Who was the audience for Luke's Gospel?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:All people, even though Jewish people would most easily understand it.

Another answer

In early Christian times, Matthew was thought to have been the first gospel, written at a time when few Gentiles had yet joined the church, with Mark and Luke copied from it. Having been attributed to Matthew, a Jewish disciple of Jesus, it was therefore natural to think of it as written for Jews. However, at least on the face of it, Matthew could not have been written for Palestinian Jews. The Jews of Palestine continued to read their scriptures in the Hebrew language, but when Matthew makes reference to the scriptures, it is to the Septuagint, an early and flawed Greek translation from Hebrew. A Jew from Palestine would have quickly realised the difference and recognised that the author was unfamiliar with what were regarded as the original Jewish scriptures.

The Gospel of Matthew, like all the other New Testament gospels, was originally anonymous and only attributed to Matthew, the disciple of Jesus, later in the second century. The author relied on Mark's Gospel for everything he knew about the life and mission of Jesus, as well as taking sayings material from the hypothetical 'Q' document. So, if Matthew's Gospel was a rewriting of Mark's Gospel, the question could perhaps be answered by understanding why the author chose to rewrite Mark in an extended gospel.

Scholars say that Matthew was written during the 80s of the first century, only a few years after the end of the First Roman-Jewish War and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. John Dominic Crossan (The Birth of Christianity) says that early Christianity sought to position itself as the natural successor to Temple Judaism, in direct competition with rabbinic Judaism, which was also emerging from the maelstrom of Temple Judaism. Matthew would certainly support that claim to continuity by its extensive Old Testament references.

It is plausible that Matthew's Gospel was written for Jews of the diaspora, who would have been familiar with the Septuagint or for pagan God-fearers. It could also be argued that it was written for illiterate Palestinian Jews who, following the destruction of the Temple, had no one they trusted to compare Matthew's Old Testament references with the Hebrew scriptures and would not listen to the teachings of the rabbis. A problem with this last argument is that the gospel was not written in Aramaic or Hebrew and would have been incomprehensible to most Palestinian Jews.

Another answer

About A. D. 65 God led a former tax collector to collect and write down the teachings of Jesus, especially as those teachings related to faith in Him as compared to the Jewish religion. Matthew thus wrote a gospel to the Jews showing Jesus was the promised Messiah and King, fulfilling God's promises to the Jews and extending God's salvation to the nations.

Matthew's Gospel seems to be directed at the Jewish people, due to the numerous references to the Old Testament and to Jesus as Messiah and King.

It was written primarily with the Jews in mind as indicated by it's genealogy which shows Jesus' legal descent starting from Abraham at Matthew 1:1-16 and also by his many references to the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) showing that they pointed forward to the coming Messiah Jesus. Of course, the Gospels are for everyone. Matthew was talking to the Jewish culture of the time. One of his main goals in this gospel is to prove that Jesus was the true Davidic Messiah.

In terms of the specific audience, many consider due to its emphasis on fulfilled prophecy and other Jewish elements that it was written for the Jews.

Jewish Christians.

Matthew was talking to the Jewish culture of the time. One of his main goals in this gospel is to prove that Jesus was the true Davidic Messiah.

Answer 2

Another answer from our community:

Luke, a Gentile doctor, was called by God to research and write two books about the mission Jesus left behind; Luke and Acts. Luke is a gospel seeking to show Gentiles and social outcasts their place in God's Kingdom led by God's Spirit.

The book is written to Theophilus. We do not know who Theophilus was, or even if he was an actual person. The word Theophilus is Greek for "God-lover," so we can presume that the books was written to a Greek follower of God who wanted to know the truth about the person of Jesus so we can presume that Luke's primary audience was Greek.

Answer 3

A:No copy of the 'Q' Gospel survives to the present day, so it is known to us only as a hypothetical document. However, using the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, scholars have been able reconstruct the original Q Gospel with reasonable certainty. John Dominic Crossan (The Birth of Christianity) goes a step further by comparing the Q Gospel with the Gospel of Thomas, and says that both gospels were based on an earlier Common Sayings tradition. Whereas Thomas consistently redacts the Common Sayings tradition towards a Gnostic tendency, Q consistently redacts towards apocalypticism. The conclusion is that Q was written by or for a largely rural Christian audience that believed in an apocalyptic future.

