Raymond E. Brown, The Churches the Apostles Left Behind.
Chapter 4: The Pauline Heritage in Luke/Acts: The Spirit, p. 61-74

(Detailed summary)

Unlike the authors of the pastoral epistles or the epistles to the Colossians/Ephesians, the author of Acts did not write a work of Pauline theology; he wrote a narrative in which Paul plays a decisive role as a missionary witness, not as a doctrinal authority. Biblical scholars are far from agreeing on the target audience of Acts, an audience that was perhaps less specific than the recipients of the epistles. Nevertheless, we can assume that Luke was addressing primarily churches of pagan origin that were at least indirectly affected by Paul's mission.

Even though we use the name “Luke,” there are many reasons to believe that the author was not a companion of Paul and did not know him personally. Perhaps even the audience had not been in direct contact with the historical Paul. But for the author and presumably for the audience, Paul was an extremely important figure in God's plan to bring Christ to the Gentiles and to the ends of the earth. Paul had become the guarantor of the legitimacy of these churches of pagan origin. While the purpose of Luke/Acts may be complex, it certainly involves the basic geographical line drawn in Acts 1:8, which serves as the book's table of contents: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts begins in Jerusalem, passes through Judea and Samaria, and ends in Rome. Through the persons of Peter and Paul in almost equal proportions, the testimony of Jesus is brought before Jews and Gentiles during the first three decades of Christian life (from the early 30s to the early 60s). The account was written decades later. But what interests us is how Luke/Acts could help a Christian audience survive the death of the apostles.

1. The proposed solution: a Church in continuity with Jesus and driven by the Spirit
   1. A Church in continuity with the ministry of Jesus and the entire tradition of Israel

      Lucan ecclesiology is marked by a sense of continuity in which the Church is closely linked to what preceded it, and first and foremost to Jesus. Jesus' ascension on Easter Sunday concludes Luke's Gospel (Lk 24:51), and the Acts of the Apostles opens with a repetition of the ascension narrative, which introduces everything that is to come. This is a partial answer to the question of the relationship between the kingdom preached by Jesus and the Church. Indeed, when asked if he will restore the kingdom at that time, the risen Jesus replies that it is not for the apostles to know the time, but that they must bear witness throughout the earth. Therefore, more attention must be paid to bearing witness to what Jesus did than to waiting for his coming. Jesus' response makes the existence of the Church both understandable and essential until the coming of the kingdom. It also helps us understand why Luke wrote a book describing this existence.

      This continuity does not depend solely on Jesus, but also on those who accompanied him during his ministry and joined the early Christian community, and on Paul, even though he does not receive the title of apostle, who was commissioned by the risen Jesus. Thus, not only are the early stages of the Church's life in continuity with Jesus, but the later stages represented by Paul are also in continuity with the early stages represented by Peter. If Peter performs the same kind of miracles as Jesus, then Paul performs the same kind of miracles as Peter. The sermons that Peter and Paul preach are remarkably similar, a sign of a continuous message and continuous power. After Paul's departure, continuity will be ensured by the elders he has appointed (Acts 14:23).

      Continuity does not only concern what follows Jesus' ministry, but also what precedes it, i.e., the entire tradition of Israel. The characters in Luke 1-2 (Zachariah, Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna, Mary, Joseph) who accept Jesus are devout Jews, and everything is done according to the Law (Lk 1:6; 2:22-27, 37, 39), just as the early Christians in Acts are faithful to the piety of Israel (Lk 2:46; 3:1; 5:42). The Spirit of God that animated the prophets of Israel is clearly active in a prophetic way at the beginning of Jesus' story (Lk 1:15, 35, 41, 67, 80; 2:25-27) and at the beginning of the Church (Acts 1:8, 16; 2:4, 17).

   2. A Church under the power of the Holy Spirit

      Another distinctive feature of Lucan ecclesiology is the dominant presence of the Spirit. The 70 occurrences of the word pneuma, “spirit,” in Acts constitute nearly one-fifth of the total use of this word in the New Testament. Some biblical scholars have been surprised that Acts never mentions the deaths of Peter or Paul. Luke is not interested in these men as individuals, but as vehicles of the Spirit, bearing witness to Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The Spirit is the main actor.

      In Acts, after Jesus' ascension into heaven, the apostles look up to the sky with a sense of being orphaned. It is the gift of the Spirit that will then take Christ's place on earth. The author does not clearly state whether he considers the Spirit to be a person, but there can be no doubt about the power of the Spirit. The crucial scene of Pentecost is shaped by the image of the wind as the Spirit of God moving over the surface of the waters at creation (Genesis 1:2), and by the image of the God of the storm descending on Mount Sinai to make a covenant with Israel as his people (Exodus 19:16 ff.). In the last days, a new creative act of God takes place, corresponding to the first creation; Jerusalem has replaced Sinai as the place of a renewed covenant that will affect all peoples. And then a sound like a mighty rushing wind is heard, while tongues of fire spread out, filling with the Holy Spirit those who are to proclaim this renewed covenant (Acts 2:14-17).

      Immediately after the resurrection, the apostles did not publicly proclaim what God had done in Jesus and through him, for lack of understanding and courage. It is the Spirit who will bring the disciples out of their torpor and stir up a missionary movement, the Spirit with whom the apostles were baptized and who gave them the power to speak (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:33; 4:8, 31). And throughout the Acts, the Spirit is constantly at work:

      • The Spirit directs missionaries to promising regions (Acts 8:29, 39), as in the case of Cornelius.
      • He guides them toward the admission and baptism of the first pagans (Acts 10:38, 44-47; 11:12, 15).
      • The Spirit impels Barnabas and Paul to embark on a mission that would convert entire pagan communities (Acts 13:2, 4).
      • He guides Peter and James' decision to admit pagans without requiring circumcision
      • The Spirit prevented Paul from making a detour that would have delayed the establishment of Christianity in Europe (Acts 16:6-7)
      • It was in the Spirit that Paul made his decision to go to Rome.
      • When Paul bid farewell to Asia, the Holy Spirit was providential in establishing elders who were overseers (bishops) of the flock (Acts 20:28).

