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Introduction Part 2

Email questions regarding this or any other teaching to mjohnson@calvaryspringfield.org

Luke 1:1-4 

The purpose of the book of Luke was to build faith with certainty.

Characters and Groups


Luke
He was not an apostle.
He was closely associated with Paul
He was an educated non-Jew who converted to Jesus.
When he became a follower of Christ is not certain.
What we do know: 

  • He joined Paul on his second missionary journey at Troas and went with him to Philippi. 

  • He also went with Paul on his third missionary journey. This ended in Jerusalem and with Paul's arrest. 

Luke uses historical references and people to tie his story together and give it a timeline.

 

John the Baptist
He was the predicted forerunner of Jesus
He was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. 
He retreated into the desert as a young man. 
He came as an Old Testament prophet calling for repentance and baptism by immersion.
He announced God’s message that the Christ they longed to see was to come.
Luke covers the miracle and announcement of John’s birth in great detail, and some of his teaching.



The Herods

Herod the Great
He was appointed to rule Judea.
He was ruthless and deadly
Upon Herod’s request, his lands were divided among three of his sons:

  • Archelaus was left on the throne.

  • Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee.

  • Philip was tetrarch of Gaulanitis.

He was ruler over all of Judea from 37-4 B.C.
We find him in the early chapters of Luke and Matthew.

 

Herod Antipas was son of Herod the Great, the tetrarch ruler of Galilee and Perea from 4 B.C.-39 A.D. Tetrarch referred to the ruler over the fourth part of a province
He was a builder. 
He had left his first wife and married Herodias. 
He imprisoned John the Baptist, and had him executed at the desire of his wife.
Jesus was sent to him by Pilate.

 

Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great
He ruled from 37 A.D. to 44 A.D. 
Sent to Rome to be raised after his grandfather killed his father.
He was raised in privilege and luxury.
Herod Agrippa I was appointed King over several territories.
Herod Antipas appealed for the same title
Herod Agrippa I leveled charges against his uncle and his uncle was dismissed
Herod Agrippa I pleased his Jewish subjects by living a strict Jewish life.
He ruthlessly persecuted the Christians.  
The story of his death is in Acts 12. He was killed by an angel.

 

Agrippa, great-grandson of Herod the Great and son of Herod Agrippa, succeeded his father as Ruler of Galilee in 44 AD. 
He was 17.
He heard Paul’s appeal in Caesarea and would have let him go if he had not appealed to Caesar. 
Paul was aware that he had studied Jewish customs and the growing Christian community closely, and appealed to him about Jesus. 
He lived until A.D. 100 and was the last of the Herods
We see him in Acts 25-26.

 

Annas was appointed High Priest in A.D. 6.
It was a lifetime appointment, but the Romans wouldn’t let one man have that kind of power. 
There was a series of High Priests that Annas controlled.
After Jesus was arrested, an informal hearing was held before Annas and they tried to manufacture charges against Jesus.

 

Caiaphas was Annas’ son-in-law and was the High Priest at the time of Jesus’ trial
The Sanhedrin convicted Jesus and sent him to Pilate.
He was an enemy of the early Church and did whatever he could to persecute the Church. 

 

Sanhedrin, the high court of the Jews, presided over by the High Priest. Its seventy-one members included: chief priests, elders, and teachers of the law. They ruled on all things Jewish

 

Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees.
Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior.
The Pharisees were strict adherents to the laws of the Old Testament and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.
The Pharisees also twisted the law to suit their purposes. 

 

Sadducees, the other main Jewish political party. Traditionally run by ruling class of priests and rejecting doctrines not in the Law (resurrection, retribution in a future life, and the existence of angels). Annas was most likely part of this group.

 

Tax Collectors, also known as publicans (publicanus), charged tolls and taxes on behalf of the Roman government
These private government subcontractors would tax travelers who were carrying merchandise between properties or delivering goods along certain well-defined roads. Tax collectors earned a profit by demanding a higher tax from the people than they had prepaid to the Roman government. This system led to widespread greed and corruption. 
Jews viewed such favor for Rome as betrayal and equal to treason against God. Rabbinic sources consistently align Jewish tax collectors with robbers.

Jesus welcomed repentant tax collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus, but would also align the greedy ones with prostitutes
Jesus used their name at times in positive ways in His parables.


Samaritans 
Jews saw Samaritans as the enemy.
After the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, these people tried to maintain an identity as Israelites who worshiped the God of Israel on Mount Gerizim near Shechem. 

Jews in the south around Jerusalem had a different view of the Samaritans. They saw them as descendants of foreigners whom the Assyrians brought in to replace the exiled Israelites in 721 B.C.

But Jesus also made Samaritans heroes of His stories to show the Jews the need for forgiveness, humility, acceptance, and mission.

This helps us see how shocking the stories of Jesus would have been to the Israelites.


Jesus spoke with authority.  





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