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Durham E-Theses The theology of god and the gentile mission in acts Muthuraj, Joseph Gnanaseelan How to cite: Muthuraj, Joseph Gnanaseelan (1995) The theology of god and the gentile mission in acts, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5357/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk THE THEOLOGY OF GOB AND THE GENTILE MISSION IN ACTS by Joseph Gnanaseelan Muthuraj The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology University of Durham 1995 1^ JUN 1995 11 ABSTRACT The present study aims to investigate Luke's theology of God in the accounts of the mission to the Gentiles in Acts. In Acts, God is portrayed as the cause of the mission. It is God who inaugurates and guides the Gentile mission. For Luke, God who acts is God who has fixed the times and seasons. The mission is described as part of God's times, past, present and future. It is mission by God. The Gentile mission is also mission about God. The 'cause' of the mission becomes the 'content'. This fact is not widely recognised by studies in Luke-Acts. 'God' is prominent in the speeches in the Gentile mission narratives of Samaria (8: 4-25), Caesarea (10: 33- 43), Lystra (14: 8-18), Athens (17: 16-34) and Ephesus (19: 21- 41). We examine these narratives to analyse the speeches in their immediate contexts provided in the narrative itself. Except in Ac. 10, Luke's contexts contain details concerning Gentiles' belief and worship of god/goddess/gods which in Luke's view represent false notions about God. The fundamental issue in the theology of God in all these narratives is confusion of the human with the divine. That men and works of men are neither God nor manifestations of God is the essence of the theological kerygma. In Ac. 10, Peter's own wrong notion of God is corrected and his new knowledge about God leads to the conversion of the Gentiles. God who is proclaimed to the Gentiles is God who does 'mighty acts'. We consider two more narratives, 12: 21-24 and 28: 1-10, in which Gentile notions of god are presented without kerygma attached to them. The former can be classified with the mission narratives since all of them function as model settings to Luke's readers, illustrating how mission ought to take place in circumstances in which similar false understandings of God are found. The latter episode is an example of Luke's positive use of Gentile notions of god as 'justice' to attest the innocence of Paul, the prisoner and missionary to Rome. In the description of the Gentile mission in Acts, Luke emerges as a theologian of God. Ill CONTENTS Preface Vll Abbreviations ix I INTRODUCTION 1.1 God and the Gentile mission 2 1.1.1 God is the cause 2 1.1.2. God is the content 4 1.2 Methodology 7 1.2.1 Kerygmata and kerygmatic settings 7 1.3 The task and the scope of the present study 1 0 1.3.1 Mission by God 1 0 1.3.2 Mission about God 10 Part I: MISSION BY GOD 11 KNOWING GOD'S TIMES 15 2.1 Introduction 15 2.2 Ac. 1: 4-8 1 6 2.2.1 God's xpoi^oL and Kaipoi 1 7 2.2.2 Incomprehension of God's times 1 9 2.3 Ac. 10: 3-32; 44-48 - 21 2.4 Ac. 11: 1-18 26 2.5 Ac. 13: 46-48; 14: 27; 18: 6 2 7 2.6 Ac. 15: 1-18 28 2.7 Ac. 22: 12-21 30 2.8 Ac. 28: 28 30 2.9 Conclusion 3 1 Part II: MISSION ABOUT GOD Introduction: Pentecost and the Gentile Mission 3 3 111 SAMARIA (8: 4-24): THE POWER OF GOD, GREAT ., 3 6 3.1 