Gospel of Luke
Part of New Testament papyri , showing 2 Cor 11:33–12:9 |
The Gospel of Luke
Most modern scholars agree that the main sources used for Luke were a), the Gospel of Mark, b), a hypothetical sayings collection called the Q source, and c), material found in no other gospels, often referred to as the L (for Luke) source.[7] The author is anonymous;[8] the traditional view that Luke the Evangelist was the companion of Paul is still occasionally put forward, but the scholarly consensus emphasises the many contradictions between Acts and the authentic Pauline letters.[9][10] The most probable date for its composition is around AD 80–110, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century.[11]
Composition
Textual history
The
The oldest complete texts are the 4th-century
Codex Bezae shows comprehensively the differences between the versions which show no core theological significance.[14][note 2]
Luke–Acts: unity, authorship and date
The gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts.[5] Together they account for 27.5% of the New Testament, the largest contribution by a single author, providing the framework for both the Church's liturgical calendar and the historical outline into which later generations have fitted their idea of the story of Jesus.[6]
The author is not named in either volume.
The eclipse of the traditional attribution to Luke the companion of Paul has meant that an early date for the gospel is now rarely put forward.[9] Most scholars date the composition of the combined work to around 80–90 AD, although some others suggest 90–110,[22] and there is textual evidence (the conflicts between Western and Alexandrian manuscript families) that Luke–Acts was still being substantially revised well into the 2nd century.[11]
Genre, models and sources
Luke–Acts is a religio-political history of the founder of the church and his successors, in both deeds and words. The author describes his book as a "narrative" (diegesis), rather than as a gospel, and implicitly criticises his predecessors for not giving their readers the speeches of Jesus and the Apostles, as such speeches were the mark of a "full" report, the vehicle through which ancient historians conveyed the meaning of their narratives. He seems to have taken as his model the works of two respected Classical authors, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote a history of Rome (Roman Antiquities), and the Jewish historian Josephus, author of a history of the Jews (Antiquities of the Jews). All three authors anchor the histories of their respective peoples by dating the births of the founders (Romulus, Moses, and Jesus) and narrate the stories of the founders' births from God, so that they are sons of God. Each founder taught authoritatively, appeared to witnesses after death, and ascended to heaven. Crucial aspects of the teaching of all three concerned the relationship between rich and poor and the question of whether "foreigners" were to be received into the people.[23]
Mark, written around 70 AD, provided the narrative outline for Luke, but Mark contains comparatively little of Jesus' teachings,[24] and for these Luke likely turned to a hypothesized collection of sayings called Q source, which would have consisted mostly, although not exclusively, of "sayings".[25] Mark and Q account for about 64% of Luke; the remaining material, known as the L source, is of unknown origin and date.[26] Most Q and L-source material is grouped in two clusters, Luke 6:17–8:3 and 9:51–18:14, and L-source material forms the first two sections of the gospel (the preface and infancy and childhood narratives).[27]
Audience and authorial intent
Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lord's Supper.[23] The author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large.[28] He begins his gospel with a preface addressed to "Theophilus":[29] the name means "Lover of God", and could refer to any Christian, though most interpreters consider it a reference to a Christian convert and Luke's literary patron.[30] Here he informs Theophilus of his intention, which is to lead his reader to certainty through an orderly account "of the events that have been fulfilled among us."[21] He did not, however, intend to provide Theophilus with a historical justification of the Christian faith – "did it happen?" – but to encourage faith – "what happened, and what does it all mean?"[31]
Structure and content
