Difference between revisions of "Luke"

<p> &nbsp;Luke. &nbsp;(light-giving). &nbsp;Luke or &nbsp;Lu'cas, is an abbreviated form of Lucanus. It is not to be confounded with Lucius, &nbsp;Acts 13:1; &nbsp;Romans 16:21, which belongs to a different person. The name Luke occurs three times in the New Testament - &nbsp;Colossians 4:14; &nbsp;2 Timothy 4:11; &nbsp;Philemon 1:24 - and probably in all three, the third evangelist is the person spoken of. </p> <p> Combining the traditional element, with the scriptura, l we are able to trace the following dim outline of the evangelist's life. He was born at Antioch in Syria, and was taught the science of medicine. The well known tradition that Luke was also a painter, and of no mean skill, rests on the authority of late writers. </p> <p> He was not born a Jew, for he is not reckoned among those "of the circumcision" by St. Paul. Compare &nbsp;Colossians 4:11 with &nbsp;Colossians 4:14. The date of his conversion is uncertain. </p> <p> He joined St. Paul at Troas, and shared his [[Journey]] into Macedonia. The sudden transition to the first person plural in &nbsp;Acts 16:9 is most naturally explained, after all the objections that have been urged, by supposing that Luke, the writer of the Acts, formed one of St. Paul's company from this point. As far as Philippi, the evangelist journeyed with the apostle. The resumption of the third person, on Paul's departure from that place, &nbsp;Acts 17:1, would show that Luke was now left behind. </p> <p> During the rest of St. Paul's second missionary journey, we hear of Luke no more; but on the third journey, the same indication reminds us that Luke is again of the company, &nbsp;Acts 20:5, having joined it apparently at Philippi, where he had been left. With the apostle, he passed through Miletus, [[Tyre]] and Caesarea to Jerusalem. &nbsp;Acts 20:6; &nbsp;Acts 21:18. </p> <p> As to his age and death, there is the utmost uncertainty. He probably died a martyr, between A.D. 75 and A.D. 100. He wrote the Gospel that bears his name, and also the Book of Acts. </p>

&nbsp;Colossians 4:14&nbsp;Acts 16:10-17&nbsp;Acts 20:5-15&nbsp;Acts 21:1-18&nbsp;Acts 27:1-28:16&nbsp;2 Timothy 4:11 <p> Early church fathers Jerome (about A.D. 400 and Eusebius (about A.D. 300) identified Luke as being from Antioch. His interest in Antioch is clearly seen in his many references to that city (&nbsp;Acts 11:19-27; &nbsp;Acts 13:1-3; &nbsp;Acts 14:26; &nbsp;Acts 15:22 ,Acts 15:22,&nbsp;15:35; &nbsp;Acts 18:22 ). Luke adopted Philippi as his home, remaining behind there to superintend the young church while Paul went on to [[Corinth]] during the second missionary journey (&nbsp;Acts 16:40 ). </p> <p> Paul identified Luke as a physician (&nbsp;Colossians 4:14 ) and distinguished Luke from those “of the circumcision” (&nbsp;Colossians 4:11 ). Early sources indicate that Luke was a Gentile. Tradition holds that he was Greek. The circumstances of Luke's conversion are not revealed. An early source supplied a fitting epitaph: “He served the Lord without distraction, having neither wife nor children, and at the age of 84 he fell asleep in Boeatia, full of the [[Holy]] Spirit.” See [[Gospel Of Luke]] </p> <p> T. R. McNeal </p>

<p> (See Acts.) Contracted from &nbsp;Lucanus , as Silas is contracted from &nbsp;Silvanus . A slave name. As Luke was a "physician," a profession often exercised by slaves and freedmen, he may have been a freedman. Eusebius (H.E. iii. 4) states that Antioch was his native city. He was of Gentile parentage before he became a Christian; as appears from &nbsp;Colossians 4:11,14: "Luke the beloved physician" &nbsp;(one of "my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God which have been a comfort unto me") is distinguished from those "of the circumcision." </p> <p> That he was not of "the seventy" disciples, as [[Epiphanius]] (Haer. i. 12) reports, is clear from his preface in which he implies he was not an" eye witness"; the tradition arose perhaps from his Gospel alone recording the mission of the seventy. His history in Acts is first joined with that of Paul at Troas (&nbsp;Acts 16:10), where the "we" implies that the writer was then Paul's companion. He accompanied the apostle in his journey to Jerusalem and Rome, at Paul's first Roman imprisonment "Luke my fellow labourer," Philemon (&nbsp;Philemon 1:24) written from Rome, as also Colossians (&nbsp;Colossians 4:14); also in Paul's last imprisonment there, when others forsook him Luke remained faithful (&nbsp;2 Timothy 1:15; &nbsp;2 Timothy 4:11 "only Luke is with me".) His death by martyrdom between A.D. 75 and 100 is generally reported. </p>

