Luke
The Gospel of Luke is a synoptic
Gospel, and the third and longest of the four canonical
Gospels of the New Testament. The text narrates the life
of Jesus, with particular interest concerning his birth,
ministry, death, and resurrection. It ends with an
account of the ascension.
The author is characteristically concerned with social
ethics, the poor, women, and other oppressed groups.
Certain popular stories on these themes, such as the
prodigal son and the good Samaritan, are found only in
this gospel. This gospel also has a special emphasis on
prayer, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and joyfulness.
D. Guthrie stated, “it is full of superb stories and
leaves the reader with a deep impression of the
personality and teachings of Jesus." The text is
internally anonymous. One of the two oldest surviving
manuscripts P75 (circa 200), has the attribution
According to Luke. The other which 'is probably to be
dated earlier than P75 ...has no such (surviving)
attribution. Tradition holds that the text was written
by Luke the companion of Paul (named in Colossians 4:14)
but scholars are divided on this issue. Most scholars
accept the two-source hypothesis, that the text is based
in part on the Gospel of Mark and a now lost document,
and place the composition of Luke between 80 and 90. A
few scholars postulate an earlier date. Marcion circa
144, appears to have used this gospel, but he called it
the Gospel of the Lord.
The introductory dedication to Theophilus, 1:1-4 states
that "many have undertaken to set down an orderly
account of the events that have been fulfilled among us,
just as they were handed on to us by those who from the
beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word",
and that the author, "after investigating everything
carefully from the very first" has decided to compose an
orderly account "so that [Theophilius] may know the
certainty of the things [he has] been taught". Thus the
author intended to write a historical account bringing
out the theological significance of the history. The
author's purpose was to portray Christianity as divine,
respectable, law-abiding, and international. Scholarship
is in wide agreement that the author of Luke also wrote
the Acts of the Apostles.
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