Luke and His Gospel

Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1; Colossians 4:14; II Timothy 4:11

GOLDEN TEXT: “It seemed good to me also … to write that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed.”—Luke 1:3,4

OUR lesson is intended to be an introduction to Luke and his work as one of the writers of the sacred records. Luke was a physician and the author of the Gospel which bears his name and also the Book of Acts. In the latter he takes up the narrative substantially where he left it in the Gospel—the ascension of Christ. Both accounts are evidently addressed to a friend, Theophilus, who is supposed to have been a person of considerable dignity and influence, as he is styled “most excellent,” a title which implied social or political rank. Luke was not one of the apostles, and his records are not therefore of apostolic authority. Such authority or plenary inspiration was not necessary, however, in the recording of plain, simple facts such as the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts present. It requires no inspiration to record a fact, though it does require some ability, and it is reasonable to assume that since the Lord used Luke’s ability in connection with the work of recording the facts of that time he was guided of the Holy Spirit in the ascertainment of the facts, which his education and natural talents eminently qualified him to state clearly. Luke was guided of the Holy Spirit in the same sense that all of the Lord’s consecrated people are guided by His Spirit, which is to a different degree from that plenary inspiration granted to the twelve apostles—Paul taking the place of Judas.

The first verse of Acts refers back to the Gospel of Luke, as a treatise of the doings and teachings of Jesus from the time He began His ministry, to its close; and some have assumed that the word “began” might reasonably be understood to imply that our Lord continued His ministry after His ascension, speaking and acting through His apostles, and those believing on Him through their word. This is true enough whether or not it was what Luke meant; for the Scriptures invariably teach that the church of Christ in the flesh is His representative: as the Apostle Paul says, we “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, for His body’s sake, which is the church.” (Col. 1:24) And as we have to do with the suffering of the Anointed One, so we have to do with the witnessing or ministry by which the members of the body are to be called out from the world, separated, instructed, and thus prepared for a share in the glorious Kingdom and the great work of judging the world, which it will inaugurate. It is in this sense that our Lord declared, “Ye shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Primarily, the apostles were the witnesses who testified to us respecting our Lord’s words, His death, His resurrection and ascension, and His promises of a return to accept His faithful to a share in His Kingdom, when He shall take unto Himself His great power and reign. In a secondary sense all who receive the apostolic testimony and declare the same to others are likewise Christ’s representatives and witnesses.

In our Golden Text it will be noted that the writer’s purpose is to assure his friend Theophilus of the certainty of the Gospel message in which he had been instructed. The message of this writer as well as the other writers of the Bible has been entirely effective in showing to those of faith the certainty of God’s message, including the fall, the ransom, the high calling of the church, and the restitution of all the willing and obedient in the future age. But in the end of the Gospel age we have been witnesses of the great falling away from faith among professing Christians, and realize that this is in accordance with prophecy, Our Lord particularly called attention to the fact that one of the signs of His presence would be that “Men’s hearts [would be] failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven [the restraining influence of faith in the Bible] shall be shaken.”—Luke 21:26

It is impossible for us to fully realize the great advantage that has been given to Bible Students in the clear unfolding of the plan and purposes of God. And the contrast between this stimulating draught of present truth and its effect in strengthening faith and devotion and the absence of knowledge and faith in the great mass of nominal Christians and especially their leaders, is in itself a marked evidence of the “harvest”—“the end of the world [age].” (Matt. 13:38-40) This feeling of “certainty” of which Luke writes has been the priceless possession of God’s people always, and it is the only mental attitude which will prompt to a full consecration and enable one to carry it out and faithfully walk in the Master’s footsteps.

The devastating effects of unbelief, resulting in loss of ideals, unwillingness to suffer and sacrifice for principle, a general weakening of the moral fiber of the so-called Christian world, is becoming apparent even to intelligent and thinking people of the world. They doubtless see the cause only indistinctly and are hoping against hope that in some way devotion to principle, or at least to the common welfare will be reawakened and turn aside the threatened destruction of the most advanced civilization the world has ever known. But one with faith in the future is best sustained to pursue an even course of loyalty to principle, regardless of the consequences; and doubtless the advancement in education of the common people and in individual liberty gained at. great cost in comparatively recent times, was in large measure the out-growth of the Gospel message and the influence that message has shed upon the world through the circulation of the Bible and through the lives of those who had real faith in it. In the past hundred years or, less Higher Criticism has undermined the faith of college students, and while there are some who still have faith in the Bible no doubt these are a small minority and the mass of the teachers and preachers are persuaded that the theories of men—Evolution and Higher Criticism, “science falsely so-called”—are more to be depended upon than is the Bible. With such pitiable leadership is it any wonder that all the efforts to arouse faith and devotion to principle are well-nigh fruitless? As our Lord said of the leaders of the Jewish people during His earthly ministry, so we observe today—“The blind lead the blind” and together they are falling into the ditch—of unbelief and disaster resulting therefrom. Thank God that this is but a temporary experience, and following this demonstration of the folly of looking to human leadership instead of to God and His Word, the knowledge of the glory of God is to fill the earth and all are to know Him, from the least to the greatest.

QUESTIONS:

Who was Luke, and was he one of the inspired apostles?

What does the Golden Text reveal as being Luke’s purpose in writing the Gospel which bears his name?

What are some of the advantages which accrue to Bible Students through the clearer unfolding of the plans and purposes of God?

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