<p> The evangelist, probably the same person who is called by St. Paul, "the beloved physician," &nbsp;Colossians 4:14 . The name Luke, or Lucas, &nbsp;Philippians 1:24 , is the same as [[Lucanus]] in Latin. Luke was the writer of the gospel, which bears his name, and of the Acts of the Apostles, having been the friend and companion of St. Paul in most of the journeys recorded in the latter book. Thus, in &nbsp;Acts 16:11 , he first uses the word "we," and shows that he was with Paul at Troas and in his first [[Macedonian]] tour. After they reach Philippe, an interval of separation occurs; but they are again together at Philippi when Paul sails thence for Jerusalem, and from that time he continues with the apostle in his labors, voyages, and sufferings, to the close of his first imprisonment at Rome, &nbsp;Acts 17:1 &nbsp; 20:5,6,13-16 &nbsp; 21:1-28:31 &nbsp; Philippians 1:24 &nbsp; 2 Timothy 4:11 . His personal history before and after this period of his companionship with Paul, is unknown, or rests on uncertain traditions. His own narrative contains the least possible mention of himself; yet we cannot doubt that he was eminently useful to the early church, by his learning, judgment, fidelity, and even his medical skill, besides leaving to the church universal the invaluable legacy of his writings. </p>

<p> &nbsp;Luke (&nbsp;lûke), &nbsp;Colossians 4:14; called also Lucas, &nbsp;Philemon 1:24, A. V. A physician and distinguished companion of Paul, and writer of the third Gospel and the book of the Acts. The diction of these books in the New Testament, the gospel and the Acts, is such as to persuade some that he must have been a Jew. But Paul, writing to the Colossians, after mentioning all "of the circumcision" who had been a comfort unto him, adds the salutation of" Luke, the beloved physician." &nbsp;Colossians 4:10-14. The inference is that Luke was not a Jew. Luke is traditionally said to be a native of Antioch; this, however, has no better foundation than the confounding of him with that [[Lucius]] who is reckoned among the teachers at Antioch, &nbsp;Acts 13:1; from whom he must certainly be distinguished. </p>

<p> The beloved physician, whose praise is in the gospel. His name is borrowed from a Latin word signifying light. He was Paul's companion in several journies, as appears from &nbsp;&nbsp;Colossians 4:14; &nbsp;&nbsp;2 Timothy 4:11; &nbsp;&nbsp;Philippians 1:23-24. The church is highly indebted to this man, under the Holy Ghost, for the blessed gospel which bears his name, and the Acts of the Apostles. (See, in confirmation, &nbsp;&nbsp;Acts 1:1) </p>

