Luke 01.01-04
We see this morning in the introduction of the third Gospel,
known as The Book of the Son of Man…01.
Characteristics of the Human Author (Luke 01.01-03a); 02. The Audience of the Book (Luke 01.03b); & 03. The Purpose of the Book (Luke 01.04).
01. Characteristics of the Human Author (Luke 01.01-03a)
Luke is only mentioned 03 times in the New Testament. Each
of these occurrences is in the Prison Epistles (Colossians 04.14; Philemon 24;
2Timothy
04.11) written by Paul. From this we can safely assume that he was a
faithful companion of Paul (Acts 16.11-17; Acts 21.01-06; 2Timothy 04.11;
Philemon 24).
Colossians 04.14 From
this passage we see that Luke was not only an evangelist, but also a doctor by
trade.
The Gospel of Luke is filled w/more precise medical
terms compared to other New Testament books, & Luke was very detailed in
recording dates & doing exhaustive research (Luke 01.01-03a), thus making him
essentially the 1st church historian.
Luke is the only evangelist (writer of a Gospel book) that
wrote a sequel to his Gospel.
But we also know that he was probably a Gentile. Many base
this belief off of his name not being mentioned by Paul along w/other Jews in Colossians
04.10-11, but then Paul mentions him later, & from this many
have gathered that Luke was a Gentile.
If this is true, than Luke is probably the only Gentile
writer chosen by God to write part of the Bible.
In size, the combination of Luke & Acts makes up about
28% of the New Testament & is larger than all of Paul’s epistles combined.
Luke 01.01 Luke records for his reader that he himself
gathered written accounts of Jesus.
We do not know for sure who
these writers were. There is a chance that the Gospels written by Matthew
(for the Jews-45ad)
& Mark
(for Gentile Roman Christians 57-59ad) could have been among these accounts, as
they were written before Luke wrote this Gospel.
Obviously, whatever these
written accounts were (aside from Matthew & Mark), they were not inspired
(theopneustos, God-breathed- 2Timothy 03.16) as they were not included in
the canon, the Bible as we know it today.
Luke 01.02 “the beginning” G746. arch
arche ar-khay; from 756; (properly
abstract) a commencement, or (concretely) chief (in various applications of
order, time, place, or rank):-- beginning, corner, (at the, the) first
(estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle, rule.
The disciples were there w/Jesus
when He performed His 1st miracle of turning the water into wine at
the wedding feast (John 02.01-11).
Luke records his 2nd
source of information: eyewitness accounts. Notice that Luke does not claim
himself as being an eyewitness. So he obviously had to interview eyewitnesses
to glean from them what they heard & saw Jesus say & do.
Many people believe that 01 of
the people that Luke interviewed was Mary, the mother of Jesus, which would
explain why he had more information on the childhood of Jesus (Luke 02.01-52)
than the other Gospel writers.
Luke tells us 02 significant
things in the last part of this verse.
01. Luke
01.02 “servants” G5257. uphrethv huperetes
hoop-ay-ret’-ace; from 5259 &
a derivative of eressw eresso
(to row); an under-oarsman, i.e. (generally) subordinate (assistant, sexton,
constable):-- minister, officer, servant.
(from “hupo”, under, & “eretes”, a rower)
Biblical usage-20
times in 20 vss-anyone who serves w/hands, anyone who ministers & renders
service, an assistant, even a preacher of the Gospel.
When Paul stood before King Agrippa, retelling what the LORD
said on the road to Damascus in Acts 26.16, used the Greek word “huperetes”
for “minister”.
Paul used “huperetes” for the word “servants” in 1Corinthians
04.01.
A huperetes or an under oarsman
were the servants who were on the lowest level of a warship.
The Roman warships of that time had the lowest deck about a
foot or so above the water, & on this lowest level there were the seats for
the rowers, who were usually slaves.
They were the ones condemned to
death & were chained to the ship. So if the ship went down, they literally
went down w/the ship!
The under oarsman, being on the bottom deck, couldn’t see
where the ship was going.
