4 LUKE AND EARLY CATHOLICISM

LUKE AND EARLY CATHOLICISM* LEON MORRIS* The publication of Philipp Viel- ways defined and the discussion hauser's essay, "On the Taulinism' may become a trifle confused ac­ of Acts",2 sparked off a lively de­ cordingly. The term is not new and bate in Lucan studies. Vielhauer John H. Elliott notes its use at least held that Acts did not come from a as far back as Ferdinand Christian disciple and friend of Paul; it is a Bauer.5 But it has had a much later writing emanating not from greater currency during recent the primitive church but from the years. E. Käsemann sees it this developing catholic church. Hans way: "Early Catholicism means Conzelmann's important book, The that transition from earliest Chris­ Theology of St Luke,3 gave the de­ tianity to the so-called ancient bate some impetus. It cannot be Church, which is completed with said that anything approaching un­ the disappearance of the imminent animity has been reached. Indeed expectation (i.e. of the parousia)."6 the situation was well summed up This puts all the emphasis on the in the title of W.C. van Unnik's con­ attitude to the parousia. Hans Con- tribution to the Paul Schubert zelmann emphasizes other aspects Festschri/t "Luke-Acts, A Storm of the church's life: Center in Contemporary Scholar­ The relationship of the Church to ship".4 This was published in 1966, the eschatological future loses in but the situation has not greatly importance in comparison with changed in the intervening period, the present possession of 'means at least in this respect. of grace* ... and their mediation Among the matters in dispute is to the individual; these are the relationship of Luke to what has administered and experienced in been called "early Catholi­ the institutions of the cult. So the office of the priest acquires a cism". This expression is not al-i 1. This is a revised end updated version of an arti­ new, that is to say constitutive, cle published in The Westminster Theological significance in relation to the Journal xxxv. Winter 1973, and printed here with the permission of the editor of that Journal. salvation of the individual. It was presented at a Seminar at the University Originally the office of the of Cape Town during 1980. preacher had as its task the 2. "Zum 'Paulinisms' der Apostlegeschichte," in Evangelische Theologie, χ, 1950-51, ρρ.1-15. It proclamation of the unconditional appears in English translation in the Paul Schu­ character and the immediacy of bert Festenri/t. edited by Leander E. Keck and J. Louis Martyn, Studies in Luke-Acts, Nashville salvation for every individual; but and New York, 1966, pp.33-50. This volume is now the priest acquires the new hereafter abbreviated as SLA. character of mediator intervening 3. The Mitte der Zeit, Tübingen. 1953, 2nd edition 1957 (English translation. 196α) between God and man. In place of 4. SLA. pp.15-32. 5. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, xxxi. 19Θ9. * Leon Morris was, until his retirement, professor p.213. of New Testament at Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia. β. New Testament Questions of Today, London, 1969. p.237. JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA 5

the proclamation of a salvation witness for primitive Christianity, without presuppositions, which from which these other parts of the recognises no condition other New Testament are seen as a de­ than that of faith, and no means parture. other than the Word, we encoun­ ter now the invitation to enter on 1. VARIETY IN NEW TESTA­ a way of salvation under the MENT TEACHING guidance of the Church, and that means in fact under the guidance So seriously is this taken that it is of ecclesiastical authority. The contended that the New Testament Church has become an institution contains not merely differing but for the transmission of salvation incompatible views of the essence ... and that means that it stands of Christianity. Käsemann holds in need of a new law. For the first that it is no longer possible to hold time in the history of the Church it to the great Reformation principle becomes evident that sacramen- of sola scriptum, for scripture talism and moralism are brothers; speaks with more than one voice: to the sacramental administration The time when it was possible to of salvation is added of necessity set up Scripture in its totality in the disciplinary administration, opposition to Catholicism has especially when the priesthood gone beyond recall. Protestantism has reached its monarchical cul­ today can no longer employ the mination in the office of bishop.7 so-called Formal Principle with­ What is in mind is the tendency out rendering itself unworthy of towards institutionalism which credence in the eyes of historial would in due course produce the analysis. The canon of the New catholic church. Those who see this Testament does not divide as misguided often contend that at Judaism from early Catholicism; it first Christians had little or no in­ affords a foothold to the latter as terest in the church as an institu­ well as to the former.8 tion, being concerned basically Specifically he maintains that in with the proclamation of the the matter of "the essence and kerygma. There was a charismatic order of