The longest book in the New Testament is the Third Gospel, the account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that is attributed to a man called Luke. Though it is like the other canonical Gospels in many ways, there are nevertheless several details about Jesus’s life and ministry found only in the Gospel of Luke and several points of emphasis unique to his account. For those less familiar with this New Testament book—and even for those who are—let me offer this brief introduction, survey, and summary of the Gospel of Luke.[1]
1. For a lengthier introduction to the Gospel of Luke, see Douglas S. Huffman, “The Gospel of Luke,” 80–101 in What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About: A Survey of Their Writings, ed. Kenneth Berding and Matt Williams, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2015).
Authorship & Date
All four of the canonical Gospels in our New Testament are technically anonymous. But all four have long traditions pertaining to their authorship, which eventually led to the addition of their eponymic titles. Since the second century, the Third Gospel has uniformly been attributed to Luke, as has the New Testament book called the Acts of the Apostles (this corpus of literature is regularly dubbed simply Luke–Acts). That the Third Gospel and Acts are written by the same person is clear enough from the coordination of their prefaces (Luke 1:1–4 and Acts 1:1–2) as well as their shared writing style and thematic interests. Furthermore, several passages in Acts indicate its author was accompanying the apostle Paul at those points in the story (see the “we” passages of Acts 16:10–17; 20:5–15; 21:1–18; 27:1–28:16). From Paul’s New Testament letters, we know a first-century man named Luke to have been a physician (Col. 4:14) who occasionally accompanied Paul as a “fellow worker” (Phlm. 24) in his missionary travels (2 Tim. 4:11). All this internal evidence lends credence to identifying Luke as the author of Luke–Acts.
Four lines of external evidence are more overt in supporting Luke’s authorship of Luke–Acts. First, in discussing the New Testament writings, a list of books called the Muratorian Canon dating to AD 170–80 attributes Luke–Acts to the man Luke. Two, among a second-century collection of introductory remarks prefaced to copies of the Gospels (perhaps comparable to introductions in modern study Bibles), the Anti–Marcionite Prologue to the Third Gospel descriptively names the author of Luke–Acts as Luke, a Syrian from Antioch, a physician by trade, a disciple of the apostles, and a follower of Paul. Third, by the third century traditional Gospel authorship appears to have been common enough to be represented in titles, and the oldest extant Greek manuscript of the Third Gospel, a papyrus codex called P75 (a.k.a. the Bodmer Papyrus XIV–XV) and dating to AD 175–225, has the first known occurrence of the title “Gospel According to Luke.” Fourth, among the early church fathers, several have written works identifying Luke as author of Luke–Acts. These include Irenaeus (ca. AD 130–200), Clement of Alexandria (ca. AD 150–215), Tertullian (ca. AD 155–240), Origen (ca. AD 184–254), a book called The Teaching of the Apostles (ca. AD 230), Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea (ca. AD 260–340), Pamphilus of Caesarea (died AD 309), Epiphanius of Salamis (ca. 310/320–403), Chromatius, bishop of Aquilaeia (ca. AD 345–407), Jerome (ca. AD 347–420), John Chrysostom, bishop of Antioch (ca. AD 349–407), and a book entitled Apostolic Constitutions (ca. AD 375–380). In fact, in all of church history, there is no other name so universally associated with the authorship of Luke–Acts.
Thus, given the internal evidence and the abundance of external evidence, we have little reason to doubt the well-attested and rather unanimous early church tradition that identifies the author of both the Third Gospel and Acts to be Luke, the first-century physician and sometimes ministry companion of Paul.[2] Since in several respects the Gospel of Luke seems dependent upon the wording and format of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark (these three are called the “Synoptic” Gospels because they “view together” the life of Jesus), it seems likely that Luke wrote after them, especially after the shorter and more rough Gospel of Mark. On the other hand, since Luke abruptly ends his second book with Paul under a two-year house arrest and with no mention of major happenings thereafter (e.g., Paul’s death, the Jewish revolt against Rome, the fall of Jerusalem, official Roman persecution of Christians, etc.), it seems likely that Luke wrote both Luke and Acts prior to AD 64. But precision on the issues of date and even authorship is not as important as understanding the message of the Gospel of Luke.
2. Luke’s ethnic background has been debated, but two observations from the text of Scripture convincingly suggest that Luke was a gentile. First, in Colossians 4:10–14 Paul lists for the moment Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus to be “the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers” (Col. 4:10–11) and then goes on to add the names of the presumably non-Jewish men Epaphras, Luke, and Demas as also being with him (Col. 4:12–14). Second, in recounting the demise of Judas Iscariot in Acts 1:18–19, Luke gives the Semitic name of the place, remarking it is “in their own language,” that is, the language of the Jews and not his ethnical language.
