LUKE: INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERARY STRUCTURE

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Literary Quality

For many years and from many sources, praise of Luke’s literary prowess in composing this book has been effusive. This would certainly lead one to expect that the overall structure of this Gospel is especially well crafted. This expectation is heightened when one considers Luke explicitly states in his Prologue that he set out “to write an orderly account.” The much debated definition of the key word in this phrase has been described by various scholars as “chronological in a fairly general manner,” “a running chronological account,” “well-ordered and comprehensive,” “with care, precision and design,” “systematic,” “reordered logically,” “lucid,” “possessing a logical and artistic unity,” and “sorted and brought into meaningful relationships.” The existence of an ordering principle underlying the book is thus not in doubt, merely the specific nature of that principle.

Divisions in the Gospel

Price somewhat optimistically states, “There is a wide measure of agreement concerning the organization of the subject matter of Luke.” Marshall, on the other hand, is unduly agnostic in saying, “Any attempt to divide up the Gospel into whatever sections were in its author’s mind is speculative and there is no consensus of opinion on the matter.”  The overall structure proposed for this Gospel is first of all dependent on determination of the limits of each individual section. Without going into the details on how these were deduced, suffice it to say that it mainly involved searching for symmetric literary structures that also possessed internal thematic coherence.

Proposed Chiastic Structure

The next test of these proposed divisions was to see if any natural groupings of these sections formed a symmetrical structure. One such pattern is shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 1: Overall Chiastic Structure for the Gospel of Luke

I. Birth and Childhood (1:5-2:52)

II. Beginning of Ministry and Opposition (3:1-4:30)

III. In the Synagogues (4:31-6:11)

IV. Acceptance and Rejection of the Word (6:12-7:50)

V. The Kingdom of God (8:1-56)

VI. Jesus and the Disciples (9:1-50)

VII. Jesus causes division (9:51-10:42)

VIII. Blessings and curses (11:1-12:34)

VII'. Jesus causes division (12:35-13:21)

VI'. Jesus and the Pharisees (13:22-16:31)

V'. The Kingdom of God (17:1-18:17)

IV'. Acceptance and Rejection of the Word (18:18-19:46)

III'. In the Temple (19:47-21:38)

II'. Climax of Ministry and Opposition (22:1-23:25)

I'. Jesus’ Death and Resurrection (23:26-24:53)

Confirmation of this outline comes in two forms. First is the observation of Brawley that “according to thematic development from Luke 11:13 through Luke 24:49 [almost identical to the second half of the recently proposed structure], the group assumes identity as God's children who receive the promise of the Spirit from their divine parent.”  Next are specific parallels identified between corresponding sections. As illustrative examples, only the first such pair will be discussed in any detail here.

Sections I (1:5-2:52) and I' (23:26-24:53)

The pattern of organization in the first major section has been discussed more than any other in Luke’s Gospel. Fitzmyer rightly remarks that “none of the analyses of the structure has been able to avoid a certain amount of subjectivism.” The proposed structure below has the advantage of possessing a completely symmetrical organization

Figure 2: Section I

A. Temple witness to John the Baptist (1:5-25)

B. Gabriel and Elizabeth witness to Jesus (1:26-56)

C. John the Baptist is born (1:57-80)

                                    C'. Jesus is born (2:1-21)

B'. Simeon and Anna witness to Jesus (2:22-40)

A'. Temple witness to Jesus (2:41-52)

(a) This whole unit is framed by temple scenes and has five occurrences of soter/soteria in the center four sections.

(b) Section I is unified by its many references to Genesis 18.

(c) Section IC is marked by occurrences of “salvation” at 1:69,71, and 77.

(d) Mary appears to be the main witness to the events in sections A and A'. Her internal reactions are recorded in 1:29 and 2:51b.

(e) The births in IB and B' result in hymns to God with similar beginnings and conclusions:

 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel” (1:68)... “to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (1:79)

            “Glory to God in the highest” (2:14a)“peace among men.” (2:14b)

(f) Both B and B' attest to the coming of salvation (1:47; 2:30) and allude to the inner thoughts of the heart (1:51; 2:35)

Moving on to the parallel section which ends Luke’s account, Ellis states that it is noted for its emphasis on prophecy. The combined units A-B-C (in Fig. 3) represent material unique to Luke which provides the structural mirror to the second half of Section I'. Brown similarly sees a clear change in subject at the midpoint of the structure below between the Passion Narrative and the Resurrection Narrative.

Figure 3: Section I'

A. Jesus is led out of the City (23:26-31)

B. Jesus is crucified with two men (23:32-49)

C. Jesus’ body is laid in the tomb (23:50-56)

                                    C'. Jesus’ body is gone from the tomb (24:1-12)

B'. Jesus eats with two men (24:13-32)

A'. Jesus leads the Twelve out of Jerusalem (24:33-53)

(a) Inclusio for A': “They returned to Jerusalem” (24:33,52). A keynote of “joy” sounds in this section at 24:41,52.

(b) The positive response to Jesus in Section B demonstrated by the one thief (23:39-43), recorded only in Luke’s account, provides a good parallel to the positive responses in Section B'.

(c) The word “third” appears in each unit of the second half of I' (at 24:7,21,46).

There is an obvious symmetry in beginning the Gospel with Birth-Childhood and ending with Death-Resurrection. Beyond this, Craddock notes that the temple scenes that open and close the Gospel of Luke “generate anticipation: God is at work and something marvelous is about to happen” in each case.  In addition, there is a striking resemblance between the summary descriptions of Jesus given in both I and I':

 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.” (2:52)

            “Jesus of Nazareth...a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.” (23:19)

There are also similar descriptions given for Simeon in Section I and Joseph in Section I':

 “ ...righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel.” (2:25)

            “...a good and righteous man...looking for the kingdom of God.” (23:50-51)

It is the additional presence of at least forty specific thematic and verbal parallels between these framework sections that gives rise to the expectation of other mirror-image relationships within the book as a whole.

Section VIII (Luke 11:1-12:34)

Figure 4: Section VIII

A. Reliance on God for material goods (11:1-13)

B. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (11:14-28)

C. Judgment on an evil generation (11:29-36)

C'. Judgment on the Pharisees and lawyers (11:37-54)

B'. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (12:1-12)

A'. Reliance on God for material goods (12:13-34)

(a) Section A consists of three teachings related to prayer (vss. 1-4,5-8,9-13).

(b) Sections A and A' both begin with the phrase “one said to him” and end with “Father...give.”

(c) The teachings in sections B and B' are combined in the parallel section of Mark’s Gospel (3:19-30).

(d) Section C begins as Section C' ends, with the phrase “this generation.”

(e) The similar language employed in 11:41 and 12:33 acts as an inclusio for the second half of VIII.

The structural center of the entire Gospel lies in this section, especially in sub-sections C and C'. These two units contain four appearances of the word “prophet” (11:29,47,49,50) as well as references to the specific prophets Jonah (11:29-32) and Zechariah (11:51), all in explicit or implicit comparison to Jesus himself. This provides strong confirmation of Drury’s contention that Luke’s portrayal of Jesus is “first and foremost” as a prophet. (11)