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Scripture Reading: Luke 1:1-4
With this message we begin the Life-study of the Gospel of Luke. Apparently, this Gospel is quite simple. It may seem that the Gospel of Luke is not as profound as the Gospel of Matthew or as mysterious as the Gospel of John. The reason for this is that Luke gives us a record of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, as a Man. A man, of course, is not profound when compared to God.
Although the Gospel of Luke is not the most profound or mysterious of the four Gospels, it is the most sweet and pleasant of the Gospels. Yes, God is profound. But when He became a man, He became sweet and pleasant.
In Matthew we see the King; in Mark, the Slave; and in John, God Himself. In Luke we see the Man. Luke’s narration concerning the Lord Jesus as the Man-Savior is very sweet and pleasant. Both the narrative and the narration itself are sweet and pleasant.
Luke 1:1-2 say, “Seeing that many have undertaken to draw up a narrative concerning the matters which have been fully accomplished among us, even as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning became eyewitnesses and attendants of the Word.” The word “many” in verse 1 indicates that there were more than four who wrote an account of the Savior’s earthly life. The “matters” in this verse are the events of John the Baptist’s birth, ministry, and martyrdom, and of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, teaching, death, resurrection, and ascension for the accomplishment of God’s redemption to save sinners by grace.
Verse 2 indicates that the writer of this Gospel was not among those disciples who were with the Savior in His earthly life. By “those who from the beginning became eyewitnesses and attendants of the Word,” Luke denotes the first group of New Testament believers, who were with the Savior in His ministry on earth. They are called attendants of the Word. The Greek word rendered “attendants” means official servants, who attend or serve an officer or who have authority to carry out his orders. This word is used in Luke 4:20, Matthew 5:25, Mark 14:54, Acts 26:16, and 1 Corinthians 4:1. The Word in 1:2 is the Word of the gospel ministered and preached to people (Acts 6:4; 8:4).
Luke 1:3-4 say, “It seemed good to me also, having followed all things accurately from the first, to write to you a consecutive account, most excellent Theophilus, that you might know fully the certainty of the things concerning which you were instructed.” Here Luke indicates that he is writing a consecutive account. This consecutive account concerns the life, ministry, and martyrdom of John the Baptist and the life, ministry, teaching, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the Man-Savior. This Gospel may be regarded as a biography of these two persons. Of course, the Gospel of Luke is mainly a biography of the Savior.
The early church recognized Luke as the author of both this Gospel and Acts. Luke’s authorship is evident from the style of composition of the two books. Luke was a Gentile (Col. 4:14, cf. 11), probably an Asiatic Greek, and a physician (Col. 4:14). Starting in Troas, he joined Paul in his ministry and accompanied him in his last three ministry journeys (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5—21:18; 27:1—28:15). He was a faithful companion of Paul until Paul was martyred (Philem. 1:24; 2 Tim. 4:11). Hence, his Gospel should represent Paul’s views, as Mark’s represents Peter’s.
We know from Luke 1:3-4 that this Gospel was written to Theophilus. This is a Greek name meaning loved by God, or friend of God. Theophilus was probably a Gentile believer who occupied some official position under the Roman Empire. Hence, this Gospel was written by a Gentile physician to a Gentile officer.
Because Luke’s Gospel is one of the synoptic Gospels concerning the Savior’s humanity, its purpose is to present the Savior as a genuine, normal, and perfect Man, revealing God among men in His saving grace to fallen mankind. It narrates a complete genealogy of the Man Jesus, from His parents back to Adam, the first generation of mankind. This shows that He is a genuine descendant of man — a son of man. Its record of this Man’s life impresses us with the completeness and perfection of His humanity. Hence, its emphasis is the Man-Savior. It presents, based upon the moral principles which apply to all men, gospel messages as in 4:16-21; 7:41-43; 12:14-21; and 13:2-5; gospel parables as in 10:30-37; 14:16-24; 15:3-32; and 18:9-14; and gospel cases as in 7:36-50; 13:10-17; 16:19-31; 19:1-10; and 23:39-43; these are not recorded in the other Gospels. Luke does not stress the dispensational aspect or the Jewish background as Matthew does. The Gospel of Luke is the Gospel written to mankind in general, announcing the good news to all people (2:10). Its characteristic is absolutely not Jewish, but Gentile (4:25-28). It is a Gospel to all sinners, both Jews and Gentiles. As such, its record is according to the sequence of morality, not according to the sequence of historical events.
