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.
200 Kenneth D. Litwak
well-recognized assessment. Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to
Damascus bears the marks of a prophetic commissioning. Acts 9,15-16
describe Paul’s future ministry as bearing witness to the Lord before
the Gentiles (2), much like the description of the mission of the Servant
of the Lord in Isa 49,6. Likewise Acts 22,14-16 speaks of Paul hearing
the voice of the Lord and bearing witness of the Lord before people. In
Acts 26,16-18 Paul recounts the Lord appearing to him and telling
Paul to be a witness and to open the eyes of the blind and bring light
to darkness, reminiscent of Isa 6,9-10 and 9,1-2. In Acts 13,1, Luke
narrates that prophets and teachers are assembled in Antioch. In Acts
13,2, the Holy Spirit calls for setting apart Saul and Barnabas to the
work to which he has “called†them. This probably suggests that Saul
and Barnabas are understood to be prophets by virtue of this “callâ€. In
Acts 13,46-47, Paul describes the mission that he and Barnabas are on,
citing Isa 49,6 as justification for their approach. Paul himself thus
characterizes his ministry in the words spoken by Isaiah of the Servant
of the Lord. It would therefore be no surprise to Luke’s audience to
see Paul speaking as a prophet in Acts 17 (3).
2. Intertextual Echoes of Scripture in Acts 17,22-31
This much-discussed speech has been explored under many topics,
such as the concept of natural theology. I am concerned with Luke’s use
of intertextual echoes from the Scriptures of Israel, which have received
little scholarly attention beyond acknowledging parallels between the
LXX and Paul’s words (4). Many authors, especially in commentaries,
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argues that in the Lukan Journey narrative, Jesus is presented as a rejected
Deuteronomistic prophet, and the parallels in Paul’s journey to Rome show that
Luke viewed Paul in the same way.
(2) N.A. BECK, “The Lukan Writer’s Stories about the Call of Paulâ€, SBL
Seminar Papers, 1983 (SBLSP 22; Chico, CA 1983) 214, states that the Lukan
writer’s presentation of Paul’s conversion was probably also influenced by Dan
10,2-21.
(3) This characterization of Paul as a prophet is strengthened later in Acts.
For example, in Acts 26,16-18 Paul describes his commission in terms
reminiscent of Ezek 2,1-2 (Ezekiel’s commission), Jer 1,9 (Jeremiah’s
commission) and Isa 42,6-7, 26-27 and 49,6 (commissioning of the Servant of the
Lord), and in Acts 28,25-28 where Paul first cites Isa 6,9-10 and then alludes to
Isa 40,5. See H.W.M. VAN DE SANDT, “Acts 28:28: No Salvation for the People of
Israel? An Answer in the Perspective of the LXXâ€, ETL 70 (1994) 349.
(4) See, for example, H. KÃœLLING, Geoffenbartes Geheimnis. Eine Auslegung
von Apostelgeschichte 17, 16-34 (AThANT 79; Zurich 1993); C. CARAGOUNIS,
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