the Church" Paul's con­ freedom, a sense of liberation as cept is "in the starkest contradic­ men, led by the Spirit of God, tion to" that of early Catholicism.9 moved into the life of the new age. He bestows on Luke the dubious Luke is seen as a prime mover in honour of being "the first to suppressing the chaotic freedom of propagate the theories of tradition the first believers and leading the and legitimate succession which way into a more formal institu­ mark the advent of early Catho­ tionalism. He was not alone in this licism."10 What then are we to do? and other New Testament writings Hans Kung outlines the problem: with this tendency are said to be the dilemma of the Protestant parts of Matthew, Ephesians, the theologian is obvious: either to ac­ Pastoral Epistles, 2 Peter and Jude. cept early Catholicism as an ele- Paul is usually seen as our primary 8, &says on New Testament, Themes. London, 1964, p. 103. 7. Cited by Stephen Neill, The Interpretation of the New Testament 1861-1961. London, 1964. pp. 9. Ibid.. p.92. 168-9. See also Elliott, op.cit. p.214. la Ibid.. p.91. β LUKE AND EARLY CATHOLICISM ment of the New Testament and come under the criticism, "Your thereby definitely embark on the gospel is too small!" The gospel as road to "late Catholicism," or else the New Testament expresses it is to reject early Catholicism as an too big and too comprehensive to be element of the New Testament and confined within a straitjacket, be it correct the canon accordingly.11 made by Catholicism or biblical cri­ Faced with this dilemma H. ticism or anything else. The gospel Schlier took the first road. He is infinitely satisfying. It meets the abandoned Lutheranism and em­ needs of all men, not only those of braced Roman Catholicism. Käse­ "catholics" or of modern German mann prefers the second. He has critical scholars. It is more compre­ evolved a canon within the canon. hensive than any limited selection He insists that the teaching of Paul of New Testament texts can make in Galatians and Romans is central, it. It needs all the contributions of and he emphasizes the importance all the New Testament writers for of justification by faith. No Protes­ its diversity and its range to be­ tant would want to quarrel with come apparent. this emphasis, but it is worth It is not at all clear that those asking on what principle Käse­ who pose the sharp antithesis be­ mann chooses to emphasize this tween Paul's authentic Christianity rather than some other aspect of and Luke's early Catholicism are New Testament teaching. doing justice to either. At any rate As far as I can see there is no Ulrich Wilckens does not think so. good reason. In fact at times Käse­ He says, mann openly repudiates any objec­ It is Paul, interpreted existen- tive standard. He writes, for exam­ tially, who is so sharply set ple, "that Word, as biblical criti­ against Luke as the great but cism makes plain, has no existence dangerous corrupter of the in the realm of the objective — that Pauline gospel. But the existen­ is, outside our act of decision."12 tiell interpreted Paul is not the But what if we decide other than historical Paul. And the essential Käsemann? To take an extreme in­ points of theological criticism stance, what answer can be given levelled against Luke are gained from this standpoint to the man not so much from early Christian who says that the heart of Chris­ tradition itself as from the motifs tianity is to be found in 2 Peter with of a certain modern school of its teaching on being made par­ theology which disregards or mis­ takers of the divine nature and who interprets essential aspects of rejects everything (including justifi­ early Christian thought.13 cation by faith) that he finds incom­ Stephen Neill makes much the patible with it? He seems just as en­ same point. He thinks that some titled to his position as the man who continental scholars suffer from a emphasizes justification by faith. deeply ingrained anti-Catholic pre­ Surely anything is better than such judice which does not allow them to subjectivism. view the early church objectively. In any case all such approaches They have produced "a fancy pic­ ture of the early Church, which 11. Cited in Elliott, op. cit., p.218. 12. Op. cit.. p.58. 13. SLA. p.77. JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA 7 does not correspond to any known need of an institution and no in­ reality."14 He sees a defect in terest in church history, for they holding that Paul was against all in- thought that their Lord would come stitutionalism. It may be conceded back speedily and bring this whole that we do not find in the apostle's world system to an end. "You do writings any indication of who pre­ not write the history of the Church, sided at the Lord's Supper (which if you are expecting the end of the may indicate a lack of interest in world* to come any day."18 Käse­ the ordained ministry). But equally mann and his friends see no such there is no evidence for "that most expectation in Luke-Acts. They familiar figure of continental hold that it was written because its Protestantism, the preacher, the author lacked the expectation. man to whom is committed the Pre- Käsemann sees in this writing a diqtamt, the office of preaching."15 