Purpose & Outline for the Gospel of Luke
At the beginning of his Gospel, in Luke 1:1–4, Luke communicates clearly about his purpose for writing. Desiring “to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us” (Luke 1:1), our author collected information from sources such as “those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” (Luke 1:2). Well researched, “having followed all things closely for some time past” (Luke 1:3), Luke set out “to write an orderly account” (Luke 1:3, where “orderly” means “organized and intentional”) so that his readers “may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:4). Luke may also have had other intentions for his writing (e.g., historical, biographical, doctrinal, paradigmatic, mediational, apologetical, evangelistic, and even entertainment), but he is clear from the beginning that he wants to confirm for his readers the truth of faith in Jesus Christ.
While variating in some details, nearly all suggested outlines for Luke’s Gospel acknowledge that the book is divided into two parts, with Luke 9:51 clearly marking the midpoint. The story takes a turn there with reference to how Luke (alone among the Gospels!) will conclude his book with an account of Jesus’s ascension: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Up until this midpoint, Luke has focused on the unique identity of Jesus, sharing stories and information that emphasize Jesus’s unique birth (Luke 1:5–2:52), his unique qualifications for ministry (Luke 3:1–4:14), and his unique power and authority (Luke 4:15–9:50). After Luke 9:51, Luke focuses on the mission of Jesus to bring God’s salvation to humankind, sharing stories that emphasize reordered priorities for following Jesus (Luke 9:51–19:27), narrating the events that led to Jesus’s sacrificial death (19:28–23:56), and celebrating Jesus’s resurrection and ascension (Luke 24:1–53).
A. The Man: Jesus’s Unique Identity
- 1. Preface: Luke’s Purpose for Writing (Luke 1:1–4)
- 2. Infancy Narratives: Jesus’s Unique Birth (Luke 1:5–2:52)
- 3. Preparation for Ministry: Jesus’s Unique Qualifications (Luke 3:1–4:14)
- 4. Early Ministry: Jesus’s Unique Power and Authority (Luke 4:15–9:50)
B. The Mission: Bringing God’s Salvation
- 1. Travel Narrative: Reordered Priorities for Following Jesus (Luke 9:51–19:27)
- 2. Jesus in Jerusalem: Conflict (Luke 19:28–23:56)
- 3. The Resurrection & Ascension: Victory and Exaltation (Luke 24:1–53)
Most significant about this outline of Luke’s Gospel is that his confirmational intention is apparent in the orderly structure of his narrative. For example, more than the other Gospels, Luke includes in the first half of his account more stories about people asking questions about Jesus’s identity (see Luke 5:21; 7:19–20; 7:49; 8:25; 9:9; 9:18–20). These stories of inquiry about Jesus’s identity are enclosed between two accounts where the definitive answer is given by a voice from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22) and “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35). Consequently, by the time Luke’s readers get to the turning point of the Gospel, they should know Jesus’s unique identity as the Son of God, the Messiah, the one to follow.
Then immediately after the turning point of Luke 9:51, unlike the other Gospel writers, Luke makes much of Jesus’s final journey to Jerusalem, the city where Jesus will accomplish his mission. This travel narrative of Luke 9:51–19:27 is filled with parables—most of them found only in Luke—where Jesus challenges his followers regarding their priorities in life. This section begins with an overview about reordered priorities for following Jesus regarding material values (Luke 9:57–58), schedules (Luke 9:59–60), and one’s focus of attention (Luke 9:61–62). So, while Jesus is literally traveling, Luke recounts Jesus’s instructions regarding what it means to travel with Jesus in all of life.
Like the other Gospels, Luke recounts the conflicts Jesus had in Jerusalem which culminated in his death on the cross for our sins, a death he knew was coming (see Luke 9:22; 43–45; 18:31–33; cf. 5:35; 9:31; 12:50; 20:9–19) and would willingly undergo to establish “the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). And like the other Gospels, Luke gives evidence of Jesus’s victory over sin by reporting his resurrection and triumph over death. But Luke alone among the Gospels recounts Jesus’s ascension. Indeed, while other New Testament writers mention the fact (and/or results) of the ascension (e.g., John 6:62; 20:17; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20–22; 4:7–13; Phil. 2:9–11; Col. 3:1; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1:3; 4:14; 8:1–6; 9:24; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:21–22), Luke is the only one to actually narrate the event itself, and he does so twice (Luke 24:50–53 and Acts 1:9–11). Jesus’s ascended exaltation is significant to Luke’s view of Jesus as Savior. Jesus is the resurrected Lord who is exalted to the right hand of God the Father.
Luke’s Own Summary
Luke’s two books are the longest in, and together comprise more than twenty-five percent of, the New Testament.[3] Nevertheless, Luke’s large contribution to Scripture can be summarized very quickly; in fact, he does so himself using words spoken by Jesus.[4] This occurs in Luke 24:46–47, at the end of the Gospel of Luke and immediately before the book of Acts, right at the hinge point of Luke’s two volumes. We have here a summary of the message of the Gospel of Luke when Jesus says, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead” (Luke 24:46), which is followed immediately by a summary of the message of the book of Acts as Jesus continues, “and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). So it is that this one sentence encapsulates the view of Jesus that Luke presents in a quarter of the New Testament.
