Luke

While Luke is always taken, first, as the companion of Paul in his various missionary journeys as well as his captivity in Rome, and as the author of the third Gospel, Luke's name (Loukas in Greek) does not appear in the Bible until he is named by Paul in his letter to the Colossians (4:14). There, Paul conveys Luke's greetings to the church, and Paul calls him "our dear friend," and "the doctor" (or "the beloved physician" in some translations). He is mentioned by name only twice more: 2 Tim 4:11 & Phm 1:24. This is not much, but it is possible to infer from what the evidence in the NT the following facts about him.

1. He was a gentile. Paul names a number of co-workers in Col 4:7-11, and then says that they "are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God" (v11). In the following verses Paul sends greetings from his other, presumably Gentile, co-workers, among whom is Luke.

2. He was not an eye-witness to the events of Jesus's life, and had come to faith only subsequently. Lk 1:1-2—"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word"—makes this clear.

3. The book of Acts—of which Luke is the attributed author—we find four passages in which the pronoun "we" was used. It is most natural to assume that the author has included himself in what was being said. According to these passages, Luke had first joined Paul during the latter's "Second Missionary Journey." Luke's first use of the "we' pronoun in 16:11 suggests that Luke joined Paul's company only at Troas soon after Paul had the vision of "a Macedonian man begging him to come over to Macedonia (Acts 16:9). Luke seemed then to have been part of Paul's missionary endeavours from then, through his arrest in Jerusalem and captivity in Caesarea, and on until Paul arrived as a prisoner in Rome (27:1-8:16). If this reading is correct, then Luke's lenghty stay in Caesarea while Paul was held prisoner would have provided him with the perfect opportunity to seek out the eye-witnesses of Jesus's life and ministry from whose reports he would compose his Gospel. He last appears in one of Paul's last letters, 2 Tim 4:11, conveying his greetings to Timothy whom Paul was urging to come to him quickly. We know nothing of his life before or beyond these fifteen or so years of partnership with the great apostle.

Luke's character and training as a physician, many scholars believe, can be traced in his writings. Whether Luke used medical terms more often than usual is a question that has debated (a definitive answer to such a question is, by its nature, difficult to define in any case) but that Luke was more attentive than the other evangelists to people's conditions is clear. He alone, e.g., speaks of Peter's mother-in-law as suffering from "high fever," pyreto megalo (Lk 4:38) when Matthew and Mark simply speaks of her having "fever" (Matt 8:14; Mk 1:30). The leper who came and fell at Jesus's feet begging to be healed is described by Matthew and Mark simply as a "leper" (Matt 8:2, Mk 1:40 ); Luke, on the other hand, describes him as "full of leprosy" pleres lepras, i.e., it was an advanced case of leprosy (Lk 5:125, cf., KJ, NKJ).

Luke's training as a physician, many scholars believe, also shows through in the style and language of his writing. Of all the NT documents his has been praised as among the best. His Gospel, e.g., has been acclaimed the finest piece literature in the NT. We may naturally assume that his training as a physician would have given him a critical edge in his research and evaluation of the reports and sources he had to sort as he prepared his Gospel and his work is acknowledged to be some of the best historical works among the ancient writers.

CONCORDANCE (NIV):

Col 4:14 — Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings.

2 Tim 4:11 — [Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.] Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.

Phm 1:24 — [Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings.] And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.

Further Reading & Resources:

☰ John William Wenham [1913-1996], "The Identification of Luke," The Evangelical Quarterly 63.1 (Jan.-Mar. 1991): 3-44