Luke–Acts is the composite work of the Gospel according to Luke and the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. Both of these books of the Bible are credited to Luke. They also describe the narrative of those who continued to spread Christianity,

ministry of Jesus The ministry of Jesus, in the canonical gospels, begins with Baptism of Jesus, his baptism near the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and ends in Jerusalem in Christianity, Jerusalem in Judea, following the Last Supper with his Disciple (Chri ...

and the subsequent ministry of the apostles and the

Apostolic Age Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles () and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christianity ...

Authorship

Both the books of Luke and Acts are narratives written to a man named

Theophilus Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (''theós'', "God") and φιλία (''philía'', "love or affection") can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend ...

. The book of Acts starts out with: "The former treatise have I made", probably referring to the Gospel of Luke. The view that they were written by the same person is virtually unanimous among scholars. Luke–Acts has sometimes been presented as a single book in published

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

s or

s, for example, in ''The Original New Testament'' (1985) and '' The Books of the Bible'' (2007). Luke is the longest of the four gospels and the longest book in the New Testament; together with

it makes up a two-volume work from the same author, called Luke–Acts. The cornerstone of Luke–Acts' theology is "salvation history", the author's understanding that God's purpose is seen in the way he has acted, and will continue to act, in history.

Composition and setting

It divides the history of first-century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first two of these – the arrival among men of Jesus the

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

, from his birth to the beginning of his earthly mission in the meeting with

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

followed by his earthly ministry, Passion, death, and resurrection (concluding the gospel story ''per se''). The gospel's sources are thought to be the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...

(for the narrative of Christ's earthly life), the hypothetical sayings collection called the Q source (for his teachings), and a collection of material called the L (for Luke) source, which is found only in this gospel. The work is Hellenized and written for a

gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

audience possibly, in part, to counter a

gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

understanding of history.

Marcion Marcion of Sinope (; ; ) was a theologian in early Christianity. Marcion preached that God had sent Jesus Christ, who was distinct from the "vengeful" God ( Demiurge) who had created the world. He considered himself a follower of Paul the Apost ...

, a famous 2nd-century

heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

, who used a modified form of Luke known as the

Gospel of Marcion The Gospel of Marcion, called by its adherents the Gospel of the Lord, or more commonly the Gospel, was a text used by the mid-2nd-century Christian teacher Marcion of Sinope to the exclusion of the other gospels. The majority of scholars agree t ...

, did not use Acts, perhaps because he was unaware of it or intentionally excluded it from his

biblical canon A biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible. The English word ''canon'' comes from the Ancient Greek, Greek , meaning 'ruler, rule' or 'measu ...

;

Irenaeus Irenaeus ( or ; ; ) was a Greeks, Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christianity, Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by oppos ...

, a

proto-orthodox The term proto-orthodox Christianity or proto-orthodoxy describes the early Christian movement that was the precursor of Christian Orthodoxy#Christianity, orthodoxy. Older literature often referred to the group as "early Catholic" in the sense th ...

apologist, is the first to use and mention Acts, specifically against

Marcionism Marcionism was an Early Christianity, early Christian Dualistic cosmology, dualistic belief system that originated with the teachings of Marcion of Sinope in Rome around 144 AD. Marcion was an Diversity in early Christian theology, early Chr ...

. Some scholars note that there are two versions of Luke–Acts with the longer version 10–20 percent longer than the shorter version. Scholars disagree on which came first.Carrier, Richard (2014) ''On the Historicity of Jesus'' Sheffield Phoenix Press p. 271

References

Bibliography

* * * * * Joseph B. Tyson,
Marcion and Luke-Acts: A defining struggle
', University of South Carolina Press, 2006, {{DEFAULTSORT:Luke-Acts Acts of the Apostles Christian terminology Gospel of Luke New Testament books Marcionism

Authorship

Composition and setting

See also

References

Bibliography