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

(those fearing God, the fearers of God, the God-fearers) in Acts
10:2, 22; 13:16, 26 and , ( those worshipping, the worshippers, the
devout ones) in Acts 13:43, 50; 16:14 17:4, 17. The expression as a
technical or formal designation for a special group of persons indicates Gentiles who feared
the God of Israel and attended synagogue on the Sabbath, as well as gave alms and prayed to
the God of Israel, but who stopped short of becoming proselytes to Judaism (including
circumcision and observance of the Law). 126
J. Nolland argues that the intended reader of Luke would be a God-fearer as a Gentile by
birth who is drawn into the group on the verges of the synagogue, and who is attracted to the
Jewish belief in one true God. A God-fearer would have experienced the ambiguity of his
position in terms of Judaism, that is to say, in the case of the crucial divide, they still were
reckoned as outside the promises of God. On the other hand, for a God-fearer, Christianity
which can fully “embrace him in his Gentile identity” is viewed as “the completion and
fulfillment of the Judaism.” Furthermore, a God-fearer in Luke-Acts would have been no
stranger to the Christian gospel, since he would have touched the gospel through “an
127
evangelistic itineration like those attributed to Paul in Acts.”
Fearers in Acts: A Reconsideration,” JSNT 13 (1981), 102-22; A.T. Kraabel, “The Disappearance of the ‘God-
Fearers,’” Numen 28 (1981), 113-26; idem, “The God-Fearers Meet the Beloved Disciple,” in ed., B.A. Pearson,
The Future of Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 276-
284; T.M. Finn, “The God-Fearers Reconsidered,” CBQ 47 (1985), 75-84; J.J. Gager, “Jews, Gentiles, and
Synagogues in the Book of Acts,” HTR 79 (1986), 91-99; F. Millar, “Gentiles and Judaism: God-Fearers and
Proselytes,” by E. Schürer; revised and edited by G. Vermes, F. Millar and M. Goodman, The History of the
Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, III. 1 (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986), 150-76; Esler, Community
and Gospel in Luke-Acts: The Social and Political Motivations of Lucan Theology, 24-33; J.A. Overman, “The
God-Fearers: Some Neglected Features,” JSNT 32 (1988), 17-26; J. Jervell, “The Church of Jews and
Godfearers,” in ed., J.B. Tyson, Luke-Acts and the Jewish People: Eight Critical Perspectives (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1988), 11-20; Nolland, Luke, p. xxxii; J.T. Sanders, “Who is a Jew and who is a Gentile in the
Book of Acts?” NTS 37 (1991), 434-55; J.B. Tyson, Images of Judaism in Luke-Acts; idem, “Jews and Judaism
in Luke-Acts: Reading as a Godfearer,” NTS 41 (1995), 19-38; R. Gagnon, “Luke’s Motives for Redaction in
the Account of the Double Delegation in Luke 7:1-10,” NovT 36 (1994), 122-45; M.C. deBoer, “God Fearers in
Luke-Acts,” in ed., C.M. Tuckett, Luke’s Literary Achievement: Collected Essays (JSNTSup 116; Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 50-71; J.M. Lieu, “The Race of the God-Fearers,” JTS 46 (1995), 483-501;
Gary Gilbert, “The disappearance of the Gentiles: God-fearers and the image of the Jews in Luke-Acts,” Putting
body & soul together (1997), 172-84; D.A. Koch, “The God-Fearers between Facts and Fiction: Two
Theosebeis-Inscriptions from Aphrodisias and Their Bearing for the New Testament,” Studia Theologica, 60
(2006), 62-90.
126. P.R. Trebilco, Jewish Communities in Asia Minor (SNTSMS 69; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1991), 150, 248 n. 24. See also, K.G. Kuhn, “,” TDNT, VI, 727-44; S.J.D. Cohen, “Respect for
Gentiles in the Writings of Josephus,” HTR 80 (1987), 409-30, here 30; J. Lieu, “Circumcision, Women and
Salvation,” NTS 40 (1994), 358-70, here 364-67.
127. Nolland, Luke, p. xxxii.
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