A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES
Yesterday, we talked about evidence in support of Luke being “the beloved physician,” as Paul calls him in Colossians 4:14. Today, let’s pursue the other possible detail about Luke, that he may have been a Gentile. Cornelius, in Acts 10, was known as a “God-fearer,” which would have been a Gentile who respected Jewish practice of faith, but who had not been born a Jew, and who had not been circumcised.
The theory that Luke was a Gentile comes from the same passage in which Paul calls him the beloved physician. Here’s how it gets pieced together:
Colossians 4:10-14 “Aristarchus . . . and Mark . . . and . . . Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God . . . Epaphras, who is one of you . . . Luke the beloved physician greets you, . . ..”
Is there any evidence in Luke’s gospel that would show that he comes from a Gentile perspective? He uses a high and cultured form of Greek, which probably indicates that at the very least he was a Hellenized Jew. More on that later.
Either way, what is clear about Luke is that he is writing for a Gentile audience, and not to those who are insiders to Jewish culture and ways.
Remember when I said that Luke might be considered to be the Gospel of Paul, in the same way that Mark is the Gospel of Peter? Paul was called to reach the Gentiles, and Peter was called to preach to the Jews. Paul was more educated, his logic and grammar more sophisticated than that of a fisherman from Galilee.
Luke might give a small clue that he is writing to a Gentile. He addresses his reader as “most excellent Theophilus.” “Theophilus” means “lover of God,” and “most excellent” was a title for an honored person in government or other secular arenas.
Luke includes the detail that Zechariah’s turn to serve in the temple was “according to the custom of the priesthood.” There was a way to determine who served and when, and a Jewish reader would have already known that.
Luke also lets Theophilus know that Nazareth was a city of Galilee. And he includes the detail from Simeon’s canticle, that Jesus will be a light for revelation to the Gentiles, as well as glory to his people Israel.
In chapter 7, we find the Gentile Roman centurion asking for healing for his servant. Others had tried to present him to Jesus as being “worthy” because he built their synagogue, but the centurion himself sent messengers as Jesus came near, saying that he was not worthy of Jesus coming into his house. That man rightly understood spiritual authority. But he also understood the relationship of Jews to Gentiles, and he did not try to force Jesus to enter a Gentile’s home.
You might say that the “freedom bus” of salvation is Jewish, “for salvation is of the Jews.” Gentiles were permitted to freely get on board, which is a tremendous privilege. And over the years, so many Gentiles have boarded that they far outnumber the Jewish riders. But we who are Gentiles must remember that it is not “our” bus.
At the same time, Luke also gives a much stronger emphasis on the failures of the Jewish people, and the coming destruction of the Jewish nation, which gives way until the season of the Gentiles is over.
In chapter 4, Jesus was rejected in Nazareth, just after they had been saying about him that “he does everything well.” Why did they suddenly turn on Him and nearly throw him off a cliff? Because he quoted three times when God chose to bless Gentiles, and it seemed blasphemous and heretical to the faithful in the synagogue crowd.
In chapter 6, Luke records multiple times when Jesus talks about loving neighbors and enemies, and about forgiving and being forgivable. In chapter 10, he told stories about Samaritans and other “sinners” who showed their hearts to be responsive to the message of Jesus. He was and is the Jewish Messiah, but he had come for the sins of the whole world, not just of the Jews.
Jesus was the king of the Jews, as Luke notes several times in chapter 23 alone. But Jesus was also the savior of the entire world.
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