Luk 1:3 | KingComments | STEP | If we give a description of someone, we can do so from different angels. For example, we can highlight someone as the father of a family. In addition, a description of the same person is also possible as a colleague or as a neighbor. In this way we see how four evangelists – under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – report the life of the Lord Jesus during His stay on earth. In the four biographies we have in the Bible, Matthew tells in his Gospel about the Lord Jesus as King, Mark presents Him as Servant, Luke describes Him as true Man and finally John writes about Him as the eternal Son of God. The purpose of this Gospel is to look at the Lord Jesus as Man. Hence the call: “Behold, the Man” ( ) is chosen as the subtitle for this book. If we read this Gospel with the desire to see Him as Man, we will get to know Him as Someone in Whom God has come close to us men. He became equal to men, yet without sin ( ). Ger de Koning Middelburg, October 2009, new version 2020, translated 2020 Purpose of the Gospel according to Luke Luke presents the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man, the Man of God for all men. In Him God reveals Himself in redeeming grace to lost men. In this Gospel God addresses all mankind. Here, the dispensation of the law is not replaced by another dispensation (the kingdom) as in the Gospel according to Matthew, but here the law is substituted by saving heavenly grace. Grace is not just the solution to the problem of sin. Grace goes much further and that is what this Gospel presents. This Gospel is not so much about what God wanted to deliver us from, but what He wanted to make of us. In this Gospel, men are presented as men with whom God is pleased ( ). God has predestined them to that purpose. Therefore, a heading for this Gospel could be “taken into favor in the Beloved” ( , Darby Translation). Favor or grace contains everything that God has prepared for us in His counsels. It is said of believers that they are made pleasant in the Beloved, for it is He, the beloved Son, in Whom God reveals Himself. In Him God comes in grace as Man to us. He is the Man from heaven, He is true Man, yet without sin. The Writer Luke God used Luke to record this Gospel. Luke is a co-worker of the apostle Paul and a physician by profession ( ; ; ). He is most probably a Gentile of origin and he writes to a Gentile. It shows that the grace of God is also for the Gentiles. As Paul’s companion he wrote about things on which Paul expands in his letters. There is a close connection between these two servants, who have spent a lot of time together. Luke shows us what Paul further elaborates on: the sonship of the believer. Luke speaks of sons of the Most High ( ), a son of peace ( , literal translation), sons of light ( ), sons of God ( ), sons of the resurrection ( ). Sonship is the highest position of the believer before God, for that is what the believer is in the presence of God Himself as a joy to His heart ( ). With his account of the life of the Lord Jesus on earth, Luke wants to make the converted Gentile Theophilus better acquainted with Who He is. There were many accounts about the life of the Lord Jesus in circulation, but they were insufficient. That’s because the “many”, who had undertaken to compile this account of Him, were not inspired. Luke does not accuse them of false intentions or falsehood in what they have written, but their biography clearly fell short. In all cases it was nothing more than the work and effort of men to tell the things that are completely certain and believed among Christians. Because their work failed, it was necessary to write a new and above all God-given account about Christ. When we read Luke’s considerations to record the Lord’s life, we notice that there is with him talk of a “motive” and of “inspiration”. Both come from God. God worked in Luke the desire to take on this task. Subsequently He has led him entirely and completely into everything he writes down. We must carefully bear in mind that the difference between an inspired Scripture and another scripture is not that only the inspired is true and that everything else is untrue. A scripture other than an inspired Scripture need not be untrue. No, the big difference is that an inspired Scripture represents the truth as God sees it. This Gospel that Luke writes is not just a biography, as other historians have written. It is God’s story about Christ, which from beginning to end breathes the special meaning with which it pleases Him to permeate it. This is distinctive for all inspired Scriptures, whatever their form or meaning may be. Inspiration excludes mistakes in the story and the text. And that’s not all. Inspiration also includes a Divine purpose to teach the believer the revelation of the glory of God in Christ. Besides the fact of inspiration, we also see a difference between Luke and the other, uninspired writers in the working method. The many uninspired writers have delivered what they themselves have seen of the Lord’s life. In it they were servants of the Word. This may mean that in their account they have testified of