Luke's christology is carefully designed. Luke portrays the exalted Jesus as God's co-equal by the kinds of things he does and says from heaven. Through the Holy Spirit, the divine name and personal manifestations, Jesus behaves toward people in Luke-Acts as does Yahweh in the Old Testament. His power and knowledge are supreme. Jesus sovereignly reigns over Israel, the church, the powers of darkness and the world. Luke deepens this portrait by depicting Jesus as deity who by nature behaves as servant: the earthly Jesus acted among his people as one who serves; the exalted Jesus continues serving his people by strengthening and encouraging them in their witness of him to the world. That the believers in Acts resemble the way Jesus behaved in the Gospel means that they too are now imaging some of his servant-like character in their witness of him.
This book explains why Luke said what he did about Jesus in his earthly ministry in his gospel and about his work from heaven in Acts. Buckwalter shows a unity, a compatibility with Mark and Paul, and for Jesus a divine rank equal to God. Luke's Christology is carefully designed: he portrays the exalted Jesus as God's co-equal.
