Luke 1:1-4
Get the Bible reading here
Each of the four gospels has its own spin - not as in politics in the putting a rosy glow on things but rather it’s own angle, their personal perspective on the events they witnessed. This comes out in writing style and in the events from Jesus’ life that they choose to include. I’ve read things that even tell you which personality type is most likely to appreciate which gospel most! (what a sentence!)
Luke is writing as the person he is (doctor, accompanied Paul on missionary journeys) and is writing to someone in particular, Theophilus. We get a very clear starting point with Luke, an explanation of why he is writing and to an extent where he is coming from. He tells us in these verses that he has “fully investigated everything from the beginning”. Although he says “the things that have been fulfilled among us”, he has gone and done his research. He talks of those who were “eye witnesses from the first”. And that is his starting point for information gathering. We don’t know who he has spoken to or how long he has taken to write his gospel precisely but we know that his intention has been to give as full an account as possible. Luke indicates the factual nature of his character/writing style throughout the book - I can’t remember the precise number but there are something like 200 medical terms found throughout Luke showing his desire for the factual and accurate. And now that he’s got his facts, he doesn’t want to keep them to himself but to share them with Theophilus and through him, many others.
We don’t know exactly who Theophilus was - a Roman, probably an official, probably a convert of Luke’s from one of the missionary journeys with Paul. I imagine Theophilus to be at the kind of post-Alpha stage - he’s become a Christian, he’s got a good starting point but he still needs to put the meat on the bones of his faith. And that is where Luke has come in, writing first his gospel and then the book of Acts to help Theophilus understand.
I had a letter from a friend this morning and it was a good letter. I was very pleased to receive it and it contained lots of information about how they are and also just some chit chat that made me feel a little less like I was thousands of miles away from them. I was so excited to receive this letter that I actually saved it up for a while. I did some jobs, tidied up a bit, made lunch and a cup of tea and got all sorted and settled before I opened the letter. Imagine receiving a gospel! Luke’s gospel was probably in the format of a book rather than a letter but still! Can you imagine how exciting it would be to receive this gospel and read it for the first time? Do we get that excited about hearing from God? I do get excited but sometimes I struggle with the intangibility of it… This letter was in my hands and I could read the words and know something of my friend from it. But we don’t always hear from God in so concrete a way. But God is just as capable of speaking to us through Luke’s gospel as he was of speaking to Theophilus. So I’m gearing up for some major hearing-from-God-ness through reading this gospel. And I’m planning on being excited about it - even if perhaps Luke was not so excitable himself, with his “orderly account” (v3)!
Each of the four gospels has its own spin - not as in politics in the putting a rosy glow on things but rather it’s own angle, their personal perspective on the events they witnessed. This comes out in writing style and in the events from Jesus’ life that they choose to include. I’ve read things that even tell you which personality type is most likely to appreciate which gospel most! (what a sentence!)
Luke is writing as the person he is (doctor, accompanied Paul on missionary journeys) and is writing to someone in particular, Theophilus. We get a very clear starting point with Luke, an explanation of why he is writing and to an extent where he is coming from. He tells us in these verses that he has “fully investigated everything from the beginning”. Although he says “the things that have been fulfilled among us”, he has gone and done his research. He talks of those who were “eye witnesses from the first”. And that is his starting point for information gathering. We don’t know who he has spoken to or how long he has taken to write his gospel precisely but we know that his intention has been to give as full an account as possible. Luke indicates the factual nature of his character/writing style throughout the book - I can’t remember the precise number but there are something like 200 medical terms found throughout Luke showing his desire for the factual and accurate. And now that he’s got his facts, he doesn’t want to keep them to himself but to share them with Theophilus and through him, many others.
We don’t know exactly who Theophilus was - a Roman, probably an official, probably a convert of Luke’s from one of the missionary journeys with Paul. I imagine Theophilus to be at the kind of post-Alpha stage - he’s become a Christian, he’s got a good starting point but he still needs to put the meat on the bones of his faith. And that is where Luke has come in, writing first his gospel and then the book of Acts to help Theophilus understand.
I had a letter from a friend this morning and it was a good letter. I was very pleased to receive it and it contained lots of information about how they are and also just some chit chat that made me feel a little less like I was thousands of miles away from them. I was so excited to receive this letter that I actually saved it up for a while. I did some jobs, tidied up a bit, made lunch and a cup of tea and got all sorted and settled before I opened the letter. Imagine receiving a gospel! Luke’s gospel was probably in the format of a book rather than a letter but still! Can you imagine how exciting it would be to receive this gospel and read it for the first time? Do we get that excited about hearing from God? I do get excited but sometimes I struggle with the intangibility of it… This letter was in my hands and I could read the words and know something of my friend from it. But we don’t always hear from God in so concrete a way. But God is just as capable of speaking to us through Luke’s gospel as he was of speaking to Theophilus. So I’m gearing up for some major hearing-from-God-ness through reading this gospel. And I’m planning on being excited about it - even if perhaps Luke was not so excitable himself, with his “orderly account” (v3)!
posted by AdventuringJen at
7:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home