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

P. Esler feels that the primary concern of Luke-Acts is to legitimize relations between
Jewish and Gentile Christians in Luke’s community, in which the Gentile Christians are
composed mainly of God-fearers who were associated with a synagogue. The Cornelius story
in Acts 10:1-48 is pivotal for Esler, since the episode shows “essential prerequisites for the
conversion of Gentiles to Christianity.” This “little-noticed but highly important fact”
manifests in Peter’s statement in Acts 10:34-35 that “in very nation () the person who
fears God and does righteousness is acceptable to him,” 128 that is, “And Peter opened his
mouth and said: Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone
who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35). In a similar vein,
J. Jervell also contends that Luke did not try to welcome or to convert Gentiles who have no
knowledge of the Torah to Christianity, but only God-fearing Gentiles. Along this line, Paul’s
mission to the Gentiles () becomes, as a matter of fact, a mission to God-fearers, in
line with the Cornelius episode, with its conclusion in Acts 11:18, “When they heard this they
were silenced. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted
repentance unto life’” (Acts 11:18). As a result, Luke’s community is composed of Jews and
God-fearers who believed in Jesus, and not of pagan Gentiles. 129 However, having examined
materials relevant to this theme, J.T. Sanders concludes that there is no evidence supporting
that the readers of Luke-Acts would have understood the term as a reference to Godfearers.
In his view, the term in Luke 21:24-25 and 24:47 does not favour the
understanding as ‘God-fearers’, as in Acts, and the term in Acts 9:15, 21:21 and
22:21 must be understood as Gentiles as such, not as God-fearing Gentiles. 130
On the other hand, with a literary approach, Tyson holds that a literate Gentile God-fearer
familiar with Jewish literature and practices is suitable for the implied reader of Luke-Acts.
He enumerates seven points concerning the implied reader’s knowledge: well-educated
person, being familiar with some public figures, knowing only the Greek language, having
knowledge about public affairs, having an acquaintance of common Greek and Roman
measurements and coinage, having a limited knowledge of both pagan and Jewish religions
131
and being familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures in their Greek translation. Luke-Acts may
now be approached as an evangelistic text which is addressed to God-fearers: “Positive
128. Esler, Community and Gospel in Luke-Acts: The Social and Political Motivations of Lucan Theology, 36-
45.
129. Jervell, “The Church of Jews and Godfearers,” 11-20.
130. Sanders, “Who is a Jew and who is a Gentile in the Book of Acts?” 434-55, especially 450.
131. Tyson, “Jews and Judaism in Luke-Acts: Reading as a Godfearer,” 24-25.
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