Luke
An orderly account of Jesus, Saviour of the poor, the outsider and the lost, written as the first half of a two-volume work that continues in Acts.
Overview
Luke is the only Gospel writer to explain his method. He knows that “many have undertaken” such accounts, has “traced the course of all things accurately from the first,” and writes for Theophilus so that he “might know the certainty” of what he was taught (1:1–4). He sets the story firmly in world history, under Caesar Augustus and Tiberius (2:1, 3:1). He also tells it at greater length than any other Gospel, including the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, the only story of Jesus’ boyhood, and songs of praise from Mary, Zechariah and Simeon.
In the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus reads Isaiah’s words, “he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (4:18), and claims them for himself. After his work in Galilee he “intently set his face to go to Jerusalem” (9:51), and a long travel section follows, holding much material found only in Luke: the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the rich man and Lazarus, Zacchaeus. The book ends with the crucifixion, the walk to Emmaus and the risen Jesus telling his disciples that repentance will be preached “to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (24:47). Acts takes up the story there.
Author and date
Luke does not name its author, who writes in the first person in the preface (1:3) and addresses both this book and Acts to Theophilus.
Traditional view
From the 2nd century the Gospel was credited to Luke, whom Paul calls “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). The passages in Acts where the narrator says “we” are taken as signs that the author was there on Paul’s journeys. Some date both books to the early 60s, since Acts ends with Paul still awaiting trial in Rome.
Academic view
Many academic scholars doubt that the author travelled with Paul, noting differences between Acts and Paul’s letters. They date Luke after AD 70, reading Jesus’ words about Jerusalem “surrounded by armies” (21:20) as shaped by the city’s fall. A minority place Luke and Acts in the early 2nd century. Others accept Luke as the author while dating the book after 70.
Nearly all scholars agree that Luke and Acts are two volumes by the same author, sharing a dedication, a style and a plan.
Audience and setting
The book is addressed to “most excellent Theophilus” (1:3), whose title suggests a person of rank, and through him to a wider readership that seems mostly Gentile. Luke explains Jewish places and customs, traces Jesus’ genealogy back past Abraham to Adam (3:38), and writes polished Greek. Its setting is Galilee, the borderlands of Samaria on the way south, and Jerusalem, where the book both starts and ends.
Genre, and how to read it
Luke tells the story as a journey. Galilee gives way to the long road to Jerusalem, and the narrator keeps reminding the reader where Jesus is heading. Many of Luke’s best-known parables are his alone, and some come in groups, like the three stories of lost things in chapter 15, told in answer to the complaint “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them” (15:2).
- 9:51 He sets his face to Jerusalem
- 13:22 Travelling on to Jerusalem
- 17:11 On his way to Jerusalem
- 19:28 Going up to Jerusalem
Luke shares much of its material with Mark and Matthew, and most scholars think Luke used Mark along with other sources. He places some material differently: the Sermon on the Plain in chapter 6 corresponds to much of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Luke is best read alongside Acts, and the two books mirror each other. The Spirit comes on Jesus at his baptism and on the disciples at Pentecost, and each book has a long last journey to face trial: Jesus to Jerusalem, Paul to Rome.
Two genealogies
Matthew opens with Jesus’ ancestry, counting forward from Abraham. Luke gives it after the baptism, counting back to “Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38). From Abraham to David the two lists are the same fourteen names. After David they part: Matthew runs through Solomon and the kings of Judah, Luke through David’s son Nathan. They cross once, at Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, and meet again at Joseph. In Matthew, Joseph’s father is Jacob; in Luke, Heli.
Three fourteens
Matthew counts “fourteen generations” from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to the Christ (Matt 1:17). To keep the second fourteen he passes over four kings that 2 Kings names: Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah between Joram and Uzziah, and Jehoiakim before Jechoniah (2 Kgs 8:24; 11:2; 12:21; 24:6). The last fourteen names thirteen.
Five women, and a second Cainan
Matthew names women where genealogies usually do not: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, “her who had been Uriah’s wife” and Mary (Matt 1:3–16). Luke has a Cainan between Arphaxad and Shelah (Luke 3:36) whom Genesis does not, where Arpachshad is Shelah’s father (Gen 11:12).
Two readings: why two lines after David?
Both are Joseph’s
Matthew traces the royal line, the heirs of the throne, and Luke Joseph’s natural descent. Where the lines differ, a death without children and a brother’s marriage to the widow could give a man two fathers on paper. This is the oldest explanation on record.
Luke gives Mary’s
Luke’s “being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph” (Luke 3:23) marks Joseph as only the supposed father, and Heli as Mary’s father, so Luke traces Jesus through his mother while Matthew gives Joseph’s legal line.
Toward Jerusalem, and out from it
Luke walks toward Jerusalem and Acts walks out of it. The two books name the city 90 times between them, Luke 31 and Acts 59, out of 139 in the whole New Testament. Luke opens in the temple, as Zacharias goes in to burn incense (Luke 1:9), and closes there, the disciples continually in the temple
(Luke 24:53). Acts opens in the city and ends in Rome.
- Luke 9:51
he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem
- Luke 13:22
traveling on to Jerusalem
- Luke 17:11
he was on his way to Jerusalem
- Luke 19:28
going up to Jerusalem
- Luke 24:47
to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem
- Acts 1:8
in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth
- Acts 8:1
They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria
- Acts 19:21
After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
- Acts 28:14
So we came to Rome.
