The gospel of Luke

Transcript from the podcast (so sorry for the spelling mistakes)

Wildfire podcast is an extension of Wildfire Ministries, an organization that has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ, instilling them with a passion to radically and relentlessly pursue Christ wherever that leads, that God's truth will spread like a wildfire.

Hey everyone, how's it going?

Welcome back to another podcast.

Peter, what's going on?

Today we're talking about Luke's favorite topic himself.

Yes.

Narcissism at its finest.

We're talking about Luke.

We are just talking about me.

Let's talk about what do you think about me, Peter?

Oh my goodness.

I would leave right now if I were to put you up.

Thankfully, there is a more interesting look in the Bible that we can look at.

And he is a doctor and it's much more successful and more brilliant than you are, Luke.

Wow.

It wouldn't be hard to be honest with you, Peter.

It wouldn't be hard.

There you go.

Okay.

So just to set us up for the Gospel of Luke, it's one of the four Gospels found at the start of the New Testament.

The author of this book is called Luke.

And he's mentioned a few times in the Epistles.

So for example, in Colossians 4, he's referred to as the beloved physician or doctor.

Luke accompanied paul from Truis on his second missionary journey.

So he was in constant contact with paul.

And paul wrote most of the New Testament, so it's a pretty good source to be in contact with.

A few interesting facts about the Book of Luke is he provides 20 miracles of Jesus, 23 parables, and 18 of these parables are unique to Luke alone, and not mentioned in any other gospel.

So it's a nice insight there.

And Luke is particular focused on prayer.

The combined gospels record that Christ prayed a total of 15 times.

11 of these are recorded in Luke alone.

And Luke, or recorded by Luke.

And Luke focuses not only on when Jesus prayed, but Jesus' teaching on prayer.

And the book is thought to have been written between 58 and 60 AD, and passed the proximity test with flying colors.

So, you're the historian, Luke.

Give us a little bit of an idea.

Yes.

So basically, because of what the material, because of the papaya that the gospels were written on, we don't actually have the original.

But this is the same for all history of antiquity.

So you've got writings of Aristotle, the writings that relate to Caesar, Socrates.

All of these writings, because of the papaya, we don't have the original.

So the proximity test is, when was the earliest manuscript written?

And how many manuscripts are there?

So if you have a manuscript that relates closest to the actual event that it's talking about, and you have several manuscripts, then that is very reliable.

That's the proximity test.

And this is what we're seeing here is the Gospels pass with flying colors, 24,000 manuscripts, 5,700 are original Greek manuscripts, that's the eclectic texts, and they are written all within a century of the event, which in contrast to the writings of Aristotle are a thousand years after the event, and they have 8 to 10 manuscripts, and that's considered reliable with regards to antiquity.

So that's what we meant by that.

That's good news for us as people who are interested in the Bible.

The book is also addressed to Theophilus, which means lover of God, and that's the same as the Book of Acts as well, so they're both addressed to Theophilus.

The style of the book and the vocabulary indicate that Luke was appealing to a Greek audience, Gentiles, and this influences or represents the universality of the Gospel.

Luke's Gospel is also refined and it has been compared to other classical Greek writings.

Jesus is portrayed as the long-awaited Messiah or the son of man, as he's referred to quite often in the Old Testament, and the saviour of all mankind, and there's also a special emphasis on the kindness of Jesus extended towards women, the weak, poor, children, outcasts, and those who are suffering.

And Hebrews 4 has a nice verse in relation to this, which is, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Which is what Luke's Gospel says up really well.

So look, I'm going to hand over to you shortly, because we have Luke's A-level notes with us today.

Yes.

I would hold them up for the camera, but Luke has OCD and has laid them out in a very particular way, so he'd probably slap me or something if I mess them up.

Okay, I'm going to attempt to do it.

Okay.

I'm going to attempt to do it.

Try and hear on the audio.

Can all the people here listen to the podcast?

Can they see it?

All these pages.

Yeah.

So we're going to be here for an hour.

Yeah, this is an extra long podcast.

Get ready.

This is basically Luke's A-level exam recited.

Shout out to Mrs.

Craig and Mr.

Glenn.

And so the breakdown of this and of Luke's notes that we're going to talk about is kind of the main themes of Luke are the construction of Luke's gospel and the sources he used.

That is exciting by the way, just in case people think that's boring.

Well, you've set the bar high Luke, so please make that exciting for us.

The purpose of Luke's gospel, the characteristics of Luke's gospel, the parables of Luke's gospel, and the miracles of Luke's gospel.

So, Luke, what category do you want to start with first, your theme?

