Who were Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John? (pt. 3): Luke

Photo by CAIO DELAROLLE

This is the third of a four-part series on the four Gospel authors. Yesterday I looked at Mark. Today, I look at Luke. Tomorrow I will look at John.

The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible, and they tell the story of Jesus' life and teachings. The names of the Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

So, who was Luke?

Similar to Mark, Luke was not one of the twelve disciples who spent the most intimate time with Jesus. But, as with Mark, Luke seems to have recorded the accounts of eyewitnesses he spoke with. In fact, he starts his Gospel in a unique way, dedicating it to an individual named Theophilus, saying:

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

So Luke comes right out and says eyewitnesses delivered these accounts of the life of Jesus to people like him. Because these eyewitness accounts were most likely disorganized, likely a mix of oral reports and existing written accounts, Luke decided to collect them and write them down in an orderly way so people like Theophilus could read them. There are many theories about who Theophilus was. The name means one who loves God. It could have been a person by that name, most likely a patron. Another symbolic possibility some have proposed is that Luke is writing to a collective audience, including us who are reading it today.

We learn more about Luke in another book in the New Testament that he also wrote, called Acts, and in a few letters written by Paul, who mentions Luke.

On several occasions in Acts, Luke says "we" in reference to Paul's journeys. So, like Mark, Luke was a companion of Paul, who was important in the early church for starting many churches throughout the Mediterranean region and for writing much of the New Testament. Also, this use of "we" indicates that although Luke may not have been an eyewitness to the life of Jesus, he was an eyewitness to many of the things he writes about in Acts.

In one of Paul's letters, called Colossians, he refers to Luke as a physician. Many have connected the idea that Luke may have been medically trained to the orderliness he mentions in the introduction to his Gospel (quoted above). The idea is that Luke's being a physician meant he had an analytical mind and paid much attention to detail, which explains the research he did to collect the narratives for his Gospel. Also, scholars of ancient Greek (the original language of the New Testament) note that his writing indicates Luke was likely one of the most well-educated authors of the New Testament.

As for the content of Luke's Gospel, it is pretty similar to Matthew and Mark in particular, but it has its own unique aspects. Like Matthew, it includes the story of Jesus' birth and childhood, but it contains different information. Luke also includes the most unique parables from Jesus' teaching. Parables are very short stories that communicate profound, timeless truths. Some of the most well-known parables, like the prodigal son and the good Samaritan, only appear in Luke.

And, as I mentioned, Luke also wrote Acts, which is the story of the earliest church. Although as Bibles are now bound, John falls between Luke and Acts, these two books can be read together as two parts of the same story: Luke-Acts. A primary emphasis in both of these books, especially Acts, is the role of the Holy Spirit. Also, as the author of these two books, Luke's content accounts for over 1/4 of the New Testament, making him the largest contributor by word count.

Beyond this, much of what is known about Luke comes from historical tradition that is debated. For example, some believe he was not Jewish, but a Greek (Gentile) convert from the city of Antioch in present-day Syria. However, there were many Jews in this city, so he could have been a Greek-speaking Jew. So this is up for debate. But Antioch was a home base for Paul during his missionary activity, so this could explain their connection.

One thing to pull out from this history of Luke that I find interesting for our purposes is that Luke is helpful for the skeptical person with a scientific and analytical mind. He was a well-educated man, possibly a physician, with very polished Greek, and appears to be knowledgeable in Greco-Roman philosophy and poetry. And he did extensive research, likely speaking with many eyewitnesses, to gather the material for what he wrote. If you have concerns about how reliable something like the Bible is, consider the source of Lukes-Acts and the orderly account he wrote to give us certainty about these things.

If you appreciate this post/series and think someone else might find it helpful, please share it. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the button either above or below this post. And I hope you will read tomorrow's post to learn more about John.