Bible Study Series: Luke 1:1-4. Luke took great care to write his Gospel accurately. Let’s learn from it.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 1:1-4
1 Since many have taken in hand to write up a narrative account of the events that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as the eyewitnesses from the beginning, becoming ministers of the message, have handed on to us, 3 I, who have investigated accurately everything from top to bottom, decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may learn the accuracy of the message you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)
Comments:
Many Bible scholars have noted the formal and intellectual tone and wording in these four verses from Dr. Luke. It is like the King James Version, formal and archaic, but noble and literary. It is one clause after another, without a period or full stop until the end. He clearly wants to send the signal—a shot over the bow—that he was careful and studious and impeccable in his investigation. He knew what he was about.
Much more so in antiquity than today, first sentences are the primary point-of-entry for literary productions. The first column of writing, even the first sentence, performed much the same purpose as the modern book jackets, table of contents, and the title page. In the Greco-Roman world, a ‘book’ available in the form of a rolled-up scroll, did not allow for informal browsing for the purpose of divining its approach, genre or subject matter. Hence, the opening sentence was crucial for putting those who either read it or heard it read on notice as to what could be expected in the work as a whole. (Green, p. 33)
In Acts 21:17 Paul and his team, including Luke, since he uses the pronoun “we,” arrived in Jerusalem. Luke with his writing kit followed Paul around, but he must have gone off on his own to investigate and interview the Messianic Jews in the capital and those living in Judea, who could supply him with information about Jesus’s ministry. He probably collected a few documents about the story of Jesus (which no longer exist, except what is incorporated into his Gospel). Most importantly, he probably met Mary, mother of Jesus, in the area, if she had not passed away; she was a young maiden when Jesus was conceived, so she could very well have been alive. She may have recounted her story to him (Luke 1:36-28, 46-56; 2:1-52).
No doubt elderly Zechariah and Elizabeth had died before Luke reached Jerusalem, so one of their unknown relatives or friends who lived in the hill country of Judea (Luke 1:39) may have told him, because Zechariah and Elizabeth handed on their story to the next generation, who passed it on to Luke. In any case, it seems Luke did his research in Jerusalem and the Judean hills and other places in greater first-century Israel.
All of this is my speculation, putting two and two together on how Luke’s investigation was accurate and thorough. These people handed down the traditions or stories and words of the “events that have been accomplished” in the middle of them. They wanted to get things right, in the days before smartphones that record everything.
Luke uses accurately or accuracy twice, for emphasis. “Accuracy” can also be translated as “certainty.” He researched data for his two volumes so that Theophilus could know Luke’s records of the events and words were certain and accurate.
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
Here is the introduction written by Jewish historian Josephus (lived c. AD 37-100) to his work Against Apion:
‘In my history of our Antiquities, most excellent Epaphroditus, I have, I think, made sufficiently clear … the extreme antiquity of our Jewish race … Since, however, I observe that a considerable number of persons … discredit the statements in my history …, I consider it my duty to devote a brief treatise to all these points … to instruct all who desire to know the truth concerning the antiquity of our race. As witnesses to my statements I propose to call the writers who, in the estimation of the Greeks, are the most trustworthy authorities on antiquity as a whole’ (Jos. Ap. 1:1–4).
No, Luke did not copy Josephus. Instead, the excerpt shows that Josephus was following a long tradition for introducing a book, and Luke was also following the same long tradition.
Here is Josephus’ introduction to his second book Against Apion:
‘In the first volume of this work, my esteemed Epaphroditus, I demonstrated the antiquity of our race … I shall now proceed to refute the rest of the authors who have attacked us’ (Jos. Ap. 2:1f.).
The above brief introduction to Book Two looks a lot like the preface to the Book of Acts, the second volume to the Gospel of Luke. Once again Luke did not copy from Josephus (the chronology is off), but he is fitting in to a long-standing literary tradition.
Source: Marshall, p. 40.
“accomplished”: it could be translated as fulfilled,” which is an important concept in Luke: 1:20, 57; 2:6, 21-22; 9:31; 21:22, 24; 24:44-47. The verb is in the passive voice, so we can call it the divine passive, which is an understated way of saying that God is the one acting behind the scenes, fulfilling and accomplishing the important moments in his Son’s life.
2:
“Eyewitnesses”: This word in Greek gives us our word autopsy.
There was more than one eyewitness. Luke 8:1-3 says women were eyewitnesses, and Jesus sent out the twelve in Luke 9:1-6. Luke 10:1-24 says there were seventy-two men who went out to spread the good news. Luke could have carefully interviewed them, possibly most of them.
“From the beginning”: this is a key idea for Luke in his two introductions (v. 2 and Acts 1:1, 21-22). Disciples who were the best and most reliable followed Jesus from the very beginning, when he began to teach and do his ministry. Incidentally, this explains why Saul-Paul could never be the twelfth apostle, as some Bible teachers oddly claim with disappointment for him and with blame for Peter for “jumping the gun” when they cast lots for Matthias. Saul-Paul was never with Jesus from the beginning.
“ministers”: it comes from the Greek noun hupēretēs (pronounced hoo-pay-ray-tayss) and also means “assistant” or “helper.” It comes from the Greek prefix hupo– (under) and ēretēs (rower), so it properly means “under-rower.” Picture the three-tiered Greek triremes, and the rowers in the bottom tiers. These ministers were servants. The same is true for you. He is the pilot, you’re just a sailor. You may take the wheel to steer, but don’t be surprised if he has to take back the wheel after a few minutes.
