Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20080910.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Luke: Jesus, The Son Of Man For All Mankind
Part I: Valuing God's Use Of Luke's Distinctly Gentile View To Clarify Christ's Earthly Life
(Luke 1:1-4 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. The Bible's books were written by authors who lived in different times under different cultures and who spoke different languages from what we today use. That creates a need to have Scripture clarified.
    2. Well, God wants Bible teachers to clarify this, and proof is the Gospel of Luke: it stands apart from the other Gospels, for it was written by a Gentile who had not been an eyewitness of Christ unlike the other Gospel writers, and it was penned for a Gentile who needed assurances of what had occurred in Jesus' life according to these other witnessed stood true from the Gentile view, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 199.
    3. Luke's introduction shows this sensitivity, and we view it for an appreciation of God's desire that we Bible teachers today clarify the language, background, culture, etc. needed to make Scripture clear to hearers:
  2. Valuing God's Use Of Luke's Distinctly Gentile View To Clarify Christ's Earthly Life, Luke 1:1-4.
    1. In contrast to the other Gospels, Luke's Gospel begins with a statement as to its "method and purpose," noting that his Gentile reader, Theophilus, needed to know the certainty of what he had been taught about the life of Christ, Luke 1:3-4; Ibid., p. 202. Luke thus realized how we Gentile, NON-eyewitnesses were in need of an ORDERLY account of Christ's life distinct from Jewish presuppositions of Messiah so we could understand the FLOW of events, and so understand God's PURPOSE in SENDING His Son!
    2. Luke was also aware that his Gentile reader doubtless knew of many other accounts by eyewitnesses, and how these had differed from one another in the flow of Christ's life to emphasize some important aspect of that life, Luke 1:1-2. Thus, Luke, who himself was admittedly not an eyewitness, but who had researched the eyewitnesses and their reports (Luke 1:3), saw the need for other non-eyewitness, Gentile believers like Theophilus, to have an orderly account of Christ's life against which they could place these other accounts of more focused views to gain a good overview of Christ's life, Luke 1:3-4.
    3. Luke's Gospel is the only one that gives a detailed account of the announcement, conception and gestation of John the Baptizer who came as Christ's forerunner, cf. Luke 1:5-25. Accordingly, he investigated the background, "from the very first," to supply the setting for Christ's life, Luke 1:3. This move supplies us Gentile non-eyewitnesses a more comprehensive context for understanding our Lord's earthly life.
    4. Luke certified that he "most surely" believed the report about the life of Christ even though he admittedly was not an eyewitness of that life, Luke 1:1b. Thus, Luke would have been careful to describe events that point to the validity of Christ's credentials that cause non-eyewitnesses like us to be built up in our faith in Christ, truths of great value to us non-eyewitness Gentile believers!
    5. Luke added that he had "perfect understanding of all things" relative to Christ's life, meaning his research had led to undeniable conclusions as to what had happened, and why, Luke 1:3a. This assures a Gentile, non-eyewitness reader like Theophilus to be sure that Luke not only understood his appetite for facts and explanations, but that Luke was eager to supply them to settle all doubts that ignorance as a non-eyewitness Gentile might raise about Christ and His earthly life!
    6. [Luke's Gospel does not include all the known facts about Christ's life: for example, it excludes the Matthew 1:18-2:23 birth narrative, for these events relate to Jesus' entrance into the world as Israel's long-awaited Messiah and Davidic king, a subject of little interest to pagan Gentiles at the time. Hence, the flow of thought given in Luke's Gospel addresses subjects of interest to pagan Gentiles at that time.]
Lesson: Luke's Gospel is invaluable for US GENTILE NON-EYEWITNESSES, for it offers (1) an orderly account to explain the flow of Christ's life, (2) an orderly account against which to place the other, more focused, Jewish Gospel accounts, (3) a comprehensive historical background into the life of Christ for our understanding of its context as Gentile, non-eyewitnesses (4) and information of special importance for building our FAITH in Christ (5) PARTICULARLY of us NON-eyewitness Gentiles.

Application: May we value God's concern seen in His choice of Luke to write his Gospel for Gentiles similarly as Bible teachers to CLARIFY Scripture's cultural and linguistic contexts for our hearers!