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Far from indicating that “Luke” had to investigate all the traditions before he could write them up as an historian, παρηκολουθηκότι in Luke 1:3 means almost the opposite. Luke is already credentialed to write because, having entered into Christian tradition as tradent and interpreter from some time in the past, he is fully qualified to write “as one who has a thoroughly informed familiarity with all the events from the top.” This study represents the most comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the possible meanings of παρακολουθέω in the classical and Greco-Roman periods based on an extensive sweep of all the many senses and referents in lsj and bdag. Τhe perfect participle placards one trained in a tradition and not the judicious labors of an historian’s research.
Abstract
Rather than reward Christ Jesus for his obedience to a humiliating death, the 'hymn' to Christ, Phil 2:6-11, exalts "the death of the cross" as the most sublime disclosure of the status and power of God. This elevation of the Self-sacrificing 'character' of God turns the notion of status 'upside down.' That Christ Jesus "did not take advantage of his equality with God but rather deprived himself of all justification" of that status is a particularly poignant message to a status-saturated, 'race to honor' colony like Roman Philippi.