Well, I think what we should do is we should talk about the characteristics of Luke, just to get some broad strokes as to what Luke's actually conveying throughout his gospel.

So, one of the characteristics of Luke is the universality of the gospel, okay?

Which is quite difficult to say, and that's the first time I've pronounced it right, but okay.

Whereby Luke's gospel was written for everyone.

There's a clear focus on including the minorities.

That is that the message of Jesus Christ was of salvation, one of hope and unity, that we are unified through the blood of Jesus Christ.

And that's in relation to Galatians 3.28, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus.

So that there verse in Galatians can literally be used to epitomize Luke's gospel.

Throughout Luke, he talks about Samartans, which were a group seen as radically impure by the Jews.

However, Luke presents Jesus as being accepting to the Samartans.

Luke 10, the parable of the good Samartan, being the most obvious one.

The Purr.

In Jewish society, the common belief was that poverty was a punishment from God.

Luke does not believe this.

His concern for the Purr is shown throughout the gospel.

In Luke chapter 2 verse 7, in Luke chapter 9 verse 58.

Luke even presents Jesus being in poverty.

Throughout his ministry, we don't see that the son of the living God doesn't have an accumulation of wealth.

Rather, in Luke he records that the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

Jesus was constantly on a ministry journey, and to finance money was in the central focus.

So again, that's what that Hebrews verse is saying.

Jesus is able to empathize with these people, these outcasts and the Purr, for example.

Women is a particular focus.

Jesus presents his concern for women several times.

He includes 12 women that are not referred to in any other gospel.

In Luke 1, 26, 28, the angel Gabriel was sent to her.

Emphasis on Elizabeth, emphasis on Mary, emphasis on the story of the incarnation.

Which is interesting because the Bible is to be very, by some to be very anti-woman.

Yeah.

And the church as well.

Some people say that, but we can see the founder of our entire body of believers was very girl-woman and yeah.

It's self-evidently clear, and not just in the New Testament, in the Old as well, because the Bible is just displaying the character of God, and God is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow.

So to me, this is just, if this didn't include this, I'd be very confused, like the Gospel accounts and how Jesus treats woman, because Jesus is God, how God treated woman from the beginning, to turn the past to turn the future as one with respect and dignity.

So, in that society, the woman we're seeing is second class citizens, inferior to men, regarded as property of their father, women had no voice in legal matters.

However, Jesus literally just changes all of this.

He instills them, Jesus' ministry instills in the law what was lost, and that was love, especially with regards to women, how they're equal partners, equal in nature.

So, another focus is children.

Again, these were people, another group, who were seen as inferior and had no influence.

However, Luke 1.80 says, And the child grew and became strong in spirit.

Luke 7.12 says, Jesus raises a widow's only son.

Again, showing the empathy of Jesus, showing the motive of Jesus that even children, women, the Samaritans, all these groups of people who are seen as inferior, or I cast, Jesus has a particular focus on all these groups of people.

The tax collectors, often categorized with sinners.

Whoever, again, Luke shows Jesus' concern with the story of Jesus in Sicaeus, the very little man who climbed up the Sycamore tree.

Great story.

And also, just for sinners in general, that is, Luke had a particular concern for showing Jesus had come for the immoral.

Jesus said, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, which is good news for everyone, because that's what we all are.

And Gentiles, Luke himself was a Gentile.

And so he had a keen interest of showing the Gentiles that was who the Messiah had come for.

Also, Luke 24, 47, Forgiveness of sins should be preached to all nations.

So the Great Commission.

So that's just one characteristic of Luke's Gospel, and that's the universality of the Gospel.

But that is woven right throughout Luke.

It's a clear emphasis because he himself was a Gentile.

Other things is that another characteristic is that Luke is the most comprehensive.

Joy and praise are self-evident throughout Luke.

Luke uses seven different words for joy and repeats them 36 times throughout the Gospel.

Again, these are just really interesting facts, interesting analysis from Luke on these characteristics.

We also have that there is a theocentric focus throughout Luke's Gospel.

That is, he is wanting to display the divinity of Jesus along with the humanity.

So that hypostatic union that God is both there, or Jesus is both man and God.

And that's when you have those titles such as, you know, the Son of God, Son of Man.

Son of Man, as you said, is a particular emphasis.

Yeah.

And that's so in the Gospels in general, I'm not sure what it looked, but in overall the Gospels, that's the title Jesus uses most to refer to himself as the Son of Man, which is probably seen best in Daniel chapter 7, where the Son of Man is given dominion over all creation by the Father.

And it's a true claim to divinity.

And whenever I was younger, I thought Son of Man is just him claiming to be human.

