Gospel of Luke

Book of the New Testament

The Gospel according to Luke ( greek : Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Λουκᾶν, romanized : Euangélion katà Loukân ), besides called the Gospel of Luke or plainly Luke, tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volume exercise which scholars bid Luke–Acts, accounting for 27.5 % of the New Testament. The combine employment divides the history of first-century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first base two of these – the life of Jesus the Messiah from his give birth to the begin of his mission in the meet with John the Baptist, followed by his ministry with events such as the Sermon on the Plain and its Beatitudes, and his rage, death, and resurrection. Most modern scholars agree that the main sources used for Luke were ( a ) the Gospel of Mark, ( b ) a conjectural sayings collection called the Q informant, and ( hundred ) fabric found in no early gospels, frequently referred to as the L ( for Luke ) source. The generator is anonymous ; the traditional view that it was Luke the Evangelist, the companion of Paul, is placid occasionally put advancing, but the scholarly consensus emphasises the many contradictions between Acts and the authentic Pauline letters. The most probable date for its composition is approximately AD 80–110, and there is testify that it was calm being revised well into the second hundred.

Reading: Gospel of Luke

composition [edit ]

textual history [edit ]

Autographs ( master copies ) of Luke and the early Gospels have not been preserved ; the textbook that survive are third-generation copies, with no two wholly identical. The earliest witnesses ( the technical foul term for written manuscripts ) for Luke ‘s gospel fall into two “ families ” with considerable differences between them, the Western and the alexandrian text-type, and the dominant view is that the Western text represents a process of deliberate revision, as the variations seem to form specific patterns. The break up ?4 is much cited as the oldest witness. It has been dated from the late second century, although this date is disputed. Papyrus 75 ( = Papyrus Bodmer XIV–XV ) is another very early manuscript ( former 2nd/early third century ), and it includes an attribution of the gospel to Luke. The oldest complete textbook are the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, both from the alexandrian family ; Codex Bezae, a 5th- or 6th-century western text-type manuscript that contains Luke in Greek and Latin versions on facing pages, appears to have descended from an outgrowth of the main manuscript custom, departing from more familiar readings at many points. codex Bezae shows comprehensively the differences between the versions which show no core theological significance. [ note 1 ]
Subscriptio to the Gospel of Luke in Codex Macedoniensis 034 (Gregory-Aland), 9th century to the Gospel of Luke in Codex Macedoniensis 034 ( Gregory-Aland ), 9th century The gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts. together they account for 27.5 % of the New Testament, the largest contribution by a single generator, providing the framework for both the Church ‘s liturgical calendar and the historical delineate into which belated generations have fitted their idea of the fib of Jesus. The generator is not named in either book. According to a Church custom, first attested by Irenaeus ( c. 130 – c. 202 AD ), he was the Luke named as a companion of Paul in three of the Pauline letters, but “ a critical consensus emphasizes the countless contradictions between the bill in Acts and the authentic Pauline letters. ” An model can be seen by comparing Acts ‘ accounts of Paul ‘s conversion ( Acts 9:1–31, 22:6–21, and 26:9–23 ) with Paul ‘s own affirmation that he remained nameless to Christians in Judea after that event ( Galatians 1:17–24 ). Luke admired Paul, but his theology was importantly different from Paul ‘s on samara points and he does not ( in Acts ) stage Paul ‘s views accurately. He was educated, a man of means, credibly urban, and person who respected manual of arms work, although not a worker himself ; this is meaning, because more high-brow writers of the prison term looked down on the artisans and small business-people who made up the early church of Paul and were presumably Luke ‘s audience. The eclipse of the traditional attribution to Luke the companion of Paul has meant that an early date for the gospel is now rarely put advancing. Most scholar date the constitution of the compound work to around 80–90 AD, although some others suggest 90–110, and there is textual tell ( the conflicts between western and alexandrian manuscript families ) that Luke–Acts was still being substantially revised well into the second century .

