NATIVITY By Mike Herron

Chapter 3: LUKE’S INTRODUCTION – Luke 1:1-4 (December 16th)

uke has been called ‘the loveliest book in the world.’ 1 It is generally acknowledged that ‘Luke, the beloved doctor…’ (Col. 4:14) and companion of Paul is the author of both this narrative and the Book of Acts. Luke-Acts…’is one of the first examples of a type of history, concerned ‘to present a true account of something,’ which began to be written in the first century BC. 2 The two volumes are carefully researched by his highly educated and observant mind. This introduction would be much like the previews on the jacket of our modern books intended to inform the reader of its contents. The introduction, written in the finest style of Koine Greek in the Bible, was intended to assure its recipient of the truthfulness of Luke’s account of the life of Christ. We are not told how many written and oral records Luke is referring to but the use of the word ‘many’ would indicate that it is more than two or three. He is not claiming superiority to the previous accounts, but he acknowledges their validity although none survive today. Hippocrates, the famous Greek doctor, uses the word ‘undertaken’ in the ‘introduction to his medical work’ to enforce the thought of careful investigation. The events of Jesus’ life ‘fulfilled’ the prophetic Scriptures of the Hebrew Old Testament perfectly. 2 …just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Two of the accounts that were handed down to Luke would have been the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of 1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,… (NIV)