Inter-Varsity Press

CONTENTS
General preface
Author’s preface
Chief abbreviations

Introduction
Authorship
Date
Language
Luke the theologian
The relationship of Luke to the other Gospels
a. the Synoptic Problem
b. Luke and John

Analysis
Commentary
A table of parallel passages

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GENERAL PREFACE

The original Tyndale Commentaries aimed at providing help for the general reader of the Bible. They concentrated on the meaning of the text without going into scholarly technicalities. They sought to avoid ‘the extremes of being unduly technical or unhelpfully brief ’. Most who have used the books agree that there has been a fair measure of success in reaching that aim.

Times, however, change. A series that has served so well for so long is perhaps not quite as relevant as it was when it was first launched.New knowledge has come to light. The discussion of critical questions has moved on. Bible-reading habits have changed. When the original series was commenced it could be presumed that most readers used the Authorized Version and one’s comments were made accordingly, but this situation no longer obtains.

The decision to revise and up-date the whole series was not reached lightly, but in the end it was thought that this is what is required in the present situation. There are new needs, and they will be better served by new books or by a thorough up-dating of the old books. The aims of the original series remain. The new commentaries are neither minuscule nor unduly long. They are exegetical rather than homiletic. They do not discuss all the critical questions, but none is written without an awareness of the problems that engage the attention of New Testament scholars. Where it is felt that formal consideration should be given to such questions, they are discussed in the Introduction and sometimes in Additional Notes.

But the main thrust of these commentaries is not critical. These books are written to help the non-technical reader understand his Bible better. They do not presume a knowledge of Greek, and all Greek words discussed are transliterated; but the authors have the Greek text before them and their comments are made on the basis of what the originals say. The authors are free to choose their own modern translation, but are asked to bear inmind the variety of translations in current
use.

The new series of Tyndale Commentaries goes forth, as the former series did, in the hope that God will graciously use these books to help the general reader to understand as fully and clearly as possible the meaning of the New Testament.

Leon Morris

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From the INTRODUCTION
Until comparatively recently very little attention seems to have been paid to the remarkable fact that Luke is the only one of the four Evangelists to write a sequel to his Gospel. Why did he do it? The other three wrote books which concentrated on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Evidently they felt that this story could stand by itself. It needed no supplement. But Luke wrote Acts. Why?

His second volume, of course, takes us on into the history of the early church. It tells us of those first days in Jerusalem and of the way the preachers went abroad with the gospel, Peter and John, Stephen the martyr, Philip and others, but especially Paul and his helpers.

The great thought Luke is expressing is surely that God is working out his purpose. This purpose is seen clearly in the life and work of Jesus, but it did not finish with the earthly ministry of Jesus. It carried right on into the life and witness of the church. The church does not represent a new, completely unrelated act of God. Luke seems to be saying that the work of Jesus led, and in the plan of God wasmeant to lead, to the life of the church. Some writers like to bring this out by speaking of Luke’s theme as ‘salvation history’, or by drawing attention to the promise and fulfilment motif.

Luke sees this divine purpose as intimately bound up with the love and the mercy of God. A feature of this Gospel is the way God’s love is portrayed as active in a variety of ways and among a variety of people. This is not an occasional theme, but one which runs through the whole writing. As A. H. McNeile put it, whereas in Matthew the keynote may be said to be royalty, and in Mark power, in Luke it is love.? It is perhaps this that gives to the Third Gospel its peculiar attractiveness. The writer was obviously a man of culture, with an appreciation of the beautiful, and he could write well. But it is not any or all of these that accounts for the beauty of this writing. Rather it is the way the love of God shines through in parable and saying and story of Jesus.

Luke’s theme is a grand one and he treats it at some length. His Gospel is the longest of the four, and when Acts is added he has written more of the New Testament than any other single writer. Clearly a study of his writings is important for the student of the New Testament. ...