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.
214 Kenneth D. Litwak
and validation. David Lowenthal states that “the past validates present
attitudes and actions by affirming their resemblances to former ones.
Previous usage seals with approval what is now done. Historical
precedent legitimates what exists today†(37). By looking back to the
revered past, and showing how the present is like it, historians validate
present events. So, by showing that Paul’s speech shares continuity
with the sacred oracles of Israel’s prophets in the past, and reflects the
provocation of God and God’s servants towards idols in Israel’s
revered past, Luke uses the Scriptures of Israel, through framing in
discourse, to validate or legitimate Paul’s message.
This validation is important because it implies that Paul’s
interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel, both here and elsewhere, is
correct, over against other groups that claim to have the correct
interpretation. This enables Luke to use the Scriptures to legitimate the
faith of his audience, as they have believed the message concerning
Jesus, which Paul preached. Since Paul’s message is legitimated, those
who believe this message are legitimated.
c) Implications for Luke’s Use of Scripture Elsewhere
This conclusion has important ramifications for the study of
Luke’s use of the Scriptures of Israel. First, this text shows that it is
necessary to have a larger database than some of the quotations and
obvious allusions to the Scriptures in Luke-Acts to determine how
Luke used the Scriptures of Israel. It is obviously appropriate to
consider quotations, but my study demonstrates the need to go beyond
only some quotations, such as those of purported Christological
significance (38). Should not Luke’s use of Scripture in Paul’s address
at Mars Hill be considered in determining how the Scriptures function
in Luke’s narrative? Granted, intertextual echoes do not supersede or
trump quotations, but can we say that we have truly studied Luke’s use
of the Scriptures of Israel if we leave out data that has importance for
this question? This speech, and by implication, other places in Luke-
Acts where Luke has used the Scriptures of Israel through both
quotations and intertextual echoes, that are not generally considered in
assessing Luke’s use of Scripture, ought to be included in such a study.
Second, Luke’s use of the Scriptures in Paul’s speech shows that
we should not accept without questioning the conclusion that Luke
(37) D. LOWENTHAL, The Past Is a Foreign Country (Cambridge 1985) 40.
(38) See chapter one of LITWAK, “Echoes of Scripture in Luke-Acts†for a
summary of the approaches to Luke’s deployment of the Scriptures of Israel.