He would often be sitting in human vomit & other foul
waste from the upper deck & he would usually have very little food.
When storms came, he would be swamped w/seawater, yet he
would still keep rowing.
In front of the under oarsmen, in the prow of the ship on a
raised deck so every under oarsman could see him, stood the captain, giving out
orders to the under oarsmen. With each order from the captain, the under
oarsmen were expected to obey instantly.
Because the wind isn’t always blowing in the right
direction, the captain couldn’t rely on the wind to maneuver the warship. So in
battle, they used the under oarsmen to maneuver the warship. So if the ship had
to stop all of a sudden, back up, or turn to the right or left, it was the
responsibility of the under oarsman to instantly obey the word of the captain,
as that could be the difference between winning the battle or losing.
This is the kind of servant Paul was called to be, an under
oarsman. This is also the kind of servant we are called to be.
Jesus uses this Greek word “huperetes” describing those who
are His servants in John 18.36.
As under oarsmen of the LORD, can we in faith
follow every command of our captain (Hebrews 02.10 “author” is “captain”
in KJV, Greek=chief leader)? Can we continue in the work the LORD has given us, even
if we can’t see where we are going, or even if we are making a difference?
Paul in Philippians 02.05-08 tells us that Jesus
lowered Himself in the form of a bondservant for us, & we are called to
follow His example (1Peter 02.21-25, vs 22 quoting Isaiah 53.09).
Now let us look at whom these servants were obedient to.
02. Luke 01.02 “the word,” G3056. logov
logos log’-os; from 3004; something said
(including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also
reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension, a computation;
specifically (w/the article in John) the Divine Expression (i.e. Christ):--
account, cause, communication, X concerning, doctrine, fame, X have to do,
intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say(-ing),
shew, X speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings,
treatise, utterance, word, work.
This is the same Greek word (o logov) that is used by John (John 01.01; John 01.14; 1John 01.01 (tou logou); 1John 05.07; Revelation 19.13) to indicate
the Son of God, who is the Word of God, Jesus the Messiah (Yeshua HaMashiach).
So what Luke is saying here is
that the servants (huperetes) that he interviewed were obedient to the Logos, the
Word, Jesus!
Luke 01.03a “having investigated everything carefully from the
beginning” can actually be translated as “having, by diligent & careful
investigation, followed up everything to the source, to obtain an
accurate account of the matter.” (Notes on
the New Testament by Albert Barnes)
Luke 01.03 “from the beginning” G509. anwyen anothen an’-o-then; from 507; from above; by analogy, from the first; by implication,
anew:-- from above,
again, from the beginning (very first), the top.
We know from this specifically
that Luke wrote by inspiration, stating that it came from above, meaning God.
So w/both written &
eyewitness accounts, Luke studied methodically like you would expect a doctor
to do, & guided by the Holy Spirit he compiled the 3rd Gospel.
When Luke says here that he
wrote “it out for you in consecutive order”
(Luke 01.03)
he was saying that he took all the fragments & eyewitness accounts &
was guided by the Holy Spirit in writing them down in an orderly account so
they can be easily read.
02. The Audience of the Book (Luke 01.03b)
Even though the Gospel of Luke,
as well as the Book of Acts (Acts 01.01) was both addressed to Theophilus,
we really don’t know much about him.
The name Theophilus means “lover
or loved of God”.
There are some who think that Theophilus might have been a
ruler of some sort, because Luke uses the title “most excellent” (Luke 01.03)
or “most noble” in reference to Theophilus. The phrase “most excellent” (Luke 01.03)
is a title of rank used also by Luke 02x about Felix (Acts 22.26; Acts 24.03) & 1x w/Festus (Acts 26.25).
Luke 01.03 “most excellent” G2903. kratistov kratistos krat’-is-tos;
superlative of a derivative of 2904; strongest, i.e. (in dignity) very honorable:--
most excellent (noble).
Even though this Gospel was
written primarily for Theophilus, reading through this book seems to reveal
that Luke also had the Gentiles in mind as well.
