107_Luke Brings the Mountains Low

As with Mark and Matthew, Luke is another anonymous writing that would have a name attached to it in later decades.

But unlike those earlier gospels, the author of Luke uses first-person language and clearly states that he is setting out to compose a historical document, such as in the opening line when he mentions earlier gospels, and that he is using information which has been delivered to him to compose his own, which is meant for someone named Theophilus.

though this usage of first-person language and mention of an approach similar to that of a historian as he wades through eyewitness accounts is limited to the opening chapters of the Gospel.

It should also be noted that the first two chapters of Luke were likely added later, just as the closing verses of Mark were later additions.

Luke actually begins with the same scene as Mark's Gospel.

that of Jesus arising at the Jordan River to be baptized as an adult.

The Nativity scene, genealogy, birth of John the Baptist, and visitation to the Temple were probably not originally part of Luke.

And as with the other canonical Gospels, this too was composed in Greek, and like Matthew, it copied a great deal of material directly from the Gospel of Mark.

though this author was also familiar with Matthew's Gospel and borrowed material from that source as well.

Our oldest fragments of Luke, called p75 and p45, date to the late 2nd century, and our earliest fragment, which includes the first two chapters, called p4, doesn't appear until the 3rd century.

Marcion of Sinope, who assembled the first Christian canon around 145, included the Gospel of Luke as it existed in that time, and it lacked the opening chapters, as we know from Against Heresies by Irenaeus.

In that work, Irenaeus, writing around 180, is aware of the existence of the first two chapters and calls Marcion a heretic for not including them in his canon.

And since Luke is reliant on both Mark and Matthew, written in the closing decades of the first century at the earliest, and was known to Marcion in 140-150, albeit incomplete at that time, we have a window from around 90-140 CE for the composition of Luke's Gospel.

As for the name, it wasn't originally called Luke in 140, but was referred to as Evangelion, meaning good news or gospel.

The name later attached may have come from Colossians 4.14, a Pauline letter once thought to be authentic, but now widely regarded as a forgery.

There, the letter mentions a friend of Paul who is a physician.

How this one character in a forged letter was chosen to be the author of the anonymous gospel is lost to time, assuming that's who the author is supposed to be.

Whoever first began adding Luke's name to the top of this gospel may have been referencing someone else entirely, and the connection with the fabled physician is just a guess.

Finally, let's briefly mention the style of Luke.

Luke frequently prefers Mark's Gospel over Matthew's, having a more Gentile-friendly stance than the pro-Jewish Gospel of Matthew.

However, he does, in many cases, copy from Matthew's Gospel.

The Sermon on the Mount, which Matthew constructed, is broken down by Luke into several smaller collections of sayings.

There are also sentences from the Gospel of Mark, which Matthew had modified, and Luke copied the Matthean version.

such as the statement from John the Baptist concerning the arrival of Jesus.

In Mark 1.8, John the Baptist states that he baptizes with water, but there is one who is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.