The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 12

midst-the men whe h11d eron the presenoe Ohrist nre not, ns eome hnvo supposed, &nd hr11rd the voice. When the first fervour 11ll11tlvd t? horo with anything like cemure, of enthusiRsrn h11,d p11ssed away, or rather but llre simply roferred to ne boing inco1n• when tho Chur.:ih had so multiplied th11t, plete,-11s w,itlen without or,ler or arrn11go- me1!t. 'l'hcy most probably formed the in the 08lle of the great majority of its bns1s of .m~•~h of St. Lu~e'e own Gospel. ruembere who ha.d only heard of Jesus, this These p_n nu t1 ve Gospels q mokl y disappcnred fervour of enthu8ia.sm had never been ex- from. sight, as they evidently coutained perienced at all, something of a oritiCBl nothrng more than whut woe embodied in spirit of iuquiry sprang np in the vn,rioue the fuller nod more systeme.tio n11rro.tivee of the'' four." Of those things whioh Bre most congregations. Who, for instance, was this surely believed among DB, There wo.s J01!us of Naia.reth, whom the Rpostlce and evidently no quoetioning in the Church of their pupilii preaohed ? Whence oa.me he? the first days about the truth of tbo etory ·who was tho.t strange teacher John, who of the teAching and the mighty works of baptized him, a.nd, so to speak, introduced Jesus of N ILzareth. It we.a the incomplete- ness of these first evangelists, rather than him to Isra.el? Such na.tura.l questions their ine.ccure.oy, whioh induced St. Luke to necessitated the putting forth, on the part of take in hand B new Gospel. the 1011.dere of the new faith, documents at Ver. 2.-Even as they delivered them onoe comprehensive u well as e.uthorito.- unto us, which from the beginning were tive. eye-witnesses, e.nd ministers of the Word. The general e.ccuracy of the reoite.le con- Ea.eh of the four Gospel& supplied e.n tained in those early Gospels is here con- evident we.nt of the early Church; ea.eh was ceded, e.s the source of these primitive the e.nswer, on the part of responsible men, writings was the tradition delivered by the to the ne.tura.l inquiry of some gree.t section eye-witnesses of the acts of Jesus; amona of believers. these eye-witnesses the apostles would, of course, hold the foremost place. The whole The prefe.ce to the Gospel of St. Luke, statement may be roughly pare.phrased thus: with which we are e.t present concerned, •· The na.rro.tive of the memorable evente with gree.t oles.mess rele.tes how its compiler, which have been e.ccomplished in our midst hBving e.ve.iled himself of all the written many have undertaken to compose. These e.nd ora.l e.postolie traditions then current in different narratives are in strict conformity with the e.postles' tradition, which men who the Church, had personally, with careful and were themselves eyo-wituesses of the great continuous research, tre.ced np these various events, and subsequently ministers of the traditions to their very source, e.nd, he.ving Word, ho.nded down to us. Now, I have e.rranged his many fe.ots, presented the whole traced up all these tmditions a.now to their continuous story to a me.n of high rank in very sources, a.ud propose rewriting them in consecutive order, the.t you, my lord Theo- the Christian oongrege.tions, one Theo- philus, may be fully convinced of the posi- philus, a noble Greek or Rome.n, who may tive certainty of those greo.t truths in which be t.e.ken as e.n example of e. lBrge cle.ss of you have been instructed." Eye-witnesses, inquiring earnest Christians of the yeo.rs and ministers of the Word; witnesses of the 70-90 A..D, evente of the public ministry of Jesus, from the baptism to the Ascension. These men, Vere. 1-4.-.AB INTBODUOTION. in great numbers, e.fter Pentecost, became Ver. 1.-Fore.smuch &B me.ny have taken ministers and pre:e.ehers of the Word. in hand. The Greek in which St. Luke'e Ver. 3.-Having had perfeot understand- Gospel is written is gen~re.lly pure e.nd ing of all _things from the very :first; more cle.ssice.l, but the le.ngue.ge of the little in- accurately rendered, having fulloioed up troduction (vers. 1-4) is especially studied (or, inve~tigated) step hy step all things and polished. e.nd contrasts singularly with from their source. St. Luke, without the Hebrew che.ra.cter of the story of the depreciating the e.ccounts of the life and nativity, which iwmedie.tdy follows. St. work of Jeans then current in the Church, Luke here, in this studied introduction, here sets out his reo.sons fur undertaking- 11, follows the elilllple of many of the great fresh compilation. His Gospel would differ cle.seical writers, Latin e.s well e.s Greek. frc::n the early Gospels: (l) By going back Thucydides, Herodotllll, Livy, for instance, much further tho.n they did. It is doubtful paid svecial attention to the opening if these primitive Goepels began earlier than 10111.enN,s of their histories. The many with the ministry of John e.nd the baptism early efforts to produce a conneetc:d history of Jesus. St. Mark's Gospel-which, per- of the life and work of the great llfaster h~1,8, represents one of tb'l earliest forlll8 011, T. 1-80.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO RT. LUirn.