Genre, models and sources [edit ]

about all of Mark ‘s capacity is found in Matthew, and most of Mark is besides found in Luke. Matthew and Luke parcel a boastfully sum of extra corporeal that is not found in Mark, and each besides has a symmetry of unique substantial. Luke–Acts is a religio-political history of the Founder of the church and his successors, in both deeds and words. The author describes his book as a “ narrative ” ( diegesis ), quite than as a gospel, and implicitly criticises his predecessors for not giving their readers the speeches of Jesus and the Apostles, as such speeches were the mark of a “ entire ” report card, the vehicle through which ancient historians conveyed the intend of their narratives. He seems to have taken as his exemplary the works of two respect authoritative authors, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote a history of Rome ( Roman Antiquities ), and the jewish historian Josephus, writer of a history of the Jews ( Antiquities of the Jews ). All three authors anchor the histories of their respective peoples by dating the births of the founders ( Romulus, Moses, and Jesus ) and narrate the stories of the founders ‘ births from God, so that they are sons of God. Each laminitis teach authoritatively, appeared to witnesses after end, and ascended to heaven. crucial aspects of the teaching of all three concerned the relationship between full-bodied and hapless and the interrogate of whether “ foreigners ” were to be received into the people. Mark, written around 70 AD, provided the narrative sketch for Luke, but Mark contains relatively little of Jesus ‘ teachings, and for these Luke probably turned to a collection of sayings called Q source, which would have consisted by and large, although not entirely, of “ sayings ”. Mark and Q account for about 64 % of Luke ; the remaining fabric, known as the L generator, is of strange origin and date. Most q and L-source substantial is grouped in two clusters, Luke 6:17–8:3 and 9:51–18:14, and L-source material forms the beginning two sections of the gospel ( the precede and infancy and childhood narratives ) .

consultation and authorial purpose [edit ]

Luke was written to be read loudly to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to plowshare the Lord ‘s supper. The writer assumes an educate Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically christian concerns preferably than to the Greco-Roman global at large. He begins his gospel with a foreword addressed to “ Theophilus ” : [ 23 ] the name means “ Lover of God, ” and could mean any Christian though most interpreters consider it a reference to a christian change and Luke ‘s literary patron. here he informs Theophilus of his intention, which is to lead his reader to certainty through an neat report “ of the events that have been fulfilled among us. ” He did not, however, intend to provide Theophilus with a historic justification of the Christian religion – “ did it happen ? ” – but to encourage religion – “ what happened, and what does it all mean ? ”

structure and message [edit ]

structure [edit ]

Following the writer ‘s foreword addressed to his patron and the two birth narratives ( John the Baptist and Jesus ), the gospel opens in Galilee and moves gradually to its orgasm in Jerusalem :

A brief preface addressed to Theophilus stating the author’s aims;
Birth and infancy narratives for both Jesus and John the Baptist, interpreted as the dawn of the promised era of Israel’s salvation;
Preparation for Jesus’ messianic mission: John’s prophetic mission, his baptism of Jesus, and the testing of Jesus’ vocation;
The beginning of Jesus’ mission in Galilee, and the hostile reception there;
The central section: the journey to Jerusalem, where Jesus knows he must meet his destiny as God’s prophet and messiah;
His mission in Jerusalem, culminating in confrontation with the leaders of the Jewish Temple;
His last supper with his most intimate followers, followed by his arrest, interrogation, and crucifixion;
God’s validation of Jesus as Christ: events from the first Easter to the Ascension, showing Jesus’ death to be divinely ordained, in keeping with both scriptural promise and the nature of messiahship, and anticipating the story of Acts.[note 2]

Parallel structure of Luke–Acts [edit ]

The social organization of Acts parallels the structure of the gospel, demonstrating the universality of the divine plan and the transformation of authority from Jerusalem to Rome : The gospel – the acts of Jesus :

The presentation of the child Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem
Jesus’ forty days in the desert
Jesus in Samaria/Judea
Jesus in the Decapolis
Jesus receives the Holy Spirit
Jesus preaches with power (the power of the spirit)
Jesus heals the sick
Death of Jesus
The apostles are sent to preach to all nations