The subject of the Gospel of Luke is marvelous: the Man-Savior and His salvation in the highest standard of morality. Here we have the Man-Savior, His salvation, and the highest standard of morality. I believe that most readers of this Gospel would realize that this book speaks of a Man who is our Savior. Hence, we may call Him the Man-Savior. Also, it is rather easy to realize that this book shows us the Man-Savior’s salvation. However, not many readers of this Gospel realize that the Man-Savior and His salvation are both in the highest standard of morality.
When some hear that Luke presents the Man-Savior and His salvation in the highest standard of morality, they may say, “We can’t find the word ‘morality’ in this book. We do not even see the thought of morality.” Apparently, this may be the case. But if we search into the depths of this book, we shall see that it does convey the highest standard of morality. According to the Gospel of Luke, our Savior lives, behaves, and works in the highest standard of morality. Moreover, His salvation is carried out in the highest standard of morality. Therefore, we need to keep in mind that the subject of the Gospel of Luke is the Man-Savior and His salvation in the highest standard of morality.
We need to see that the Lord Jesus is the Man-Savior. As the Man-Savior, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence. Unlike other biographies, Luke records the conception of the one whose life he records. Other biographies may speak of a person’s birth, but not his conception. In this matter, Luke is unique. He tells us how the Man-Savior was conceived. He was not conceived of a man; rather, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence.
The Holy Spirit is God Himself reaching man. This means that when God reaches man, He is the Holy Spirit. With the conceiving of the Man-Savior, the Holy Spirit came into humanity.
We have pointed out that the Man-Savior was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence. Here we are using the word “essence” in a strong sense to denote something even more intrinsic than nature. The essence is the intrinsic constituent of a certain substance. The Man-Savior was conceived of the Holy Spirit not only with the divine nature but with the divine essence. It is extremely important that we see this matter.
The Man-Savior was born of a human virgin with the human essence. In 1:27 and 31 we see that a virgin named Mary conceived in her womb and bore a Son whose name was Jesus.
Because the Man-Savior was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence and was born of a human virgin with the human essence, He has two essences, the divine and the human. With Him there is the mingling of the divine essence with the human essence.
In contrast to the Man-Savior, we have only one essence, the human essence, for we were conceived of man and born of woman. Our Savior is different, for He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a human virgin. With the Holy Spirit there is the divine essence, and with the human virgin there is the human essence.
The Lord’s two essences were not merely added together; they were mingled together. Actually, any conceiving is a mingling, not merely an addition. With the Man-Savior it was not the case that the divine essence was simply added to the human essence. Rather, in the conception of the Man-Savior the divine essence and the human essence were mingled.
Some Bible students and even some Bible teachers have failed to understand the matter of mingling. In ancient times there was a debate regarding the mingling of the divine essence and the human essence in the Person of the Lord Jesus. Some who misunderstood this mingling said that it caused a third nature to be produced, something which is neither divine nor human. To say that with respect to the Lord Jesus the mingling of the divine essence and the human essence produced a third nature, a nature that is neither fully human nor divine, is heretical. However, we wish to make it clear that this is not our understanding of the word “mingle.” We agree with the first definition of this word given in Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary: mingle — “to combine or join (one thing with another, or two or more things together), especially so that the original elements are distinguishable in the combination.” According to this definition, when two or more things are mingled together, their original natures are not lost but remain distinguishable.
We may use tea as an illustration of mingling. When tea is mingled with water to make a beverage, neither the essence of tea nor the essence of water is lost. Instead, both essences remain. These two essences mingle together to produce a beverage, but they do not produce a third nature, something which is neither tea nor water.
