Which scripture confirms Luke wrote Luke's Gospel and Acts of the Apostles?

Answer 1

A:The New Testament gospels and Acts of the Apostles were all anonymous until later in the second century, when the Church Fathers decided who they felt probably wrote each of these books.

This author is someone who is especially concerned with the Gentile mission of the early church and who is particularly interested in showing that Gentiles do not have to become Jews in order to be Christian. It is sensible to conclude that this person was probably himself a Gentile and, by his occasional use of 'we', the author is claiming to be a travelling companion of Paul.

The Epistle to the Colossians has three persons who were Gentile companions of Paul: Epaphras, Demas, and Luke the physician (Colossians 4:12-14). Of these, it seems unlikely that Demas could be the author, since we learn elsewhere that Demas "abandoned" Paul (2 Timothy 2:10). Epaphras is described as the founder of the church in Colossae (Colossians 1:5-7), a church that is never mentioned in Acts. That would be odd if its founder were the author. This leaves one candidate, Luke the Gentile physician, who was therefore chosen by the Church Fathers.

The idea that Luke was a Gentile companion of Paul comes from Colossians, but the Church Fathers were not to realise that Colossians was really a pseudepigraphical book written in Paul's name long after his death. Had they known this, they might have looked elsewhere for an author.

Luke 1:1-2 says that the Gospel contains that which is believed by 'Luke' and his community, having been handed down over time, from earlier apostles who are assumed to have been eyewitnesses. A close associate of Paul could never have written these words since the real Luke would surely have said that this was the gospel he learnt from Paul himself.