C. Who was Luke and how do we know if he wrote the Gospel of Luke?

As with all of the four Gospels, the author of Luke does not identify himself. However, he does provide us with some internal evidence as to the sources from which he received his information for the composition of his Gospel account.Luke starts his Gospel with a prelude that is composed in very classical Greek and is indicative of the type of prologue used for an historical accounting.

He states –“Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.” – Luke 1:1-4.

Luke is addressing this narrative to someone named Theophilus. He is referred to as “most excellent” Theophilus which was a title reserved for governors and political rulers which suggests that whoever Theophilus was, he was a man of stature. Luke then informs Theophilius that the account that he is about to present to him is based on “eyewitness” testimony, from those who have been with Christ “from the beginning” and also from himself (Luke) as one with a “perfect understanding” regarding this matter. This is quite a statement. He is providing an “orderly account” based on “eyewitness” testimony with “perfect understanding” on Luke’s part and then written in such a way as to provide Theophilus with “certainty”.

Luke proceeds to lay out the most historical of all four of the Gospel presentations. He names cities, dates, rulers, customs, buildings, coinage, geographical sites…. and does so as he interweaves the Gospel message.This unnamed author is without question the author of the companion book of Acts. In Acts, he re-addresses Theophlilus and provides a history of the activities of the apostolic church in Jerusalem and the missionary trips of Peter and Paul. The literary style of both of these books indicates that these two books have the same author. Based on the fact that we do not have a named author for this book, how do we know that it was authored by Luke?The same situation that we find with Matthew and Mark is also the case with Luke. The author writes this work anonymously and because we do not have an internal claim for authorship, we need to look for external evidence to help us identify the author. Here again we look to the early second century church sources and see what evidence we can find to indicate who the author of the Gospel of Luke was.

Irenaeus: (125-202)

“Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached to him.” – Against Heresies 3.1.1.

Justin Martyr: (100-165 A.D.)

Even though Justin does not name Luke, he makes it clear that his understanding was that this account had the apostles as the source.

Tertullian: (160-225A.D.)

Tertullian, a great theologian in the second and third century states that the authorship of the Gospel of Luke is that of Luke, the companion and associate of Paul.“Of the apostles, therefore John and Matthew first instill faith in us, whilst of apostolic men, Luke and Mark renew it afterwards. These all start with the same principles of the Faith, so far as relates to the one only God and Creator and His Christ, that He was born of the Virgin and came to fulfill the law and the prophets.” – Against Marcion 4.2

“The same authority of the apostolic churches will afford evidence to the other Gospels also, which we possess equally through their means and according to their usage – I mean the Gospels of John and Matthew, whilst that which Mark published may be affirmed to be Peter’s whose interpreter Mark was. For even Luke’s form of the Gospel ,men usually ascribe to Paul: And it may very well seem that the works which disciples publish belong to their masters.” – Against Marcion 4.5

Eusebius (260-340A.D.)

This great church historian has provided numerous details from early Christian authors whose writings have been lost. He states regarding Luke and his composition of the Gospel of Luke: “Luke… was long a companion of Paul and was closely associated also with the other apostles. In two divinely inspired books, the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, he has left us examples of the soul healing that he learned from them. The former, he states, he wrote on the basis of information he received from those who from the first were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word. The latter he composed not from the evidence of hearing but of his own eyes. They say that Paul was actually of the habit of referring to Luke’s Gospel whenever he used the phrase ‘According to my Gospel.” Ecclesiastical History 3.4.

Eusebius quotes others such as Origen and Clement of Alexandria (shown below) who also relate that Luke, the associate of Paul, was the author of the Gospel of Luke.Origen: (185-253) – referring to the Gospel of Luke –“ … and the third by Luke, the Gospel commended by Paul and composed for Gentile converts…” Ecclesiastical History 6.25.Clement of Alexandria: (150-215) Eusebius states –“Clement has included a tradition of the earliest elders regarding the order of the Gospels, namely that those with genealogies (Matthew and Luke) were written first.” Ecclesiastical History 6.14.

So who was Luke? What do we know about him?

Eusebius tells us that Luke was a native of Antioch. He was a Gentile (non-Jew) and was a trained physician – Colossians 4:14. Paul mentions him in his writings and refers to him as his associate- II Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24. As the author of the Gospel companion, the book of Acts, Luke includes himself in many of the events that are recorded in Acts by using the term “we” – Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16. However, he never addresses himself by name. He writes his Gospel account in a high classical form of Greek and his linguistic style and vocabulary indicates that he was an educated man. Luke claims to be utilizing eyewitness testimony in the composition of his Gospel and the information from second century sources that we have examined confirm this.