Luke 1:1

§ 1. LUKE’S PREFACE, Luke 1:1-4 .

1. Forasmuch Luke here informs us that the many attempts made to reduce the oral and documentary gospel matter to form had induced him to furnish a complete, orderly, and reliable Gospel.

Many The history of the doings and sayings of Jesus would necessarily constitute a main amount of the preaching of the apostles. Of this history so preached every Church, at any rate, if not many private Christians, would desire to possess some sketch or summary. These would be raw material for history, but not of sufficient authority to become a standard gospel for the Christian Church at large. Among these defective particulars of the many, the gospels of Matthew and Mark, even if written previous to the publication of Luke’s, are not to be included. Matthew’s gospel as yet was in the Hebrew language, and Mark’s was published in distant Italy, so that neither probably was yet in circulation in the locality where Luke was conversant.

Have taken in hand Have undertaken. The phrase in itself expresses neither success nor failure; and so implies neither praise nor censure. The only terms, indeed, in which Luke implies censure are those in which he expresses the excellences he expected his own gospel to exhibit. These excellences will be found to consist in the earliness of the point at which his history begins the care with which he had investigated everything to the bottom, and the certainty of his confirmation.

To set forth in order To arrange. It does not, therefore, seem that Luke reprehends any very great want of orderly arrangement in the documents of these

many. A declaration A narrative or relation. Something less than a history, yet constituting a summary of the matter, however long or short.

Things… most surely believed among us Things held as absolute facts, on the surest evidence, by the full faith of the Church.