Luke, and the Cultural transition of the Gospel

Sir William Ramsay quotes a commentator on Luke as saying he "can be as Hebraistic as the Septuagint and as free from Hebraisms as Plutarch" and that Luke can be Greek when describing Greek society and Hebrew when describing Hebrew society.

Relate those comments with Andrew Walls' theory that the Gospel transitioned cultural mileu at specific times in history. It seems to me that in Luke we are seeing an early example of the transition of the Gospel to Greek culture.

Luke then stands out as unique among the New Testament writers, as someone fully Greek but with a firm understanding of the Hebrew culture.

Hanged on a Tree

Feature Article from Solomon's Portico



Editor's note: Justin Martyr d. 165AD, was an early Christian apologist and Philosopher. His conversation with an Hellenistic Jew named Trypho is recorded in an ancient book called "Dialogue with Trypho". The book is fascinating in many respects not the least of which appears in the following article.

In "Dialogue with Trypho" Justin mentions Deu 21:23 as evidence that Jesus was the Messiah because he was crucified, therefore being accursed by God and bearing the curse that was due us.

Trypho doesn't argue the translation in this instance, but rather argues that death by crucifixion was an unworthy death for the Messiah. Trypho agrees that the the Messiah must suffer but not by crucifixion and so disagrees with Justin that Deu 21:23 (and Gal 3:13) speak of Jesus.

Trypho does disagree in some places on the differences in translation between the Hebrew text and the Septuagint, but not in this case.

In this way the cross has become a stumbling block for the Jews as mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians.

reference

Dialogue with Trypho ch 32
And when I had ceased, Trypho said, "These and such like Scriptures, sir, compel us to wait for Him who, as Son of man, receives from the Ancient of days the everlasting kingdom. But this so-called Christ of yours was dishonorable and inglorious, so much so that the last curse contained in the law of God fell on him, for he was crucified." (one thing that isn't debated is the existence of Christ)


Deu 21:23
"his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.

Gal 3:13
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"."

1Cr 1:23
"but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, "

An interesting note, in the prologue to Dialogue with Trypho, the men who were with Trypho did not participate in the debate between Justin and Trypho. Rather they left to discuss the war in Judea at the time, this would have been the Bar-Khokba revolt.

Bar-Khokba in Aramaic "Son of a Star" was hailed as the Messiah by Jews of that period.

Luke and Greek Rhetoric in the Bible

Feature article from Solomon's Potico



"About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way"
Here Luke uses a "Litotes" which is a form of Greek rhetoric, which seeks to express something by stating the opposite.
The phrase "no little disturbance" actually means a great disturbance.
See also Acts 21:39 "a citizen of no mean city" another example of a litotes.
Some of the most popular English translations do not translate the litotes "no little disturbance" as it appears in the Greek but rather it's actual meaning is translated.

for example...

NKJV, And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way

NIV, About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way

Although no meaning is lost in these translations, it seems to me that some of the prose and character is lost by removing the Greek rhetoric from the verse. The original cultural character of the idiom is lost by translating it into plain English.

Another example of Greek rhetoric in Luke's Gospel is called an exordium, which is a form of introduction to a discourse or essay. An exordium lays out the purpose of a discourse and prepares the audience's frame of mind to receive the intended message.

some examples...

Luke 1
Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

Against Apion, Josephus
I Suppose that by my books of the Antiquity of the Jews, most
excellent Epaphroditus, have made it evident to those who
peruse them, that our Jewish nation is of very great antiquity,
and had a distinct subsistence of its own originally; as also, I
have therein declared how we came to inhabit this country wherein
we now live.

Both Luke and Josephus use the same rhetorical vehicle in setting the tone for their discourses.