The Gospel according to Luke

Christ in the Scriptures

Just like we’d expect from a family doctor, Dr. Luke sensitively describes Jesus as One who reaches out personally and heals those who are mercilessly caged by devastating illnesses. As a person, He is concerned with people. Whereas Matthew likes to refer to Jesus as the Son of David and Mark refers to Him as the Son of God, Luke’s favorite expression is “the Son of Man.”

Jesus’ humanity and compassion are repeatedly stressed by the author. This, coupled with Luke’s portrayal of Jesus’ sinless perfection, set up his logical conclusion. Because Jesus is the only perfect person born of a woman and because He identifies compassionately with the plight of suffering sinful people, He alone is qualified to carry our sorrows, bear our sin, and offer us the priceless gift of salvation.

Luke never met Jesus, yet chose to follow Him. An obviously educated man who, as Colossians 4:14 tells us, was a physician, Luke learned all that he could about Jesus and shared his findings with us. Thus his Gospel provides a “step back,” a unique perspective on Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, and resurrection.

The author writes that he was not an eyewitness to the events surrounding Jesus but had gathered the reports of others. On the other hand, the author was present with Paul at some of the events described in Acts. So the author must have been a lately converted Christian who knew Paul and sometimes traveled with him. Early Christian writings, from the works of Justin Martyr to Tertullian, identify the author as Luke, an identification that was firmly in place by the third century a.d. Luke was an educated man by ancient standards. He was capable of writing in high Greek style, and Colossians 4:10–14 seems to indicate that Luke was not “of the circumcision,” that is, not Jewish. If so, Luke would be the only Gentile author of a New Testament book. Tradition says that after accompanying Paul on some of his missionary journeys, Luke settled in Philippi, investing his life in the ministry of the Philippian church.

The Gospel of Luke is unique in several ways. It is the only Gospel that has a sequel, Acts. Both Luke and Acts include an account of the Ascension, an event that only Luke describes in detail. Second, Luke is the longest of the four Gospels. Third, Luke records a wide variety of miracles, teaching, and parables, making it the fullest portrait of Jesus’ ministry. Much of the material in chapters 9–19 appears only in Luke; in all, about one-third of the Gospel of Luke is unique. Fourth, Luke is the only Gospel addressed to an individual. Luke writes for Theophilus, who was probably a Gentile believer.

For Luke, Jesus is the promised Messiah (1:31–35), the Son of God (9:35), the Servant through whom God works (4:16–18), and the Lord who is called to sit at God’s right hand exerting His authority and giving the Spirit to those who believe. Though aspects of God’s plan are fulfilled in Jesus’ First Coming, other parts of the plan remain to be fulfilled when Jesus returns.

Luke wrote his Gospel to reassure Theophilus, a Gentile and a new believer, that God was still at work in the Christian community founded by Jesus. Luke presents God’s grace as revealed in Jesus’ ministry on earth. He emphasizes that this grace is available to Gentiles, even though the promises relating to Jesus’ ministry stretch back into Israel’s history. For this reason Luke also concentrates on Jesus’ relationship to the nation and leaders of Israel. The rejection of Israel does not mean the failure of God’s plan. On the contrary, although they did not know it, their rejection was part of God’s plan from the beginning (Acts 2:22–39). In fact, persecution of the Christian community would be the means by which the church would spread the Good News throughout the world. Jesus Himself had predicted that this would happen (24:45–48).

The first two chapters of Luke emphasize the Old Testament and its promises of a Messiah, while 3:1–4:13 demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah, who can resist the Evil One. Then, 4:14–9:50 introduce Jesus’ power and teaching. In these chapters, Luke records Jesus’ claims to authority and the numerous miracles that supported them. Even with these miracles as evidence, the people rejected Jesus while the disciples’ faith in Him steadily grew. The growing rift between Jesus and the Jewish leadership is seen in 9:51–19:44. This breach is emphasized most in chapters 9–13, but in chapters 14–19 attention turns to Jesus’ instruction of His disciples. The last section (19:45–24:53) portrays the final controversies, the trial, the death of Jesus, and the Resurrection and Ascension. The book ends with Jesus telling the disciples to wait for the coming of the Spirit. By now, they should have realized that everything that had taken place in Jesus’ life was promised in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (24:43–49). Jesus is the promised Messiah. Forgiveness of sin can be obtained only through Him. The disciples were witnesses to this fact; their mission was to share this Good News with all nations, not merely the Jews. Jesus gave them this task, but He also provided them with the power to carry it out (24:47). Thus it is clear that Luke’s Gospel centers on God’s plan to provide salvation to the world. It closes anticipating the spread of the gospel that is recorded in its sequel, the Book of Acts.