Luke
A physician and fellow worker named in letters that bear Paul’s name. From the second century he has been held to be the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, two books that do not themselves name their writer.
Letters under Paul’s name mention Luke three times: as “the beloved physician” who sends greetings, in a list of fellow workers, and as the only companion still with Paul (Colossians 4:14) (Philemon 24) (2 Timothy 4:11).
The third Gospel and Acts are both addressed to a Theophilus, and the second refers back to the first (Luke 1:3) (Acts 1:1–2). Neither gives its author’s name. The preface to the Gospel says that the writer worked from what had been handed down by those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning (Luke 1:1–4). Several stretches of Acts are told as “we”, among them the voyage to Rome (Acts 16:10–17) (Acts 20:5–15) (Acts 27:1–28:16).
Irenaeus, about AD 180, says that Luke, the companion of Paul, set down in a book the gospel that Paul preached, and he argues from the “we” passages that Luke was with Paul on his journeys (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.1.1) (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.14.1). Eusebius, in the early fourth century, adds that Luke’s family was from Antioch (Eusebius, Church History 3.4). The attribution rests on this tradition; see the Four Gospels Are Written.
In the timeline
- about AD 59 to AD 62, estimated datePaul’s Voyage to Rome
Sent to Italy as a prisoner, Paul is shipwrecked on Malta, winters there and reaches Rome, where he lives for two years under guard and teaches all who come to him. There the book of Acts ends.
- about AD 65 to AD 100, estimated dateThe Four Gospels Are Written
Four accounts of the words, deeds, death and resurrection of Jesus are written, on the usual dating, in the later first century. None names its author; the names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John come from second-century testimony.