The acts of the apostles

Jerusalem
Forty days before the Ascension
Samaria
Asia Minor
Pentecost: Christ’s followers receive the spirit
The apostles preach with the power of the spirit
The apostles heal the sick
Death of Stephen, the first martyr for Christ
Paul preaches in Rome

theology [edit ]

fable of the Sower ( Biserica Ortodoxă boom Deal, Cluj-Napoca ), Romania
Luke ‘s theology is expressed primarily through his overarch plot, the way scenes, themes and characters combine to construct his specific worldview. His “ salvation history ” stretches from the Creation to the present time of his readers, in three ages : first, the prison term of “ the Law and the Prophets ”, the time period beginning with Genesis and ending with the appearance of John the Baptist ; [ 29 ] second, the epoch of Jesus, in which the Kingdom of God was preached ; [ 30 ] and last the period of the Church, which began when the surface Christ was taken into Heaven, and would end with his moment come .

christology [edit ]

Luke ‘s understand of Jesus – his Christology – is central to his theology. One overture to this is through the titles Luke gives to Jesus : these include, but are not limited to, Christ ( Messiah ), Lord, Son of God, and Son of Man. Another is by reading Luke in the context of exchangeable Greco-Roman providential jesus figures ( Roman emperors are an exemplar ), references which would have made acquit to Luke ‘s readers that Jesus was the greatest of all saviours. A third is to approach Luke through his habit of the Old Testament, those passages from jewish bible which he cites to establish that Jesus is the predict Messiah. While a lot of this is companion, much besides is missing : for exercise, Luke makes no clear address to Christ ‘s pre-existence or to the Christian ‘s union with Christ, and makes relatively fiddling address to the concept of atonement : possibly he felt no want to mention these ideas, or disagreed with them, or possibly he was simply unaware of them.

The Holy Spirit, the Christian community, and the Kingdom of God [edit ]

The Holy Spirit plays a more authoritative role in Luke–Acts than in the early gospels. Some scholars have argued that the Spirit ‘s involvement in the career of Jesus is paradigmatic of the universal Christian experience, others that Luke ‘s purpose was to stress Jesus ‘ singularity as the Prophet of the final examination age. It is clear, however, that Luke understands the enabling world power of the Spirit, expressed through non-discriminatory family ( “ All who believed were together and had all things in common ” ), to be the footing of the Christian community. This community can besides be understand as the Kingdom of God, although the kingdom ‘s final consummation will not be seen till the Son of Man comes “ on a cloud ” at the end-time .

Christians vs. Rome and the Jews [edit ]

Luke needed to define the military position of Christians in relation back to two political and social entities, the Roman Empire and Judaism. Regarding the Empire Luke makes clear that, while Christians are not a terror to the established rate, the rulers of this global hold their power from Satan, and the essential commitment of Christ ‘s followers is to God and this world will be the kingdom of God, ruled by Christ the King. Regarding the Jews, Luke emphasises the fact that Jesus and all his earliest followers were Jews, although by his time the majority of Christ-followers were gentiles ; however, the Jews had rejected and killed the Messiah, and the christian deputation now lay with the gentiles .

Comparison with other writings [edit ]

Synoptics [edit ]

The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke share so much in coarse that they are called the Synoptics, as they frequently cover the same events in like and sometimes identical speech. The majority public opinion among scholars is that Mark was the earliest of the three ( about 70 AD ) and that Matthew and Luke both used this employment and the “ sayings religious doctrine ” known american samoa Q as their basic sources. Luke has both expanded Mark and refined his grammar and syntax, as Mark ‘s greek writing is less elegant. Some passages from Mark he has eliminated wholly, notably most of chapters 6 and 7, which he apparently felt reflected ill on the disciples and painted Jesus excessively much like a sorcerer. Despite this, he follows Mark ‘s narrative more faithfully than does Matthew .

