Gospel of Luke

Part of a series on
Books of the New Testament
Papyrus 46, one of the oldest New Testament papyri, showing 2 Cor 11:33–12:9
Gospels and Acts Four Evangelists Matthew Mark Luke John Lukan Acts Acts of the Apostles
Epistles and Apocalypse Pauline epistles Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews Catholic epistles James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Apocalypse Book of Revelation
Authorship Luke-Acts Johannine works Pauline epistles Hebrews Petrine epistles
Related topics New Testament canon New Testament manuscripts Synoptic Gospels Johannine literature (epistles) Pastoral epistles
Bible portal Christianity portal
v t e

The Gospel of Luke^[a] is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.^[4] Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts,^[5] accounting for 27.5% of the New Testament.^[6] The combined work divides the history of first-century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first two of these – the life of Jesus the messiah (Christ) from his birth to the beginning of his mission in the meeting with John the Baptist, followed by his ministry with events such as the Sermon on the Plain and its Beatitudes, and his Passion, death, and resurrection.^{[citation needed]}

Most modern scholars agree that the main sources used for Luke were (1) the Gospel of Mark; (2) a hypothetical collection of sayings, called the Q source; and (3) material found in no other gospels, often called the L (for Luke) source, though alternative hypotheses that posit the direct use of Matthew by Luke or vice versa without Q are increasing in popularity within scholarship.^[7][8][9] If and to what extent the author made own amendments is unclear. The author is anonymous;^[10] the traditional view that Luke the Evangelist was the companion of Paul is still occasionally put forward, but the scholarly consensus emphasises the many contradictions between Acts and the authentic Pauline letters (the view that the author, not necessarily Luke, met Paul is more common, perhaps including most scholars).^[11][12][13] The most common dating for its composition is around AD 80–90 and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century.^[14][15]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).