Scottish Bible Society: Luke Through Lent Day 1

INTRODUCTION

Luke and Acts are two volumes of a single work. Beginning with the

life and ministry of Jesus the Messiah, they trace the history of his followers down to the author’s own day, some time after the middle of the first

century AD.

Luke wrote this history to serve several important purposes. The first

was to assure followers of Jesus that what they’d been taught about him was

trustworthy. It’s likely that Theophilus, the man who sponsored and helped

circulate this work, was a Roman official, since Luke addresses him in his

opening dedication as most excellent Theophilus, using the title generally

reserved for such officials. Luke speaks of him as someone who’s been instructed in the Christian faith and says he wants him to know the certainty

of the things you have been taught. Luke no doubt wishes the same for the

many people that Theophilus will share the work with.

Luke-Acts also shows that the true God is faithful and can be trusted

completely. It does this by documenting how God kept a promise made to

the people of Israel by sending them Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah,

or King. It then shows how God invited non-Jews (known as Gentiles) to

follow Jesus as well. Luke’s history thus demonstrates that the extension of

God’s blessings to people such as Theophilus and his friends represents not

a fickle change in plans, but the masterful fulfilment of a plan God has been

pursuing over the ages. In the Bible’s story, it has been Israel’s role all along

to bring God’s light to the rest of the world. The earliest Jesus-followers take

up this calling by announcing Jesus’ victory over sin and death to all the

nations. This theme runs all the way through both volumes, with Paul and

Barnabas telling one Jewish audience:

The Lord has commanded us:

“I have made you a light for the Gentiles,

that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”

So Luke-Acts tells the story of how God invited first the people of Israel,

then the people of all nations, to follow Jesus. The form of Luke’s history

reflects this message. In the first volume, the movement is towards Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish national life. In the second volume, the movement

is away from Jerusalem to other nations, closing with Paul proclaiming the

kingdom of God in Rome, the capital of the empire.

Compared with other national histories of the time, which often contained twenty or more volumes, Luke’s is short. Each of its two volumes

covers about thirty years. Like other historians of his day, Luke provides

an outline of important events and stocks it with details from the sources

available to him: letters, speeches, songs, travel accounts, trial transcripts

and biographical anecdotes. (Luke had access to these as a co-worker and

travelling companion of the apostle Paul.)

The first volume, the book of Luke, begins with a preliminary section

that introduces the main themes of the whole work by telling the story of

Jesus’ early life. This book then has three main sections:

The first one describes Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, the northern area of

the land of Israel. The second section presents a long journey to Jerusalem, during

which Jesus teaches and answers questions about what it means to follow

him.

The third describes how Jesus gave his life in Jerusalem and then rose

again to be the Ruler and the Saviour of the world.

The second volume, the book of Acts, has six parts. Each one describes

a successive phase in the expansion of the community of Jesus-followers

outward from Jerusalem. The divisions between them are marked by variations on the phrase, The word of God continued to spread and flourish.

- In the first phase, the community is established in Jerusalem and becomes Greek-speaking, enabling it to spread its message throughout

the empire.

- In the second phase, the community expands into the rest of

Palestine.

- In the third phase, Gentiles are included in the community along with

Jews.

- In the fourth part, the community intentionally sends messengers

westward into the populous Roman province of Asia.

- In the fifth phase, these messengers enter Europe.

- In the final phase, the community reaches all the way to the capital

of Rome and into the highest levels of society. God’s invitation is thus

extended to all nations.