Luke, Gospel Of

LUKE, GOSPEL OF [smith]

The third Gospel is ascribed, by the general consent of ancient Christendom, to "the beloved physician," Luke, the friend and companion of the apostle Paul.

1. Date of the Gospel of Luke . --From (Acts 1:1) it is clear that the Gospel described "the former treatise" was written before the Acts of the Apostles; but how much earlier is uncertain. Perhaps it was written at Caesarea during St. Paul?s imprisonment there, A.D. 58-60.
2. Place where the Gospel was written. --If the time has been rightly indicated, the place would be Caesarea.
3. Origin of the Gospel. --The preface, contained in the first four verses of the Gospel, describes the object of its writer. Here are several facts to be observed. There were many narratives of the life of our Lord Current at the early time when Luke wrote his Gospel. The ground of fitness for the task St. Luke places in his having carefully followed out the whole course of events from the beginning. He does not claim the character of an eye-witness from the first but possibly he may have been a witness of some part of our Lord?s doings. The ancient opinion that Luke wrote his Gospel under the influence of Paul rests on the authority of Irenreus, Tertulian, Origen and Eusebius. The four verses could not have been put at the head of a history composed under the exclusive guidance of Paul or of any one apostle and as little could they have introduced a gospel simply communicated by another. The truth seems to be that St. Luke, seeking information from every quarter, sought it from the preaching of his be loved master St. Paul; and the apostle in his turn employed the knowledge acquired from other sources by his disciple.
4. Purpose for which the Gospel was written. --The evangelist professes to write that Theophilus "might know the certainty of those things wherein he had been instructed." ch, (Luke 1:4) This Theophilus was probably a native of Italy and perhaps an inhabitant of Rome, in tracing St. Paul?s journey to Rome, places which an Italian might be supposed not to know are described minutely, (Acts 27:8,12,16) but when he comes to Sicily and Italy this is neglected. Hence it would appear that the person for whom Luke wrote in the first instance was a Gentile reader; and accordingly we find traces in the Gospel of a leaning toward Gentile rather than Jewish converts.
5. Language and style of the Gospel. --It has never been doubted that the Gospel was written in Greek, whilst Hebraisms are frequent, classical idioms and Greek compound words abound, for which there is classical authority. (Prof. Gregory, in "Why Four Gospels" says that Luke wrote for Greek readers, and therefore the character and needs of the Greeks furnish the key to this Gospel. The Greek was the representation of reason and humanity. He looked upon himself as having the mission of perfecting man. He was intellectual, cultured, not without hope of a higher world. Luke?s Gospel therefore represented the character and career of Christ as answering the conception of a perfect and divine humanity. Reason, beauty righteousness and truth are exhibited as they meet in Jesus in their full splendor. Jesus was the Saviour of all men, redeeming them to a perfect and cultured manhood. --ED.)

LUKE, GOSPEL OF [bridgeway]

Of the four Gospels, Luke is the longest and most orderly. It gives a greater overall coverage of the life of Jesus than the other Gospels, though like them it does not attempt to provide a biography of Jesus. The author has gathered and arranged his material with a certain purpose in mind, and with much skill has produced a book that contains more well known stories of Jesus than any other.

Writing the book

In his opening statement, Luke mentions briefly how he prepared his Gospel. Since he himself had never seen or heard Jesus, he obtained the material for his book from careful research of existing records and from the accounts of eye-witnesses (Luke 1:1-4). He followed his Gospel with a second volume, known to us as the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:1-3; see ACTS, BOOK OF).

Though a doctor by profession (Col 4:14), Luke was also an accurate historian, and he liked to date biblical events according to secular history (Luke 1:5; 2:1-2; 3:1-2). In addition he was a reliable Christian worker who spent many years of Christian service with Paul. (For further details see LUKE.) Luke probably assembled much of the material for his book while he was helping Paul during the two years of Paul’s imprisonment in Palestine (cf. Acts 21:17; 23:31-33; 24:27).

Later, Luke travelled with Paul from Palestine to Rome (Acts 27:2; 28:16). There he met Mark (Col 4:10,14; Philem 24). Mark also had been preparing a Gospel, and Luke was able to take some of Mark’s material, combine it with his own, and so bring his book to completion. (For further details see GOSPELS.)

Purpose and characteristics

Luke prepared his Gospel for a person of some importance (probably a government official) named Theophilus, to give him a trustworthy account of the life of Jesus (Luke 1:1-4). In his second volume, written for the same person, Luke traced the spread of Christianity (Acts 1:1).

