Introducing: Luke's Gospel

I've been preparing some bits and bobs on Luke's Gospel for Church, and also use it in an evangelistic context with students at the University (stay tuned for a post on UCCF's 'UNCOVER' resource). Here I just want to briefly look at what a Gospel is, what the Synoptics are, what the Oral Tradition is, what makes Luke's Gospel unique, and who Luke the Author was...

Introducing: Luke’s Gospel.

What is a Gospel?

As we all know, Luke is a ‘Gospel’, one of four in the New Testament. ‘Gospel’ is actually a unique type of writing, a genre that is very specific in both its form and content. The actual word itself comes from a Greek word, ‘euangelio’, which quite literally means ‘Good News’.  a bit of digging around also links to the concept of a message announcing victory. Quite literally, then, a Gospel is an announcment of Good News, specifically of victory. It is also worth noting that the genre of Gospel is intended to be a combination of history and biography. In the case of the New Testament Gospels, there is also an element of theology in there as well!

What are the Synoptics?

Luke’s Gospel is one of the three ‘synoptic’ Gospels, alongside Matthew and Mark. John’s Gospel is a rather different animal. The Synoptic Gospels are so named because they have a lot of common material, both within the three of them, or specifically related material between two Gospels. Briefly, Mark is the earliest, and we can read echoes of that in Matthew and Luke.  The Synoptic Gospels also follow broadly similar historical timelines, in terms of arrangement of the material, especially events in the life and ministry of Jesus.

Oral Tradition/Common Source Materials

It is important to remember when reading the Gospels, that the Gospels in the New Testament were not originally written down. They originally existed as oral tradition, literally the words and experiences of eyewitnesses to the different bits of Jesus’ time on earth. Tom Wright is helpful in reminding us that this is actually really important for their authenticity; ““You can’t tell where a book has come from, but you can look witnesses in the eye, and use your judgement about whether to trust them”. They were written down as the eyewitnesses started to die, so that the early Christians could have a trustworthy account of Jesus life and teaching.

The Uniqueness of Luke

Luke’s Gospel is perhaps unique because the author (who we will get to in a moment) was very keen to demonstrate the historical nature of the life and ministry of Jesus. This may well have come from the medical credentials of Luke himself, as Paul seems to reference in Colossians 4:14, and there is a great attention to detail! Luke opens his Gospel with his declaration of an intent to write an “orderly account”, for the explicit purpose of the reader being able to “know the certainty of the things you have been taught”. What really sets Luke apart, however, is the sequel! Luke is the only Gospel to have a direct sequel, and the Church has long believed that the Luke who wrote the Gospel is the same as the Luke who wrote the book of Acts. Darrell Bock, a New Testament scholar, observes this pairing with a simple statement, “Luke-Acts is about God’s plan”, and you can see the continuity from Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, to the acts and ministry of his followers in the Book of Acts.

Luke the Author

Interestingly, the Church has pretty much always understood Luke to be the author of Luke’s Gospel! This is so overwhelmingly the case, according to Church History, that even an early false teacher, called Marcion, saw Luke as being scripture! Luke is clearly a good thinker, and Darrell Bock calls him “a historian, theologian, and pastor”. He was not one of the apostles, but the consistency of the Church’s teaching on Luke being the author is important. Luke very much intended his writing to “explain who Jesus was, what he did, why he came, and how he prepared the disciples for the role they would have in that plan”. This means that, with all its reporting of miracles, proclaiming of truth, and tying into God’s bigger plan for history, Luke’s Gospel is a brilliant read for us in the UK today, trying to serve Jesus and advance his Kingdom.

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Sources Quotes

Tom Wright, 'Luke for Everyone', (SPCK, London, 2004)

Darrell L. Bock, 'The NIV Application Commentary: Luke', (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1996)

Leon Morris, 'Luke', (IVP, Nottingham, 2008) [Tyndale New Testament Commentary]