Kenneth D. Litwak, «Israel’s Prophets Meet Athens’ Philosophers: Scriptural Echoes in Acts 17,22-31», Vol. 85 (2004) 199-216
Generally, treatments of Paul’s speech note biblical parallels to Paul’s wording but find no further significance to these biblical allusions. This study argues that Luke intends far more through this use of the Scriptures of Israel beyond merely providing sources for Paul’s language. I contend that, through the narrative technique of "framing in discourse", Luke uses the Scriptures of Israel to lead his audience to interpret Paul’s speech as standing in continuity with anti-idol polemic of Israel’s prophets in the past. As such, read as historiography, Luke’s narrative uses this continuity to legitimate Paul’s message and by implication, the faith of Luke’s audience. Luke’s use of the Scriptures here is ecclesiological.
Israel’s Prophets Meet Athens’ Philosophers 215
uses the Scriptures for Christology or promise-fulfillment. He may do
this in some places, but when it is clear that he has used them
otherwise, we should give attention to this evidence in forming a view
about Luke’s approach. I have argued elsewhere that at key points in
Luke’s narrative, he uses the Scriptures of Israel not for Christology
but principally for ecclesiology, to speak to the identity of the true
people of God (39). The results of examining Paul’s Areopagus speech
strengthen this thesis because here too, Luke uses the Scriptures of
Israel, through framing in discourse, to validate Paul’s message and
implicitly, the faith of those who believe Paul’s message. Since they
are validated in this way, they must be the true people of God. Given
that Luke’s use of the Scriptures of Israel in Paul’s Areopagus speech
serves to legitimate the beliefs of the followers of the Way, his
deployment of the Scriptures in Acts 17,16-34 relates to the people of
God, or ecclesiology, not for Christology or to show promise-
fulfillment. This fact should be considered in future studies that assess
the function of the Scriptures of Israel in Luke-Acts. Paul’s Areopagus
speech is only one speech in Luke’s narrative, but the results of this
study show that many other texts should be considered afresh for the
way the Scriptures are deployed in them by Luke and what overall
function scriptural quotations, allusions or echoes serve in those texts.
A brief word should be said about the function of Paul’s speech on
Mars Hill. Irrespective of one’s judgment regarding the relationship
between Luke’s narrative and an actual speech-event at Mars Hill, it
remains the case that Luke has framed his discourse that includes the
speech with scriptural echoes. I do not think that Paul’s original
speech, whatever may be said of it, sought to legitimate his message as
standing in continuity with the message of the prophets of Israel. To
achieve such a result, Paul’s audience would have had to be much
more conversant in the Scriptures of Israel than is likely. In its original
setting the speech most likely was an instance of Paul’s fulfilling his
commission to preach the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles.
Being a Jew, steeped in the Scriptures of Israel, his speech was built
upon scriptural themes but presented in a way that would be
meaningful to his elite Gentile audience. The speech, as Paul spoke it,
was therefore a culturally-sensitive presentation of the gospel. Luke is
responsible for the speech’s present shape and function within his
narrative, and thus responsible for the way the Scriptures of Israel are
(39) LITWAK, “Echoes of Scripture in Luke-Actsâ€.