The Gospel of Luke is the third book in the canon of the New Testament and the final of the synoptic Gospels. While the Gospel of Matthew does contain more chapters, Luke is the longest of the four Gospels, with the most verses and most words out of all four Gospels in the New Testament. Luke encompasses the full lifespan of Christ: his conception, birth, childhood, adulthood, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The Gospel of Luke also contains many parables that Jesus told during his earthly ministry, along with miracles that Jesus performed during this time. The Gospel of Luke is a vibrant book that gives believers insight in the life of Jesus Christ.
Authorship Though the author of the Gospel of Luke is not named within the Gospel itself, critics agree that the author of the Gospel of Luke is Luke, a physician. Paul refers to Luke as “the beloved physician” in Colossians 4:14. Luke is credited as being the author of the book of Acts, and was a frequent companion of the Apostle Paul; there is evidence that Paul was with Luke during both of his Roman imprisonments (2 Timothy 4:11 and Philemon 24). The reason for the anonymity of authorship is likely that the recipient (Theophilus) would know who the author was, and thus there was no need for self-identification during the time of composition. Luke may have also acted out of humility by not identifying himself as the author of this Gospel.
Luke, being a physician and a learned man, possessed tremendous
The Gospel of Luke was also written around eighty CE, written somewhere outside of Palestine (Tatum, 1999, p.34). The author may have been Luke the Gentile Christian, writing to another Gentile, Theophilus. Like Matthew, Luke is strongly believed to be written after Mark, with references from him, “Q” and “L” if following the Two (Four)-Document Hypothesis. The authors of Luke and Matthew are believed to be written during the same time without the knowledge of knowing. As mentioned before, Luke is about fifty percent longer than Mark is, making it important source since it contains more information about the historic life of Jesus. There is also a second part to Luke which is the book Acts, but is separate in Bible. Both include the beginnings
Luke was a medical doctor, a missionary, and evangelist, a historian, a researcher, and the writer of the third Gospel. The book of Luke was written in a formal literacy introduction noting his purpose in writing, his methodology, and the attempts others had made in such writing. Luke is the author of the book and it was written in AD 60 in Caesarea. According to Hindson and Elmer Luke’s purpose is to give “an orderly sequence” of the events about Christ’s birth, life, and sacrificial death followed by his resurrection and ascension back to heaven. The occasion calling for Luke to write his Gospel was that Theophilus, and other new believers like him, needed a clear account of the life and ministry of Jesus as an aid to confirm his faith
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.
This is found by comparing Acts 1:1 with Luke 1:3-4. Acts 1:1: "In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen." Luke 1: 3-4: " (3) Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, (4) so that you may know the certainty of things you have been taught." Because Luke's first book was written to Theophilus as was Acts, Luke must be the author of both.
It can be argued that the similarities and differences of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke can cause the reader to either see both of these accounts to complement one another with their different perspectives or that they contradict one another by certain events being mentioned in one birth narrative but not the other. Different aspects of both of these birth narratives such as the way Matthew and Luke treat Mary, the extent to which they use the Old Testament and the audience to whom they are writing to reveals the authors’ agenda as they allow their culture and own personal beliefs to influence what they write. These factors could be argued to have an effect on the historical authenticity of these texts as it could be possible that they could have caused the authors to twist the truth to fit in with their own beliefs.
The Gospel of Luke focuses on the conception and the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. It also provides the histories of Elizabeth and Zachariah. It also describes Angel Gabriel’s announcement to Zachariah and the Virgin Mary.
Coincidences are a funny thing. They may seem completely uncalled for and uncommon; and many may say that the similarities between the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are just this: uncalled for and uncommon. This plagiarism issue is summed up at “the Synoptic Problem”, making the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke the synoptic gospels. The problem shows how many passages of the three gospels have the same wording, sometimes in the same order. However, the similarities balance out with the vast differences between what is included and what is not.
In the opening lines of Luke, His purpose as a Gentile is to show the audience, the Gentiles, how Jesus was born into the Word as a Messiah that orally and behaved in the ways of the Jewish culture, beliefs and values. It seems as though Luke’s Gospel was written in an interpersonal way to convey the significance of Jesus’ purpose and the teachings of how the Jews lived. It’s almost like writing what Luke observed to help His own kind strengthen their faith and follow the ways of how the Meek is supposed to live. His Gospel is to descriptively show the Gentiles this man who performed miracles and fulfilled promises. Luke was writing in awe, which He was spirited to share with Theophilus and the Gentiles.
