Being a Gentile would also explain why the author takes such an interest in how Gentiles respond to the gospel. For three main reasons, almost all scholars believe the Gospel of Luke was written by the same person who wrote Acts:. If we can safely claim that the author wrote both books—which the vast majority of Bible scholars believe we can—then we can use Acts to learn more about the author of Luke.
Luke and Acts both use specific medical terminology, which would appear to support the claim that Luke the physician is the author of both. In Luke , Jesus heals a crippled woman:. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.
The main arguments against Luke as the author are the portrayal of Paul and the theology presented in Luke and Acts. Some scholars claim that the theologies are different, and that the Paul we see in Acts is different from the Paul we see in his letters. The most apparent difference in the portrayal of Paul is his treatment of Judaizers. In Acts 21, a group of them tell Paul to participate in purification rituals to prove he still follows Jewish customs and will teach Gentiles to follow them as well—including Jewish food laws.
He complies. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses,telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.
What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.
The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them. Paul is far less sympathetic with the Judaizers in his letters, and even calls out Peter for his hypocrisy:. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Still, the Paul of the Epistles makes it clear that sometimes advancing the gospel requires conciliation and concessions:. To those under the law I became like one under the law though I myself am not under the law , so as to win those under the law.
Of all the gospels, John comes closest to revealing the identity of its author. You must follow me. This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. The gospel contains numerous details that appear incidental, some not even bearing a symbolic significance:. The writer of the Gospel of John also records numerous details about Jewish ceremonies and frequently uses Jewish festivals to show when events occurred. The Dead Sea Scrolls support the themes and imagery John uses, such as light vs.
John may have been martyred before this gospel was written. Some scholars have suggested the apostle John was martyred too early to have written this gospel, citing Mark —39, where Jesus may be suggesting that an early martyrdom was in his future:. A fourth-century church historian says there were two Johns. According to Eusebius, Papias claims that there were two men named John ministering in Ephesus where the gospel is believed to have been written.
Papias mentions John the apostle and John the Elder, both of which could refer to John the apostle. A literary representation of a faithful follower. Matthew and John were two of the original Twelve Apostles.
They were with the Savior often as He taught. Here are a few things scholars know about the four men who wrote their testimonies of the Savior. Because of that profession, we can guess that he was well educated and knew how to read and write, probably in several languages, including Greek.
He also knew arithmetic. He saw and heard many wonderful things while with the Savior, and it is likely he wrote down some of the sayings of the Savior as notes or in a journal. Later, these notes would have helped him when he wrote what he remembered about the teachings of Jesus. In his book, Matthew often stresses that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and came to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies.
Matthew wrote specifically to the Jews, who were familiar with those prophecies. Matthew was a man who could have moved comfortably in political circles, and his book mentions things that someone in his position would know. This lie was then spread among the Jews. See Matthew — Matthew must have been informed about the bribery. The book of Matthew is the only place this interesting bit of information is told.
Mark was much younger than the other writers. His mother was a prominent follower of Jesus Christ. Acts tells us that her house in Jerusalem was used as a meeting place for other disciples. Mark was also a follower of Jesus Christ but would likely have been in his teens when the Lord was in Jerusalem.
He may have seen and listened to the Savior on occasion. He then accompanied the Apostle Peter to Rome and stayed by him while he was in prison. As a fisherman from Galilee, Peter may not have spoken Greek fluently, so Mark interpreted for him. In his book, Mark wrote down the observations and memories of Peter, one of the original Apostles. Luke is an interesting writer because he did not know Jesus Christ personally. The work also displays an intimate and accurate knowledge of first-century Palestine.
Many have identified Mark with one of the unnamed figures in the Gospels, such as the man who runs away without his clothing on the night Jesus was arrested Mk or the man carrying water to the house where the Last Supper was held Mk If these identifications are accurate, then Mark was an eyewitness to at least some of the events recorded in the Gospels, but it is difficult to be certain because the individuals are not named.
Mark the Evangelist traditionally has been identified as John Mark, who is named for the first time in Acts , when Peter visits the house of his mother. He implies that he was an eyewitness to many of the events of Acts by using the pronoun we in certain passages e. So the Gospels seem to contain a mix of materials. Some of the events recorded were witnessed firsthand by the Evangelists themselves, but some of them were not.
Q was said to contain material found in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark. Despite the recent popularity of the two-source hypothesis, rival views deserve serious consideration.
And you can explain the similarities between Mark and the other synoptics if Mark wrote later and was drawing on and abridging Matthew and Luke.
There are therefore several possible explanations of how the synoptics may relate to each other, and one or another may be drawing upon a fellow Evangelist. In particular, Luke may be, since he acknowledges prior written narratives. The text of Luke does not tell us, but it does strongly point to Mary as a source for the infancy narrative. Two verses are particularly noteworthy. The double reference to the Virgin Mary treasuring the events described in her heart is a clear indication of the source of the material.
Luke is telling us: Mary remembered these things and talked about them later. She, not Joseph or someone else, is the source for these events. A similar, more subtle, identification of sources may occur in other places. Many times the Gospels refer to anonymous individuals. For example, often the people Jesus heals are not given names. What accounts for this difference?
This could mean either that the Evangelist interviewed the person in question, or that he was known to the Evangelist as someone who continued to bear witness to what he had seen to the early Christian community.
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