Pages

Sunday 11 August 2013

Luke 1:1-4 - Based on truth

The introduction to Luke follows the classical Greek pattern of a historical work. This gospel is a serious attempt to give an accurate account of the events that happened around Jesus' life. Many others had also undertaken to write accounts, Luke wants to give an authoritative one. Luke's account is based on eyewitness reports of the events that happened, ie they saw the events first hand. This is in stark contrast to the Gnostic gospels (eg gospel of Thomas etc). Periodically there are ill founded news reports about hidden or suppressed "gospels", these were usually written many many years after the events, and read completely differently from the four gospels that we have. The gospels, indeed the Bible as a whole, is very different from the Koran. There is no comparison between the Bible and the Koran. 
Luke carried out an exhaustive and meticulous investigation. The inspiration of the Bible and human effort are not in contradiction to each other, but go hand in hand. 
Theophilus apparently was a believer, Luke wanted him to have a reliable account of what had happened so that he would know his faith was based on truth. This brings out a number of vital points. Faith is not, contrary to popular misconceptions, believing something despite the evidence. Faith is believing the consequences of the evidence. We also see that Theophilus had faith, then he sought to deepen that faith through a better understanding and appreciation of what it all meant. Faith does not require full understanding, it is faith in the person of Jesus Christ, but that does not mean that we do not seek to deepen our understanding.

No comments:

Post a Comment