Exploring the Historical Depth of Luke's Gospel

inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had a complete understanding of all things from the very first to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. [00:52:40]

these words come to us from luke the gospel writer but he wrote not alone or in his own power, but as he was moved and superintended by the inspiration of the holy ghost so that the words that you have just heard are indeed the very word of god let us pray. [01:37:12]

luke was not a disciple, he had been converted by the disciples by the apostles and came under the tutelage of the great apostle paul, and so much of what luke knows he gains from his association with paul as well as with the others who were among the first disciples, this is those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. [13:28:00]

luke is saying i'm not an eyewitness, but i am a historian and as a historian i check the sources, you know luke gives us more information about the birth of jesus than anybody else and it's with almost total certainty that we know that luke had the privilege of interviewing mary, the mother of christ and got all the infancy information from mary about elizabeth and the visitation of the magi. [14:00:00]

i'm writing these things down that you can be sure that the things that you have heard, the things that have been preached to you, the things that have been declared to you by the eyewitnesses i'm writing an orderly historical carefully documented account to strengthen your faith, to give you certitude that you might have the full assurance of the truth of the gospel that you have heard. [16:38:00]

no historian of the ancient world has been subjected to as much academic and archaeological scrutiny has been luke, the writer of this gospel, you know historians have sometimes been skeptical about the biblical writers and in the early part of the 20th century, a british atheist historian set out to debunk the truth claims of the gospels. [18:17:36]

because he discovered that every time a spade of dirt was turned over in those days some historical aspect of the gospels was being verified and authenticated and ramsey and others have said secular historians that luke, apart from inspiration apart from the divine assistance that he enjoyed that luke was the most accurate historian of the entire ancient world. [18:57:36]

luke's task under god was to set forth for us and for our certainty how it really was, what really took place in space and time, in real history the new testament is committed to the historical foundation of the truth of our faith. [22:05:36]

luke acknowledges that the outset that others had taken penned to give a narrative account of the things that they knew of the person and work of jesus, we have that to survive to this day the inspired writings of matthew, mark and john but presumably beside those gospel writers there were others in the first century who tried their hand at writing a summary of the history of jesus. [12:01:12]

and so luke acknowledges that at the beginning and makes it clear that he is aware that others have gone before him in this venture of providing a history and so he says since many have taken in hand to set an order and narrative those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were from the beginning eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. [12:46:00]

luke was born and raised in antioch of gentile descent and died in his eighties in a peaceful way unlike most of the other writers of the biblical narratives and epistles, but again before i look at his text i want to direct your attention to the final words given to us by the apostle paul in the second letter that he wrote to his disciple timothy. [05:25:36]

and the holding cell in which the apostle was kept prior to his execution under nero was situated across the street from the roman forum this was not a large prison as we imagined prisons to be but was simply a large cistern that had been cut out of the rock and had originally been used to keep a supply of water for the romans. [06:45:36]