illustrates the starkly differ-
ing fates of two newly deceased men in the after-
life (Luke 16:19–31; see Chapter 9). Luke is also
the only other Gospel author to mention Jesus’
friends Mary and Martha, although unlike John
he gives no indication that they had a brother
named Lazarus (Luke 10:38–42).
Whatever the historical foundation of the
Lazarus incident, John uses it to prove that Jesus
is Lord of the Resurrection. In a climactic “I
am” speech, Jesus declares, “I am the resurrec-
tion and I am life. If a man has faith in me, even
The scene in which Jesus identifi es himself
with life-giving bread probably refl ects the situ-
ation in John’s day, when his community ar-
gued bitterly with other Jews about the Christian
communion ritual. Jesus asserts that the only
way to gain eternal life is to eat his fl esh and
drink his blood. Many persons, including some
of his disciples, take offense at what seems to
them an absurd recommendation of cannibal-
ism. John’s church apparently taught that the
sacramental bread and communion wine liter-
ally became Jesus’ body and blood (6:25–65),
in a process of transubstantiation. Even centu-
ries after John’s time, numerous outsiders
f i g u r e 1 0 . 3 Excavations at the Sheep Pool in
Jerusalem. John’s Gospel mentions two bathing pools,
sites that pilgrims to Jerusalem possibly used for ritual
washing before they approached the Temple precincts.
The Sheep Pool, where Jesus healed a paralyzed man
(John 5:2–15), was discovered in the late nineteenth
century, but the Siloam Pool to which Jesus directed a
man born blind (9:11) was not found until 2002. Both
archaeological discoveries show that the author was
intimately familiar with the Jerusalem of pre-70 ce .
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252 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
In grim contrast to the joyous belief that
greets Jesus’ life-giving miracle, John shows
some Jerusalem leaders plotting Jesus’ death.
Jesus’ opponents fear that if the Jewish people
accept his messiahship (making him “king of
the Jews”) their response will incite the Romans
to destroy their state and place of worship.
(This passage refers to the Roman destruction
of Jerusalem in 70 ce. ) Caiaphas, the High
Priest, proposes that eliminating Jesus will spare
the nation that ordeal. Caiaphas’s remark—
that “it is more to your interest that one man
should die for the people, than that the whole
nation should be destroyed”—is deeply ironic.
While justifying the plot to kill Jesus, the
High Priest unwittingly expresses the Christian
belief that Jesus’ death redeems the world
(11:47–53).
John’s Book of Signs is bracketed by mira-
cles that Jesus performs at two of life’s mile-
stone events—a wedding and a funeral. In his
fi rst public “sign” of divine power, at Cana,
Jesus transforms water into a beverage of intox-
icating joy, extending and intensifying a mar-
riage celebration. In his culminating miracle,
at Bethany, Jesus brings life to a dead man,
transmuting grief into gladness, an eschatolog-
ical triumph that he and his friends then cele-
brate at yet another dinner party (12:1–2).
The Book of Glory
The second section of John’s Gospel—
commonly labeled the Book of Glory ( chs .
12–20)—may be based on a Passion narrative
that had already been added to the primitive
Signs Gospel when John incorporated the older
work into his expanded account. If scholars are
correct in assuming John’s use of an earlier
document, the Johannine author thoroughly
transformed his source, radically reinterpret-
ing the meaning of Jesus’ last days. Connecting
the Book of Glory with the miraculous signs pre-
viously reported, John opens this section by
showing Jesus at dinner with friends, celebrating
though he die, he shall come to life; and no one
who is alive and has faith shall ever die” (11:25).
In dramatic fulfi llment of his claims, Jesus or-
ders Lazarus to rise from his tomb, showing all
witnesses that the eschatological hope of life
comes through Jesus now (11:1–44).
In John’s account, the raising of Lazarus
serves multiple literary and theological purposes.
As a turning point in the Gospel narrative, it has
the same function as the assault on the Temple
in the Synoptics : The incident provokes hostility
toward Jesus and ignites a fatal conspiracy lead-
ing to his execution. As the episode linking the
Book of Signs with the Book of Glory (the story
of Jesus’ Passion), the Lazarus account operates
as a preview of Jesus’ own death and resurrec-
tion. Like Lazarus, Jesus will be entombed in a
cave from which a great stone—signifying death’s
fi nality—will be rolled away as he rises to immor-
tal life. In the Johannine narrative, Martha’s con-
fession of faith in Jesus’ divine Sonship — made
just before Lazarus’s resuscitation— anticipates
Thomas’s more complete recognition of the
risen Jesus’ true divinity (11:27; 20:28).
The raising of Lazarus is also a perfect
demonstration of John’s realized eschatology.
Events traditionally assigned to the eschaton ,
such as the dead obeying a divine summons to
exit from their graves, now occur during Jesus’
ministry. “As the Father raises the dead and
gives them life, so the Son gives life to men,”
Jesus had earlier declared (5:21), adding that
those who trust him already possess “eternal life,
and [do] not come up for judgment, but [have]
already passed from death to life” (5:24). For
the Johannine writer, “the time is already here,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God, and all who hear shall come to life”
(5:25). In John’s view, the life-imparting fi nal
resurrection is currently taking place among
believers: “No one,” Jesus assures Martha, “who
is alive and has faith shall ever die” (11:26). In
thus reinterpreting the timing and nature of
resurrection, the author transfers fulfi llment of
eschatological prophecies about eternal life
from the indefi nite future—the End of the
world—to the concrete here and now.
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 253
extremely signifi cant. The Master’s humility
both demonstrates God’s loving care for the
faithful and sets an example of humble service
for the Johannine community (13:3–17).
After Judas Iscariot leaves the group to be-
tray his Master (a treachery that John believes is
predestined), Jesus delivers a series of farewell
speeches intended to make clear the way in
which his ministry reveals the Father and to
place Jesus’ inevitable death in proper perspec-
tive. Summarizing the divine purpose fulfi lled
in his life, Jesus gives the “new commandment”
of love that distinguishes his people from the
rest of the world (13:34–35). Christ’s ultimate
“act of love” is surrendering his life for his
friends’ benefi t (15:11–14). The Johannine
Jesus’ directive to love fellow believers, how-
ever, contrasts with the Synoptic Jesus’ command
to love even “enemies” and other outsiders (cf.
Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27).
With his example of love opening the true
“way” to the Father, the Johannine Jesus faces
death as a transfi guring experience. In John’s
view, Jesus’ death and return to heaven will per-
mit believers to experience life with God (14:1–6)
and simultaneously will allow God to live with
them (14:23). Because the divine Parent dwells
in him, Christ can reveal God fully—to see
Jesus in his true meaning is to see the Father
(14:7–11). John insists on Jesus’ unique rela-
tionship to God—he and the Father “are one,”
but it is a unity of spirit and purpose that also
characterizes the disciples (17:12, 20–21).
Despite his close identifi cation with the Deity,
John’s Jesus does not claim unequivocal equality
with God. He simply states that “the Father is
greater than I” (14:28).
The Paraclete (Holy Spirit)
With John’s emphasis on the disciples’ mystic
union with Christ (15:5–10; 17:12, 20–22) and
the superiority of the unseen spirit to mere phys-
ical existence (6:63), it is not surprising that he
presents a view of Jesus’ return that differs strik-
ingly from that in the Synoptics . Instead of an
eager anticipation of the Second Coming (as in
Lazarus’s return to life. The festive scene fea-
tures several important themes, looking back to
Jesus’ feeding of the multitudes and the resus-
citation of Lazarus and looking forward to the
Last Supper and Jesus’ own death. Even while
rejoicing in one man’s escape from the tomb,
the dinner guests are forewarned of their lead-
er’s imminent death when Lazarus’s sister Mary
anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume.
Christ approves her prophetic action as prepar-
ing his body for burial, for his hour of “glory” is
near at hand.
Whether following different sources or re-
working the older Synoptic tradition, John pic-
tures Jesus’ fi nal days in a way that transforms
the Messiah’s betrayal and suffering into a glori-
ous triumph. After his messianic entry into
Jerusalem (John adds the detail of the crowds’
waving palm branches that gives Palm Sunday
its name) (12:12–19), Jesus foretells his death in
terms resembling Mark’s description of the ag-
ony in Gethsemane (14:32–36) but reinter-
preted to highlight the Crucifi xion’s saving
purpose: “Now my soul is in turmoil, and what
am I to say? Father, save me from this hour. No,
it was for this that I came to this hour. Father,
glorify thy name” (12:27–28). When a celestial
voice affi rms that God is glorifi ed in Christ’s ac-
tions, Jesus interprets his “lifting up” (crucifi x-
ion) as God’s predestined means of drawing all
people to him, a process of human salvation
that cannot occur without his death (12:28–33).
The Last Supper and Farewell Discourses
Perhaps because he has already presented his
view of Jesus as the “heavenly bread” that gives
life to those who partake of it (6:26–58), John’s
account of the Last Supper contains no refer-
ence to Jesus’ distributing the ceremonial bread
and wine (the Eucharist). Instead, John’s narra-
tive dramatizes a concept found also in Luke’s
Gospel—that Jesus comes “like a servant” (Luke
22:27). Given the author’s view that Christ
shares the nature of the omnipotent Creator
(1:1), Jesus’ taking the role of a domestic slave,
washing his disciples’ travel-stained feet, is
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254 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
had already wrestled with the problem of rec-
onciling his portrait of Jesus as a powerful
miracle worker in Galilee with the fact of
Jesus’ apparent helplessness before his ene-
mies in Jerusalem (see Chapter 7). After de-
picting Jesus as a fi gure of virtually irresistible
force throughout his Gospel, John faces an
even greater problem in explaining how this in-
carnation of divine Wisdom became his adver-
saries’ mortal victim. John resolves the potential
dilemma by affi rming the paradox inherent in
Jesus’ circumstance: Even in Jerusalem, Jesus
retains his superhuman power but voluntarily
declines to use it in order to fulfi ll scriptural
predictions that God’s Son must die to save
others.
No Agony in Gethsemane John’s description of
events in Gethsemane differs sharply from the
Synoptic tradition. Whereas Mark’s Jesus throws
himself on the ground in an agony of dread,
begging to be spared a painful and public
humiliation (Mark 14:32–36), John’s Jesus re-
mains calmly standing while the soldiers who
come to arrest him are hurled to the ground.
When the Temple police ask Jesus to identify
himself, he replies, “I am he,” a revelation of
divinity that causes them to collapse in a heap
(18:4–8). The last of Jesus’ “I am” statements,
this declaration echoes John’s earlier associa-
tion of Jesus and Yahweh, the divine “I AM”
(John 8:58; cf. Exod. 3:8–16), a claim to equal-
ity with God that incites an attempt to stone
Jesus for blasphemy. For John, enemies plot-
ting Jesus’ downfall only seem to be in charge:
As Jesus had explained, he alone makes the
decision to give up his life (10:17–18). Pilate,
the representative of Roman imperial power, is
explicitly informed that his role as judge is only
illusory (19:9–10).
Instead of fl eeing in terror as they do in
the Synoptics , the Johannine disciples are sim-
ply dismissed by their Master, who prevents
their arrest to fulfi ll Scripture—the Messiah
will lose no one entrusted to him. The author
then interweaves the story of Peter’s denial
with his unique account of Jesus’ interrogation
Mark 13, Matt. 24–25, or Luke 21), John teaches
that Jesus is already present, inspiring the faith-
ful. Brief allusions to Christ’s reappearance after
death (14:3) are fulfi lled when he sends the dis-
ciples the Paraclete . The Paraclete , variously
translated as “Advocate,” “Helper,” “Counselor,”
or “Comforter,” is synonymous with “the Spirit
of Truth” (14:17) and “the Holy Spirit” (14:26).
Although unbelieving humanity will see Jesus no
more, he remains eternally with the faithful
(14:16–26). An invisible counterpart to Jesus,
the Paraclete enables the disciples to under-
stand the true signifi cance of Jesus’ teaching
(16:1–15). By implication, the Paraclete also em-
powers the author to create a Gospel that fully
portrays the glory of Jesus’ fi rst advent.
By its presence in the Johannine communi-
ty’s preaching, the Paraclete serves to judge the
world’s unbelief. Affi rming that Jesus is present
simultaneously with the Father and with believ-
ers, the Paraclete also witnesses to the invinci-
bility of good, resisting the spiritual darkness
that claimed Jesus’ physical life and now threat-
ens his followers.
In John’s view, Jesus imparts the promised
Advocate ( Paraclete ) at his resurrection, merely
by breathing on the disciples and saying, “Receive
the Holy Spirit” (20:21–23). The risen Lord’s ac-
tion recalls the creation scene in Genesis 2 when
Yahweh breathes into Adam’s nostrils “the
breath of life,” making him an animate being or
“living creature.” As John’s Gospel begins with the
Word creating the universe (1:1–5), so it closes
with the Word breathing the pure spirit of life
into his renewed human creation.
John’s Interpretation
of the Passion
Crucifi xion as Glorifi cation
John’s Passion narrative is pervasively shaped
by the author’s high Christology and his wish
to shift responsibility for Jesus’ death to his
Jewish opponents. The author of Mark’s Gospel
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 255
his distinctive concerns. The Johannine Jesus
carries his crossbeam all the way to Golgotha,
thus precluding any Gnostic or other claim
that someone else, such as Simon of Cyrene
or even Judas, died in his stead (19:17). In an
incident recounted nowhere else, John has a
Roman soldier thrust his lance into Jesus’
side, initiating a torrent of blood and water.
This wounding not only confi rms Jesus’ phys-
ical death (lest one think that he only seemed
to perish) but also provides typical Johannine
symbols of sacramental wine (blood) and
truth (water and spirit), emblems that nourish
the community of faith (cf. 4:10–14; 6:53–58;
7:37–39).
Besides the small group of Galilean women
who witness the Crucifi xion in the Synoptic
tradition, John adds the fi gures of Jesus’
mother and the Beloved Disciple. Mary (who
is never named in this Gospel) apparently fi lls
a symbolic function: Appearing only twice—at
the joyous wedding in Cana, where water is
turned into wine, and at the cross, where wa-
ter and blood fl ow from Jesus—Mary may sig-
nify the believing community that benefi ts
from the sacramental emblems of shed blood
and crucifi ed body. Only in John’s account
does Jesus place her (the church) under the
care of the Beloved Disciple, the one who
personally testifi es to the signifi cance of Jesus’
sacrifi cial death (19:25–27). (See Box 1 0 . 7
for a comparison of Gospel accounts of Jesus’
last words.) By designating the Beloved
Disciple as Mary’s honorary son, John also
makes him Jesus’ brother, in effect Jesus’ suc-
cessor as leader of the Johannine community
(see Figure 1 0 . 4 ).
Post Resurrection Appearances
in Jerusalem
Although John apparently follows the same tra-
dition that Luke used, placing Jesus’ post resur-
rection appearances in and around Jerusalem
(instead of Galilee as in Mark and Matthew),
he modifi es the story to illustrate his character-
istic themes. On the fi rst Easter Sunday, Mary
before Annas , father-in-law of the High Priest
Caiaphas (18:8–17). Unlike the Synoptics ,
John does not show Jesus being formally tried
before the full Sanhedrin, but only having an
informal hearing at the High Priest’s private
residence.
An Innocent Pilate It is in his version of Jesus’
appearance before Pontius Pilate that John
most explicitly mirrors his community’s es-
trangement from the Jewish community. Only
John states that Pharisees, as well as Temple
priests, are involved in Jesus’ indictment be-
fore the Roman governor. Presenting events
in a strangely implausible way, John shows a
frightened and harried Pilate dashing back
and forth between a Jewish crowd outside his
palace and the accused prisoner inside. (John
states that Jewish priests could not enter a
Gentile’s quarters because such contact would
make them ritually unclean for the upcoming
Passover.) In his desire to foster good rela-
tions with Rome, Luke had depicted a Pilate
technically innocent of arranging Jesus’ death
(Luke 23:1–25), but John goes even further.
His Pilate is literally run ragged shuttling
between accommodation of the priests who
demand Jesus’ execution and his sympathetic
support of the “king” whom they wish to kill
(18:28–19:16). In John’s account, Pilate makes
no fewer than eight attempts to persuade Jesus’
priestly accusers (John inaccurately labels
them collectively as “Jews”) that Jesus is guilty
of no crime (cf. 18:31, 38–39; 19:4–6, 12, 14–16).
Only after the crowd threatens to accuse Pilate
himself of sedition against Rome for champi-
oning Jesus’ cause (19:12) and insists that
their nation has no ruler but the Roman em-
peror (19:15–16) does Pilate reluctantly sub-
mit and turn Jesus over for execution. John
also has Pilate symbolically vindicate Jesus’
claim to be the rightful Jewish king by refusing
to revise a public notice of the crime for which
Jesus was crucifi ed (19:19–22).
The Crucifi xion: Water and Blood John’s pic-
ture of the Crucifi xion includes a number of
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256 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
Jesus’ fi nal utterances, compiled from the four dif-
ferent Gospel accounts of his crucifi xion, are tra-
ditionally known as the “seven last words on the
cross.” Whereas Mark and Matthew agree that
Jesus is almost entirely silent during his agony, cry-
ing out only once—in Aramaic—to ask why God
has deserted him, Luke and John ascribe several
short speeches to their dying hero, showing him in
full control of his fi nal hours. The particular state-
ments that each Evangelist has Jesus voice repre-
sent that author’s individual understanding of
Jesus’ nature and the meaning of his death.
b o x 1 0 . 7 Jesus’ Last Words: A Summary of the Evangelists’
Beliefs About Him
mark ( 15:34 )
Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?
(My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?)
luke ( 23:34, 43, 46 )
Father, forgive them [Roman executioners]; they
do not know what they are doing.
Truly I tell you: today you [the sympathetic felon
next to him] will be with me in Paradise.
Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
matthew ( 27:46 )
Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani ?
(My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?)
john ( 19:26–27, 28, 30 )
Mother, there is your son. . . . There is your mother
[placing Mary (the church) in the future care of
the Beloved Disciple (the Johannine community)].
I am thirsty [to fulfi ll Scripture].
It is accomplished!
Writing to a vulnerable group then undergoing
hardship and suffering, Mark devotes much of his
Gospel to a bleak description of Jesus’ Passion,
emphasizing that, if God permitted his son to en-
dure pain and humiliation, the disciples may ex-
pect no better fate. Jesus’ cry of despair anticipates
his persecuted followers’ sense of similarly being
abandoned by God. Although Matthew modifi es
the Passion story to underscore its fulfi llment of
biblical prophecy, he retains Mark’s emphasis on
Jesus’ solitary and extreme anguish.
Luke, who presents Jesus as a model of self- –
sacrifi cing service to others, thoroughly edits the
Passion narrative to highlight Jesus’ innocence of any
crime against Rome and to illustrate the themes of
forgiveness and spirituality that color his portrait of
Jesus. Contrary to Mark’s account, in which Jesus ap-
pears almost numb with shock at his brutal treat-
ment, Luke’s Jesus is neither silent nor despairing:
He speaks repeatedly and confi dently, as if he were
already enthroned as eschatological judge. He par-
dons his Roman tormentors, absolving them of re-
sponsibility for his execution, and comforts the felon
crucifi ed next to him, granting him a posthumous
reward in paradise. Because Luke presents Jesus as
led by the Holy Spirit throughout his earthly ministry,
it is thematically appropriate for him to show, at the
end, Jesus calmly relinquishing his own spirit to God.
Consistent with his picture of Jesus as fully aware
of his divine nature, including his prehuman exis-
tence in heaven, John paints a Jesus absolutely un-
troubled by doubt or dejection. Acting out the
purpose for which he descended to earth, John’s
Jesus remains in complete charge of his destiny, al-
lowing soldiers to capture him only to fulfi ll the di-
vine will (John 18:4–9). The Johannine Jesus thus
undergoes no agony in Gethsemane or despair on
the cross. In contrast to Mark’s picture of lonely
abandonment, John shows Jesus accompanied by
his mother and his favorite disciple, whose future
lives together he arranges. When he says he thirsts,
it is not because he experiences ordinary human
suffering, but only to fulfi ll prophecy. His moment
of death is simultaneously his “hour of glory,” when
he can announce that he has accomplished all the
Father sent him to do. In his serene omniscience,
the Johannine Jesus seems altogether a different
being from Mark’s disconsolate Son of Man.
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 257
Epilogue: Post Resurrection
Appearances in Galilee
Most scholars believe that the Fourth Gospel
originally ended at 20:31 with the author’s
stated purpose of inspiring faith. Chapter 21,
which records traditions about Jesus’ posthu-
mous appearances in Galilee, seems to be the
work of an editor, who may have prepared the
Gospel manuscript for publication. This redac-
tor also emphasizes the complementary roles of
Peter, leader of the Twelve, and the unidenti-
fi ed “disciple whom Jesus loved.”
When Jesus appears to share an early-
morning breakfast of bread and fi sh (again
demonstrating that the risen Christ is not a
ghost or other disembodied spirit), he questions
Peter about the depth of his love. Using three
different Greek verbs for “love,” Jesus empha-
sizes that love for him means feeding his “lambs.”
Thus, Peter and the church are to provide spiri-
tual and other care for future believers, the
“other sheep” (10:16), including Gentiles, who
will soon join the apostolic fold (21:4–17).
After Peter has been given the opportunity
to redeem his relationship with Christ—three
times asserting his love to counterbalance his
three previous denials of Jesus (18:16–18, 27)—
Peter asks about the future of the Beloved
Disciple (21:20–21). When Jesus indicates that
this disciple, unlike Peter, will not suffer martyr-
dom but may remain alive “until I come,” the
editor states that the Johannine “brotherhood”
mistakenly took Jesus’ statement “to mean that
the disciple would not die.” By the time the epi-
logue was written, however, it is evident that the
disciple had died, contrary to the expectations
of the community founded on that disciple’s “tes-
timony” (21:22–24). In this brief dialogue—in
which the passage of time has clarifi ed the mean-
ing of Jesus’ words—the redactor seems to aban-
don the earlier notion that the Parousia would
occur during the lifetimes of at least some origi-
nal followers.
The epilogue concludes with the editor’s
musing on the large number of oral traditions
Magdalene is alone when she discovers that
Jesus’ corpse has vanished from Joseph of
Arimathea’s garden tomb where it had been
placed late the previous Friday. Prophet of her
Lord’s resurrection, she is the fi rst to report the
empty tomb and the fi rst to see the risen Jesus,
announcing these glad tidings to the male dis-
ciples (20:1–2, 10–18).