readiness to accept institutiona- Again, the institutional rite of bap­ lism and in general a tendency to tism was there from the first, and settle down in the assurance that a Paul wrote about it in Romans, less long period of life lay ahead of the than thirty years after Jesus' church.19. death.16 Paul cannot be simply There appears to be the view written down as anti-institutional. that the early church abandoned Indeed Käsemann can say, "Paul the expectation of a speedy parou­ himself was a forerunner of early sia and reconciled itself to a salva­ Catholicism." It is important to see tion that would be realized only in what the New Testament says and the remote future. Christians still what it does not say. It is all too looked for the parousia but post­ easy to misinterpret it in either a poned it indefinitely. Salvation "catholic" or a "protestant" direc­ would occur at some far distant tion. time so that in a sense the church became future-oriented. But this 2. ESCHATOLOGY overlooks two things. (1) Salvation was seen as a present reality. The In the discussion a good deal of em­ church saw itself as indwelt by the phasis is put on eschatology. As we Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit have already noticed, Käsemann were important features of its daily regards the disappearance of the life and in the presence and the expectation of an imminent gifts of the Spirit Christians saw parousia as critical. It is this above evidence of God's action. They did all that characterizes his early not have to wait until the remote Catholicism. The thought is that the future before God would act. (2) early believers lived in the constant The church looked back to Calvary. expectation that the Lord would re­ As I. Howard Marshall puts it "the turn at any moment They had no center of gravity in the theology of 14. Op. cit., p. 187. 18. Kasemann, op. cit.. p.28. 15. Ibid 19. Käsemann's verdict is that Luke was a great 16. Ibid., p. 188. James G.D. Dunn warns us that theologian: "considering the effect that he has "early Catholicism is not simply about organiza­ had, he is the greatest New Testament theolo­ tion, but about organization that will last" (Unity gian. For he has left his mark, as hardly anyone and Diversity in the New Testament, London. else in the earliest time of Christianity has done, 1977. p.345). on the church's piety through all the centuries" 17. New Testament Questions of Today. London. f/esus Means Freedom. Philadelphia. 1974. 1969. p.238. p.121). 8 LUKE AND EARLY CATHOLICISM the early Church lay in the past was to the early Christians.21 To be rather than in the future. Certainly sure that Jesus will return is one as far back as the writings of Paul thing. To be sure that he will return the stress is on the reality of salva­ so soon that matters like church or­ tion as something already achieved ganization are irrelevant is quite and made available by the death another. and resurrection of Jesus."20 None of the New Testament epis­ But, for all the current popularity tles gives the impression that the of the idea, nobody has ever proved time before the parousia would be that the early church did live in the so short that the church's institu­ daily expectation of the parousia, tional life was unimportant. Gala- at least in the sense that it was so tians, which is one of the earliest near and so certain that there was perhaps the earliest, of the New no point in church organization. Testament writings shows a con­ Some interval was certainly expec­ cern for the ongoing life of be­ ted between the ascension and the lievers. Even in 1 Thessalonians, return of Jesus as is shown by the which is often cited as witnessing very fact that the church continued to such a belief, we get passages to preach the gospel. If the parou­ like, "for now we live, if you stand sia was really imminent why fast in the Lord ... praying ear­ should Paul have set out on the nestly night and day that we may preaching trips described in Acts see you face to face and supply and presupposed in his epistles? It what is lacking in your faith" (1 is usually held that Paul is rebuking Thess 3:8-10); Jesus "died for us so people who allowed the nearness that whether we wake or sleep we of the parousia (as they thought) to might live with him" (1 Thess 5:10). dictate their conduct in certain Paul goes on to urge his correspon­ passages in the Thessalonian cor­ dents to "build one another up" respondence (e.g. 1 Thess 4:11-12; which does not look like an activity 5:14; 2 Thess 3:6ff.). Clearly the entered on in the expectation that first Christians expected some in­ there would be no time to do it on terval and they never indicate how account of the Lord's imminent long they thought it would be. coming. This seems to be the pre­ Human nature being what it is, vailing attitude of the early church. some early Christians doubtless ex­ Its members did not know whether pected it to be longer than did they would "wake" or "sleep", but others. All in all one cannot escape either way the planned to "live the impression that the delay of the with him" (cf. 2 Cor 5:9). This has parousia is more of a problem to its relevance to the parousia as some modern scholars than ever it well as to death.

