Who Wrote the Gospel of Luke?

The Gospel of Luke is technically anonymous. The idea that Luke is the author turns upon several converging lines of evidence.

The name “Luke” appears three times in the NT: 2Tm 4:11; Phm 24; Col 4:14. Luke was an associate of the apostle Paul and was a physician. In Col 4 he is mentioned separately from those “of the circumcision” (see 4:10-11). The tradition of the church holds that Luke was a Gentile.

The man who wrote the gospel also wrote the book of Acts (see Ac 1:1-3), and he was a traveling companion of Paul (see the “we” passages (Ac 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1–28:16). The account of the institution of the ordinance of communion (Lk 22:19, 20) is similar to Paul’s (1Co 11:23-25), supporting the traditional view of the author of the third gospel. He appears to have a special interest in Jesus’ healing ministry (compare Lk 4:38 to Mt 8:14 and Mk 1:30), and the language of Luke/Acts is that of someone educated and familiar with the Septuagint (the ancient Gk. translation of the Hebrew Scriptures). Of Paul’s coworkers Luke best fits the profile of the author of Luke/Acts.

Early church fathers such as Irenaeus (c. 185, Against Heresies, III.i.1); Tertullian (c. 200, Against Marcion, IV.ii); Origen (c. AD 230, in Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, IV.xxv.3-6); and Jerome (c. AD 400, De Viris Illustribus VIII) consistently attribute the third Gospel to Luke. The Muratorian Canon (c. AD 180) attributes “The third book of the gospel” to “Luke, that physician” (cf. Walter L. Leifeld, “Luke,” EBC, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984], 8:799; Darrell L. Bock, Luke: 1:1-9:50, BECNT [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1994], 5).