Following Jesus’ Sunday evening appear-
ance to the disciples, infusing them with the
Holy Spirit, he appears again to “doubting
Thomas,” vanquishing his skepticism. (The
Beloved Disciple, an example to others, be-
lieves that Jesus lives even before physical proof
is offered, illustrating the Johannine communi-
ty’s cultivation of faith [20:8–9, 26–29].) His
“light” having “overcome” the world’s spiritual
darkness, Jesus also conquers death. His resur-
rection is the fi nal victorious “sign” toward
which all his earlier miracles pointed.
f i g u r e 1 0 . 4 Crucifi xion. A modern Japanese artist
offers a highly stylized interpretation of Jesus’ crucifi xion.
Two fi gures, possibly representing Jesus’ mother and the
Beloved Disciple, kneel in adoration of the incarnate
Word of God.
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258 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:16),
John testifi es that Jesus’ “glory” has already ap-
peared: “we [members of the Johannine commu-
nity] saw his glory, such glory as befi ts the
Father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John
1:14; cf. 13:31–32).
When the Johannine Jesus speaks his last
words on the cross—“It is accomplished” (John
19:30)—the implications are hugely signifi cant.
In his ministry and crucifi xion, Jesus has
completed his messianic tasks, including those
traditionally assigned to the eschaton —divine judg-
ment, spiritual regeneration, resurrection, and
the giving of full knowledge to the faithful.
John’s vision does not emphasize Jesus’ immi-
nent return because the Johannine Christ had al-
ready achieved his disciples’ redemption and, in
the guise of the Paraclete , is eternally present with
them. Believers, Jesus insisted, have already expe-
rienced a favorable judgment, passing “from
death to life” (John 5:24–25); they will never die
(John 11:26).
Matthew’s Gospel concludes with Jesus’
promise that he will be with his disciples “to the
end of time” (Matt. 28:20). Luke also frames his
resurrection accounts to suggest that Jesus re-
mains present in such Christian practices as
Bible study and communal meals (Luke 24). But
only John portrays the advent of the Paraclete as
if “he” were Jesus’ double (15:26–27), fulfi lling
believers’ desire for a continuing presence. At
the Last Supper, the Johannine Jesus empha-
sizes the importance of his return to heaven, not
his return to earth: “If I do not go [back to
heaven] your Advocate [the Paraclete ] will not
come, whereas if I go, I will send him to you.
When he comes, he will confute the world and
show where wrong and right and judgment lie.
He will convict them [unbelievers] of wrong, by
their refusal to believe in me; he will convince
them that right is on my side, by showing that I
go to the Father when I pass from your sight;
and he will convince them of divine judgment,
by showing that the Prince of this world [the
devil] stands condemned” (16:7–11; cf. 14:10–
26). That Spirit is given when the risen Jesus
“breathes” it into his disciples (20:22). Basking
in the presence of the Paraclete , Jesus’ surro-
gate self, the Johannine community directly
experiences the eschatological judgment that
vindicates their faith and defeats evil.
surrounding Jesus. If his entire career were to
be recorded in detail, the “whole world” could
not contain “the vast number of books that
would be produced” (21:25).
The Letters of John
Several years after John’s Gospel was pub-
lished, another member of the Johannine
community wrote three documents—1, 2, and 3
John—that describe later developments within
the Johannine group. Because these docu-
ments address problems troubling the later
church, they are discussed in their canonical
order, among the catholic (general) epistles
(see Chapter 18).
Summary
Although John’s Gospel may have originated on
the fringes of the Christian community (it shows
traces of an Essene -like sectarianism and proto-
Gnostic infl uences), it eventually provided main-
stream Christianity with concepts crucial to its
theological development. Doctrines of Christ’s
prehuman existence as God’s eternal Word (the
Logos), his descent from heaven, his incarnation
as the man Jesus, his apparent equality with God,
and his continuing presence among believers in
the form of the Paraclete , the Spirit of Truth—all
absent from the Synoptic Gospels—profoundly
infl uenced the church’s later declaration that
Jesus and God are one.
Writing perhaps thirty years after Mark,
John also offers believers a plausible means to
cope with disappointment in Jesus’ failure to re-
turn during the lifetimes of his original follow-
ers. The Synoptic writers, in effect, had divided
Jesus’ messiahship into two contrasting parts: a
ministry in the recent past as a sacrifi cial servant
and a future Second Coming (the Parousia ) as
the glorious Son of Man. With his doctrine of
realized eschatology, John effectively addresses
this troubling issue: The Johannine Jesus accom-
plishes everything for the Messiah’s success in a
single earthly coming. Whereas Mark vividly
anticipated the “Son of Man coming in the
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c h a p t e r 1 0 j o h n ’ s r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f j e s u s 259
5. Name several of the seven “signs” or miracles
that Jesus performs to demonstrate his divinity.
How does the raising of Lazarus lead to Jesus’
death?
6. What is the purpose of Jesus’ “I am” speeches?
What do they reveal about him?
Questions for Discussion and Refl ection
1. The “brotherhood,” or Christian community,
that produced John’s Gospel preserved tradi-
tions about Jesus that roughly paralleled but
signifi cantly differed from those on which the
Synoptic Gospels are based. Why do you sup-
pose the Johannine community so strongly
identifi ed Jesus with the divine Wisdom that
God used to create the universe (Prov. 8)? How
does John’s introductory hymn to the Logos
(Word) express the author’s view of Jesus’
prehuman existence and divine nature?
2. More than any other New Testament book, the
Gospel of John has infl uenced subsequent
Christian thought about Jesus’ divinity. What
specifi c Johannine teachings do you think
most contributed to the conception of the
Trinity—the doctrine that defi nes the Christian
God as embodying the triune Being: Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit?
3. In discussing the idea that the heavenly being
(Logos) who became the human Jesus had no
beginning but dwelt in eternity with the Father,
interpret such diverse Johannine statements as
“the Father and I are one” and “the Father is
greater than I am.”
4. Explain Jesus’ meaning when he says, “He who
has seen me has seen the Father.” Is Jesus like
God or is God like Jesus? Describe the specifi c
qualities, traits, and behavior patterns by which
the Johannine Jesus reveals the heavenly Father.
Discuss the role of divine/human love in John’s
portrait of divinity. Why does John emphasize
the practice of showing love only among mem-
bers of his Christian community (John 13:34–
35) and not among strangers and enemies as
Jesus commands in the Sermon on the Mount
(Matt. 5:43–48)?
5. The idea that Jesus is divine—to be identifi ed
with the God of the Hebrew Bible—is perhaps
the chief source of division between monothe-
istic Jews and orthodox Christians. Is Jesus’
Besides helping resolve the problem of a
delayed Second Coming, John’s Gospel also
succeeds in giving Jesus cosmic stature, portray-
ing a fi gure so exalted that he reigns with God:
No prophet, lawgiver, angel, or other heavenly
being possesses his relationship to (or equality
with) God (8:58; 14:09). More than any single
book in the New Testament, this Gospel lays the
foundations for later theological interpreta-
tions of Christ’s nature and function. In post–
New Testament times, theologians came to see
Christ as the Second Person in the Trinity (a
term that does not appear in canonical
Scripture), co-equal, consubstantial, and co-
eternal with the Father. Although the Johannine
writings do not articulate so formal a dogma,
historically John’s high Christology profoundly
infl uenced offi cial Christianity’s eventual un-
derstanding of its Master.
Questions for Review
1. Evaluate the arguments for and against the
apostle John’s responsibility for the Gospel tra-
ditionally attributed to him. Describe the role
of the Beloved Disciple and his relationship to
the Fourth Gospel.
2. Describe some of the major differences between
the Gospel of John and the Synoptic Gospels.
Compare Jesus’ manner of speaking and use of
parables in Mark with his long philosophical dis-
courses in John. In Jesus’ Johannine speeches,
how was the author infl uenced by the form of
Wisdom’s speeches in Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus ,
and the Wisdom of Solomon?
3. In presenting Jesus as a spiritual redeemer de-
scended from heaven, John refl ects or parallels
some ideas later expressed in Gnosticism. In
what specifi c ways does John’s Gospel resemble—
or differ from—Gnostic teachings? How does
the author’s presentation “rescue” Jesus from
the Gnostic claims? How does John indicate that
Jesus is both divine and human?
4. John’s Gospel contains almost no traditional
apocalyptic teaching and has no prediction of
Jesus’ Second Coming comparable to that in
the Synoptics . How does John’s teaching about
the Advocate, or Paraclete , deal with the prob-
lem of Jesus’ delayed return? Remember that
John was written almost seventy years after
Jesus’ death.
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260 p a r t t h r e e d i v e r s e p o r t r a i t s o f j e s u s
Conway, Colleen M. “John, Gospel of.” In K. D.
Sakenfeld, ed., The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the
Bible, Vol. 3, pp. 356–370. Nashville: Abingdon Press,
2008. Surveys distinctive qualities of the Gospel’s
portrait of Jesus, including its socioeconomic setting
and unique emphasis on Jesus’ divinity.
Dodd, C. H. Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963.
. The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.
Fortna, R. T. The Fourth Gospel and Its Predecessor: From
Narrative Source to Present Gospel. Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1988. The defi nitive analysis of the
hypothetical Signs source underlying John’s
Gospel.
Hedrick, Pamela. “John, Gospel According to.” In
M. D. Coogan, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the
Books of the Bible , Vol. 1, pp. 457–472. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2011. Highlights John’s
distinctive theology and later infl uence on church
doctrine.
Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary.
Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2004. An exten-
sive and detailed investigation of John’s social
and historical setting, for more advanced
students.
Kysar, Robert. “John, the Gospel of.” In D. N.
Freedman, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 3,
pp. 912–931. New York: Doubleday, 1992. A
thoughtful review of Johannine literature and
scholarship.
. John, the Maverick Gospel. Atlanta: John Knox
Press, 1976. An infl uential study of the Fourth
Gospel.
. Voyages with John: Charting the Fourth Gospel.
Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2006. An effort
by major Johannine scholars to trace evolving
academic interpretations of John through the
twentieth and early twenty-fi rst centuries.
Martyn, J. L. History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel,
2nd ed. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1979. A bril-
liant interpretation of John’s method of composi-
tion that focuses on John 9.
Perkins, Pheme. “The Gospel According to John.” In
R. E. Brown et al., eds., The New Jerome Biblical
Commentary, pp. 942–985. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1990. An insightful commentary
on the Gospel.
Sloyan, Gerard S. What Are They Saying About John? ,
rev. ed. New York: Paulist Press, 2006. An accessi-
ble introduction to contemporary scholarship on
John’s Gospel.
“full divinity” a major preoccupation of the
Synoptic writers? How does John’s claim of
Jesus’ virtual godhood work to separate today’s
Jews and Christians?
Terms and Concepts to Remember
Annas
Book of Glory
Book of Signs
catholic epistles
chaos
cosmos
Crucifi xion
Docetism
Ephesus
Gnosticism
high Christology
Holy Spirit
Incarnation
Isis
Logos (Word)
Nicodemus
Paraclete (the
Advocate)
Philo Judaeus
realized eschatology
Signs Gospel
transubstantiation
Trinity
Wisdom (Prov. 8)
Recommended Reading
Anderson, Paul. The Christology of the Fourth Gospel: Its
Unity and Disunity in the Light of John 6. ( With a New
Introduction , Outlines, and Epilogue ). Eugene, Ore.;
Cascade Books, 2010. Interprets John’s Christology
not as a Gnostic-redeemer myth, but as based on
Deuteronomy 18, with Jesus as the prophet greater
than Moses.
. The Riddles of the Fourth Gospel: An Introduction
to John. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011. Argues
for the potential historicity of many distinctly
Johannine themes and events, and explores the
Gospel’s relationship to the Synoptic traditions.
Baltz, Frederick W. Lazarus and the Fourth Gospel
Community. Lewiston, N.Y.: Mellen Biblical Press,
1995. Presents evidence that Lazarus was the
Beloved Disciple, whom the author identifi es
with the historical fi gure Eleazar, son of Boethus,
whose sisters, Miriam and Martha, appear briefl y
in rabbinical literature.
Brodie, Thomas L. The Quest for the Origin of John’s
Gospel: A Source-Oriented Approach. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1993. Argues that John
composed his Gospel by theologically transform-
ing the Synoptic accounts.
Brown, R. E. The Community of the Beloved Disciple.
New York: Paulist Press, 1979. A readable and
insightful study of the Christian group that
produced the Gospel and the Letters of John.
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p a r t f o u r
An Account of the
Early Church
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The two scenes painted on this early-
sixth-century codex illustrate themes prom-
inent in the two- volume work of Luke-Acts
( left ). The upper scene shows Jesus’ trial
before Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea;
similar encounters with Roman magistrates
occur throughout Acts, presenting court
hearings in which the author repeatedly
demonstrates that Christians pose no legal
threat to governmental authorities. In the
lower scene, Judas Iscariot fi rst returns the
thirty pieces of silver he received for be-
traying Jesus and then hangs himself; two
different versions of Judas’s death appear
in Acts 1 and Matthew 27.
On his travels through the urban centers
of Greece and Asia Minor, Paul and his mis-
sionary companions met a wide range of
ethnic and cultural groups. These two
Roman portrait busts ( below ), both
depicting citizens of Ephesus, where Paul
stayed at least two years, illustrate some of
the diverse expressions that Paul’s Gospel
may have evoked in his Ephesian audience.
PHOTO ESSAY Themes and Settings in the Book of Acts
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The partly reconstructed facade of this
Ephesus library was erected in honor of
Tiberius Julius Celsus ( right ), governor of
the province of Asia after 117 CE . Although
built after Paul’s day, this elegant structure
typifi es the kind of sophisticated architec-
ture that characterized the city of Ephesus.
Crowning the Athenian Acropolis,
the Parthenon ( below ), a marble
temple dedicated to Athene Parthenos
(the Virgin), dominates the city’s skyline
today as it did when Paul debated
Stoic philosophers in its shadow almost
2,000 years ago. Completed in 438 BCE , in
Christian times the edifi ce was
rededicated to Mary the Virgin (Maria
Parthenos). ■
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Themes and Settings in the Book of Acts (continued)
Designed to bring spring water from Mount
Carmel to Caesarea Maritima, this aqueduct
( left ), with its massive stone arches, is typical
of the city’s monumental architecture. A thriving
Mediterranean seaport that served as the
headquarters for Roman administration of
Judea ( middle ), Caesarea fi gures prominently
in Acts: Here Peter baptized Cornelius, a
Roman centurion, who became the fi rst
Gentile Christian (10:1–48), and here Paul was
imprisoned for two years under the governors
Felix and Festus (23:33–27:1).
When sent from Caesarea to Rome to stand
trial in the emperor Nero’s court, Paul would have
seen many brick buildings similar to this modern
reconstruction of a large house and apartments
in Ostia (second century CE ) ( below ). ■
Themes and Settings in the Book of Acts (continued)
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Key Topics/Themes In the Book of Acts, Luke
continues his two-part narrative of Christian
origins, depicting characters who, like Jesus,
are models of Christian behavior and service.
This theologically shaped account of the early
church emphasizes many of the same themes
that dominated Luke’s Gospel. First, God’s
ancient promises to Israel through Abraham
and Moses are fulfi lled in the life and work of
Jesus and his successors, who constitute a
Spirit-blessed community, the true Israel.
Second, emphasizing that “the new way
(Christianity)” is a universal means of salva-
tion encompassing all nations, Jewish and
Gentile alike, Luke then shows biblical
promises being fulfi lled when the Jewish
disciples are empowered by the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost (2:1–47). Third, the author illus-
trates the step-by-step process by which divine
promises were extended to non-Jewish
peoples, beginning with campaigns in
Samaria and Syria (8:1–12:25). The climactic
events of this fi rst section are the conversions
of Paul, a Pharisee (ch. 9), and Cornelius, a
Roman soldier, the fi rst Gentile anointed by
the Holy Spirit (chs. 10–11).
In the second part of Acts (chs. 13–28), Luke
focuses almost exclusively on the travels of
Paul, who leads a successful mission to
Gentiles in Asia Minor and then carries the
new religion into Europe, arriving in Rome
about 60 CE . Arguing that Christianity is a
natural extension of Judaism that offers no
threat to the Roman state, Luke designs his
narrative to demonstrate that the church’s
task is to create an international and ethni-
cally diverse community, a work that extends
indefi nitely into the future (28:28).
The author of Luke-Acts clearly conceived of
his two-volume work, a narrative of Jesus’ minis-
try followed by an account of the early church,
as integrally linked. Not only does Luke dedi cate
both volumes to the same patron, Theophilus,
he also makes the fi nal event in his Gospel, Jesus’
A scension to heaven, the fi rst event described
in the Book of Acts (cf. Luke 1:1; 24:50–53 and
Acts 1:1–5, 10–11). In fact, one of Luke’s major
goals in Acts is to demonstrate a strong con-
nection between what Jesus said and did and
what his disciples later accomplish in his name.
Directed by the same Holy Spirit that had em-
powered Jesus, his followers loyally carry on their
c h a p t e r 1 2
Luke’s Account of the Early Church:
The Book of Acts
You will bear witness for me in Jerusalem, and all over Judaea and Samaria, and away
to the ends of the earth. Jesus to the Jerusalem disciples, Acts 1:8
285
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Most important, Acts also underscores the
Gospel theme that both Jesus and his followers
are totally innocent of sedition against Rome.
In Luke’s account of Jesus’ trials before Pilate
and Herod Antipas, both the Roman governor
and the Roman-appointed local ruler conclude
that the accused has committed no crime (Luke
23:1–25), as do the brigand crucifi ed next to
Jesus (23:40–43) and the Roman centurion
who witnesses his death, judging him “inno-
cent” (23:47). As noted below, Acts reinforces
Luke’s argument that Christians are guiltless of
breaking Roman law, a theme of blamelessness
highlighted in the accounts of Paul’s parallel
trials before Roman governors and Herodian
rulers (Acts 23:1–26:32).
While emphasizing that Christians are not
political revolutionaries determined to over-
throw the Roman government, Luke’s narra-
tive also shows that their “new way” in fact
undermines many accepted standards of Greco-
Roman life. In examining Luke’s presentation
of Christianity’s effect on established social cus-
toms, scholars have recently pointed to its dis-
ruptive and destabilizing consequences. To cite
only one example, most inhabitants of the
Roman Empire were polytheists who worshiped
a multitude of gods, gods whose patronage and
state-supported worship were widely recog-
nized as essential to the public welfare. When
Christians declared that only Israel’s God—of
whom no statue or other image could be
made—was worthy of worship, their message
often sparked mass rioting. Particularly in de-
scribing Paul’s visits to Ephesus and other
Greek cities, Luke shows that Christian mission-
aries, while innocent of political sedition, de-
manded changes in their converts’ way of life
that subverted many traditional civic and social
values (19:1–41). To defenders of social and
civil convention, they were guilty of “turning
the world upside down” (16:6, NRSV).
In composing his idealized account of
Christian beginnings, Luke is highly selective in
his use of the oral “traditions” and “eyewitness”
reports on which Acts presumably is based
(cf. Luke 1:1–4). Although he lists the names of
Master’s work, performing similar healing mira-
cles and giving humble service to others. Operating
as part of God’s plan to redeem humanity, both
Jew and Gentile, the disciples now serve on a
world stage, bearing their message about Jesus
from Jerusalem to the heart of the Roman
Empire.
The author (whom we call Luke ) structures
the Acts narrative to parallel what happened in
his Gospel, emphasizing many of the same
themes. As Jesus received God’s Spirit while at
prayer (Luke 3:21–22), so the Spirit descends on
his praying followers (Acts 2:1–13). Jesus’ healing
of a lame man (Luke 5:17–26) is mirrored by
Peter’s almost identical miracle (Acts 3:1–10), as
is Jesus’ resuscitation of a widow’s son (Luke
7:11–17) refl ected in Peter’s resuscitation of a de-
ceased widow named Dorcas (Acts 9:36–43).
Similarly, Peter’s healing of Aeneas, a “man who
had been bedridden with paralysis for eight years”
(Acts 9:32–35), echoes Jesus’ curing “a paralyzed
man on a bed” (Luke 5:18–20).
Luke’s emphasis on Jerusalem and the
Temple, so prevalent in his Gospel (see the dis-
cussion of Lukan themes in Chapter 9), also
dominates Acts, in which Paul and other char-
acters repeatedly travel to and from Jerusalem.
After receiving the Holy Spirit, the disciples fre-
quently gather at the Jerusalem Temple, where
Peter proclaims that “Israel’s God has given the
highest honor to his servant Jesus” by “[raising]
him from the dead” (Acts 3:1–4:4), a program
that closely parallels the Lukan Jesus’ extensive
teaching at the Temple (Luke 19:45–21:38, es-
pecially 19:47–48; 21:1–5, and 37–38).
The Book of Acts
Author: Traditionally Luke, companion of
Paul (see Chapter 9). The same person who
wrote the Gospel ascribed to Luke, name
unknown.
Date: About 90 ce.
Place of composition: Unknown, perhaps
Antioch or Ephesus.
Audience: Addressed, like Luke’s Gospel, to
Theophilus, representing Gentile Christians
scattered throughout the Roman Empire.
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 287
the original eleven apostles (1:13), Luke tells
us almost nothing about most of them.
Instead, he concentrates on only a few fi gures,
using them to represent crucial stages in early
Christianity’s swift transition from a Jewish to
a Gentile movement. The apostle Peter, rep-
resenting Palestinian Jewish Christianity and
the original Jerusalem church, presides over
the fi rst half of Acts (chs. 1–12). Paul, exem-
plifying Hellenistic Christianity’s mission to
the Gentiles, dominates the second half (chs.
13–28). Except for brief references to James
and John, the sons of Zebedee (3:1–4:22;
12:1–3; cf. Gal. 2:6–10), Luke rarely mentions
Jesus’ Galilean disciples or their activities.
Whatever anecdotes about other apostles the
author may  have heard, he does not include
them in his  narrative; nor does  he explain
how some major churches, such as that at
Rome, were founded. More signifi cantly, al-
though Paul is Luke’s heroic exemplar of true
Christianity, the author does not actually por-
tray Paul as he  reveals himself in his letters,
omitting con troversial Pauline ideas and even
contra dicting some of Paul’s own versions of
events (see Box 13.1 ).
In looking at maps depicting Paul’s jour-
neys (see Figures 1 2 .2 , 1 2 .3 , and 1 2 .6 ), we see
immediately that Luke is interested in only
one trajectory of Christianity’s geographical
expansion—that which resulted in the found-
ing of Pauline churches in Asia Minor and
Greece and in Paul’s preaching in Rome. Focusing
exclusively on the northeastern Mediterranean
region, Luke says nothing about other large ar-
eas where churches were concurrently being es-
tablished, such as those in Egypt, Cyrene, and
other locations in North Africa. According to
tradition, the author of Mark’s Gospel founded
a church in Alexandria (Eusebius, History 2.16),
where a major Christian center developed.
