Culture & Context: The Gospel of Luke Part 2

Welcome to Culture and Context, a blog that will flesh out the context of the PATH journal and other content that we study here at True North.

In Part 1 of the blog on Luke, I told you that Luke was written for a predominantly Gentile audience. How does this gospel narrative do that? I’m glad you asked! Along the way, I have some more interesting information about this gospel.

The Gentile audience lived in a time of great Greak and Roman tradition and influence, and Luke writes his gospel with those traditions in mind. One way he did this was to substitute Greek names for Aramaic or Hebrew names or titles. Rabbi became teacher, Skull for Golgotha (in Mark 15:22, Jesus is brought to Golgotha; in Luke 23:32, Jesus is brought to the place of the Skull) and scribes became lawyers.

Certain narratives from Matthew and Mark that speak to Jewish customs and thought do not appear in the gospel of Luke. Matthew’s account of dealing with anger in The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:21-48), which discusses sacrifices at the altar, is not found in Luke. Luke also eliminates Mark’s controversy about what is clean or unclean in Mark:7:1-23. He also omitted other teachings about Mosaic law and customs (Jesus’ teachings on divorce, praying, fasting, taking of oaths). Gentiles would not relate to sacrifices at the Jewish altar or to the Law of Moses, or to the regulations of the Pharisees.

Where necessary, Luke explained common Jewish customs to his Gentile readers:

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. - Luke 22:1

Luke traced his genealogy of Jesus back to Adam. Matthew’s genealogy only traces back to Abraham, because Abraham is considered the father of the Jewish nation. Matthew’s gospel was written for a Jewish audience, and so the genealogy all the way back to Adam is not as important and starting with Abraham, to fully tie Jesus to the Jewish people.

Finally, Luke’s gospel was addressed to “most excellent Theophilus,” a man with a Greek name and therefore presumed to be a Gentile or Gentile Christian. Theophilus means “one who loves God” or “friend of God,” leading some scholars to believe that Theophilus was not a real person, but a name representing all people who love God.

About half of the material in Luke is unique to Luke. The story of the Jesus’ infancy is entirely absent from the gospel of Mark. Luke has an extensive narrative around the conceptions of John the Baptist and Jesus, much more detailed than the account in Matthew. In Luke: An Introduction and Study Guide, the author notes:

But the greatest block of ‘L’ material occurs right in the middle of the Gospel. We call this section Luke’s ‘Travel Narrative’ because it spans the time between Jesus’ determination to go to Jerusalem (9:51) and his arrival in the holy city (19:28). [‘L’ refers to the material that only appears in Luke’s gospel]

The gospel of Luke was written either between AD 57 and 59, when Luke was in Caesarea with Paul, who was imprisoned there. Other scholars believe Luke wrote the gospel in the AD 60s, using the gospel of Mark for his source material. In either case, the gospel was written in the first century. What was the culture like? Let’s consider what life was like for the Jews and Gentiles in the first century, after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The Jewish people had been forced out of Palestine in the Diaspora- three massed deportations and relocations due to conquests by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Many Jews fled to Egypt ahead of the conquest of Babylon. There were Jews who returned to their homeland, while many chose to remain in the lands of their exile. Those who returned were a minority group in a Gentile culture, and were often made to feel inferior.

Some of these Jews remained separate from the Gentile culture, preferring to interact only with fellow Jews. Others chose limited interactions through commerce and theater. Many Jews chose to speak Greek and Greco-Roman influence showed in their art and writing. There are Jewish catacombs in Rome that are decorated with symbols from Jerusalem rituals plus artistic elements of Greek mythology.

The Jews who chose to remain separate developed strong social supports through regular synagogue gatherings where they renewed and strengthened their bonds of Jewish history and tradition. Remember that “synagogue” does not refer to a place or a building, but to any gathering of people. The word synagogue is based on the Greek work sunagoge, meaning “a gathering together.” Tyndale’s Bible Dictionary tells us that the tradition of synagogue may have arisen after the destruction of the temple in 586 BC, when the Jews still wanted to gather together to worship and teach the law. Biblically, the earliest synagogue appears in Nehemiah 8:1-8 when Ezra (a prophet and a scribe) read the law aloud before a group of exiles. In New Testament times, Jesus often taught in synagogues, as did the apostles in the book of Acts.

The synagogue became a place not only to worship but to teach the Torah. The Torah’s teachings would help solidify and separate these Jews as they lived out its observances like circumcision, the sabbath and Jewish festivals. Food and purity laws led to the creation of Jewish food markets and community meal practices.

Some of the Gentiles in Palestine and the Mediterranean area admired their Jewish neighbors. They liked what they often viewed as asceticism- the Jewish embrace of sexual ethics, dietary restrictions and belief in one God- were seen as admirable and virtuous. Some of these Gentiles even became patrons of Jewish culture and chose to join the community or form a defined group without converting.

Sadly, antisemitism is not a new phenomenon. Literary examples from the first century accuse the Jews of being anti-social or even called them atheists because they denied the existence of many gods. The expectation in the first century was that all people pay respect to the gods; the Jews’ insistence on worshiping a single God led to suspicion and a reluctance to allow them to participate in city commerce. Civic life revolved around these gods; their refusal to participate in idol worship was seen as a lack of concern for the city as a whole. The writings of Josephus in his Antiphons pose the question: “If they (the Jews) are citizens, why do they not worship the same gods as us?”

