Church as the ‘Hermeneutic of the Gospel’: a study of the themes of ‘message’, ‘response’, and ‘community’ in Luke-Acts

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the themes of ‘message’, ‘response’, and ‘community’, in Luke-Acts, with particular attention focused on John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Early Church. The ‘message’ sections will enquire into the content of the truth claim being made in the proclamation by these different characters. The ‘response’ sections will focus on what changes might be demanded of the people as a result of the articulation of these new realities. And the ‘community’ sections will address the communal implications that arise for those willing to respond positively. It will be argued that at each stage of the narrative there is an essential connection between the truth claim being articulated, the response demanded in light of these claims, and the shape of the community that is formed as a result. It will be demonstrated that these themes develop and progress alongside the narrative until the reader is presented with a picture of the Early Church in the summary passages of Acts that function as the model par excellence of their intended integration. For here, the people are said to welcome the message of God’s salvation, respond in obedient repentance, and live lives of such deep fellowship that they are seen to embody the very reality proclaimed in the word of God. They become, as it were, the ‘hermeneutic of the Gospel’.