Although we cannot be sure why Luke ignores
the southern Mediterranean churches, his si-
lence may result from a strong preference for
Pauline Christianity, a branch of the faith that
historically came to dominate the Western
church.
In reading Acts, we must remember that
Luke’s account of early Christianity is as theo-
logically oriented as his Gospel. Luke believes
that the apostles and missionaries who brought
“the new way” (9:2) to Greece and Rome were
led by the same divine force that inspired Jesus.
For Luke, the church preserves and maintains
the same ethical and spiritual qualities that dis-
tinguished Jesus’ career, making the “acts of
the apostles” a continuation of the Gospel
story.
The Divine Plan
of Humanity’s Salvation
The incidents from early Christianity that Luke
chooses to include in Acts are arranged to ex-
press the author’s overarching concern: the
Spirit-directed growth of the church and its ex-
pansion westward from Palestine to Italy. In
general, the narrative advances chronologi-
cally, showing the religion’s incremental ex-
pansion into new geographical areas. Luke’s
organizing principle is stated in Acts 1:8, in
which the risen Jesus gives the disciples his fi nal
command: They are to “bear witness” to him
“in Jerusalem, and all over Judaea and Samaria,
and away to the ends of the earth.”
Acts thus begins in Jerusalem (chs. 1–7),
records a mission to Samaria (ch. 8), gives a
detailed account of Paul’s three missionary
journeys throughout Asia Minor and Greece,
and concludes with Paul’s arrival in Rome, the
center of imperial power and perhaps repre-
senting “the ends of the earth” (chs. 13–28).
Luke’s Major Theme: God’s Spirit
Operating in Human History
In tracing Christianity’s course from its Pales tinian
roots to Gentile fl owering, Luke illustrates the
manner in which God has kept his biblical
promises to Israel. Jesus and his Jewish followers
are the fulfi llment of Israel’s prophetic goals, a
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288 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
in ignorance of Jesus’ identity, but it was also
God’s foreordained will that the Messiah had to
suffer—no human action could have prevented
it (3:17–24).
Peter’s second Jerusalem speech empha-
sizes the Lukan theme that Jews remain “the
heirs of the prophets” and “within the cove-
nant” that God made with Abraham. Hence,
God sent his “servant” and offered his “bless-
ing” to them fi rst, keeping the vow he had
sworn to Israel’s patriarchs and prophets
(3:25–26). As Luke presents his history of salva-
tion, Jerusalem and its Temple—where
Pharisees and Jewish Christians worship side by
side—are the focal point of God’s redemptive
acts for all humanity.
Even when traveling in Gentile territories,
the Lukan Paul consistently offers his message
fi rst to members of the local synagogue, before
proselytizing Syrians or Greeks. Although Paul
repeatedly threatens to devote himself entirely
to recruiting Gentile believers, he continues to
minister to fellow Jews. At the end of Acts, how-
ever, Paul cites a portentous verse from Isaiah 6
about God’s people being deaf and blind to his
prophetic word. (This is the same passage that
Mark had used to explain why Jesus spoke in
parables—to prevent his hearers from under-
standing him [cf. Mark 4:10–12; Acts 28:23–27].)
When an exasperated Paul declares that hence-
forth he will concentrate all his efforts on “the
Gentiles” because “the Gentiles will listen”
(28:28), he expresses an unforeseen twist of his-
tory. By the time Luke wrote the sequel to his
Gospel, Christianity, originally a Jewish phe-
nomenon, had become a faith dominated by
Gentiles. In this paradoxical event, Luke saw
God’s will accomplished: the gathering of every
ethnic and national group into a universal wor-
shiping community.
Luke’s Use of Speeches
Like other historians of his day, Luke ascribes
long, elaborate speeches to his leading charac-
ters, such as Peter, Stephen, James, and Paul.
But whoever the speaker, most of the speeches
demonstration of God’s faithfulness that will re-
assure Theophilus and other Gentiles who join
their ranks. At the end of his Gospel and the
beginning of Acts, Luke takes pains to remind
readers of Israel’s hopes for a Davidic king. The
disciples approaching Jerusalem wonder if the
kingdom is at last about to materialize (Luke
19:11), a question they reformulate to Jesus im-
mediately before his ascension to heaven: “Lord,
is this the time when you are to establish once
again the sovereignty of Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus’
answer—that they must remain in Jerusalem
to “receive power” from above and then evange-
lize the earth—implies a positive response to
their question. In Luke’s view, God indeed rees-
tablishes his rule over true citizens of Israel, the
Jewish disciples of Jesus who represent the cove-
nant people. Although most people do not per-
ceive it, God has accomplished the restoration
of  true Israel through the faithfulness of Jesus’
Jewish followers.
Luke further highlights the theme of Israel’s
restoration when the Eleven elect a replacement
for Judas Iscariot (who dies soon after be-
traying Jesus), thus re-creating a leadership
of  Twelve, symbolic of Israel’s twelve tribes
(1:23–26). Once this continuity between Israel
and the Christian community has been af-
fi rmed, however, Luke never again refers to the
replacement (Matthias) or to any of the Twelve
except for Peter and (briefl y) John. (James,
John’s brother, is mentioned only to record his
beheading by Herod Agrippa I [12:2].) In
Luke’s thematic purpose, the Twelve are the
Israelite foundation of the Christian church, a
cornerstone on which Gentiles will build the
superstructure.
At Pentecost, when the Lukan Peter states
that God’s eschatological promise of Israel’s
Spirit-anointing is fulfi lled (2:14–36), 3,000 Jews
join the Galilean disciples (2:37–41). Through-
out both his Gospel and Acts, Luke is careful to
distinguish the Jewish people, many of whom
accept Jesus as the national Messiah, from the
small group of their priestly leaders who had
advocated Jesus’ execution. Not only had the
Jews as a whole—including their “rulers”—acted
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 289
3. The work of Peter and the apostles (3:1–5:42)
4. Persecution of the Hellenistic-Jewish Chris-
tians: the fi rst missions (6:1–8:40)
5. Preparation for the Gentile mission: the con-
versions of Paul and Cornelius (9:1–12:25)
6. The first missionary journey of Barna-
bas and Paul: the Jerusalem conference
(13:1–15:35)
7. Paul’s second missionary journey: evange-
lizing Greece (16:1–18:21)
8. Paul’s third missionary journey: revisiting
Asia Minor and Greece (18:22–20:38)
9. Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem and imprison-
ment in Caesarea (21:1–26:32)
10. Paul’s journey to Rome and his preaching
to Roman Jews (27:1–28:31)
Prologue and Account
of the Ascension
In his introduction to Acts (1:1–11), Luke re-
fers to the “fi rst part” of his work (the Gospel)
and then picks up where his earlier story of
Jesus left off. Before ascending to heaven, the
resurrected Jesus remains on earth for “forty
days,” a number that symbolizes the period of
time required to accomplish a major religious
undertaking. (Moses remained on Mount
Sinai for forty days while receiving the Torah,
and Jesus’ wilderness temptation was of similar
duration.)
Although his report of Jesus’ post resur-
rection instruction is tantalizingly brief, Luke
makes some major points. The risen Jesus of-
fers fresh insights into the nature of his king-
dom, which is not the political restoration of
the Jewish state that the disciples had antici-
pated (Luke 19:11; Acts 1:3, 6–7). Contrary to
apocalyptic expectations, God’s rule expands
gradually as the Christian message slowly per-
meates Greco-Roman society. The historical
process must begin in Jerusalem, but the Spirit
will empower believers to carry their faith
throughout the earth (1:1–8).
sound much alike in both style and thought.
This similarity among Acts’ many discourses, as
well as the fact that they seem to refl ect attitudes
prevalent in the author’s time rather than those
of the historical fi gures he describes, suggests to
most scholars that they are largely Luke’s own
compositions. In the absence of exact transcrip-
tions of apostolic speeches, many of which were
delivered amid noisy and unruly crowds, Luke
apparently follows the standard practice of
Greco-Roman authors by supplementing what
was remembered with material of his own cre-
ation. Ancient historians and biographers like
Thucydides, Livy, Tacitus, and Plutarch com-
monly enlivened their narratives with speeches
put in the mouths of historical characters. The
classical writer composed such discourses based
on his conception of the speaker’s character and
major concerns at the time the speech was given.
He was not expected to reproduce a particular
speech exactly as it was delivered. Thucydides ex-
plains the historian’s method clearly and briefl y:
I have found it diffi cult to remember the
precise words used in the speeches which I
listened to myself and my various informants
have experienced the same diffi culty; so my
method has been, while keeping as closely
as possible to the general sense of the
words that were actually used, to make the
speaker say what, in my opinion, was called
for by each occasion.
( The Peloponnesian War I.22)
In short, while attempting to reproduce the
“general sense” of what people said, Thucydides
created their speeches according to his under-
standing of what “was called for by the occa-
sion.” We cannot know the extent to which
Luke’s speeches refl ect ideas expressed in gen-
erations before his time.
Organization of the Book of Acts
Luke arranges his narrative in ten major sections:
1. Prologue and account of the ascension
(1:1–11)
2. Founding of the Jerusalem church (1:12–2:47)
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290 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
phenomenon of religious ecstasy, in which be-
lievers emit an outpouring of strange sounds
(called glossolalia ), came to characterize the
early church and was generally regarded as a
sign of God’s presence (11:14–18; cf. Paul’s
discussion of “ecstatic speech” in 1 Cor. 14).
According to Luke, the pentecostal miracle
enabled recipients of the Spirit to converse in
foreign languages they had previously been
unable to speak, although some onlookers ac-
cuse the inspired disciples of being “drunk , ”
implying they spoke unintelligibly (2:1–13;
cf. 1 Cor. 14:2–25).
Peter, chief of the apostles, delivers Acts’
fi rst major speech to interpret the pentecostal
experience (2:14–20). Peter’s discourse illus-
trates several Lukan themes. The pentecostal
Spirit is the phenomenon that Joel had fore-
seen as a sign of the last days. It is bestowed
upon all believers, regardless of age or gender—
women prophesy equally with men.
The Lukan Peter says that the Spirit-giving
event is linked to “portents in the sky” and
other astronomical displays foretold in Joel’s
prophecy. Interestingly, Luke represents Peter
as equating the disciples’ religious ecstasy with
Joel’s vision of cosmic upheaval, such as the
sun’s being darkened and the moon’s turning
to blood. (This interpretation of the astronom-
ical “portents” as purely metaphorical suggests
that the author’s references to identical phe-
nomena in Luke 21:25–28 may also be seen as
symbolic language rather than as forecasts of
literal events in future history.) Luke’s main
point, however, is that God has anointed his
church, giving it the power to preach in every
known tongue, the many languages of Pentecost
representing the universality of the Christian
mission.
Peter’s long speech expresses another im-
portant Lukan theme: Jesus’ death occurred
“by the deliberate will and plan of God”—and
was thus a theological necessity (2:23). God has
vindicated his “servant” by raising him from the
dead and placing him at God’s “right hand”
(the position of favor and power) in heaven.
Linking this exaltation of Jesus with Davidic
Luke is the only New Testament writer to
describe Jesus’ ascent to the spirit world. He
presents it as a quasi-physical movement sky-
ward, culminating in Jesus’ disappearance into
the clouds (symbolic of the divine presence
[Exod. 40:34–35; 1 Kings 8:10; Dan. 7:13]).
Luke thus makes the peaceful ascension a pro-
phetic model of Jesus’ quiet return (the
Parousia) (1:9–11).
Founding the Jerusalem
Church
The Apostles
After describing Matthias ’s election to replace
Judas Iscariot as one of the Twelve—Luke’s
version of Judas’s death differs sharply from
Matthew’s report (Matt. 27:5)—Luke outlines
the qualifi cations for apostleship. According to
Luke, an apostle must be a person who had
physically accompanied Jesus during his entire
ministry and had also witnessed his resurrec-
tion (1:21–22). Perhaps because Paul had not
personally known Jesus, Luke almost never calls
him an apostle, although Paul himself passion-
ately fought to make others acknowledge his
right to that title (Gal. 1). (See Box 1 2 .1 for a list
of Acts’ “major milestones.”)
The Holy Spirit at Pentecost
Luke presents the disciples’ experience at
Pentecost (a Jewish harvest festival held fi fty
days after Passover) in terms of prophetic ful-
fi llment (2:1–47). The Holy Spirit ’s descent
upon a group of 120 disciples (a multiple of
the Twelve) vindicates Jesus’ promise to equip
them with supernatural power (1:8; Luke 24:29),
and it fulfi lls the prophet Joel’s ancient pre-
diction that God would someday infuse all
kinds of people with his Spirit (Joel 2:28–32)
(see Figure 1 2 .1). Its presence symbolically
rendered as wind and fl ame, the Spirit em-
powers the disciples to speak in tongues. This
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 291
The Jerusalem Commune
Repeating a theme prominent in his Gospel,
the author connects the Spirit’s presence with
its recipients’ subsequent way of life, particu-
larly their social and economic arrangements.
The overwhelming “sense of awe” that believers
feel is translated into the work of creating an
ideal community without rich or poor.
themes from the Psalms, Peter declares that by
resurrecting Jesus, God has made him “both
Lord and Messiah.” Because Luke believes that
Jesus was Messiah during his lifetime, the au-
thor may here preserve a very early Christian
belief that Jesus—the “man singled out by
God”—became confi rmed as Messiah only on
his ascension to heavenly glory (2:22, 36; see
Box 1 1 .2 ).
According to Acts’ version of Christian
origins, the new faith began at a particular mo-
ment in time—at the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, in
Jerusalem, when the Holy Spirit descended upon
a gathering of Jesus’ Galilean disciples (Acts 2).
In Luke’s carefully structured presentation,
Christianity’s growth in adherents and geographical
expansion is marked by signifi cant milestones, cru-
cial events at which Christianity enters into a new
stage of development. Each step along the evolution-
ary path from a Palestinian Jewish sect to a largely
Gentile faith preached throughout the Greco-
Roman world is indicated by a representative epi-
sode, headlining the author’s “good news” bulletins.
1. The Christian church is born in Jerusalem—
the Holy Spirit anoints 120 disciples at
Pentecost, followed by mass conversions to
the new Jesus movement (2:1–47).
2. Peter performs the fi rst miraculous cure “in
Jesus’ name” (3:1–10), continuing Jesus’ work.
3. Stephen, a “Hellenist” Jew, becomes the fi rst
Christian martyr (6:8–7:60).
4. Another Hellenist, Philip, makes the fi rst
non-Jewish converts—a Samaritan sorcerer
and an African eunuch (8:4–40).
5. Saul (Paul) of Tarsus, while fi ercely persecut-
ing “the way,” is suddenly converted by a
vision of the risen Jesus on the road to
Damascus (9:1–30; cf. 22:6–11; 26:12–19).
6. Peter converts the Roman centurion
Cornelius, who becomes the fi rst non-Jew to
receive the Holy Spirit (10:1–42).
7. Believers in Jesus are fi rst called “Christians”
in Antioch, Syria, which becomes the second
major center of Christianity (11:19–26).
8. James, the son of Zebedee and brother of
John, becomes the fi rst member of the
Twelve to suffer martyrdom (12:1–3).
9. Paul, following Barnabas, makes his fi rst mis-
sionary journey from Antioch to Asia Minor
(modern Turkey) (13:1–14:28), carrying
Pauline Christianity to the Greek-speaking
world.
10. The fi rst church council, held at Jerusalem to
discuss whether Gentile converts must ob-
serve Mosaic Law, decides in favor of admit-
ting uncircumcised males, opening “the way”
to all nationalities (15:1–35).
11. Carrying the faith from western Asia to
Europe, Paul makes his fi rst missionary tour
of Greece, founding churches at Philippi,
Thessalonica, and Corinth (16:9–18:23).
12. In Jerusalem, Paul is arrested by a Roman
offi cer (21:15–22:29). After two years in a
Caesarean prison, Paul appears before
Governor Festus and Herod Agrippa II
(25:6–32), fulfi lling the risen Jesus’ predic-
tion that Paul will testify “before kings”
(9:15).
13. Exercising his right as a Roman citizen, Paul
is sent to Rome for trial. Under house arrest
in Rome, Paul vows to focus exclusively on re-
cruiting Gentiles (28:16–30).
b o x 1 2 . 1 Major Milestones in the Book of Acts
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292 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
Luke reports that the faithful sold their
possessions so that money and goods could be
distributed according to individual members’
needs. Holding “everything” “in common” (2:43–
45; 4:32–35), the Jerusalem commu nity meets
Jesus’ challenge to sacrifi ce material possessions
to attain true discipleship (Luke 18:18–30). As
a result of establishing the kingdom’s economic
ethic as its standard, however, the Jerusalem
church apparently depended on fi nancial help
from Gentile churches to sustain its ideal (Gal.
2:10; Rom. 15:25–28).
The Work of Peter
and the Apostles
In the next section (3:1–5:42), Luke describes
the activities of Peter and some of his Jerusalem
associates. Peter’s healing a crippled man by
invoking Jesus’ authority (3:1–10) demon-
strates that the disciples continue their lead-
er’s work. Presenting a second Petrine speech
(3:11–26), delivered in the Temple precincts,
Luke interprets the miracle’s signifi cance.
God wishes to reconcile Judaism with its in-
fant daughter, the church. Jesus’ resurrection,
to which Peter and his associates are living wit-
nesses (2:32; 3:15), proves the validity of the
disciples’ faith and provides an opportunity
for offi cial Judaism to unite with the followers
of Jesus. Luke insists that the persons who
condemned Jesus did so “in ignorance.” The
Jerusalem leaders acted blindly because God,
for his own mysterious reasons, had already
determined that his “servant” must die (3:13–18).
Perhaps because the Deity is the ultimate
cause of Jesus’ death, he now offers forgive-
ness to those who unwittingly carried out his
will (3:17–19; Luke 23:24). As Luke portrays
the situation, at this critical moment in Jewish–
Christian relations, union of the two parties is
possible.
Part of Israel does unite with the Christian
fold. Luke rekindles the excitement of these
f i g u r e 1 2 . 1 The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
In this painting by El Greco (1541–1614), like a rushing
wind and hovering tongues of fl ame, the Holy Spirit
anoints disciples gathered in an “upper room” in
Jerusalem. For the author of Acts, this event parallels the
Spirit’s descent at Jesus’ baptism, empowering the early
church to carry on Jesus’ work.
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Some historians believe that this division
refl ects fi rst-century Judaism’s prevailing social
and religious distinction between Palestinian
Jews and Jews from foreign countries who had
more thoroughly adopted Greek ideas and
customs.
Because he wishes to present the Jerusalem
church as a model for later Christianity, Luke
portrays the incipient confl ict as being re-
solved by an orderly administrative process.
Accordingly, the Twelve act unanimously to
elect seven Greek-speaking disciples to repre-
sent the Hellenists (6:1–6).
Stephen: The First Christian Martyr
Although he implies that the seven leaders
were elected to supervise the church’s commu-
nal meals, Luke soon reveals that the seven
were mainly proclaimers of the gospel. Because
of his public preaching, the chief Hellenist,
Stephen, becomes the focus of Sadducean hos-
tility. The priestly opposition accuses Stephen
of attacking the Temple cult and subverting the
Mosaic Torah, charges that also had been lev-
eled against Jesus (6:8–15).
The account of Stephen’s trial and public
stoning effectively links the fi rst part of Luke’s
history, centered in Jerusalem, with the second
part, which records Christianity’s expansion
into non-Jewish territory. The author fashions
Stephen’s speech (7:2–53) as a Hellenist’s se-
verely critical indictment of Jerusalem’s reli-
gious institutions. Stephen accuses the Temple
leadership of “fi ghting against the Holy Spirit”
(to Luke, the supreme offense), murdering
the  Messiah, and failing to keep the Torah
(7:2–53). The episode concludes with typically
Lukan themes: In prayer, the dying Stephen—
the fi rst Christian martyr —experiences a vision
of heaven and, echoing Jesus’ words on the
cross, asks God to forgive his executioners
(7:54–60).
The author juxtaposes Stephen’s ecstatic
vision with the introduction of “a young man
named Saul” who guards the cloaks of those
stoning the victim. Luke’s contrast of the
early days as he records large numbers of Jews
fl ocking to join the disciples (4:4). In contrast
to the people’s enthusiastic response, Luke
also shows the Jerusalem leadership hardening
its position and attempting to halt the new
movement.
In chapters 3–5, Luke heightens the sense
of dramatic tension by presenting several di-
rect confrontations between the apostles and
the Jerusalem authorities. The author attri-
butes much of the church’s trouble to the
Sadducees, whose priests control the Temple
(4:1–6; 5:17–18). In contrast, many Pharisees tend
to tolerate or even champion some Christian ac-
tivities (5:34–40; 23:6–9). During Peter’s second
hearing before the Sanhedrin, the Pharisee
Gamaliel, a famous fi rst-century rabbinical
scholar, is represented as a protector of the in-
fant church.
Seeing “the new way” (9:2) as divinely
supported, Luke shows that its growth cannot
be stopped. After the High Priest (identifi ed
as Annas in 4:6) imprisons the apostles, celes-
tial forces intervene to release them (5:17–26).
Whether employing human agents like Gamaliel
or angels from heaven, the Deity acts decisively
to ensure the Jesus movement’s survival and
expansion.
Persecution of the
Hellenistic-Jewish
Christians: The First
Missions
Even as the Sadducees attack it from without,
the Christian community simultaneously expe-
riences internal trouble (6:1–8:40). Strife breaks
out between two different groups within the
Jerusalem church. Although Luke only hints at
the cause of this disagreement, he makes it
clear that two distinct parties emerge: the
Hellenists, who are Greek-speaking Jews of the
Diaspora, and the “Hebrews,” who are Aramaic-
speaking Jews apparently native to Palestine.
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294 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
who—to gain forbidden knowledge—sells his
soul to the devil.
The Simon Magus episode suggests the
moral risks taken as the church absorbed po-
tential troublemakers from the Hellenistic
world; Philip’s second major convert represents
a signifi cant breakthrough for the new reli-
gion. Occurring south of Jerusalem rather than
in Samaria, Philip’s conversion of an Ethiopian
eunuch forms the climax of his career. According
to the Mosaic Torah, a eunuch (a sexually muti-
lated male) was excluded from full Israelite citi-
zenship. Despite the prejudice against him,
however, this eunuch is a “God-fearer,” a term
Luke uses to denote a class of Gentiles who have
adopted the Jewish religion without undergoing
circumcision or observing all the dietary re-
quirements.
Luke sets up the scene to illustrate several
characteristic themes. The author shows Philip
encountering the Ethiopian while he is read-
ing a singularly appropriate passage from a
Greek edition of the Hebrew Bible—Isaiah 53.