Some examples of this would
include:
-Luke rarely focuses of Jesus
fulfilling prophecies, because that wasn’t as important to the Gentiles as it
was for the Jews.
-Luke never used the Hebrew term
“Rhabbi” (G4461) for teacher, whereas Matthew used it in his Gospel.
-Luke referred to Roman Emperors
in designating the dates of the birth of Jesus (Luke 02.01) as well as the beginning
of John the Baptist’s teaching ministry (Luke 03.01).
-Luke explains certain feasts
& customs that a Jew would have known & been familiar with, but not for
someone who is a Gentile (Luke 02.41-42; Luke 22.01; Luke 23.17).
-He traced the genealogy of
Jesus all the way back to Adam (Luke 03.23-38) rather than just to Abraham,
which is what Matthew (who wrote his Gospel to the Jews) did (Matthew
01.01-17). The suggestion seems to be that Jesus represents all of
mankind & not just the Jews.
-He repeatedly explained
locations in Israel (Luke 04.31; Luke 08.26; Luke 21.37; Luke 23.51; Luke 24.13). This clearly would
be pointless if he were writing to Jews.
-Luke used the Greek Septuagint
(which is the Old Testament written in Greek in Egypt in about 284bc by 70
scholars, hence the name Septuagint which means 70) when quoting from the Old
Testament (Luke
02.23-24; Luke 03.04-06; Luke 04.04, 08, 10-12, 18-19; Luke 10.27;
Luke 18.20;
Luke 19.46;
Luke 20.17,
28, 37, 42-43;
Luke 22.37).
Luke 07.27
does not seem to be from the Greek Septuagint or the Hebrew Masoretic text, but
from some other text.
Here are some other important
aspects of this Gospel:
-More than any other Gospel, Luke mentions the prayers of
Jesus (06 times-Luke
03.21-22; Luke 05.16; Luke 06.12; Luke 09.28; Luke 11.01; Luke 22.40-46), mentions
parables relating to the importance of prayer (02- Luke 11.09-14; Luke 18.01-08)
& Jesus’ teaching on prayer (twice- Luke 06.28; Luke 11.01-04).
-The Greeks were always looking for the perfect combination
of God & mankind. They wanted one who had the best characteristics of both
men & women, but w/no faults.
Throughout this Gospel we see Jesus as both strong &
compassionate. Jesus’ sympathy & compassion are often brought up, &
this could be why women & children hold a prominent place in this book.
03. The Purpose of the Book (Luke 01.04)
Dr. Luke (Colossians 04.04) had 02 main
reasons to write this Gospel:
01. To confirm the faith of
Theophilus, showing him that his faith in Jesus was not based on fables but of
well-founded historical facts (Luke 01.03-04).
02. To present Jesus as the Son
of Man (emphasizing the humanity & humility of Jesus) who was rejected by
Israel. Because of this rejection by Israel, Jesus was also preached to the Gentiles
so that they could know God personally & receive salvation.
26 times (out of 46 times in the New Testament) the title
“Son of Man” is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke about Jesus (Luke 05.24; Luke 06.05; Luke 06.22; Luke 07.34; Luke 09.22; Luke 09.26; Luke 09.44; Luke 09.56; Luke 09.58; Luke 11.30; Luke 12.08; Luke 12.10; Luke 12.40; Luke 17.22; Luke 17.24; Luke 17.26; Luke 17.30; Luke 18.08; Luke 18.31; Luke 19.10; Luke 21.27; Luke 21.36; Luke 22.22; Luke 22.48; Luke 22.69; Luke 24.07). “Son of Man” is
used throughout the Book of Ezekiel, but every time it is in
reference to the prophet Ezekiel himself. But “Son of Man” is used once in the Book of Daniel,
in reference to the coming Messiah (Daniel 07.13) & once of Daniel himself (Daniel 08.17).
Luke wrote this Gospel to the Gentiles to emphasize the
humanity & humility of Jesus, & the title “Son of Man” speaks of that.
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