Many Convincing Proofs

Persuasive phenomena associated with gospel proclamation in Acts

Stephen S. Liggins

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9783110460193
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

While there have been various studies examining the contents of the evangelistic proclamation in Acts; and various studies examining, from one angle or another, individual persuasive phenomena described in Acts (e.g., the use of the Jewish Scriptures); no individual studies have sought to identify the key persuasive phenomena presented by Luke in this book, or to analyse their impact upon the book's early audiences.

This study identifies four key phenomena – the Jewish Scriptures, witnessed supernatural events, the Christian community and Greco-Roman cultural interaction. By employing a textual analysis of Acts that takes into account both narrative and socio-historical contexts, the impact of these phenomena upon the early audiences of Acts – that is, those people who heard or read the narrative in the first decades after its completion – is determined.

The investigation offers some unique and nuanced insights into evangelistic proclamation in Acts; persuasion in Acts, persuasion in the ancient world; each of the persuasive phenomena discussed; evangelistic mission in the early Christian church; and the growth of the early Christian church.

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1Topic and approach

This book examines the key persuasive phenomena associated with Luke’s presentation of evangelistic proclamation in Acts. In particular, it seeks to determine the impact of these phenomena upon the early audiences of Acts – that is, those people who heard (or read) the narrative in the first decades after its completion.

While there have been various studies examining the contents of the evangelistic proclamation (i.e., the gospel message) in Acts; and various studies examining, from one angle or another, individual persuasive phenomena in Acts (e.g., the use of the Jewish Scriptures); no individual studies have sought to identify Luke’s presentation of the key persuasive phenomena, or to analyse their impact upon Acts’ early audiences.1

Persuasive phenomena are those phenomena associated with the communication of the gospel message in Acts that exerted persuasive force on the evangelistic audiences described within the text of Acts and encouraged them to make the desired response to the message.2 These phenomena are sometimes presented as being deliberately employed by the evangelists described in Acts (e.g., Peter and Paul), and on other occasions as being incidentally associated with their proclamation.3

A holistic reading of Acts reveals that these phenomena formed a significant part of the broader context in which the evangelistic proclamation took place. Given the importance of both evangelistic ministry in Acts and the book of Acts itself, a study of the sort outlined above should be a helpful addition to scholarship concerned with: evangelistic proclamation in Acts; persuasion in Acts (or more generally in the ancient world); any of the individual persuasive phenomena discussed; evangelistic mission in the early Christian church; and the growth of the early Christian church.

An examination of Acts reveals four key persuasive phenomena associated with evangelistic proclamation – the Jewish Scriptures, witnessed supernatural events, the Christian community, and Greco-Roman cultural interaction. An appreciation of these phenomena can be optimised by considering them within their narrative and socio-historical contexts. In particular, this study is concerned to determine the impact of these key persuasive phenomena upon the early audiences of Acts. These early audiences are best identified by a textual examination of Acts combined with a consideration of external historical material. This approach reveals that they would predominantly have been Greek-speaking Christians in the Roman Empire during the second half of the first and early second century C.E. who were influenced to varying extents by Jewish and Greco-Roman culture.4

Not having any extant first or early second century C.E. records describing how these early audiences actually were impacted by Luke’s presentation of these key persuasive phenomena, this study employs a methodology that aims to determine how these early audiences would have been impacted. This impact is determined by considering the interaction between the text of Acts and the repertoire of the early audiences of Acts. The textual analysis examines word groups, phrases and passages, while particularly considering the book as a unified whole. The repertoire of the early audiences is constructed from the sociohistorical context of the time – a context predominantly recovered through the analysis of extant primary source material. By employing this methodology in a careful, balanced, textually and historically sensitive manner, well-founded generalisations regarding the impact of the key persuasive phenomena upon the early audiences can emerge.

Four important aspects of impact are identified and discussed. The early audiences would have been able to: identify what persuasive phenomena were present in Acts and what phenomena were notably absent (i.e., the What?); observe and appreciate the varying contexts in which these phenomena were presented (i.e., the Where?); gauge the way in which these phenomena would have influenced the evangelistic audiences described within the text (i.e., the How?); and assess the extent to which, and in what manner, these phenomena ought to be associated with any evangelistic ministry that they – the early audiences of Acts – needed to undertake (i.e., the Should?). The following diagram should help in conceptualising this task:5

In what follows, there will be an introductory discussion of the key persuasive phenomena (section 1.2), a more detailed presentation of the methodology employed in this investigation (section 1.3), and finally an outline of the structure of this study (section 1.4).

1.2The key persuasive phenomena

The key persuasive phenomena associated with Luke’s presentation of evangelistic proclamation in Acts are the focus of this book. As such, it is necessary that these key persuasive phenomena be identified. This will be done by a preliminary textual analysis of Acts in this section, and will be confirmed by the more detailed analysis of the text of Acts in Chapters 4 and 5. Before the relevant phenomena can be identified, however, it is necessary to briefly describe the evangelistic proclamation with which they are associated.