      Thus, every essential step in this story of how the witness of Christ was carried from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth is guided by the Spirit, whose presence becomes evident in important moments when human agents would otherwise have hesitated or made wrong choices.

2. The strengths and weaknesses of this solution
   1. The strengths
      1. The continuity between Israel, Jesus, Peter, Paul, and their successors contributed to the survival of the Church.

         Luke does not mention the deaths of Peter and Paul, as if they were unimportant, because the mission continues without them. When Paul delivers his farewell speech to the presbyter-bishops of Ephesus, he entrusts them with the care of the flock, since they will not see him again (Acts 20:25, 28). The chain of continuity shows God's meticulous plan leading to the spread of the gospel throughout the earth.

         Luke has incorporated into his outline of God's plan certain elements that could give Christians of pagan origin a sense of pride. To show the great dignity of the Christian faith in relation to various Eastern religions, he presents it as a religion that affects political figures around the world, placing the various characters in his stories in a setting that includes emperors, governors, and Roman officials. And it is not insignificant that he ends his account of the Acts in Rome, the center of the world at that time.

      2. The intervention of the Holy Spirit also contributed to the survival of the Church.

         The role of the Spirit in the survival of the Church is even more important. In fact, Peter and Paul were only great instruments of the Holy Spirit. For it was the Spirit who brought faith to the pagans and led Paul to Rome, and who will continue to act unceasingly and help the Church in difficult times. Today, it is this faith that allows us to believe in the survival of the Church, despite the errors and stupidities of its leaders. The magnificent insight of Acts that the Spirit was at work in the history of the Church has since then constituted a lasting legacy in Christian self-analysis.

   2. The weaknesses
      1. The danger of a triumphalist view of the Church

         Reading the Acts, we note that all setbacks are temporary and quickly turn into good in a Christian movement that continues to grow numerically (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:1,7; 8:12; 9:31; 21:19-20) and geographically (Acts 1:8) . At the end of Acts, the reader can logically conclude that very soon the whole world would become Christian. Taken in isolation, such an ecclesiology will leave Christians perplexed when their institutions begin to close, when their churches are abandoned due to a lack of members, and when their overall numbers in the world begin to decline. We will try to reassure ourselves in the face of these losses by telling ourselves that the Church cannot fail, especially when Islam has spread throughout the world. Similarly, when God deprived the Roman Catholic Church of half of Europe through the Protestant Reformation, Catholics consoled themselves with the thought that He had given it an even greater number of Catholics in Central and South America.

         We must recognize today that this perception of things, consciously or unconsciously, was influenced by the program of world conversion outlined in Acts 1:8. If we want to prevent the triumphalism of Acts from becoming impossible to believe in an era when Christianity is in numerical decline, we can turn to the Old Testament, which is also part of the canon, and which tells how God's people went from twelve tribes to one, how religious institutions failed (monarchy, priesthood, sacrificial worship), and how Israel learned much more about God in the ashes of the Temple destroyed by the Babylonians than during the glorious period of that Temple under Solomon. All of this can warn readers of the Bible that God's message to his people is not an unconditional promise to increase the number of his followers to the ends of the earth.

      2. The danger of triumphalism surrounding the role of the Spirit

         Indeed, the question arises: can we be sure that the Holy Spirit will always come to the rescue? Doesn't the image given in Acts easily lead to a conception of the Spirit as a deus ex machina? Has God really given a blank check so that, in every important case, the Spirit will ensure that the Church comes out on top? Two examples illustrate the strength and weakness of an ecclesiology in which the intervention of the Spirit plays a major role.

         1. The first example concerns the history of ecumenism during this century, and more particularly the World Council of Churches, a movement of Protestant origin. Even the Orthodox Churches began to show interest, but the Catholic Church was categorically opposed, until this opposition was overturned at the Second Vatican Council. As a result, in a single decade, the 1970s, more was accomplished in terms of religious dialogue among Christians than in the previous 450 years since the Augsburg Confession. But should we then assume that the Spirit will bring this work to a triumphant conclusion? If, over the next two decades, the churches do not seize this opportunity, is it not possible, even probable, that this opportunity will never arise again? Almost by definition, the Spirit surprises, but sometimes the surprise may be that the Spirit allows God's people to pay the price for their failures.

         2. A second example of the complexity of the role assigned to the Spirit concerns the three different forms of ecclesiology in the Pauline heritage. Indeed, before the council, the Holy Office, of which the pope himself was the prefect, exercised its role as priest-bishops officially teaching against false doctrines, as mentioned in the pastoral epistles, by preparing documents for the council participants that would deal with Scripture: the two sources of revelation. This preliminary document was extremely negative toward modern theology and biblical research, supporting its warnings with references to the modernist heresy of the early part of the century. The Council Fathers forcefully rejected the preliminary document that had been submitted to them and that reflected the official teaching of the Holy Office. The Doctors of the Church rose in the council hall and challenged other Doctors of the Church on the very orientation of Scripture. The Spirit-filled leaders envisioned in the pastoral epistles were at odds with one another. During the discussion, the image of the body of Christ in the epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians gradually gave way to the image of the people of God in order to facilitate the self-reform of the spotless bride. In other words, the three post-Pauline ecclesiological elements functioned in tension.