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Lesson OneLuke–John: The Gospel According to Luke and John5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoJesus and John: Two Miracle Births5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeWho IS This Man?: The Beginning of Jesus' Ministry5 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Participants 101
Discussion Questions
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After learning about the gospel of John, why do you think he chose to focus the first half of his book on seven miracles or signs from Jesus? How did this help John accomplish his purpose that was discussed in the lesson?
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John presents Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. He presented these seven miracles as proof that Jesus is God.
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John shows us that Jesus is God as he claimed. He also shows us the different reactions people had to the miracles, both believing Jesus is the Christ and refusing to believe Jesus was sent from God.
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John does that because he wanted to portray Jesus as God with his miraculous powers. This helps John to portray Jesus as both God and man.
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John chose to focus on the miracles so we could see that Jesus did have the power of God the Father. It illustrates the verse John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
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John understood his audience–groups who understood that Jesus is God, but who were conflicted in comprehending Jesus as a human. By focusing on the miracles of Jesus, John is combining both of these attributes of Jesus: He is God and is able to perform miracles. He is also man who recognizes and addresses struggles of humans who deal with consequences of sin.
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Dr. Blomberg says, “Luke clearly seems to have been a Gentile.” What significance do you see in this? How might this have affected how Luke’s gospel was written and how it was received at the time it was written?
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If Luke was a gentile, then we get a perspective on Jesus, a jew, in terms of the gentile world of the time. Since God sent both Peter and Paul to spread the news to the gentile world, we gain a gentile worldview of the gospel of Jesus.
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The fact that at least one of the New Testament books, and one of the four Gospels at that, was written by a Gentile would have shown the early church that God really was redeeming the Gentiles and making them equal believers with the Jewish Christians. The way that Luke writes is to explain things to a non-Jewish audience who wouldn’t have the same Old Testament background and understanding. He explains more terms and uses less “shorthand” or “Christianeeze” wording, which made it easier for his Gentile readers to understand. This also would have served the Jewish believers as well who would get to see Jesus from a different perspective. The fact that Luke is a doctor and therefore educated may have helped as well.
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Being a Gentile sharing Jesus’ ministry would have given Luke a better opportunity to reach the Gentiles
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I think it is very significant that Luke seems to have been a Gentile. As a Gentile, Luke would have brought a very different perspective to the life and ministry of Jesus, as well as the prophecies Jesus came to fulfill and His role as Savior. This perspective would have influenced what he included in his account and how we wrote about it. This also seems to have influenced his style of writing, since Luke is following a more Greek way of writing an historical account of Jesus’ life. All these distinctives would have benefitted a more Gentile audience, since they would be maybe more familiar with the Greek ways of writing or recording events, as well as the fact that they would not have been as knowledgeable about the Jewish scriptures. It seems only natural to conclude that a Gentile audience would be more receptive to, and better able to understand, an account written by a Gentile author. This would be essential as Christianity began to spread beyond Palestine and into the rest of the Roman world.
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Luke is considered likely to have been a Gentile, this is significant in how the gospel was written because for Luke, Gentiles were marginal people compared to Jews. He might have wanted to present a wider scope of the Gospel. By giving parables that everyone could relate to, helps deliver the message of salvation for all people, Jews and Gentiles, too.
