PREFACE
I begin this study in Luke with renewed excitement, partly because it is the last of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), and partly because I have made it this far. As you know I have completed John, Matthew, and Mark. It is always refreshing to complete an exposition of One of the Great Books of the Bible. Luke will bring us to the final stage before we start in His Book of the Acts of the Apostles. You are all familiar with the format I use of writing out the King James Version and then my literal translation below with the heading LGT.
INTRODUCTION
"Little is certainly known concerning the time and place of writing this Gospel, or concerning the author. The first time we have any mention of the author is in his own history, Acts 16:10, 11. He was then the companion of Paul in his travels, and it is evident that he often attended Paul in his journeys, comp. Acts 16:11-17; 21:1-6. In each of these places the author of the Acts speaks of his being in company with Paul. That the same person was the writer of this Gospel is also clear from Acts 1:1.
From this circumstance the ancients regarded this Gospel as in fact the Gospel what Paul preached. They affirm that Luke recorded what the apostle preached. That Irenaeus says, Luke the companion of Paul, put down in a book the gospel preached by him. He also says, Luke was not only a companion, but also a fellow-laborer of the apostles, especially of Paul. Origen, speaking of the Gospels, says, The third is that according to Luke, the gospel commended by Paul, published for the sake of the Gentile converts. The testimony of the fathers is uniform that it was written by Luke, the companion of Paul, and was regarded by them as really the gospel, which Paul preached.
It is not known where it was written. Jerome says it was composed in Achaia. There seems to be some probability that it was written to persons that were well acquainted with Jewish manners, as the author does not stop to explain the peculiar customs of the Jews, as some of the other evangelists have done. Respecting the time when it was written nothing very definitely is known. All that can with certainty be ascertained is that it was written before the death of Paul (A.D. 65), for it was written before the Acts (Acts 1:1), and that book only brings down the life of Paul to his imprisonment at Rome, and previous to his going into Spain.
It has been made a matter of inquiry whether Luke was a Gentile or a Jew. On this subject there is no positive testimony. Jerome and others of the fathers say that he was a Syrian, and born at Antioch. The most probable opinion seems to be that he was a proselyte to the Jewish religion, though descended from Gentile parents. For this opinion two reasons may be assigned of some weight. 1st. He was intimately acquainted, as appears by the Gospel and the Acts, with Jewish rites, customs, opinions, and prejudices; and he wrote in their dialect, that is, with much of the Hebrew phraseology, in a style similar to the other evangelists, from which appears that he was accustomed to the Jewish religion, and was, therefore, probably a proselyte. Yet the preface to his Gospel, as critics have remarked, is pure classic Greek, unlike the Greek that was used by native Jews; from which it seems not improbable that he was by birth and education a Gentile. 2d. In Acts 16:27, it is said that the Asiatic Jews excited the multitude against Paul because he had introduced Gentiles into the temple, thus defiling it. In vs. 28 it is said that the Gentile to whom they had reference was Trophimus, an Ephesian. Yet Luke was also at that time with Paul. If he had been regarded as a Gentile it is probable that they would have made complaint respecting him as well as Trophimus; from which it is supposed he was a Jewish proselyte" (Barnes).
"Luke's is the gospel of infancy. He alone tells the story of the birth of John the Baptist; he gives the minuter details of the birth of Christ, and accounts of His circumcision and presentation in the temple, His subjection to His parents and the questioning with the doctors. His Gospel sheds a sacred halo and celestial charm over infancy, as perpetuating the paradise of innocence in a sinful world. The first two chapters will always be the favorite chapters for children, and all who delight to gather around the manger of Bethlehem, and to rejoice with the shepherds in the field and angels in heaven (Schaff)" (Vincent).
"Luke was the beloved physician of Colossians 4:14, Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. He used more medical terms than Hippocrates, the father of medicine. The choice of Luke by the Holy Spirit to write the third Gospel reveals that there are no accidental writers of Scripture. There was a supernatural selection of Luke. There were not many wise called, but Luke belongs to that category. He and Paul were evidently on a very high intellectual level as well as a high spiritual level. This explains why they traveled together and obviously became fast friends in the Lord. Dr. Luke would rank as a scientist of his day. Also he wrote the best Greek of any of the New Testament writers, including Paul. He was an accurate historian. Luke was a poet - he alone records the lovely songs of Christmas. Luke was an artist; he sketches for us Christ's marvelous, matchless parables.
Note these special features of Luke's gospel:
- Although the gospel of Luke is one of the synoptic gospels, it contains many features omitted by Matthew and Mark.
- Dr. Luke gives us the song of Christmas.
- Dr. Luke has the longest account of the Virgin Birth of Jesus of any of the Gospels. In the first two chapters, he gives us an unabashed record of obstetrics. A clear and candid statement of the Virgin Birth is given by Dr. Luke. All the way from Dr. Luke to Dr. Howard Kelly, a gynecologist at John Hopkins, there is a mighty affirmation of the Virgin Birth, which makes the statement of pseudo-theologians seem rather puerile when they unblushingly state that the Virgin Birth is a biological impossibility.
- Dr. Luke gives us twenty miracles of which six are recorded in no other gospel.
- He likewise gives us twenty-three parables, and eighteen of them are found nowhere else. The parables of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan are peculiar to this third Gospel.
- He also gives us the very human account of the walk to Emmaus of our resurrected Lord. This proves that Jesus was still human after His resurrection. Dr. Luke demonstrates that the Resurrection was not of the spirit, but of the body. Jesus was " . . . sown a natural body . . . raised a spiritual body . . ." (1 Cor. 15:44).
- A definite human sympathy pervades this gospel, which reveals the truly human nature of Jesus, as well as the big-hearted sympathy of this physician of the first century who knew firsthand a great deal about the suffering of humanity.
- Dr. Luke uses more medical terms than Hippocrates, the father of medicine" (McGee).
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