Luke 1

Luke 1
← Mark 16
The beginning of the Gospel of Luke (chapter 1:1-7a), folio 102 in Minuscule 481, made in 10th century.
BookGospel of Luke
CategoryGospel
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part3

Luke 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. With 80 verses, it is one of the longest chapters in the New Testament. This chapter describes the birth of John the Baptist and the events leading up to the birth of Jesus.[1] Two canticles, the canticle of Mary (the Magnificat) and the canticle of Zechariah (the Benedictus), are both contained within this chapter. The unnamed author of Luke names its recipient, Theophilus, who is most likely a real (but unknown) person,[2] but the term could simply mean a fellow believer, since theo philus is Greek for God lover.[3] Early Christian tradition uniformly affirms that Luke composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles,[4] the companion volume to Luke, which is addressed to Theophilus in the same way.[5] The title "The Gospel of Luke", found in many Bibles and some manuscripts, was added later with no indication that it was originally part of the text.

  1. ^ Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.
  2. ^ Franklin, E., 58. Luke in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary Archived 2017-11-22 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 926-7
  3. ^ Marshall, I. Howard (1978). NIGTC: The Gospel of Luke. Paternoster Press; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. pp. 43–44. ISBN 0-8028-3512-0.
  4. ^ Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
  5. ^ Acts 1:1