The Gospel of Luke - Sep 12, 2010

We're just beginning a study of Luke's Gospel. Here's the rather "skeletal" notes I handed out before our study today. -Pastor Schaller

THE BOOK OF LUKE: background

The books of “Luke” and “Acts” indicate that they were written by the same individual. Early Christian sources tell us this individual was a man named Luke.

The writer of these books uses the terminology of a trained physician. One example is the phrase “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle”. Matthew 19:24 and Mark 10:25 both use the common word for needle, while Luke 18:25 uses the medical term.

The writer of Luke and Acts tends to record details that would be of particular interest to doctors. For example, he notes the length of time that people had been inflicted with their diseases (Acts 3:2, 9:33, 14:8). He also clearly distinguishes between cases of disease and demon possession (Acts 5:16, 19:12). One author points out (rather tongue in cheek) that in the case of the bleeding woman who was healed, Luke omits the detail that she had spent all her savings on doctors and yet had remained unhealed (Mark 5:26, Luke 8:46).

Before writing about Christ’s life, Luke consulted the testimony of eyewitnesses since he was not among Jesus’ first followers (Luke 1:1-4). From Colossians 4:11-15 we learn that Luke was a Gentile, a doctor, and a close friend of the apostle Paul.

In addition to writing the account of Paul’s missionary journeys, Luke also accompanied the apostle during parts of the second and third journeys. In his narrative, Luke indicates when he is with Paul by using “we” instead of “they”. On the basis of this evidence, Luke first joined Paul during his second missionary journey, at the city of Troas (Acts 16:10).

Luke was with Paul when he finally reached Rome at the end of Acts (Acts 28:16, Colossians 4:14, 18). Perhaps Luke wrote both his Gospel and Acts at this time, while his friend Paul awaited trial for two years.

Later, when Paul was imprisoned a second time at Rome, Luke alone remained with him (2 Timothy 4:11).

According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary…

· 17 of Christ’s parables are unique to Luke
· 7 miracles of Christ are unique to Luke
· The Old Testament is distinctly referenced 28 times