the role of the lukan parables in terms of the purpose of luke's gospel

from sin, and by Jews returning to God. The terms and in the New
Testament are used chiefly to express acknowledgment of sin and wrongdoing, and resolve to
change, especially concerning specific sins, either by Christians, non-Christian Jews, or non-
Christian Gentiles. As a consequence, conversion in the New Testament is both a change in
thinking and behaviour which entail a change in thinking with regard to the life and ministry
of Jesus. Conversion in the New Testament also denotes the very appropriate human response
to sin and wrongdoing. It is reorientation of life as a fundamental change of one’s life. 11
The Old Testament understanding of conversion can be said to be as follows: 1) The
fundamental meaning of conversion is “turning away from evil” and “turning to God” in line
with renewal of the covenantal relationship between God and the people of God. That is
attendant on the radical rejection of other gods and exclusive commitment to God. 2) The
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message of conversion is chiefly directed to the people of God, not to others. That is to say,
conversion in the Old Testament, as opposed to the New Testament, is not a missionary
activity of getting converts to a religion. This is not to say that making proselytes is not
important to Judaism. 3) Conversion demands inclusion in the worshipping community by
the covenant ritual of circumcision. 4) Conversion is not a singular event, but an ongoing
process of realignment to God. 5) Conversion has symbolic acts or the rites of repentance,
such as the confession and penitential prayer for forgiveness, fasting, sackcloth and ashes,
water rituals and concrete changes in ethical behaviour. 13
To sum up, with respect to the New
Testament concept of conversion, one of the most important influences is very much the Old
Testament. In other words, the concept of conversion in the Old Testament continues to flow
through and develops in the New Testament.
14
In Jewish sources, such as the Wisdom of Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Prayer
of Manasseh, Joseph and Aseneth, the writings from Qumran, Flavius Josephus and Philo of
Alexandria, the terms , , are generally used to express the change of mind
11. Nave, The Role and Function of Repentance in Luke-Acts, 120-36.
12. Christopher J.H. Wright, “Implications of Conversion in the Old Testament and the New,” 14.
13. Tobias Hägerland, “Jesus and the Rites of Repentance,” NTS 52 (2006), 166-187; Witherup, Conversion in
the New Testament, 17-18, enumerates ten major ways as the main ideas of the OT understanding of conversion.
See also J.N. Bailey, ‘Repentance in Luke-Acts,’ 28-121.
14. See J.N. Bailey, ‘Repentance in Luke-Acts,’ 29-51; Nave, The Role and Function of Repentance in Luke-
Acts, 70-118: Fernando Méndez-Moratalla, The Paradigm of Conversion in Luke, 23-55; Andrea Lieber, I set a
Table before You: The Jewish Eschatological Character of Aseneth’s Conversion Meal,” JSP 14.1 (2004), 63-77;
James G. Crossley, “The Semitic Background to Repentance in the Teaching of John the Baptist and Jesus,”
138-157, here 145-154; Sterling, “Turning to God: Conversion in Greek-Speaking Judaism and Early
Christianity,” 74-88.
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