Structure
Following the author's preface addressed to his patron and the two birth narratives (John the Baptist and Jesus), the gospel opens in Galilee and moves gradually to its climax in Jerusalem:[32]
- A brief preface addressed to Theophilus stating the author's aims;
- Birth and infancy narratives for both Jesus and John the Baptist, interpreted as the dawn of the promised era of Israel's salvation;
- Preparation for Jesus' messianic mission: John's prophetic mission, his baptism of Jesus, and the testing of Jesus' vocation;
- The beginning of Jesus' mission in Galilee, and the hostile reception there;
- The central section: the journey to Jerusalem, where Jesus knows he must meet his destiny as God's prophet and Messiah;
- His mission in Jerusalem, culminating in confrontation with the leaders of the Jewish Temple;
- His last supper with his most intimate followers, followed by his arrest, interrogation, and crucifixion;
- God's validation of Jesus as Christ: events from the first Easter to the Ascension, showing Jesus' death to be divinely ordained, in keeping with both scriptural promise and the nature of messiahship, and anticipating the story of Acts.[note 3]
Parallel structure of Luke–Acts
The structure of Acts parallels the structure of the gospel, demonstrating the universality of the divine plan and the shift of authority from Jerusalem to Rome:[33]
- The gospel – the acts of Jesus:
- The presentation of the child Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem
- Jesus' forty days in the desert
- Jesus in Samaria/Judea
- Jesus in the Decapolis
- Jesus receives the Holy Spirit
- Jesus preaches with power (the power of the spirit)
- Jesus heals the sick
- Death of Jesus
- The apostles are sent to preach to all nations
- The acts of the apostles:
- Jerusalem
- Forty days before the Ascension
- Samaria
- Asia Minor
- Pentecost: Christ's followers receive the spirit
- The apostles preach with the power of the spirit
- The apostles heal the sick
- Death of Stephen, the first martyr for Christ
- Paul preaches in Rome
Theology
Luke's "salvation history"
Luke's theology is expressed primarily through his overarching plot, the way scenes, themes and characters combine to construct his specific worldview.
Christology
Luke's understanding of Jesus – his
Even what Luke does say about Christ is ambiguous or even contradictory.
The Holy Spirit, the Christian community, and the Kingdom of God
The Holy Spirit plays a more important role in Luke–Acts than in the other gospels. Some scholars have argued that the Spirit's involvement in the career of Jesus is paradigmatic of the universal Christian experience, others that Luke's intention was to stress Jesus' uniqueness as the Prophet of the final age.
Christians vs. Rome and the Jews
Luke needed to define the position of Christians in relation to two political and social entities, the Roman Empire and Judaism. Regarding the Empire, Luke makes clear that, while Christians are not a threat to the established order, the rulers of this world hold their power from Satan, and the essential loyalty of Christ's followers is to God and this world will be the kingdom of God, ruled by Christ the King.
Comparison with other writings
Synoptics
The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke share so much in common that they are called the Synoptics, as they frequently cover the same events in similar and sometimes identical language. The majority opinion among scholars is that Mark was the earliest of the three (about 70 AD) and that Matthew and Luke both used this work and the "sayings gospel" known as Q as their basic sources. Luke has both expanded Mark and refined his grammar and syntax, as Mark's Greek writing is less elegant. Some passages from Mark he has eliminated, notably most of chapters 6 and 7, which he apparently felt reflected poorly on the disciples and painted Jesus too much like a magician. Despite this, he follows Mark's narrative more faithfully than does Matthew.[52]
The Gospel of John
Despite being grouped with Matthew and Mark, the Gospel of Luke has a number of parallels with the Gospel of John which are not shared by the other synoptics:
- Luke uses the terms "Jews" and "Israelites" in a way unlike Mark, but like John.
- Both gospels have characters named Mary of Bethany, Martha, and Lazarus, although John's Lazarus is portrayed as a real person, while Luke's is a figure in a parable.
