Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T14:44:07.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - The future of the past: Luke's vision of salvation history and its bearing on his writing of history

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2010

Ben Witherington, III
Affiliation:
Asbury Theological Seminary, Kentucky
Get access

Summary

Luke does not know the term “salvation history.” He does not employ the word στíρία. But he knows about one particular history, and this history has salvation as its theme. This is the history of Israel. The church, its message and life, is in itself the final part of this history. This is because Luke writes the history of the people of God. Israel is the only nation Luke names “people,” λαό¸. Luke, of course, is aware of the fact that other people have a history, but he does not deal with their history; rather, he only gives slight hints of its existence. This is not because he has chosen to write only the history of Israel and does not want to take other people into account, or because salvation history to him was something isolated within or outside world history. There is, of course, a connection between salvation history and world history. But God has – sit venia verbo – neglected the history of other people.4 Their history is not worth mentioning since it is an “empty” history, as is clearly expressed in Acts 14.16. “The Gentiles were all left alone to go their own way.” As an excuse, Luke adds that God has not “left himself without witness,” for example rain, fruitful seasons, food and gladness (14.17). But the history of other people is a history of idolatry and ignorance, even if God is the Creator and the universal giver of life who has fixed the epochs of history in general and the limits of the territories of the people (Acts 17.25f 30).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×