Luke

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO

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INTRODUCTION

THE writer of this Gospel is universally allowed

to have been Lucas (an abbreviated form of Lucanus, as Silas of

Silvanus), though he is not expressly named either in the Gospel or in

the Acts. From

Col 4:14

we learn that he was a "physician"; and by comparing that verse with

Col 4:10, 11

--in which the apostle enumerates all those of the circumcision who

were then with him, but does not mention Luke, though he immediately

afterwards sends a salutation from him--we gather that Luke was not a

born Jew. Some have thought he was a freed-man (libertinus), as

the Romans devolved the healing art on persons of this class and on

their slaves, as an occupation beneath themselves. His intimate

acquaintance with Jewish customs, and his facility in Hebraic

Greek, seem to show that he was an early convert to the Jewish

faith; and this is curiously confirmed by

Ac 21:27-29,

where we find the Jews enraged at Paul's supposed introduction of

Greeks into the temple, because they had seen "Trophimus the Ephesian"

with him; and as we know that Luke was with Paul on that occasion, it

would seem that they had taken him for a Jew, as they made no mention

of him. On the other hand, his fluency in classical Greek

confirms his Gentile origin. The time when he joined Paul's company is

clearly indicated in the Acts by his changing (at

Ac 16:10)

from the third person singular ("he") to the first person plural

("we"). From that time he hardly ever left the apostle till near the

period of his martyrdom

(2Ti 4:11).

EUSEBIUS makes him a native of Antioch. If so, he

would have every advantage for cultivating the literature of Greece and

such medical knowledge as was then possessed. That he died a natural

death is generally agreed among the ancients; GREGORY NAZIANZEN alone affirming

that he died a martyr.

The time and place of the publication of his Gospel are alike

uncertain. But we can approximate to it. It must at any rate have been

issued before the Acts, for there the 'Gospel' is expressly referred to

as the same author's "former treatise"

(Ac 1:1).

Now the Book of the Acts was not published for two whole years after

Paul's arrival as a prisoner at Rome, for it concludes with a reference

to this period; but probably it was published soon after that, which

would appear to have been early in the year 63. Before that time, then,

we have reason to believe that the Gospel of Luke was in circulation,

though the majority of critics make it later. If we date it somewhere

between A.D. 50 and 60, we shall probably be near

the truth; but nearer it we cannot with any certainty come. Conjectures

as to the place of publication are too uncertain to be mentioned

here.

That it was addressed, in the first instance, to Gentile readers,

is beyond doubt. This is no more, as DAVIDSON remarks

[Introduction to the New Testament, p. 186], than was to have been

expected from the companion of an "apostle of the Gentiles," who had

witnessed marvellous changes in the condition of many heathens by the

reception of the Gospel. But the explanations in his Gospel of things

known to every Jew, and which could only be intended for Gentile

readers, make this quite plain--see

Lu 1:26;

4:31; 8:26; 21:37; 22:1; 24:13.

A number of other minute particulars, both of things inserted and of

things omitted, confirm the conclusion that it was Gentiles whom this

Evangelist had in the first instance in view.

We have already adverted to the classical style of Greek which

this Evangelist writes--just what might have been expected from an

educated Greek and travelled physician. But we have also observed that

along with this he shows a wonderful flexibility of style, so much so,

that when he comes to relate transactions wholly Jewish, where the

speakers and actors and incidents are all Jewish, he writes in such

Jewish Greek as one would do who had never been out of Palestine or

mixed with any but Jews. In DA

COSTA'S'S Four Witnesses will be found

some traces of "the beloved physician" in this Gospel. But far more

striking and important are the traces in it of his intimate connection

with the apostle of the Gentiles. That one who was so long and so

constantly in the society of that master mind has in such a work as

this shown no traces of that connection, no stamp of that mind, is

hardly to be believed. Writers of Introductions seem not to see it, and

take no notice of it. But those who look into the interior of it will

soon discover evidences enough in it of a Pauline cast of mind.

Referring for a number of details to DA

COSTA, we notice here only two

examples: In

1Co 11:23,

Paul ascribes to an express revelation from Christ Himself the account

of the Institution of the Lord's Supper which he there gives. Now, if

we find this account differing in small yet striking particulars from

the accounts given by Matthew and Mark, but agreeing to the letter with

Luke's account, it can hardly admit of a doubt that the one had it from

the other; and in that case, of course, it was Luke that had it from

Paul. Now Matthew and Mark both say of the Cup, "This is my blood of

the New Testament"; while Paul and Luke say, in identical terms, "This

cup is the New Testament in My blood"

(1Co 11:25;

Lu 22:20).

Further, Luke says, "Likewise also the cup after supper,

saying," &c.; while Paul says, "After the same manner He took the cup

when He had supped, saying," &c.; whereas neither Matthew nor

Mark mention that this was after supper. But still more striking is

another point of coincidence in this case. Matthew and Mark both say of

the Bread merely this: "Take, eat; this is My body"

(Mt 26:26;

Mr 14:22);

whereas Paul says, "Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for

you"

(1Co 11:24),

and Luke, "This is My body, which is given for you"

(Lu 22:19).

And while Paul adds the precious clause, "This do in remembrance of

Me," Luke does the same, in identical terms. How can one who

reflects on this resist the conviction of a Pauline stamp in this

Gospel? The other proof of this to which we ask the reader's attention

is in the fact that Paul, in enumerating the parties by whom Christ was

seen after His resurrection, begins, singularly enough, with

Peter--"And that He rose again the third day according to the

Scriptures and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve"

(1Co 15:4, 5)

--coupled with the remarkable fact, that Luke is the only one of the

Evangelists who mentions that Christ appeared to Peter at all. When the

disciples had returned from Emmaus to tell their brethren how the Lord

had appeared to them in the way, and how He had made Himself known to

them in the breaking of bread, they were met, as Luke relates, ere they

had time to utter a word, with this wonderful piece of news, "The Lord

is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon"

(Lu 24:34).

Other points connected with this Gospel will be adverted to in the

Commentary.