Luke 1 - Faith Seeking Understanding


Introduction

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled[a] among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Today we start the third gospel, the gospel of Luke.  Matthew's gospel is often called the Jewish gospel, because of its focus on Jesus being the fulfillment of Old Testament.  Mark's gospel is the earliest and shortest gospel, and is written in a fast moving, "stick to the facts" style.  We see Luke's purpose in the verses selected from chapter 1.
Luke's purpose is to make a careful investigation of "the things that have been fulfilled among us".  When Luke uses the term "us", he is referring mainly to  the apostle Paul. Luke was Paul's traveling partner during some of his missionary journeys, which we read about in the book of Acts.  The gospel of Luke and the book of Acts should be read together and not separated by the gospel of John. You can see if you read the beginning of Acts where it too is dedicated to "most excellent Theophilus" and says "in my last book".  Luke uses "eyewitnesses" to write his gospel, as credible evidence to confirm for Theophilus' "the certainty of the things he has been taught".

I like to call this "faith seeking understanding".  So Luke's goal is to prove the historicity of the gospel story about Jesus' life, death and resurrection.  Luke's gospel is written to prove that the gospel about Jesus is really true and really did happen. So we will be looking at the historical nature of Luke's gospel, as we read through his gospel.

Finally, there are two other noteworthy characteristics of Luke's gospel.  First is Luke's emphasis on the Holy Spirit. You see this especially around the birth of Jesus. Additionally Luke has a strong emphasis of the gospel being brought to the Gentiles.  If Luke was indeed a traveling companion of Paul, you can see why he would be so interested in Gentiles, as Paul dedicated his life to reaching Gentiles once the Jews had rejected him.

So my prayer is that as we study Luke's gospel, we too may know the certainty of what we have been taught.  While trusting in God's Word, especially Jesus who is the Word, is based on faith, as we examine Luke our faith can seek greater understanding.  If nothing else this will help us to tell others with clarity and conviction. 

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