- There are several points where Luke's
There are also several other parallels that scholars have identified.[57] Recently, some scholars have proposed that the author of John's gospel may have specifically redacted and responded to the Gospel of Luke.[58]
The Gospel of Marcion
Some time in the 2nd century, the Christian thinker Marcion of Sinope began using a gospel that was very similar to, but shorter than, canonical Luke. Marcion was well known for preaching that the god who sent Jesus into the world was a different, higher deity than the creator god of Judaism.[59]
While no manuscript copies of Marcion's gospel survive, reconstructions of his text have been published by Adolf von Harnack and Dieter T. Roth,[60] based on quotations in the anti-Marcionite treatises of orthodox Christian apologists, such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Epiphanius. These early apologists accused Marcion of having "mutilated" canonical Luke by removing material that contradicted his unorthodox theological views.[61] According to Tertullian, Marcion also accused his orthodox opponents of having "falsified" canonical Luke.[62]
Like the Gospel of Mark, Marcion's gospel lacked any nativity story, and Luke's account of the baptism of Jesus was absent. The Gospel of Marcion also omitted Luke's parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son.[63]
See also
- Authorship of Luke–Acts
- List of Gospels
- List of omitted Bible verses
- Marcion
- Order of St. Luke
- Synoptic Gospels
- Synoptic problem
- Textual variants in the Gospel of Luke
Notes
- ^ Verses 22:19–20 are omitted in Codex Bezae and a handful of Old Latin manuscripts. Nearly all other manuscripts including Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus and Church Fathers contain the "longer" reading of Luke 22:19 and 20. Verse 22:20, which is very similar to 1 Corinthians 11:25, and provides gospel support for the doctrine of the New Covenant, along with Matthew 26:28 and Mark 14:24 (both, in the Textus Receptus Greek manuscript). Verses 22:43–44
- ^ For studies of the literary structure of this Gospel, see recent contributions of Bailey, Goulder and Talbert, in particular for their readings of Luke's Central Section. (Almost all scholars believe the section begins at 9.51; strong case, however, can be put for 9.43b.) Then the introductory pieces to the opening and closing parts that frame the teaching of the Central Section would exhibit a significant dualism: compare 9.43b–45 and 18.31–35. The Central Section would then be defined as 9.43b–19.48, 'Jesus Journey to Jerusalem and its Temple'. Between the opening part ('His Setting out', 9.43b–10.24) and the closing part ('His Arriving', 18.31–19.48) lies a chiasm of parts 1–5,C,5'–1', 'His Teachings on the Way': 1, 10.25–42 Inheriting eternal life: law and love; 2, 11.1–13 Prayer: right praying, persistence, Holy Spirit is given; 3, 11.14–12.12 The Kingdom of God: what is internal is important; 4, 12.13–48 Earthly and Heavenly riches; the coming of the Son of Man; 5, 12.49–13.9 Divisions, warning and prudence, repentance; C, 13.10–14.24 a Sabbath healing, kingdom and entry (13.10–30), Jesus is to die in Jerusalem, his lament for it (13.31–35), a Sabbath healing, banqueting in the kingdom (14.1–24); 5', 14.25–15.32 Divisions, warning and prudence, repentance; 4', 16.1–31 Earthly and Heavenly riches: the coming judgement; 3', 17.1–37 The kingdom of God is 'within', not coming with signs; 2', 18.1–17 Prayer: persistence, right praying, receiving the kingdom; 1', 18.18–30 Inheriting eternal life: law and love. (All the parts 1–5 and 5'–1' are constructed of three parts in the style of ABB'.)
References
Citations
- ^ Gathercole 2013, pp. 66–71.
- ISBN 978-1-4335-6343-0. Archivedfrom the original on 3 June 2021.
- ^ "Bible Book Abbreviations". Logos Bible Software. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
- ^ Allen 2009, p. 325.
- ^ a b Burkett 2002, p. 195.
- ^ a b Boring 2012, p. 556.
- ^ Duling 2010, p. 312.
- ^ a b Burkett 2002, p. 196.
- ^ a b c Theissen & Merz 1998, p. 32.
- ^ Ehrman 2005, pp. 172, 235.
- ^ a b Perkins 2009, pp. 250–53.
- ^ Ehrman 1996, p. 27.
- ^ Boring 2012, p. 596.
- ^ Ellis 2003, p. 19.
- ^ Acts 9:1–31
- ^ Acts 22:6–21
- ^ Acts 26:9–23
- ^ Galatians 1:17–24
- ^ Perkins 1998, p. 253.