the Lord Jesus as the Word ( ). Luke, like all those who have already compiled an account, also wants to compile an account. Those who have already written an account, have as a source their own perception. They started from what they have seen with their own eyes from the Lord’s deeds. This also determines that what they have written is no more than their human observation. They could only pass on their own observations, without being able to go into the depths of the truth that in Christ has come to man. Luke has done an accurate, thorough study of the Lord’s life. He has personally “investigated everything carefully from the beginning”. He has not limited himself to what he has seen of the Lord. He has also studied the beginning of things concerning the Lord. It is also doubtful whether he knew the Lord Jesus on earth. This is not a problem when we realize that God has given him the special inspiration and revelation of the Spirit. This makes it clear that God has chosen Luke as His instrument, not only to add a new eyewitness testimony to the many that already existed, but to show to men His own pleasure in this Man. Although Luke says “it seemed fitting for me as well “, just as it had seemed fitting for others well, he still distinguishes his own account from their account. He does not tell how he obtained his perfect knowledge of all the things he writes about, but he simply states the fact that he possesses this perfect knowledge. Accurate research has brought him to the account we have before us in this Gospel. We know that God has shown Luke everything that is needed for this. But everything God shows a man, does not relieve that man of his own responsibility to study what he wants to describe. Only God is able to unite the responsibility of man with His own sovereign plan. He can do so in such a way that man’s responsibility remains fully valid, while that man acts precisely according to God’s plan and purpose. This is aptly seen in what Luke presents as a result of his research in this Gospel. Not a word is mentioned about the wonderful combination of Luke’s thorough research and the inspiration and revelation by the Spirit. Yet every believer who reads this Gospel with prayer, will notice how much this Gospel also has come into existence under the mighty effect of God’s Spirit and is therefore completely different from any other account about the Lord’s life. There is still a peculiarity to mention about the way in which Luke passes on his findings. He says to do so “in consecutive order”. By this, however, he does not mean to say that he describes the life of the Lord in a regular chronological or historical order. The “consecutive order” that he means, has to do with the spiritual coherence of the events. He places events together, not because in time the one event is followed by the other, but because certain events belong together through an inner connection. For example, he lets an event in which Mary sits at the Lord’s feet to hear His words to be followed by an event in which prayer is central ( ). In doing so, he emphasizes the inner connection that exists between the Word and prayer, without wondering whether these two events also follow one another in time. A considerable time may have elapsed between the two events. We will find more proofs of this approach to the Lord’s life in this Gospel. We will see how facts, conversations, questions, answers and discourses of the Lord are presented by Luke according to their inner connection and not always as events have taken place successively. Then we hear to whom Luke writes. He writes to the “most excellent Theophilus“. “Most excellent” refers to the official position of Theophilus and not to his character. Although Luke is mainly concerned with preaching the gospel to the poor ( ), his Gospel as a whole is directed to this man of high society who is now a disciple of the Lord. Someone who holds a high position in the world is particularly exposed to the tricks and temptations of satan and to the worries of life. These are all reasons why the seed of the Word remains without fruit ( ). The fact that a whole part of the Bible is addressed to this one Gentile, especially one having such a status in the world, is a special proof of God’s gracious care (cf. ). God knows what every human being needs and despises no one. He also wants to provide in the needs of this high-ranking man who is now humble and certainly feels his spiritual poverty despite his earthly status and wealth (cf. ). Luke wants to convince the converted, non-Jewish Theophilus of the reliability of the Christian truth he has accepted. With this, Luke provides aftercare to this converted Gentile. The purpose of the evangelist is to give him a better understanding of “the Way”. He is taught in the Christian truth, but he needs confirmation and foundation. This means that he needs the Scriptures, for certainty concerning faith is connected to the holy Scriptures, the Word of God. Without the Word we wouldn’t have certainty about anything. If we want to serve and edify people who have (recently) came to faith, this can only be done by teaching them God’s Word.

