LUKE’S FORESHADOWING

 

And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, after watching what had happened, began to return home, beating their chests. (Luke 23:48)

 Only Luke records that the crowd who came to view a “spectacle” beat their breasts in fear and consternation when they witnessed all that occurred. In recording this, Luke foreshadows the response of the Jews and proselytes at Pentecost (Acts 2:37).

 

Luke's characteristic compositional style used foreshadowing of events and people of particular significance. Here he records the troubled hearts of the spectators who would listen anxiously to Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2. Luke also singles out individuals like Stephen and Phillip (Acts 6:5) and Barnabas (Acts 4:36, 37; 11:22-25) who would soon have a special role in the progress of the gospel.

 

Luke’s gospel is the most literary of the four gospels, and its Greek is the closest to classical Greek. The vocabulary and style of Luke and Acts have similarities to the Greek of Hebrews, which has led some to suggest that Luke wrote Hebrews, perhaps in conjunction with Paul. (See The Lukan Authorship of Hebrews by David L. Allen)