The Law and the Gentiles in Acts 15

Acknowledgments

When I was a Th.M. student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Illinois, USA), there were times when I walked by the bookshelves of Rolfing Library, I would hope that someday in the bookshelves there could be a book by Peggy Chen. This book is a dream come true. I thank the Peter Lang acquisition editor, Dr. Meagan Simpson for giving me an opportunity to publish my revised dissertation. This book is the revised work of my dissertation of Stellenbosch University, South Africa. I thank Dr. Craig Blomberg (Denver Seminary) for giving me several insightful suggestions on Chapter 2 of this work, dealing with law in the Second Temple period. His comments on Chapter 2 in the peer review of my dissertation, conducted by Peter Lang, helped me to gain my own voice and give my opinion in the midst of the myriad of discussions on the law of the Second Temple period. I have rewritten Chapter 2 of my dissertation, with the help of Dr. Blomberg’s most helpful suggestions.

I thank my parents for their long-suffering support. I am fortunate to have parents who believe in education and who support their children to complete their dreams. They endured with me in getting my Ph.D. and now with getting my dissertation published. Helping their daughter to complete a publication of a book is their joy and honor. I thank my friend Susan Fan for her prayers for me since my days in TEDS. I thank my students in Holy Light Seminary, Kaohsiung, ←ix | x→Taiwan for their prayers for me to finish this book. I thank my colleague Dr. Rebecca Doyle for help with English of certain parts of this book. During her busy schedule, she went out of her way to help with proofreading and editing some parts of this book. I thank my friend Rev. Jeff Ho (Gurnee Chinese Christian Church) for driving to Wheaton college to get the two books I need. I thank God for His faithfulness in upholding me throughout the process of revision.

Abbreviations

Introduction

This work studies Luke’s presentation of Peter’s speech and James’ speech in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 in light of Luke’s portrayal of Jesus’ comments on the law in the Gospel of Luke. The work argues that in Luke’s Acts 15 account, as the early church faces the demand to have the Gentile believers circumcised and ordered to keep the law, Luke’s representation of Jesus’ teachings of the law in the Gospel of Luke can be used for the resolution of the problem posed before the Council. In the account in Acts, Peter’s talk of the cleansing of the heart (Acts 15:9) recalls Jesus’ teaching of the cleansing of the inside in Luke 11:37–41. James’ use of the Scriptures to speak of Gentiles called by God’s name seeking the Lord (Acts 15:17) recalls Jesus’ reading of the Scriptures as containing the preaching of repentance for forgiveness of sins in his name (Luke 24:47–48).¹ In Luke’s depiction, taking up Jesus’ interpretation of the Scriptures, James emphasizes that Gentiles are included among the people of God as Gentiles through calling upon the name of Jesus.

Through his presentation of Peter and James using Jesus’ comment upon the law to solve the law problem for the Gentile believers, Luke² stresses that the Gentile believers do not have to be circumcised and keep the law because the identity marks of the Jesus movement are the purification of heart and calling upon the name of Jesus. To Luke, having their hearts cleansed by God and their act of ←1 | 2→calling upon the name of Jesus are sufficient for the salvation of the Gentile believers; thus, the keeping of the law has no bearing for them in terms of salvation.