The Gospel of Luke was written, says its author, as an historical
account of the ministry of Jesus. Not only would it serve as the basis
for a sound faith on the part of professing Christians, but it would
also claim a place for Christianity in history. Christ's ministry, as
Luke shows, is realized prophecy; it is that time during which God's
promise of salvation was fulfilled. His teachings, healing, and acts of
compassion are all part of the good news. In Luke's Gospel, Christ's
message of salvation is directed to the weak, poor, and needy, with an
emphasis on the importance of self-denial and of whole-hearted
discipleship. Thus, while Luke is the most conscious historian of the
Gospel writers, his history is a vehicle of theological interpretation
in which the significance of Jesus is expressed.
In this commentary I. Howard Marshall calls attention to the theological
message of Luke the Evangelist. His primary purpose is to exegete the
text as it was written by Luke, so that the distinctiveness of Luke's
Gospel may be seen.
Basing his commentary on the third edition of The Greek New Testament,
Dr. Marshall also refers to many variant readings which are significant
in this study. He provides fairly full information on the meanings of
the Greek words used by Luke and shows which words and constructions
occur frequently and are therefore characteristic of his style. It is by
this meticulous analysis of the Greek that Luke's theological intentions
can be objectively determined.
