Luke 1:1-4--Dedication to Theophilus

Luke 1:1-25
English Standard Version

Dedication to Theophilus
1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

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Change of plans from what I said yesterday.  I realized after I posted yesterday's blog that I have recently finished the book of Romans in my blogs, so I might come back to that later, but for now, I'm going ahead with the next book of the Bible that was on my list, the gospel of Luke.  This is a great time of year to study this book, during the season of Advent, because Luke spends quite a bit of time telling us the history surrounding the birth and ministry of Christ.  We do get some additional details when we study the gospel of Matthew, so it is best to read both accounts this time of year (Luke 1-3 and Matthew 1-3.  Notice that Matthew starts with a genealogy and Luke closes this opening section of his gospel with a genealogy.  We'll get there soon, but these are the last two genealogies that you'll see in the Bible because the purpose of all the genealogies so far was to show that God was still fulfilling the promise of the seed of the woman was going to crush the head of the serpent (and all the other Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament).  Now that Messiah has come, there is no more need for additional genealogies after this.

Luke dedicates his gospel (as well as the book of Acts, which will acts like a "part 2" to his biography that he's writing) to Theophilus.  We're unsure if this is a specific person or a generic nickname for all those the author had in mind since the name Theophilus means either "lover of God" or "one who is loved by God."  Both should be fitting for all Christians because "we love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19).  Luke is both a doctor (we'll see him give some specific medical details that others wouldn't) and a historian that is trying to provide both an accurate description of what happened and trying to provide it in the correct order, so we'll see some of the events in Luke's gospel may appear in a different order than other events that sound similar in other gospels.  This is either because a similar event happened twice in the life of Jesus (like the cleansing of the Temple--once at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry and once right before His crucifixion) or because other gospel writers would sometimes group events together by theme (especially John).  The other writers would include all the correct facts but they were telling the story in the way they remembered and made sense to them--their objective was not primarily to give a historic account like Luke's was.  This is part of what helps us be able to believe the Bible--that there are four gospel authors that all tell the story in a different way--some were there themselves, but Luke spoke to all the eyewitnesses and made an "orderly account" since it seems he himself was not an eyewitness, and they harmonize with one another so that we see that they are in agreement with how the events took place, but each one tells it in their own way as the Holy Spirit brings events to memory or in this case as the Holy Spirit has led Luke in his process of investigation/research and writing this biography of the life of Christ.

Why does Luke want to do this?  Because he wants Theophilus, and I think that might include us today, to both have an orderly account and to have certainty that they can believe the things that they have been taught.  We heard about it, Luke investigated himself, speaking to all the eyewitnesses that he could, and his conclusion is that the gospel that we heard, the one true gospel, it based in reality and is trustworthy.  It is the genuine article and something we can have confidence in.  It is important that we put our faith in something that is true, and Luke is going to take a scholarly approach to his writing that should put to rest the doubts and questions of the skeptics.

I'm excited to study this gospel along with you as, especially as we study the birth of Christ, the life of Christ, and the death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.