20. Richard N. Longenecker and Merrill C Tenney, eds.. New Dimensions in New Testament Study. 21. Cf. Leonhardt Goppelt, "the question about the Grand Rapids, 1974. p.226). But we should expectation of an end was seldom raised by the notice that Käsemann can also stress the back· church and was discussed only marginally" ward look. He thinks that Luke "expected that (William Klassen and Graydon F. Snyder eds.. the end of the world would come, but only in the Current Issues in New Testament Interpretation, distant future, and so he looked backward London, 1982. p. 198). I cannot follow him, how­ rather than forward, his theme being salvation ever, when he maintains that Luke consciously history in the course that it had taken" (op. cit., allows the preaching that the end is near "to re­ p.117). cede into the background" (ibid., p. 199). JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA 9

3. PAUL AND THE PAROUSIA could write "God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his Paul himself is usually claimed con­ power" (1 Cor 6:14); and again, fidently as one who expected that "knowing that he who raised the Jesus would return during his life­ Lord Jesus will raise us also with time. He may well have done. I do Jesus" (2 Cor 4:14). By exactly the not see how the point can be made same reasoning we must conclude either way. But certainly the usual that the-apostle expected to be lines of reasoning are weak. People dead when the Lord came. Other­ cite such words as, "we who are wise he could not be raised. alive, who are left until the coming As a matter of fact both in­ of the Lord"; "we who are alive, ferences are precarious, for Paul who are left" (1 Thess 4:15,17). has a little-noted habit of classing Such passages are said to mean himself with those to whom he that Paul thought he would live writes, sometimes in activities in through until the parousia and that which it is impossible to imagine he would be among those who him taking part. For example, when would then be caught up to meet dealing with the problem of food of­ the Lord in the air. fered to idols he speaks of eating at There are more objections than the table of demons and proceeds, one to this. In the first place, this is "Shall we provoke the Lord to not the necessary meaning of the jealousy?" (1 Cor 10:22). Nobody words. J.B. Lightfoot, no mean imagines that Paul really means Greek scholar, paraphrases ot ζ that he had eaten meals offered to ^οντες ot τιερι,λειτιόμενοtin these idols or that he seriously envisaged terms: "When I say 'we,' I mean the possibility of doing so. Similar­ those who are living, those who 22 ly, though there is no question but survive to that day." The Greek that he had long since abandoned does not necessarily mean more. the ways of darkness, he can write, And it must be understood in the "Let us then cast off the works of light of Paul's express statement, darkness and put on the armour of "you yourselves know well that the light" (Rom 13:12; cf. Rom 6:1,15; 1 day of the Lord will come like a Cor 6:15; ll:31f.; Gal 1:8; 4:3 etc.; thief in the night" (1 Thess 5:2). On cf. also 1 Cor 9:20ff.). A considera­ his own admission he did not know tion of all the evidence makes it when Jesus would come. He can clear that, while Paul was certain­ scarely be claimed accordingly as ly interested in the parousia and in­ teaching definitively that it would terpreted everything in its light, he be diving his own lifetime. did not commit himself to the view In the second place, if the pas­ that it was so near that the organi­ sages noted in 1 Thessalonians are zation of the churches did not mat­ pressed to mean that Paul expected ter. On the contrary, the tenor of to be alive at the Lord's coming his letters shows that it did (cf. 2 other passages ought to be pressed Cor 1:28; Phil 1:1; 1 Thess 5:12-3, to mean exactly the opposite. Paul etc.). 22. Notes on Epistles of St Paul. London, 1904, p.66. In similar strain Bengel comments in his It should not be thought that I am Gnomon, "Each generation, which lives at this contending that in the early church or that time, occupies, during that period of there was no great emphasis on the their life, the place of those who are to live at the time of the coming of the Lord." early return of Christ. I think there 10 LUKE AND EARLY CATHOLICISM was. I have met people in our own emphases and it may be that Luke times who are quite sure that they does not emphasize the second are living in the last days. I have no coming and its accompaniments in doubt that it was even easier to quite the same way as do some hold such a belief in the first Chris­ other writers. But that is abouti as tian century and that many people far as we can go. Quite early he did hold it. quotes the words of John the Bap­ But I see no evidence that in the tist, "Even now the axe is laid to first days of the church this view the root of the trees" (Lk 3:9), was held in such a way that doc­ words heavy with the threat of im­ trine and the institutional side of minent judgment. Similarly he re­ the Christian faith were neglected. cords John's words about the People these days who see them­ Christ: "His winnowing fork is in selves as the last generation still his hand, to clear his threshing play their full part in the institu­ floor, and to gather the wheat into tions to which they belong. There is his granary, but the chaff he will no reason for thinking such a feat burn with unquenchable fire" (Lk beyond the capabilities of the men 