Answer 4

The Gospel of John was written in Greek Koine and was therefore intended for an audience that spoke this language, which was spoken in Egypt and most of the Near East, except the Palestinian Jews. Scholars say that the gospel was originally written for a Gnostic community, now known as the Johannine community because the Gospel is traditionally associated with John. After the split in the Johannine community, some members joined the centrist branch of Christianity and it is thought they removed some of the Gnostic references in his Gospel to make it more acceptable for centrist Christians, although there remain clues in the fourth gospel as to its earlier origins.

Answer

If you look closely you will see that Brother John is writing to convert a sinner. It was probably written as a circular letter from Ephesus about 85-95 AD to the believers of the Roman province of Asia, including the churches mentioned in Revelation chapters 2-3. John wrote out of concern for the spiritual children for whom he was responsible.

Answer

John's Gospel is evangelistic in nature, and is not addressed to any specific person. It is written to win anyone to Christ.

Answer 5

Mark is commonly believed to be written for a Roman audience, mainly because of his emphasis on action and the omission of details of lesser interest to them. Mark's Gospel was written for the benefit of a Greek/Roman readership. It contains relatively few references to Old Testament prophecies, explains some Jewish words and practices, and is fast-paced and to the point about Christ as a servant to man, rather than the King of the Jews. It contains fewer (or shorter versions) of Jesus' discourses, focusing instead on His miracles and compassion.

Mark's style and approach indicates he most likely wrote for a Roman audience. Of course what he wrote was also intended for all who want to know more about Jesus Christ and His life and work, down to the present day.

The Romans. This is deduced by both his style of showing action and activity and his lack of reference to Old Testament prophecy (which would have required lengthy explanations to a Roman audience) or Jewish religious customs.

Another answer:

Though some early sources believed the Gospel of Mark was written post the Apostle Peter's death circa 67 AD, others insisted it was written while Peter was still alive. Most who have researched this matter consider Mark writing this work shortly after Peter's death, circa 64-65 AD but before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. This being the case, the audience for Mark was under heavy persecution from the Emperor Nero.

Mark directed this work to Gentile Christian converts, especially in Rome. He does not assume readers had a familiarity with Jewish writings/Scripture. He only quotes from the Old Testament once (1:2,3) but explains Jewish customs and geography often.

His immediate intended audience faced persecution and martyrdom. Mark's work strengthened and guided these predominately Roman believers by writing of Jesus' own suffering and death - triumphant over each. This Jesus of Mark showed how the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Christ or Messiah, and the Lord already went through what many were about to face and this Gospel needed to be written down to encourage those then, those now, and those who will face the most terrible times ahead. Mark's work verified these truths providing comfort and strenght to all who would read it. Another answer:The gospel of mark was written in greek, to the gentiles. but later it was for all both the greeks as as the Jews. Another answer:The gospel of Mark is written closest to the actual time of Christ. It was about fifty years after the life of Christ. Mark's gospel was written to a Jewish audience. It is believed that Matthew and Luke took much of their gospels from information provided in the gospel of Mark. The gospel of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were all written to a Jewish audience and much of the wording mirrors one another. The gospel of John was written to a Greek audience and used Sophic or Greek wisdom literature. The beginning of John, "in the beginning was the word.... is Greek wisdom literature.

Another answer:Mark is definitely written for a Jewish audience.

Another answer:The Gospel of Mark was aimed squarely at the Roman mindset. Fast-paced and "action oriented," Mark's gospel includes words of explanation that would be totally unnecessary for a Jewish audience, as in verse 3 below.

Mark 7:1-3 - Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.[NKJV]

Mark's target audience was non-Jews, possibly the Romans.

Answer 6

Luke was written for the Greek Christians. He had no other motive than to spread the message that Jesus was the Messiah, and he had come to save Gentiles as much as Jews. In the wider scheme of things, Luke is also written for all men in all times since.

Luke 1:3 "Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus"

The book is written to Theophilus. We do not know who Theophilus was, or even if he was an actual person. The word Theophilus is Greek for "God-lover," so we can presume that the books was written to a Greek follower of God who wanted to know the truth about the person of Jesus so we can presume that Luke's primary audience was Greek.

Luke's Gospel was written for Gentiles and social outcasts seeking to show them their place in God's kingdom.

