Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 135:538 (Apr 1978)
Article: Historical Verities in the Gospel of Luke
Author: Merrill C. Tenney

BSac 135:538 (Apr 78) p. 126

Historical Verities in the Gospel of Luke

Merrill C. Tenney

[Merrill C. Tenney, Professor of Bible and Theology, Wheaton College Graduate School of Theology, Wheaton, Illinois.]

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is adapted from one of the lectures given by the author at the Buermann-Champion Lectures at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, Portland, Oregon, fall, 1975.]

Among the twenty-seven documents that compose the canonical New Testament, the writings of Luke are of outstanding importance. The two volumes which he wrote comprise at least one quarter of the total canon and provide the only piece of continuous historical writing that covers the period from the birth of Jesus of Nazareth to the establishment of a church in the capital of the Roman Empire. This dual document is the earliest designed effort to interpret the history of Christianity. It was probably written in the seventh decade of the first century—possibly later—and is a conscious attempt to provide a rational account of the origin and spread of the new gospel from its inception in Palestine to the heart of the Roman commonwealth.

Luke’s Writing Methodology

The first four verses of the third Gospel give the author’s preface in which he explains, among other things, the methods of his writing:

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word have handed them down to us, it seemed fitting to me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you might know the exact truth about the things you have been taught (Luke 1:1–4).

BSac 135:538 (Apr 78) p. 127

He Went to Reliable Sources

Luke’s information concerning the life of Jesus was professedly derived from “eyewitnesses and servants of the Word” (Luke 1:2). While eyewitnesses can err in their observation, their testimony is usually given high value because they were present when the given events occurred. Luke undoubtedly had access to members of the apostolic band as well as to other associates or contemporaries of Jesus. His acquaintance with the early church sprang not only from Paul, who is the chief figure in his narrative of the expansion of the church, but also from a host of other persons whom he mentions and from his own participation in the missionary enterprise, of which the “we” sections in Acts (16:10–17; 2...