3:17). He sees the approach of the of the first century. Specifically kingdom in the ministry of Jesus, there seems no real evidence that and it is to him that we owe the in­ any of the formative thinkers of the formation that Jesus told the seven­ New Testament refused to give ty to say, "The kingdom of God has serious attention to the institutional come near to you" (Lk 10:9). When side of the church's life. men do not accept the preachers Probably insufficient attention they are to respond, "Even the dust has been given to the intention of of your town that clings to our feet, the New Testament writers. If a we wipe off against you; neverthe­ man is trying to win others to Christ less know this, that the kingdom of he may concentrate on the things God has come near" (Lk 10:11). that make for conversion and have Neither of these references to the little to say about the parousia. kingdom is found in the correspond­ Again, if he is trying to build men ing passages in Matthew's account up in the faith he may find the of the charge to the twelve (he does parousia not the most significant not have the mission of the stimulus. It is possible to hold that seventy). The lack of the second is the parousia is both important and particularly striking since imminent without stressing it in a Matthew does have the words given writing. about shaking the dust from the feet (Mt 10:14). Luke's inclusion of 4. LUCAN ESCHATOLOGY references to the kingdom not found elsewhere scarcely looks like Next we should notice that it is sim­ a lack of interest in eschatology. ply not true to say that Luke is little 23 Luke alone has the passage be­ concerned with eschatology. ginning, "Let your loins be girded Every writer is permitted his own and your lamps burning, and be 23. Kasemann holds that Luke's attempt to write the like men who are waiting for their history of the Christian religion as secular his­ tory "only becomes possible where primitive master ... " (Lk 12:35ff.). Matthew Christian eschatology, the dynamic force of New joins him at verse 39, "But know Testament preaching, is in eclipse" (New Testa­ ment Questions of Today, London, 1969, p.21). this, that if the householder had JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA 11 known at what hour the thief was is clear that Luke has not simply coming, he would have been awake taken over some traditions from ..." (see Matt 24:43ff.). But Matthew or Matthew's source, but clearly Luke's independent treat­ has added some interesting matter ment of the theme and his readi­ peculiar to himself.26 Plainly he has ness to include matter that no one an interest in the subject. else has preserved are difficult to Luke also has an account of our reconcile with the view that he had Lord's great eschatological dis­ no concern for eschatology.24 course with the well known diffi­ There is a mixture of matter culty of knowing precisely what shared with Matthew and matter refers to the fall of Jerusalem and peculiar to himself in Luke 17:20ff. what to the parousia. But there is Jesus' answer to the Pharisees that no doubt about the section in which the kingdom of God is "among you" Jesus speaks of "the Son of man ( èvrèç Oyûv J25 is in Luke only coming in a cloud with power and as is the reference to the days of great glory." Luke goes on to re­ Lot. Matthew has the reference to cord the words, not found in the Noah as illustrating the unpre- other Gospels, "Now when these paredness that would characterize things begin to take place, look up some when the parousia occurs and raise your heads, because your (Mat 24:37ff.), but he does not have redemption is drawing near" (Lk Lot. Again, Matthew has the in­ 21:27-8). Luke makes a clearer dis­ struction not to come down from tinction between those parts of the the housetop, but in his Gospel it is discourse that refer to the parousia in a different context. There it is and those concerned with the fall connected with fleeing from Jerusa­ of Jerusalem than we find in the lem (Mat 24:17) whereas Luke has other Gospels. G.B. Caird sees in it in connection with the parousia, this Luke's "own peculiar contribu­ apparently to teach that at that day tion to New Testament eschato­ all worldly possessions must be dis­ logy."27 For Luke it is clear that the regarded. Luke also has the refer­ parousia was quite different from ence to two in one bed of whom one the judgment on Jerusalem and he will be taken and the other left writes so as to bring this out. This (Matthew has the similar refer­ does not mean that he was not in­ ences to two in a field and two terested in eschatology. It means grinding in a mill, Mat 24:40-41). It that he saw it clearly. It was not to be confused with any happening 24. I do not discuss the table discourses in Luke 14. Bo Reicke examines them and concludes, "it is during human history. puzzling how prominent exegetes can hold that It is possible that some early Luke has de-eschatologized the gospel. Every word in the passages quoted presupposes a con­ nection between the preaching of Jesus in the 26. James Dunn puts some emphasis on "the fading past, the present missionary situation, and the of the parousia hope" in Luko-Acts (op.cit.. pp. future consummation of the kingdom of God" 346-9). He notices Lucan omissions but he does (The Gospel of Lake. London. 1965. p.81). not give attention to Lucan additions. It seems as 25. G.E. Ladd has a long note on this verse in which though he is saying something like. "If Luke em­ the principal views are stated concisely, with phasizes the parousia he must do it in the same references. He sees the meaning as "the King­ way as do other New Testament writers." He dom was already in their midst, but in an unex­ does not allow for the possibility that the Lucan pected form". He notes that the passage goes on additions show that Luke, too, has an emphasis to the thought that "Hiere remains in the future on the parousia but that he has his own way of a coming of the Kingdom with apocalyptic doing this. power" (Jesus and the Kingdom. London, 1966. 27. The Gospel of St Luke, Harmondsworth. 1963. p.224. n.25). p. 229. 12 LUKE AND EARLY CATHOLICISM

