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What Did Jesus Do - Luke 1:1-4
What Did Jesus Do - Luke 1:1-4
“The early church believed…” What usually follows is almost anybody’s guess. More often than not, the quote today would be from some gnostic or rejected ‘gospel’. Others would talk of something taken from the 3rd or 4th century. You are reading in Luke what the early church DID believe concerning Jesus.
While the debate continues over which gospel was written first, what Luke affirms is the fact that there were many such writings. These he had investigated carefully. Yet, as Bock states: “So Luke’s remark suggests the presence of written materials, but need not be limited to such sources”.1 The oral dialogues that were also memorized and retold countless times would also have been available to him. There were the countless hours of being with Paul and the other apostles, which he styles as “eyewitnesses and the servants of the word”. Hearing them preach and teach day after day, talking with them as they walked, worked, and ate together, provided the opportunity to learn, to memorize, to question, and to correct all of these stories. Luke refers to such oral histories as ‘traditions’ (handed down, Greek = paradidomi). Such encompassed years of collecting and digesting the material concerning Jesus. Luke says he investigated these carefully, from the beginning.
These events are those that were accomplished or fulfilled AMONG US, that is, those things that were not done in secret. These were events that happened publicly and could, at that time, been known by all those involved and not just the disciples.
Luke then determined and fulfilled writing out of these events. Such writing was characterized by his 1) following such material closely, 2) starting from the beginning, 3) concerning ‘everything’, i.e., from ALL sources, and 4) and having studied everything carefully. His writing is not random, but orderly; being somewhat chronological (but not strictly so), somewhat geographical, yet more arranged to tell the story with the most effect. With such telling, the reader, both Theophilus and us today, could know the exact truth of what was taught by the first disciples.
We are left, not with a subjective ‘WWJD’ (what would Jesus do) thinking, but an authoritative WDJD and WDJS writing (what-DID-Jesus-DO and what-DID-Jesus-SAY). Whatever one might think Jesus ‘would do’ today, must be firmly based upon what He DID do and say. Such can only be found within such authoritative writings as Luke-Acts and the other New Testament gospels and letters. With the assurance that Luke did his job well, we can ‘let the words of Christ dwell in us richly’ (Col. 3:16). With the assurance2 that Luke did his job well, we may know (NASB), have certainty (ESV), and know assuredly (KJV) what was known, believed, and taught concerning Jesus.
Then, as Paul said: “Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8). IF God can (and did) raise Jesus, then inspiring the writers of the NT is not only possible but assured (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Eph. 3:3-5).
Hugh DeLong
1 Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT: Luke, Darrell Bock, Logos Edition
2 The word for ‘assurance’ is also used by Luke in Acts 2:36 (know assuredly), 21:34 (find out the facts), 22:30 (know for certain), and 25:26 (negatively – ‘nothing definite’).
