Working my way through the Gospel of Luke, I have been struck by many of the comments in Darrell Bock's IVP commentary (part of the IVP New Testament Commentary Series); but what else is new? I've been challenged by his work for numerous years, and was oh so close to having him come out to speak at a church I was co-pastoring afew years back, and the plans just simply fell through. I always find Bock to be about as balanced an exegete as you'll find and what's more, he's a churchman and has managed to keep one foot in the academy and one foot in the church; oh, and one foot in the culture, even though he doesn't have three feet.
In his introduction, Bock talks about Luke's narrative strategy and how he builds his readers' appreciation of Jesus by starting where they're at, with concepts familiar to them, and taking them to deeper levels, revealing a Jesus that confounds and often out rightly defies categorization. At one point, Bock uses the term "seeker-sensitive". An apt term I think and one that has been misused in popular church culture and probably under-used in theological circles. Luke was far from "watering down" Jesus; he was building his case with that which was commonly shared, commonly understood.
Another interesting point for consideration is Bock's analysis of Luke's contribution to Atonement theory/theology. One would expect Luke's primary input to be centered on the classical, penal substitution model; in fact, knowing a bit of Bock's roots, that's exactly what I expected him to state. However, true to form, Bock goes where the text (in this case Luke) goes (it's what I appreciate about him and so many other careful exegetes God has gifted to His church) and makes the case that Luke's primary concern is to underscore Jesus' victory. In Bock's words, "he (Luke) highlights the victorious, exalted Lord who emerged from that death, along with the opportunity for forgiveness he provides" (pg. 23).
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