The Gospel of John [edit ]

Despite being grouped with Matthew and Mark, Luke ‘s gospel has a number of parallels with the Gospel of John which are not shared by the other Synoptics :

Luke uses the terms “Jews” and “Israelites” in a way unlike Mark, but like John.
Both gospels have characters named Mary of Bethany, Martha, and Lazarus, although John’s Lazarus is portrayed as a real person, while Luke’s is a figure in a parable.
At Jesus’ arrest, only Luke and John state that the servant’s right ear was cut off.

There are besides several other parallels that scholars have identified. Recently, some scholars have proposed that the generator of John ‘s religious doctrine may have specifically redacted and responded to the Gospel of Luke .

The Gospel of Marcion [edit ]

Some time in the second century, the christian thinker Marcion of Sinope began using a religious doctrine that was very similar to, but shorter than, canonic Luke. Marcion was long-familiar for preaching that the deity who sent Jesus into the worldly concern was a different, higher deity than the godhead god of Judaism. While no manuscript copies of Marcion ‘s gospel exist, reconstructions of his text have been published by Adolf von Harnack and Dieter T. Roth, based on quotations in the anti- Marcionite treatises of orthodox christian apologists, such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Epiphanius. These early apologists accused Marcion of having “ mutilated ” canonic Luke by removing material that contradicted his irregular theological views. According to Tertullian, Marcion besides accused his orthodox opponents of having “ falsified ” basic Luke. Like the Gospel of Mark, Marcion ‘s gospel lacked any virgin birth floor, and Luke ‘s report of the baptism of Jesus was absent. The Gospel of Marcion besides omitted Luke ‘s parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son .

See besides [edit ]

Notes [edit ]

^ Verses 22:19–20 are omitted in Codex Bezae and a handful of Old Latin manuscripts. about all other manuscripts including Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus and Church Fathers contain the “ longer ” interpretation of Luke 22:19 and 20. Verse 22:20, which is very exchangeable to 1 Corinthians 11:25, and provides religious doctrine patronize for the doctrine of the New Covenant, along with Matthew 26:28 and Mark 14:24 ( both, in the Textus Receptus Greek manuscript ). Verses 22:43–44
^ For studies of the literary structure of this Gospel, see late contributions of Bailey, Goulder and Talbert, in finical for their readings of Luke ‘s Central section. ( Almost all scholars believe the section begins at 9.51 ; strong font, however, can be put for 9.43b. ) then the introductory pieces to the open and close parts that frame the teach of the Central Section would exhibit a meaning dualism : compare 9.43b–45 and 18.31–35. The cardinal section would then be defined as 9.43b–19.48, ‘Jesus Journey to Jerusalem and its Temple ‘. Between the orifice region ( ‘His Setting out ‘, 9.43b–10.24 ) and the close up part ( ‘His Arriving ‘, 18.31–19.48 ) lies a chiasma of parts 1–5, C,5’–1 ‘, ‘His Teachings on the Way ‘ : 1, 10.25–42 Inheriting endless animation : law and sleep together ; 2, 11.1–13 prayer : right beg, continuity, Holy Spirit is given ; 3, 11.14–12.12 The Kingdom of God : what is internal is important ; 4, 12.13–48 Earthly and Heavenly riches ; the coming of the Son of Man ; 5, 12.49–13.9 Divisions, warning and discretion, repentance ; C, 13.10–14.24 a Sabbath mend, kingdom and entry ( 13.10–30 ), Jesus is to die in Jerusalem, his lament for it ( 13.31–35 ), a Sabbath mend, banqueting in the kingdom ( 14.1–24 ) ; 5 ‘, 14.25–15.32 Divisions, warning and discretion, repentance ; 4 ‘, 16.1–31 Earthly and Heavenly riches : the coming sagacity ; 3 ‘, 17.1–37 The kingdom of God is ‘within ‘, not coming with signs ; 2 ‘, 18.1–17 prayer : doggedness, right beg, receiving the kingdom ; 1 ‘, 18.18–30 Inheriting endless life : law and love. ( All the parts 1–5 and 5’–1 ‘ are constructed of three parts in the style of ABB ‘. )