Christians did confuse the parousia men expect for they will be da- with some contemporary happen­ siring to see "one of the days of the ing. After all, no Christian has yet Son of man" and will not see it (Lk experienced the parousia and no­ 17:22).29 He warns his followers body knows what it will be like. not to be led astray by people wtyo Charles E. Talbert thinks that there say, "Lo, there!" or "Lo, here!" were people in the early church When the Son of man comes no one who had confused the parousia will need to be told. His coming wjjll with Jesus' being "received up" be as obvious as the lightning. ( άνάλημψι,ς , i.e., the ascension), However, that cannot be just yqt, and others who apparently identi­ for "first he must suffer many fied it with the Pentecostal ex­ things and be rejected by this perience. He sees Luke as combat­ generation" (Lk 17:25). Ulis does ing all such tendencies and any not mean that Luke has lost interest false teaching that overstressed es­ in eschatology or that his emphasis chatology. He says, is elsewhere. It means that he Exegesis has led to the conclusion refuses to be stampeded into that there are two dominant thinking that the parousia has eschatological emphases in Luke- come or will come prematurely. Acts. One is the proclamation God has a plan and what is in that that the End is near. No real plan cannot fail of fulfilment.30 explanation needs to be given for The relationship between the this emphasis apart from saying ministry of Jesus and the parousia that this is a point of view that at the end of things is not unlike Luke holds in common with much that between the old dispensation of the early church ... The other and the new at the beginning of the eschatological emphasis in the gospel period. Luke has a lengthy Lucan writings is the attempt to introduction in which he has much prevent a misinterpretation of the to say of John the Baptist and of the Jesus-tradition by someone in the connection of the infant Jesus with Lucan sphere of influence to the the temple. The problem of the rela­ effect that the eschaton had been tion between the old and the new and could be fully experienced in covenants is not peculiar to Luke the present.28 (cf. Jer 31:33ff.; Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24 etc.). Indeed, it is not peculiar to It may be that it is this that has Christianity, being found in the given some students the impression writings of the Qumran sect (cf. that Luke is not as interested in Damascus Document, 6.1 Iff.). So it eschatology as some New Testa­ ment writers, for he secures his ef­ 29. N. Geldenhuys comments, "This saying is a strong refutation of the contention that Jesus fect partly at least by stressing that meant that His second advent would follow there are stages in God's plan. The quickly upon His crucifixion" (Commentary on End will come, but it must be pre­ the Gospel of Luke, London. 1952, p.444. n.5) 30. A.R.C. Leaney comments on the words "first he ceded by certain events. must suffer" (Lk 17:25), "An important part of Thus he reports words of Jesus the Lucan eschatology ... it is laid down by scripture that the Messiah must suffer in order which make it clear that the parou­ to enter into his glory" (A Commentary on the sia will not come as soon as some Gospel according to St. Lake, London. 19Ö6. p.231). The important thing is that this is Luke's eschatology. He has his own emphases, but it is a 28. Jesus and Man's Hope, A Perspective Book. Pitts­ mistake to hold that eschatology holds little in­ burgh. 1970, p. 191. terest for him. JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA 13 is not strange that Luke gives atten­ 18:8). More could be added/ tion to it, particularly with ref­ erence to the ministry of John the 5. LUKE AND THE WORD Baptist. He makes it clear that something new and decisive has Luke's treatment of the parousia happened. He goes on to make it then shows no diminution of in- plain that Christianity, while con­ terest in the subject and is no mark tinuous with the Old Testament, is of "early Catholicism". It is also not a patched up Judaism (Lk relevant to notice this evangelist's 5:36ff.). This must be seen as part insistence on his faithful recording of a deep understanding of the es­ of the tradition. The "catholic" sential nature of the Christian gos­ puts his emphasis on the living pel, not as part of a reaction to a tradition maintained by the church. delayed parousia. For him the proper succession of ministers is of fundamental Luke's insistence on the orderly importance. But Luke shows no working out of God's plan does not interest in such a succession. mean that he is by-passing the Elders are indeed appointed in parousia. It does not even mean Acts, but there is no mention of that he did not expect it soon. It is ordination and no indication that often overlooked that