Why Luke?

Good Morning,

Let us open with a word of Prayer

Pray 3+min

Today we will be beginning our study of the book of Luke, today will be a bit more like a Sunday School class over that of a sermon but it will help us in the days ahead as we look at this Gospel. Luke is a unique for multiple reasons. The first being that this is Volume 1 of a two volume series. The second volume being Acts. Second that it is the longest of all four of the Gospels. What surprises many people is that it is Luke not Paul who has authored the largest amount of the New Testament, at least if we are basing it on total volume not number of books. Another reason that the Gospel of Luke is unique is the style of writing it is, where the other Gospels are written as biographies, Luke is written more as a history. The author’s goal is to give an orderly account of the events that took place. Some of the first questions we have to ask ourselves are:

Why is it called the Gospel of Luke and who was he?

These are questions we tend to pass over as believers because of a long corporate understanding. The author, however, never identifies himself in this book, nor does he in the book of Acts. We know he was not a first hand witness to what is described in the Gospel. We see this in the opening verses of the Gospel when the author writes:

Luke 1:1–4 “1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

Nor does he ever include himself in the Gospel, so we see his desire was to preserve what the eyewitnesses and the ministers of the word had delivered to them and to preserve what had been accomplished among them. We know the author joined Paul somewhere around Troas and was a traveling companion to Paul at times.

Acts 16:8–13 “8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. 11 So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.”

These we passages are also found in Acts 20, 21, 27, and 28. We can also deduce from the opening of the Gospel and the fact that he never names himself, he is not as worried about himself as he is about the facts and details involved in the events. In their book Not Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Norman Geisler & Frank Turek list out 84 historically verified facts found in the book of Acts, testifying to the importance of the accuracy the author showed. We see this care for facts and accuracy in the way the author writes using medical terms of the time, Turn with me to Luke 13 and I will read verses 11-13

Luke 13:11–13 “11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.”

Much like a doctor of today, the author notes the disease itself, a disabling spirit and she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. He also notes the length of time and treatment. What we miss in the English though is the words used to describe some of these things. In the Greek he names the disease, then he names two parts of the healing process. Each of these three parts are found in medical books of the time.

Sugkuptousa which is a term used to describe a curvature of the spine. Apolesai is a term used to describe the relaxing of tendons and muscles, used when Jesus says you are freed and Anorthothe a term describing the removal of the curvature of the spine. All things we would expect if the author of the book is Luke the physician that Paul speaks of in Colossians 4:14 “14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.”

Another thing we should note when looking at this Gospel and the book of Acts, is the writing style. The author of these books was highly educated, this can be seen in his command of the Greek language. We see this in our opening 4 verses. These 4 verses are a different form of Greek than the rest of the book, in these four verses the author uses what is known now as literary classical Greek. This makes sense not only if we take into account the possibility that Luke is the author, but also the audience in which this letter is written to. We see in verse three of Luke chapter 1, the name of the man this account was intended to be for, Theophilus. We are given a traditional Greek address to people of importance in our introduction. The author wants to make sure that his audience understands that this is a writing of great importance and high quality. This is a quality level that would have been expected from those of high standing.

But none of that tells us that the author is Luke, and if you are looking at the book I understand that it says the Gospel according to Luke, but that is not in the text. We must be careful as we look into this and follow some rules. The first rule is when we look at Church History, how close to the original event does the tradition come from? Is this something that becomes the tradition or idea of the church early or is this sometime much latter? Well when we look into the past we see that this book has always been attributed to Luke, it has never been attributed to any other author. Marcion in the year 135, attributes this to Luke and two things are of note here one that this was 70 years after the Gospel’s writing, second is that Marcion is a heretic and even he is crediting it to Luke. One of the oldest Greek manuscripts we have dating to the second century, name this the Gospel according to Luke and the earliest scripture gathering, the Muratorian Canon in 170 to 180 A.D. call it the third Gospel, the Gospel according to Luke. So from a Church history perspective we can confidently say that it is a fairly true tradition.

What about Scripture? Does this answer the question of who the author is? We know that the author is a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul as we saw earlier. We know that the author is not an Apostle because of verses 1-4 of Luke 1, when he credits the eyewitnessing to others and he does not join Paul until much later in Acts.

Who were Paul’s traveling companions?