Our Savior was conceived of the divine essence and born of the human essence. Therefore, He is a Person with two essences — the divine and the human — mingled together without a third nature being produced. Although the Lord has two essences, He is still a single complete Person, One who is both God and man.
As the Man-Savior, the Lord Jesus possesses both the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues. The divine attributes are related to what God is and has. We cannot speak exhaustively concerning the attributes of God. But we can say that the Lord Jesus possessed the nature of God with all the divine attributes.
I would call attention to the fact that here we are using “attributes” in relation to God and “virtues” in relation to man. Because the Lord Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit with the divine essence, He possesses the divine nature with the divine attributes. Because He was born of a human virgin with the human essence, He possesses the human virtues. Therefore, while He was on earth, He lived a life that was both human and divine. He was a Man living a human life, but in that human life the divine attributes were expressed.
In the Gospel of John we see God expressing Himself in man. According to John 1:1 and 14, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, and this Word, which is God, became flesh. God became flesh to live a life expressing Himself in humanity. In the Gospel of John the emphasis is on God expressing Himself in man. But in Luke the emphasis is on a Man living a life to express God. It seems that these two matters are very similar; yet there is a difference. John emphasizes God’s side, and Luke emphasizes man’s side. In John we see God expressing Himself in humanity; in Luke we see a Man expressing God in His human living. As this Man lived on earth, in His living God’s attributes were expressed.
We know that our Savior has both the divine essence and the human essence. However, in possessing the human essence He does not have anything related to man’s fallen nature. According to John 1:14, God became flesh. But from Paul’s word in Romans 8:3 we see that the Lord was in the likeness of the flesh of sin. This indicates that He was born with all the human virtues created by God, but with Him there was only the likeness of the flesh of sin.
As those who are fallen, we cannot realize how sweet and how pleasant was the man created by God. Imagine how sweet and pleasant Adam and Eve were before the fall. They had all the human virtues created by God. But due to the fall, these virtues were spoiled.
When the Lord Jesus was born of a human virgin with the human essence, He possessed the human virtues. However, the human essence of the Lord Jesus did not include man’s fallen nature. His human essence was that created by God. He had the appearance of fallen mankind, the likeness of the flesh of sin, but His human essence, as that created by God, was pure, sweet, and pleasant.
The makeup of the Man-Savior’s being, His constitution, is a composition of the divine attributes and the human virtues. How marvelous that there could be One in this universe with such a composition! In the Man-Savior man and God, God and man, are mingled to form a composition full of the divine attributes and the human virtues.
We need to have this view of the Man-Savior as we read the Gospel of Luke. In the early years I did not have such a view of the Gospel of Luke. But eventually the Lord opened my eyes and I began to see that in Luke’s narration we have One who is a composition of God and man. This understanding has been confirmed by the writings of others.
In the Gospel of Luke we see the God-man, a Person who is the mingling of divinity with humanity. In this Person we see all the attributes of God and all the human virtues.
If we read the Gospel of Luke carefully, we shall see that the divine attributes strengthen and enrich the human virtues. For example, the Bible clearly reveals that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that God loves (John 3:16). The Bible also says that as those created by God, we should love others (Rom. 13:9). God loves, and we also should love. However, we may love without having God’s love to strengthen and enrich our love. Confucius said that we should love others. But he did not point out that human love can be strengthened and enriched by the divine love. In Luke we see a Man, the Man-Savior, who was very loving. Yet in His love there is the divine love strengthening and enriching the human love.
The Lord’s living was the living of a Person who was a wonderful composition of divinity and humanity. As such a Person, the Lord was constituted of the divine attributes and the human virtues.
We have indicated that in the Gospel of Luke there are a number of gospel messages, gospel parables and gospel cases. If we get into the depths of Luke’s narration, we shall see that these three categories of things reveal that the living of the Lord Jesus on earth was fully strengthened and enriched by the divine attributes. As a result, He lived in the highest standard of morality. In the following message we shall consider in more detail the meaning of the highest standard of morality portrayed in the Gospel of Luke.
