Apostolic Salvation 1

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The Pentecostal theology of salvation arose through a unique
interpretation of selected
passages in the book of Acts.  In contrast to the majority of
Protestantism which reads the New Testament through Pauline eyes,
Pentecostalism reads the New Testament through Lukan eyes, especially
with the lenses provided by Acts (Dayton 1987:23)  Appropriately we will
focus our development of an Apostolic Pentecostal theology of salvation
on the narratives of Luke-Acts. 
	 Before addressing this subject it is necessary to consider Luke-Acts
as a literary and theological work.  The separation of Luke-Acts in the
Christian canon belies the fact that the two books were originally parts
of a single work.  Luke recalls an earlier work in the introduction to
Acts (Acts 1:1-2), and the mention of Theophilus leaves little doubt
that the Gospel was in view (Lk 1:3).  There is now a scholarly
consensus as to the literary unity of Luke-Acts (Stronstad 1984:3).  A
study of the distinctive theology of Acts cannot be separated from the
theology of the Gospel of Luke.  In this study Luke-Acts will be treated
as a single literary work.
	Another problem which has beset Lukan studies is the relationship
between historical and didactic, teaching, portions of scripture.  It
was long popular to minimize the importance of historical narratives,
such as Acts, for the doing of theology and to emphasize the didactic
writings of Paul.  Responsible scholarship has recognized that the
distinction between writing as a historian or a theologian is a false
one (Marshall 1970).  The biblical authors were not passive compilers of
Christian traditions but creative interpreters with their own unique
theological perspectives and concerns.  History is now viewed as a valid
and biblically based manner of theological reflection.  The work of
Luke-Acts as historical narrative can provide valuable data for the
doing of theology. 
	If Luke writes as a theologian, then what is his unique theological
orientation?  I. Howard Marshall notes that "the writings of Luke are
plainly indebted to Old Testament tradition"  (Marshall 1970:50).  Luke
writes as a Jewish biblical historian in a manner reminiscent of the
Septuagint.  Luke uses the language, themes, and concepts of the Greek
Old Testament to narrate the fulfillment of the promised Old Testament
salvation in Jesus Christ and the early church (Toews 1991).  Luke is a
theologian of salvation history chronicling the salvation of God brought
by Jesus Christ and realized in missions to Jewish and Gentile
communities.  "The central theme in the writings of Luke is that Jesus
offers salvation to man.  If we were looking for a text to sum up the
message of the Gospel, it would undoubtedly be Luke 19:10:  'For the Son
of man came to seek and save the lost'"  (Marshall 1970:116). 
	 Salvic terms are used throughout the narratives of Luke-Acts.  Sozo,
to save, is used seventeen times by Luke in his Gospel and thirteen
times in Acts.  The epistle of Paul to the Romans, with its explicit
soteriological content,only uses the term sozo eight times. The title
Savior, Soter, occurs four times in Luke-Acts but is absent in Matthew,
Mark, and Romans.  Salvation, soteria, is found four times in Luke,
twice in Mark, but is not present in Matthew.  Soteria occurs six times
in Acts and five times in Romans.  Soterion, salvation, is absent from
Matthew and Mark, but is found twice in Luke and once in Acts.  Soterion
is only found once in the Pauline epistles  (Eph 6:19).  The frequency
with which Luke utilizes salvic terms is indicative the importance of
salvation in Luke-Acts.  Because the centrality of the salvation theme
in Romans is widely accepted in Christendom, the above comparison with
Luke-Acts is of special significance.  When compared to this epistle of
Paul, soteriology for Luke in Luke-Acts must be of equal or greater
importance. Apostolics have a sound biblical and scholarly basis for
deriving their theology of salvation from Luke-Acts.