In the book of Acts we are given the names of several of Paul’s traveling companions, they are Mark, Aristarchus, Timothy, Silas, Barnabas, Sopater, Secundus, Gaius, Tychicus and Trophimus and the author would not generally name people who were traveling companions by name if they were himself. He frequently does include himself but alway in first person. However there are several other traveling companions not mentioned in the book of Acts that could qualify. These are Demas, Epaphras, Titus, and Luke. We can rule out Demas based on his love of the world we see in 2 Timothy 4:10 “10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.” Then between Epaphras, Titus and Luke the only one of them who’s had the ability of being with Paul from Acts 16 through the end of his life is Luke.

Who was He?

Luke is only mentioned 3 times in all of Scripture and all of them are in the writings of the Apostle Paul. We will only look at two of them though. The first we already heard it but it is found in Colossians 4:14 “14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.” Luke is called here the beloved physician. However I want to back up a few verses Colossians 4:10–11 “10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.” We can see that Luke is not listed among the circumcision so he is likely a Gentile, another factor that gives credence to him being a Gentile is his writings. Whenever there is a Hebrew or Semitic expression Luke exchanges it for a Greek version when his counterparts use the Hebrew or semitic version.

We can also see he was dedicated and loyal, we see this in 2 Timothy 4:9–11 “9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.” When Paul was at the end of his life and others had left him whether for good or evil, Luke remained. Luke was there for Paul in both the joys of his ministry and in the trials. It was this sort of dedication that likely made Luke the beloved physician.

What is the purpose of this Gospel?

The first purpose we see for this book is found in our prologue, when Luke writes, Luke 1:1–4 “1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” The main goal we see is to compile an orderly account, so that Theophilus could have certainty concerning that which he was taught. So we see that this is a book of certainty, and while it is directly written to this man Theophilus, his name has a meaning we can all find comfort in. Theophilus’s name literally means, “Loved by God,” and we as those who are loved by God can find the same certainty and comfort in this Gospel.

Luke’s Gospel is different than the others in the focus he gives to women, gentiles, the sick, and the poor. He shows God’s love and plan of salvation to those who were unable to change their lot in life. He includes people who were looked down on by the religious elite of the time. He includes those who were considered enemies of Jews. Luke’s Gospel is one that displays God’s love for all.

Luke’s Gospel has a distinct air of discipleship. We will look at this more deeply next week, but we see this in the address as Luke looks to give another certainty. It is apparent in Luke 10 when Jesus sends out the 70 disciples. He uses it as a teaching moment both before they go and when they return. Jesus shows his disciples what it is to follow Him and the costs involved in verses like Luke 14:27, when Jesus says, “27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” We see in chapters 9-19 what it was Jesus was coming to establish and how the world would reject not only Him but those who follow him.

Some of the big ideas we see in Luke are things like Joy, compassion, Jesus as the coming messiah, salvation for all, and the world’s rejection. Is it any wonder that the Gospel of Luke has been called the loveliest book that has ever been written. The Gospel of Luke is my favorite of the four Gospel accounts for many of the reasons we have seen.

What should our response be to this book?

So as we study this book, what should our response be?

We should find Joy in the offer of Salvation to all people.

Not only can all find salvation in Jesus, through His life death and resurrection. We find a place of honor and purpose because of Him. Our joy should be found in Him and the fact that our names are written in heaven as Luke 10:20 tells us.

We should have compassion and love for all.

Just as we will see Christ’s compassion and love for all people in this Gospel, so to we should grow in our compassion and love for all those around us. In several of the parables found in Luke, we see this idea of compassion and love to those who either are our enemy such as the parable of the good Samaritan or those that are lost like in the parable of the Prodigal Son. We should remember this compassion and love that God had for us and He now expects of us and use that to love our neighbor. Our tables should be open to those who cannot repay us simply because God cares for them.

We should be humbling ourselves and not self-serving.

We first see this in the life of Jesus, when He gives up His eternal glory to be born of a virgin so that he could bring salvation to mankind. This humility is described in many of the parables in Luke, but turn with me to Luke 18 and I will be starting in verse 9.

Luke 18:9–14 “9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””

Many times in Luke we will see this picture, that those who exalt themselves will one day be humbled and those who humble themselves will one day be exalted.

I pray that as we study the Gospel of Luke that our Joy would be found in the work of Jesus and that our names are written in heaven, that our love, compassion, and humility would be growing because of the teachings found here and that we would see what it is to be a disciple of Christ and a part of His body the Church.

Let us close with a word of Prayer.