Luke introduced his Gospel in a classical literary fashion.
"It was customary among the great Greek and Hellenistic historians, including the first-century Jewish writer Josephus, to explain and justify their work in a preface. Their object was to assure the reader of their capability, thorough research, and reliability."20
Luke's introduction contrasts with Matthew's genealogy, Mark's title statement, and John's theological prologue. It would have been what a cultured Greek would have expected to find at the beginning of a reputable historical work.
1:1 The first Greek word, epeideper(lit. "because"), occurs only here in the New Testament, though other major Greek writers such as Thucydides, Philo, and Josephus used it.21Luke tells us that when he wrote his Gospel there were already several written accounts of Jesus' ministry, perhaps including the Gospels of Matthew (40-70 A.D.) and Mark (63-70 A.D.).22Luke's statement here does not imply that the existing accounts were necessarily deficient. He simply wanted to write one that was orderly and based on reliable research (v. 3). The things accomplished or fulfilled refer to God's purposes for Jesus' life and ministry.
1:2 The writer wanted to assure Theophilus (v. 3) that the information that he and other writers had included in their accounts was valid. It had come from eyewitness testimony of people who accompanied Jesus from the beginning of His public ministry and who were servants of the word, namely the gospel message. These people were the apostles and other eyewitnesses such as Jesus' mother (cf. Acts 10:39-42). Luke used the Greek word logos, "word,"often in his Gospel, especially in the sections that are unique to it.23Paul also claimed to communicate faithfully what others had "handed down"to him (1 Cor. 11:23; 15:3).24This verse is a claim to careful research using reliable sources of information.
1:3 Until now Luke had described the work of previous writers. Now he referred to his own Gospel. He, too, had done careful research and proceeded to write an orderly account. Significantly Luke did not describe himself as an eyewitness of Jesus' ministry but as a researcher of it.
"In consecutive order"(NASB, Gr. kathexes, "orderly"NIV) does not necessarily imply chronological order. It probably means that Luke wrote according to a plan that God led him to adopt. All the Gospel writers seem to have departed from a strictly chronological arrangement of events occasionally for thematic purposes.
This is one of the clearest proofs in the Bible that God did not always dictate the words of Scripture to the writers who simply copied them down. That view is the dictation theory of inspiration. He did this with some passages (e.g., Exod. 20:1-17) but not most.
Theophilus' name means "friend of God."This fact has led to some speculation about whether "Theophilus"was really a substitute for the real name of Luke's addressee. Perhaps Luke wrote generally to all friends of God. The use of "most excellent"(Gr. kratiste) suggests that Theophilus was a real person of some distinction (cf. Acts 23:26; 24:3; 26:25). The name was common in the Greek world. He may have been Luke's patron or publisher.25
1:4 Luke did not address Theophilus in a way that enables us to know if he was a believer when Luke penned these words. He had received some information about Christianity, specifically reports of the words and works of Jesus Christ. We do not know either if Theophilus was in danger of abandoning the faith or if he just needed a strong foundation for his immature faith. Luke's introduction promised a factual foundation.26
The Christian faith does not require believing things that are contrary to the facts but believing things that are true. Luke wrote his introduction to assure his readers that there was a factual basis for their faith. The gospel tradition was and is reliable. Luke was the only Gospel writer who stated his purpose at the beginning of his book.