Introduction 3 6 3.2 Mission by Philip (vv. 4-13) 3 7 IV 3.2.1 Kerygmatic context 3 8 3.2.1.1 Simon Magus in Acts 3 8 3.2.1.2 Simon - the Power 'of God' (v. 10b) 4 0 3.2.1.3 Simon - 'Great' 4 2 3.2.2 The kerygma 4 5 3.2.2.1 The presence of God's Kingdom (v. 12) 4 6 3.2.2.2 Christ - the Power of God 5 1 3.2.2.3 Christ - 'Great' 5 6 3.3 Mission by Peter (vv.14-24) 5 8 3.3.1 God, the 'giver' of the Holy Spirit 5 8 3.4 Conclusion 6 1 IV CAESAREA (10: 34-43): GOD IS IMPARTIAL 6 3 4.1 Introduction 6 3 4.2 God accepts (v. 35) 6 4 4.3 Conclusion 6 5 V CAESAREA (12: 20-24): GOD NOT MAN 6 6 5.1 Introduction 6 6 5.2 The theological issue 6 7 5.2.1 A comparison between the versions of Luke and Josephus 6 7 5.2.2 God, not man (v. 22) 6 9 5.3 Herod did not give glory to God (v. 23): The Lukan interpretation 7 4 5.3.1 'Glory' in Luke 7 5 5.3.1.1 The 'glory' of man 7 8 5.3.1.2 The 'glory' of God - 'God of Glory' 8 3 5.4 'God' in the versions of Luke and Josephus 8 8 5.5 Conclusion 9 0 VI LYSTRA (14: 8-18): GODS IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN 9 1 6.1 Introduction 9 1 6.2 The kerygmatic context: The narrative framework (vv.8-14) 9 1 6.2.1. The healing of the lame man (vv. 8-11): A comparison with Ac. 3: 1-10 9 2 6.2.2 The theological issues 9 5 6.2.2.1 The significance of the acclamation (v. 11) 9 5 6.2.2.2 Healing gods and the epiphanies of gods 9 5 6.2.2.3 Men named after the gods (v. 12) 99 6.2.2.4 Sacrifices offered to men (vv. 13, 18) 103 6.3 The kerygma 106 6.3.1 The speech (vv. 14-17) 106 6.3.1.1 The preface (v. 14): The apostles and God 107 6.3.1.2 The speech proper (vv. 15-17) 111 6.3.1.2.1 Apostles are men 111 6.3.1.2.2 The living God 112 6.3.1.2.3 The life-giving God 118 6.4 Conclusion 121 VII ATHENS (17: 16-34): THE UNKNOWN GOD 123 7.1 Introduction 123 7.2 The kerygmatic context: The narrative framework (vv. 16-23) 123 7.2.1 The city was full of idols (v. 16a) 124 7.2.2 Stoics and Epicureans (v. 18a) 125 7.2.3 Paul, the preacher of 'foreign divinities' (v. 18c) 127 7.2.4 In every way you are cos SeLaLSaL^-oveaTepoug (v. 22) 131 7.2.5 The altar to "Ayvoiorog Qeos (v. 23) 132 7.3 The kerygma: The content of the speech (vv. 24-31) 134 7.3.1 God and the World (vv. 24-25) 135 7.3.1.1 God, the Creator and Lord 135 7.3.1.2 Polemical argument I: The significance of xeipoTTOLTiTos 138 7.3.1.3 Polemical argument II: The significance of {iTTO xcLpwv dv0ptO7TLVCaV 141 7.3.2 God and his Offspring (vv. 27-29) 144 7.3.2.1 Polemical argument III: The significance of evQv\^.T\oe(^)g di/0pWTTou 147 7.3.2.2 'In him we live, move and have our being' 150 7.3.2.3 God is not far from each one of us (v. 27b) 152 7.3.2.4 Stoics and Epicureans: Implicit Polemics? 153 7.3.3 God and the Earth (v. 26) 156 7.3.3.1 God and the nations 157 7.3.4 God and the Inhabited World (vv. 30-31) 167 VI 7.3.4.1 God and the times 169 7.3.4.2 God and the Christ 171 7.4 Conclusion 174 VIII EPHESUS (19: 23-41): MAKING GODS 177 8.1 Introduction 177 8.2 The theological issue: The speech by Demetrius (vv. 25-27) 177 8.2.1 The theological kerygma: The polemic against 'gods made by hands' 181 8.2.1.1 The OT perspective 183 8.2.1.2 Hellenistic Jewish literature 185 8.2.2 The participation of the Jews 187 8.3 An apologia for Paul and his companions: The speech by the town clerk (vv. 35-40) 190 8.3.1 Attitude to other gods 192 8.4 Conclusion 194 IX MALTA (28: 1-10): PAUL.