The Gospel According to Luke – Chapter 5

In Luke 4:31 Jesus teaches at the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath. For the first time, Jesus publicly commands an unclean spirit to listen to Him, and instantly it comes out of the man. This very important event along with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law are the first episodes that bring Jesus into the…

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The Gospel According to Luke – Beginning of the Gospel Proper

At the start of the Gospel proper, Luke focuses on John the Baptist: his ministry and his message. It seems Christians today often shrink the role of John the Baptist and the roles other Prophets in the history of salvation, and instead embrace a "let’s cut to the chase" mentality. The fact that John is…

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The Gospel According to Luke – Presentation and Finding in the Temple

Following the Presentation Luke omits the flight into Egypt and focuses on Jesus’ upbringing in Nazareth. He emphasizes that throughout this time "Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man". The childhood of Jesus has serious Christological implications. The Gnostic Gospels show Jesus acting on a whim but the…

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The Gospel According to Luke – The Census and the Nativity

The study begins with the controversy regarding the census that sent Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem and the dating of the birth of Christ. The historical reading of the historian Josephus is that Herod died in 4 B.C. and thus it is logical for Christ’s birth to be sometime before that. Although some favor 6…

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The Gospel According to Luke – John the Baptist

Starting at Luke 1:5, this session focuses on the man God destined to "prepare the way of the Lord," John the Baptist (Is 40:3). He is the long-awaited son of the Zechariah the priest of Abijah and the barren Elizabeth, an elderly couple who were "blameless before the Lord, following all this commandments and ordinances"…

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The Gospel According to Luke – Introduction

Laying a firm foundation for the Gospel of Luke will allow for a much greater appreciation of this incredible book, which is written in the unique literary form of the gospels: not a biography of Jesus but more of a "snapshot" narration of specific events in his life. We refer to Luke as a synoptic…

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