Luke's use of δοξáζειν τòν Θεóν

Abstract

Luke's narrative of Jesus' death and its immediate sequel (Luke 23.47) places before his centurion's ‘confession’ of Jesus as δiκαιος, an enigmatic ἐδόξαζeν τόν θeόν. Why, as Hanson demanded, glorify God for the shameful death of an innocent man? This is certainly more than a ‘Lukan stock phrase’, but Franklin, while noting both that the phrase is significant for Luke and that its appearance at Luke 23.47 underlines the validity of the centurion's response, underestimated its peculiar force in Luke–Acts (1975, p. 62; cf. Stanton, 1974, pp. 35–9 and Marshall, 1970, p. 203). This ‘peculiar force’ derives from a number of factors at work in each of the pericopae where the phrase appears. First, it signifies a worshipping response by people who have recognised God's presence at work in Jesus; perhaps this hint of ‘presence’ is why δοξάζeιν rather than its synonyms is the verb used here, echoing δόξα with all its Septuagintal overtones. Second, the phrase is related to Luke's understanding of a scriptural plan of salvation so that wherever the phrase occurs it is accompanied by allusions to or reminiscences of scriptural passages. This feature echoes Luke's prologue where his work is described as a διήγησις πeρὶ τῶν πeπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων.