The Gospel of Luke

Okay, we're on the third of the synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of Luke. So what's so special about Luke? Yeah, well, it's the most attractive Gospel. The concern for the marginalized, the social outcasts, the poor, the sick, though uh wealthy, even favorable to women. I look at writing style, uh, kind of a literary Greek. Blends Greek and uh Septuagint. Historical geography; there's an accurately quotes the Septuagint. It's very historically focused; it uh binds the story in secular history, and so the Gospel is making world history in that respect. So the setting of The Gospel: accurate days for most important ingredients: 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod Antipas of Galilee, his brother Philip, tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. Very accurate setting, geography, and politics; a very accurate as well favorable picture of the Romans in Cornelius and Theophilus, the Roman Centurion at the end confesses, surely this was a righteous man. But there was an unfavorable picture of Jewish leaders; he stirs up the people, they say. It is the longest writing in the New Testament; 25 percent of the New Testament uh is Luke-Acts together. Many details about Jesus not found elsewhere, especially the final Jerusalem Journey.

Major theological emphases: God's salvation for all mankind revealed in Christ. Very important; you see that different senses in which salvation is portrayed in Luke's Gospel: from healings to deliberation, from demonic control, restoration of life to the dead, rescue from disaster, forgiveness of sins, response to faith. So these major themes that include the Holy Spirit; it's the most important theme, pneumatological theme that's in Luke, mentioned the most frequently: 17 times in Luke, Matthew 12 times, Mark six times. All the references to the Holy Spirit in Mark and Matthew are paralleled in Luke, but of greater significance is that Luke has many references to the Holy Spirit that are not paralleled in Mark or Matthew. There's other themes like poverty; the first beatitude, Luke 6:20: "Blessed are you who are poor," not poor in spirit, but poor; yours is the kingdom of heaven. And all the luncheons, all the banquets and so forth, invite the poor or the the lame, the blind. Jesus's synagogue sermon: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has what anointed me to preach the good news to the poor," quoting Isaiah 61. Uh, Luke calls uh is called calls the Pharisees lovers of money; John the Baptist warns Tax Collectors, "Don't collect more than your uh required." To the soldiers in 3:14, he says, "Be content with your pay." So there's a lot of things like that that deals with money. In fact, many parables are found uh in Luke that aren't found anywhere else that deal with money: the two debtors in chapter seven, the rich fool in chapter 12, the wise and foolish builders in chapter six, the lost coin in chapter 15, The unjust steward in 16, the rich man and Lazarus in chapter 16 as well, and the parable of the ten minas in Chapter 19, verses 11 through 27. So money's a big deal; poverty is a big deal, and the poor are blessed.

Prayer is also recorded; nine prayers of Jesus, seven in no other Gospel. So there's a lot of praying going on, almost at every turn, in every way in which uh things were happening, whether it's a mission or where it's going to another place, or whether it's preparing for submission. Two of Luke's unique parables deal with prayer: the friend at midnight in chapter 11, and the unjust righteous judge in chapter 18. Once Jesus spent a whole night in prayer in chapter 6, verse 12. Of course, joy is another major theme; begins and ends with joy actually, chapter 1:47 and chapter 24:52. So those beginning and ending where you have that kind of thing uh very important to see joy, kind of a bracketing the entire book, because you have a unique uh Continentals: The Magnificat, chapter 1:46; the Benedictus, chapter 1:68; the Gloria in excelsis, chapter 2:14; the Nunc dimittis in chapter 2:29. Joy at finding in Luke's lost: the lost son, the lost coin, the lost sheep. So there's great joy over finding the lost. The words, a lot of words expressing joy throughout Luke. And then the temple; the temple is a major uh theme; it also is an inclusio; it begins the letter and ends the letter. Luke 1:9: "He was chosen by lot to go into the temple to burn incense." In Luke 24: "They stayed continually at the temple praising God." And the climax of all the temptations, remember different from Matthew, is that uh jump off the Pinnacle of the Temple. And so the temple is the climax and uh emphasis is emphasized quite a bit. Jesus is found in the temple at age 12. All those unique settings of the Temple, very significant. Why? Because God works through people by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the dwelling place of God is the human heart. You don't uh you don't have to know that you know your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, in whom uh who is in you, whom you have received from God, 1 Corinthians 6:19, as Paul put it. But it's by this emphasis in Luke that we see the same thing.

Luke makes no attempt to give a complete history of the Apostles or spread the gospel, rather a vast pool of information he gathers, selects. Very uh very uh interesting how he selects his material; no doubt he had a lot more information of the 120 disciples who awaited Pentecost. He only he tells nothing of Mary, of Jesus's mother. He tells nothing about a lot of them except for James, who's not mentioned in chapter Acts 15. Of the 12 apostles, Luke is completely silent about nine of them; briefly on James and John, more extensively on Peter. Other churches, Luke is completely silent about the churches in Galilee, Egypt, Pontus, Cappadocia, Bithynia, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Mesopotamia, all of which he knew about, but he doesn't mention them. Clearly he's very selective in the history he reports; he reports only the history that conforms to his purpose. And look at the structure; you can see how that in uh Rajasthan's, that's a prophethood of all believers, book page 14. Uh, he says there's a parallel between Luke and Acts, the beginning narrative and the ending narrative, and it's the most careful, he says, quote, "most carefully designed book in all biblical literature." So the inaugurated narratives, the confirmatory Miracles, the travel narrative, chapters 9 through 18, the trial narratives, uh, all very well designed uh characteristics of this, of course, is that is uh Universal in scope, you know how it begins with the world and ends with the world. The prologues, Luke's purpose; he clarifies his methodology, collecting sources, the using eyewitnesses and so forth. He adds that he investigated everything accurately in orderly account to confirm them in their faith. So what are the purposes for writing? One is the historical, of course, the things accomplished among us, uh highlighting the spirit's role in doing that, but also uh describe the non-subversive nature of Christianity; there's no threat to Rome. And then also a didactic purpose; he promises to give theology, more reliable instruction. Catechesis is the Greek word; we get the word uh uh critical from it. And uh the proofs of Prophecy, the Precedence and patterns, the teachings of Jesus, the preachings of the Apostles, all those are didactic uh theological: a Christ, salvation, the Holy Spirit; very important theological themes. So very comprehensive scope uh in the way he deals with the life of Jesus.

So looking at the infancy narrative, it's a very interesting how he structures it. Again, he doesn't put the genealogy up front like Matthew does, but rather he waits till chapter three. And what's the point? Well, the point is he's showing the restoration of Prophecy. Um, it was said that in an intertestinal period, it's kind of a cessation of Prophecy, and they were waiting for a prophet to stand up to tell them what to do with the stones of the of the Altar, for example. Luke's ever see narrative reports the restoration of Prophecy among God's people, ending this 400-year-long uh kind of absence of Prophecy. So what happens? John is filled with the Holy Spirit yet in his mother's womb. John the Baptist, he will minister in the power of the spirit of Elijah. Mary will conceive in the promise, son of the most high God, when the Holy Spirit comes upon her and the power of the most high shall overshadow. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and then gives her praise to God in prophetic praise. Zacharias filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, "Oh now I've seen my eyes have seen this, the promised salvation of Israel." The Holy Spirit was upon Simeon; the spirit revealed to him he would he would see the Messiah. He came to Jesus in the spirit to the temple. So all of these prophecies there, Luke, he reports these, how following the uh kind of the pattern of Joel chapter two. John is a son whose Ministry is prophetic. Anna the Aged prophetess is a daughter. John is also a young man. Zacharias and Simeon are all men who prophesy. In addition, bond slaves, both men and women, Simeon and Mary whose song must be identified as prophecy. So it it does The emphasis narrative of Luke reports a nationwide restoration of Prophecy in the persons of Representative prophets in the form of Joel chapter 2, verse 28 to 32. So we have a the beginnings of John and Jesus here. The photo is that of the immersion or Mikvah from Masada. Mikvahs were used for ritual washings. But John analyzes and precedes the coming of the Lord who will ushering God's salvation. His call was one of judgment, to repent because judgment is coming because the end times are coming upon them, but that would result in compassion and Justice; see Luke 3:10-14. So John baptized is in the Jordan River is a sign of conversion, but points to a mightier than him that would bring both salvation and judgment. And baptism transforms that ritual washing of Jews in the Mikvah into a confession of sins, awaiting for the coming of the Messiah. So Jesus is baptized by John is a symbol of of con righteousness being fulfilled and that it was God's purpose for him. And uh so baptized for sin is not his own, just like he died for sins not his own. Uh, Luke shows that Jesus, having been conceived by the power of the spirit, anointed by the spirit, and then received the spirit's fullness, beginning his public Ministry, it's a as a as a charismatic Prophet. The spirit empowers him; the father's voice confirms him; uh the kingly rule uh is not uh emphasized so much as it is the Isaiah suffering servant role, and that's what we see. How do we see that? Well, Luke recounts Jesus's ancestry all the way up back to Adam, underscores his role as the new Adam who brings salvation to all humanity. And then he was tempted in Wilderness by the devil, helped by being led by the spirit from the Jordan for 40 days. And then the account of the Temptation uh like Matthew's, rather uh longer account. So what we have is also him being emphasizing that servant role in in and through those events and experiences. Early in his ministry, in his Galilean Ministry, he actually begins by quoting the servant Psalm 60, Isaiah 62. And uh references by the way to this um kind of a Luke's narrative strategy is an inclusio; inclusio again refers to the beginning and the concluding references that bracket off a narrative; so at the very beginning and the end of the Gospel of Luke, he uh has Jesus as a prophet. Luke 4: he's the prophet after the pattern of the charismatic prophets Elijah and Elisha. So in Luke 24, after the resurrection, till Jesus's disciples identify him as a prophet, that's on the, you know, "Surely our hearts burned in us," right? Thus, everything in his words and works that Luke's reports about his Earthly Ministry shows him to be a charismatic prophet. Luke portrays his charismatic Ministry to be the summing up and the fulfilling of four Old Testament prophetic themes: the Isaiahic Prophet, the Prophet like Elijah and Elijah, and then the rejected prophet and the prophet like Moses. So first, the Isaiahic prophet; the theme of his inaugural sermon at Nazareth, it quotes that Isaiah 61: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, is Anointed me to preach," and then uh he said, "Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." So it establishes the program then of his words and works. He blesses the poor; he releases the captives and bonds; he heals the blind; all of those things that the prophet is said to do. Luke further develops the theme of Jesus as he has a Isaiahic prophet through his parabolic teaching. So Jesus typically taught in parables; he didn't use parables to interpret scripture like the rabbis did, but rather he uses parables to talk about the kingdom of God and how it's fulfilled in him, and that is part of his uh Messianic role, the same way that Isaiah actually used parables, but it was life parables, that is how they lived was a parable. And to sum up, Luke shows that Jesus is the prophet like Isaiah in many ways relating to the inauguration of his ministry, his role as a servant, his ministry of the good news, and his use of parables. So Jesus is the rejected Prophet also; he's not only the a prophet like Isaiah, he's a prophet like as Elijah and Elisha; uh he identifies himself as the rejected prophet; he introduces this theme in Nazareth address, you know, where he says that this proverb surely be told that every a prophet is he's freed every word except for his own Hometown. And he announces also uh things like his future; he indicts the future murderers of his and um that they are rejected by God because why they killed the prophets. And then he announces his death in Jerusalem as a rejected Prophet as well. When Jesus arrested, he is mocked as a prophet in Luke 22:64. In Luke 20:24, he is also that Prophet; a mighty work and word is why he's killed in Jerusalem. So he's the prophet finally like Moses, Deuteronomy 18; Moses foretold this Prophet that the Lord will raise up this Prophet uh one like unto me. And in Luke 9, the amount of transfiguration, the father identifies Jesus as the prophet like Moses: "Listen to him," he says. Uh, having heard this, Peter later identifies Jesus's servant as the prophet like Moses in Acts 7 um 37. This becomes a widespread identification in the early church; Stephen also identifies Jesus as the prophet like Moses. So to sum up, Luke portrays Jesus as a prophet from first in inauguration to last in his resurrection. So in particular, Jesus's ministry as a prophet uh is summed up and fulfilled for motifs: in his anointing, in his parabolic ministry, he's a prophet like Isaiah; and his charismatic Ministry, he's a prophet like Elijah, but greater than Elijah, right, in terms of his acceptance; he's a the rejected Prophet, but more than the rejected prophet in terms of his being a leader of the nation; he's a prophet like Moses, but a greater than Moses. So this is the spirit-baptized Prophet that's ministering in the Book of Luke. We have the journey, and then we have him coming into some unique elements of his of his ministry; it was very people-oriented uh in this, and so we want to make sure that we understand how important this is for uh understanding him.

Second level narratives: The Parables: the shepherd, the housewife, the Father, the steward, manager, the persistent Widow; characters in first level not not narratives are like Zacharias and Cleopas and Elizabeth and Mary and Martha and Mary and so in the dying Thief even so; they have all kinds of unique elements like this in his narrative material as he's on his way. Now this uh journey to Jerusalem is called the travel log section of Luke; it's very unique; it has things in it no other Gospel has in it. So look at the these this section, and we have uh things being said by Jesus that's recorded by Luke. Again, I think a lot of these sermonic material, for example in The Sermon on the Mount, is spoken throughout this section uh is part of this narrative as well. And this especially seen then in this section where he has conflict and controversies. We look at the crucifixion in a way as presented in Luke's Gospel and uh his innocence is affirmed throughout his arrest and his and and the and the way that it's presented by both Pilate and Herod and so forth; you would get the idea that maybe that we let him go, but of course there's the pressure from the Jewish people. This is important for Theophilus and other Christians who need to see how the crucifixion was of travesty of Justice. Crucifixion was considered the most cruel and disgusting penalty, very um dishonoring, and no Roman citizen could be executed on the cross. And so this is sort of a part of Luke's strategy too and uh writing his Gospel to Gentiles. The fact that women hear the witness of the two angels and are Witnesses themselves of the Resurrection uh indicates the authenticity of the of what's being reported here. Women in that day, in their testimony couldn't even be received in court.

Critical issues: Author and date. Authorship uh of course doesn't have the author actually listed in named. Luke-Acts is clear in the text, but the author is unnamed. The author was well educated; we see he used literary Greek; he was thoroughly and accurately integrated the language of the Septuagint into his Gospel. So he's very familiar with that; he's a either a Greek or Hellenized Jew who traveled with Paul throughout the travels of Acts. We see that in the we sections of Acts, that's Al verse chapter 16, and then chapter 20, and then in chapter 27 all the way through 28:17. And uh we understand that it at the end of Paul's uh life in the Roman imprisonment, we have some people with him; they're named in Colossians 4:14, Philemon 24, as well as in Second Timothy. And so who are those individuals? Well, we look at and compare, and it can't be Silas, it can't be Timothy, it can't be Mark or Barnabas or others, because of the author gives their names in the third person, but Luke is mentioned as a person who's there with him in all those references in the Roman imprisonment. There could be there are other unnamed companions, but Luke is the one that stands out and uh because his emphasis on healing in the book, using medical terminology, and he is referred to as the physician by Paul in Second Timothy. "Luke is with me," "get Mark and bring him with you," that's in Second Timothy 4:11. So he's the beloved physician; the medical language reflects the physician's interest, the ways of reporting episode and so forth. Plus then Eusebius tells us that Luke was from Antioch. And if Luke was from Antioch, well, where did all of Paul's missionary journeys begin? In Antioch, Syrian Antioch. So that all puts it seems to all come together. So the author, a careful historian, investigating things carefully, not an eyewitness, that of we we see. And then Luke is mentioned in the Muratorian Canon, little Canon. Paul had taken with him as an expert in the way; wrote under his own name and according to his own understanding; he had not of course seen the Lord in the flesh. And so that's another testimony to Luke being the writer, and he's a Gentile. Colossians 4: he is separated from the Jews and the Gatherings. He doesn't claim authorization by some famous disciple or some famous teacher, Jewish teacher; he just simply is the companion of Paul. Then we get into the church being unanimous about crediting the book to Luke. The earliest date is 62, when we look at the abrupt endings; it suggests two years after Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner, Acts 28:30, while the deaths of no major figure is mentioned; he is left there free to preach the Gospel. So it's uh really the dating of the Book of Luke is contingent on Acts. I think Luke-Acts was a dual narrative that was commissioned by their Patron, Theophilus. Acts gives the impression that Rome doesn't know much about Christianity, implies an early date; there's Silence about Jerusalem's destruction, so it's pre-70; their Silence about the martyrdom of James, which was in 62, and and Paul mid-60s, so probably written in the very early 60s. I would say that if you do a chronology of Paul and you put him in the first Roman imprisonment from 58 to 60, that's more than likely the time frame in which uh he wrote Luke-Acts in this early 60s. So "most excellent" indicates a person of rank, that would be Theophilus, and that would be the patron paying for him to do this work. Luke is a historian; um participates in the early history of the church; he traveled with Paul; he caught he was a convert; he relied on sacred tradition and accounts of others; he used great care in his research; he followed and investigated as he says certainty was this goal; um but why? Because there was a hostility toward the Christian faith early on. And so suggested motives for him writing: Kozlman says is because to explain the delay of the parousia; Eastern says it's the defense of Christianity; Wallace says it's the defensive Paul before Rome; um Dravell says it's Paul before the community to defend him before the community to combat narcissism, as some liberal Scholars view; evangelism was O'Neill's view; to confirm the word in the message of Salvation, I heard Marshall's view; the Odyssey that is trying to justify Evil versus God's faithfulness, I was a Teeter's view; and then there's legitimatized the full Fellowship of Gentiles into the church, was Esther's View. And so there's a bunch of Scholars out there that have different views about why Luke may have written it, but we sure are glad he did; otherwise we would be totally ignorant of the early history of the church.