The Good News According to Luke: Introduction

This morning we are beginning a new study of the good news according to Luke. In all of my years here at Britton Christian Church I’ve only shared bits and pieces of Luke’s telling of Jesus’ story. I’ve shared Luke’s story of Jesus’ birth at Christmas. I’ve shared Luke’s story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection at Easter. I’ve even shared some of the parables of Jesus that Luke records in his Gospel from time-to-time. The lessons I have shared in the past barely scratch the surface of what Luke has recorded for us. Beginning today, we are going to study Luke’s Gospel from cover-to-cover. Let’s read the first four verses and then we will see what we can learn.  

1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4 NIV)

In any kind of Bible study, whether it is in a group setting as we are in this morning, or in your own personal Bible study, it is very important to always begin by asking questions. What questions should we ask? There are four questions we should always ask, and they are: “Who?” Who wrote the Scripture and who was the intended audience? Next, we need to ask “What?” What is the purpose of what has been written? Also, what is the context of what has been written? What was the cultural, societal, historical context in which it was written? The third question is “When?” We need to know when the Scripture was written. The fourth question is “Where?” Where did the events that are being described take place?

In these first four verses of Luke’s Gospel we can’t answer the first question of who wrote the Gospel. As a matter of fact, you can read the entire 24 chapters of Luke and never once read Luke’s name. What’s even more interesting is that this Gospel that we are studying is actually a two volume set: Luke and Acts. We can know the same author penned them both by reading the opening verses of Acts. Turn there with me.

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:1-3 NIV)

So, both the Gospel of Luke and Acts were written by the author for a man named Theophilus. The author’s former book, the Gospel of Luke, was addressed to Theophilus as well. In neither Luke nor Acts will you ever read Luke’s name so how do we know that Luke wrote these two volumes? That’s a great question and to find the answer you are going to have to do some digging. There are two major reasons why we can confidently say that Luke wrote the two volume set. First, even though Luke’s name isn’t attached, we do find clues. Whoever wrote Acts was a traveling companion and close friend of Paul, beginning with his second missionary journey. We know this from how the language changes in Acts 16. Prior to Acts 16, the author describes what is happening by using “They,” but beginning in Acts 16:10, the author switches to “We.” Let me show you what I’m talking about. Turn with me to Acts 16:9-10. 

9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:9-10 NIV)

And when we come to the last verses of Acts 28, Paul’s traveling companion is still with him when Paul is kept under house arrest during his first imprisonment in Rome. Take a look at Acts 28:16 with me. 

16 When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him. (Acts 28:16 NIV)

During Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, in which he was incarcerated for two years, from 60-62 A.D., he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. We call these letters “the prison epistles.” When Paul wrote to the people of Colossae, he identified Luke as a medical doctor. Read Colossians 4:14-15 with me.

14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. (Colossians 4:14-15 NIV)

Paul also mentions Luke in his letter to his friend Philemon. Paul was set free in 62 A.D. and continued to spread the good news of Jesus everywhere he went. Two years later, in 64 A.D, a fire broke out in Rome. It took six days to put out the fire. By the time the fire was put out, half the city had burned and many people were blaming Emperor Nero. Nero blamed the Christians and during that great persecution both Paul and Peter were arrested and later executed. While Paul was on death row awaiting his execution in the Mamertine Prison in Rome he wrote his final letter, a letter to his young pastor protege Timothy. In the closing of Paul’s letter he writes,

9 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. (2 Timothy 4:9-11 NIV)

“Only Luke is with me.” Luke was not an apostle. He wasn’t one of Jesus’ original disciples. He wasn’t an eyewitness to all that Jesus said and did, but being a close friend and traveling companion with Paul gave him incredible access to the apostles and eyewitnesses of all that Jesus said and did. 

There is a second reason why we can be confident that Luke was the author of both Luke and Acts and that is church history. Irenaeus testifies to Luke as the author of the Gospel we are studying. He was born in 130 A.D. in Smyrna. He was a disciple of Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, who was a disciple of John, the disciple of Jesus. Clement of Alexandria and Origen, both giants in the list of the early church fathers, list Luke as the author of Luke’s Gospel. 

Last of all, another item from church history which gives us great confidence is the Muratorian Fragment, which was written in 170 A.D. It is called the Muratorian Fragment because the first part of it is missing. It is a list and description of the accepted books of the New Testament. Listen to what is written about Luke’s Gospel.

The third book of the Gospel, that according to Luke, the well-known physician Luke wrote in his own name in order after the ascension of Christ, and when Paul had associated him with himself as one studious of right. Nor did he himself see the Lord in the flesh; and he, according as he was able to accomplish it, began his narrative with the nativity of John. (Muratorian Fragment, 170 A.D.)

I want to let you know why I’ve taken the time to walk us through all of this information. It isn’t to get us off in the weeds or to overwhelm you with historical information, but it is because there are so many skeptics and cynics today who say we cannot trust the Bible. I want you to be able to have a conversation with your friends who are skeptics and cynics. I want you to not only be able to share with them what you believe, but why you believe what you believe. 