But no, it's actually much more than that.

That's him claiming to be divine.

It's the exact opposite.

And so it's probably a bigger divine claim than Son of God in Hebrew thought anyway, because there's only one person ever who's said to be the Son of Man.

That was the Messiah, who was God, and given authority over everything, and worshiped as God.

Yeah.

And Luke particularly emphasizes that Jesus is the fulfillment.

He is the Messiah that has come, whenever he reads out Isaiah in the temple, like these things have come to pass, that Jesus is I in the fulfillment of these things.

He declares the proclamation that he is the Messiah that has been long expected for by the Jews, and that they shouldn't miss it.

Another characteristic is salvation.

Luke uses the vocabulary of salvation more than any other New Testament author.

It is used 6 times in Luke, e.g.

Luke 1, 69.

He also uses the word savior and save.

So there is an emphasis on God's saving power.

God for Luke is the source of all salvation.

Jesus is the agent of God's salvation.

And Simeon, for example, says in Luke's account that this is God's salvation.

Yeah, so, and there is an emphasis throughout about the kingdom of God has come upon you and how the kingdom of God brings this salvation that has been expected, the establishment of God's kingdom.

With the coming of Jesus and his ministry, Satan is defeated.

He conquered, delivered us from sin, death and disease.

So Luke also identifies that salvation would bring peace, good news, joy, forgiveness of sins.

This is evident whenever he says, I bring good news of great joy, born this day in the city of David, a saviour.

So that was whenever Jesus was born.

Right from the start, there's a focus of Jesus is the saviour.

He is the son of man, son of God, everything that has been expected.

The kingdom is coming, salvation is coming.

It's here.

So that is the particular, there are just some characteristics that are highlighted.

You know, universal, the gospel, joy, praise, salvation.

And there's many more, but time does not permit us to go into them.

So this is it.

This is what I said would be exciting.

And that's the construction of Luke's gospel.

So do you know anything about the sources of Luke?

I know you're not the historian.

Yeah, I just imagine it's similar to the other gospels, except Luke wasn't a disciple.

So he would have had to gather all the sources from primary sources.

Is that right?

So he had to interview all those involved with the ministry of Jesus, all those who saw him after the resurrection, those kinds of things.

And he would have had to gather the facts from them.

And as a doctor, he would have probably done it in quite a logical way, bringing it down.

Very meticulous, yeah.

So Luke does not tell us about any of his sources.

But he's not an eyewitness himself, as you said.

Luke used both oral and written sources.

And again, people say that oral testimony is not reliable.

But within a court of law, an oral testimony is like a deal breaker sometimes.

They're the eyewitnesses who have witnessed the murder.

So to say that that is just rendered useless is foolish.

Again, I'm just going into history, but I'm sorry.

Luke had contact with paul, who in turn had contact with eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus.

So paul, again, Luke has is, again, dealing with all these eyewitness sources.

And paul himself was an eyewitness of Christ in his resurrected form.

What was it?

On the road to...

Damascus.

Damascus, yes.

I blanked there.

On the road to Damascus, he had the vision of Christ.

Yeah.

And also, which is mentioned in Acts, which Luke also wrote before he interviewed paul about this experience.

Yeah, exactly.

So and he went in and he went and talked to the disciples in Damascus.

He also went and met up with, I'm pretty sure it was James and Peter at a later stage.

The scholars estimate it was around, you know, six to eight years after the death of Jesus.

So again, and this is this history that has been recorded, again, the proximity test, it's so close to the event that's recorded.

So it's saturated in eyewitness accounts.

That is, Luke's Gospel and all the Gospels for that matter.

But Luke would have met many other people in Jerusalem, not just paul and Mark, who was, they were closely linked.

For example, Joanna in Luke 8.3, and Joanna, the wife of Chusa Herod's steward.

This is where he got his information on Herod's household, for example.

So do you see the insight?

So Joanna's given us insight into Herod's household, which Luke then in return talks about Herod's household.

Luke would have been able to question other important people in the New Testament at this time.

Luke's dead with Philip in Evangelus, Acts 21 verses 8-10 tells us that.

Mark was a close friend of Luke.

So this is one of the key quintessential sources that Luke uses.

Luke had close contact with Mark, and most scholars would agree that Luke used 50% of Mark's material.

It accounts for about 35% of Luke's gospel.

So if Luke was writing this as a uni exam, he would have got the plagiarism strike?

No, he would have...

Fitnotes would have sourced it.

because I didn't know that, so he always didn't decide it right.

Yeah, no.

Luke even in chapter one, he displays it.

He says, like, this is my account, and it basically comes from a historical vantage point.