- ^ Boring 2012, p. 590.
- ^ a b Green 1997, p. 35.
- ^ Charlesworth 2008, p. 42.
- ^ a b Balch 2003, p. 1104.
- ^ Hurtado 2005, p. 284.
- ^ Ehrman 1999, p. 82.
- ^ Powell 1998, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Burkett 2002, p. 204.
- ^ Green 1995, pp. 16–17.
- Acts 1:1
- ^ Meier 2013, p. 417.
- ^ Green 1997, p. 36.
- ^ Carroll 2012, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Boring 2012, p. 569.
- ^ Allen 2009, p. 326.
- ^ Luke 1:5–3:1
- ^ Luke 3:2–24:51
- ^ Evans 2011, p. no page numbers.
- ^ Powell 1989, p. 60.
- ^ Powell 1989, pp. 63–65.
- ^ Powell 1989, p. 66.
- ^ a b Buckwalter 1996, p. 4.
- ^ Acts 5:31
- ^ Luke 1:32–35
- ^ Acts 13:33
- ^ Ehrman 1996, p. 65.
- ^ Miller 2011, p. 63.
- ^ Powell 1989, pp. 108–11.
- ^ Powell 1989, p. 111.
- ^ Holladay 2011, p. no page number.
- ^ Boring 2012, p. 562.
- ^ Boring 2012, p. 563.
- ^ Johnson 2010, p. 48.
- ^ Nicoll, W. R., Expositor's Greek Testament on Luke 22, accessed 30 October 2023
- ^ Jerusalem Bible (1966), footnote a at Luke 22
- ^ Luke 22:50
- ^ John 18:10
- ^ Boring 2012, p. 576.
- ^ MacDonald 2015.
- ^ BeDuhn 2015, p. 165.
- ^ Roth 2015.
- ^ BeDuhn 2015, p. 166.
- ^ BeDuhn 2015, p. 167-168, citing Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem 4.4.
- ^ BeDuhn 2015, p. 170.
Sources
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- Allen, O. Wesley Jr. (2009). "Luke". In Petersen, David L.; O'Day, Gail R. (eds.). Theological Bible Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-1-61164-030-4.
- van Aarde, Andries (2019). "Syncrisis as literary motif in the story about the grown-up child Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:41-52 and the Thomas tradition)". HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. 75 (3). hdl:2263/76046.
- ISBN 978-0-664-25018-8.
- Balch, David L. (2003). "Luke". In Dunn, James D. G.; Rogerson, John William (eds.). Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3711-0.
- Barton, John; Muddiman, John (2007). The Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927718-6.
- BeDuhn, Jason (2015). "The New Marcion" (PDF). Forum. 3 (Fall 2015): 163–179. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- Boring, M. Eugene (2012). An Introduction to the New Testament: History, Literature, Theology. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-25592-3.
- Buckwalter, Douglas (1996). The Character and Purpose of Luke's Christology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-56180-8.
- Burkett, Delbert (2002). An introduction to the New Testament and the origins of Christianity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00720-7.
- Carroll, John T. (2012). Luke: A Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22106-5.
- Charlesworth, James H. (2008). The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide. Abingdon Press. ISBN 978-1-4267-2475-6.
- ISBN 978-90-04-11927-7.
- Duling, Dennis C. (2010). "The Gospel of Matthew". In Aune, David E. (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to The New Testament. Wiley–Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4443-1894-4.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-3931-2.
- ISBN 978-0-19-510279-6.
- ISBN 978-0-19-983943-8.
- ISBN 978-0-19-518249-1.
- Ellis, E. Earl (2003). The Gospel of Luke. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59244-207-2.
- Evans, Craig A. (2011). Luke. Baker Books. ISBN 978-1-4412-3652-4.
- Gamble, Harry Y. (1995). Books and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-06918-1.
