III. LUKE

A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: [The early church recognized Luke as the author of both this Gospel and Acts. Luke’s authorship is evident from the style of composition of the two books. Luke was a Gentile (Col. 4:14, cf. 11), probably an Asiatic Greek, and a physician (Col. 4:14). Starting in Troas, he joined Paul in his ministry and accompanied him in his last three ministry journeys (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5—21:18; 27:1—28:15). He was a faithful companion of Paul until Paul was martyred (Philem. 24; 2 Tim. 4:11). Hence, his Gospel should represent Paul’s views, as Mark’s represents Peter’s.]

This book was written before the book of Acts (Acts 1:1), probably about A.D. 60. It may have been written in Caesarea while the apostle Paul was in prison there. It was written to Theophilus (1:3 and footnote 2).

B. The subject: the gospel of redemption—proving that Jesus Christ is the Man-Savior living a life in the highest standard of morality.

C. The background: [It may seem that the Gospel of Luke is not as profound as the Gospel of Matthew or as mysterious as the Gospel of John. The reason for this is that Luke gives us a record of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, as a Man. A man, of course, is not profound when compared to God.] [Although the Gospel of Luke is not the most profound or mysterious of the four Gospels, it is the most sweet and pleasant of the Gospels. Yes, God is profound. But when He became a man, He became sweet and pleasant.]

[Luke does not stress the dispensational aspect or the Jewish background as Matthew does. The Gospel of Luke is the Gospel written to mankind in general, announcing the good news to all people (2:10). Its characteristic is absolutely not Jewish, but Gentile (4:25-28). It is a Gospel to all sinners, both Jews and Gentiles. As such, its record is according to the sequence of morality, not according to the sequence of historical events.] [In this respect Luke is similar to Matthew. Matthew’s sequence is the sequence of doctrine concerning the kingdom, and Luke’s sequence is the sequence of morality. Therefore neither Luke nor Matthew was written according to the sequence of historical events.]

D. The central thought: [According to the Gospel of Luke, our Savior lives, behaves, and works in the highest standard of morality. Moreover, His salvation is carried out in the highest standard of morality. Therefore, we need to keep in mind that the subject of the Gospel of Luke is the Man-Savior and His salvation in the highest standard of morality.]

This highest standard of morality is an issue of His human virtues being fully strengthened and enriched by the Father’s divine attributes. [Today the very Christ who lives in us is still the One who possesses the human virtues strengthened and enriched by the divine attributes. While He was on earth, He lived a life in the highest standard of morality. Such a life was a composition of the divine attributes and the human virtues. Of course, the Lord Jesus lived this kind of life outside the disciples. But from the time of His resurrection He has been living this kind of life within the believers. This means that within us today the Man-Savior is still living a life in the highest standard of morality, a life that is a composition of the divine attributes and the human virtues. If we see this, we shall say with Paul, “It is no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).]

E. The general sketch: The gospel of Luke [displays and presents to us mainly five crucial and excellent aspects concerning the Man-Savior: His birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension.

1. His birth is of and with the Spirit of God essentially, making Him a God-man to be the Man-Savior (1:35).
2. His ministry is by and through the Spirit of God economically to carry out God’s economy in His jubilee (4:18-19).
3. His death is by the God-man to accomplish God’s redemption for man (23:42-43) and to release Himself into man as the fire of life to burn on the earth (12:49-50).
4. His resurrection is: a) God’s vindication of Him and of His work; b) His success in all His achievements; and c) His victory over the universal enemy of God.
5. His ascension is God’s exaltation of Him, making Him the Christ of God and the Lord of all (Acts 2:36), to carry out His heavenly ministry on the earth as the all-inclusive Spirit poured out from the heavens upon His Body composed of His believers (Acts 2:4, 17-18), as recorded also by Luke in his further writing called the Acts.]

F. The sections: 1) introduction (1:1-4), 2) the preparation of the Man-Savior in His humanity with His divinity (1:5—4:13), 3) the ministry of the Man-Savior in His human virtues with His divine attributes (4:14—19:27), 4) the Man-Savior’s presentation of Himself to death for redemption (19:28—22:46), 5) the death of the Man-Savior (22:47—23:56), 6) the resurrection of the Man-Savior (24:1-49), and 7) the ascension of the Man-Savior (24:50-53).