Here's all the sources that I've...

So he does reference in Fitnotes, so perhaps he would have got it first at the end of it.

So Luke, however, does alter Mark's language and style.

He refines Mark's writing to make it better, does away with some of Mark's more, what he would consider redundant phrases in the sense, okay, because it's all God's word, and all scriptures God breathes, in the sense of what Luke was trying to convey.

For example, those characteristics, the universality of the gospel, these things.

So that's why you find whenever people say, why does Luke's gospel not include this from Mark?

That's because it doesn't fit with the narrative that is being presented by Luke.

The narrative that has been given to him by God.

Yes, and two narratives can be true at the same time.

Exactly, it's like a diamond.

It's just showing different facets of what God wants to reveal through different people.

So the Gentile ministry, the universal of the gospel, God has chosen a Gentile to display that.

And so that's why Luke orientates a lot of his language, stories, parables around that, because he has been given that purpose.

Then you have Mark.

Again, he has different purposes.

Matthew has different purposes.

John has different purposes.

Which we won't get into now, but anyway.

Luke also used source known as Q material from German word meaning Kiel.

Kiel, Kiel, meaning source.

Don't know how to pronounce that.

He also used what is called L material, L material, which was exclusive to Luke and Luke alone.

So some scholars, very interesting, believe that there did exist a previous draft of the gospel, a shorter version called Proto-Luke, consisting of Q and L material before the inclusion of Mark.

So yeah, a lot of the stories, the parables that we have do not appear in the other gospels, and this is L material.

That is, it is exclusive specifically to Luke.

Again, talking about how that's linked to the purposes and how that differs with each gospel writer.

So again, that's the construction of Luke's gospel briefly.

That is like how, I think it's quite interesting because usually we just come from this, like a theological echo chamber, and we just like, okay, here's the New Testament gospels, that's divinity, and here we go.

But there's actually, there's history behind it.

How was this created and drafted?

I have a question for you.

I've just thought of Luke.

This might be a bit of a left field for you.

The reason Luke has so much new material compared to the rest of the gospels, so many parables aren't mentioned and that kind of thing.

Would that be because these other disciples, well, John and Matthew, for example, they're writing from their points of view on what they've witnessed, but could Luke be drawing on other sources from other people who may have witnessed different things than these disciples?

Is that why these things aren't maybe included by the other disciples?

because they're just from other eyewitnesses.

That totally makes sense.

That totally makes sense for me.

Yeah, because again, you've got this idea of like, what are the authors trying to convey?

What have they been given?

What divine purpose have they been given whenever they're writing?

But then you've also got that sense of what is paired within that or intrinsically woven.

For example, Luke and his purpose of the Universality of the Gospel is he wants to get different angles.

He wants to come at it from a completely different angle as Matthew or John would.

Yes.

Luke is centrally focusing on the eyewitness testimonies of bystanders, or bystanders, like people who were looking in on this, people who've seen it.

And so that's the whole point is like, we have all these Gospels to put together to get one narrative of the life of Jesus.

And so we have all of those are taken separate whilst they're one book in the Bible.

They're four separate documents that each reveal different aspects of God's ministry and come at it at different angles, like you said.

So there's a lot to it, but yeah.

And the purpose of Luke's Gospel, again, this is what we're highlighting.

What was Luke's purpose?

Again, universality was talked about.

But Luke makes it evidently clear through the prologue on what his purpose for writing the Gospel is.

And Gothry, which is a scholar, he says that, where an author specifically states his own intention, that must always be giving more weight than any scholarly conjectures.

So let's just say what's Luke's purpose?

Well, let's just look at what he said.

His purpose was, instead of looking at what scholars say.

Luke states in chapter one, verse three, to write an orderly account for you, that is to Theophilus.

This does not specifically mean chronologically, but instead a systematic way or thematic way, depending on where it's presented.

So he's basically saying to Theophilus that you may know the truth concerning the things which you have been informed.

So Theophilus, there's suggestions as to what he is, how he was a Roman official.

And then Luke is trying to inform him of, yes, what you've heard about Jesus is true.

Here's all the anecdotes, here's all the eyewitness testimony and the Q material, L material, and here it is.

So there's a political purpose because he wanted to defend Christianity against the Roman authorities, who are representing Jesus.

And Christianity is some form of sect that could be militarized.

Or again, all these false things.

And Luke is trying to say, clarity, this is not true.

Which is something we have to do.

because there's so many different perceptions on what Christianity is, but we need to say, no, that's not true.

This is what biblical Christianity is.

And that's what Luke is sort of doing in this climate from the beginning.

