Gospel of Luke

The Gospel of Luke is the third of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which tell the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Although the text does not name its author, the modern consensus follows the traditional view that this gospel and the Acts of the Apostles were written by the same author. The traditional view is that this author is the Luke named in the Epistle to Philemon 24, a follower of Paul.

Manuscripts

The earliest manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke are papyrus fragments from the third century, one containing portions of all four gospels (P45) and three others preserving only brief passages (P4, P69, P75). These early copies, as well as the earliest copies of Acts, date after the Gospel was separated from Acts.

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The Codex Bezae, in the University Library, Cambridge, contains a 5th or 6th century manuscript that is the oldest complete manuscript of Luke, in Greek and Latin versions on facing pages. The Greek version appears to have descended from an offshoot of the main manuscript tradition and departs from familiar readings at many points. Though the text bears many intended corrections, often to bring it into line with the usual readings, the Codex Bezae demonstrates the latitude in manuscripts of scripture that still existed quite late in the tradition. Biblical scholars have minimized the Codex's importance, citing it generally only when it supports the common readings.

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Verses 22:19b-20 and 22:43-44 are not present in early versions and are generally marked as such in modern translations.

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Relationship with other gospels

Most New Testament scholars believe the author of Luke relied on Mark and Q as his primary sources.

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According to Farrar, "Out of a total of 1151 verses, Luke has 389 in common with Matthew and Mark, 176 in common with Matthew alone, 41 in common with Mark alone, leaving 544 peculiar to himself. In many instances all three use identical language."

Related Topics:
Matthew - Mark

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There are seventeen parables peculiar to this Gospel. Luke also attributes to Jesus seven miracles which are not present in Matthew or Mark. The synoptic Gospels are related to each other after the following scheme. If the contents of each Gospel are numbered at 100, then when compared this result is obtained: Mark has 7 peculiarities, 93 coincidences. Matthew 42 peculiarities, 58 coincidences. Luke 59 peculiarities, 41 coincidences. That is, thirteen-fourteenths of Mark, four-sevenths of Matthew, and two-fifths of Luke describe the same events in similar language. Luke's style is more polished than that of Matthew and Mark with fewer Hebrew idioms. He uses a few Latin words (Luke 7:41, 8:30, 11:33, 12:6, and 19:20), but no Syriac or Hebrew words except sikera, an exciting drink of the nature of wine, but not made of grapes (from Heb. shakar, "he is intoxicated", Leviticus 10:9), probably palm wine. This Gospel contains twenty-eight distinct references to the Old Testament.

Related Topics:
Parable - Mark - Matthew - Hebrew - Syriac - Leviticus - Old Testament

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Many words and phrases are common to the Gospel of Luke and the Letters of Paul; compare:

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• Luke 4:22 with Colossians 4:6.
• Luke 4:32 with 1 Corinthians 2:4.
• Luke 6:36 with 2 Corinthians 1:3.
• Luke 6:39 with Romans 2:19.
• Luke 9:56 with 2 Corinthians 10:8.
• Luke 10:8 with 1 Corinthians 10:27.
• Luke 11:41 with Titus 1:15.
• Luke 18:1 with 2 Thessalonians 1:11.
• Luke 21:36 with Ephesians 6:18.
• Luke 22:19-20 with 1 Corinthians 11:23-29.
• Luke 24:34 with 1 Corinthians 15:5.