The original Tyndale Commentaries aimed at providing help for the general reader of the Bible. They concentrated on the meaning of the text without going into scholarly technicalities. They sought to avoid ‘the extremes of being unduly technical or unhelpfully brief ’. Most who have used the books agree that there has been a fair measure of success in reaching that aim.

Times, however, change. A series that has served so well for so long is perhaps not quite as relevant as it was when it was first launched. New knowledge has come to light. The discussion of critical questions has moved on. Bible-reading habits have changed. When the original series was commenced it could be presumed that most readers used the Authorized Version and one’s comments were made accordingly, but this situation no longer obtains.

The decision to revise and up-date the whole series was not reached lightly, but in the end it was thought that this is what is required in the present situation. There are new needs, and they will be better served by new books or by a thorough up-dating of the old books. The aims of the original series remain. The new commentaries are neither minuscule nor unduly long. They are exegetical rather than homiletic. They do not discuss all the critical questions, but none is written without an awareness of the problems that engage the attention of New Testament scholars. Where it is felt that formal consideration should be given to such questions, they are discussed in the Introduction and sometimes in Additional Notes.

But the main thrust of these commentaries is not critical. These books are written to help the non-technical reader understand his Bible better. They do not presume a knowledge of Greek, and all Greek words discussed are transliterated; but the authors have the Greek text before them and their comments are made on the basis of what the originals say. The authors are free to choose their own modern translation, but are asked to bear in mind the variety of translations in current use.

The new series of Tyndale Commentaries goes forth, as the former series did, in the hope that God will graciously use these books to help the general reader to understand as fully and clearly as possible the meaning of the New Testament.

Leon Morris

Author’s preface

In revising this commentary I have gone through the text, updating it where that seemed advisable. Since the first edition discussion on Luke has not stood still; some fine books have appeared, notably the commentaries by Marshall and Fitzmyer. I have profited greatly from these works and am glad of the opportunity of making use of them in the preparation of this revision. There are no major alterations, but I have made many small changes in wording, some of which, I think, make the meaning clearer, while others embody additional information.

Perhaps I ought to make it clear that this commentary is intended simply to help non-technical readers understand what Luke has written. When it first appeared, some reviewers complained that I had not dealt sufficiently with form criticism, or with the changes Luke made as he handled his sources, or with questions of historicity. I should make it clear that this commentary was never intended to deal with such questions. Those who were kind enough to invite me to write it did, it is true, ask me to deal in the Introduction with some critical questions which had not been dealt with in the commentaries on the other Synoptic Gospels, notably the Synoptic Problem. The Introduction accordingly was perhaps a mite involved. But apart from that I was simply to bring out the meaning for non-technical readers and this I tried to do. Detailed discussions of form criticism, redaction criticism, historicity, and other delights were not in my brief. This is not a long book and it is not possible to handle everything. I have tried consistently to answer the question: ‘What do these words mean?’ I have been concerned with the meaning of what is before us, not how it came to be written as it is. I know that the questions I have left unanswered are important. But to deal with them would have meant a different kind of commentary (and a much longer one).

Leon Morris

Chief abbreviations

ANF

The Ante-Nicene Fathers (American reprint of the Edinburgh edition), n. d.

Arndt

William F. Arndt, The Gospel According to St. Luke, Bible Commentary (Concordia, 1956).

Authorized (King James) Version, 1611.

BAGD

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (trans. of W. Bauer, Griechisch-Deutsch Wörterbuch), translated and adapted by William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich; second edition revised and augmented by F. Wilbur Gingrich and F. W. Danker (University of Chicago Press, 1979).

Barclay

William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, The Daily Study Bible (Saint Andrew Press, 1967).

Bengel

John Albert Bengel, The Gnomon of the New Testament, translated, revised and edited by Andrew R. Fausset (T. and T. Clark, 1873).

BJRL

Bulletin of the John Rylands Library.

Blaiklock

E. M. Blaiklock, St. Luke, Bible Study Books (Scripture Union, 1967).

Browning

W. R. F. Browning, The Gospel According to Saint Luke, Torch Bible Commentaries (SCM Press, 1965).

Bible Studies by Adolf Deissmann (T. and T. Clark, 1901).

Caird

G. B. Caird, Saint Luke, Pelican Gospel Commentaries (Pelican, 1963).

CBQ

The Catholic Biblical Quarterly.

Creed

John Martin Creed, The Gospel According to St Luke (Macmillan, 1950).

Ellis

E. Earle Ellis, The Gospel of Luke, The Century Bible, new series (Nelson, 1966).

The Expository Times.

Farrar

F. W. Farrar, The Gospel According to St Luke, The Cambridge Greek Testament (Cambridge University Press, 1893).

Fitzmyer

Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke, The Anchor Bible, 2 vols. (Doubleday, 1981).

Ford

D. W. Cleverley Ford, A Reading of Saint Luke’s Gospel (Hodder and Stoughton, 1967).

Geldenhuys

Norval Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1951).

GNB

Good News Bible: Old Testament, 1976; New Testament, ⁴1976.

Godet

A Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke by F. Godet, 2 vols. (T. and T. Clark, 1889).

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, being Grimm’s Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, translated, revised and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer (T. and T. Clark, 1888).

Harrington

Wilfrid J. Harrington, The Gospel According to St Luke (Geoffrey Chapman, 1968).

HDAC

Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, edited by James Hastings, 2 vols. (1915–18).

