Why did Luke write the gospel to the Gentiles?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Luke wrote Acts to record the history and remarkable events during the establishment of the early church and the beginnings of the spreading of the Gospel message of Christ's resurrection from the dead and what that meant for individuals.

Answer 2

Luke didn't write his Gospel to the Gentiles specifically. Luke wrote his account in order to get factual and historical witness accounts separate of the Apostles, by those who actually witnessed things, including Christ's family. The reason he wrote his Gospel was, as he says in Luke 1:1-4, to give an orderly testimony. To Theophilus directly, but to the rest of indirectly, under inspiration of God.

Most scholars agree that both Luke and Acts were originally written in Koine Greek, and that "θεόφιλος" ("Theophilos"), as it appears therein, means friend of God.

Whether Theophilus was Jew or not, he was part of 'Spiritual Israel' otherwise known as Israel of God (Gal 6:16). And by extension then, the Gospel was written to all Christians of the household of God.

Answer 3

A:Luke's Gospel is addressed to Theophilus, saying that it is a declaration of those things that the author's Christian community believed to be true.

There is much debate about Theophilus, as to whether:

• Theophilus was an actual person;

• Theophilus, a name which means 'Loved by God', represented all Christians

• The name Theophilus, which means 'Loved by God', was really a transvaluation of the name Epaphroditus ('Touched by Aphrodite'), a person to whom the Jewish historian Josephus dedicated

  some of his writings

  . The author of Luke's Gospel is known to have used material from the works of Josephus to add historical interest.

If Theophilus was an actual person, then Luke was writing, at least in part, to inform him of what Luke and his Christian community believed.
IfTheophilusrepresented all Christians, then Luke's Gospel was written to all Christians.
There was aclassical Greek tradition for acknowledging a source from which material was used, and failure to do so could have resulted in a writing being considered plagiarism. Ancient Greeks did not acknowledge their sources by citations, as we do today, but by placing a flag in the text, that an observant reader would recognise. However, the technique was regarded as boring if the flag was too obvious. The author acknowledged the large amount of material received from Mark's Gospel and Q, which he assumed to be based on earlier eyewitness accounts, in verse 2: "Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses ..." Luke's reference to Theophilus,consistent with this technique, would acknowledge material borrowed from Josephus but also indicate implicit contempt for pagan beliefs.

Answer 4

The Christian view is that Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles as a historical record of the early years of Christianity.
However, some scholars point out that Acts contradicts the Epistles of St Paul on significant matters of Church history. Some scholars even note historical inaccuracies and inconsistencies in Acts, pointing out that it seems to have used the works of the Jewish historian, Josephus, to provide apparent historical context for the accounts that Luke reported. Rather than being intended as a true historical record of the early Church, it may be that Acts was intended to rebut the claims made about St Paul and thus diminish his role in the Church.

Answer 5

Luke wrote his gospel to Theophilus, who was likely a Roman official, in order to provide him with an orderly account of the life and teachings of Jesus. By focusing on Jesus' universal message of salvation for all people, Luke intended to reach out to a Gentile audience and show that the message of Jesus was relevant to them as well.

Answer 6

Some think that Luke wrote his book as a physician's view of Jesus' life and death. He does not say in the book why he decided to tell his story.