Date

6-17-2026

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Bible Exposition (PhD)

Chair

Sorin Sabou

Keywords

Missional Hermeneutics, Lukan Great Commission, Dual Hermeneutical Key, Suffering Servant.

Disciplines

Missions and World Christianity | Practical Theology

Abstract

This dissertation examines the relationship between Christological fulfillment and the mission of God within the framework of biblical interpretation, with special emphasis on Luke 24:44-49. In recent decades, missional hermeneutics has moved from the margins of theological discussion to a more visible place within biblical studies, although the field remains conceptually diverse and methodologically underdefined. On one hand, a growing body of scholarship has argued that Scripture must be read within the horizons of the missio Dei, understood as God's redemptive purpose for creation and the nations. On the other hand, mainstream biblical scholarship has often continued to privilege either the redemptive-historical or the historical-critical approach, without adequately clarifying how God's universal mission relates to the internal logic of the biblical text. This dissertation argues that Luke 24:44-49 discloses an integrated interpretive framework, defined here as a dual hermeneutical key, in which two inseparable realities converge: first, the suffering, resurrection, and vindication of the Messiah; and second, the proclamation of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations. The thesis of this study is that the Lukan version of the Great Commission reveals that the Scriptures are to be read both messianically and missionally. The very scriptural witness that testifies to the necessary suffering and vindication of the Messiah also testifies to the outward movement of forgiveness in his name to the nations. These are not merely adjacent themes, nor are they sequential theological topics loosely placed together. Rather, they are mutually interpretive dimensions of a single scriptural logic. The dissertation further argues that this dual pattern is rooted in Isaiah's theological world, especially in the figure of the Suffering Servant, and that it governs apostolic interpretation in Acts, where Luke's hermeneutical pattern receives narrative development and theological confirmation. The study proceeds through a canonical, theological, and exegetical method. Chapter 2 surveys the current state of scholarship on missional hermeneutics and identifies a critical gap: although the literature has clarified the framework, aims, and ecclesial implications of missional interpretation, it has not sufficiently articulated the internal hermeneutical logic that links Christological fulfillment and the mission to the nations. Chapter 3 addresses this gap through an exegetical exercise on Luke 24:44–49, arguing that the dual key emerges inductively from the text's literary, syntactic, and canonical features. Chapter 4 provides a backward-looking canonical perspective by demonstrating that this dual key is deeply rooted in the Isaianic theology of the Suffering Servant, whose prophetic-sacrificial vocation holds together suffering, vindication, witness, light, and universal scope. Chapter 5 then offers a forward-looking canonical perspective by showi

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