This poem describes an anonymous servant of
God who suffers unjustly and offers Philip the
perfect opportunity to identify Isaiah’s mysteri-
ous servant with Jesus, who, though innocent,
endured comparable suffering. Throughout
this section of Acts, Luke repeatedly refers to
Jesus as a “servant” (3:13, 26; 4:27, 30), the
only New Testament writer to do so (cf. Luke
22:26–27). Interestingly, Luke omits Isaiah’s
allusions to the “servant” bearing punishment
for others’ sins, probably because the author
does not interpret Jesus’ death as a ransom
or  vicarious atonement for sinful humanity
(see Box 9.1).
In depicting the early church’s missionary
efforts, Luke emphasizes the Spirit’s directing
role. Evangelists like Philip (and later Paul) go
exactly where and to whom the Holy Spirit
guides them, moving almost erratically from
place to place. After Philip baptizes the eu-
nuch, we are told that “the Spirit snatched
Philip away, and the eunuch saw no more of
him . . .” (8:39).
two  men, each zealous in his faith, is deeply
ironic. The young Saul will become Paul the
apostle, Christianity’s most famous mission-
ary, and eventually suffer martyrdom himself.
His appearance at this point in Luke’s narra-
tive connects the episode about Stephen, a
Greek-educated Christian Jew, with Paul’s
mission to Greek-speaking Gentile nations, a
development recorded in the second half
of Acts.
Demonstrating that the church’s enemies
cannot seriously interfere with its progress,
Luke states that the Sadducean priests’ efforts
to block “the new way” have the opposite ef-
fect. The persecution that follows Stephen’s
execution drives the Greek-speaking Jewish
Christians from Jerusalem, but this event only
serves to spread the faith into receptive new
areas. (Although the Hellenists are expelled from
the holy city, the Aramaic-speaking disciples
evidently are permitted to remain.) Contrary
to their expectations, the priests’ hostile action
becomes the means by which Jesus’ order to
plant the faith in Judea and Samaria (1:8) is
obeyed.
The Samaritan Mission
In his parable of the humane Samaritan, Luke
(10:29–37) indicates Jesus’ goodwill toward that
despised group and anticipates Christianity’s
later growth in Samaria. In Acts, Luke portrays
the Samaritan mission mainly through the
work of a single fi gure, Philip, one of Stephen’s
fellow Hellenists. Focusing on two of Philip’s
new converts, the author illustrates the increas-
ing ethnic (and ethical) diversity of the church
as it takes in the mixed population living out-
side Judea. The fi rst convert is Simon Magus, a
notorious magician who later tries to buy Peter’s
gift of imparting the Holy Spirit, an attempt the
apostle severely rebukes (8:4–24). In legends that
developed after New Testament times, Simon be-
came a sinister fi gure involved in black magic
and the occult. According to some historians, he
is the prototype of Faust, the medieval scholar
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point in Luke-Acts, readers have probably real-
ized that whenever Luke wishes to emphasize
the signifi cance of an event, he describes it in
terms of supernatural phenomena. At both
Jesus’ birth (Luke 1–2) and that of the church
at Pentecost (Acts 2), the invisible spirit realm
directly impinges on the human world. (The
Resurrection and the apostles’ escape from
death in prison are two other examples.) Thus,
God sends visions and dreams to both Cornelius
and Peter, instructing the apostle to baptize his
fi rst Gentile convert, an act symbolizing God’s
intent to make both Gentiles and Jews his own
people.
Underscoring his view that the Spirit’s
presence validates a religious decision, Luke
shows Cornelius and his entire household
speaking in tongues exactly as the Jewish
Christians had at Pentecost. As he had at the
church’s spiritual baptism, Peter again inter-
prets the incident’s religious meaning—the
equal worth of Jews and Gentiles in God’s
sight (10:35–48). Peter’s statement also clari-
fi es the meaning of his dream: God declares
all animal foods “clean” and acceptable, as
well as the Gentiles who eat them. Dietary re-
strictions are no longer a barrier between Jew
and non-Jew.
Typically Lukan concerns dominate the
Cornelius–Peter narration. Both men receive
their respective visions while at prayer. The
Spirit arranges and guides the human partici-
pants in this momentous event, guiding Jew and
Gentile alike. Readers will also note that Luke
injects into his narrative words of the resur-
rected Jesus directing believers how to behave
at  moments crucial to the growing church.
Speaking through trances or visions to Paul
(9:4–6), Ananias (9:10–16), Cornelius (10:3–6),
and Peter (10:10–16), the risen Lord continues
to instruct his disciples (cf. Luke 24:25–27,
44–50). The intimate communication prevail-
ing between the heavenly Lord and his people
on earth expresses Luke’s belief in the unbro-
ken continuity between Jesus and his later
followers.
Preparation for the Gentile
Mission: The Recruitment
of Paul and Cornelius
Paul’s Vision of Jesus
As a literary artist, Luke skillfully prepares his
readers for the historic transformation of
Christianity from a movement within Judaism to
an independent world religion. He does this by
recording the recruitment of two different men
whose acceptance of the new faith foreshadows
the Gentile mission (9:1–12:25). The most dra-
matic event is the encounter of Saul (Paul) with
the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. The
author regards Paul’s experience as crucial and
gives no fewer than three separate accounts of
the incident (9:3–8; 22:6–11; 26:12–19). Luke
clothes the event in supernatural images—a
blinding light and heavenly voice—although
Paul’s only surviving reports of what happened
are much more subdued (cf. Gal. 1:12, 15–16;
1 Cor. 15:8–9).
In Luke’s historical scheme, Paul becomes
God’s agent (9:15), explicitly chosen to bring
“the new way” (as Greek-speaking Christians
fi rst called their faith) to non-Jewish nations.
As a result of the mystical experience that
transformed his view of Jesus, Paul now suffers
the same kind of persecution he had infl icted
on others. Luke recounts two separate plots
on Paul’s life, which he foils by escaping
fi rst from Damascus and then from Caesarea
(9:24–30).
Peter’s Call to Baptize a Gentile
Luke devotes two full chapters (10–11) to the
episode involving Cornelius, a Roman mili-
tary offi cer and the fi rst Gentile Christian. To
Luke, admitting uncircumcised Gentiles into
the Christian fold represents one of the most
important developments in religious history.
The author’s manner of telling the story reveals
how crucial he believes the event to be. By this
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296 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
to this account, the two made it their practice to
preach fi rst in Jewish synagogues and, when
rejected there, to turn then to a Gentile audi-
ence (13:46–48; 18:6; 28:28). Luke’s version of
Paul’s speech in Pisidian Antioch (in Asia
Minor) shows little sensitivity to Paul’s character-
istic teaching on the saving power of Christ or his
anticipation of an early Parousia. (Compare Acts’
account with Paul’s letters to the Thessa lonians
and Corinthians, discussed in Chapter 14.)
Many  scholars believe that the speeches in
Acts refl ect the Hellenistic preaching style typ-
ical of the author’s own time, late in the fi rst
century ce .
Luke announces that Barnabas and Paul
opened “the gates of faith to the Gentiles”
Herod Agrippa
Luke concludes this section by describing the
attack on the Jerusalem church’s leadership by
Herod Agrippa I. A grandson of Herod the
Great, Herod Agrippa reigned briefl y (41–44
ce ) over a reunited Jewish state. Although the
emperor Claudius, who had appointed him
king, supported Herod’s rule, the puppet ruler
was unpopular among his Jewish subjects.
Herod apparently cultivated support from the
Sadducees by persecuting their opponents,
including Christians. Luke states that he be-
headed James, brother of John, and also
imprisoned Peter. After recording Peter’s
miraculous escape from prison, the author dra-
matizes Herod’s punishment. Hailed publicly
as “a god” by a fawning crowd, the king is in-
stantly affl icted with a loathsome and fatal dis-
ease “because he had usurped the honour due
to God” (12:1–24). Herod’s miserable death,
like that of Judas, illustrates the fate of persons
who oppose the Spirit.
The First Missionary
Journey of Barnabas
and Paul: The Jerusalem
Conference
According to Acts 11, the initial persecution and
scattering of Hellenistic-Jewish Christians even-
tually led to the formation of a mixed Jewish-
Gentile church in Antioch, Syria. A prosperous
city situated on the main trade and travel routes
of the eastern Mediterranean, Antioch rapidly
became the center for a hugely successful mis-
sion to the Gentiles (13:1–15:35). Paul and
Barnabas, a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian
from Cyprus, made the city their headquarters.
It was here that followers of “the way” fi rst were
called Christians (11:22–26).
In Acts 13, Luke shows Barnabas and Paul
leaving Antioch to begin their fi rst missionary
tour of Asia Minor (see Figure 1 2 .2). According
f i g u r e 1 2 . 2 Paul’s fi rst missionary journey.
According to Acts, Paul made three major tours through
the northeastern Mediterranean region. Although the
account in Acts may oversimplify Paul’s complex travel
itineraries, it correctly shows him focusing his efforts on
major urban centers in Asia Minor (modern Turkey).
Attalia
Derbe
Tarsus
AntiochSeleucia
DamascusSidon
Paphos
Salamis
Tyre
Caesarea
Ptolemais
Joppa
Jamnia
Jerusalem
Lystra
Iconium
Perga
Antioch
P H R
Y G
I A
L Y C A O N I A
S Y R I A
C A P P A D O C I A
PAMPHYLIA
P I S I D I A
C I
L I C
I A
CYPRUS
Dead
Sea
Sea of
Galilee
0 25 50 Miles
0 25 50 Kilometers
M E D I T E R R A N E A N
S E A
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 297
of “freedom” from the “bondage” of the Mosaic
Torah had triumphed over the “circumcision
party.” Thus, Luke presents the controversy as
considerably less intense than it actually was
and simplifi es the historical situation by pictur-
ing a peaceful and unanimous resolution of the
problem.
The fi rst church conference, held in
Jerusalem about 49 ce to decide the circumci-
sion issue, provides Luke’s model of orderly
procedure. Initiating the conference, Antioch
sends delegates, including Barnabas and Paul,
to Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem “apostles and
elders” investigate the problem, permitting an
extended debate between the two sides. Peter,
representing Palestinian apostolic authority, de-
livers a speech reminding his fellow Jews that the
Spirit had been given to the Gentile Cornelius
just as it had been to Jewish Christians. Peter
advises against laying the Torah “yoke” upon
converts. The entire congregation then listens
to Barnabas and Paul plead their case for the
Gentiles.
According to Luke, James (Jesus’ “brother”
or kinsman), the person who later succeeds
Peter as head of the Jerusalem church, essen-
tially decides the issue. (See Box 1 2 .3 for a his-
tory of the leadership in the early Jerusalem
church.) Although Acts pictures James as a
“moderate,” accepting of Gentiles who do not
observe Torah rules, Paul’s letters paint him as
a strongly conservative Jew advocating circum-
cision for all (Gal. 2). Luke presents James as
using his prestige to infl uence the Jerusalem
church to accept Gentiles without imposing
Torah restrictions.
The Lukan James, however, does insist
upon the observation of some Jewish dietary
laws by Gentiles. James’s stipulations seem
based largely on Torah rules from Leviticus,
according to which both Jews and foreigners
living in Israel are forbidden to eat blood or
meat that has not been drained of blood (Lev.
17–18). Recognizing that Gentiles are accus-
tomed to a more sexually permissive culture
than are Jews, James also forbids “fornication”
or sexual misconduct (15:13–21). In James’s
(14:27), but he is not above remarking on the
religious gullibility of some Gentiles. When Paul
and Barnabas are evangelizing in Lystra, a
Roman colony in Asia Minor, they are mistaken
for gods in human form. After Paul miraculously
heals a crippled man, the populace decides that
he must be Mercury (Hermes), messenger of
the Olympian gods, and that Barnabas is Jupiter
(Zeus), king of the immortals. The crowd’s fi ck-
leness, however, matches its credulity. At one
moment, the Lystrans are ready to offer sacri-
fi ces to Barnabas and Paul, but at the next—
persuaded by some visiting Jews—they stone
Paul and leave him for dead (14:8–30).
Apparently indestructible, Paul recovers quickly
and completes his missionary tour, returning to
Syrian Antioch, his home base.
The First Church Conference
The great success that Barnabas and Paul have
in converting large numbers of Gentiles brings
the church to its fi rst major crisis (15:1–25). In
Antioch, many Jewish Christians insist that un-
less the new converts become circumcised
they “[can] not be saved” (15:1). In Jerusalem,
Christian Pharisees argue that Gentile converts
“must be circumcised and told to keep the
Law  of Moses” (15:5). According to Genesis,
circumcision is required of all Israelite males if
they are to be part of the covenant community
(Gen. 17:9–14). Because this ritual mark on
the  organ of procreation distinguishes Jews as
heirs to Yahweh’s promises to Abraham, Jewish
Christians naturally see it as a prerequisite to
entering the kingdom. In their opinion, for-
eigners must become Jews before they can be
Christians. Paul and Barnabas oppose this notion
with “fi erce dissension and controversy” (15:2)
(see Box 1 2 .2).
The battle between advocates of the Mosaic
Torah and Hellenistic-Jewish Christians like
Barnabas and Paul gives Luke an opportunity
to create a model, or paradigm, for dealing
with such controversies in the church. By the
time he wrote Acts, the issue had long been de-
cided in favor of the Gentiles. Paul’s advocacy
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Paul’s Independence
of the Apostolic Church
Luke’s description of Paul’s cooperative rela-
tionship with the apostolic leadership in
Jerusalem differs signifi cantly from the account
in Paul’s letters. According to Luke, shortly
after his conversion Paul went to Jerusalem,
where he “tried to join the body of disciples
there” but was rebuffed. After Barnabas took
this zealous convert under his wing, however,
Luke implies, Paul became an accepted member
of Jerusalem’s Christian community (9:26–30).
In his own version of events, Paul categorically
denies that he had early contact with the
Jerusalem church or that his teaching about
speech, Luke shows a basic victory for one party
(the Gentile side), accompanied by a compro-
mise that is sensitive to the consciences of the
losing sides.
The author completes his example of model
church procedures by illustrating the manner in
which James’s recommendation is carried out.
Themes of unity and cooperation dominate
Luke’s account: The “whole church” agrees to
send “unanimously” elected delegates back to
Antioch with a letter containing the Jerusalem
church’s directive. Characteristically, Luke notes
that the decision of this precedent-setting con-
ference is also “the decision of the Holy Spirit”
(15:22–29). To the author, the church’s deliber-
ations refl ect the divine will.
According to Acts 15, the fi rst church conference
was held in Jerusalem to decide what parts of the
Mosaic Law Gentile converts had to obey to be-
come members of the Christian community, which
was then primarily Jewish. In Luke’s account,
Paul’s argument that Gentile males did not need
to become circumcised prevailed, with Peter and
James, leaders of the Jerusalem church, agreeing.
In order to enjoy full fellowship with Jewish
Christians, however, it was stipulated, all converts
had to observe four provisions of the Torah, which
were addressed to both Israelites and foreign resi-
dents (15:19–21). Besides abstaining from sexual
misconduct (such as various forms of incest listed
in Lev. 18), Gentile Christians were also required
to obey specifi ed Mosaic dietary prohibitions, such
as consuming blood or eating animals that had
not been properly drained of blood (a kosher pro-
cess described in Lev. 17). In addition, converts
were not to consume the fl esh of animals sacri-
fi ced to alien gods. Whereas Acts shows Paul ac-
cepting these restrictions, in his own version of the
meeting, Paul declares that he yielded to no Torah
demands (Gal. 1–2).
Although both Acts and Paul’s letters agree
that circumcision is not to be required of Gentile
males, many Jewish Christians in Palestine and
elsewhere probably thought that they had good
scriptural reasons to insist on the requirement.
According to the Book of Exodus, any foreigner
or alien resident—whether enslaved or free—
who wished to participate in the Passover feast
had fi rst to be circumcised (Exod. 12:43–45,
48–49). Because Exodus specifi cally states that
“the same law shall apply to both the native born
and to the alien who is living with you,” Jewish
Christians, believing that God’s law is universal
and unchanging, could argue that persons desir-
ing to partake of the Lord’s supper (commu-
nion), which derived from Jesus’ fi nal Passover
meal (Mark 14:12–26; Matt. 26:17–30; Luke
22:14–38), must be circumcised in order to qual-
ify for full participation. After all, God’s decree
that circumcision is the distinguishing mark of
membership in the covenant community pre-
dates the giving of the Mosaic Law and is the phys-
ical expression of Yahweh’s original promises to
Abraham (Gen. 17).
b o x 1 2 . 2 Circumcision, the Consumption of Blood,
and the Inclusion of Gentiles
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In describing Jesus’ return to Nazareth,
Mark lists four of Jesus’ “brothers” (or close kins-
men) by name: James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, as
well as at least two unidentifi ed “sisters” (6:3).
Mark’s report that Jesus’ “mother and his brothers”
attempted to interfere with Jesus’ ministry (3:21,
31–35) is consistent with the New Testament tra-
dition that none of Jesus’ family members fol-
lowed him until after his resurrection. Paul cites
James as one of the prominent individuals to
whom Jesus made a post resurrection appearance
(1 Cor. 15:7), which was undoubtedly the experi-
ence that made James a disciple. (Acts 1:14 states
that Mary, Jesus’ mother, and “his brothers” as-
sembled with the Twelve in Jerusalem shortly
after the Ascension; they were presumably also
present at the community’s Spirit-anointing at
Pentecost.)
When Paul made his postconversion visit to
Jerusalem (probably c. 35 ce), he found that “James
the Lord’s brother” was already an acknowledged
leader of the Jerusalem church (Gal. 1:18–19). At
the time of Paul’s second Jerusalem visit (c. 49 ce),
James was recognized as one of three “reputed pil-
lars of our society” (along with the apostles Cephas
[Peter] and John) (Gal. 2:6–10). After Peter and
John had left Jerusalem, James assumed undis-
puted leadership of the mother church (Acts
15:13–21; 21:18–26).
The author of Acts does not record the execu-
tions of any of his leading missionary characters,
including Peter and Paul (who were probably
martyred in Rome under Nero). But the Jewish his-
torian Josephus reports that James, “the brother of
Jesus, who was called Christ,” was illegally brought
to trial by some Sadducees and stoned to death
(c. 62 ce) (Josephus, Antiquities 20.9.1).
In The History of the Church, Eusebius reports that
James, who “was called Christ’s brother,” was the fi rst
bishop (overseer) of Jerusalem and known to his fel-
low Jewish Christians as James the Righteous. He also
records a version of James’s death, but different
from that given in Josephus. Quoting Clement,
a late-fi rst-century writer, Eusebius states that James
was hurled down from “the parapet [Temple walls?]
and beaten to death with a fuller’s club” (History 2.1,
23; 3.5, 11; 4.5, 22; 7.19).
According to another (unverifi able) tradition
preserved in Eusebius, even after James’s death,
Jesus’ relatives continued to play infl uential roles
in the Jerusalem church. Shortly after the Romans
destroyed Jerusalem (c. 70 ce), Eusebius says, “apos-
tles and disciples of the Lord who were still alive”
gathered together from different parts of the
country, along with “kinsmen of the Lord, for most
of them were still living.” Their purpose was to ap-
point a successor to James who would preside over
Christians in postwar Jerusalem. Eusebius states
that Jesus’ disciples and family members, forty
years after his death, voted “unanimously” for
Jesus’ cousin, Symeon, to “occupy the throne” of
the Jerusalem church. (Because Eusebius does not
ordinarily refer to a bishop’s “throne,” the Jerusalem
congregation may have accorded royal or Davidic
status to Jesus’ heirs.) Eusebius adds that Symeon
was a son of Clopas (John 19:25), who was suppos-
edly a brother of Joseph, Jesus’ putative father
(History 3.11).
According to Eusebius’s source, an early
church historian named Hegesippus, Symeon re-
mained head of the Jerusalem church until per-
secutions under the emperor Trajan (ruled
98–117 ce), when, at age 120, he was tortured
and crucifi ed for being both a Davidic descen-
dant and a Christian. Symeon was then succeeded
by another Jewish Christian, Justus; Eusebius
does not mention whether he, Jerusalem’s third
bishop, was also a member of Jesus’ family (History
3.32, 35).
To his testimony about members of Jesus’ fam-
ily taking leadership roles in the early church,
Eusebius adds an anecdote about the grandsons
of Jude (Judas)—“the brother, humanly speaking,
of the Savior.” Again citing Hegesippus as his
source, Eusebius states that the emperor Domitian
(ruled 81–96 ce) ordered a search made for royal
b o x 1 2 . 3 Jesus’ Family and the Jerusalem Church
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issued at a later Jerusalem conference, one that
Paul did not attend. In this view, Luke has com-
bined the results of two separate meetings and
reported them as a single event. Later in Acts,
the author seems aware that Paul did not know
about the Jerusalem church’s decision regard-
ing Torah-prohibited meats. During Paul’s fi –
nal Jerusalem visit, James is shown speaking
about the dietary restrictions as if they were
news to Paul (21:25).
Paul’s Second Missionary
Journey: Evangelizing
Greece
Luke devotes the remainder of Acts to recount-
ing Paul’s missionary journeys and confronta-
tions with Jewish and Roman authorities (see
Figure 1 2 .3). Emphasizing Christianity’s accept-
ability to the Greco-Roman world, the author
structures the book’s second half to illustrate
three basic themes: (1) The Spirit controls the
church’s growth, precisely instructing mission-
aries on where they may or may not travel (16:
6–10); (2) when Christian preachers are not in-
terfered with, Gentiles respond favorably to the
“new way,” which fl ourishes throughout Asia
Minor and Greece; and (3) from its beginnings,
Christianity is familiar to Roman offi cials, who
invariably see it as no threat to the imperial gov-
ernment. As Luke tells the story, only ignorant
mobs or envious Jewish leaders oppose the faith
and incite Roman authorities to suppress it.
Jesus owed anything to his apostolic predeces-
sors. After describing his private “revelation”
of the risen Jesus, Paul states, “without consult-
ing any human being, without going up to
Jerusalem to see those who were apostles be-
fore me, I went off at once to Arabia, and after-
wards returned to Damascus” (Gal. 1:17). Three
years later, Paul notes, he did make a trip to
Jerusalem “to get to know Cephas [Peter],” but
he did not confer “with any other of the apos-
tles, except James, the Lord’s brother” (Gal.
1:18–19). When Paul immediately adds, “What
I write is plain truth; before God I am not
lying”  (Gal. 1:20), it is clear that he rejects
any  suggestion that he was ever under the
influence or jurisdiction of the Jerusalem
leadership.
Given Luke’s policy of depicting Paul as an
obedient churchman, willingly subject to apos-
tolic decrees, it is not surprising that Acts’ por-
trayal of the Jerusalem conference contrasts
markedly with Paul’s eyewitness report (Gal.
