Luke-Acts

Foundations for Christian Worship

Heil

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781532635816
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

This book demonstrates that Luke-Acts provides its audience with a basic foundation for all of the various dimensions of Christian worship. With the arrival of Jesus, and especially his being raised from the dead by God, the preeminent locations, leadership, and times for worship move beyond the Jerusalem temple, Jewish synagogues, Sabbath, and the Jewish feasts of Passover and Pentecost to worship in and by the Christian community.As Son of God and Lord, Jesus becomes an object of true worship along with God the Father. Jesus serves as a subject for laudatory worship. Jesus teaches about prayer, engages in it, and serves as an object for supplicatory worship. Jesus not only took part in the ritual worship of being baptized by John, but as the risen and exalted Lord baptizes believers with the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of baptism. In addition, the many meal scenes throughout Luke-Acts provide numerous insights foundational for proper celebrations of the Eucharist.

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Introduction

Worship in Luke-Acts

There have been scholarly treatments of various aspects of the theme of worship in Luke-Acts. For example, several scholars have addressed the role of the Jerusalem temple with regard to worship in Luke-Acts.1 The role of praise responses for laudatory worship has been examined.2 The Lukan emphasis upon prayer has long been noted and variously presented.3 The significance of the many Lukan meal scenes for eucharistic worship has been discussed.4 The theme of worship in general for both Luke and Acts has been briefly treated.5 But, to my knowledge, there has not been a more comprehensive presentation that considers all of the various dimensions and different types of worship in Luke-Acts.

With this book I aim to offer a more comprehensive investigation of the various aspects regarding the theme of worship that is so prevalent throughout Luke-Acts. Accordingly, there will be chapters on the following topics: the locations, leadership, and times for worship (ch. 2); true and false worship (ch. 3); laudatory worship (ch. 4); supplicatory worship (ch. 5); baptismal worship (ch. 6); and meals and eucharistic worship (ch. 7). I thereby hope to demonstrate that Luke-Acts provides its audience with a foundation for, as well as key insights into, all of the various dimensions of Christian worship.

As a brief anticipation and overview of the results of my presentation, the person of Jesus Christ provides the key for each of the above topics regarding worship. With the arrival of Jesus, and especially his being raised from the dead by God, the preeminent locations, leadership, and times for worship move beyond the Jerusalem temple, Jewish synagogues, Sabbath, and the Jewish feasts of Passover and Pentecost to worship in and by the Christian community. As Son of God and Lord, Jesus becomes an object of true worship along with God the Father. Jesus not only exemplifies but serves as a subject for laudatory worship. Jesus teaches about prayer, engages in it, and serves as an object for supplicatory worship. Jesus not only took part in the ritual worship of being baptized by John but as the risen and exalted Lord baptizes believers with the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of baptism. And the many meal scenes throughout Luke-Acts provide numerous insights foundational for proper celebrations of the Eucharist.

Methodological Presuppositions

I consider the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles to be two volumes of a unified narrative (hence the term “Luke-Acts”; cf. Luke 1:1–4; Acts 1:1–2), written by the Luke associated with Paul.6 I will treat the various aspects and dimensions of the theme of worship in Luke-Acts by means of a narrative-critical, audience-oriented exegetical methodology. The focus will be on the responses expected by the implied or ideal audience members, the audience presupposed by the text, as they hear the narrative unfold and develop.7 With regard to the theme of worship, Luke-Acts presupposes an audience with knowledge of the OT scriptures and of such Jewish religious institutions as the synagogue, Sabbath observance, Jerusalem temple, ritual cleansings, meal fellowship, Jewish feasts such as Passover and Pentecost, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, etc.8 I understand Luke-Acts to have been written in the latter half of the first century for a specific community or communities of Christians located in the Mediterranean regions of the Roman empire, but with a general relevance for all Christian believers.9

I agree with the view that Luke-Acts has “formative and normative functions” for Christian believers. Luke-Acts presents “Jesus and the Apostles as paradigms of Christian life and thought; when Luke wrote, Christianity needed definition, identity and legitimation, and Luke-Acts provided all three.”10 It is most plausible and very likely that much of the material in Luke-Acts, as well as in the other Synoptic Gospels, had its origin in liturgical celebrations of the Eucharist.11 That a considerable amount of the teaching in Luke-Acts occurs in its many meal scenes suggests that portions or all of one or both volumes of Luke-Acts were publicly performed in the meal setting of a eucharistic celebration.12 At any rate, as I hope to show, Luke-Acts was written to be heard primarily by the church as a liturgical community and provides its audience of Christian believers with a rich array of models and teaching foundational for all facets of their life of worship.13

The Lukan Prefaces (Luke 1:1–4; Acts 1:1–2)

Both volumes of Luke-Acts are addressed to an individual named “Theophilus” (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1), who represents and characterizes Luke’s broader communal audience of Christian believers, those who, like Theophilus (Luke 1:3–4), already have some knowledge of the Jesus tradition.14 In the past many had set their hand to compile a narrative concerning the deeds or events that have been fulfilled among “us” (1:1), that is, Luke, Theophilus, and all the members of Luke’s audience. As a “divine passive,” the perfect passive participle, “have been fulfilled” (πεπληροφορημένων), refers not only to God’s past fulfillment of prophetic promises in accord w...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Locations, Leadership, and Times for Worship
• Chapter 3: True and False Worship
• Chapter 4: Supplicatory Worship
• Chapter 5: Laudatory Worship
• Chapter 6: Baptismal Worship
• Chapter 7: Meals and Eucharistic Worship
• Chapter 8: Conclusion
• Bibliography