Sir William Ramsay was born in Glasgow, Scotland on March 15, 1851. He received his education at Aberdeen and Oxford, but he was heavily influenced by the German Tubingen school of thought which doubted most everything about the Bible. He spent more than two decades as an archeologist in Asia Minor. Ramsay set out to prove that the books of Luke and Acts were unreliable in their history. After more than two decades of learning about Luke’s accuracy in identifying geographical descriptions of cities, islands, and routes, tracing the travels of Paul, and identifying governmental authorities of the period, Sir William Ramsay changed his mind about the reliability of what Luke had written. He wrote,

Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy; he is possessed of the true historic sense; …In short, this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians. (Ramsay, William. The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1915, pg. 222)

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” So many people do not know or understand the truth of God’s Word, the reliability of the Scriptures we have been given, and so they assume there is truth in what the skeptics and cynics have to say. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  Luke wrote his gospel for his friend, the “most excellent Theophilus.” Who was this Theophilus? We don’t have hardly any information about this man, but his name is Greek and it means “lover of God” or “friend of God.” Theophilus was most likely a Gentile, like Luke. Did you know Luke is the only non-Jewish person who wrote a book of the New Testament? Theophilus was also, most likely, a high ranking member of society, possibly a high ranking government official. We can draw that conclusion based on how Luke addresses his friend as the “most excellent Theophilus.” The Greek word “κράτιστος” (kratistos) means “most noble” or “most excellent.” The same word is used in three other places in the Greek New Testament and in each use it is directed towards a government official.

We don’t have much information about Theophilus, but we know with certainty why Luke took the time to do all his investigation, to make sure the historical details were accurate, and then record all he had learned from his eye witness interviews. Luke tells Theophilus, in verse 4, that he has written “so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” 

It was critically important for Luke to get his facts straight. He was writing the story of the good news of Jesus, but he wanted Theophilus to know that God worked through Jesus in human history. He was not writing fiction, he wasn’t passing on a myth, but he was recording God’s plan of salvation accomplished in history and through His Son Jesus. Philip Ryken writes,

A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus is who he said he is and did what the Bible says he did. But if Luke didn’t have his facts straight on the governorship of Syria, how can we trust his testimony about miracles like the virgin birth or the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ? Our entire salvation depends on the things that Jesus accomplished in human history, specifically through his sufferings and death. (Ryken, Philip. Luke: Volume 1. pg. 7)

  As we go through our study Tre and I will be able to point out Luke’s incredible accuracy when it comes to historical figures like Augustus Caesar, Quirinius, who was the governor of Syria when Jesus was born, and many many other details. 

Let’s turn to our next question: When did Luke write his “carefully investigated…orderly account” for his friend Theophilus? We can know that Luke wrote his Gospel before he wrote Acts because he tells Theophilus,

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach… (Acts 1:1 NIV)

We can know that Luke ends his account of the birth of the Church and the progress of spread of the Gospel throughout Judea, Samaria, modern-day Turkey, Greece, and all the way to Rome by the time he comes to the end of Acts 28. The end of Luke’s account of the spread of the gospel in Acts finds Paul in prison, his first imprisonment in Rome, which happened in 60-62 A.D. There is no mention of the terrible persecution under Emperor Nero which took place beginning in 64 A.D. and resulted in both Paul and Peter’s execution. So, Luke had to have written the Gospel of Luke before this date. 

In the time that we have left this morning I want to share with you some of the unique features of Luke’s Gospel that are going to bless you beyond belief and give you the same certainty of what you have been taught about Jesus. Let’s start by pointing out that the first two chapters of Luke tell the story of the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. The first two chapters of Luke are unique from the other gospels. John, who you know as John the Baptist, was not a member of the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem, but he was John the baptizer, the one raised up by God to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. John was also the cousin of Jesus. Luke also tells us the story of Jesus’ virgin birth to Mary. We are going to spend all of our time the next two weeks taking a look at these two stories. Some may wonder, “How did Luke come up with these stories?” That’s a great question and you can find the answer by going back to the opening statement Luke made to his friend Theophilus. Luke had done a careful investigation by examining other sources and collecting eye witness accounts from the apostles and most certainly one of his eye witness interviews was done with Mary, the mother of Jesus who would have still been alive when Luke gathered his information. 

