"THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE"

Its Author. — The authorship of the third Gospel. has scarcely ever been disputed. It has uniformly been ascribed to Luke, the friend and companion of the Apostle Paul.

A comparison of its opening verses with the preface to the Book of Acts, and an examination of the style and structure of the two books, leave no room for doubt that they were written by one and the same person. The indications of his personality afforded by certain passages in the Book of Acts, where he joins himself with Paul. by the use of the first person plural. as if he were in his company at the time — viewed in the light of the information afforded by the Book of Acts and the epistles of Paul, regarding the apostle's personal. associates and his relations with them, — justify us in holding that the early Church was right in ascribing the authorship to Luke.¹

With regard to Luke's personal history, nearly all that we know of him is connected with the apostolic labours of Paul. He is referred to by that apostle as "the beloved physician" (Col. iv. 14), and it has been suggested that it may have been owing to Paul's need of medical attendance that they were first brought into intimate relations with one another (Acts xvi. 6-10; Gal. iv. 13-15). Traces of Luke's profession have been discovered in the frequency with which he refers to Christ's work and that of his apostles as a ministry of healing (iv. 18, 23; ix. I, 2, 6; x. 9; cf. also xxii. 51, which tells of the healing of Malchus' ear, a fact unrecorded by any of the other three evangelists in their account of the incident), as well as in the occasional use of technical and other forms of expression which a physician was likely to employ (iv. 38; v. 12; vi. 19; xxii. 44).

It has been supposed, not without reason, that it is Luke who is referred to (2 Cor. viii. 18) as "the brother whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the churches"; but whether this be so or not, we have incontestable evidence that Luke was not only a warm friend of the apostle but a valuable coadjutor. In the Epistle to Philemon (ver. 24), which was written during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, Luke is one of Paul's "fellow-workers" who send greetings, and in 3 Timothy (iv. 11), which was written during Paul's second imprisonment when many of his friends had forsaken him, we find the brief but weighty statement, " Only Luke is with me."

Of Luke's nationality and of his history previous to his association with the apostle we have but scanty information. From the distinction drawn between him and those "of the circumcision " (Col. iv. 11-14) it may be inferred that he was of Gentile extraction; and this inference is confirmed by his Greek name and the character of his style, which — except when he is drawing from older documents or reporting speeches conveyed to him by others — is more classical than that of the other Gospels, alike as regards the structure of the sentences and the choice of words, as well as in his use of an opening dedication, a feature quite foreign to the Hebrew style. According to Eusebius and Jerome, who wrote in the fourth century, Luke was a native of Antioch in Syria. Of this we seem to have confirmation in the full account he gives of the Church at Antioch, and also in his mention of Nicolas as "a proselyte of Antioch " (Acts vi. 5).²

While tradition has always ascribed the third Gospel to Luke, it has assigned to Paul a somewhat similar part in its production to that which Peter bore in relation to the Gospel of Mark. Such a connection is rendered probable both by what we know of the relations between Paul and Luke, and by the character of the Gospel itself, which is so liberal and philanthropic in its tone as to form an excellent historic groundwork for the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, which was characteristic of Paul's preaching. There u also a striking similarity between the words attributed to our Lord in the institution of the Supper (xxii. 19, 20) and those in 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25 (Luke having doubtless often heard Paul use the words in the celebration of the Sacrament), and in the accounts which the two books give of our Lord's appearances after His Resurrection (Luke xxiv.; 1 Cor. xv. 1-7). The duty of prayer and the influence of the Holy Spirit, which figure so largely in this Gospel, are also characteristic of Paul's writings; and there are certain habitual forms of expression which are common to them both, e.g. a threefold classification of ideas (xv. 3, 8, ii; ix. 57-62; xi. 11-12; cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 13; Eph. iv. 4-6).

From his preface we learn that it was Lake's object to draw up in as complete and consecutive a form as possible an account of the main facts regarding Christ's person and work, by reference to the most authentic and reliable sources of information. His missionary travels with Paul would afford excellent opportunities for collecting such information. In particular the two years which he seems to have spent in Caesarea during Paul's detention by Felix, where he was within two days' journey of the shores of Lake Gennesaret, the scene of many incidents in our Lord's ministry, would enable him to obtain at first hand, from brethren who had been eyewitnesses, many of those narratives which are only to be found in this Gospel. His high Christian character gave him a moral fitness for the work, while his culture and the love of accuracy manifest in his historical and topographical allusions, marked him out as a suitable instrument in the hands of Providence for writing the Gospel story in a form as well adapted for the philosophical Greeks as Matthew's Gospel was to be for the theocratic Jews and Mark's for the practical Romans.

Its Date. — The date of its composition is uncertain. It may have been as early as 60 A.D., at the close of the two years which Luke spent with Paul at Caesarea; or it may possibly have been during Paul's imprisonment at Rome, 61-63 A.D., or even some years later; but in any case anterior to the Book of Acts, as the preface to the latter implies.

