Trouw aan Wet en Profeten: Lucas en het Jodendom

Loyal to Law and Prophets: Luke and Judaism
It has often been said that Luke is a Gentile and that one of the major themes of Luke-Acts is the rejection of Israel as a preparation for a mission to? the Gentiles. It is the aim of this article to show that according to Luke Jesus and his disciples are loyal to the Law (the Torah) and to prophetic dreams. At the beginning of the Gospel Luke shows that Jesus and John the Baptist were raised in an atmosphere of fidelity to the law, (see Luke 1:6 and 2:22.23.24.39). In the second half of Acts Paul’s insistence on his adherence to the Law is a common theme (Acts 22:3; 23:1; 24:14). According to Acts, Paul is faithful to the law, as is clear from his relations with the Nazirites in Acts 26 and his own vow in Acts 18:18 (cf. Acts 16:1-3). The mission to the Gentiles is legitimized by prophetic texts like Joel 2:28-32 and Isaiah 49,1-6. In these texts these prophets proclaim that God’s salvation is not only for Jews, but that redemption is also possible for non-Jews. Thus, Luke does not reject Israel, but sees the mission among the Gentiles as a consequence of prophetic dreams and as compatible with fidelity to the law.