Introduction to the Gospel of Luke
Luke 1:1-4


Expository notes

One of the most effective preachers of the gospel was the apostle Paul. After a long career of witnessing for Christ throughout much of the Mediterranean world, the Jews arrested and sought to kill him (Acts 21–22). But their hands were tied because he was a Roman citizen protected by Roman law. When they handed him over to the Romans and laid false charges against him, he appealed to Caesar (Acts 23-26). He was then taken to Rome for trial (Acts 27-28). The physician Luke, his traveling companion on several of his earlier journeys, accompanied him. Many scholars believe that during Paul's imprisonment, Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts to assist in the apostle's defense. Theophilus was probably a Roman official who was hearing Paul's case at the time when Luke brought his work to completion.

The Gospel of Luke is an account of Jesus’ life, beginning with events setting the background of His birth and concluding with events immediately following His resurrection. In these opening verses, the author tells us why we should accept his Gospel as fully credible. He presents five reasons altogether.

  1. He will confine His narration to "things which are mostly surely believed among us" (v. 1); that is, among Christians. He will not include any personal opinion or speculation.
  2. He will limit his coverage to things "which are most surely believed" (v. 1). He will not assert anything that other Christians would support halfheartedly, or with pause or qualification. Rather, he will express their firm and unshakable convictions.
  3. The ultimate source of Luke’s account will be those who were "ministers" (literally, "servants"1) of Christ and "eyewitnesses" of His deeds "from the beginning" (v. 2). For some, such as His brother James, an early leader of the church, and other members of Jesus’ family, the beginning refers to the beginning of His life. For others, such as His disciples Peter and John, the beginning refers to the beginning of His active ministry. Luke is therefore stressing that His Gospel rests not on hearsay, but on firsthand testimony.
  4. Luke has ventured to put down his own narration only because he has done his homework, as it were. He has studied Jesus’ life to the point of attaining perfect "understanding of all things from the very beginning" (v. 3). He is urging us to accept his Gospel as a work of rigorous scholarship, painstaking in examining every detail to assure that it is correct.
  5. He says that he will write "in order" (v. 3). The phrase can be translated "in succession."2 He evidently means that he will arrange events consecutively. Confirmation of this interpretation comes from his use of the same word in Acts 11:4. When he says that Peter spoke "by order," he apparently means that Peter gave past events in sequence. Luke’s claim that His narration will be chronological is further grounds for confidence in its accuracy, for he would not dare make this claim unless he had a thorough knowledge of events—a knowledge precise enough to arrange them sequentially without fear that critics would expose mistakes. For students of Jesus’ life, Luke’s Gospel written in orderly succession therefore provides a chronological framework useful for harmonizing all four Gospels.

Luke’s concluding words to Theophilus are not quite what we would expect if he was truly a Roman official. Luke says that he has previously been "instructed" (v. 4), a term suggesting that he has received instruction as a believer. Yet the term can also be translated "informed."3 Luke is merely saying that he is offering additional evidence to supplement what he has already provided.

Because the name Theophilus means "lover of God" or "beloved by God,"4 many have supposed that he was not an official, but simply a prominent member of the church. Yet if he were, it is doubtful that Luke would address him in such a highly respectful manner, calling him "most excellent," the translation of a single Greek word that men used when speaking of the Roman governors Felix and Festus (Acts 23:26; 24:3; 26:25).5 A mere learner at the apostles’ feet would have needed to be saluted in words fostering a humble spirit, but it was entirely appropriate for Luke to pay honor to an important figure of government (1 Pet. 2:17). Also, because the trail of events recorded in the Book of Acts comes to a rather abrupt end soon after Paul's arrival in Rome, we gain the impression that Rome is where the book was handed to its intended reader. Although the name Theophilus sounds to modern readers like it belongs to a man reared in the world of either Jews or gentile Christians, it was actually a name used even by many pagan families, especially where the father had been schooled in Greek philosophy.6 Belief in a supreme Being whose name was Theos was prominent in the worldviews of both Plato and Aristotle.7

Besides referring to Theophilus for the sake of respectful address, Luke had another reason. He wanted us to understand that his writings were not just for this Roman official, but also for anyone the name truly describes—any lover of God seeking to know more about Christ.

Having built a case that Theophilus was a person in government, we may not altogether dismiss the possibility that he was indeed a believer, or at least a man searching for the truth.

Footnotes

  1. George Ricker Berry, Interlinear Greek-English New Testament (N.p., 1897; repr., Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1981), 196; W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, in An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, by W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White, Jr. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984), 594; William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, eds., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), 424–425.
  2. Arndt and Gingrich, 359; Richard N. Longenecker, The Acts of the Apostles, vol. 9 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), 253.
  3. Berry, 196, 522, 524, 534; Longenecker, 253; F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 98.
  4. Jennifer M. Creamer, Aida B. Spencer, and Francois P. Vijoen, "Who Is Theophilus? Discovering the Original Reader of Luke-Acts," In die Skriflig 48 (2014): 1–7; Arndt and Gingrich, 359; Bruce, Acts, 3rd ed., 98.
  5. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World’s Greatest Philosophers from Plato to John Dewey (n.p.: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1933; repr., New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1954), 27–32, 71–72; Gerard Watson, "The Theology of Plato and Aristotle," Irish Theological Quarterly 37 (1970), 56.