Luke, the Physician

Hello, class! Pastor Quardokus added me as an author for this blog, so I can jot down a few notes for you as well.

We introduced the third of the four evangelists today: St. Luke. He also wrote the book of Acts. As is the case with Matthew and Mark, Luke didn't sign his books, either, so we have to look for clues that let us know that he wrote it. Here are those clues:

- Luke and Acts were written by the same person (Luke 1:4 and Acts 1:1 are addressed to the same man, Theophilus. Then in Acts 1:1, the author references his "former book").
- The author of Acts was a friend and travel companion of Paul's (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16 all speak of "we" or "us" doing things, meaning that the author of Acts was right there next to Paul).
- Paul mentions Luke as being his travel companion (Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24).
- Luke was a physician (Colossians 4:14).
- The writer of Acts used a medical term (28:6).
- The Gospel According to St. Luke focuses on healing miracles (Luke 4:38-39, 40-41; 5:12-16, 17-26; 6:6-11, 17-19; 7:1-10, 11-17; 8:1-3, 26-39, 40-56; 9:2, 37-42; 10:9, 34; 14:1-6; 17:11-19; 18:35-43; 22:47-51).
- Christian writings as early as 170 A.D. (approximated 100 years after the book was written) credit Luke with writing both of these books.

It is likely that Luke's Gospel was greatly influenced by the Apostle Paul, so even though Luke was not an apostle, he probably collaborated with an apostle for this book.