The Book Of Luke

Who is the Author?

The authorship of the Gospel of Luke is unique among the four canonical Gospels. Though technically all four Gospels are anonymous (bearing no official name of the author), the Gospel of Luke is part one of a two-part book, with Acts. Both books are addressed to an individual named Theophilus (Lk 1:3; Acts 1:1), and Acts mentions a previous work. Most commentators agree that the same author penned both books, because of their stylistic similarity and consistency.

The tradition of the early church attributed this Gospel to Luke. This is not without some evidence. In the book of Acts, the author associates himself with the Apostle Paul in passages known as the “we passages” (16:10–17;20:5–15; 21:1–18; 27:1–28:16).1 The author uses the first person plural “we” in these passages regarding Paul and his group of followers. None of this definitively proves that the author is Luke, but we know from some of Paul’s epistles (Col 4:14; Phil 24; 2 Tim 4:11) that Luke was closely associated with Paul. It is the Muratorian Canon, dated around AD 180, that first attributes this Gospel to Luke: “The third book of the Gospel, according to Luke, Luke that physician, who after the ascension of Christ, when Paul had taken him with him as companion of his journey, composed in his own name on the basis of report.”2 Irenaeus (b. AD 130) also attributes this Gospel to Luke in his Against Heresies.

Because of Luke’s relationship with Paul, the veracity of his Gospel was never questioned, even though he was not himself one of the apostles. As such, Luke’s Gospel received its authority from its endorsement by Paul.