Writer: Luke

1. What kind of Gospel did Luke write?

THE Gospel of Luke was written by a man with a keen mind and a kind heart, and this fine blend of qualities, with the guidance of God’s spirit, has resulted in an account that is both accurate and full of warmth and feeling. In the opening verses, he says, “I resolved also, because I have traced all things from the start with accuracy, to write them in logical order to you.” His detailed, meticulous presentation fully bears out this claim.​—Luke 1:3.

2, 3. What external and internal evidence points to the physician Luke as writer of this Gospel?

² Although Luke is nowhere named in the account, ancient authorities are agreed that he was the writer. The Gospel is attributed to Luke in the Muratorian Fragment (c. 170 C.E.) and was accepted by such second-century writers as Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria. Internal evidence also points strongly to Luke. Paul speaks of him at Colossians 4:14 as “Luke the beloved physician,” and his work is of the scholarly order one would expect from a well-educated man, such as a doctor. His fine choice of language and his extensive vocabulary, larger than that of the other three Gospel writers combined, make possible a most careful and comprehensive treatment of his vital subject. His account of the prodigal son is regarded by some as the best short story ever written.

³ Luke uses more than 300 medical terms or words to which he gives a medical meaning that are not used in the same way (if they are used at all) by the other writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures.a For example, when speaking of leprosy, Luke does not always use the same term as the others. To them leprosy is leprosy, but to the physician, there are different stages of leprosy, as when Luke speaks of “a man full of leprosy.” Lazarus, he says, was “full of ulcers.” No other Gospel writer says that Peter’s mother-in-law had “a high fever.” (5:12; 16:20; 4:38) Although the other three tell us of Peter’s cutting off the ear of the slave of the high priest, only Luke mentions that Jesus healed him. (22:51) It is like a doctor to say of a woman that she had “a spirit of weakness for eighteen years, and she was bent double and was unable to raise herself up at all.” And who but “Luke the beloved physician” would have recorded in such detail the first aid rendered to a man by the Samaritan who “bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine upon them”?​—13:11; 10:34.

5. From what sources may Luke have ‘traced with accuracy’ the events of Jesus’ life?

⁵ Luke was not, of course, an eyewitness of all the events he records in his Gospel, not being one of the 12 and probably not even a believer until after Jesus’ death. However, he was very closely associated with Paul in the missionary field. (2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24) So, as might be expected, his writing shows evidence of Paul’s influence, as can be seen by comparing their two accounts of the Lord’s Evening Meal, at Luke 22:19, 20 and; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25. As a further source of material, Luke could have referred to Matthew’s Gospel. In ‘tracing all things with accuracy,’ he would be able personally to interview many eyewitnesses of the events of Jesus’ life, such as the surviving disciples and possibly Jesus’ mother, Mary. We can be sure that he left no stone unturned in assembling the reliable details.

7. What testifies strongly to the authenticity of Luke’s Gospel?

⁷ Throughout his writing, Luke proves to be an outstanding narrator, his accounts being well arranged and accurate. These qualities of accuracy and fidelity in Luke’s writings are strong proof of their authenticity. A legal writer once observed: “While romances, legends and false testimony are careful to place events related in some distant place and some indefinite time, thereby violating the first rules we lawyers learn of good pleading, that ‘the declaration must give time and place,’ the Bible narratives give us the date and place of the things related with the utmost precision.”b In proof he cited Luke 3:1, 2: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was district ruler of Galilee, but Philip his brother was district ruler of the country of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was district ruler of Abilene, in the days of chief priest Annas and of Caiaphas, God’s declaration came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” There is no indefiniteness here as to time or place, but Luke names no less than seven public officials so that we can establish the time of the beginning of John’s ministry and that of Jesus.