<p> the evansgelist, and author of the Acts of the Apostles. Although himself not an apostle, he has admirably supplemented their labors by his pen, and has thus laid the literary world under lasting obligation. </p> <p> &nbsp;I. &nbsp;His Name. &nbsp;— This, in the Greek form, &nbsp;Λουκᾶς, is abbreviated from &nbsp;Λουκανός, the Graecized representative of the Latin Lucanues, or &nbsp;Λουκιλιός, &nbsp;Lucilius (comp. &nbsp;Silas for &nbsp;Silvanus; &nbsp;Annas for &nbsp;Annanus; &nbsp;Zenas for &nbsp;Zenodorus: Winer, &nbsp;Gram. page 115). The contraction of &nbsp;ανός into &nbsp;ᾶς is said to be characteristic of the names of slaves (see Lobeck, De Substantiv. in &nbsp;ᾶς &nbsp;exeuntibus, in Wolf, &nbsp;Analect. 3:49), and it has been inferred from this that Luke was of heathen descent (which may also be gathered from the implied contrast between those mentioned &nbsp;Colossians 4:12-14, and the &nbsp;οἱ &nbsp;ἐκ &nbsp;περιτομῆς, &nbsp;Colossians 4:11), and a libertus, or freedman. This latter idea has found confirmation in his profession of a physician (&nbsp;Colossians 4:14), the practice of medicine among the Romans having been in great measure confined to persons of servile rank (Middleton, &nbsp;De Medicoruam apud Roman. degent. Conditione). To this, however, there were many exceptions (see Smith, &nbsp;Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v. Medicus), and it is altogether an insufficient basis on which to erect a theory as to the evangelist's social rank. So much, however, we may probably safely infer from his profession, that he was a man of superior education and mental culture to the generality of the apostles, the fishermen and tax-gatherers of the Sea of Galilee. </p> <p> &nbsp;II. &nbsp;Scripture History. &nbsp;— All that can be with certainty known of Luke must be gathered from the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul. The result is but scanty. He was not born a Jew, for he is not reckoned among them " of the circumcision" by Paul (comp. &nbsp;Colossians 4:11 with &nbsp;Colossians 4:14). If this be not thought conclusive, nothing can be argued from the Greek idioms in his style, for he might be a Hellenistic Jew, nor from the Gentile tendency of his Gospel, for this it would share with the inspired writings of Paul, a [[Pharisee]] brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. The date of his conversion is uncertain. He was not, indeed, "an eyewitness and minister of the Word from the beginning" (&nbsp;Luke 1:2), or he would have rested his claim as an evangelist upon that ground. His name does not once occur in the Acts, and we can only infer his presence or absence from the sudden changes from the third to the first person, and vice versa, of which phenomenon, notwithstanding all that has of late been urged against it, this, which has been accepted since the time of Irenaeeus (&nbsp;Contr. Haer. 3:14), is the only satisfactory explanation. Rejecting the reading &nbsp;συνεστραμμένων &nbsp;δὲ &nbsp;ἡμῶν, &nbsp;Acts 11:28 (which only rests on D. and Augustine, &nbsp;De Serm. Dom. 2:17), which would bring Luke into connection with Paul at a much earlier period, as well as the identification of the evangelist with Lucius of [[Cyrene]] (&nbsp;Acts 13:1 : &nbsp;Romans 16:21), which was current in Origen's time (ad Romans 16:39; see Lardner, &nbsp;Credibility, 6:124; Marsh, &nbsp;Michaelis, 4:234), and would make him a kinsman of Paul, we first find Luke in Paul's company at Troas, and sailing with him to Macedonia (&nbsp;Acts 16:10-11). A.D. 48. Of his previous history, and the time and manner of his conversion, we know nothing, but Ewald's supposition (&nbsp;Gesch. d. v. Isr. 6:35, 448) is not at all improbable, that he was a physician residing in Troas, converted by Paul, and attaching himself to the apostle with all the ardor of a young convert. He may also, as Ewald thinks, have been one of the first uncircumcised Christians. His conversion had taken place before, since he silently assumes his place among the great apostle's followers without any hint that this was his first admission to the knowledge and ministry of Christ. He may have found his way to Troas to preach the Gospel, sent possibly by Paul himself. There are some who maintain that Luke had already joined Paul at Antioch (&nbsp;Acts 11:27-30; see &nbsp;Journal of [[Sacred]] Literature, October 1861, page 170, and Conybeare and Howson's &nbsp;Life of Paul, chapter 5, new ed. Lond. 1861). </p> <p> He accompanied Paul as far as Philippi, but did not share in the imprisonment of his master and his companion Silas, nor, as the third person is resumed (&nbsp;Acts 17:1), did he, it would seem, take any further part in the apostle's missionary journey. The first person appears again on Paul's third visit to Philippi, A.D. 54 (&nbsp;Acts 20:5-6), from which it has been gathered that Luke had spent the whole intervening time &nbsp;— a period of seven or eight years &nbsp;— in Philippi or its neighborhood. If any credit is to be given to the ancient opinion that Luke is referred to in &nbsp;2 Corinthians 8:18 