Luke begins his Gospel with the
The writer of Luke-Acts is considered anonymous because there is not enough evidence for scholars to determine it was Luke, despite some recent studies that show a note stating Luke as the author (Harris, 2014, p 199). This note address Luke as the "beloved" physician that accompanied Paul during his journey (Harris, 2014, p 199). During the text it seems that the writer does use medical terms as a physician would. Despite this evidence, the author never identifies himself in the Gospel or in Acts (Harris, 2014, p 200). The writer shows no knowledge of Paul's letters and when he does speak of Paul or his character, it seems that he does not know him very well (Harris, 2014, p 200).
The parables in the Gospel of Luke are meant to be a guide for everyday living; this gives Christians a path to live their lives so as to merit the Kingdom of heaven. As God the Father sent His Son to earth to teach us how to live in His goodness, His Son teaches Christians through parables as written in Luke. Luke’s Gospel confirms that Jesus is the Son of God, thus dispelling doubts. Luke’s Gospels are part of the synoptic gospels. That means that they are parallel in stories with the gospels of the other two writers, Matthew and Mark.
Luke and Acts tells the story of what Jesus did and taught during his ministry, first in his earthly life and then as the exalted Christ and Lord through his disciples. This essay will outline the various titles Luke used to portray or described Jesus in his two-volume narrative, in doing this we hope to get a better understanding and a complete picture of who Jesus was. Luke in his two volume work described Jesus in numerous ways and I am only going to be discussing four which referred to him as Christ, Lord, Prophet and Savior. The main Christological themes that appear in Luke-Acts highlighted and emphasised on the concept of the “Lord 's Christ”, meaning the coming ruler of God 's people, who will serve as their Savior and performing prophetic work [2 pg. 123-143]. Moreover, Jesus’s role was not assumed on his own initiative, but rather it was the work of God. Thus we can say that God’s work and plans were at the center of the Book of Acts and Luke’s gospel [1 pg 22].
In this article Harold Attridge examines Luke’s background, the scriptures Luke wrote, Jesus’s values, the context and purpose of Luke’s gospel and the treatment of Christians at the time of Luke’s writings. The article expresses that Luke’s Gospel was written before the destruction of Jerusalem and at a time when Christians were being persecuted for practicing their faith so consequently the purpose of his Gospel was to show an ethical example and imply that Christians could be good citizens. This source is relevant to the topic as it suggests the purpose of Luke's Gospel and the treatment of Christians before the fall of Jerusalem. A limitation of the website is that it has not been recently published, it’s publish date is April 1998 so it may not be up to date with the latest, accurate information. Nonetheless, this source is very beneficial and appropriate to the task as it provides facts and research on the chosen sacred text. This source will not be the cornerstone of my research but will add a good understanding to the purpose of the sacred text.
In the Bible, the four Gospels push different ideologies, views, lessons and different stories that center around the central figure of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke main themes center on Universalism, social justice, compassion for outcasts, the role of woman and the Holy Spirit.(Hauer and Young) These parables are able to connect to the context of when Luke was able bring these stories together in 85 CE. The Gospel was most likely written in Greek speaking area located in the Roman empire.(Coogan et al.) This time of stability allowed for the proliferation of Christianity and Gospels such as Luke. The passages that will be discussed will mainly focus on compassion for outcast seen in Luke 16:19–31 and warning against greed in Luke 12:13-34. Luke 13:6-9 focuses on a fig tree talks of the opportunities people and if they use them properly. Finally, the last parable is 7:11-17, which focuses on holy spirit and the possibilities for miracles and the importance of life. These parables in Luke are able to give a social justice commentary that can make a person feel compassionate for the poor and the reckoning they would receive in the afterlife if they didn’t follow Jesus’s teachings. As, well the story is able to push across a message that will everlasting importance to people. This has led to the Gospels of Luke becoming one of the main 4 Gospels and one of the most highly regarded of the Gospels. (Hauer and Young)
The theme of the gospel of Luke talks about the journey of the life of Jesus, Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection. Moreover, his ministry, teachings and parables. As a historian, and physician, Luke was not only eloquent in his writing about Jesus; he also took interest in his early life. The Gospel of Luke also depict Jesus as compassionate, caring, and loving. Likewise, Luke not only put Jesus at the heart of the Jewish world during the first century, but also at the heart of the Roman world, where with the Christian gospel exploded.