Jesus and His Witnesses as Prophets in Luke—Acts

The author of the two-part work Luke—Acts uses three main narrative strategies to portray Jesus and His witnesses as prophets. First, characters like Jesus, John the Baptist, and the apostles Peter and Paul consistently act like Israel’s prophets. Also, their words or deeds sometimes call a specific prophet to mind. Additionally, other characters in the narrative recognize them as prophets.

Approaches

This tendency in Luke—Acts has been examined from various perspectives in recent decades. Literary critics have identified parallels between Jesus and Moses in the Gospel of Luke that contribute to Jesus’ portrayal as a prophet who twice experiences rejection from His own people. They have also highlighted that Jesus’ prophecies of Jerusalem’s doom echo the oracles of prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Luke’s Gospel firmly places Jesus within Israel’s prophetic tradition: when Jerusalem rejects God’s prophets—in this case, Jesus—it sows the seeds of its own destruction.

Additionally, the similarities between Luke’s Jesus and Elijah and Elisha suggest that Luke may have used the Elijah—Elisha story as a prototype. This finds theological support, as both the Elijah and Elisha stories and Samuel’s birth and infancy narrative figure prominently in Luke’s construction of salvation history in the story of Jesus.

Prophetic Characters

The first prophetic character in Luke—Acts is John the Baptist. Like Samuel, John is born to a barren woman in answer to his parents’ prayers (Luke 1:7, 13; compare 1 Sam 1:2, 5, 10–11). Other parallels with Samuel include John’s Nazirite vows (Luke 1:15; compare 1 Sam 1:11, 22) and his growth (Luke 1:80; compare 1 Sam 2:21, 26.). Filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:15), John prophesies the coming of the Messiah as an adult (Luke 1:41; 3:16–17). Both Zechariah and Jesus recognize John as a prophet (Luke 1:76; 7:26).

Luke also compares the infant Jesus to Samuel. Like Samuel’s mother Hannah, Mary glorifies God for His mercy to the poor (Luke 1:46–55; compare 1 Sam 2:1–10) and brings her son, along with an offering, to the temple (Luke 2:22–23; compare 1 Sam 1:24). Like Samuel, Jesus grows in favor with God (Luke 2:40, 52; compare 1 Sam 2:26). Filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22; 4:1), Jesus pronounces prophetic judgments as an adult (Luke 3:19; 13:1–5), knows people’s thoughts (Luke 6:8; 7:39–40; 9:47; 11:17), and foretells future events (Luke 10:19; 12:50; 13:32–33; 17:25). His prophecies concerning Jerusalem (Luke 19:41–44; 21:20–24; 23:29–30) elicit comparison with some of Israel’s prophets, since they echo phrases in the Old Testament (e.g., Deut 32:35; Hos 9:7; 10:8, 14; Zech 12:3; Isa 29:3; Jer 6:15; 21:7; 26:10; Ezek 32:9). These comparisons convince people that Jesus is a prophet (Luke 7:16; 9:8, 19; 20:6; 24:19).

Luke’s portrayal of Jesus resembles Samuel, Hosea, Zechariah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, as well as Elijah and Moses. The parallels between Jesus and Elijah are particularly evident. Like Elijah, Jesus is a miracle-working prophet. He heals many, including a paralytic (Luke 5:17–26), and resuscitates a widow’s only son (Luke 7:11–17; compare 1 Kgs 17:17–24). He also ascends into heaven (Luke 24:50–51; Acts 1:9–11; compare 2 Kgs 2:9–12).

In Acts, the comparison of Elijah with Jesus is extended to Peter and Paul. Like Elisha, Peter and Paul receive the spirit of their mentor (Acts 2:1–4; 9:17; 13:9; compare 2 Kgs 2:15) and perform His miracles, healing paralytics (Acts 3:1–10; 14:8–10) and raising the dead (Acts 9:36–43; 20:7–12; compare 2 Kgs 4:32–37). In addition, Luke—Acts portrays Peter and Paul as prophets in their own right. They experience prophetic calls (Luke 5:1–11; Acts 9:1–9) and see visions (Acts 10:9–16; 16:6–10). Each pronounces prophetic judgments (Acts 5:1–11; 8:14–24; 13:4–12) and foretells future events (Acts 5:9; 20:23). Peter and Paul inherit the prophetic ministry of Jesus—which, like the ministry of Elijah and Elisha, extends through them to the Gentiles (Luke 4:25–27; Acts 10; 13–20).

Acts also makes it quite explicit that Jesus is the prophet like Moses as foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15 (Acts 3:22–23; 7:37). By comparing Jesus with Moses, Luke illustrates a theme articulated he articulates repeatedly (Luke 4:24; 13:33–34; 24:29–30; Acts 7:51–52): Israel consistently rejects God’s prophets. Stephen’s speech particularly shows how both Jesus and Moses are rejected not just once, but twice. Moses saves an Israelite only to suffer rebuke (Exod 2:11–14). After this first rejection, he returns to lead the people out of Egypt and into the wilderness (Exod 4:27–14:31), where they worship a golden calf (Exod 32:1–6). Similarly, Jesus comes to save a people who reject Him (Acts 3:13–15; 7:34–36, 52). Jesus’ apostles then make a second offer of salvation (Acts 3:17–26)—an offer that is also rejected (Acts 7:38–60).

Jocelyn McWhirter