Where did Luke learn the stories of Jesus?

Answer 1

The Gospel of Luke, as with all the New Testament gospels, was originally written anonymously and only attributed to the apostle whose name it now bears, later in the second century. Scholars say that there is no good reason to believe that the apostle Luke was really the author of the Gospel that bears his name, and in fact it was written around the end of the first century, far too late to have been written by a companion of the Apostle Paul. For convenience, the author continues to be called 'Luke', but we can not say that that he learnt about Jesus from Paul or any of the apostles.

As the second century progressed and copies of all four gospels became readily available for comparison, the Church Fathers began to realise that there was a literary dependence among the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. They concluded that Matthew was written first and that Mark and Luke were copied from Matthew. Modern scholars now realise that Mark predates the other gospels and that Matthew and Luke were copied from it. Whenever Matthew and Luke agree with Mark, they do so with remarkable consistency, often using exactly the same words in the Greek language, something not possible if the authors were relying on oral testimony or Aramaic sources. the final proof is that Luke has a 'Missing Block' - a series of probably thirteen pages missing from the copy of Mark's Gospel that the author of Luke relied on for his knowledge of the life and mission of Jesus. The Missing Block results in the curious conjunction found in Luke 9:18 "And it came to pass as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them ..." These clauses are found in Mark at the start and end of the Missing Block.

However, Mark does not explain all the material about Jesus in Luke's Gospel, so there must be at least another source that Luke used. Matthew and Luke are believed to have copied many parables and other sayings material from the hypothetical 'Q' document, which was a list of sayings attributed to Jesus, but without any information as to when or where Jesus spoke these sayings. As a result, the two authors each had to improvise his own context for the sayings. The sayings from Q are not in Mark because its author was probably unaware of them.

There is also material that is unique to Luke, for which there is no certain source. It is reasonably well established that the author used material from the work the first century Jewish historian, Josephus in writing Acts of the Apostles, and is likely to have also used material from the same source in writing the Gospel. He used the census under Quirinius as background and as a reason for Mary and Joseph travelling from Nazareth to Bethlehem although that census took place ten years after the death of King Herod, leading Raymond E. Brown to say (An Introduction to the New Testament) that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately. Others believe that the works of Josephus were the most likely source available to Luke for information about the census and other background information.

Thus, Luke learnt about Jesus from Mark's Gospel and the Q document, and added background information from the historical publications of Josephus. Apart from the historical background, we can not say who told Luke stories such as those about Jesus' birth or his resurrection appearances and ascension into heaven. Some of this material is considered unlikely to be historically true.

Answer 2

A:There is no suggestion anywhere in The Bible that either Paul or his companion, Luke, ever met Jesus.

The attribution of the Gospel of Luke is also considered unlikely to be true: the Gospel was originally anonymous and was only attributed to Luke later in the second century, largely because the Church Fathers were looking for an educated man who must have known Paul, and decided that Luke was the only possible candidate they knew. Whoever did write Luke's Gospel clearly did not know Jesus, because he copied much of Mark's Gospel, often in exactly the same words in the Greek language Luke also relies heavily on the hypothetical 'Q' document. It was written in the 90s of the first century or very early in the second century, much too late for a contemporary of Jesus.

Answer 3

Luke likely learned the stories of Jesus from various sources, including eyewitness accounts, other writings, and possibly oral traditions within the early Christian community. He meticulously researched and compiled this information to write his Gospel, which is why Luke's account includes unique details and perspectives not found in the other Gospels.

Answer 4

No. Luke was a doctor and a scientist; he researched Jesus' history carefully as do most biographers and historians.

Answer 5

Luke did not meet Jesus, Luke was a follower of Paul.

Answer 6

Luke met Darth Vader in Cloud city on the planet Bespin.