Anti-Jewish publications condemned Jewish dietary laws, the restrictions the Torah placed on socializing with Gentiles and other aspects of the Torah. They accused the Jews of xenophobia (pot? Kettle?) and of being backwards barbarians who refused to adapt to the Greco-Roman culture. Jewish restriction on consumption of pork was questioned. Plutarch, a first century Greek philosopher, wrote that pork was the most proper type of meat! The Jews’ refusal to eat pork was called an injustice against nature:

When Antiochus saw [Eleazar, a leader of a Hebrew flock] he said, “Before I begin to torture you, old man, I would advise you to save yourself by eating pork, for I respect your age and your gray hairs. Although you have had them for so long a time, it does not seem to me that you are a philosopher when you observe the religion of the Jews. When nature has granted it to us, why should you abhor eating the very excellent meat of this animal? It is senseless not to enjoy delicious things that are not shameful, and wrong to spurn the gifts of nature. (Revised Standard Version, Apocrypha). - 4 Maccabees 5:5-9

Life was not easy for the first century Jews and some of them abandoned Jewish culture for the lure of Gentile society, which was heavily influenced by the Greeks and the Romans. The very concept of the city was Greek, and the territory surrounding a city was known as a sovereign state.

The upper class of Gentile life achieved that status by money and political office, an important part of city life. The Greek term for city, polis, is the root of of the word politics. Political office was passed down to descendants and afforded a family great power. The big merchant and banker class was originally Roman, but was supplanted by Greeks and Syrians. The “small” middle class men were the largest section of society. They kept shops or plied trades like weaving, dyeing and pottery. There were many slaves as well. Slavery in the east was considered a mild institution, not cruel, especially compared to slaves in the West. Slaves were allowed to purchase their freedom and enter the middle class. Country dwellers were technically free but often had to pay taxes to the state or city.

Palestine was largely composed of towns and the Pharisees were part of the middle class. The surrounding people were “people of the land” and seen as lower in status to the town dwellers. Early Jewish Christians and Gentile converts were considered “country folk” or people of the land and were initially considered insignificant to first century prosperity and peace; however, the growth of collegia, or associations of workmen or people with similar beliefs, help the first century Church grow quickly in size and significance.

Women in the first century were freed from the ancient Greek practice of seclusion as they stepped out to lead collegia and in commerce. Priscilla is mentioned before Aquila in Acts 18:18, and women like Lydia (Acts 16:14, 40), a Gentile convert to Christianity were tradespeople and wealthy in their right.

Culture in the first century emphasized the importance of education, and many schools were formed for women and men. The fact that Paul’s letters were meant to be read publicly infers that the society was educated. Many people were multi-lingual, speaking both Greek, Aramaic and Latin. The inscription on Jesus’ cross was written in all three languages (John 19:20), and the Gospel was preached and written in Greek, the predominant language.

There are many, many books and articles available on first century culture. See the reference list for just a few of these. They are not always easy reading, but if you are interested in the culture of the first century, you will gain a better understanding of the writings of the New Testament. I’ll include a short list of some books for nerds (like me) who like to dig deeper. You can also learn highlights of the culture by consulting Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias.

• New Testament Times by Merrill C. Tenney

• The New Testament in Its World: an Introduction to the History, Literature and Theology of the First

• Christians by N.T. Wright and Michael Bird

• Books and Readers in the Early Church by Harry Y. Gamble

• Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection by E. Randolph Richards

• Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament by Sandra L. Gahn

• Women in the Church: an Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15

• Dictionary of Paul and His Letters By F.F. Bruce

• The Lexham Bible Dictionary

• Tyndale Bible Dictionary

• The Dictionary of New Testament Background

• The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary

Works-cited and Resources

• Barton, B. B., Veerman, D., Taylor, L. C., &; Osborne, G. R. (1997). Luke. Tyndale House Publishers.

• Carey, G. (2017). Luke: An Introduction and Study Guide: All Flesh Shall See God’s Salvation (T. B. Liew, Ed.; Vol. 3). Bloomsbury T&T Clark: An Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

• Clarke, W. K. L. (1942). The Gentile Background of Early Christianity. In C. Gore, H. L. Goudge, & A. Guillaume (Eds.), A New Commentary on Holy Scripture: Including the Apocrypha (Vol. 3, pp. 22–32). The Macmillan Company.

• deSilva, D. A. (2004). An introduction to the New Testament: contexts, methods and ministry formation. InterVarsity Press.

• Fitzmyer, J. A. (2008). The Gospel according to Luke I–IX: introduction, translation, and notes (Vol. 28). Yale University Press.

• Gore, C., Goudge, H. L., & Guillaume, A., eds. (1942). A New Commentary on Holy Scripture: Including the Apocrypha. The Macmillan Company.

• The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2025). Crossway Bibles.

• The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

• Josephus Ant. 12.3.1 §121–23; 12.3.2 §125–26).

• Knowles, A. (2020). The New Testament Guide. Lion Scholar.