AN INTRODUCTION TO
THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
(Lesson 01 – Jan 07,
2025) BACKGROUND
Ta Biblia (GK) means “the
books” (collection of books). The canon of the Catholic Church was
affirmed by the Council of Rome (382), the Synod of Hippo (393), two of the
Councils of Carthage (397 and 419), the Council of Florence (1431–1449), and
finally, as an article of faith, by the Council of Trent (1545–1563). Those
established the Catholic biblical canon consisted of 46 Old
Testament, 27 New Testament, and 73 books in total.
The Protestant Bible
contains 66 books in total—39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New
Testament. However, it does not contain seven books: Baruch, Tobit, Judith, I
and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, or Sirach, which Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and
Orthodox Churches use. These books are called Deuterocanonical books. Catholics
and Protestants agree on the New Testament, which contains 27 books.
Until Martin Luther (not
to be confused with Martin Luther King) an Augustinian friar, and ordained
priest (1507) the Church had all these Canonical books.
The paschal event was the central point to tracing the Jewish people's beginnings (Old Testament), reflected in the era of King Solomon.
Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection were the main events for the beginning
of Christianity and the New Testament.
New Testament (27 Books): 4
Gospels: (3 Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke) and the Gospel of John;
Acts of the Apostles; “Pauline epistles” are letters written by
the apostle Paul (14), while “Catholic epistles” (7 also called “general
epistles”) are letters from other apostles like Peter (2 letters), James, John
(3 letters), and Jude; and The Book of Revelation by John
The Pauline Epistles are
addressed to specific communities or individuals. The Catholic Epistles
are concerned with the connection between faith and works, and
the importance of correct doctrine and moral living. For example,
1 Peter encourages followers of Jesus to live out their new identity in Christ,
while Jude confronts those who deny the right doctrine through immoral
lifestyles.
According to the majority of scholars, the Gospels
were probably written between AD 66 and 110 – Mark was the first
to be written, using a variety of sources, followed by Matthew and Luke, which
both independently used Mark for their narrative of Jesus's career,
supplementing it with a collection of sayings called "the Q source"
(German word Quelle = source = sayings of Jesus), and additional material
unique to each – so they are called Synoptic Gospels
Ex. Common Tradition of Mt
and Lk = “Do to others what you would
have them do to you” Lk 6:31 and Mt 7:12.
Many non-canonical
gospels were also written later than the four canonical gospels and like
them advocated the theological views of their various authors. Important
examples include the gospels of Thomas, Peter, Judas, and Mary;
infancy gospels such as that of James (the first to introduce the
perpetual virginity of Mary); and gospel harmonies such as the Diatessaron.
The Book of Enoch
is an ancient Jewish religious text considered non-canonical and not
included in the Bible. But, there are several references to Enoch in the
Bible: Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. Jude 1:14–15: A prophetic passage
that quotes from the Book of Enoch. The passage attributes the words to “Enoch,
the Seventh from Adam; Lk 3:37: Briefly mentions Enoch in one of the
genealogies of Jesus' ancestors; Gen 5:18: Mentions Enoch as the seventh
generation from Adam and the father of Methuselah; 1 Pet 3:19–20; 2 Pet 2:4–5;
Mt 5:5; Lk 6:24; Mt 19:28; Lk 16:26; Jn 12:36.
Until the age of the printing
press - Papyrus was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus
papyrus, a wetland sedge. Papyrus (plural: papyri or papyruses) can also refer
to a document written on sheets of such material, joined side by side and
rolled up into a scroll, an early form of a book.
LXX (Septuagint, Seventy) Ptolemy
II Philadelphus (the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt) sent seventy-two Hebrew
translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel—from Jerusalem to
Alexandria to translate the Tanakh from Biblical Hebrew into Koine Greek.
Inspiration and Inerrancy:
Inspiration from God's errors by human incapacity in the Bible by the
translators.
The symbols of the 4 Gospels: Matthew = man, Mark = lion, John = eagle, and Luke = calf
The gospel of Luke (a companion of
Paul) and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work that scholars call
Luke-Acts. Luke begins his gospel with a preface addressed to “Theophilus,”
which means “Lover of God” and could refer to any Christian.
Luke emphasizes the fact that Jesus and all his earliest followers were Jews, although by his time the majority of Christ-followers were Gentiles. Nevertheless, the Jews had rejected and killed the Messiah, and the Christian mission now lay with the Gentiles.
Lukan source from Old Testament: Ex. "He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty": Lk 1:53 = Ps 107:9; 1 Sam 2:5.
