Luke's Pauline Theology

Jimmy Myers takes up a classic problem in New Testament studies: whether and how far Luke, Paul's earliest biographer, belongs together theologically with the apostle to the Gentiles. The question is pressing because, for over fifty years, the dominant position in NT studies has maintained that, though Luke admired Paul and made him the central figure in his second volume, Luke's theology does not conform to Paul's and therefore cannot serve as a reliable guide to understanding Pauline thought. To test this scholarly consensus, the author examines the perspectives and convictions of Paul, Luke, and other early Messiah-followers in the first and second centuries CE on four topics that have long buttressed the dominant view: natural theology, theology of the Law, Christology, and eschatology. The study's approach is both descriptive and comparative. In each chapter the author offers a thick description of the views and postures of Paul and Luke on the relevant topic and then comparatively synthesizes their convictions by drawing other early Messiah-followers into the comparison. While Paul and Luke are not identical at every point and diverge notably on the Law, they nonetheless share significant theological convergences on all four topics, which (i) call for a revision of the standard view which has dominated the field, (ii) highlight the areas in which Luke helps readers interpret Paul well, and (iii) invite a reconsideration of Luke's historical companionship with Paul.