Answer 7

Because Matthew's Gospel, more than any other, relies on quotations and apparent prophecies from the Old Testament, some believe that the author was a Jew who wrote his gospel for other Jews. However, the Gospel was written in Greek and the Old Testament references were clearly taken from the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. For this reason alone, he must have been writing for a Greek-speaking audience.
Bishop Spong says that the author knew little about Jewish religious laws and customs. He points out that in Matthew'snativity account, the presentation and purification stories are hopelessly muddled. If the author was writing for Jews, they would have become quickly aware of these problems.

When the author of Matthew cited the Septuagint, he accepted it as an accurate translation of the Hebrew Bible and was unaware of a number of errors in the Septuagint. Any Jew familiar with The Bible in its original Hebrew, would have quickly realised that Matthew was very much in error regarding the Hebrew Bible and could not have taken this gospel seriously. If the author of Matthew was, in fact, writing for a Jewish audience, it would have been a Greek-speaking Jewish community that relied on the Septuagint and had little or no knowledge of Hebrew.

The author of Matthew may also have been writing for Greek-speaking gentiles who were receptive to Judaic concepts, and would consider Christianity if this could be shown to be fundamentally based on the Jewish faith.

Answer 8

We can certainly say that Mark was not writing for Palestinian Jews, because a Palestinian Jew would immediately detect Mark's lack of knowledge of Palestinian geography. For example, believers and non-believers have long debated his descriptions of Jesus as travelling from one town to another in improbably circuitous routes, or the head of John the Baptist being brought on a platter all the way from Macherus to Galilee during a feast.

However, Mark also seemed unfamiliar with some aspects of Jewish ritual. Since this would have been equally apparent to Diaspora Jews and Palestinian Jews, perhaps this shows that he was writing for Gentiles.

Nevertheless, Mark was writing for people familiar with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70CE. His use of the Septuagint (an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) also suggests a Greek-speaking audience. The author seems to have known Latin yet chose to write his Gospel in Greek, which would seem to rule out a Roman audience. Why write a book in a foreign language that most of his target audience would not understand?

His use of mimesis flags suggests the possibility that he sought to keep outsiders in the dark as to what Christians really believed. This is parallelled by Chapter 4, where he talks of Jesus speaking in parables so that others would not understand. So it may be that there were really two audiences for Mark's Gospel - outsiders such as the Romans and the Jewish religious leaders, and the Christian converts who would really understand what the Gospel was meant to say.

Answer 9

It can be shown that the author of Luke's Gospel was aware of Mark's Gospel, since he drew much of his material from it. However, it is also clear that 'Luke' was actually quite unfamiliar with the material in Mark's Gospel. He not only omitted the "Missing Block", but concatenated the verse that preceded it in Mark with the verse that followed it, without seeming to notice that this did not make much sense. If the author himself knew little or nothing about Jesus of Nazareth, it is likely that he was writing for a community that, while essentially Christian, also knew nothing about the gospel story portrayed in Mark's Gospel.

Steve Mason ('Josephus and the New Testament') says that Luke may also have been writing an apology for a wider audience than converts and potential converts. To suit the times, this would require him to demonstrate antiquity and virtue. In this context, virtue was high communal ethic, political respectability and cooperation with the Roman peace.

Luke, writing around the turn of the century, also eliminates or changes passages in Mark unfavourable to those whose subsequent career makes them worthy of respect. He avoids Markan passages that might make Jesus seem emotional, harsh, or weak. Luke was making the gospel more acceptable to his audience.

Answer 10

It can be shown that the author of Luke's Gospel was aware of Mark's Gospel, since he drew much of his material from it. However, it is also clear that 'Luke' was actually quite unfamiliar with the material in Mark's Gospel. He not only omitted the "Missing Block", but concatenated the verse that preceded it in Mark with the verse that followed it, without seeming to notice that this did not make much sense. If the author himself knew little or nothing about Jesus of Nazareth, it is likely that he was writing for a community that, while essentially Christian, also knew nothing about the gospel story portrayed in Mark's Gospel.

Steve Mason (Josephus and the New Testament) says that Luke may also have been writing an apology for a wider audience than converts and potential converts. To suit the times, this would require him to demonstrate antiquity and virtue. In this context, virtue was high communal ethic, political respectability and cooperation with the Roman peace.

Luke, writing around the turn of the century, also eliminates or changes passages in Mark unfavourable to those whose subsequent career makes them worthy of respect. He avoids Markan passages that might make Jesus seem emotional, harsh, or weak. Luke was making the gospel more acceptable to his audience.