2:1–10). Whereas Acts shows the Gentile–Torah
issue peacefully and unanimously settled, Paul
declares that “not for one moment” did he com-
promise his position that Gentile Christians
should live absolutely free of Torah “bondage.”
According to Galatians, Paul accepted no
restrictions, whereas Acts states that he unhesi-
tatingly agreed to James’s four Torah prohibi-
tions. In addition, Paul reveals an attitude toward
eating meat sacrifi ced to Greco-Roman gods that
differs from that ascribed to him in Acts (1 Cor.
8:8; 10:27).
Some historians believe that the apostolic
decree involving dietary matters may have been
descendants of David who might push messianic
claims to restore the Jewish throne. According to
Hegesippus’s account, when Jude’s grandsons
were brought before Domitian, the emperor dis-
missed them contemptuously when he found that
they were poor peasants with work-worn, callused
hands. After this close call with Roman authority
(they were more fortunate than Symeon in
Trajan’s reign), the two apparently took a more
active part in the Christian community, becoming
church leaders (History 3.19–20). The lingering
infl uence of James and Jude in the Christian tradi-
tion is evident in the two New Testament books
ascribed to them (see Chapter 18).
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 301
which Macedonian Greeks appeal to him for
help (16: 9–10). Accepting the vision as a divine
command, Paul and his new partners cross into
Macedonia, a Roman province in northern
Greece. (At this point, the author begins to
speak in the fi rst-person plural; his use of “we”
and “us” suggests either that he was an eyewit-
ness to this part of Paul’s journey or that he has
incorporated another party’s travel journal into
his narrative.) In Philippi, where Paul establishes
the fi rst Christian church in Europe, an irate
slaveholder accuses the missionaries of illegally
At the same time, the narrator is candid
about “the way’s” potential disruptiveness,
asking converts to abandon their worship of
Greco-Roman gods and to cease their former
participation in cults intimately associated with
civic life. In his account of Christianity’s expan-
sion from Asia into Greece (16:1–18:2), Luke
repeatedly describes the riots and other social
upheavals that result from the missionaries’
preaching. After quarreling with Barnabas (15:
36–40; cf. Gal. 2:13) and recruiting new compan-
ions, Silas and Timothy, Paul has a vision in
f i g u r e 1 2 . 3 Paul’s second missionary journey. As Acts depicts it, this journey brought Christianity to Europe,
with new cells of Christians established in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. Note that Antioch in Syria is Paul’s
missionary headquarters.
Danube River B L A C K S E A
0 100 200 300 Miles
0 100 200 300 Kilometers
CHIOS
LESBOS
CRETE
CYPRUS
SAMOS
Athens
Ephesus
Smyrna
Sardis
Thyatira
Pergamum
Troas
Miletus
Myra
PergaAttalia
Patara
Derbe
Salamis
Antioch Seleucia
Tyre
Lystra
Paphos
Cos
Lasae
Mitylene
Cnidus
Tarsus
Antioch
Colossae
Iconium
Philippi
Thessalonica
Beroea
Corinth
Jerusalem
Philadelphia
Caesarea
Ptolemais
Sidon
Joppa
Jamnia
Alexandria
Cyrene
A R A
B I A

A E G Y P T U S
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and
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Bosporus
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T H R A C I A
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Cilician Gates
Damascus
C
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PISIDI
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302 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
free speech and tolerance of diverse ideas,
Athens is the only place on Paul’s itinerary where
he is neither mobbed nor arrested. Instead, he is
politely invited to speak at the Areopagus, an
open-air court where speakers can express their
views. In  a celebrated speech, Paul identifi es
the Athenians’ “unknown god” as the biblical
Creator. Representing Paul as quoting two an-
cient Greek poets on the unity of humankind,
Luke incorporates their insights into the
Christian message. Upon Paul’s allusion to Jesus’
physical resurrection, however, the Athenians
lose interest, perhaps because their philoso-
phers commonly taught that the body has no
part in a future immortal state. Only a few
trying to convert Romans to Judaism. Wrongfully
fl ogged and imprisoned, Paul and Silas assert
their legal rights as Roman citizens, who are pro-
tected from punishment without a trial. Luke
uses this incident to show that (1) only personal
malice causes Paul’s arrest; (2) God protects his
agents, in this case sending an earthquake to
open their prison doors; and (3) Philippi’s legal
authorities have no case against Paul or his asso-
ciates (see Box 12.4).
After establishing another church at
Thessalonica, Paul moves southward to Athens,
famous for its magnifi cent artwork and schools
of philosophy (see Figures 1 2 .4 and 1 2 .5). A
university city noteworthy for its celebration of
According to Paul’s critics in Thessalonica, he and
his fellow missionaries disturb the Roman peace:
“They fl out the Emperor’s laws, and assert that
there is a rival king, Jesus” (Acts 17:7). In the crit-
ics’ view, the Christian message subverts both
Roman custom and the legitimate authority of the
emperor, promoting a ruler superior to Caesar.
Although most scholars traditionally have empha-
sized the Book of Acts’ conciliatory attitudes to-
ward Rome, recent commentators have pointed
out that the author presents Christianity as so rad-
ically different a way of life that it profoundly dis-
rupts the ordinary norms of Greco-Roman society.
Paul’s accusers in Philippi, for example, complain
that his group is “advocating customs which it is
illegal for us Romans to adopt and follow” (16:21).
In Ephesus, “the Christian movement gave
rise to a serious disturbance” when Paul’s mono-
theistic preaching threatens the livelihood of ar-
tisans who manufacture replicas of the goddess
Artemis (Diana) and of her temple. As the silver-
smith Demetrius correctly observes, “our high
standard of living depends on this industry.” If
the general population accepts Paul’s message,
both the Ephesian tourist trade and the workers
who depend on it will collapse (19:23–20:1). In
addition, Paul’s activities put several Ephesian
exorcists out of work, inspiring many citizens to
burn publicly their books of magic, a sacrifi ce
worth “fi fty thousand pieces of silver” (19:13–20).
The narrative makes clear that accepting the
Christian view may have negative economic con-
sequences.
In Athens, Paul reproaches the inhabitants for
their idolatry, implicitly condemning the entire
pantheon of Greco-Roman gods and the civic or-
der that supports them. If the Athenians turn to
the invisible God of Israel and to the risen Lord
who will soon judge the whole world, they must
change not only their individual lives but also
their entire social behavior. For the ancient world
did not separate religion from the rest of life; the
gods’ worship was intimately interwoven with so-
cial ties and economic associations, with participa-
tion in civic and national festivals, rites, and
offi ces. To become a Christian was to withdraw
from what most people in the Roman Empire re-
garded as praiseworthy activities, manifestations of
loyalty to the public order (see C. Kavin Rowe in
“Recommended Reading”).
b o x 1 2 . 4 The Christian Message’s Disruptive Effect
on Greco-Roman Society
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 303
an inscription there that enables them to place
Gallio’s term between about 51 and 53 ce . This
fi nd is extremely important because it gives us
one of the few relatively precise dates in Paul’s
career.
As in the episode at Philippi, Luke presents
Paul’s Corinthian visit as another illustration of
his major themes—the new religion is both
Spirit-directed and lawful, albeit disruptive of
many social norms. In a night vision, the Lord
directs Paul to remain in Corinth despite perse-
cution. When Paul is arrested and brought
before Gallio, the governor dismisses Jewish
charges against the missionary as irrelevant to
Roman law. Legally exonerated, Paul and his
companions continue their work unhindered
(18:1–17).
among Paul’s audience are converted or bap-
tized (17:16–34).
Paul enjoys much greater success in
Corinth, a prosperous Greek seaport notorious
for its materialism and houses of prostitution.
Luke enables his readers to fi x the approximate
time of Paul’s arrival—the early 50s ce —by his
reference to two secular events that coincided
with the apostle’s visit. Luke notes that two
Jewish Christians, Aquila and Priscilla, were in
Corinth following the emperor Claudius’s
decree expelling all Jews from the capital.
Claudius issued this edict about 49 ce . The
author also mentions that Gallio was then pro-
consul (governor) of Achaia, the Greek prov-
ince in which Corinth is located. Archaeologists
excavating the Greek sanctuary of Delphi found
figure 12.4 A reconstruction of the Athenian Acropolis. According to Acts 17, Athenian philosophers invited Paul
to explain his new religion at the Areopagus (Hill of Ares), a public forum located on a spur of the Acropolis. Named
for Athene, goddess of wisdom, Athens was celebrated for encouraging freedom of thought and speech.
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304 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
The author hints that even Christianity in
Ephesus differs from that found elsewhere, be-
ing infl uenced by Jewish followers of John the
Baptist. Luke records two separate incidents in
which members of a Baptist-Christian group are
apparently brought into line with Pauline doc-
trine. The fi rst involves the eloquent Apollos,
an educated Jew from Alexandria, who delivers
persuasive sermons about Jesus—but knows
“only John’s baptism.” Hearing him in the
Ephesus synagogue, Priscilla and Aquila “take
him in hand,” presumably bringing his ideas
into harmony with Paul’s teaching. After Apollos
departs for Corinth (see 1 Cor. 1), Paul fi nds
another group of Ephesian Christians observing
“John’s baptism.” On their being rebaptized in
Jesus’ name, the converts receive the Holy
Paul’s Third Missionary
Journey: Revisiting Asia
Minor and Greece
In depicting Paul’s third missionary journey
(18:21–20:38), in which the apostle revisits
churches he had founded in Asia Minor and
Greece (see Figure 1 2 .6), Luke concentrates on
Paul’s activities in Ephesus (see Figure 1 2 .7). A
thriving port city on the west coast of Asia Minor
(modern Turkey), Ephesus had an ethnically
mixed population and a great variety of reli-
gious cults. Luke demonstrates the social and
religious complexity of this cosmopolitan cen-
ter by having his hero encounter a wide diversity
of religionists there, both Jewish and Gentile.
f i g u r e 1 2 . 5 The Stoa of Attalus in Athens. A roofed colonnade donated to the city of Athens by King Attalus II
of Pergamum in the second century bce, the Stoa (rebuilt in the twentieth century) originally offered shelter for
meetings and discussions, such as the debates with Athenian philosophers that Paul is said to have held when he fi rst
visited Athens (Acts 17). The Acropolis rises in the background.
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 305

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306 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
deities such as Cybele and Ashtoreth. Paul’s suc-
cess in converting Ephesians brings him into
confl ict with the goddess’s worshipers. Jewish-
Christian monotheism, proclaiming the exis-
tence of only one God, threatens to hurt the
business of Ephesian silversmiths who make
their living selling replicas of Artemis and her
shrine. (See Box 12.4).
Duplicating the trial scene at Corinth, Luke
states that Ephesian offi cials fi nd the missionary
innocent of disturbing the city’s peace. Once
again, attempts to harm the disciples backfi re
against the persecutors (19:23–41).
Luke frames Paul’s adventures in Ephesus
with intimations of the apostle’s fi nal journey—
to Rome. As Luke had pictured Jesus turning
his face resolutely toward Jerusalem and the
death that awaited him there (Luke 9:51), so the
author shows Paul determined to complete
Spirit, confi rming the superiority of Jesus to his
forerunner.
Luke further illustrates Christianity’s supe-
riority by contrasting Paul’s astonishing ability
to heal with the inability of some Jewish com-
petitors. The apostle’s spiritual power is so
great that articles of clothing that had touched
his skin are used to heal the sick and cast out
“evil spirits.” In contrast, seven Jewish exorcists
trying to expel demons by invoking Jesus’ au-
thority fail ignominiously. Defying the exorcists,
the possessed man strips all seven and throws
them naked from his house (19:11–17).
Ephesus’s greatest pride was its enormous
temple dedicated to Artemis (the Roman Diana),
one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
(see Figure 1 2 .8). Although bearing a Greek
name, the Ephesian Artemis was a mother god-
dess closely related to other Near Eastern fertility
figure 12.7 The amphitheater at Ephesus. A wealthy Greco-Roman seaport in Asia Minor
(western Turkey), Ephesus was the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,
the lavish marble Temple of Artemis (the Roman Diana). According to Acts 19, Ephesian
silversmiths staged a riot in the amphitheater when Paul’s Christian message threatened to
subvert the worship of Artemis—and the prosperity of the silversmiths, who profi ted from
selling miniature silver replicas of the goddess’s statue and shrine to tourists.
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 307
his last tour and head for the imperial capital
(19:21–22). After revisiting Greece (20:1–16),
Paul calls for the Ephesian church leaders to
meet him in Miletus, an ancient Greek city on
the west coast of Asia Minor. There, Paul deliv-
ers a farewell speech, predicting his imminent
imprisonment and implying a coming martyr-
dom. In this speech, Luke emphasizes holding
to the apostolic teaching that Paul represents
and resisting heresy (20:17–38).
Paul’s Arrest in Jerusalem
and Imprisonment
in Caesarea
In this section, Luke foreshadows Paul’s death,
although he never explicitly refers to it (21:1–
26:32). On his way to Jerusalem, presumably to
deliver the money collected from the Pauline
churches for the “poor” of Jerusalem’s Christian
commune, Paul encounters a prophet who fore-
tells the apostle’s fatal “binding” (arrest) there.
Highlighting the resemblance between Jesus
and his later followers, Luke shows Paul express-
ing his willingness to die in Jerusalem. (Compare
Paul’s misgivings about the fatal return to
Jerusalem in Romans 15:22–33.)
Ironically, the apostle to the Gentiles seals
his fate by cooperating with the Palestinian-
Jewish Christians of Jerusalem. When Paul bows
to James’s infl uence and agrees to undergo puri-
fi cation rites in the Temple to prove his faithful-
ness to Torah regulations, his presence in the
sanctuary incites a riot. ( Jews allegedly familiar
with his preaching accuse Paul of bringing uncir-
cumcised Gentiles into the Temple.) The Roman
soldiers who intervene in the fray save Paul’s life
but also place him in protective custody (21:18–
36). From this time until the end of his story,
Luke’s hero is a prisoner of Roman authorities.
Christianity and the State
Luke’s intense focus on Paul’s legal troubles,
particularly his appearances before Roman
f i g u r e 1 2 . 8 The cult statue of Artemis (Diana)
at Ephesus. Although the Greeks honored Artemis as the
virgin patron of wildlife and the hunt, Ephesian sculptors
depicted her as a Near Eastern fertility goddess, decorat-
ing her torso with images of breasts, eggs, or perhaps the
testicles of bulls that were sacrifi ced on her altar. The
Roman Diana was also identifi ed with the feminine
symbol of the moon.
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308 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
magistrates, illustrates the author’s overarch-
ing concern for Christianity’s legal position in
the Roman Empire. Devoting the last section
of his narrative (21:27–28:31) to explaining
the process by which Paul was brought to Rome
for trial in the emperor’s tribunal, Luke con-
sistently shows Roman offi cials as favoring Paul
and his innovative religion. A Roman army
offi cer (later identifi ed as Lysias) permits Paul
to explain his mission to a Jerusalem crowd
(21:37–22:21), in a speech where he gives a sec-
ond version of his mystical experience on the
road to Damascus. When Lysias discovers that
Paul is a Roman citizen, a legal status that enti-
tles him to protection from punishment with-
out a trial, the commander personally escorts
his prisoner to the Sanhedrin to answer charges
Jewish leaders have brought against him.
In describing the Sanhedrin appearance,
Luke again insists that Paul is a devout adher-
ent of the Mosaic Law who does not hesitate to
identify his cause with the Pharisee party. As in
Peter’s two hearings before the same council
(4:1–22; 5:17–42), Paul’s religious judges di-
vide along party lines, with the Sadducees con-
demning him and the Pharisees lending their
support (22:30–23:10).
Christians’ Political Innocence
Paul’s fi rst formal hearing before a high Roman
offi cial, the governor Antonius Felix, takes
place in Caesarea Maritima, a busy port city on
the Mediterranean coast that served as head-
quarters for Roman governors of Judea. Paul’s
prosecutors are emissaries from the High Priest
who accuse him of profaning the Jerusalem
sanctuary and being a “ringleader of the sect of
the Nazarenes, ” an early name for Jesus of
Nazareth’s followers (24:1–9). In his defense,
Paul insists that he observes “the written Law”
(an assertion contradicted in his letters), that
he has done nothing to desecrate the Temple,
and that the “real issue” is whether God actually
raised Jesus from the dead, thereby validating
him as the Jewish Messiah (24:10–21). For two
years, Paul then languishes in captivity while
the corrupt Felix vainly awaits an expected
bribe (24:26–27). (It appears that none of the
Christian leaders in either Jerusalem or Antioch
attempt to secure Paul’s release.)
After Porcius Festus succeeds Felix as
Roman governor, Paul is granted a second
hearing, at which the new magistrate also
absolves him of any illegal activity (25:25; 26:
30–32). In one of Hellenistic literature’s most
dramatic courtroom scenes, Luke shows Paul
facing not only Festus, the Roman emperor’s
personal representative, but also rulers of
Herod’s line. King Julius Agrippa II, son of
Herod Agrippa I, who had beheaded the apos-
tle James (12:1–2), attends the session with his
sister (and mistress) Bernice. Because Festus is
married to Drusilla, another of King Agrippa’s
sisters, the apostle confronts a ruling family in
which the might of  Rome and the prestige of
Jewish royalty are combined. Luke thus shows
Paul fulfi lling Jesus’ earlier prophecy that Paul
would testify “before kings” and the “people of
Israel” (9:15).
Paul’s long speech before Festus (26:1–29)
is a vivid summary of his career as depicted in
Acts, including a third account describing his
“heavenly” vision of the risen Jesus. This dis-
course corresponds more closely to Paul’s own
account of his conversion (Gal. 1:1, 15–17)
than do Acts’ two earlier versions. But the au-
thor still represents Paul as operating under
Mosaic Law—asserting “nothing beyond what
was foretold by the prophets and by Moses.” In
the author’s view, Christianity is in full agree-
ment and continuity with true Judaism: Jews
have no cause to condemn it as a perversion of
their Mosaic heritage.
Luke’s main emphasis, however, is on his he-
ro’s complete innocence. Echoing Pilate’s opin-
ion of Jesus, Festus admits that Paul is guilty of
“nothing that deserves death or imprisonment.”
Agrippa drives home the point: Paul could have
been released a free man if “he had not appealed
to the Emperor” (26:30–32). In Luke’s presenta-
tion of the early church to Greco-Roman readers,
the author makes clear that missionaries like Paul
are prosecuted in Roman courts only because of
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 309
offi cials’ misunderstanding or the malice of their
false accusers.
Simultaneously, however, Luke also makes
clear that the Christian proclamation is a po-
tentially destabilizing force in Greco-Roman
society. The author must maintain a precarious
balance between his argument that Christianity
is no political threat to the empire and his frank
admission of Jesus’ spiritual superiority to the
emperor (17:7). Luke’s many examples of so-
cioreligious and legal challenges to the faith
lead to an unavoidable conclusion: the pro-
found changes that “the way” brings cause
“trouble all over the world” (17:6), a headache
to even the best-intentioned Roman offi cials.
Paul’s Journey to Rome
and His Preaching to
Roman Jews
Luke begins his fi nal section—Paul’s sea jour-
ney to Rome—with an exciting account of a
shipwreck (27:1–28:31). Told in the fi rst per-
son, this description of a Roman cargo ship dis-
integrating amid high winds and pounding
waves reads like an eyewitness experience. (We
do not know whether the author uses the diary
of a participant in this passage or simply em-
ploys the fi rst-person “we” as a literary device to
heighten the immediacy of his narrative.) As
always in Acts, the incident is included for its
theological meaning. Although Paul is a pris-
oner perhaps destined for conviction and
death, he comforts his Roman captors during
the storm, assuring them that Jesus destines
him (and them) to arrive safely in Rome. As
Paul had prophesied, all aboard—crew, mili-
tary offi cers, and prisoner—survive the ordeal
unscathed, swimming ashore at the island of
Malta (27:6–44).
Luke concludes his selective account of the
early church with Paul’s arrival in Rome, where
the apostle, although under house arrest, en-
joys considerable freedom, receiving visitors
and preaching openly. The author does not re-
veal Paul’s ultimate fate. One tradition states
that, after remaining in the capital for two
years, Paul was released and carried out his
planned missionary trip to Spain (Rom. 15:24).
Many historians, however, believe that Paul’s
fi rst Roman imprisonment led to his execution,
perhaps about 62 ce , following the emperor
Nero’s order to impose the death penalty on
anyone who spoke or behaved in a way that ap-
peared to undermine his supreme authority.
Other scholars date Paul’s death at about 64 or
65 ce , when Nero fi rst persecuted Christians as
a group. According to a brief reference in 1
Clement (c. 96 ce ), both Peter and Paul were
martyred during Nero’s persecution.
Some critics suggest that Luke, deeply con-
cerned with Christianity’s legal status in the
Roman Empire, deliberately omits any mention
that Paul and Peter, like Jesus, were tried and
executed for treason against Rome. This unfor-
tunate outcome for the religion’s two leading
proponents runs counter to the author’s insis-
tence that Christianity is a lawful faith innocent
of any sedition against the state , despite its prob-
lematic social consequences.
Many scholars contend that Acts ends
abruptly, not because Luke wants to avoid po-
litical facts that do not fi t his theme, but be-
cause he regards Paul’s evangelizing in Rome
as the fulfi llment of his purpose in writing.
Luke’s conclusion well illustrates his principal
historical-theological interest: Paul resolves to
focus his message on receptive Gentiles, shifting
his primary attention from Jews to a Greco-
Roman audience. Luke sees the church’s future
in the teeming millions of Gentiles throughout
Rome’s vast empire, a vision confi rmed by later
history.
As a believer who infers religious meaning
from historical events, Luke completes his pic-
ture of early Christianity with a sketch of Paul—
representing the church’s mission to all
nations—vigorously proclaiming his vision of
God ruling through Jesus. To Luke, Paul’s ac-
tivity symbolizes the divinely commanded busi-
ness of the church that must continue into the
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310 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
its natural environment. As in his Gospel, he min-
imizes early expectations of an imminent
Parousia and emphasizes the church’s objective
to expand indefinitely into the distant future.
Eager to find accommodation with the impe-
rial government, the author offers no criticism
of Roman officials but invariably depicts them
as fair-minded and competent. He attributes
Roman suspicion of the faith to the ill will of
envious opponents. While placing Roman magis-
trates in a favorable light, however, Luke also
describes socially disruptive responses to the
Christian message, which include riots in Greek
cities such as Ephesus, Philippi, and Thessalonica,
where preaching of the Christian message is cor-
rectly interpreted as a threat not only to Judaism
but also to Greco-Roman customs and religious
practices. As if walking a tightrope between an
implicit appeal for Roman offi cialdom to tolerate
the Jesus movement and an admission that the
Christian proclamation is inherently destabiliz-
ing to Greco-Roman society, the author nonethe-
less insists that “the new way” can coexist with the
imperial government. Historically, Luke’s argu-
ment of coexistence helped pave the way for
Rome’s eventual adoption of Christianity as the
empire’s offi cial religion, a triumph foreshad-
owed by Paul’s preaching in the capital “without
[legal] hindrance.”
