Writings’ historical purpose
The writing of Acts of the Apostles, John and Luke’s gospel had a historical purpose. The historical factors motivated and influenced the books’ writers, especially because of what the writers went through as they wrote the books. There is a unique and close relationship between the Acts and Luke’s book. The author of the books is the same individual, and their writing involved a common purpose. According to Hwang, he addressed Theophilus, a Christian (Hwang et al. 683). The writing’s main purpose was to give him an extensive, clear, and easy to understand the narrative of the early Christian’s history and movement. The information had to include the utmost authenticity. According to Luke, the writing on the life of Jesus at the gospel’s beginning had a high dependence on the eyewitnesses (Stanton and Graham, 117). There is much information in the introductory paragraph of Luke’s book, which specifically gives a New Testament writer knowledge about the narratives related to the book’s writing. Luke did not depend on the fusing together different writings from different books. Instead, he heavily relied on his thought and contributions. Luke went ahead to select and organize his materials. The use of different books includes Mathew’s gospel, and Mark’s gospel proved vital to him. The author also included the different teachings of Jesus that are absent in other gospels (Carroll et al. 400). It is worth noting that most evangelists talk about the discourses of Jesus to his disciples regarding the end world, which is an aspect that Luke does not focus on. In the later stages of the book, Jesus goes to Jerusalem and meets the disciples. He washed their feet as a sign of humility, an element that drove away from their suspicions (Balentine and Samuel, 20). As a witness who was with Jesus the entire time, he was best placed to understand the events and happenings during their time together, and writing the books was a way of recollection of what he saw with his eyes.
Paul, a great friend of Luke, was known as the ‘Apostle of Gentiles’ by different Christians. Paul interpreted Christianity to be a universal religion, which is a move that played a great role in the elimination of the misunderstanding between the Gentiles and the Jews. According to the two companions, every person is a sinner, and there is a great need for salvation. There is no exception to individuals when it comes to salvation. The statement is visible as Luke presents Jesus’ genealogy. Therefore, the historical purpose depicted covers the writing of the three books. It was an important moment in history that a vacuum had been left after the ascendancy of Jesus Christ, and the apostles had to step in and spread the gospel that they had witnessed. Further, the church needed guidance and direction, a role that many of the apostles had to assume to make sure that the miracles and life of Jesus would be testified to get many other people saved and avoid sin.
References
Balentine, Samuel E. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Theology. Oxford University Press: 2014 (The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Theology), Chapter “Luke-Acts.”
Carroll, John, and Jennifer Cox. Luke: a Commentary Westminster John Knox Press, 2012 (Luke: A Commentary), pp. 398-404.
Hwang, Won-Ha, and Jan Gabriel Van der Watt. “The identity of the recipients of the Fourth Gospel in light of the purpose of the Gospel.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 63.2 (2007): 683-698.
Stanton, Graham.The Gospels of Jesus. Oxford U. Press 2nd ed., 2002, (The Gospels of Jesus), pp.116-118.