Another unique feature of Luke’s gospel account is the emphasis on how God has acted through Jesus for the benefit of all people groups, even those who were viewed by others as outsiders. Warren Wiersbe wrote,

If ever a man wrote a book filled with good news for everybody, Dr. Luke is that man. His key message is, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10f). He presents Jesus Christ as the compassionate Son of man, who came to live among sinners, love them, help them, and die for them. In this Gospel you meet individuals as well as crowds, women and children as well as men, poor people as well as rich people, and sinners along with saints. It’s a book with a message for everybody, because Luke’s emphasis is on the universality of Jesus Christ and His salvation: “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10f). (Wiersbe, Warren. Be Compassionate: Bible Exposition Commentary)

The coming of Jesus was not only good news for Theophilus, it is good news for all people. In Luke 2, when the announcement of the birth of Jesus is made to the shepherds who were out in the field, the angels tell them, 

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. (Luke 2:10 NIV)

A little later in Luke 2, we find Jesus being presented at the temple 40 days after His birth, as required by Jewish law. A man named Simeon, who the Bible describes as a “righteous and devout” man saw Jesus and recognized Him as the long promised Messiah. Simeon reached out, took Jesus in his arms, and said,

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29–32 NIV)

We need to remember that the category of the people group called “Gentiles” included every people group other than the Jewish people. Gentiles were looked down upon, they were dirty, undignified, beyond the reach of God’s grace, and were called “dogs” by the Jewish people. Every person here this morning who is not Jewish is a Gentile. You may be from Iran, Afghanistan, China, El Salvador, Mexico, Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Columbia, or Scotland–it doesn’t matter where you are from, you are a Gentile. Jesus came to bring salvation to Jews and Gentiles! That leads me to another unique feature of Luke.

Did you know Luke’s investigation uncovered more parables of Jesus than are found in any other gospel? We wouldn’t know about some of Jesus’ most well known parables if it weren’t for Luke. Do you know the story of the Good Samaritan? How about The Prodigal Son? We know about those stories only because of Luke and his investigation. There are about 24 parables of Jesus that Luke records in his Gospel and nine of those you will not find in Matthew, Mark, or John. 

The parable of the Good Samaritan is another example of how Luke highlights Jesus’ mission to seek and to save people from every walk of life. The hero of the parable of the Good Samaritan is a despised man from Samaria. The people from Samaria were hated because the vast majority of them were Jews who had intermarried with people from other nations, they weren’t “pure” Jews. In Jesus’ parable the good Jewish priest and the good Jewish Levite both fall short of showing God’s mercy to a man who had been beaten and left for dead. It was a man from Samaria who helped the man and proved himself to be a good neighbor. 

There is so much more I could share with you, but we are about out of time. I do want to share one more unique story that Luke uncovered as he interviewed eye witnesses. The story of the two men on the road to Emmaus, found in Luke 24, is such a powerful story of how the men, who were leaving Jerusalem after Jesus’ crucifixion, depressed and despondent because they had lost all hope were suddenly overwhelmed with joy when Jesus revealed Himself to them. One of the aspects of the story that grips my heart is how Jesus explained to Cleopas and his friend that the Messiah had to suffer and die by going through what was written by Moses and the prophets of the Old Testament. Long before Jesus was ever born, God had a plan. His plan to seek and to save the lost was carried out with precision in history and His plan is still being carried out today. 

I want to invite you to join me in taking on the same mindset of Luke when he set out to do his investigation about the story of Jesus. Read Luke’s Gospel. Read it slowly while praying for the Lord to give you wisdom and insight. Dig in and read it again and again. Ask questions. Lay your preconceived notions to the side so you can learn God’s truth. Those of you who are not followers of Jesus, I am especially inviting you to begin your investigation. Countless others who were not followers of Jesus at one time are now followers of Jesus because they have taken the time to allow God’s Word to open their eyes so they could see Jesus for who He truly is. 

Tao Lu never saw a Bible for the first 26 years of his life. Tao’s father taught English in China while he was growing up. The Bible was never mentioned in his home and none of his teachers in high school or college ever talked about the Bible. Tao says, “Marxism is the dominant philosophy in China. Believing in God was beyond my understanding and I even considered it ridiculous.” Then Tao came to America to study advanced computer engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He heard about a Bible discussion group at a church where international students could practice their English and socialize with other Chinese students. 

The more he read about the teachings of Jesus, the more intrigued he became. He began to investigate the teachings of Jesus more and more. Tao began to think, “If Christianity is correct, that means the things we learned in China are wrong. They are two totally different systems. One claims Marxism and atheism. The other claims Jesus is Lord.” 

Tao studied apologetics. He examined the lives of the disciples before and after Jesus’ resurrection. He read “From Pagan to Christian,” a book by Lin Yutang, a famous Chinese author who had become a follower of Jesus. At the same time, Tao was experiencing the love of God demonstrated in the lives of other Christians that God had placed in his life. The people of the church who welcomed him with love and were willing to help him. His English tutor, a lawyer named Jim Fiorelli, who met with him weekly as they read the Bible together showed Tao Jesus’ love. 

The day came when Tao’s investigation brought him to the point where he knew he was a sinner and that God had sent Jesus to give His life so that Tao might be forgiven and become a child of God. The lost had been found and new life had begun for Tao. 

How about you? Have you ever looked into Jesus? I’m not asking if you’ve ever gone to church or if you believe in God. Have you ever really taken the time to read God’s Word and thoroughly examine Jesus’ claims for yourself? The next several months will be a great opportunity for you to do just that. He loves you with an everlasting love and His arms are open wide to offer you forgiveness for your sins and a new life. Won’t you invite Him in?

Mike Hays

Britton Christian Church

September 7, 2025