Document Analysis 1: The Acts And The Gospel Of Luke

The book of Luke is the third gospel book in the New Testament. Luke was the Author as well as a Physician, the only Greek writer of the four Gospels. The theme in Luke is centered around the perfect man Jesus, as being Holy and Righteous. Jesus was also referred to as the Son of Man. The book of Luke speaks about the birth of Jesus to a Virgin Mary and how Joseph wanted to put her away for being pregnant before marriage to him.

I chose to read The Gospel of Luke for my project. It is said that The Gospel of Luke was written somewhere between 80 CE - 90 CE. The Gospel of Luke was written for Theophilus, who was called “Friend of God”. But The Gospel was also written for a wider audience, including converts and potential converts.

The book of Acts is known as 'the birth of the church'. Acts recounts the story of

All of the Gospels have a special and important message within them. It is the Gospel of Luke that today’s Christians need the most though, due to the message that it holds within it. It seems as though todays Christians seem to have lost the understanding that G-d loves everyone and that Jesus came and died for everyone.

The gospel of Luke and John are gospels about Jesus and John the Baptist. They have several differences and similarities. The Gospel of Luke describes the conception and birth of John the Baptist and Jesus while the gospel of Luke describes their life after birth. Summaries, variances, and connections of these two gospels are discussed below.

The book of Acts was written by Luke and was written "no later than the 60's” (Elwell and Yarbrough). Luke wrote Acts after he finished his Gospel. There are two very important key themes within this book. One is the beginning of the Church/the beginning of the Christian movement and the power of the Holy Spirit within the followers of Christ. In the beginning of Acts we see that Jesus is preparing his people for when He returns to heaven. In Acts 1:8 Jesus says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem...” Jesus is leaving the Holy Spirit with His people so they will be witnesses to those around them

The Gospels were based off of oral stories and parables, which are recorded within the first four books of the New Testament. The Gospels consist of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Surprisingly, the book of Mark developed at around 70 CE. Followed by the book of Mark, the book of Matthew and the book of Luke appeared in 80 CE. These books were primarily based on oral traditions and stories from Jesus. Within these stories of the books, it contains Jesus’s way of life and his teaching for his followers. Based off of the book of Mark, Matthew and Luke contain oral stories of Jesus and his parables (Coward 36). Often times, Christians categorize Mark, Matthew, and Luke together, since they tell similar accounts of Jesus’s way of life and his teachings,

The Book of Acts has not precisely ascertain its writer. Luke 1:1-4 and Acts 1:1-3, can evidently show that the matching writer authored possibly The Book of Luke and The Book of Acts. This history through the oldest era of the church appears to have been that Luke, an associate of the apostle Paul, authored both the Luke and Acts (Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11). Luke’s name was mentioned 3 times in the New Testament. We could conclude that Luke would have been a Gentile. And naturally this fits what we deduced previous: the writer was obviously a knowledgeable person who had been not an apostle however, who had previously been affiliated with them. There are also other evidences that proves the authorship pf The Book of Acts was written by the same person. Both of the Book of Luke and Acts were written to the same person Theophilus. Both Luke and Acts showed strong similarity in language and writing style. Luke and Acts showed mutual interest. (Fairchild) (Wallace)

This book was written to record an accurate account "so that you may know the exact truth" (1:4) of the life of Jesus as the perfect Savior of the world. Luke puts an emphasis on the universal nature of God's dealings with the world. Luke also wrote the Book of Acts, an account of growth and expansion of Christianity after the death of

Luke, the writer of both the Lukan Gospel and the book of Acts, commences the book of Acts by revealing that this book will differ from the Gospel: in the Gospel, Jesus personally taught; in Acts, Jesus teaches by His Spirit through His people.

Using the text provided, it can be concluded that the gospels written by both Luke and Matthew share similar sources of information used to write their scriptures. This evidence has been collected based on the incommon stories told throughout the scriptures in both of the gospels of the New Testament. The written texts of information believed to be shared by both Luke and Matthew is known as the Q source. (Ehrman 2012, 100) Ehrman agrees that both writers used the Q source; however he argues that Luke had to have used the original document of the Q source versus Matthew, because of the way the stories were constructed in both of the gospels. In Matthew particularly, the organization of the miracle stories is what stand out to Ehrman. (Ehrman 2012, 100) Matthew chose to organize the stories of Jesus’s miracles into one chapter while other authors of scriptures such as Luke, and along with Mark, chose to separate the stories of Jesus’s miracles throughout many chapters as the original Q source tells the stories of Jesus.

The author of Acts is Luke who also penned the gospel of Luke. Luke wrote this book approximately A. D. 63 or 64 D. The Purpose of Acts was to record the growth and development of the movement inaugurated by Jesus and carried on by the apostles after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Acts essentially demonstrates the history of the Christian effort among the Gentiles and gives ample history of the Jerusalem church to authenticate the Gentile works. The principal purpose is to give an account of the spread of Christianity among the Gentiles which is strengthened by Luke himself who was also a gentile (Col. 4:10) importantly a companion of Paul (Col. 4:14).

The book of Acts follows the gospels in the New Testament and is a book of history. Written by Luke the book of Acts shares with its readers the events surrounding the foundation of the church and the birth of Christianity. The theme of this book is that the Holy Spirit works through the believer to carry out the will of God. In this book Luke tells us of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples and enabled them to speak in other tongues and perform miracles. They used these gifts to bring salvation to others. Luke tells of one such occasion in which Peter, enabled by the Holy Spirit, speaks to a large crowd and brings salvation to three thousand people. Other key events in the book of Acts include the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian

Found in the book of Acts chapter fifteen, one can see that certain teachers from Judea insisted on the necessity of the converted Gentiles to be circumcised. In verse two, Paul and Barnabas are sent to Jerusalem to consult the apostles on this very subject. The church was in a monumental area of moving forward, incorporating the Jews and the Gentiles into the church. Gentile conversions were happening at a rapid pace and a strategy needed to be put in place for the growth and change to be done correctly. How can this chapter in the book of Acts show us as leaders how Paul handled this delicate situation in an era of growth and change? This paper will dive into scripture and detail how best a ministry and its leaders can move forward

Acts is such an important book in the Bible because it involves so many phases that lead to followers for Jesus the Messiah. As it begins, we learn about the day of the Pentecost. This day is what started the conversations and the teaching to a growing crowd by Peter and the apostles. Once the teaching started the crowds began believing. The confessing took place which led to the repenting and later the baptizing of 3,000 people. It is said that this is when Christianity began to transform into a religion that was embraced by Jews and non-Jews.