Luke Bible Study: Intro

English Standard Version Introduction

Introduction

The Gospel of Luke is in the form of a letter to a man named Theophilus. Luke wrote after having carefully investigated all the facts about Christ (1:1–4). Luke documents Christ’s life from before his birth through his ministry, death, and resurrection. Jesus carried out his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, announcing the good news of salvation. He showed numerous times his compassion for the poor and the outcast. He fulfilled prophecy and carried out his purpose: to seek and save the lost. Luke gives the fullest account of Christ’s birth, and only Luke records the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Luke, a physician and a colleague of Paul, probably wrote this account in the early 60s A.D. He also wrote Acts.

The reading plan

We will be reading and discussing several chapters per week. Please read ahead and bring any notes or questions you have.

We will START on chapter 3 and come BACK to the Christmas story at the end when we are solidly into Advent.

Weekly Reading List

10/2: John the Baptist Prepares the Way, Genealogy of Jesus, Temptation of Jesus, Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry, Jesus begins to heal and teach, Calling the Disciples

10/9: More Healings, Call of Levi/Matthew, Fasting, Sabbath, More healing, Beatitudes, Woes, Love, Judging others

10/16: Firm foundations, healings, Message from John the Baptist, Sinful woman forgiven, Women accompanying Jesus, Parables, calming the storm, healings, sending the apostles, feeding the 5000, Foreshadowing of Jesus’ death, transfiguration

10/23: The Costs of Following, Sending more out to witness, more parables, Mary & Martha, The Lord’s Prayer, Healings, Woes and Blessings,

10/30: All Saints’ Service at 7pm at Emsworth. No readings.

11/6: Warnings, Parables, Do not be Anxious, be ready, healing, faith and witness, the cost of discipleship

11/13: Parables, temptation and faith, more healings, the rich ruler, preparing for Jesus’ death

11/20: Healing, Zacchaeus, parables, Triumphal Entry, cleansing the temple, Jesus teaching in Jerusalem

11/27: Thanksgiving Eve Service at 7pm at Mount Nebo. No Readings

12/4: Jesus teaches, Passion, Resurrection

12/11: Jesus Birth

Activity: Pick a historical event. Break into groups. Write about that event from different perspectives. Each group with a different one. One will write a newspaper article, one will write a letter “home”, one will write a poem or song about it, one will write a reflection on what it meant, etc

Background of Luke

Dates Compared to Other Gospels

Matthew: 80-90 CE

Mark: 60-70 CE

60-70 CE

Luke/Acts: 80-110 CE

80-110 CE

John: 90-110 CE

What difference does it make when each of the Gospels were written?

Mark was written around the time Rome burned, but before the temple is destroyed by Rome.

Rome burned in 64 and it’s thought that Peter and Paul were both martyred that same year, possibly as a result of the fire.

Also around the time Paul was beginning to minister. (Steven was stoned around 35CE, but Paul didn’t enter ministry until at least 10 years later. Acts makes it sound like days or weeks later.)

The letters to the Thessalonians actually probably pre-date the gospel of Mark.

This is around the time Peter is declared to be the first Pope/Father of the Church

Matthew was a little bit after that (10-30 years ish) after the destruction of the temple. Around the time Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii.

Luke/Acts was begun around that time, going into the early 2nd century.

Why does it matter to know what was going on in the world at the time the gospels were written?

Why does it matter which books of the Bible were written in what order?

Who wrote it?

Early church speculated Luke of Pauline travels, but probably not. Someone educated and probably urban.

What is helpful about knowing about the author?

What is Luke?

Luke is a letter

English Standard Version Introduction

Introduction

The Gospel of Luke is in the form of a letter to a man named Theophilus. Luke wrote after having carefully investigated all the facts about Christ (1:1–4). Luke documents Christ’s life from before his birth through his ministry, death, and resurrection. Jesus carried out his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, announcing the good news of salvation. He showed numerous times his compassion for the poor and the outcast. He fulfilled prophecy and carried out his purpose: to seek and save the lost. Luke gives the fullest account of Christ’s birth, and only Luke records the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Luke, a physician and a colleague of Paul, probably wrote this account in the early 60s A.D. He also wrote Acts.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that ahave been accomplished among us, 2 bjust as those who cfrom the beginning were deyewitnesses and eministers of fthe word ghave delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write han orderly account for you, imost excellent jTheophilus, 4 that you may have kcertainty concerning the things lyou have been taught.

What difference does it make that this is a letter?

90-110 CE

Luke was probably writing to well educated, Greek Christians.

While other gospels were written for evangelism, Luke’s purpose seems more to be for reading and use in a church setting.

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 35A: Luke 1:1–9:20 The Perspectives of Modern Gospel Scholarship

The evangelists were engaged in proclamation and not just reporting; their concern was so to tell the story of the historical Jesus that their readers might encounter the living Christ.

I remember when I was a kid, I had a record that had a skit on it about a reporter talking to people after events in the Gospels. It supported the idea that the gospels were written as some sort of news report. That is simply not how that worked back then. That was not the original intent of the gospels. Yes, they serve that purpose in a way, but that isn’t their primary function.

Activity: Pick a historical event. Break into groups. Write about that event from different perspectives. Each group with a different one. One will write a newspaper article, one will write a letter “home”, one will write a poem or song about it, one will write a reflection on what it meant.

Luke is volume 1 of a 2 volume set

Gospel according to Luke I–IX: Introduction, Translation and Notes I. The Current State of Lucan Studies

The writings of no other single author in the NT occupies the amount of space that Luke-Acts does. The relation of the first volume to the second is admitted almost unanimously today.

Gospel according to Luke I–IX: Introduction, Translation and Notes I. The Current State of Lucan Studies

Only when the whole Lucan story is understood, does one see that in small ways Luke had actually been preparing by literary foreshadowing for details important for the end of his account.

Luke used other material to help in his writing

Matthew probably used: Gospel of Mark, "Q", Some unique material

Mark probably used: Collections of stories and sayings passed along by early church

Luke/Acts probably used: Gospel of Mark, "Q", Some unique material

Gospel of Mark

The ideas of copyright and plagiarism were very different back then.

"Q"

Main Themes in Luke

Some unique

Acts of Jesus (volume 1)/ Acts of Apostles (volume 2)

In Luke specifically, we see Jesus teaching, healing, ministering, calling disciples, etc.

Salvation history leading to Kingdom of God

Lots of foreshadowing and talk about what is to come next

Holy Spirit

More prevalent in Acts, but we see the beginnings of this idea in Luke.

Christian Community

This is really important. We see Jesus calling, teaching, and sending out leaders and bringing in the outcasts into the community.

Closing

What questions do you have about Luke that you hope to answer in this Bible study?

What do you hope to get out of this study?