When were Luke and Acts of the Apostles written?

Answer 1

AnswerLuke's Gospel and Acts of the Apostles comprise a two-volume set written by the same author and fairly close in time to each other. However, there must have been a reasonable time delay after Luke was written before Acts was written, since the author adjusted some of his narrative from one book to the next. In particular, Luke 24:50 says that Jesus ascended bodily to heaven on the evening of the day of his resurrection, whereas Acts chapter 1 says that Jesus spent forty days on earth after his resurrection and then ascended bodily to heaven.

The author is unknown, as the Gospel and Acts were originally anonymous and only attributed to the apostle Luke later in the second century. A parallel reading in the Greek language shows that both Matthew and Luke were based substantially on Mark's Gospel, which was written approximately 70 CE. Thus Luke must date from well after the year 70 and Mark's Gospel.

There is good evidence that Luke also relies on the writings of the Jewish military leader and historian, Josephus. This reliance probably includes extracts from Antiquities of the Jews, published in 93 CE, making a date much before 100 CE fairly improbable for Luke's Gospel. More certainly, Acts of the Apostles contains material undeniably based on Antiquitiesand must have been written after Antiquities was published. Some doubt that Acts could have been written in the second century because Paul's epistles were becoming widely circulated by that time and the author of Acts would have avoided writing material that so obviously contradicted Paul. An alternative view is that Acts was actually written in the second century because Paul's epistles were becoming widely circulated and the author wanted to influence the historical record.

Many consider Luke to have been written in the 90s CE, but early in the second century is also possible. Whenever Luke was written, Acts was written some time later, no doubt in the early part of the second century.