Questions for Review
1. A sequel to Luke’s Gospel, the Book of Acts
continues the story of Christian origins. Which
of the same themes that appear in the Gospel
are also found in Acts? Compare the account
of Jesus’ trial before Pilate with that of Paul
before Pilate’s successors, Felix and Festus.
2. How does Luke organize his account of
Christianity’s birth and growth? Identify the
leaders of the Jerusalem church and the mis-
sionaries who fi rst helped carry “the new way”
into the larger world beyond the Jewish capital.
3. In recording the events of Pentecost, how does
Luke emphasize his theme that Christianity is a
universal religion—led by the Holy Spirit and
destined for peoples of all nations? In the au-
thor’s view, what ancient Hebrew prophecy is
fulfi lled by the Spirit’s descent upon the fi rst
disciples?
distant future. Rather than end his account
with a reaffi rmation of Jesus’ eschatological re-
turn (the Parousia), Luke looks to a future in
which the “kingdom” can be preached “openly
and without hindrance,” attaining a recognized
legal position in the world. In sharp contrast to
the historical Paul’s belief in an imminent
Parousia (so different from Acts’ portrayal of
him), Luke sees the world, not as a wicked
place to be destroyed, but as the arena in which
God effects humanity’s salvation.
Acts’ ending thus echoes Jesus’ departing
words to the disciples recorded at the book’s
beginning. Believers are not “to know about
dates or times” (eschatological speculations about
the world’s End) because such knowledge be-
longs exclusively to “the Father” and has been
“set within his own control.” Instead, Christians
are to carry the “good news” of Jesus “to the
ends of the earth” (1:7–8). With Paul’s arrival in
Rome, the work is well begun. Its completion
Luke entrusts to his readers.
Summary
A continuation of Luke’s Gospel, Acts is a theolog-
ically oriented account of the early Christian
church. Focusing principally on two representative
leaders of the faith, Peter and Paul, it traces the
church’s growth from exclusively Jewish origins in
Jerusalem to its dissemination throughout the
northeastern Roman Empire. The church’s rapid
expansion from a Jewish nucleus to an interna-
tional community composed of many different
ethnic groups brings major problems of adjust-
ment, particularly the issue of requiring Gentiles
to observe the Jewish Torah.
In many respects, the Book of Acts is an apol-
ogy (an explanation or defense) for Christianity.
Luke’s interpretation of Christian origins de-
fends the “new way” as the legitimate outgrowth
of Judaism and a lawful faith intended for citi-
zens of the Roman Empire. Luke emphasizes that
there is no necessary or inherent confl ict be-
tween Christianity and the Jewish religion that
gave it birth or the Roman state in which it fi nds
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c h a p t e r 1 2 l u k e ’ s a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h : t h e b o o k o f a c t s 311
Ascension
Athens
Barnabas
bishop
Corinth
Cornelius
Damascus
Gallio
Gamaliel
glossolalia
Hellenists
Holy Spirit
Lystra
martyr
Matthias
Mercury
Nazarenes
Paul
Pentecost
Philip
Philippi
Porcius Festus
proconsul
Silas
Simon Magus
Stephen
Timothy
4. In what ways does the Jerusalem commune put
into operation the social and economic princi-
ples enunciated in Luke’s Gospel? How does
the early church “equalize” wealth and poverty?
5. Summarize the events that led to the expan-
sion of “the way” from Jerusalem into Judea
and Samaria. Describe the roles of Stephen
and Philip in this process.
6. The conversions of an Ethiopian eunuch and a
Roman centurion are milestones in Christianity’s
transformation from a Jewish sect into an inter-
national religion in which Gentiles dominate.
Explain how this process of ethnic change led to
problems in the early church. According to Acts
15, how is the problem resolved at the fi rst
church conference in Jerusalem?
7. Describe the roles played by Barnabas and his
partner, Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus.
Summarize the results of Paul’s three mission-
ary journeys into Gentile territories. What se-
quence of events leads to Paul’s arrest and
imprisonment in Caesarea and Rome?
Questions for Discussion and Refl ection
1. By adding a history of nascent Christianity to
his Gospel narrative, how does Luke deempha-
size apocalyptic hopes of Jesus’ early return?
What future does Paul’s arrival in Rome fore-
cast for church–state relations? In what ways
does Luke-Acts show early Christians cultivating
a positive relationship with Roman offi cials?
Why does Luke not narrate the martyrdoms of
Peter and Paul?
2. In contrast to the author of Revelation, Luke
includes no denunciations of the Roman
Empire or predictions of its cataclysmic fall.
Given Luke’s universalism and concern for so-
cial justice, how do you think he envisions
Christianity’s goals and obligations in its ongo-
ing role in secular society? Does Luke see
God’s kingdom manifested in the application
of Christian principles to social and political
institutions? Explain why or why not.
Terms and Concepts to Remember
Antioch
Antonius Felix
Apollos
Aquila
Areopagus
Artemis
Recommended Reading*
Arlandson, James M. Women, Class, and Society in
Early Christianity: Models from Luke-Acts. Peabody,
Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997. Applies social theory
to the role of women in ancient society and
the church.
Dillon, Richard J. “Acts of the Apostles.” In R. E.
Brown et al., eds., The New Jerome Biblical
Commentary, pp. 722–767. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1990. A thorough introductory
study.
Dunn, James D. G. The Acts of the Apostles. Narrative
Commentary Series. Philadelphia: Trinity Press
International, 1997. Examines the nature of his-
tory writing in the fi rst century ce and Acts’ narra-
tive structure.
Gaventa, Beverly R. “Acts of the Apostles.” In The New
Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 1, pp. 33–47.
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006. A helpful survey
of current critical approaches to interpreting Acts,
including theological concerns.
Levine, Amy-Jill, and Blickenstaff, Marianne, eds. A
Feminist Companion to the Acts of the Apostles.
Feminist Companion to the New Testament and
Early Christian Writings. Cleveland: Pilgrim
Press, 2005. Essays exploring women’s roles in
Acts and the early church.
Matthews, Christopher R. “Acts of the Apostles,” in
M.D. Coogan, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books
of the Bible , Vol. 1, pp. 11–26. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2011. Describes the book’s narra-
tive structure and the author’s theological purpose.
*See also the “Recommended Reading” for Luke’s Gospel
(Chapter 9).
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312 p a r t f o u r a n a c c o u n t o f t h e e a r l y c h u r c h
Wall, Robert W. “The Acts of the Apostles.” In The
New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 10, pp. 3–368. Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 2002. Offers extensive historical
and literary analysis.
Wilken, R. L. The Christians as the Romans Saw Them.
New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1984. A
careful analysis of the social, religious, and politi-
cal confl icts between early Christians and their
Roman critics.
Powell, M. A. What Are They Saying About Acts? New
York: Paulist Press, 1991. A helpful review of in-
fl uential scholarship on Acts.
Rowe, C. Kavin. World Upside Down : Reading Acts in
the Greco-Roman Age . New York: Oxford University
Press, 2010. Offers a close analysis of Acts’ pre-
sentation of Christianity’s disruptive effect on
Greco-Roman society.
Theissen, Gerd. The Sociology of Early Palestinian
Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978.
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p a r t f i v e
Paul and the
Pauline Tradition
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PHOTO ESSAY Paul and His World
In this ancient Christian mosaic portrait of
Paul ( left ), the apostle stares directly at the
viewer, the intensity of his gaze suggesting
a passionate commitment to his mission.
Although no one knows what any New
Testament fi gure looked like, later Christian
artists commonly depicted Paul as physically
unimpressive.
This street scene in Herculaneum ( below ),
an excavated Roman town on the Bay of
Naples buried by an eruption of Vesuvius in
79 CE , features modest structures with small
apartments above shops on the ground fl oor.
Such buildings probably resemble the kind in
which Paul set up the tent-making or leather
goods business by which he supported himself
while on his missionary tours.
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Like most Roman dwellings, Herculaneum’s
stone houses ( above ) have few windows facing
the street but enclose an inner courtyard
(atrium), open to the sky, around which
Roman family life centered.
Although some scholars disagree, many
think that this wooden cabinet ( right ), with
the imprint of a cross on a white stucco
panel above, was a Christian shrine or
place of prayer, indicating a Christian
presence in Herculaneum well before 79 CE .
En route to Rome in the early 60s CE , Paul
came ashore at nearby Puteoli, where there
was already a group of believers to greet
him (Acts 28:13–15). ■
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316
Key Topics/Themes Paul is second only to
Jesus in his contribution to the development
of Christianity. Although Paul apparently never
knew the living Jesus and once persecuted
his disciples, he experienced an apokalypsis
(revelation) of the risen Christ that trans-
formed his life. Becoming a missionary to the
Gentiles, Paul created and disseminated a view
of Jesus’ cosmic signifi cance that profoundly
shaped the future course of Christian thought.
A former Pharisee rigorously educated in
Torah interpretation, Paul reinterprets selected
parts of the Hebrew Bible to defend his thesis
that faith in Jesus’ saving power replaced Torah
obedience as the means of reconciling human
beings to God.
Paul, former Pharisee and persecutor of the
church who later spearheaded Christianity’s
mission to the Gentiles, dominates the second
half of Acts. To an incalculable degree, he also
dominates the later history of Christian thought.
His letters, which form the third unit of the New
Testament, represent the new religion’s fi rst—
and in important ways most lasting— attempt to
interpret the meaning of Jesus’ “scandalous”
death and its signifi cance to human salvation.
Paul’s startling view is that Jesus’ crucifi xion
introduced a radically different relationship be-
tween God and all humanity—Gentiles as well
as Jews. Paul’s declaration that faith in Christ
made all believers heirs to God’s covenant
promises transformed the Jesus movement from
a purely Jewish phenomenon into, ultimately, a
new world religion. In his letters to the Romans
and Galatians, Paul outlined a theology of
redemption through faith that has become cen-
tral to Christianity’s self-understanding. Later
theologians as diverse as the Roman church
father Augustine (354–430) and Martin Luther
(1483–1546), the German monk who sparked
the Protestant Reformation, derived many of
their doctrines from Paul’s letters.
Many historians have remarked that there
is perhaps more of Paul than Jesus in offi cial
Christianity. Even Mark, the earliest story of
Jesus’ life, bears the imprint of Pauline ideas in
its bias toward Gentile believers, account of the
Last Supper, and theology of the cross. Some
c h a p t e r 1 3
Paul
Apostle to the Nations
I am a free man . . . but I have made myself every man’s servant. . . . To the Jews I became like a
Jew, to win Jews. . . . To win Gentiles . . . I made myself like one of them. Indeed, I have become
everything in turn to men of every sort, so that in one way or another I may save some.
Paul to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 9:19–22
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c h a p t e r 1 3 p a u l 317
Although our most reliable source for
Paul’s life is his letters, they do not offer enough
information to compile a viable biography. The
letters are silent on such matters as his birth-
place, parentage, education, and other essentials
of his preconversion history, as well as on the
later sequence of his travels as a Christian mis-
sionary. Because it relates directly to his post-
conversion battles with his fellow Jews, however,
Paul does provide some data about his Jewish
heritage. Describing himself as a circumcised
“Hebrew born and bred” from the Israelite tribe
of Benjamin (Phil. 3:5–6), Paul states that as a
“practicing Jew” he outstripped his Jewish con-
temporaries in strict observance of “the tradi-
tions of [his] ancestors” (Gal. 1:13–14). A member
of the Pharisee party, he obeyed the Torah
completely. “In legal rectitude”—keeping the
Torah commandments—Paul judges himself
“faultless” (Phil. 3:6).
The Historical
Reliability of Acts
Acts supplies much information about Paul not
contained in his letters, but most scholars urge
great caution about accepting Acts at face value.
A great deal of the material in the letters is diffi cult
to reconcile with Acts’ narrative sequence. Where
discrepancies occur, scholars prefer Paul’s fi rst-
hand version of events. The author of Acts inves-
tigated various sources to compile his account of
Christianity’s beginnings (Luke 1:1–4), but he
appears to have worked with inadequate docu-
mentation in recording Paul’s career. As noted in
Chapters 9 and 1 2 , the author seems unaware of
Paul’s voluminous correspondence, his insistent
claims to apostleship, and his distinctive teach-
ing. Acts says virtually nothing about Paul’s essen-
tial gospel—that people are saved, not by
obedience to Torah commands, but by faith in
Christ. More to the point, the writer of Acts is
concerned primarily with outlining a precise
scheme of history into which he fi ts his characters
as it seems appropriate.
commentators accuse Paul, who did not know
the historical Jesus, of largely ignoring Christ’s
original proclamation—God’s active r o le in in-
dividual human lives—in favor of promulgating
a mystery cult about Jesus. Certainly, Paul al-
most never cites Jesus’ kingdom teaching and
instead emphasizes his own personal experi-
ence of the risen Christ, which he interprets in
cosmic and mystical terms.
In contrast to Jesus, who apparently wrote
nothing, Paul speaks directly to us through his
letters, permitting us to compare what he says
about himself with what later writers, such as
Luke, say about him. Paul’s position in the
canon is unique: He is the only historical per-
sonage who is both a major character in a New
Testament book and the author of New
Testament books himself. Church tradition as-
cribes no fewer than thirteen canonical letters
to Paul, in total length nearly one-third of the
New Testament. Most scholars regard only
seven as genuinely Pauline, but the presence of
other works attributed to him shows in what
high esteem he was held. His ideas and person-
ality so captured the imagination of later
Christian writers that they paid tribute to the
great apostle by writing in his name and perpet-
uating his teachings.
Seeking the Historical Paul
As a Christian thinker, Paul never forgets his
Jewishness. Although he fi ghts to free Christianity
from the “bondage” of Torah observance, Paul
consistently stresses the continuity between
Judaism and the new religion. For him, as for
Matthew, Christianity is revealed through Jesus’
ministry but shaped and largely defi ned by the
Hebrew Bible. Throughout his letters, Paul
quotes selected parts of the Hebrew Scriptures
(primarily from the Greek Septuagint edition) to
support the validity of his particular gospel.
Despite Paul’s ambivalent attitude toward the
Mosaic Torah, much of the Hebrew biblical tradi-
tion retains its teaching authority for him.
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318 p a r t f i v e p a u l a n d t h e p a u l i n e t r a d i t i o n
life of Christianity’s Apostle to the Gentiles. We
do not know when he was born, how his family
gained Roman citizenship (if Acts is correct on
this point), whether he was once married, where
or when he wrote many of his letters, and under
what precise circumstances he died. These and
other missing facts are partly compensated for,
however, in the brilliant revelation of thought
and personality that his letters impart.
Paul’s Radical Change
In both Acts and the letters, Paul’s life can be di-
vided into two contrasting parts. During his early
career, Paul was a devout Pharisee who “savagely”
persecuted the fi rst Christians. During his later
In some cases, Acts provides biographical de-
tails that Paul never mentions, such as his birth in
Tarsus, capital city of Cilicia (in modern south-
eastern Turkey), and the claim that Paul’s family
possessed Roman citizenship. These and similar
traditions—such as Paul’s originally being named
Saul, his studying at the feet of Rabbi Gamaliel
(the leading Pharisee scholar of his day), and his
supporting himself by tent making—are never
referred to in the Pauline letters, so we have no
way of verifying their historical accuracy.
Other statements in Acts seem to contradict
Paul’s direct testimony (see Box 13.1), particu-
larly the chronological order of events following
his decisive confrontation with the risen Jesus.
With Acts’ reliability in question and Paul’s bi-
ographical disclosures so few, scholars are unable
to reconstruct anything resembling a satisfactory
acts
Is named Saul and raised in Tarsus
Studies under Rabbi Gamaliel
Belongs to the Pharisee party
Persecutes Christians
Experiences a vision of Jesus on the road to
Damascus
Following his call, goes immediately to Damascus,
where he preaches in synagogues
Is initially shunned by the Jerusalem disciples but
is later introduced to the apostles (9:26–30)
Receives the Holy Spirit after Ananias baptizes
and lays hands upon him
Attends an apostolic conference on his third
Jerusalem visit
Agrees to impose Torah dietary restrictions on
Gentile converts
Agrees to forbid eating meat sacrifi ced to idols
paul’s letters
Is not mentioned (but was born to the tribe of
Benjamin, whose fi rst king was Saul [Phil. 3:5])
Is not mentioned
Is confi rmed in Philippians 3:6
Is mentioned several times
Receives a “revelation” of Jesus (Gal. 1:12, 16)
Goes to “Arabia” for an unspecifi ed period (Gal. 1:17)
Does not go to Jerusalem until three years after
his return from “Arabia,” and meets only Peter
and James (Gal. 1:17–20)
Asserts that he owes his apostolic gospel and
commission to no one; never refers to his
baptism (Gal. 1:11–12, 16–17)
Attends the conference on his second Jerusalem
visit (Gal. 2:1–10)
Refuses to accept any legal restrictions (Gal. 2:5)
Regards eating such meat as nondefi ling (1 Cor. 8;
10:27; Rom. 14:13–15:6)
b o x 1 3 . 1 Some Differences Between Acts and Paul’s Letters
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c h a p t e r 1 3 p a u l 319
patron’s honor and public reputation. Obligated
to his all-powerful benefactor, Paul redirected his
abundant energies to proclaiming God’s gracious
gifts through Christ. As he explained to the
Corinthians, Paul feels compelled to preach the
gospel because he is “discharging a trust,” his
public obligation to the God who commissioned
him (1 Cor. 9:16–18). Like other converts in the
ancient world, Paul regards his preconversion
state as deeply inferior to his present status; he
dismisses his previous religious “assets” as “so
much garbage” because in the glorifi ed Jesus he
has gained benefi ts of incomparable value (Phil.
3:7–9; see Crook in “Recommended Reading”).
If Paul saw his calling in terms of the Roman
patron–client relationship, he also drew on
other contemporary Roman practices to express
his central message about Jesus. In choosing the
word evangelion (good news) to summarize the
content of his preaching, Paul adopted a term
that the imperial government was already using
to praise the emperor’s policies and accomplish-
ments, such as his establishment of empirewide
peace. By appropriating “gospel” or “good news”
for the proclamation of Jesus’ lordship, Paul
and the Gospel authors who came after him pre-
sented the Greco-Roman world with a new op-
tion for supreme ruler. ( Evangelion also appears
in the Greek edition of Isaiah 61:1, where the
prophet states he has been sent to “bring good
news to the oppressed,” a passage that would
affi rm Paul’s use of the term.)
In an even more targeted reference to im-
perial customs, Paul uses the word parousia
(presence, coming, or arrival) to denote Jesus’
anticipated return to earth, when he would visi-
bly subject all nations and peoples to his rule.
When the emperor made a parousia or public
appearance at some city, it was a major social
and political event that was expected to involve
virtually the entire population of that city.
Hailing the emperor as soter (deliverer or savior),
the whole populace typically acclaimed his god-
like persona. For Paul, these imperial displays
were mere shadows of future realities, when the
Parousia occurred (see the discussion of 1
Thessalonians in Chapter 14).
years, he was a Christian missionary who success-
fully implanted the new religion in non-Jewish
territories and established the fi rst churches of
Europe. The event that changed Paul from a per-
secutor of Christians into a tireless promoter of
the faith was, in his words, a “revelation [ apokalypsis ]
of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:12). Acts depicts the “reve-
lation” as a blinding vision of the risen Messiah on
the road to Damascus, emphasizing its impor-
tance by narrating it fully three times (Acts 9:1–9;
22:3–11; 26:12–19). Paul’s briefer allusions to the
experience speak simply of being called by God’s
“grace” (Gal. 1:15) to an “abnormal birth” and of
witnessing a post resurrection appearance of
Jesus (1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8–9).
Many scholars prefer to speak of Paul’s en-
counter with Christ as a “call,” rather than a reli-
gious “conversion.” Some recent commentators,
however, suggest that Paul’s sudden change from
a zealous opponent to a devoted champion of the
Jesus movement is best understood as a change in
his relationship with his divine patron, the God of
Israel. Carefully analyzing Paul’s accounts of his
experience, Zeba Crook argues persuasively that
they refl ect the pervasive patron–client structure
of Roman society and that Paul saw himself as the
loyal client of his divine benefactor. The model
on which most Roman social and political rela-
tionships were based, the Roman patronage sys-
tem created a social network that was virtually
all-encompassing. In this arrangement, a wealthy
or politically powerful patron conferred “benefac-
tions” or benefi ts on his social dependent, the cli-
ent. This process commonly involved a patron’s
representative, an intermediary who acted as bro-
ker to the client (cf. Luke 22:25 and the discus-
sion of Roman patronage in Chapter 5). In the
religious sphere, the same arrangement prevailed,
with a particular god bestowing blessings, both
material and spiritual, on his client, the god’s wor-
shiper. For Paul, the “revelation [ apokalypsis ]” he
received from Jesus was an unexpected recogni-
tion that henceforth all divine benefactions came
through Christ, God’s son and intermediary.
Subscribing to universally recognized Roman
custom, Paul displayed gratitude to his divine pa-
tron through loyal service, thereby increasing his
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320 p a r t f i v e p a u l a n d t h e p a u l i n e t r a d i t i o n
Paul’s conviction that Jesus had privately
revealed to him the one true gospel (Gal. 1–2)
isolated the apostle from many fellow believers.
Acts and the letters agree that Paul quarreled
with many of his intimate companions (Acts
15:37–39; Gal. 2:11–14), as well as with entire
groups (Gal.; 2 Cor. 10–13). This sense of a
unique vision, one not shared by most other
Christians, may have shaped Paul’s admitted
preference for preaching in territories where
no Christian had preceded him. The more dis-
tant his missionary fi eld from competing mis-
sionaries, the better it suited him. Paul’s desire
to impress his individual gospel on new con-
verts may have infl uenced his ambition to work
in areas as far removed from established
churches as possible (Rom. 15:20–23).
Dating Paul’s Career
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul briefl y sum-
marizes his career up to the time of writing, giv-
ing us a few clues on which to base a rough
chronology of his life. After the decisive “revela-
tion” of Jesus, “without going up to Jerusalem”
to consult the Twelve, Paul went immediately to
“Arabia” (probably an area east of the Jordan
River), staying there for an unspecifi ed time be-
fore returning to Damascus. Only after “three
years” had passed did he travel to Jerusalem “to
get to know Cephas” (Peter’s Aramaic name).