‏ Luke 1:3

Introduction

If we give a description of someone, we can do so from different angels. For example, we can highlight someone as the father of a family. In addition, a description of the same person is also possible as a colleague or as a neighbor. In this way we see how four evangelists – under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – report the life of the Lord Jesus during His stay on earth. In the four biographies we have in the Bible, Matthew tells in his Gospel about the Lord Jesus as King, Mark presents Him as Servant, Luke describes Him as true Man and finally John writes about Him as the eternal Son of God.

The purpose of this Gospel is to look at the Lord Jesus as Man. Hence the call: “Behold, the Man” (Jn 19:5) is chosen as the subtitle for this book. If we read this Gospel with the desire to see Him as Man, we will get to know Him as Someone in Whom God has come close to us men. He became equal to men, yet without sin (Heb 4:15).

Ger de Koning

Middelburg, October 2009, new version 2020, translated 2020

Purpose of the Gospel according to Luke

Luke presents the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man, the Man of God for all men. In Him God reveals Himself in redeeming grace to lost men. In this Gospel God addresses all mankind. Here, the dispensation of the law is not replaced by another dispensation (the kingdom) as in the Gospel according to Matthew, but here the law is substituted by saving heavenly grace. Grace is not just the solution to the problem of sin. Grace goes much further and that is what this Gospel presents. This Gospel is not so much about what God wanted to deliver us from, but what He wanted to make of us.

In this Gospel, men are presented as men with whom God is pleased (Lk 2:14). God has predestined them to that purpose. Therefore, a heading for this Gospel could be “taken into favor in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6, Darby Translation). Favor or grace contains everything that God has prepared for us in His counsels. It is said of believers that they are made pleasant in the Beloved, for it is He, the beloved Son, in Whom God reveals Himself. In Him God comes in grace as Man to us. He is the Man from heaven, He is true Man, yet without sin.

The Writer Luke

God used Luke to record this Gospel. Luke is a co-worker of the apostle Paul and a physician by profession (Col 4:14; 2Tim 4:11; Phlm 1:24). He is most probably a Gentile of origin and he writes to a Gentile. It shows that the grace of God is also for the Gentiles.

As Paul’s companion he wrote about things on which Paul expands in his letters. There is a close connection between these two servants, who have spent a lot of time together. Luke shows us what Paul further elaborates on: the sonship of the believer. Luke speaks of sons of the Most High (Lk 6:35), a son of peace (Lk 10:6, literal translation), sons of light (Lk 16:8), sons of God (Lk 20:36), sons of the resurrection (Lk 20:36). Sonship is the highest position of the believer before God, for that is what the believer is in the presence of God Himself as a joy to His heart (Eph 1:5).

To Theophilus

With his account of the life of the Lord Jesus on earth, Luke wants to make the converted Gentile Theophilus better acquainted with Who He is. There were many accounts about the life of the Lord Jesus in circulation, but they were insufficient. That’s because the “many”, who had undertaken to compile this account of Him, were not inspired. Luke does not accuse them of false intentions or falsehood in what they have written, but their biography clearly fell short. In all cases it was nothing more than the work and effort of men to tell the things that are completely certain and believed among Christians.

Because their work failed, it was necessary to write a new and above all God-given account about Christ. When we read Luke’s considerations to record the Lord’s life, we notice that there is with him talk of a “motive” and of “inspiration”. Both come from God. God worked in Luke the desire to take on this task. Subsequently He has led him entirely and completely into everything he writes down.

We must carefully bear in mind that the difference between an inspired Scripture and another scripture is not that only the inspired is true and that everything else is untrue. A scripture other than an inspired Scripture need not be untrue. No, the big difference is that an inspired Scripture represents the truth as God sees it. This Gospel that Luke writes is not just a biography, as other historians have written. It is God’s story about Christ, which from beginning to end breathes the special meaning with which it pleases Him to permeate it.

This is distinctive for all inspired Scriptures, whatever their form or meaning may be. Inspiration excludes mistakes in the story and the text. And that’s not all. Inspiration also includes a Divine purpose to teach the believer the revelation of the glory of God in Christ.

Besides the fact of inspiration, we also see a difference between Luke and the other, uninspired writers in the working method. The many uninspired writers have delivered what they themselves have seen of the Lord’s life. In it they were servants of the Word. This may mean that in their account they have testified of the Lord Jesus as the Word (Jn 1:1 ; 14). Luke, like all those who have already compiled an account, also wants to compile an account.