- Gathercole, Simon J. (2013), "The Titles of the Gospels in the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts" (PDF), Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 104 (1): 33–76, (PDF) from the original on 25 February 2014
- ISBN 1-56338-334-9.
- Green, Joel (1995). The Theology of the Gospel of Luke. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46932-6.
- Green, Joel (1997). The Gospel of Luke. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2315-1.
- Grobbelaar, Jan (2020). "Doing theology with children: A childist reading of the childhood metaphor in 1 Corinthians and the Synoptic Gospels". HTS Theological Studies. 76 (4): 1–9. ISSN 0259-9422.
- Holladay, Carl R. (2011). A Critical Introduction to the New Testament: Interpreting the Message and Meaning of Jesus Christ. Abingdon Press. ISBN 978-1-4267-4828-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-3167-5.
- Johnson, Luke Timothy (2010). The New Testament: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-974599-9.
- Lössl, Josef (2010). The Early Church: History and Memory. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-567-16561-9.
- MacDonald, Dennis R. (2015). "John's Radical Rewriting of Luke-Acts" (PDF). Forum. 3 (Fall 2015): 111–124. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- McReynolds, Kathy (1 May 2016). "The Gospel of Luke: A Framework for a Theology of Disability". Christian Education Journal. 13 (1): 169–178. S2CID 148901462.
- Meier, Paul (2013). "Luke as a Hellenistic Historian". In Pitts, Andrew; Porter, Stanley (eds.). Christian Origins and Greco-Roman Culture. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-23416-1.
- Metzger, James (22 February 2011). "Disability and the marginalisation of God in the Parable of the Snubbed Host (Luke 14.15-24)". The Bible and Critical Theory. 6 (2). ISSN 1832-3391.
- Miller, Philip M. (2011). "The Least Orthodox Reading is to be Preferred". In Wallace, Daniel B. (ed.). Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament. Kregel Academic. ISBN 978-0-8254-8906-8.
- ISBN 978-0-310-45571-4.
- ISBN 978-0-521-48593-7.
- Perkins, Pheme (2009). Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-6553-3.
- ISBN 978-0-664-25703-3.
- ISBN 978-0-8091-3111-2.
- Roth, Dieter T. (2015). The Text of Marcion's Gospel. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-24520-4.
- Smith, Dennis E. (1987). "Table Fellowship as a Literary Motif in the Gospel of Luke". Journal of Biblical Literature. 106 (4): 613–638. JSTOR 3260823.
- Story, Lyle (2012). "One banquet with many courses" (PDF). Journal of Biblical and Pneumatological Research. 4: 67–93. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 April 2021 – via EBSCO.
- Strelan, Rick (2013). Luke the Priest – the Authority of the Author of the Third Gospel. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4094-7788-4.
- Talbert, Charles H. (2002). Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary. Smyth & Helwys. ISBN 978-1-57312-393-8.
- Theissen, Gerd; Merz, Annette (1998) [1996]. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Translated by Bowden, John. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-3123-9.
- Thompson, Richard P. (2010). "Luke–Acts: The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles". In Aune, David E. (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to The New Testament. Wiley–Blackwell. p. 319. ISBN 978-1-4443-1894-4.
- Strecker, Georg (2000). Theology of the New Testament. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-0-664-22336-6.
- ISBN 978-0-8308-1596-8.
- VanderKam, James C.; Flint, Peter W. (2005). The meaning of the Dead Sea scrolls: Their significance for understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 0-567-08468-X.
External links
- Bible Gateway 35 languages/50 versions at GospelCom.net
- Unbound Bible 100+ languages/versions at Biola University
- Online Bible at gospelhall.org
- Early Christian Writings; Gospel of Luke: introductions and e-texts
- French; English translation
- Bible: Luke public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions
- A Brief Introduction to Luke–Acts is available online.
- B.H. Streeter, The Four Gospels: A study of origins 1924.
- Willker, W (2007), A textual commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Pub. on-line A very detailed text-critical discussion of the 300 most important variants of the Greek text (PDF, 467 pages)