Counted in the site’s Greek, in both spellings: Ierousalem, the Hebrew form, and Hierosolyma, the Greek one. Matthew, Mark and John almost always write Hierosolyma (33 of 35); Luke writes Ierousalem 27 times out of 31, and Acts mixes the two. The stages under Acts are its own three from 1:8, but the bars show the story going back: Paul is in the city again for the council in chapter 15 and is arrested there in chapter 21, and in chapter 25 Festus asks him whether he will go up to be tried there.
One week, a third of the book
Every gospel slows down at the end. From the entry into Jerusalem to the last page is a single week, and it fills more than a third of Matthew, Mark and John and a quarter of Luke. A century ago Martin Kähler called the gospels passion narratives with extended introductions.
- Matthew 36% 389 of 1,071 verses week from Matthew 21:1; first prediction Matthew 16:21
- Mark 37% 253 of 678 verses week from Mark 11:1; first prediction Mark 8:31
- Luke 25% 286 of 1,151 verses week from Luke 19:28; first prediction Luke 9:22
- John 38% 332 of 879 verses week from John 12:12
Verses as the WEB numbers them, so these are shares of the text, not of time. Mark’s count includes the longer ending (16:9–20), which the earliest manuscripts lack; without it, its last week is 36%. Luke spends its middle on the road, ten chapters from Luke 9:51 to the city. John has no prediction like the others’; its turn comes at the supper, Jesus knowing that his time had come
(John 13:1). The week itself, day by day, is in the Almanac’s Holy Week.
Each gospel’s favourite words
Each gospel has words it reaches for. Counted in the site’s Greek text, Matthew alone speaks of the kingdom of heaven
, Mark says immediately
more than all the others together, Luke dwells on the Holy Spirit and on today
, and John has believe
almost a hundred times and the doubled amen, amen
that no other gospel uses.
| Phrase | Matthew | Mark | Luke | John |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the kingdom of heaven ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν WEB: the Kingdom of Heaven | 32 times | 0 times | 0 times | 0 times |
| the kingdom of God ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ WEB: God’s Kingdom | 4 times | 14 times | 32 times | 2 times |
| immediately εὐθύς, εὐθέως WEB: immediately | 19 times | 43 times | 9 times | 6 times |
| the Holy Spirit τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον WEB: the Holy Spirit | 5 times | 4 times | 13 times | 3 times |
| today σήμερον WEB: today | 8 times | 1 times | 11 times | 0 times |
| believe πιστεύω WEB: believe | 11 times | 14 times | 9 times | 98 times |
| I am ἐγώ εἰμι WEB: I am | 9 times | 5 times | 9 times | 38 times |
| amen, amen ἀμὴν ἀμήν WEB: Most certainly | 0 times | 0 times | 0 times | 25 times |
Circles are sized by how often the gospel uses the phrase per 10,000 Greek words, so short Mark and long Luke compare fairly; the number is the count. Counted in the Nestle 1904 text by Strong’s number. The WEB renders amen
as Most certainly
, whether single or doubled, and writes the kingdom of God as God’s Kingdom
. I am
counts the Greek ἐγώ εἰμι wherever it stands, not only in the sayings with an image.
Outline
Beginnings (1–4)
- 1:1–1:4 Preface — Why and how Luke writes
- 1:5–2:52 Two births — John and Jesus, the shepherds, the boy in the temple
- 3:1–4:13 Preparation — John’s preaching, the baptism, the genealogy, the temptation
In Galilee (4–9)
- 4:14–6:49 Nazareth and the first disciples — Isaiah fulfilled, fishermen called, the Sermon on the Plain
- 7:1–9:50 Who is this? — The centurion’s servant, a sinful woman forgiven, the Twelve sent, the transfiguration
The road to Jerusalem (9–19)
- 9:51–13:21 Setting out — Disciples sent ahead, the good Samaritan, the Lord’s Prayer
- 13:22–17:10 Lost and found — The narrow door, the great banquet, the prodigal son
- 17:11–19:27 Approaching the city — Ten lepers, the Pharisee and the tax collector, Zacchaeus
In Jerusalem (19–24)
- 19:28–21:38 Teaching in the temple — The entry into Jerusalem, questions and traps, the city’s fall foretold
- 22:1–23:56 The Passion — The Last Supper, the trials, the cross, the burial
- 24:1–24:53 The resurrection — The empty tomb, the road to Emmaus, the ascension
Key themes
- Good news for the poor
- Luke’s beatitudes are blunt: “Blessed are you who are poor, for God’s Kingdom is yours” (6:20), with woes on the rich to match.
- Seeking the lost
- “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (19:10). Tax collectors, sinners, Samaritans and women are often the ones who respond.
- The Spirit and prayer
- Jesus returns to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit” (4:14), and Luke shows him praying at the turning points: at his baptism, before choosing the Twelve, and at the transfiguration.
- Today
- The word marks moments of arrival: the angel’s “there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior” (2:11), and at Nazareth, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21).
At a glance
Most mentioned: Jesus Christ, Simon Peter, John the Baptist, Abraham, David
Main places: Jerusalem, Galilee, Judea, Nazareth, Capernaum
Covenants made here: The New Covenant
In the Almanac: Bath, Mina, Denarius, Drachma, Assarion, Lepton, What things cost, Passover, Holy Week, Jubilee, Angel, Gabriel, Samaritans, Zealots, Tax collectors, The Twelve