Those who have already written an account, have as a source their own perception. They started from what they have seen with their own eyes from the Lord’s deeds. This also determines that what they have written is no more than their human observation. They could only pass on their own observations, without being able to go into the depths of the truth that in Christ has come to man.

Luke has done an accurate, thorough study of the Lord’s life. He has personally “investigated everything carefully from the beginning”. He has not limited himself to what he has seen of the Lord. He has also studied the beginning of things concerning the Lord. It is also doubtful whether he knew the Lord Jesus on earth. This is not a problem when we realize that God has given him the special inspiration and revelation of the Spirit. This makes it clear that God has chosen Luke as His instrument, not only to add a new eyewitness testimony to the many that already existed, but to show to men His own pleasure in this Man.

Although Luke says “it seemed fitting for me as well “, just as it had seemed fitting for others well, he still distinguishes his own account from their account. He does not tell how he obtained his perfect knowledge of all the things he writes about, but he simply states the fact that he possesses this perfect knowledge. Accurate research has brought him to the account we have before us in this Gospel.

We know that God has shown Luke everything that is needed for this. But everything God shows a man, does not relieve that man of his own responsibility to study what he wants to describe. Only God is able to unite the responsibility of man with His own sovereign plan. He can do so in such a way that man’s responsibility remains fully valid, while that man acts precisely according to God’s plan and purpose.

This is aptly seen in what Luke presents as a result of his research in this Gospel. Not a word is mentioned about the wonderful combination of Luke’s thorough research and the inspiration and revelation by the Spirit. Yet every believer who reads this Gospel with prayer, will notice how much this Gospel also has come into existence under the mighty effect of God’s Spirit and is therefore completely different from any other account about the Lord’s life.

There is still a peculiarity to mention about the way in which Luke passes on his findings. He says to do so “in consecutive order”. By this, however, he does not mean to say that he describes the life of the Lord in a regular chronological or historical order. The “consecutive order” that he means, has to do with the spiritual coherence of the events. He places events together, not because in time the one event is followed by the other, but because certain events belong together through an inner connection.

For example, he lets an event in which Mary sits at the Lord’s feet to hear His words to be followed by an event in which prayer is central (Lk 10:38-42 ; Lk 11:1-13). In doing so, he emphasizes the inner connection that exists between the Word and prayer, without wondering whether these two events also follow one another in time. A considerable time may have elapsed between the two events. We will find more proofs of this approach to the Lord’s life in this Gospel. We will see how facts, conversations, questions, answers and discourses of the Lord are presented by Luke according to their inner connection and not always as events have taken place successively.

Then we hear to whom Luke writes. He writes to the “most excellent Theophilus“. “Most excellent” refers to the official position of Theophilus and not to his character. Although Luke is mainly concerned with preaching the gospel to the poor (Lk 4:18 ; Lk 6:20 ; Lk 7:22), his Gospel as a whole is directed to this man of high society who is now a disciple of the Lord.

Someone who holds a high position in the world is particularly exposed to the tricks and temptations of satan and to the worries of life. These are all reasons why the seed of the Word remains without fruit (Lk 8:12-14). The fact that a whole part of the Bible is addressed to this one Gentile, especially one having such a status in the world, is a special proof of God’s gracious care (cf. 1Cor 1:26). God knows what every human being needs and despises no one. He also wants to provide in the needs of this high-ranking man who is now humble and certainly feels his spiritual poverty despite his earthly status and wealth (cf. Jam 1:10).

Luke wants to convince the converted, non-Jewish Theophilus of the reliability of the Christian truth he has accepted. With this, Luke provides aftercare to this converted Gentile. The purpose of the evangelist is to give him a better understanding of “the Way”. He is taught in the Christian truth, but he needs confirmation and foundation. This means that he needs the Scriptures, for certainty concerning faith is connected to the holy Scriptures, the Word of God. Without the Word we wouldn’t have certainty about anything. If we want to serve and edify people who have (recently) came to faith, this can only be done by teaching them God’s Word.