he records the elders were in control of the the words of Jesus, "this generation tradition. On the contrary, Luke will not pass away till all has taken seems to be at pains to record what place" (Lk 21:32). This is just as is needed and to see the ministry as definite as anything in the New subordinate to the word. These Testament and it raises the ques­ days we are so busy pointing out tion why Luke has included it if he the implications of the fact that he rejected the imminent parousia. added Acts to his Gospel that we do The passage calls for careful not often pause to reflect that he exegesis and the words have prefixed his Gospel to Acts. Clearly sometimes been interpreted too he has a concern that the authentic confidently. Here I am concerned, tradition about Jesus be preserved. not with their precise meaning, but At the beginning he tells Theophi- with the fact that they witness to lus that he is writing "that you may an interest in an imminent know the truth concerning the parousia. Luke should not be re­ garded as playing down the ques­ 32. For example, there is the point made forcefully tion of when Jesus would come by Bo Reicke that the "joy" passages in Luke, 31 which are unusually frequent, are rightly under­ again. Elsewhere he speaks of a stood only when they are seen as pointing to the eschatological joy made possible for Jesus' fol­ speedy vindication of God's elect in lowers by what he did for them. See his chapter, a context which goes on to speak of "The Joy of the Kingdom of God" (op.cit.. the coming of the Son of man (Lk pp.75ff.J. 33. Opxit. p.362. Cf. W. Ward Gasque. "The lay­ man who hears the suggestion that the speeches 31. Ned B. Stonehouse examines the contentions of of Peter in the early chapters of Acts, the speech some critics that Luke tones down an earlier em­ of Stephen, the Areopagus address of Paul at phasis on the imminence of the kingdom and con­ Athens, and Paul's farewell address to the Ephe- cludes: "There does not therefore appear tobe a eian elders at Miletus are all the literary crea­ solid case for the contention that Luke has sof­ tions of a single mind may be tempted to scoff at tened the prophecies of the imminence of the the absurdity of the suggestion'' (Longenecker kingdom in the interest of adjusting the escha­ and Tenney. op.cit.. p.247). Gasque agrees that tological perspective of primitive Christianity to the language of all the speeches is Luke's, but in­ historical developments" (The Witness of Luke sists that the content is another matter. Luke de­ to Christ. London. 1951. p. 158). pended on sources. 14 LUKE AND EARLY CATHOLICISM things of which you have been in­ Some years back CK. Barrett formed" (Lk 1:4; he has already emphasized the same point though said that he has "followed all he argued it somewhat differently. things closely" and is well He could say, "Luke's stress on the qualified accordingly). Hie Gospel proclamation of the Word ... is thus an authentic, reliable ac­ shows that the Word itself was the count of the things that must be be­ decisive factor" and again, the lieved about Jesus. We should pro­ church is an agency of salvation bably understand the speeches in "only in so far as it provides the Acts in part at least in the same framework within which the way. Luke has put on record what preaching of the Word takes the apostles preached. If there is place."35 any question about the apostolic It must further be borne in mind preaching here is the answer. Dunn that the preservation of the authen­ points out that "the sermons are by tic gospel is important as well as its nò means repeated stereotypes: not enunciation. The Pastoral Epistles one is parallel to another through­ are often viewed as espousing out, each has its own distinctive early Catholicism among other elements ... and the speeches of reasons because of their concern Acts 7 and 17 are quite unlike any that the Christian faith be pre­ of the rest." Luke is setting down served in its purity. Setting aside what the apostles preached, not the fact that some recent ex­ reciting fixed forms. But in the light positors accept these letters as of what he has done church Pauline (e.g. J.N.D. Kelly), the func­ officials are no longer in a position tion of preservation is essential if to put forward their own version of the authentic gospel is not to be Christianity. Luke has given an replaced by something else. As authoritative statement of what the Marshall puts it, "the preservation apostles preached. It is this that of the truth of the Gospel by the Talbert has in mind when he says, appeal to tradition and by the esta­ it is clear that in the Lucan suc­ blishment of the ministry is an inte­ cession the elders are appointed gral part of the whole. While its in order to serve the tradition. function is a subordinate one, it is The church and its ministry are nevertheless an important one in brought under the judgment of the assisting the proclamation of the apostolic word. It is the Word Word of grace revealed in Christ, which legitimizes the church and which is the center of the NT reve­ its ministry and not vice versai lation." If you reject this, he says, "you fall into the errors of a radi­ calism that stands under no aposto­ 34. Op.cit, p.206. He goes on, "It would appear, then, that for Luke the apostolic tradition was. lic authority and may even lose its by his act of writing, crystallized in Luke-Acts." Similarly Conzelmann can say, Luke "does not merely want to complement but to replace his 35. Luke the Historian in Recent Study, London, predecessors. He offers not a contribution to the 1961. pp.72, 74. Ernst Haenchen says, "the real tradition but the tradition" (SLA. p.305}. This is subject of Acts is the λόγος TOO θεοΟ in opposition to Kasemann who says, for exam­ and its growth" (The Acts of the Apostles. ple, that in Luke "the Word is no longer the sole Oxford. 