Fruits Theology Allusion

Last February 1^st, I posted “The Fruits Theology of Matthew” wherein I suggested that Matthew 21:43 was an allusion to Amos 8:1. In discussing my theory with an unnamed prominent NT scholar, I was told that the use of the word “fruit” was not enough to alert the reader that the author intended to allude to Amos 8:1.

Matthew 21:42 states: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it." I said, inter alia, “In Hebrew, 'fruit' is transliterated as kais and pronounced the same as kes which means 'destruction.'”

I blog today to strengthen my argument with something I recall reading in a Swedish classic now available in English. Gerhardsson stated that each OT pericope was memorialized using a key-word system. This means that a passage like the Amos fruit-destruction pericope would have a word assigned to it that when used would enable a person to recall the pericope. “The pericope Ex. 3:1ff is - for instance – called the ‘thorn-bush’ (cf. Luke 20:37).”

I have been attempting to formulate a simple criteria for identifying what is an allusion, not recognizing that many so-called allusions are invoked, as did Luke when he said “in the passage about the bush.”

Copyrighted 2006

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Gospel of Luke