{"id":6654,"date":"2023-09-01T22:58:25","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T03:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cordibus.net\/?page_id=6654"},"modified":"2023-10-24T21:36:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T02:36:48","slug":"cordis-iesu-coronilla-a-san-miguel-arcangel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cordibus.net\/en\/cordis-iesu-coronilla-a-san-miguel-arcangel\/","title":{"rendered":"Cordis Iesu \u2013 Who was Saint Luke? 10 key facts about his life \u2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Who was Saint Luke? 10 key facts about his life<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1. Luke is mentioned three times in the Bible<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Saint Luke is mentioned in three passages of Scripture:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • In Colossians 4:14, Saint Paul writes: \u201cReceive the greetings of Luke, our beloved physician, and of Demas.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  • In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul writes: \u201cOnly Luke is with me. Take Marcos with you, because he will be very useful to me for the ministry.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  • And in Philemon 23-24, Paul writes: \u201cEpaphras, my fellow captive in Christ Jesus, greets you, and also Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my helpers.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Since Luke is mentioned in three letters, we can infer that he was a frequent companion of Saint Paul. He also participated in his work, since he is known as one of his \u201ccollaborators.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    The fact that Saint Paul says, in his last letter, that \u201cLuke is alone with me\u201d suggests that he was a particularly close and faithful companion.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Finally, the reference to Luke as \u201cthe beloved physician\u201d indicates that his \u201cdaily work\u201d (as opposed to his apostolic efforts) was as a physician.<\/span><\/p>\n

    2. Saint Luke wrote the third Gospel and Acts of the Apostles<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

    Saint Luke is identified by early tradition (2nd century) as the author of the third Gospel and as the author of the book of the Acts of the Apostles.<\/span><\/p>\n

    He may also have had a role in the composition of some of the letters attributed to Saint Paul.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Even if he only wrote the third Gospel and Acts, he still wrote more of the New Testament than any other author! Both texts add up to almost 38 thousand words, or 24% of the entire New Testament.<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. The Gospel of Saint Luke is synoptic<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

    The Gospel of Saint Luke is one of the three \u201cSynoptic Gospels,\u201d meaning that it covers much of the same territory as those of Saint Matthew and Saint Mark.<\/span><\/p>\n

    As a result, if the Gospel of Luke had not been written, there would still be a large part of the story of Jesus that would have been preserved (not only by Matthew and Mark, but also by John). However, there are certain things that only Luke records.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Among them are these passages:<\/span><\/p>\n

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    • The birth of John the Baptist is predicted (1:5-25)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The birth of Jesus is announced (1: 26-38)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The visitation (1:39-56)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The birth of John the Baptist (1:57-80)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The circumcision and presentation of Jesus (2: 21-40)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The discovery in the temple (2: 41-52)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The son of the widow of Nain (7: 11-17)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The Mission of the Seventy (10:01-20)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The Good Samaritan (10:29-37)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • \u201cMary has chosen the good part\u201d (10: 38-42)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The friend at midnight (11:5-8)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The parable of the rich fool (12: 13-21)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The parable of the lost coin (15:8-10)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The parable of the lost son (15: 11-32)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The Parable of the Wise Steward (16:1-8)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Lazarus and the rich man (16: 19-31)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Ten lepers purified (17:11-19)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The Parable of the Persistent Widow (18:1-8)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (18:9-14)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Dinner with Zacchaeus (19:1-10)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Who is the greatest? (22:24-32)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Jesus before Herod Antipas (23:6-12)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      If these were not recorded in the Gospel of Luke, no one would know about them, because they are not recorded anywhere else in the New Testament.<\/span><\/p>\n

      4. Saint Luke used written sources and eyewitnesses to write his Gospel<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0At the beginning of his Gospel, Luke writes:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u201cSome people have endeavored to put together a narrative of the events that have occurred among us, as they have been transmitted to us by those who were the first witnesses and who later became servants of the Word. After having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it also seemed good to me to write an organized story for you, illustrious Theophilus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

      Luke's reference to the Gospel accounts of events that preceded him, and his reference to having \u201ccarefully investigated everything,\u201d seems to indicate that he used written sources for some of his information.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Given the similarities Luke has with Matthew and Mark (the other two synoptic gospels), it is likely that he used one or both.<\/span><\/p>\n

      He also says that he obtained information from \u201cfirst witnesses and who later became servants of the Word.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

      One of the witnesses he probably interviewed was the Virgin Mary herself. Luke records the material in the infancy narrative in a way that implies that Mary was the source of much or all (Luke 2:19, 51).<\/span><\/p>\n

      One of the servants of the Word that he probably used as a source was Saint Paul. One way to demonstrate this is that the words of institution of the Eucharist in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 22: 19-20) are very similar to the formula used by Saint Paul (1 Corinthians 11: 24-25). It is less similar to the formula used in Matthew and Mark (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      It is likely that he used the formula used by Saint Paul because he frequently heard him celebrate Mass and this was the version most familiar to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

      One individual who was both an eyewitness and a minister of the word, whom Luke probably interviewed, is Saint Peter. We have good reason to think that this apostle was one of the sources of the Acts. If Luke interviewed him for that, he probably did it for his Gospel as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

      5. Acts of the Apostles covers the earliest history of the Church after the Ascension<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

      The Acts of the Apostles covers a period extending from 33 AD to 60 AD<\/span><\/p>\n

      Without this book, we could deduce little about this period from the New Testament letters. For example, there were churches in the cities to which letters about some events in Paul's life were sent.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Luke did us a great service by not stopping with the end of his Gospel and continuing to record the history of the early Church beyond the death and resurrection of Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n

      6. Acts of the Apostles was also nourished by written sources and witnesses<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

      As with the Gospel, Luke probably obtained his information for the Acts of the Apostles both from written sources and from interviews with eyewitnesses and servants of the word.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Luke also witnessed many of the events written about. This is indicated by what are known as the \u201cwe\u201d passages in Acts, places where the author talks about what we \u201cdid\u201d and where we \u201cwent,\u201d indicating that he was present.<\/span><\/p>\n

      There are four such passages:<\/span><\/p>\n