Its Character and Contents.— If St Matthew's Gospel may be styled the Messianic Gospel and St Mark's the realistic Gospel, St Luke's may be fitly described as the catholic Gospel — foreshadowing the expansion of God's kingdom in the future as the first Gospel reflects its history in the past, and the second describes its energy in the present. It is not only more comprehensive in its range, beginning with the birth of the forerunner and ending with an account of the Ascension, but it also brings out more fully the breadth of Christ's sympathy and the fulness and freeness of His love. In illustration of this we may note the following points: (1) The Gospel of Luke traces Christ's genealogy, not like Matthew's by the legal line to Abraham the head of the Jews, but by the natural line to Adam, the of humanity (iii. 38), forming thus a fit introduction to the life of Him who was to be the Kinsman-Redeemer of the whole human family. (2) It exhibits more clearly the reality of Christ's humanity in all the stages of human life (it 4-7, 21, 22, 40, 42, 51, 52; iii. 23), bringing into prominence more especially His dependence upon God in the great crises of His life, when He had recourse to Him m prayer (iii. 21; vi. 12, 13; ix. 28, 29; xxiii. 34, 46), and inculcating earnestness in prayer by two parables peculiar to itself (xi. 513; xviii. 1-8). (3) In keeping with this view of it as the gospel of humanity, we find that it represents Christ's teaching not so much in its theocratic as in its human aspects — its usual formula in the introduction of a parable being not "the kingdom of heaven is like," as in Matthew's, but "a certain man made a great supper" (xiv. 16), "a certain man had two sons" (xv. 11), etc (4) It represents Christ as far-reaching in his sympathies, full of compassion for the poor, the weak, the suffering, and ready to forgive the chief of sinners. It is in this Gospel we find the parables of The Rich Man and Lazarus (xvi. 19), The Pharisee and Publican (xviii 9), and The Prodigal Son (xv. 11), as also the story of the Good Samaritan (x. 30). It is here we find a record of Christ's visit to the house of Zacchaeus the publican (xix. 1), of His gracious reception of the woman that was m sinner (vii. 37), and of His promise of Paradise to the penitent malefactor (xxiii. 43). It is here we find the touching story of the raising to life of the young man at the gate of Nain (vii. 11), who was " the only son of his mother, and she was a widow"; it is here we are told that Jairus' daughter, whom Christ restored to life, was an "only daughter" (viii. 42); it is here we learn that the demonaic boy whom He healed at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration was an "only child " (ix. 38). (5) It is the Gospel of toleration and brotherly love, embracing within the range of its sympathy the Samaritan (ix. 5 1 -56; xvii. 1 1 -1 9), the Gentile (iv. 25-27; xiii. 28, 29), the poor (ii 7, 8, 24; vi. 20; ix. 58; xiv. 21), the very young, this being the only Gospel that tells as that the children brought to Jesus were "babes " (xviii. 15, R.V.), and the weaker and, up to that time, less-honoured sex (i. concerning Mary and Elisabeth; ii. 36-38; viii. 1-3; x. 38-43; xxiii. 27, 28).

It is no accident, therefore, that the words "Saviour," "salvation," "grace," occur more frequently in this than In any other Gospel; it is no accident that it represents the Saviour's birth as heralded by angels to shepherds watching their flocks by night (ii. 8-14), and His ministry as opening in a despised village of Galilee with the gracious words of the evangelic prophet, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor" (iv. 18); it is no accident that as its first chapters resound with the voice of praise and thanksgiving for the birth of the Saviour, its dosing verses tell of the disciples' joy as they returned to Jerusalem with the blessing of the Ascended Saviour resting on their heads, to be " continually in the temple, blessing God." It is because this Gospel from first to last tells the "good tidings of great joy which shall be o all the people " (ii. 10), and proclaims a Saviour who is to be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of (Thy people) Israel" (ii. 32), — in whose name "repentance and remission of sins should be preached unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (xxiv. 47). Luke is indeed the most evangelical of all the evangelists, and as such he has fitly preserved for us the first precious germs of Christian hymnology, which, after eighteen centuries, are still prized as an aid to worship by almost all sections of the Christian Church, viz. the Magnificat (i. 46-55), the Benedictus (i. 68-79), the Gloria in Excelsis (ii. 14), and the Nunc Dimittis (ii. 29-32).

It adds to the importance of this Gospel, styled by Renan "the most beautiful book in the world," that about one-third of its contents is peculiar to itself, consisting mainly of chapters ix. 51-xviii. 14, relating to the Savour's last journey to Jerusalem.

1) An examination of the relative passages, which are too numerous to mention, shows that there are only three of the apostle's friends who could have been with him on the occasions referred to, viz. Luke, Jesus Justus, and Demas. But Demas is disqualified by 2 Tim. iv. lo, while Jesus Justus is referred to as " of the circumcision" (Col. iv. ii), whereas the tone, both of the third Gospel. and of the Book of Acts, would lead us to suppose that the author was a Gentile. The details are given in Buks's Horæ Apostolice p. 351.

2) A parallel has been drawn between this circumstance and the mention made by two Scottish authors alone (Scott and Alison), out of eight writers who give an account of Napoleon's Russian campaign, of the fact that General Barclay de Tolly was of Scottish extraction