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

Jesus and the church. Thirdly, Jesus and his followers lean in a Jewish direction. 33
On the other hand, J. Sanders goes further by arguing that, according to Luke, Judaism
stands in error and is replaced by Christianity. The same can be said of Jewish Christianity
too. Consequently, Gentile Christianity is the legitimate successor to Moses, the Prophets and
biblical Israel. In other words, Luke portrays Christianity as the true and authentic Judaism,
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expressing as the people of God, and people, . In contrast to the church,
the Jewish people are described as incorrigible. Furthermore, Luke shows how the Jewish
people have rejected Jesus, the gospel and the church through major figures such as Jesus,
Peter, Stephen, and Paul. For Luke repentant Jews are at no point different from unrepentant
Jewish people in the sense that both seek to justify themselves on the grounds of Moses. 35
Although his suggestion gives us insight into anti-Judaistic trends in Lukan texts, he is
missing more important features in which Luke tries to lessen this negative and critical stance.
Winn, Maddox and Sanders’ points are vulnerable, in that they fail to allow for enough
texts where Luke not only values Judaism positively, but also strives to diminish Jewish guilt
for rejecting Jesus. Their results are not well balanced in pivotal aspects. Given the tendency
to develop the two opposing Jewish veins on the basis of the idea of a faithful remnant of the
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OT in Luke-Acts, it is tenuous to identify Luke’s purpose as an anti-Jewish theme.
1-6. An interest in evangelism
J. Dupont feels that Luke is primarily interested in the universality of salvation. He strives to
show Luke’s overarching theological theme by means of a comparison between the
introduction and conclusion of Luke-Acts. According to him, Luke exposes his strong
theological concern that the salvation of God is manifested to all men, by citing Isa 40:5 at
the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, and at the conclusion of Acts, using words that remind
us of the text in the introduction of the Gospel. In this way, Dupont discovers Luke’s
emphasis of the universality of salvation, a comparison between “to all nations” (Luke 24:47)
and “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In the end, Jesus’ mission is completed in Acts by
33. J.L. Houlden, “The Purpose of Luke,” JSNT 21 (1984), 53-65, here 54-56.
34. J.T. Sanders, The Jews in Luke-Acts (London: SCM Press, 1987), 97.
35. Ibid., 317.
36. For this, see J. Jervell, “The Divided People of God: The Restoration of Israel and Salvation for the Gentiles,”
in Luke and the People of God: A New Look at Luke-Acts (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Pub. House, 1979),
41-74; D. Tiede, “Acts 1:6-8 and the Theo-Political Claims of Christian Witness,” WW 1 (1981), 41-51;
Houlden, “The Purpose of Luke,” 63; R.L. Brawley, Luke-Acts and the Jews: Conflict, Apology, and
Conciliation (SBLMS 33, Atlanta: Scholars, 1987); G.N. Stanton, “Luke and People of God,” Paper presented
to the Divinity Faculty (University of Aberdeen, February, 1991).
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