as "the brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches" (a view adopted by the Church of England in the collect for Luke's day), as well as the early tradition embodied in the subscription to that epistle, that it was sent from Philippi "by Titus and Lucas," we shall have evidence of the evangelist's missionary zeal during this long space of time. If this be so, we are to suppose that during the "three months" of Paul's sojourn at Philippi (&nbsp;Acts 20:3) Luke was sent from that place to Corinth and this errand, the word "gospel" being, of course, to be understood, not, as Jerome and others erroneously interpret it, of Luke's written gospel, but of his publication of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ. The mistaken interpretation of the word "gospel" in this place has thus led some to assign the composition of the Gospel of Luke to this period, a view which derives some support from the Arabic version published by Erpenius. in which its writing is placed " in a city of Macedonia twenty-two years after the Ascension," A.D. 51. From their reunion at Philippi, Luke remained in constant attendance on Paul during his journey to Jerusalem (&nbsp;Acts 20:6 to &nbsp;Acts 21:18), and, disappearing from the narrative during the apostle's imprisonment at Jerusalem and Csesarea, reappears again when he sets out for Rome (&nbsp;Acts 27:1). A.D. 56. He was shipwrecked with Paul (28:2), and traveled with him by [[Syracuse]] and [[Puteoli]] to Rome (&nbsp;Acts 27:12-16), where he appears to have continued as his fellow-laborer (&nbsp;συνεργός, &nbsp;Philemon 1:24; &nbsp;Colossians 4:4) till the close of his first imprisonment, A.D. 58. The Second Epistle to Timothy (4:11) gives us the latest glimpse of the "beloved physician," and our authentic information regarding him beautifully closes with a testimony from the apostle's pen to his faithfulness amidst general defection, A.D. 64. </p> <p> &nbsp;III. &nbsp;Traditionary Notices. &nbsp;— The above sums up all we really know about Luke; but, as is often the case, in proportion to the scantiness of authentic information is the copiousness of tradition, increasing in definiteness, be it remarked, as it advances. His Gentile descent being taken for granted, his birthplace was appropriately enough fixed at Antioch, "the center of the Gentile Church, and the birthplace of the Christian name" (Eusebius, &nbsp;H.E. 3:4; comp. Jerome, De Vir. Illust. 7; In Matt. Praef.), though it is to be observed that Chrysostom, when dwelling on the historical associations of the city, appears to know nothing of such a tradition. He was believed to have been a [[Jewish]] proselyte, ignorant of [[Hebrew]] (Jerome, Quaest. in [[Genesis]] c. 46), and probably because he alone mentions their mission, but in contradiction to his own words (&nbsp;Luke 1:23) &nbsp;— one of the seventy disciples who, having left our Lord in offense (&nbsp;John 6:60-66), was brought back to the faith by the ministry of Paul (&nbsp;Epiphan. Haer. 51:11); one of the [[Greeks]] who desired to "see Jesus" (&nbsp;John 12:20-21), and the companion of [[Cleopas]] on the journey to [[Emmaus]] (&nbsp;Theophyl. Proem in Luc.). An idle legend of Greek origin, which first appears in the late and credulous historian Nicephorus Callisus (died 1450), &nbsp;Hist. Eccl. 2:43. and was universally accepted in the Middle Ages, represents Luke as well acquainted with the art of painting (&nbsp;ἄκρως &nbsp;τὴν &nbsp;ζωγράθφου &nbsp;τέχνην &nbsp;ἐξεπιστάμενος ), and assigns to his hand the first portraits of our Lord, his mother, and his chief apostles (see the monographs of Manni [Florent. 1764] and Schlichter [Hal. 1734]). </p> <p> Nothing is known of the place or manner of his death, and the traditions are inconsistent with one another. [[Gregory]] Naz. reckons him among the martyrs, and the untrustworthy Nicephorus gives us full details of the time, place, and mode of his martyrdom, viz., that he was crucified to a live olive-tree in Greece, in his eightieth year. According to others, he died a natural death after preaching (according to Epiphanius, [[Contra]] Haer. 51:11) in Dalmatia, Gallia, Italy, and Macedonia; was buried in Bithynia, whence his bones were translated by [[Constantius]] to [[Constantinople]] (Isid. Hispal. c. 82; [[Philostorgius]] volume 3, chapter 29). See generally Ko&nbsp;ö hler, Dissert. de Luca Ev. (Lipsiae, 1695); Credner, Einleit. ins N.T. 1:124. </p>

<p> &nbsp; </p> <p> uthor of the third Gospel, as well as the Acts, born in Antioch, a Greek by birth and a physician by profession, probably a convert, as he was a companion, of St. Paul; is said to have suffered martyrdom and been buried at Constantinople; is the patron saint of artists, and represented in Christian art with an ox lying near him, or in the act of painting; his Gospel appears to have been written before the year 63, and shows a Pauline interest in Christ, who is represented as the [[Saviour]] of Jew and Gentile alike; it was written for a Gentile Christian and in correspondence with eye-witnesses of Christ's life and death. </p>