Evangelistic proclamation in Acts

It is important to identify what constitutes evangelistic proclamation in Acts for two reasons: first, so as to identify places in the narrative of Acts where associated persuasive phenomena might be found; and, second, to enable such associated persuasive phenomena to be distinguished from persuasive aspects of the evangelistic proclamation itself.

Evangelistic proclamation is defined as the communication of the gospel message with a view to having the audience adopt Christianity. Evangelistic ministry describes evangelistic proclamation along with associated activities and phenomena (e.g., persuasive phenomena). The spread of this evangelistic ministry can be described as evangelistic mission. Evangelistic proclamation, ministry and mission are major themes in Acts.6 Evangelistic proclamation is encouraged or presented (either in speech or descriptive material) in 27 of the book’s 28 chapters.7 This proclamation spread from Jerusalem (Acts 2) to Rome (Acts 28). To properly understand the definition of evangelistic proclamation it is necessary to appreciate what is meant by the term gospel message.

The gospel message: The terms gospel message and gospel are used to describe the basic message communicated in evangelistic proclamation. It is appropriate to use these terms given the 15 uses of the word εὐαγγελίζω (‘proclaim the gospel’)8 in Acts (5:42; 8:4, 12, 25, 35, 40; 10:36; 11:20; 13:32; 14:7, 15, 21; 15:35; 16:10; 17:18), and because of the terms’ widespread use among New Testament scholars.9 While there has been much scholarly discussion as to whether there is an identifiable gospel message in Acts and, if so, what it entails,10 an analysis of Acts at the levels of terminology, passage and unified narrative point to the existence and contents of such a message.

At the level of terminology, 37 of the 65 uses of the word λόγος in Acts refer (exclusively or partially) to the gospel message (2:41; 4:4, 29, 31; 6:2, 4, 7; 8:4, 14, 21, 25; 10:36, 44; 11:1, 19; 12:24; 13:5, 7, 26, 44, 46, 48, 49; 14:3, 25; 15:7, 35, 36; 16:6, 32; 17:11, 13; 18:5, 11; 19:10, 20; 20:32).11 While λόγος is sometimes found in the plural form when describing something other than the gospel message (e.g., 5:5, 24; 7:22; 15:24), it is always singular in form when referring to the gospel. This suggests a defined gospel message. Passages such as Acts 20:21 where Paul tells the Ephesian elders at Miletus: ‘I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus’ support this view.

It will be argued in the methodology section of this chapter that Acts should be considered as a unified whole with, for example, speeches and descriptive material considered in the light of each other, and individual speeches considered in the context of the other speeches in the book. It is instructive to note that the evangelistic speech in Acts 2:14–40 is referred to in adjoining descriptive material by the singular term λόγος (2:41). Shortly afterwards, the slightly differently worded evangelistic speech of Acts 3:12–26 is also referred to in adjoining descriptive material by that same singular term λόγος (4:4). Not only do the speeches assist one’s understanding of the meaning of the term λόγος, the use of the singular λόγος also implies that the speeches to which they refer, although presented with different emphases, essentially involve the same gospel message.

There are 13 instances of evangelistic speech material in the book (2:4–40; 3:12–26; 4:8–12; 5:29–32; 7:2–60; 10:28–47; 13:16–47; 14:15–17; 16:31; 17:22–31; 22:1–21; 24:10 –21; 26:2–29).12 In an extended narrative like Acts, it is highly unlikely that Luke would present each evangelistic speech in identical terms, or with equal degrees of detail. Rather, each speech should be considered in the context of the narrative, which includes the previous evangelistic speeches. Accordingly, certain aspects of the contents of these speeches might be assumed, particularly if they have previously been specified in similar speeches.13

It will also be argued below, and demonstrated in Chapters 4 and 5, that Luke presents certain paradigmatic speeches in Acts. The narrative contains one particularly detailed (or paradigmatic) speech for certain evangelistic contexts. For example, Peter’s speech to the Jews (2:14–40), Peter’s speech to Gentile God-fearers (10:28–47), Paul’s speech to Jews (13:16–47), Paul’s speech to Gentiles (17:22–31), and Paul’s speech in a judicial setting (26:2–29) contain far more detail than other speeches by the same speaker in similar contexts. Using these more detailed paradigmatic spe...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Note on references and style
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Early audiences and their perception of Acts
• Chapter 3: Jewish and Greco-Roman persuasive religious communication
• Chapter 4: Persuasive phenomena associated with evangelistic ministry in Acts 1–12
• Chapter 5: Persuasive phenomena associated with evangelistic ministry in Acts 13–28
• Chapter 6: Impact upon early audiences of Acts – Part 1: Phenomena, contexts and influence
• Chapter 7: Impact upon early audiences of Acts – Part 2: The ongoing mission
• Chapter 8: Conclusion
• Tables
• Table 1
• Bibliography
• Index of ancient texts
• Index of modern authors
• Footnotes