Because Luke’s Gospel is one of the synoptic Gospels concerning the Savior’s humanity, its purpose is to present the Savior as a genuine, normal, and perfect Man, revealing God among men in His saving grace to fallen mankind. It narrates a complete genealogy of the Man Jesus, from His parents back to Adam, the first generation of mankind. This shows that He is a genuine descendant of man—a son of man. Its record of this Man’s life impresses us with the completeness and perfection of His humanity. Hence, its emphasis is the Man-Savior. It presents, based upon the moral principles which apply to all men, gospel messages as in 4:16-21; 7:41-43; 12:14-21; and 13:2-5; gospel parables as in 10:30-37; 14:16-24; 15:3-32; and 18:9-14; and gospel cases as in 7:36-50; 13:10-17; 16:19-31; 19:1-10; and 23:39-43; these are not recorded in the other Gospels. 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.
The subject of the Gospel of Luke is marvelous: the Man-Savior and His salvation in the highest standard of morality. Here we have the Man-Savior, His salvation, and the highest standard of morality. I believe that most readers of this Gospel would realize that this book speaks of a Man who is our Savior. Hence, we may call Him the Man-Savior. Also, it is rather easy to realize that this book shows us the Man-Savior’s salvation. However, not many readers of this Gospel realize that the Man-Savior and His salvation are both in the highest standard of morality.
When some hear that Luke presents the Man-Savior and His salvation in the highest standard of morality, they may say, “We can’t find the word ‘morality’ in this book. We do not even see the thought of morality.” Apparently, this may be the case. But if we search into the depths of this book, we shall see that it does convey the highest standard of morality. 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.
We need to see that the Lord Jesus is the Man-Savior. As the Man-Savior, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence. Unlike other biographies, Luke records the conception of the one whose life he records. Other biographies may speak of a person’s birth, but not his conception. In this matter, Luke is unique. He tells us how the Man-Savior was conceived. He was not conceived of a man; rather, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence.
The Holy Spirit is God Himself reaching man. This means that when God reaches man, He is the Holy Spirit. With the conceiving of the Man-Savior, the Holy Spirit came into humanity.
We have pointed out that the Man-Savior was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence. Here we are using the word “essence” in a strong sense to denote something even more intrinsic than nature. The essence is the intrinsic constituent of a certain substance. The Man-Savior was conceived of the Holy Spirit not only with the divine nature but with the divine essence. It is extremely important that we see this matter.
The Man-Savior was born of a human virgin with the human essence. In 1:27 and 31 we see that a virgin named Mary conceived in her womb and bore a Son whose name was Jesus.
Because the Man-Savior was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence and was born of a human virgin with the human essence, He has two essences, the divine and the human. With Him there is the mingling of the divine essence with the human essence.
In contrast to the Man-Savior, we have only one essence, the human essence, for we were conceived of man and born of woman. Our Savior is different, for He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a human virgin. With the Holy Spirit there is the divine essence, and with the human virgin there is the human essence.