Salvation is meant to be extended to the Gentiles. This is established beyond any shade of uncertainty in Luke 13:28-29, and continued in the outworking of Paul's mission throughout Acts. The Pentecost narrative's " Spirit poured out on all flesh (Acts 2:17)," speaks of a demolishing of the walls between Jew and Gentile, bringing an overall theme of inclusion. Can it be said then, that Luke's intention was to portray Christianity moving progressively away from its Jewish roots, until by the end of the narrative, in Acts 28.28, we see its back turned with a determined finality on the Jewish people, focussing all future mission exclusively to the Gentiles? Does the ascended Christ's commission (Acts 1:8) to be witnesses ' .in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,' announce this progression, or does it express an expanding movement, which will extend to the "ends of the earth," but which will continue to include Jerusalem, Judaea, and Samaria? My response will focus on three areas - Luke's attitude toward the Jews, his portrayal of Paul, and the end of Acts. .
LUKE-ACTS AND THE JEWS.
While scholars disagree on many aspects of Luke-Acts, they are unanimous in seeing in Acts, both pro- and anti-Jewish materials, and each offers his own explanation regarding Luke's apparent ambivalence in attitude toward Jews. Until around 40 years ago, there was a strongly anti-Jewish consensus in the interpretation of Luke-Acts; the roots of this going back to Ferdinand Baur (1792-1860) and the Tubingen school of New Testament scholarship. Baur claimed that the original author of Acts omitted Jewish-Christian inclinations in the text, which made it vulnerable to Marcionite uses. This necessitated the later canonical revision, which sought to quash any Marcionite elements and reconcile the Jewish and Gentile Christian wings of the church. Baur saw Luke-Acts in terms of conflict between two forms of early Christianity - the Petrine, or Jewish Christianity and a Pauline, or Gentile form.