However, Luke was concerned with more than just recording history. He wrote with a distinctly Christian purpose. He wanted to show that God in his love had a plan of salvation for the human race, that the Saviour according to that plan was Jesus, and that Jesus’ followers then spread his message of salvation worldwide (Luke 1:17; 2:11; 3:4-6; 4:18,21; 19:10; 24:44-48; cf. Acts 1:8). This salvation was not for Jews only, but for people everywhere, regardless of nationality or race (Luke 2:32; 3:6-8; 4:25-27; 7:9; 10:29-37; 17:11-18).

In a society where many were disadvantaged, Luke showed that God’s salvation was available equally to all. Many of the socially despised would receive it, but many of the socially respectable would miss out (Luke 7:29-30; 10:30-37; 16:19-31; 18:9-14; 19:1-9). Among the disadvantaged people that Luke wrote about as being blessed by God were slaves (Luke 7:2-7; 12:37), aliens (Luke 10:30-37; 17:16), lepers (Luke 4:27; 17:11-18), the poor (Luke 1:53; 2:7; 6:20; 7:22) and women (Luke 2:36-38; 7:37-48; 8:2; 13:11-13), in particular, widows (Luke 4:25; 7:12-15; 18:1-7; 21:1-4).

Summary of contents

The Gospel of Luke falls naturally into major sections, the first of which covers the birth and childhood of Jesus. After an introduction (1:1-4), Luke records the prophecy of John’s birth (1:5-25), the prophecy of Jesus’ birth (1:26-38), Mary’s visit to Elizabeth (1:39-56), John’s birth (1:57-80), Jesus’ birth (2:1-20), temple ceremonies after his birth (2:21-40) and a visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old (2:41-52).

A short section deals with the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It includes the preparatory preaching of John the Baptist (3:1-20), the baptism of Jesus (3:21-22), Jesus’ genealogy (3:23-38) and the devil’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness (4:1-13).

Luke then gathers together, in one section, material relating to the work Jesus did over a period of about three years, mainly in Galilee. This material includes Jesus’ sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth (4:14-30), various healings (4:31-44), the call of his first disciples (5:1-11), further healings (5:12-26), the call of Matthew (5:27-32) and explanations of the nature of true religion (5:33-6:11). After the appointment of twelve apostles (6:12-19), there are further teachings (6:20-49), miracles of compassion (7:1-17), explanations to John’s disciples (7:18-35) and demonstrations of forgiveness and devotion (7:36-50). Jesus’ teaching in parables (8:1-21) is followed by demonstrations of his power over storms, demons and sickness (8:22-56). The section concludes by recounting the work of the twelve (9:1-27), the transfiguration of Jesus (9:28-36) and some failures by the apostles (9:37-50).

Much of the next, very long, section is found only in Luke. The section deals mainly with Jesus’ ministry in Samaria and around the Jordan Valley, and leads to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It begins with Jesus’ reminder of the cost of discipleship (9:51-62) and his sending out of an additional seventy disciples to hasten the spread of the gospel into all regions of Palestine (10:1-24). Then come teachings and stories about love (10:25-42), prayer (11:1-13), inward cleansing (11:14-36), hypocrisy (11:37-12:3), anxiety (12:4-34), readiness for the crises ahead (12:35-13:9), the nature of Christ’s kingdom (13:10-14:24), true discipleship (14:25-35), repentance (15:1-32), wealth (16:1-31), forgiveness, faith and gratitude (17:1-19), the coming of the son of Man (17:20-18:8), self-sufficiency (18:9-30), the Messiah’s ministry (18:31-43) and the responsibilities of the Messiah’s servants (19:1-27).

At last Jesus reached Jerusalem, and a short section deals with his few days there before his crucifixion. After his triumphal entry into the city and his cleansing of the temple (19:28-48), he came into conflict with the Jewish leaders (20:1-21:4) and spoke of coming judgment (21:5-38).

Finally, Luke deals with events relating to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus prepared for his last Passover with his disciples (22:1-13), then spent some time with them in the upper room (22:14-38) before going to Gethsemane, where he was arrested (22:39-53). He was brought before the Jewish leaders (22:54-71), then before the Roman governor (23:1-25), and afterwards taken outside the city and crucified (23:26-56). On the third day he rose from the dead (24:1-12) and appeared to his disciples in various places (24:13-43). Six weeks later, after giving further teaching and a final blessing, he departed from them (24:44-53).