In this chapter an attempt will be made to draw together the threads of the preceding argument and reflect upon their consequences. In particular, when we have described the various strains in Luke's narrative, we shall consider why they are so and how his view of this particular aspect of Judaism concurs with his view of Judaism and the Jews as a whole.

(1) An important motif in Luke's view of the law is that it is the ethos of a particular ethnos. As such it is akin to the views of hellenistic Jews and cultured pagans both of whom, though for different reasons, describe Jewish laws as ‘customs’. It represents an enlightened, tolerant and, in Jewish writers, apologetic approach to the distinctive way of life of the Jews, in which their laws/customs are viewed as the natural and legitimate expression of their nationhood. The connection with hellenistic Judaism is the more interesting and is reinforced by Luke's interest in summaries of the law into a few basic (often ethical) commands which, it appears, he considered to be incumbent upon all Christians regardless of their origin (Lk. 10:25f; 11:41; Ac. 10:35; 15:20–1). Precisely the same tendency to summarize the law into a few basic commands marks many diaspora Jewish writings, especially when they appeal to the non-Jewish world.