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

collective people of God after the exaltation of Jesus. 22 The sermon of Peter and the apostles
before the High Priest and the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:27-32 puts its emphasis on the exaltation
of Jesus by God. “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). Conversion in this speech, as in the
aforementioned preaching, is rightly associated with Jesus’ exaltation as well. In order to be
forgiven, it is imperative that the Simon Magus repents of his wickedness concerning the
intent of his heart that he will offer money for the gift of the Spirit. “Repent therefore of this
wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be
forgiven you” (Acts 8:22). However, there is at no time a reference to conversion with
relevance to Simon Magus’ indulgence in magic or divination. The story of the Ethiopian
eunuch’ conversion in Acts 8:26-40 is the first occurrence of Gentile converts beyond the
boundaries of the Jewish religious communities, even though Luke designates the Cornelius
narrative in Acts 10 as the first Gentile convert. In the narrative flow throughout Acts, the
Ethiopian eunuch is not so much the ideal or typical convert as a symbolic convert who, as in
Acts 1:8, goes across the limits of Luke’s geographical world and beyond Luke’s religious
community. 23
Along the same lines of the story of the Ethiopian eunuch’s conversion, the
story of Cornelius and Peter in Act 10:1-11:18 can be interpreted. The vision of Peter is
intimately coupled with that of Cornelius, thereby changing his thinking of the conversion
and inclusion of Gentiles. “And Peter opened his mouth and said: Truly I perceive that God
shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is
acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35). The promised word of Acts 1:8 that the gospel will reach
the end of the earth is now being fulfilled in this conversion story. In the same vein, two
stories of conversion, Lydia (16:11-15) and the jailer in Philippi (16:16-34) can also be
considered as the fulfillment of Acts 1:8, in which case conversion seems to be a proper
response to the Gospel proclaimed by apostles. The stories of Paul’s conversion (Acts 9:11-18;
22:1-16; 26:1-23) is more rightly understood in the aspects of conflicts between Judaism and
Christianity than in that of the fulfillment of Acts 1:8. Each version of Paul’s conversion story
not only contains an instruction about his mission as apostle to Gentiles (Acts 9:15-16; 22:14-
15; 26:16-18), but also two versions of that lie in polemical conditions for the Gospel before
22. David W. Pao, Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus (WUNT 2:130; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000), 138-40;
Ravens, Luke and the Restoration of Israel, 152.
23. Gaventa, From Darkness to Light, 98-107, especially 106, contends that there is nothing to buttress the idea
that the Ethiopian eunuch, according to F.F. Bruce, must have followed the conversion pattern established at
Pentecost as a typical conversion. See F.F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans,
1952), 194.
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