1971. p.49). Cf. ateo I. Howard criterion of the Church, but the Church is the Marshall. "What matters here is not the activity legitimation of the Word and the apostolic origin of the church but the truth of the message. It if of the Church's ministerial office provides the continuity with the apostolic teaching that is of guarantee of a valid proclamation" (New Testa­ supreme significance" Luke: Historian and ment Questions of Today, London, 1969, p.22). Theologian. Exeter, 1970, p.212). JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA 15 hold on the central Gospel itself, short, the church as an institution since there are no safeguards to dispensing salvation, are still com­ protect the truth of the faith once pletely lacking."38 for all handed down to the 36 saints." That Luke is concerned 6. CONCLUSION to preserve what the apostles preached is no necessary indica­ The case for regarding Luke as tion of early Catholicism. It may having perverted the original gos­ mean no more than that he was pel and replaced it with an institu­ vitally concerned for the truth of tional "early Catholicism" thus the Christian gospel. seems to be a very weak one. The It is curious that those who see basis in Luke's treatment of es­ Luke as an exponent of early Catho­ chatology seems erroneous, he in­ licism should make so little of the sists on the importance of the Word fact that his evangelist pays scant and he fails to emphasize and in attention to some important "catho­ most cases even to notice charac­ lic" concepts. Thus he tells us in his teristics in "Catholicism". Talbot can even see him as an exponent of Gospel of the institution of the 39 sacrament of the Lord's Supper, "proto-Protestantism". When the but there is not one place in Acts of view has to be modified so much it which it can be said, "Here is a seems better to abandon it and re­ clear example of holy communion." place it with another which more His references to "the breaking of adequately fits the facts. bread" could all be understood of What Luke is doing is not wrest­ common meals. I am not contending ling with the problem of the de­ that all should be taken in this way. layed parousia and coming up with My point is that no "catholic" early Catholicism as his novel writer would leave such an impor­ solution. He is putting on record an tant point to chance.7 He would accurate account so that Theo- draw attention to the sacrament philus (and others with him) may and make it clear that from the be­ know the certainty of the tradition ginning it was observed in due in which he has been instructed form. A similar observation could 38. Introduction to the New Testament, London, be made about Luke's elders. In 1966, p. 122; he cites authorities for and against Acts we read of the appointment of this view. Elsewhere he questions whether Luke can be regarded as the first representative of elders, but there is not one clear primitive Catholicism "since we encounter example of ordination. This is a neither the church as an institution of salvation nor the sacraments as ecclesiastical means of strange "Catholicism" lacking an salvation" (ibid., p. 102). Conzelmann is another ordained ministry and regular sa­ to list some characteristics of early Catholicism and find them all lacking in Luke's writings or craments! It is not surprising that present only "as initial traces" (SLA. p.304). Goppel t makes the point that when one turns to Werner George Kümmel can query genuine "early Catholicism" the difference from whether Acts is to be associated Luke is marked: "As soon as one compares Luke with I. Clement (a point neglected by Luke's with "primitive Catholicism" be­ critics), it becomes apparent how far he is from cause "firmly established eccle­ 'early Catholicism' " fop. cit.. p.203). siastical officials, apostolic succes­ 39. "The Lucan brand of Early Catholicism (i.e. sion, sacramental priesthood, in canon; apostolic summaries ( = creed?); minis­ try in succession from the apostles; authorita­ tive interpretation of the Old Testament) in cha­ 36. Longenecker and Temiey, op. cit., p.230. racter is 'proto-Protestant.' Sola Scriptura is a 37. Erwin R. Goodenough notices this point (SLA, major plank in the Lucan theological platform pp.51-2). fop. cit., p.220, n.146). 16 LUKE AND EARLY CATHOLICISM

(.κατηχήφης;.). Luke does not Stop than "catholic". To characterize at the end of the life of Jesus as do Luke as "catholic**, even if we the other evangelists, but goes on to prefix the adjective "early", is to a further stage in the unfolding of miss what he is about. In my opi­ God's plan, the preaching of the nion labels like "catholic** and gospel by the apostles and others "protestant** are misleading when with the growth of the church applied to the early church. But if under the leadership of the Spirit we must characterize Luke by one In both parts of his work he shows of them, his emphasis on the writ­ great faith in the written word. ten word surely qualifies him for This is a noteworthy emphasis and the latter. is, of course, more "protestant" ^s

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