“becoming ministers”: Eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word were one group. It is interesting that the eyewitnesses became ministers of the Word. As noted, this becoming happened in Luke 9:1-6 and 10:1-24, but mostly it happened throughout the Book of Acts. They were propelled to speak the Word by the power and infilling of the Spirit. None of them had formal training, but they had spent time with Jesus (Acts 4:13).
“handed on”: this is the standard verb for passing on true stories about Jesus. It was very important for the earliest Christians to get things right. Don’t believe the online, sneering skeptics that say the four Gospels are unreliable.
See the Conclusion to my long series on the reliability of the Gospels:
15. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Conclusion (it has a quick summary of the previous parts and links to them)
We have two levels or stages: (1) those who lived the events in Jesus’ life, and (2) then the eyewitnesses who formed the traditions or teachings about Jesus’s life and ministry. Luke fits in the second group, but he is still very close to the first stage, in his research.
From that post you can click back on the other posts in the series.
“message”: it is the Greek noun logos (pronounced loh-goss and is used 330 times in the NT). Since it is so important, let’s explore the noun more deeply, as I do in this entire commentary series.
The noun is rich and full of meaning. It always has built into it rationality and reason. It has spawned all sorts of English words that end in –log-, like theology or biology, or have the log– stem in them, like logic.
Though certain Renewalists may not like to hear it, there is a rational side to the Word of God, and a moment’s thought proves it. The words you’re reading right now are placed in meaningful and logical and rational order. The Bible is also written in that way. If it weren’t, then it would be nonsense and confusing, and we couldn’t understand the gibberish. (Even your prophecies have to make logical and rational sense on some level!) Your Bible studies and Sunday morning sermons have to make sense, also. Luke’s Gospel has logic and rational argumentation built into it. People need to be ministered to in this way. God gave us minds and brains and expects us to use them. Your preaching cannot always be flashy and shrieky and so outlandishly entertaining that people are not fed in the long term. Movements like that don’t last over the years without the Word. I have observed this from firsthand experience in certain sectors of the Renewal Movement.
People have the deepest need to receive solid teaching. Never become so outlandishly supernatural and entertaining that you neglect the reasonable and rational side of preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible. Yes, Luke-Acts is very charismatic, but it is also very orderly and rational and logical.
On the other side of the word logos, people get so intellectual that they build up an exclusive Christian caste of intelligentsia that believe they alone can teach and understand the Word. Not true.
Bottom line: Just study Scripture with Bible helps and walk in the Spirit, as they did in Acts. Combining Word and Spirit is the balanced life.
3:
“I”: The Greek literally says, “it seemed (good) to me.” I like it when Luke steps out from behind the “fourth wall” (a stage term) and announces himself. He deserves lots of credit and gratitude for his Gospel and Acts.
No one has figured out who Theophilus was. I believe that he was a real person, but it is possible that his name could have been a code because of persecution that may have arisen anywhere around the empire. His name literally means “God lover” or “he who loves God” or “he whom God loves.” Or it may have been his real name, as written. It was not uncommon.
“Excellent” means he was part of a ruling family or class, whether in the highest level in Rome or locally somewhere in the provinces (more likely). He was wealthy enough to pay for the hand-copying of Luke-Acts on manuscript papers, by hand (no printing presses back then). It may have been copied several times and disseminated while he and Luke were alive (my speculation from the logic of history), but these original manuscripts did not survive.
Bock writes of Theophilus:
[…] his social station suggests that he is probably a Gentile, as does the amount of energy Luke spends in Acts defending the Gentile mission. The amount of Jewish material and interaction with devout pagans in Acts may also suggest a former God-fearer … Nevertheless, that the work is dedicated to Theophilus does not mean that Luke intended his work just for him. Other ancient writers dedicated their works to individuals, knowing full well that they were writing for a larger audience. (vol. 1, p. 64)
But you can decide whether he was a Jew, who had a Greek name, which often happened, or he was a Gentile.
4:
Whoever Theophilus was, he was instructed in the words or accounts or stories about God and Jesus’s ministry, and the spread of Christianity. Luke wanted to ensure that his patron—or reader –could trust the accuracy and certainty of what he had been taught. That’s why Luke did a careful investigation, with due diligence.
“learn”: it is the verb epiginōskō (pronounced eh-pea-gee-noh-skoh, and the “g” is hard as in “get,” and it is used 44 times in the NT). Here are the basic meanings, depending on the context: (1) “know exactly, completely”; “know again, recognize”; “acknowledge’; (2) “know, learn, find out, ascertain; notice; perceive, learn of; understand, know, learn to know.” The second set of definitions apply to Theophilus: “learn of, learn to know.”
“message”: it could be translated as “accounts” or even “stories,” if we are generous. It is the standard Greek noun logos. See v. 2 for more information.
To conclude …..
Let’s use the Grow App section to summarize these four verses:
Grow App for Luke 1:1-4:
1.. It is likely that Theophilus subsidized the spread of the gospel through Luke’s two books (Gospel and Acts). It was costly to hand-copy them. How and where and why do you donate money for the progress of the gospel at church or honest Christian organizations?
2. Luke took great care to write his Gospel accurately. Do you read it carefully? What practical steps do you take to do this?
3.. Luke depended on eyewitnesses. We are not eyewitnesses of Jesus on earth, but we are his witnesses. What has he done for you?
4.. How would you describe your witness or testimony?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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