This paper investigates the use of Abraham in the Gospel of Luke. Multiple figures in the Gospel of Luke speak of the historical figure Abraham and interpret the coming of Jesus as Messiah in relation to God’s promises to Abraham. References to Abraham occur when Jesus teaches about faith and participation in His kingdom—an endeavor often seized by those thought of as spiritual outsiders in the social structures of Jesus’s day. In this paper, I demonstrate how Luke’s portrayal of Abraham equips the modern church for the task of global evangelicalism.
At five points in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus describes his messianic ministry in relation to Abraham. First, in Luke 13:10-17, Jesus heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath in a synagogue. When Jewish leaders chastise Jesus for performing this work on the Sabbath, Jesus responds that the Sabbath day is an ideal time to free this woman. Though she is a daughter of Abraham (Luke 13:16), she had been bound by Satan for eighteen years. Second, Jesus’s description of the kingdom of God as the place of banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Luke 13:28) reflects John’s perspective that the children of Abraham respond to the Messiah by practicing righteousness (Luke 3:7-17).
The most concentrated number of references to Abraham in the Gospel of Luke occurs in Jesus’s story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Here, as in Luke 13:28, Abraham is described as participating in the domain of eternal peace, accompanied by Lazarus, who now enjoys all the things he lacked in his former earthly situation (Luke 13:25). What is unique in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is Abraham’s eschatological authority, pronouncing judgment upon all who ignore God’s past revelation in his word and even the message that might accompany someone risen from the dead (Luke 16:31)—no doubt a proleptic reference to Jesus’s resurrection as the Messiah.
Fourth, Jesus describes Zacchaeus as a son of Abraham (Luke 19:9). Jesus’s statement reflects his pronouncement regarding the crippled daughter of Abraham who had been healed in the synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 13:16). Jesus calls Zacchaeus and the crippled woman children of Abraham—worthy of the Messiah’s attention—despite the fact both are considered outsiders and unclean by the religious leaders of the day.
Finally, when responding to the Sadducees’ question about the resurrection (Luke 20:37), Jesus cites Moses’s statement in Exod 3:6 as evidence that the dead, including Abraham, are raised.
My initial goal for this research is to identify points of contact and diversity in the way that Abraham is cited in the Gospel of Luke. I suggest that the aforementioned references to Abraham in Luke’s Gospel can be organized under two headings: (1) Jesus as the Messiah who expands the Boundaries of Salvation (welcoming the unclean and sinners), and (2) Jesus as the Messiah who contracts the Boundaries of Salvation (condemning the physical descendants of Abraham who practice unrighteousness). These headings serve as the outline for the presentation of this paper. My research squares with the attested ‘reversal of fortunes’ theme in the Gospel of Luke and provides a framework for the task of global evangelicalism. We can expect God to draw those who might be considered outsiders to become insiders.
From this research, I want my readers to (1) understand the continuity and discontinuity between the Old Testament and the Gospel of Luke, (2) identify the unique way that Jesus portrays Abraham as an eternal authoritative figure in the Gospel of Luke, often cited in scenes or statements of judgment, and (3) find hope in the God who will yet bring outsiders into His kingdom as we engage the tasks of global evangelicalism.