Why Foreign Missions? 11. Luke and the Isaianic New Exodus
The previous section argued that Luke uses Psalms
104-108 to frame the salvation historical narrative of Israel that comes to
include the Gentiles. He also uses
Isaiah 40ff for the same purpose. This
point has been argued in detail by David Pao, and the following points present
his argument. Pao’s thesis is that ‘the
scriptural story which provides the hermeneutical framework for Acts is none
other than the foundation story of Exodus as developed and transformed through
the Isaianic corpus.’[1] This is an important matter for a biblical
theology of missions, for Is. 40ff is the key section of the Old Testament for
the mission of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the early Church.
Pao brings to attention the fact that Luke
apparently frames his two volume work—Luke and Acts—with quotations from
Isaiah:
Lk.
3.4-6 (John the Baptist) from Is. 40.3-5 (the passage also explains calling
Christianity ‘the Way’ in Acts 18-19 and 24; so also Is. 43.16-19)
Lk.
4.18-19 (Jesus’ first sermon) from Is. 61.1-2
Acts
8.28-33 (the Ethiopian eunuch) from Is. 53.7-8
Acts
28.25-27 (why Jews’ reject Paul’s message in Rome) from Is.
6.9-10
The quotation from Isaiah 40.3-5 expands the
passage that Mark quotes (1.3). Thus the
text not only functions (1) as a prophecy about John the Baptist’s ministry but
also (2) points to God’s salvation that will come to (3) all flesh. Also, the larger context of this passage, Is.
40.1-11, introduces four themes of importance to Luke:
1.
The restoration of the people of God (Is. 40.1-2). This theme is related to the idea of comfort—God
comforting his people in restoring them from exile (Is. 49.13) and rebuilding
Jerusalem (Is. 51.3; 52.9). Simeon
speaks of the ‘consolation of Israel’ (Lk. 2.25; cf. Is. 40.11). The underlying Greek for comfort/consolation
is parakaleō and its cognates, which has to
do with God’s coming salvation in Is. 35.4; 40.1, 11; 49.10, 13; 51.3,
12; 57.18; 61.2; 66.10-13.
2.
The universal revelation of God’s glory/salvation (Is. 40.3-5). This theme has to do with God’s return to
Zion. As he bares holy arm to reveal his
glory and salvation for Israel, all the nations are witnesses (Is. 42.4, 23;
49.6; 51.4-6). Moreover, when God calls
the nations, they come running (Is. 55.5).
3.
The power of the word of God and the fragility of the people (Is. 40.6-8). Pao argues that the main ‘character’ in Acts
is God’s Word; if so, Isaiah can also be cited as relevant for this theme. God’s Word goes forth and will not return
(Is. 45.23; 55.10). God’s powerful Word
contrasts to the impotence of the nations’ idols (Is. 40.18-20; 41.5-7; 44.9-20;
46.5-7). Note Acts 19.20: ‘the word of the Lord grew mightily
and prevailed.’ The theme of God’s
Word overcoming idols in Acts should also be noted.
4.
The restoration of the people of God (Is. 40.9-11). This theme of restoration beginning from
Jerusalem is found in Is. 52.7-10 and 2.3, as it also is in Acts 1.8.
Is. 40.1-11 also introduces the theme of the new
exodus (see also Is. 43.16-19; 44.26f; 51.9-11; 52.12 (cf. Ex. 23.20). The new exodus theme is also combined with
the new creation theme in Isaiah (40.12-31; 42.5; 43.15-21; 44.24; 45.9-18;
48.12f; 50.2; 51.9-11, 12-16). In this
way, the restoration of God’s people, Israel, is part of a larger plan of salvation
for all peoples: Is. 40.5 and 49.6.
Pao argues that the identity of God’s people and
the means God uses to save his people changes in Isaiah and in Luke-Acts. Isaiah opens up the identity of God’s people,
and Luke understand the Church to be God’s people (Acts 9.2; 19.9, 23; 22.4;
24.14, 22). A passage in the Community Rule at Qumran also references
Is. 40.3 to identify the wilderness as the place for restoring God’s people,
uses the term ‘the Way’ to refer to God’s plan, and understands that the
identity of God’s people will be different, since deceivers will be separated
out from them (1QS 9.16-21; cf. 1 QS 8.13-16).[2] The means by which God restores his people is
through the proclamation of God’s Word—a Word about what he has done in Jesus
Christ. The Spirit-empowered disciples
are witnesses of the work of God (Acts 1.8, 22; 2.32; 3.15; 5.32; 10.39, 41;
13.31; 22.15, 20; 26.16) and so are the means by which God’s Word is spoken.
For Jesus’ first sermon (Lk. 4.16-30), given in
Nazareth, he reads Is. 61.1-2c and part of Is. 58.6. This quotation involves a figurative redefinition
of God’s people as Israel restored from captivity.[3] Jesus’ sermon, however, redefines this ‘Israel’
so as to include Gentiles—a point that nearly gets him killed on the spot. Paul frequently turns from Jewish synagogues
to the Gentiles (Acts 13.14; 14.1; 18.19; 19.8; cf. 17.10).[4] Moreover, Luke does not limit himself to
taking the ‘poor’ lot of God’s people figuratively, since Jesus’ ministry
includes the actual poor, marginalized, and needy (cf. Lk. 7.22).
Isaiah 49:6 is
an important text for Luke:
… he says, "It is too light a thing that you
should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the
survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my
salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
This passage
is quoted in Acts 13.47[5] and is
alluded to on three other occasions: Lk. 24.44-49; Acts 1.8; and Acts 26.23
(cf. ‘light to the nations’). The
text appears at the end of Luke’s first volume, foreshadows what appears at the
beginning of Luke’s second volume, in Acts 1.8, and is alluded to once more
towards the end of the second volume, in Acts 26.23. The phrase ‘end of the earth’ appears in both
Acts 1.8 and 13.47. The disciples will
be Jesus’ witnesses from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. The phrase ‘ends of the earth’ can be found
in Isaiah, in 8.9; 48.20; 62.11, as well as in 49.6. Pao suggests that Acts 1.8 should be read
not as the geographical expansion of the Church but in terms of (1) Jerusalem
as the place where God’s salvation dawns; (2) Judea and Samaria as a reference
to the reconstitution of Israel; and (3) ‘ends of the earth’ as a reference to
the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s salvation.[6]
In conclusion, we see from Pao’s helpful analysis
of Luke’s use of Isaiah that the second exodus motif is important for Luke’s
understanding of salvation history and its climax in Jesus Christ. The restoration of God’s people from
captivity involves a redefining of the identity of God’s people (this need not
require our speaking of a ‘replacement’ of Israel by the Gentiles in Luke any
more than this is the case in Isaiah, though) and of the means by which God’s
restoration occurs—through the preaching of the Word. Thus Luke’s mission theology, like Matthew’s,
is an interpretation of Isaiah in
light of the coming of Jesus Christ.
[1] David
W. Pao, Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus
(Grand Rapids , MI
[2] Pao,
Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus, pp.
66-67.
[3]
This point was previously made by Max Turner, Power From on High: The Spirit in Israel’s Restoration and Witness in
Luke-Acts (Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), p. 250.
[4] Pao,
Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus, p.
82.
[5]
Pao notes that Acts 13.46-47 transfers the servant role of Isaiah from Jesus to
the early Christian missionaries (Acts
and the Isaianic New Exodus, p. 100).
[6]
Pao, Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus,
p. 95.
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