Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-09-21

| lessons Of the past quarter, it has
seemed best to give a preview of the
| lessons of the r1oxt six months, as
that might be more helpful. During
that period we are to study the life
of our Lord Jesus Christ as record
ed by the writer of the third gospel,
who we will show to have been
| Luke.
Why for Gospels?
We have said the third gospel"
that is not good expression; there
was mad is only one gospel, and that
| gospel is not a theory. nor a sys-
tenn of doctrine, but a person. Christ
is the gospel. There are four &C.
counts Of Him written for us-the
gospel, or the story of the life of
Jesus Christ, according to Matthew,
the gospel according to Mark, the
gospel according to Luke, the gospel
according to John. There is another
being read today-it is the gospel &C
cOrding to you.
Now these four men wrote the
story, each from his own viewpoint,
and with very definite purpose in
viwe. Matthew was a Jew, he had
been a publican, and when he was
converted, he swung away back to
his race; he was, therefore, particu-
larly interested in Jesus and His re-
lationship to the Jews. His account
of hte life Of Jesus, therefore, has a
very distinct. Jewish coloring. He
writes Of Jesus as the Messiah of
Prophecy. Mark came in very close
contact with the Romans; he knew
their admiration for action and for
| power; so as he writes of the life of
Jesus, he has the Romans in mind,
and presents those things in His life
that would particularly appeal to
the Romans. Luke, as we shall see,
was Greek physician, and wrote
with the Greeks in mind. They wor-
shipped man, and Luke presents
Jesus as the Perfect Man. While
John, who wrote many years later,
tells those things in the life and say
| ings of Jesus that prove that He
was the Sno Of God-not a son of
God like you and me, but the Son of
God, a unique personality-God
Himself, manifest in the flesh.
So, while there is only one gospel,
there are four presentations Of Him
the Messiah of God, the Servant
of God, the Son of man, and the
Son of God. During the next six
months we shall have the delightful
privilege Of studying this third view
of Him under the leadership of DR..
Luke.
The Author of the Third
For we shall find that the author
of the third gospel was a Greek ply
s1cian. He never mentions his name,
but we know that the author Of the
Acts is also the author, ofNthe for
mer treatise-this gospel. (See Acts
IL and Luke Ii ff) Both were
written by the same man to Theo,
philus, whose very name indicates
that he was a Greek who was a
lover Of God" The author of the
Acts was companion of Paul, as is
evidenced by the 1--WE" sections
(Acts 16, etc. He joined Paul at
Troas, Travelled as far with him as
Philippi, where he remained until
Paul came back through there on his
third missionary journey on his way
to Jerusalem, when he Joined him,
went to Jerusalem with him, and
continued with him until he reached
| Rome, and was with him during his
two years imprisonment there. We
know from Paul's letters who some
or his companions Were-Aristar-
, chus, Timothy, Demas, Luke, Titus,
! etc. The fact that in the Acts nei-
Their Luke nor Titus (who was his
brother) is mentioned, that no refer
ence is made to Paul's letters, and
yet that the whole book is stamped
with the influence of Paul makes it
probable that the author was Luke.
And when we know from Pa1lls let
tiers to the Colossians that Luke was
a physician (Col. 4:14 and see the
stamp of the physician on the book
! OF Acts, this probability becomes O
certainty. The terms used, Hobart
has shown, are technical terms used
by Galen and Hippocrates and the
other Greek physicians in their writ
1ngs; and, furthermore, these terms
are not used by any of the other
New Testament writer's. The author
OF the Acts-and, therefore, Of the
third gospel-has a very great in
terest in all diseases and is very &C.
curate in his description of them: he
looks at things from a medical
standpoint and uses medical terms
to describe them. Who but a physi-
clan would do this? This same is
true Of the gospel. Note Luke 1924,
81, "a, SO, Al, Al, 81; 2:5; 4:38; SAB,
"A; 1924 and scores of others.
Then who was Luke? Besides
being a Greek physician, he was a
native Of Philippi, who in the prac-
tice of his profession met Paul at
Troas; it was through his influence
that Paul came to Philippi as the
first place in Europe. He was con-
verified under Pauls ministry and be-
came later his constant companion,
going with him to Jerusalem, to
| Caesarea, and to Rome. 1t was
during the two years at Caesarea
| when he had nothing else to do that
he gathered the material and wrote
this gospel for his friend and patron,
| Theophilus. And later when he was
| in Rome with Paul during the
latter's imprisonment there that he
wrote the continuation of the story
| that book ends so abruptly.
Style and Purpose
This account by Luke then should
show several things-an accuracy
which Luke's training as a physician
would develop, literary style that
you might expect from an educated
man, an interest nj humanity that
a physician would have, and an
emphasis on those things in the
life Of Jesus as a man that would
appeal to people who thought much
of man. These are just the things
we do find. Many of Luke's state
ments have been questioned as to
their accuracy, but close study has
always demonstrated the most exact
truth of every statement he has
made-for example, as to the time
of Jesus birth and the governor
ship of Quirinus. 1t looked for a
time that Luke was wrong; but some
recent discoveries have shown that