Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
September 18, 2005
Lincolnton, N.C.
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<187> Thesis:  Luke considered the growth of Jesus to be a crucial issue for the understanding of his reader(s). Introduction:  This morning, as we begin our study of the fourth paragraph in the second chapter of Luke's record of his perspective of Jesus, I want you to think of a cul-de-sac...a dead end street which requires a person to retrace his steps if he would go further. There are a couple of cul-de-sacs in the thinking of most people regarding the text before us that will absolutely prevent them from understanding if they hold on to them. The first six of Luke's opening words in this fourth paragraph are exactly the same as the first six of his closing words in the fifth paragraph of chapter one. This cannot be an accident, so we must consider why it would be so that Luke would deliberately call our attention to the obvious parallelism between the "child" of 1:80 and this "child" in 2:40. What is Luke's purpose in telling Theophilus of the similarity between John and Jesus as "children"?