Staying precisely two weeks with Peter (Paul evi-
dently counted the days), he visited no other
“Apostle” except “James the Lord’s brother.”
Paul insists on this point because he wants to
emphasize his complete independence of the
Jerusalem leadership: “What I write is plain
truth; before God I am not lying” (Gal. 1:16–20).
After making Peter’s acquaintance, Paul went
north to Syria, allowing another fourteen years
to elapse before he again visited Jerusalem. The
occasion for this second visit was almost certainly
the church conference described in Acts 15, a
meeting of delegates from Antioch with the
Jerusalem congregation to discuss whether
Gentile Christians must become circumcised or
Eager to honor his divine patron and
spread the word of Jesus’ imminent reappear-
ance (see below), Paul did not spare himself
either discomfort or danger. His physical
stamina—even today duplicating his travel itin-
erary would exhaust most people—is matched
by the strength of his loyalty. Paul’s letters re-
veal their author’s rhetorical intensity, ranging
from paternal tenderness to biting sarcasm. In
one letter, he insults his readers’ intelligence
and suggests that some of their advisers castrate
themselves (Gal. 3:1; 5:12). In other letters, he
reacts to criticism with threats, wild boasting,
and wounding anger (2 Cor. 10–13). In still
others, he expresses profound affection and
gentle tact (1 Cor. 13; Phil. 1:3–9; 2:1–4; 4:2–3)
(see Figure 13.1).
figure 13.1 The earliest known portrait of Paul.
Recently discovered in the Catacomb of Saint Thecla in
the Vatican, this image of Paul probably dates from the
early fourth century ce. Following the era’s artistic
conventions in depicting the Apostle to the Gentiles, the
painter gives him a distinctively thin face, small eyes,
furrowed brow, and pointed beard. Paul’s legendary
mentorship of Saint Thecla is discussed in Chapter 20.
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c h a p t e r 1 3 p a u l 321
circumcised, Paul declares that the three
Jerusalem “pillars” recognized the legitimacy of
his peculiar “gospel” proclaiming freedom from
the Torah’s “bondage.” The Jerusalem leaders
shake hands on this agreement and endorse Paul
as the recognized missionary to the Gentiles, as
Peter is to the Jews (Gal. 2:1–10) (see Figure 13.2).
follow other provisions of the Mosaic Law. Paul
remembers the gathering as less formal than Acts
depicts it, emphasizing his private conversations
with the three “pillars” of the Jerusalem leader-
ship—Peter, John, and Jesus’ kinsman James (see
Box 1 2 .3). Observing that Titus, a Greek youth
accompanying him, was not required to become
figure 13.2 The Apostle Paul. This somber portrait by Rembrandt (1606–1669) shows Paul in
a deeply refl ective mood and evokes the apostle’s consciousness of the enormous burden he
bears—the task of serving his divine patron by communicating his unique vision of Christ to the
Gentiles. In his letters, Paul expresses a wide variety of moods—joy, anger, bitter sarcasm—but
Rembrandt captures here the sense of melancholy and isolation that typically characterizes this
great missionary.
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322 p a r t f i v e p a u l a n d t h e p a u l i n e t r a d i t i o n
however, in attempting to date Paul’s letters or
even establish the exact order in which he wrote
them.
The majority of scholars accept seven
letters as authentically Pauline. Virtually all
scholars regard Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians,
Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and
Philemon as Paul’s own writing. Some also ac-
cept 2 Thessalonians and Colossians. But the
majority doubt that Ephesians is genuine and
are certain that three—Titus and 1 and 2
Timothy—were composed by a Pauline disciple
after the apostle’s death. Almost no reputable
scholar believes that Hebrews, which is a ser-
mon rather than a letter, is a Pauline composi-
tion (see Box 13.2).
The Order of Composition
Although scholars debate the exact order in
which Paul composed his letters, they generally
agree that 1 Thessalonians was written fi rst
(c. 50 ce ) and is thus the oldest known Christian
writing. If Paul also wrote 2 Thessalonians, it
dates from about 50 ce as well. The two
Corinthian letters are usually placed in the
mid-50s, and the more theologically mature let-
ters, such as Romans and Philippians, are dated
later. Four letters—Colossians, Philemon,
Philippians, and possibly Ephesians—were re-
putedly composed while Paul was imprisoned
and thus are known as the “captivity letters.”
Unfortunately, Paul does not reveal in the let-
ters where he was jailed, so we do not know
whether he wrote them from Ephesus,
Caesarea, or Rome, all cities in which he pre-
sumably suffered imprisonment. The canonical
letters (others have been lost) were probably all
written during a relatively brief span of time,
the decade between about 50 and 60 ce .
Paul’s Use of the Letter Form
Paul is aware that his letters are persuasive doc-
uments. He consciously uses letters as substi-
tutes for his own presence, making them an
effective means of infl uencing people and
Paul’s account indicates that approxi-
mately seventeen years (or about fi fteen when
calculated by the Hebrew method) passed be-
tween the time of his initial vision and the con-
ference held in Jerusalem. If the Jerusalem
conference took place about 49 ce, as many
historians believe, then Paul must have become
a Christian about 32 or (possibly) 34 ce , shortly
after Jesus’ crucifi xion.
Two allusions to historical fi gures help us
fi x other dates in Paul’s life. The fi rst is a refer-
ence to King Aretas, whose commissioner
forced Paul to escape from Damascus by being
lowered down the city wall in a basket (2 Cor.
11:32–33). Aretas IV ruled the powerful Arab
kingdom of Nabatea (located south and east of
Palestine) between about 9 and 39 ce . Fixing
the time of Aretas’s reign confi rms the assump-
tion that Paul was already an active Christian
missionary during the same decade that wit-
nessed Jesus’ death.
According to the second historical refer-
ence (Acts 18:11), Gallio was the Roman gover-
nor of Greece during the period of Paul’s
Corinthian visit. Because Gallio’s administra-
tion took place between about 51 and 53 ce
and because Paul had been in Corinth for
about eighteen months when he was brought
before the governor, Paul probably arrived in
that city about 49 or 50 ce . Additional evidence
tends to confi rm that date. Acts refers to the
emperor Claudius’s expulsion of Jews from
Rome, a decree enacted about 49 ce . Two
Jewish Christians, Aquila and Prisca (Priscilla),
had recently moved from Rome to Corinth
when Paul arrived in the city (Acts 18:1–2).
Paul’s Letters
The Genuine Letters
New Testament historians generally agree that
Paul became a Christian in the mid-30s ce
and  that he traveled extensively as a missionary
during the 40s and 50s ce , arriving in Rome about
the  year 60. Scholarly agreement disappears,
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c h a p t e r 1 3 p a u l 323
Paul’s genuine letters, composed be-
tween about 50 and 62 ce, form the oldest surviving
Christian literature. In the decades after Paul’s
death, his infl uence became so great that different
Christian groups apparently competed for the role
of authoritative interpreter of his teaching. Following
the Hellenistic-Jewish practice of pseudonymity
(writing in the name of an honored religious author-
ity of the past, such as Moses or one of the prophets),
some Christian authors composed letters in Paul’s
name, using their understanding of the Pauline
heritage to address problems of their own day.
Whereas Paul’s genuine letters invariably deal with
specifi c problems besetting individual congregations
(and presume a relatively informal church struc-
ture), pseudonymous letters such as 1 and 2 Timothy
and Titus (the pastoral epistles) typically deal with
such issues as maintaining the doctrinal purity of ap-
ostolic traditions and presume a much more struc-
tured church administration (see Chapter 17).
b o x 1 3 . 2 Paul’s Letters: Authentic, Disputed, and Pseudonymous
letters by paul
letters possibly
not by paul
letters definitely
not by paul
1 Thessalonians (c. 50 ce)
1 and 2 Corinthians
Galatians
Romans
Philemon
Philippians
2 Thessalonians
Colossians
Ephesians
1 and 2 Timothy
Titus
Hebrews (Even in early
Christianity, most churchmen
did not believe that Hebrews
was Paul’s work.)
events from a distance. Although he gives direc-
tions on a wide variety of matters, his primary
object is to correct his recipients’ beliefs and to
discipline their behavior. His letters are also
potent weapons for shooting down opposition
to his teaching.
Writing to the Corinthians, Paul states that
his critics contrast his “weighty and powerful”
letters with his unimpressive physical appear-
ance and ineffectiveness as a speaker (2 Cor.
10:9–11). The apostle may exaggerate his de-
fects for rhetorical effect, but he is right about
his letters. From the time they were fi rst writ-
ten, they have exerted enormous infl uence on
Christian thought and conduct.
Paul writes letters so effectively that he
makes this literary category the standard me-
dium of communication for many later
Christian writers. The large majority of New
Testament authors imitate Paul by conveying
their ideas in letter form. Twenty-one of the
twenty-seven canonical books are (at least theo-
retically) letters. Even the writer of Revelation
uses this form to transmit Jesus’ message to the
seven churches of Asia Minor (Rev. 2–3).
Hellenistic Letters
In general, Paul follows the accepted Hellenistic
literary form in his correspondence, modifying
it somewhat to express his peculiarly Christian
interests. Much Greco-Roman correspon-
dence, both personal and business, has sur-
vived from early Christian times, allowing us to
compare Paul’s letters with those of other
Hellenistic writers.
The Hellenistic letter writer typically be-
gins with a prescript, identifying the writer and
the reader, and a greeting, wishing good for-
tune to the reader and commonly invoking the
blessing of a god. Paul varies this formula by
mentioning the Christian allegiance of the
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The Circumstances of Writing
Most of Paul’s letters were composed under the
pressure of dealing with an emergency in a
given church. With the exception of Romans,
which is addressed to a congregation that he
had not yet visited, every Pauline letter is di-
rected to a particular group, and most of the
groups are personally known by the writer. In
virtually every case, the recipients are experi-
encing some form of crisis, of either belief or
behavior, which the author tries to resolve.
Paul’s main concern is always pastoral; he
deals with individual problems caused by
church members’ teaching or conduct. In
counseling these small groups of infant
Christians, Paul typically invokes theological
arguments or examples to reinforce his ad-
vice. Because Paul’s letters are occasional —
dealing with a specifi c occasion, issue, or
crisis—scholars caution that they do not rep-
resent a complete or systematic exposition of
Paul’s beliefs. Paul’s theological statements
appear primarily to support the counsel he
applies to particular situations at a given
congregation. In his fi rst letter to the
Thessalonians, he outlines his beliefs about
the future resurrection of persons who die be-
fore the Parousia takes place only because
some believers at Thessalonica were worried
that the Christian dead would miss out on
their reward (1 Thess. 4:13–5:11). When writ-
ing to the church at Corinth, he passes on the
traditions he had received about the Last
Supper primarily because some Corinthians
were behaving improperly at the celebration
(1 Cor. 11:17–34). If there had been no mis-
conduct, Paul would have had no occasion to
mention the tradition, and we would have
been deprived of one of the few passages in
which Paul cites a teaching from Jesus. In no
letter, with the partial exception of Romans,
does Paul set out a comprehensive statement
of his theology. The occasional nature of his
correspondence means that we have only par-
tial glimpses of Pauline doctrines.
writer and recipients, substituting “grace” and
“peace” for the customary greetings, and
frequently including an associate’s name in the
salutation. He also elaborates on the Hellenistic
custom by giving praise, thanks, or prayers for
the welfare of his recipients. A typical example
of Paul’s modifi cation of the Hellenistic greet-
ing appears in the opening of 1 Thessalonians:
From Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the
congregation of Thessalonians who belong
to God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace to you and peace.
(1 Thess. 1:1)
Paul also modifi es his letters’ prescripts ac-
cording to his attitude toward the church he is
addressing. His letter to his trusted friends at
Philippi opens with an effusive outpouring of
affection and praise for the Philippians (Phil.
1:1–11). In contrast, when he writes to the
churches in Galatia, he is furious with the recip-
ients and includes no warm or approving salu-
tation (Gal. 1:1–5).
After stating the letter’s principal message,
the Hellenistic writer closes with additional ac-
knowledgments, typically including greetings
from other people and sometimes adding a re-
quest that the recipient(s) convey the sender’s
greetings to mutual acquaintances. Paul often
expands this custom to include a summary
statement of faith and a benediction, as well as
a list of fellow Christians to be greeted (Rom.
16; 1 Cor. 16:10–21; Col. 4:7–18).
The Role of Dictation
As was customary in Greco-Roman correspon-
dence, Paul apparently dictated all his letters to
a secretary or scribe, occasionally adding a sig-
nature or a few other words in his own hand. In
antiquity, secretaries ordinarily did not record
the precise words of those dictating but, in-
stead, paraphrased the gist of what was said
(Rom. 16:21–22; Gal. 6:11; Col. 4:18; Philem.
19; 2 Thess. 3:17), a practice that helps explain
the spontaneous quality of Pauline letters.
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Mysticism and Eschatology
Understanding Paul’s writings means recogniz-
ing his sense of the spiritual power that inspired
his apostolic career. Paul bases his authority as
a Christian leader and the validity of his distinc-
tive gospel on an apokalypsis, a private revela-
tion of the post resurrection Jesus (Gal. 1:11–12,
15–17). His personal knowledge of Christ,
which he insists he received as a direct heavenly
communication and not from any apostolic
predecessor, informs Paul that the glorifi ed
Jesus now exists in two separate but related di-
mensions: the macrocosm (great world) of God’s
spiritual domain and the microcosm (little world)
of human consciousness. This dualism, charac-
teristic of apocalyptic thought (see Chapter 19),
expresses Paul’s conviction that Christ possesses
both an objective and a subjective reality. Christ
is at once a cosmic fi gure who will soon return
to judge the world and a being who also myste-
riously dwells within the individual believer.
The tension between the transcendent and the
immanent Christ, one who is simultaneously
universal and yet intimately experienced by
the faithful, appears in almost every letter Paul
wrote.
Paul’s mysticism—his powerful sense of
union with an invisible spiritual reality—is an
important component of his worldview. Indeed,
some scholars suggest that, even before his ec-
static encounter with Christ, Paul may have be-
longed to an apocalyptic brand of Pharisaism
that included mystical beliefs and practices. In 2
Corinthians, he writes of being “caught up as
far as the third heaven . . . into paradise,” where
he “heard words so secret that human lips may
not repeat them” (2 Cor. 12:1–4) (see Box
14.2). These “visions and revelations granted by
the Lord,” which undoubtedly played their part
in sustaining Paul through the many dangers
and hardships he endured, may not have oc-
curred as often as he would have liked. He adds
that to prevent him “from being unduly elated
by the magnifi cence of such revelations” he was
given “a sharp physical pain,” perhaps to remind
Paul’s Characteristic
Theology
As the author of 2 Peter cautioned, Paul’s let-
ters “contain some obscure passages” that are
easy to misinterpret (2 Pet. 3:16). Pauline
thought can be subtle and complex, making it
diffi cult even for scholars familiar with his
language and historical-social context to
achieve a consensus about his views on many
important topics. In studying Paul’s letters, it
helps to keep in mind that his theology was
not static but grew and developed over time.
Although Paul states that he received his dis-
tinctive gospel from a revelation of Christ
(Gal. 1:11–12), he does not claim that it ar-
rived complete and unchanging. In fact,
Paul’s ideas and approaches to different top-
ics seem to change from letter to letter as he
wrestles with new problems that beset his
congregations. Because his letters deal with
ever-changing situations, as well as his recipi-
ents’ sometimes unanticipated reactions to
his statements, we cannot expect them to be
entirely consistent. His negative judgment of
the Mosaic Torah in Galatians, for example,
contrasts markedly with his more positive
pronouncements on the law in Romans (see
Chapter 15).
Paul’s relationship to God, Christ, and
the unseen spirit world was dynamic and cre-
ative. Because he had experienced divine in-
tervention in his personal life and afterward
continued to receive mystical visions (2 Cor.
12:1–10), Paul could speak progressively
about God’s intentions for humanity and the
imminent transformation of believers at the
End of history. In surveying some characteris-
tic Pauline theological assumptions or princi-
ples, it is important to recognize that the
following summations represent a composite
view of the apostle’s teachings. He did not
arrive at them all at once, nor does he usu-
ally  expound his characteristic beliefs in a
single letter.
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326 p a r t f i v e p a u l a n d t h e p a u l i n e t r a d i t i o n
because he believes that his day marks the cru-
cial transition period between the two ages.
“For upon us,” he wrote, “the fulfi llment [end]
of the ages [the present age and that to come]
has come” (1 Cor. 10:11). God will soon “rescue
us [believers] from this present age of wicked-
ness” and establish his direct rule over a re-
newed creation (Gal. 1:4). Those about to be
judged, especially members of his infant
churches, must therefore prepare for the im-
pending visitation, pursuing lives of unblem-
ished virtue. The following summaries of Paul’s
principal ideas offer a brief survey of his thought;
his distinctive concepts are developed more
fully in discussions of the individual letters
(Chapters 14–16).
The Centrality and Preeminence of Jesus
Absolutely central to Paul’s thought is his con-
viction that, in Jesus, God achieves the world’s
salvation. Although Paul rarely refers to Jesus’
earthly ministry or teachings, he may have
known more of Jesus’ life than he reveals in his
letters. He quotes or cites Jesus’ sayings only
when they are directly pertinent to regulating
his correspondents’ behavior (cf. 1 Cor. 11 and
15). Paul’s chief concern is with the heavenly
Christ whom he sees in three roles: (1) as God’s
revealed Wisdom (1 Cor. 1–4), (2) as the divine
Lord through whom God rules (Phil. 2:11;
Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:24–28), and (3) as the
means by whom God’s Spirit dwells in believers
(Rom. 8; 14:17). The operation of the Spirit,
God’s active force denoting his presence and
effecting his will in the world, characterizes all
of Paul’s churches.
Christ and Humanity
In contrasting Christ with the symbol of earthly
humanity, Adam (in Genesis, God’s fi rst human
creation), Paul emphasizes the vast change Jesus’
activity has effected for the human race. Prior
to Jesus’ coming, humans existed in Adam’s
perishable image, victims of sin and death
(Rom. 5:12–21). In contrast, believers now
him that even sporadic experiences of the in-
fi nite could not allow him to escape his fi nite
humanity (2 Cor. 12:7–8).
Paul may have been familiar with the nonca-
nonical Book of 1 Enoch, which describes
Enoch’ s vision of God’s heavenly throne—or at
least the tradition surrounding it—for he clearly
shares its aspiration for mystical oneness with
the divine. Paul also shares Enoch’s apocalyptic
viewpoint. His conviction that the Messiah’s ap-
pearance has inaugurated the End of time per-
meates his thought and underlies much of his
ethical teaching. Paul’s advice on marriage, di-
vorce, slavery, celibacy, and human behavior in
general is largely shaped by his expectation of an
imminent Final Judgment. In his oldest surviv-
ing letter, he states that he expects to witness the
Parousia: “We who are left alive until the Lord
comes . . . [will be] caught up in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:15–17).
In 1 Corinthians, his expectation to live un-
til the End is equally certain; hence, he advises
his correspondents that “the time we live in will
not last long. While it lasts, married men should
be as if they had no wives; . . . buyers must not
count on keeping what they buy, nor those who
use the world’s wealth. . . . For the whole frame
of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:29–31).
Eagerly anticipating the eschaton, he also tells
the Corinthians, “Listen! I will unfold a mystery:
we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed
in a fl ash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet-call. For the trumpet will sound, and
the dead will rise immortal, and we [the living]
shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51–52).
Like many Jewish apocalyptists of the fi rst
century, Paul sees human history as divided into
two qualitatively different ages, or periods of
time. The present evil age will soon be replaced
by a New Age, a new creation, in which God will
reign completely (Gal. 6:14; 1 Cor. 15:20–28; 2
Cor. 5:17). Because the Messiah has not only
arrived but also died and risen from the dead—
his resurrection a guarantee that the End has
already begun—Paul believes that the eschato-
logical consummation of history is at hand.
Paul’s letters thus burn with special urgency
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c h a p t e r 1 3 p a u l 327
in the relationship between God and humanity.
Christ is the fi nal and complete means of can-
celing the powers of sin and destruction.
Because Christ is now all-suffi cient in reconcil-
ing humanity to God, neither “angelic powers”
nor the Torah any longer play a decisive role in
achieving human salvation.
Justifi cation by Faith
Historically, one of Paul’s most infl uential con-
cepts was his understanding of the moral logic
by which a perfectly righteous God can accept or
“justify” human beings whose unrighteous be-
havior makes them veritable “slaves” to sin. Does
God, who sits as Judge over the universe, com-
promise his ethical standards by granting
salvation to sinful humans? Paul’s personal ex-
perience of divine mercy, expressed through an
apokalypsis (revelation) of Jesus, convinced him
that in Christ he has been justifi ed or “made
right” before God. His divine patron or benefac-
tor had revealed that he henceforth related to
humankind exclusively through Jesus. Jesus,
moreover, while living under Mosaic Law, had
demonstrated perfect faith in God, making him
the exemplar and intermediary for all who have
faith. This conviction—that faith in Christ deliv-
ered him from sin more effectively than had
obedience to the Mosaic Law—placed Paul on a
collision course with his native Judaism, as well
as with many Jewish Christians who saw no rea-
son to abandon their Mosaic heritage. For Jewish
Christians of the fi rst century ce (probably in-
cluding Jesus’ “brother” James), to accept Jesus
as Israel’s Messiah (Christ) was to follow the
same Torah obligations that Jesus had.
For observant Jews, the Law provided a
God-given—and fully adequate—means of
atoning for sin and maintaining a right rela-
tionship with the Deity. Mosaic Law prescribes
detailed rituals by which genuinely repentant
sinners can express their desire to make peace
with God. (As many scholars have noted, Torah
statutes involving “sin offerings” and other sac-
rifi ces to effect forgiveness presuppose that pe-
titioners have already experienced appropriate
“in Christ” (imbued with his spirit) will also share
in the glorifi ed Christ’s life-giving nature (1 Cor.
15:21–24, 45–49): “As in Adam all men die, so in
Christ all will be brought to life.”
The Faithful as Christ’s Body
Using a corporate image to identify the believ-
ing community as the earthly manifestation of
the exalted Christ, Paul states that the faithful
collectively are Christ’s “body” (1 Cor. 10:16–
18; 12:12–30; Rom. 12). As a people defi ned
and infl uenced by the Spirit, the church func-
tions in union with Christ so fully that it reveals
his visible form. Because Paul’s concept of the
body is so central to his thought, we will discuss
it more fully in Chapter 14.
