The Jesus-Shaped Life: The Telos of the Gospels and the Testimony of Acts

Abstract Christians generally agree that the aim of sanctification is Christlikeness but disagree about the degree to which Christlikeness is possible in this life. The present study engages in theological interpretation of the Gospels and Acts to address this question, beginning in each case with a scholarly consensus. It first argues that as ancient biographies the Gospels have a mimetic telos—namely, to cultivate a Jesus-shaped (i.e., holy) life. It goes on to show how the numerous parallels between Jesus and his witnesses in Luke-Acts testify that early Christians did indeed live Jesus-shaped lives. Together, the telos of the Gospels and the testimony of Acts indicate that the Jesus-shaped life is not only possible but is the normative Christian life—the way the Christian life is meant to be lived.