Luke's Gospel - part 1

About Luke's Gospel

Luke was a doctor who was a disciple of Jesus. He was probably not Jewish . He wrote this book some time between the years AD 59 and AD 80. Some people think that he wrote it in the city called Rome. He wrote it for a friend called Theophilus who was an important person.

Luke also wrote the book for other disciples of Jesus so that they would know Jesus better. Then they could answer questions when people asked them about him. Many people had wrong ideas about Jesus. Luke wanted people to know what was true.

Luke tells us the good news about the kingdom of God . That means that God wants to rule in the lives of his people. Those people may be Jewish or they may be Gentiles (not Jewish ). Luke tells us about Jesus' birth. He also tells us about his life and his death. Luke explains to us why Jesus came to the world and what he did during his life here. Then he tells us how he went back to heaven to live with his Father God again. At the end, Luke explains to us about God's gift of his Holy Spirit .

Jesus had told people a message that was good news. Now Jesus wanted his disciples to tell that message to everyone in the world. Luke wanted everyone to know what Jesus said and what he did.

The Gospel of Luke is in four parts:

1. What happened before Jesus started his work (1:1—4:13).

2. What happened when Jesus was working in Galilee (4:14—9:50).

3. What happened when Jesus was working in Judea and Perea (9:51—19:27).

4. What happened in Jerusalem in the last week of Jesus' life (19:28—24:53).

Galilee, Judea and Perea were regions of the country that is called Israel . Jerusalem was the capital city of Israel at that time.