Christ as Liberator from Sin,
Torah, and Death
In Paul’s view, all human beings are negatively
infl uenced by sin’s power and hence are alien-
ated from the perfect God (Rom. 7). Sin’s in-
variable consequence is death, a condition of
the defective humanity we share with Adam
(Rom. 5:12–21). By defi ning both the nature of
and the punishment for sin, the Torah in-
creased its power, revealing the universality of
sin and condemning all sinners—the entire
human race (Rom. 1–3).
Christ’s total obedience to the Father and his
selfl ess death on the cross, taking unto himself
the Torah’s penalty for sin, liberates those per-
sons accepting him (living fully under his power)
from sin, death, and the Torah’s curses (Gal. 3–5;
Rom. 3–7). For Paul, “freedom in Christ” means
deliverance from the old order of sin and punish-
ment, including the Torah’s power to condemn.
(For a fuller discussion of sin and of Christ’s role
in conquering it, see Chapter 15.)
Christ’s Universal Suffi ciency
To Paul, Jesus’ sacrifi cial death and God’s exal-
tation of Christ as the agent by whom God rules
and imparts his Spirit constitute a total change
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482nd anniversary of Luther’s posting his pro-
tests against church practices on the door of
Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany—an
act that ignited the Protestant Reformation—
leaders of the Catholic and Lutheran churches
signed a historic agreement stating that faith is
essential to salvation. According to this joint
Catholic–Lutheran declaration, “By grace
alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not
because of any merit on our part, we are ad-
opted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who
renews our hearts while equipping and calling
us to good works.”
The Importance of Women
in Early Christianity
Did the Historical Paul Judge
Women Negatively?
More than any other New Testament writer, in
recent decades, Paul has drawn scathing criti-
cism for his apparent inconsistency regarding
the role of women in the Christian community.
Given that both Jewish and Greco-Roman soci-
ety of his day typically relegated women to sub-
servient positions in which their lives were
rigidly controlled by fathers, husbands, or
other male kinsmen, some of Paul’s pronounce-
ments appear surprisingly positive. In Galatians,
he sweeps away both class and gender distinc-
tions, declaring that for people baptized “into
union” with Christ, “There is no such thing as
Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and
female; for you are all one person in Christ
Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). Writing to the Corinthians,
he recognizes that women, like men, serve the
congregation by offering prayers and deliver-
ing prophecies (1 Cor. 11:4–5). He also notes
that some women, such as his friend Phoebe,
hold responsible offi ce in the church (Rom.
16:1–5). Besides describing two women in
Philippi, Euodia and Syntyche, as his “fellow
workers” in spreading the gospel (Phil. 4:2–3),
Paul also refers to a Roman woman, Junia
(Junias), as “eminent among the apostles”
sorrow and remorse for their errors.) Both per-
sonal contrition and sacrifi cial rites were part
of the biblical arrangement for restoring har-
mony between Israel’s God and his worshipers.
Although Paul claims that “by the law’s
standard of righteousness [he had been] with-
out fault” (Phil. 3:6), at some point after his
encounter with the risen Jesus he came to be-
lieve that the Mosaic Covenant was no longer
the means by which God reconciled sinful hu-
manity to himself. In two of his most theologi-
cally important letters, Galatians and Romans,
Paul argues that the Law serves only to expose
the universal reality of human sin, which it
justly condemns. By his sacrifi cial death on the
cross, however, Jesus paid for everyone the Law’s
penalty for human sin, effectively canceling the
Law’s authority. Through spiritual union with
Christ, who is now God’s sole instrument of hu-
man redemption, believers share in the bene-
fi ts of Jesus’ self-sacrifi ce and freely receive the
divine favor that grants them eternal life. For
Paul, the Law can no longer confer forgiveness,
a function that in God’s new arrangement be-
longs exclusively to Christ. In Paul’s view, it is
God’s grace —his undeserved kindness and
mercy—that opens the way to salvation for Jews
and Gentiles alike, graciously assigning them
the capacity to accept and believe in Jesus.
Believers are thus justifi ed before God only
through their faith—complete trust—in Jesus’
power to save those with whom he is spiritually
united. (For further discussion of Paul’s ideas
about faith in Christ replacing works of Torah,
see Chapter 15.)
During the sixteenth century ce , European
Christians were bitterly divided over the inter-
pretation of Paul’s doctrine of justifi cation by
faith. Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer,
held that it is through faith alone that believ-
ers are saved, whereas the Catholic Church
maintained that salvation also comes through
deeds, particularly observance of such sacra-
ments as baptism, confession, and absolution.
It was not until the close of the twentieth cen-
tury that Catholics and Protestants reached an
accord on Paul’s teaching. In 1999, on the
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c h a p t e r 1 3 p a u l 329
deception, fell into sin” (1 Tim. 2:14; cf. Gen.
3). In a stroke, the ultimate responsibility for
humanity’s disobedience of and alienation
from God is thus placed on Eve, whose credu-
lity and irresponsibility manifestly exclude her
entire sex from positions of trust in the
Christian fellowship. Yet, as the writer con-
cedes, nature accords women one clear means
of redemption: They can be “saved through
motherhood”—bearing children.
The insulting estimate of women’s innate
character found in 1 Timothy is but one reason
a large majority of scholars agree that this
document—along with 2 Timothy and Titus
(known as the pastoral epistles)—did not origi-
nate with Paul (see the discussion of pseudony-
mous authorship in Chapter 17). Many scholars
also suspect that the passage in 1 Corinthians
14 denying women the right to speak before
the congregation was not originally part of
Paul’s letter, but that later copyists inserted it
into the manuscript to make it harmonize with
the (non-Pauline) restrictions that the author
of 1 Timothy imposed. The verses forbidding
women’s public participation in church ser-
vices (1 Cor. 14:34–35), in fact, interrupt Paul’s
general train of thought and may be taken as
scribal interpolations.
Some scholars who accept Pauline au-
thorship of these controversial passages, how-
ever, also urge readers not to view them as
universal prescriptions permanently limiting
women’s roles. C. S. Keener, for example, em-
phasizes the occasional nature of Paul’s let-
ters, noting that most of Paul’s directives
concern particular crises then affecting his
churches and that his recommendations may
be limited to resolving specifi c situations then
troubling individual congregations. First
Timothy’s restrictions on women’s public
speaking may apply primarily to women who
have not yet been fully instructed in the
Christian message and who must learn quietly
at home before they can legitimately contrib-
ute to congregational discussions (see Keener
in “Recommended Reading”). (Many women
in the early church took vows of perpetual
(Rom. 16:7). Writing to the congregation at
Rome, Paul sends individual greetings to twice
as many men as women, but he singles out for
special commendation twice as many women,
such as Junia and Mary (otherwise unknown),
as men (Rom. 16).
Throughout most of Christian history,
however, it is Paul’s seemingly negative attitude
toward women’s roles that church leaders have
traditionally accepted as the norm. Later in the
same letter in which he affi rms women as
prophets, Paul apparently forbids them to “ad-
dress the meeting”:
They have no license to speak, but should keep
their place as the law directs. If there is
something they want to know, they can ask their
own husbands at home. It is a shocking thing
that a woman should address the congregation.
(1 Cor. 14:34–35)
In 1 Timothy , the writer appears to rele-
gate women to perpetual passivity, silence,
and submission:
A woman must be a learner, listening quietly
and with due submission. I do not permit a
woman to be a teacher, nor must woman
domineer over man; she should be quiet.
(1 Tim. 2:11–12)
The author’s scriptural justifi cation for deny-
ing all women the authority to teach others de-
rives from his interpretation of the second of
two different accounts in Genesis about hu-
manity’s creation. Whereas the fi rst version
states that “male and female” came into being
simultaneously, both in the divine “image”
(Gen. 1:26–27), the second, which the writer
selects to support his argument, awards Adam
(the fi rst male) priority in time and impor-
tance. In the author’s view, Eve (the fi rst fe-
male) is implicitly inferior to Adam because she
was formed “afterwards” (1 Tim. 2:13; cf. Gen.
2: 18–25). However, 1 Timothy’s most damag-
ing charge against Eve (and, hence, all her
daughters) is her alleged susceptibility to de-
ceit: “It was not Adam who[m] [the serpent]
deceived; it was the woman, who, yielding to
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330 p a r t f i v e p a u l a n d t h e p a u l i n e t r a d i t i o n
although the male followers initially discount
their testimony (Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 23:55–
24:11; John 20:1–3, 10–18).
Following Jesus’ resurrection and ascen-
sion, as Christianity spread through the
Greco-Roman world, women continued to as-
sume important functions that helped the
new faith grow. According to Acts, when Paul
traveled through Macedonia to the town of
Philippi, he met there a wealthy woman,
Lydia, “a dealer in purple fabric from the city
of Thyatiria,” who not only responded enthu-
siastically to his preaching but also “insisted”
that he and his fellow missionaries stay at her
house. Possessing a house large enough to ac-
commodate meetings of local Christians,
Lydia in effect became the patron of the
Philippian congregation, with which Paul
had an exceptionally warm and affectionate
relationship (Acts 16:12–16, 40; cf. Phil. 1).
Prisca (Priscilla) and her husband, Aquila—
in both Acts and Paul’s letters, she is usually
mentioned fi rst, perhaps indicating her
prominence in the Christian movement—
serve as Paul’s co-workers in Corinth, and
Ephesus, where the two instruct Apollos, an
“eloquent” Jewish Christian from Alexandria,
in correct Christian teaching (Acts 18:2, 18,
26; Rom. 16:3; 1 Cor. 16:19; cf. 2 Tim. 4:19).
Although the New Testament evidence does
not suggest that the mid-fi rst-century ce wit-
nessed a “golden age” of gender equality and
mutuality in the Christian community, it does
confi rm that some women, in some locations,
assumed leading roles as teachers, prophets, and
missionary workers. The question then arises: If
Jesus included women among his closest disci-
ples, and Paul endorsed several women, such as
Phoebe and Prisca, as Christian “co-workers,”
how did the later church eventually come to re-
ject the leadership of all women—no matter
how intellectually gifted, well versed in Scripture,
or prominent in charitable works—in favor of
exclusively male domination?
Several scholars suggest that the gradual
shrinking of women’s roles in the church may
virginity, leading lives of celibacy that allowed
them relative freedom from patriarchal op-
pression; see the Acts of Paul and Thecla, a
celibate woman disciple whom Paul autho-
rized to teach others [see Chapter 20 ].)
The Gospel Traditions
In considering the legitimate participation of
women in church leadership, many scholars
recommend viewing Paul’s letters in the larger
context of the entire New Testament canon.
Virtually all components of the Jesus tradition—
from Mark, to John, to Luke’s special material—
highlight the crucial role that women play in
Jesus’ ministry. Both Mark and Luke state that
women accompanied Jesus throughout his
Galilean campaign, some supporting his work
by acting as patrons who contributed fi nan-
cially (Mark 15:40–41; Luke 8:1–3). Mark and
John also show Jesus, contrary to prevailing cus-
tom, engaging in public conversations with
“foreign” women (unaccompanied by male
protectors) who assert their right to benefi t
from his healing gifts and his spiritual insights,
including a Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark
7:24–30) and a frequently married Samaritan
woman with whom he discusses the fi ne points
of acceptable worship (John 4:1–42). In Luke’s
special tradition, Jesus also commends Mary,
the sister of Martha, for abandoning her tradi-
tional household duties to gather with his male
disciples, noting that what she learns “shall not
be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38–42).
Whereas all of Jesus’ twelve principal male
disciples precipitately abandon him at his ar-
rest, a group of Galilean women loyally follow
him to the cross, where they witness his death
and then observe the location of his burial. In
all four Gospels, it is these Galilean women
(in John, Mary Magdalene alone) who dis-
cover the empty tomb; in three of the four
accounts (Mark’s narrative concludes at the
vacant sepulcher), it is also the female disci-
ples who fi rst proclaim Jesus’ resurrection,
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The adaptation seems to have included almost
wholesale acceptance of Roman society’s view
of male–female relationships, a patriarchal
view that the author of 1 Timothy seems un-
critically to endorse.
In the Roman social structure, men
achieved status—and positions of public
honor—by exercising power over other men,
whether economic, political, social, or military.
While men universally controlled all public ac-
tivities and institutions, women, regarded as
physically weaker and less capable, were
confi ned to the domestic realm. Given Roman
society’s universal approval of masculine domi-
nance, if a free man had joined a Christian con-
gregation supervised by a woman, it seems
likely that he would have been publicly shamed,
forfeiting his claim to honor. In light of Roman
mores, it is not surprising that the church, de-
siring as many converts as possible, chose to
model its leadership structure in a way that
Roman males would fi nd acceptable. As many
feminist scholars have observed, however,
Western society has experienced such radical
changes since the Enlightenment that the
Christian community is now free to construct
more inclusive models of leadership, creating
an environment of humane mutuality that does
not depend on the social and gender assump-
tions of antiquity.
The Supremacy of Love
In writing the Corinthian church about the
“spiritual gifts” bestowed upon Christians, both
men and women, Paul ranks the practice of
love (Greek, agape- ) as chief among them
(1 Cor. 13:1–14:1).
As scholars have recently observed, how-
ever, we should not assume that Paul’s use of
agape- (which occurs 116 times as a noun and
143 times as a verb in the New Testament) nec-
essarily corresponds to our twenty-fi rst- century
ideas about love. Shaped by contemporary
have corresponded to a historical change in the
kinds of places in which believers assembled.
During Paul’s career, Christians gathered only
in private houses—no separate church build-
ings then existed. Because only comparatively
well-to-do homeowners had dwellings large
enough to hold even a few dozen people, the
host and/or hostess probably took a leading
role in presiding over meetings in his or her
home. If a congregation met at the home of a
wealthy widow—one no longer under a hus-
band’s control—it is likely that she participated
actively in worship services, praying, prophesy-
ing, and instructing others (1 Cor. 11:5), as
Lydia presumably did when believers assem-
bled at her home (Acts 16:13–15, 40).
As congregations grew, attracting larger
numbers of qualifi ed men, however, the prom-
inence of women householders who hosted
gatherings gradually declined. The shift from
meeting in private accommodations, tradition-
ally run by women, to assembling in larger
edifi ces in the public sphere, where men dom-
inated, had an inevitable effect on the compo-
sition of church leadership. The change in
meeting place from the domestic to the public
arena was reinforced by two other concurrent
trends: By the second and third centuries ce ,
the Christian community was no longer living
in the fervent apocalyptic hope that had char-
acterized its beginnings. As expectations that
God would soon bring history to an end dimin-
ished, Jesus’ kingdom ethic—in which “many
who are fi rst will be last and the last fi rst”
(Mark 10:31)—also had less impact. Early be-
lievers, eagerly awaiting the Parousia, could
form a subculture in which the kingdom val-
ues prevailed, incorporating the least and
“last” of society’s members, including women,
slaves, and other socially marginalized people,
into full community participation (Gal. 3:28).
But after belief in an imminent divine inter-
vention waned and the church accepted an in-
defi nitely delayed Parousia, the church
increasingly adapted itself to the customs and
assumptions of the larger Greco-Roman world.
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concentrates on cultivating love within the
Christian fold: “let us work for the good of all,
especially members of the household of the
faith” (Gal. 6:10). In this near-exclusive empha-
sis on the Christian fellowship, Paul anticipates
the Johannine tradition, where the identifying
quality of Jesus’ followers is their expression of
love for one another, without a comparable
statement of concern for persons outside their
group (John 13:34–35). Nonetheless, in formu-
lating the New Testament’s most compelling ar-
ticulation of human love in action, Paul
bequeathed a legacy to the Christian church—
and the world—that retains a potential to trans-
form human lives.
Summary
In the New Testament canon, Paul’s letters are
listed roughly according to their length. Letters to
churches, such as Romans, appear fi rst, and those
to individuals, such as Philemon, appear last. In
this text, we discuss the letters in the general
order of their composition, beginning with 1
Thessalonians and concluding with later works
like Philippians and Philemon.
A sensitivity to Paul’s eschatological hope
and his mystical experience of Christ may make it
easier for readers to appreciate Paul’s ideas.
Despite the diffi culty of understanding some pas-
sages (2 Pet. 3:15–16), the rewards of entering the
brilliant world of Pauline thought are well worth
the effort.
Questions for Review
1. Summarize Paul’s biography, from his career
as a zealous Pharisee to his work as a mission-
ary among Gentile populations in Macedonia
and Greece. In what respects does the bi-
ographical information contained in Acts dif-
fer from that found in Paul’s letters?
2. How did Paul’s experience of a revelation
( apokalypsis ) of the risen Jesus change his life
and affect his religious outlook?
psychology, we tend to regard love as a sub-
jective emotion, a feeling of warm affection
for someone. By contrast, Paul describes agape-
not as an emotional state but as a loyal com-
mitment to others’ welfare, which is exp-
ressed in action that benefits others. For
Paul, agape- is probably equivalent to the
Hebrew Bible’s use of hesed, a term com-
monly translated as “loving kindness” or
“steadfast love.” Hesed is expressed in terms
of unwavering loyalty to God and to fellow
members of the covenant community, a con-
cept that Jesus emphasizes when he cites the
Bible’s two most important commandments:
love of God (Deut. 6:4–5) and love of neigh-
bor (Lev. 19:18). In this declaration, Jesus
implicitly invokes biblical love as the basis of
the divine–human relationship (Mark 12:
28–34). On the divine level, God expresses
covenant loyalty through faithfulness to his
promises; in the human sphere, love and
loyalty are inseparable from active service.
As Paul informs the Galatians: “The only
thing that counts is faith active in love,” faith
that reveals itself through compassionate
deeds (Gal. 5:6).
In judging agap e- as the supreme spiritual
gift, Paul underscores the fact that love shows
itself primarily through right behavior, the kinds
of actions that help others and please God. In
the world of human interactions, love can also
mean avoiding hurtful behaviors: “love is never
selfi sh, not quick to take offense”; above all, it
“keeps no score of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:4–6).
Like God, its source, love is eternal: It has “no
limit” and “will never come to an end” (13:7–8).
The single divinely acceptable motivator of hu-
man conduct, its absence robs all other virtues
of ethical meaning: Even the “faith strong
enough to move mountains” and the knowl-
edge of “every hidden truth” are love’s inferi-
ors. “If I have no love,” Paul declares, “I am
nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2–3). Without agape-, all
Paul’s labors are in vain.
Paul does not echo Jesus’ radical directive to
“love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44), but generally
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c h a p t e r 1 3 p a u l 333
Hawthorne, Gerald F.; Martin, Ralph P.; and Reid,
D. G., eds. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters.
Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Argues for authenticity of all letters traditionally
ascribed to Paul, including the pastorals.
Holmberg, B. Paul and Power. Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1980. An incisive study of the social forces
at work in the Pauline communities and of
Paul’s diffi cult relationships with other apostolic
leaders.
Keener, C. S. “Man and Woman.” In G. F. Hawthorne
and R. P. Martin, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His
Letters. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press,
1993, pp. 583–592. Argues that the Pauline cor-
pus does not advocate women’s exclusion from
church offi ces.
Levine, Amy-Jill, ed. A Feminist Companion to Paul.
Cleveland: Pilgrim, 2004. Ten scholarly essays an-
alyzing Paul’s writings on women in their original
social/cultural context.
Malina, Bruce J., and Pilch, John J. Social Science
Commentary on the Letters of Paul. Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 2006. Offers important insights
into Paul’s thinking by interpreting his letters in
light of Greco-Roman ideas and social practices.
Polaski, Sandra Heck. A Feminist Introduction to Paul.
St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2005. Perceptively sur-
veys diverse interpretations of Paul, offering fem-
inist insights into his thought.
Richards, E. Randolph. Paul and First-Century Letter
Writing: Secretaries, Composition, and Collection.
Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2004.
Places Paul’s letters in the sociohistorical context
of Hellenistic correspondence.
Roetzel, Calvin J. “Paul, the Apostle.” In K. D.
Sakenfeld, ed., The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4,
pp. 404–421. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009.
Offers a tentative chronology of Paul’s ministry and
a survey of his developing theology in the letters.
Sanders, E. P. Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People.
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983. An excellent
exploration of Paul’s Jewish heritage.
————. Paul: A Very Short Introduction. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1991. A remarkably
concise and incisive survey of Paul’s thought and
theology.
Segal, Alan F. Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and
Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee. New Haven, Conn.,
and London: Yale University Press, 1990.
Examines Paul’s views of the Christ event in the
light of his Jewish heritage.
Soards, Marion L. The Apostle Paul: An Introduction to
His Writings and Teaching. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist
Press, 1987. A clearly written introduction to
Paul’s thought, emphasizing his eschatology.
Questions for Discussion and Refl ection
1. Discuss some of the topics and themes that
dominate Paul’s letters, including his apocalyp-
tic outlook and his views on faith, righteousness,
justifi cation, and the saving power of Christ.
2. In the twenty-fi rst-century church, Paul’s atti-
tude toward women arouses considerable de-
bate. Briefl y outline the historic roles women
played in early Christianity, including the
Gospel narratives about Jesus’ women disciples
and Paul’s recognition of Phoebe, Prisca, and
other “co-workers.” How did meeting in house
churches facilitate women’s leadership posi-
tions and how did the church eventually adopt
typically Greco-Roman restrictions on women’s
participation in church affairs? Do the social
assumptions of antiquity necessarily determine
women’s position today?
Recommended Reading
Crook, Zeba A. Reconceptualizing Conversion: Patronage,
Loyalty, and Conversion in the Religions of the Ancient
Mediterranean. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2004.
A detailed analysis of Paul’s use of the Roman
patron–client system to express his relationship to
God and Christ.
Dunn, James P. G. The Theology of Paul the Apostle.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1998. An au-
thoritative discussion of Paul’s major ideas and
beliefs about God’s actions in Christ.
Engberg-Pedersen, Troels. Cosmology and Self in the
Apostle Paul: The Material Spirit. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2010.
———. Paul and the Stoics. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster
John Knox, 2000. Both works minutely dissect the
letters to infer Paul’s worldview, the latter to re-
veal the extent of Stoic infl uence on Paul’s
thought and rhetoric.
Fitzmyer, Joseph. Paul and His Theology, 2nd ed.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1989. A
brief but careful introduction to Paul’s central
teachings.
Adam
Ananias
dualism
Enoch
faith
love ( agap e- )
Titus
Torah
Terms and Concepts to Remember
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Zetterholm, Magnus. “Paul, Letters of.” In M. D.
Coogan, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books
of the Bible , Vol. 2, pp. 127–138. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2011. Surveys fi rst
Paul’s authentic letters and then the disputed
and pseudonymous works, emphasizing his
evolving theology.
Theissen, Gerd. The Social Setting of Pauline
Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982. A
study of the social dynamics operating in the
church at Corinth; one of the most illuminating
studies of primitive Christianity.
Witherup, Ronald D. 101 Questions and Answers of Paul.
New York: Paulist Press, 2003. A good introduction
to Paul’s life and theological preoccupations.
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