He also has two main purposes.

It's an historical and a theological one.

Marshall says that Luke can properly be understood as a theologian, only when he's recognized that he also is an historian.

So Luke uses the word diegesis, which was a common word used by contemporary historians.

So again, not including the other Gospels, but this, Luke is coming from a very systematic chronological account.

So it's a political purpose.

But a central focus is the theological purpose.

Luke gives a religious view of history.

He's writing about special events.

But again, Luke is again focusing on the salvation history.

One of his purposes is to show the theological continuity from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

That is, this is one story pointing towards Jesus Christ.

Salvation offered to all, universality of the gospel.

So again, whilst it's important to talk about the characteristics, the construction, to understand that these are all historically reliable, and we've got a good foundation, don't miss the central purpose, which is our eternal security and our need for salvation, redemption, which Luke emphasizes.

There's also a sociological purpose, also a polemical purpose.

He attacked the idea of heresy, false teaching, and narcissism at that time that was flourishing.

So, those are again all examples of purposes of Luke.

Let's see, what's the time?

Okay, we have a bit, we have like four minutes, roughly.

We can talk about the parables of Jesus and also, perhaps, Mimmi, some miracles.

So, do you know anything about parables, what you're understanding?

Any parables stand out for you in Luke?

Yeah, I've been hearing recently about, I think it's in Luke 19, the parable of the ten menas, the ten coins, I guess you could say, where ten servants are given a coin each and the master leaves.

And certain servants make profit off the coins and by investing it, and then some servants turn up and say, Oh, master, I've still got the coin for you.

And they've made no profit, they're interested in it at all.

And the master actually takes that money from them and gives it to the person who's made money.

So I've been learning just about the idea that some people are just happy enough.

And I have been the periods of time my life to just sit, yeah, I'm doing okay, like I'm happy enough.

I'm reading my Bible every day, that kind of thing.

But am I actually using my talents to make profit?

Am I actually profiting the kingdom or am I just staying static and am I content with that?

And it's the idea of discontentment, where you want to always be reaching higher and aiming to reach more people for the kingdom and bring back interests.

And like God bought you with a price, which is the blood of his son.

And you're an investment for the kingdom.

Don't let God's investment go to waste by basically, obviously you can sin and stuff, which is the worst thing to do, but even by just staying still, you're not really, God's not getting the return of his investment there.

He wants you to actually go out and make a difference for the kingdom.

Any more parable stand out?

Well, first of all, so that's an amazing one.

What is a parable though?

The term parable comes from the Greek word parabolo, meaning comparison.

It is a figurative saying or story where there is comparison between the literal meaning and the religious and moral teaching.

So Jesus' parables are not feebles, because feebles would have personified animals and plants, so people just come and just dismiss them and say that these are feebles, and other religions were using it, but Jesus' was dramatically different parables.

And Jesus spoke parables and allowed you to really meditate on it, think about it, work out the meaning for yourself.

But also, one of the verses confused people is that it might deafen the ears of people.

It's like referencing Isaiah.

And then people are like, well, why would Jesus do that?

Does he not want people to have clarity?

The whole point is that you can't understand anything in your sinful nature.

Come to Jesus like the disciples did and ask.

Yeah, and John MacArthur, I think he talks about our job as preachers of the gospel, is to polarise people.

They'll either accept it or they'll be repelled by it, but that's not, that's their choice.

It's up to us to give them that choice.

And Christ did that and Jesus did that in his teaching, his parables.

Yeah.

The Parable of the Lost Sons, one of our favourites, Luke 15.

Yeah.

I was learning about that today.

Actually, I was listening to another podcast about the reunion between Jacob and esau, and they compared it to the parable of the prodigal son, only it was the parable of the prodigal brother.

So there are lots of cool comparisons there, but I can't really go and do more with the time we've got.

Yeah.

That's an amazing story.

Again, there's so much content to cover.

And Luke, we, again, in all these podcasts, we just want to whet the appetites of people to go and search it for themselves, provide a few foundational points that they maybe didn't know beforehand, act as a springboard that allow you to go into further, further study of this.

We have like 30 seconds, maybe a minute.

I know how to close.

Okay.

So you heard Luke, he just got the geek out in all his A-level notes there, and we were discussing earlier about what A-levels my sister should do.

So if she thinks she's going to be in a podcast in a few years' time, where she'll have to do an exegesis of Luke's gospel, then pick A-level Ariana.

That's the one to do.

Thanks very much for listening, guys.

Anything else to finish with, Luke?

Or are we done?

No, we're all good, man.

Lovely.

See you next week, guys.

All the best.

Bye.