New Testament Selections

Luke

Luke is probably written fairly late -- estimated dates of composition range from 80 to mid-first century; it may, however, be even later, into the second century, which would make it the latest written of all the gospels. 

As we can tell from internal evidence (Hebrew words are translated, Hebrew customs are explained, geographical places and buildings are defined), Luke is written by a Gentile and a Christian for people who are already Christians, and who are probably not Jewish and probably not wholly or even mostly from the area of Galilee/Jerusalem.

Also, the writer of this gospel (who may have lived in Rome) is anxious to make it clear that neither the Romans nor any other Roman-appointed authority was responsible for the execution of Jesus.

He also takes a lot of care to support the idea that Jesus (and therefore his followers) are law-abiding: that they are not rebels, in other words, and would never think of causing trouble or arguing with an emperor.

All this argues for a date of composition for Luke of well past 80 A.D.

The writing style is very literary and very good -- our writer is obviously highly educated, unlike Matthew and Mark’s writers. He also knows what a book is supposed to look like, as is evidenced by his introduction and his transitions, as well as his ability to use foreshadowing and continuity.

Luke 2: Notice how everyone does what they’re told. Everyone obeys in Luke (except the bad people).

Luke 2.25-36: Signs & wonders, meant to show that this leader was more than just a human rebel.

Luke 2.41-50: This story exists for a couple of reasons -- the main one is to show that Jesus was not, in fact, despite all those wicked rumors, nothing but a tektwn -- an interesting word, usually translated as carpenter, which it could in fact mean – but since the historical Jesus was from Galilee, a very poor area, and an area where mixed-race Jews were known to live, it may be more likely that he was a day-laborer, another meaning of tektwn.

In any case, in the other gospels, people (that is to say, the scholars and upper-class people he encounters, and rebels against) are always surprised to find that he is clever, and can argue successfully with him.

He is not, we might note, shown to be especially educated in those texts. He’s just very smart, and very wise. Here in Luke, though, we are given a Jesus that is, in contrast, well-educated: he can study Torah with the scholars of the Temple even at 12 years old (not even a man yet, according to Jewish law) and hold his own. 

Luke is attempting, in other words, to give Jesus an academic pedigree, some authority for the spiritual arguments and decrees he had made.

Luke 2.49: Jesus’s parents come looking for him, and he says, Why did you seek me? Did you not know that it is right for me to be involved in the dealings of my father? (ουκ ήδειτε ότι έν τοις του πατρος μου -- Εν τοις, in these (things) του πατρος μου of my father).

The word translated “It is right” here is ήδειτε, with the root δεῖ -- a difficult one to translate. It means something like “right” “ought” “necessary,” or “should.” It’s deontic, in other words, a moral term.

Luke 2.51: On the other hand, he goes back with Mary and Joseph and is “subject unto them” – although he’s the son of God, and so smart he can out-think rabbis in the temple, he goes home and is obedient to his parents. This is what matters to the writer of Luke: obedience. That’s the ethos he wants to transmit.

Matthew

Matthew is the text that was written by a Jewish Christian for the Jews. At the time this was written, Christianity was a sect of Judaism. The focus of this text is on the Jews. Now and then, this Jesus might throw a crumb to the Gentiles – but Matthew is making it very clear that this Messiah is here for God’s chosen people: the Jews.

Notice also that Jesus has not come for the rich and powerful Jews – those who have cooperated with the Romans and those who are ruling the province – but with the poor and the dispossessed, the street Jews, the working class Jews, like Jesus himself.

The text of Matthew, like the text of most of the NT, is written almost entirely in Koine Greek. (A few words are in Aramaic. For instance, in the Garden of Gesthemene, Jesus calls God Abba, Aramaic for Daddy, which is very touching, frankly – he doesn’t say, Father, take this cup from me; he says, Daddy, take it from me; and also on the cross, he calls out in Aramaic, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani (ελωι, ελωι, λεμα σαβαχθανι)?

Aramaic was the language most working class Jews would have spoken at the time, so if Jesus was born into the family of a day-laborer, that’s the language he would have grown up speaking.

But the written languages, the languages spoken by those who were educated, would have been Koine (or common) Greek and Vulgate (common) Latin. So when the time came to write down the doings and sayings of Jesus, that’s the language that gets used.

Matthew 5-7: The Sermon on the Mount.

Good stuff here. Notice that the Sermon on the Mount is set up to be parallel to Moses going up the mountain to get the Torah; but notice also the important differences.

(1) Jesus takes the people with him – that’s the most important difference – and (2) Jesus tells the law, rather than writing it down.

Why are these differences so essential?

Because the laws are shared with the people, not handed down from above; and because the people are not educated, nor expect to be educated. They’re not scholars; they are workers. This revolution, led by Rabbi Jesus, is a revolution of the people, not a revolution of Pharisees and Sadducees.

Some important bits:

5.17: Here in Matthew, he says he’s not going to change the law, not a jot or tittle of it. That’s important for his Jewish audience. Remember the Torah is what has been holding them together.

5.21ff: The thought is as important as the act. You don’t have to do murder or adultery or theft; you only have to desire to do them. One is as bad as the other. Thinking about doing evil is as bad as doing evil. Hating your brother is as bad as murdering your brother. The harm is not what you do to your brother; the harm is what you do to yourself and what you do to your brother.

5. 38ff: Do not resist an evil-doer. No fighting back. If someone steals your coat, give them your shirt too. If someone begs from you, give to them. Love your enemies. Be perfect, like God is perfect. 

6.5ff: No praying in the streets or in public. Go pray at home in private. Who are you trying to impress, God or your neighbor? If you’re trying to impress your neighbor, then fine, pray in the street, and you’ll get your reward – your neighbor will be impressed. But God won’t be listening, because you’re not praying to him.

6.12: Forgive your debtors, and God will forgive what you owe him. This one’s important, because if we make people pay us back, then we live in a society filled with people who are in debt all the time – a debt society, a society filled with debt-slaves – and we will never then have a society of brothers: only owners and slaves. And someone who is in debt, and enslaved because of debt, is always going to be thinking mostly about money; someone who is rich, and owns people because of that wealth, is always going to be thinking about the people he owns, and his wealth.

6. 19: (This one is my favorite) Don’t store up treasures on earth. Put your treasure in heaven. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ßRemember who Jesus is talking to. Why might he be telling them this?

6.24: Other reasons not to worry about getting rich.

7.12: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you: this is the law and the prophets (i.e. that’s the whole of the Torah, as Rabbi Hillel said).

Matthew 13: Parables

Why does he always speak in parables? Why can’t he just say what he means? Well, of course, sometimes he does. (See the Sermon on the Mount.) But, as he says here, sometimes stories are a better medium.