The Jerusalem Bible, 1966.

JBL

The Journal of Biblical Literature.

JTS

The Journal of Theological Studies.

Leaney

A. R. C. Leaney, A Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Luke, Black’s New Testament Commentaries (A. and C. Black, 1966).

Lenski

R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St Luke’s Gospel (Augsburg, 1961).

LSJ

A Greek-English Lexicon, compiled by H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, new edition revised by H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie, 2 vols. (Oxford University Press, ⁹1940).

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim, 2 vols. (1890: Pickering and Inglis, 1959).

LXX

The Septuagint (pre-Christian Greek version of the Old Testament).

Maddox

Robert Maddox, The Purpose of Luke-Acts (T. and T. Clark, 1982).

Manson

William Manson, The Gospel of Luke, Moffatt New Testament Commentary (Hodder and Stoughton, 1937).

Marshall

I. H. Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Paternoster, 1978).

Melinsky

Hugh Melinsky, Luke, Modern Reader’s Guide to the Gospels (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1966).

mg.

margin.

Miller

D. G. Miller, Saint Luke, Layman’s Bible Commentaries (SCM Press, 1966).

James Hope Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder and Stoughton, 1914–29).

Moorman

John R. H. Moorman, The Path to Glory (SPCK, 1963).

Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Luke (Fleming H. Revell, n.d.).

MS(S)

manuscript(s).

NBD

The New Bible Dictionary, edited by J. D. Douglas et al. (Inter-Varsity Press, ²1982).

NEB

The New English Bible: Old Testament, 1970; New Testament, ²1970.

NIV

The New International Version: Old Testament, 1978; New Testament, ²1978.

NTS

New Testament Studies.

Plummer

Alfred Plummer, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to S. Luke, International Critical Commentary (T. and T. Clark, 1928).

Richardson

Neil Richardson, The Panorama of Luke (Epworth Press, 1982).

RSV

Revised Standard Version: Old Testament, 1952; New Testament, ²1971.

Revised Version, 1884.

Ryle

John Charles Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels; St. Luke, 2 vols. (1856: James Clark and Co., 1969).

SE1

Studia Evangelica, vol. i, edited by K. Aland et al. (Akademie-Verlag, 1959).

SE4

Studia Evangelica, vol. iv, edited by F. L. Cross (Akademie-Verlag, 1968).

Herman L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, Kommentar zum neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, 6 vols. (C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1922–56).

Schweizer

Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Luke (SPCK, 1984).

The Sayings of Jesus, by T. W. Manson, 1949.

SLA

Studies in Luke-Acts, edited by Leander E. Keck and J. Louis Martyn (SPCK, 1966).

Talbert

Charles H. Talbert, Reading Luke (Crossroad, 1984).

TDNT

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, a translation by Geoffrey W. Bromiley of Theologisches Wörterbuch zum neuen Testament, vols. 1–4 edited by G. Kittel, vols. 5–10 edited by G. Friedrich (Eerdmans, 1964–1976).

THB

A Translator’s Handbook on the Gospel of Luke by J. Reiling and J. L. Swellengrebel (E. J. Brill, 1971).

Thompson

G. H. P. Thompson, The Gospel According to Luke, New Clarendon Bible (Oxford University Press, 1972).

Tinsley

E. J. Tinsley, The Gospel According to Luke, Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge University Press, 1965).

TNTC

Tyndale New Testament Commentary.

Wilcock

Michael Wilcock, The Message of Luke (Inter-Varsity Press, 1979).

ZNW

Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft.

The following translations are cited by the translator’s surname: Goodspeed, Knox, Moffatt, Phillips, Rieu. Philo and Josephus are cited from the Loeb edition, the Mishnah from Danby’s translation and the Talmud and Midrash from the Soncino translation.

Introduction

Until comparatively recently very little attention seems to have been paid to the remarkable fact that Luke is the only one of the four Evangelists to write a sequel to his Gospel.1 Why did he do it? The other three wrote books which concentrated on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Evidently they felt that this story could stand by itself. It needed no supplement. But Luke wrote Acts. Why?

His second volume, of course, takes us on into the history of the early church. It tells us of those first days in Jerusalem and of the way the preachers went abroad with the gospel, Peter and John, Stephen the martyr, Philip and others, but especially Paul and his helpers.

The great thought Luke is expressing is surely that God is working out his purpose.2 This purpose is seen clearly in the life and work of Jesus, but it did not finish with the earthly ministry of Jesus. It carried right on into the life and witness of the church. The church does not represent a new, completely unrelated act of God. Luke seems to be saying that the work of Jesus led, and in the plan of God was meant to lead, to the life of the church. Some writers like to bring this out by speaking of Luke’s theme as ‘salvation history’, or by drawing attention to the promise and fulfilment motif.3

Luke sees this divine purpose as intimately bound up with the love and the mercy of God. A feature of this Gospel is the way God’s love is portrayed as active in a variety of ways and among a variety of people. This is not an occasional theme, but one which runs through the whole writing. As A. H. McNeile put it, whereas in Matthew the keynote may be said to be royalty, and in Mark power, in Luke it is love.4 It is perhaps this that gives to the Third Gospel its peculiar attractiveness. The writer was obviously a man of culture, with an appreciation of the beautiful, and he could write well. But it is not any or all of these that accounts for the beauty of this writing. Rather it is the way the love of God shines through in parable and saying and story of Jesus.5

Luke’s theme is a grand one and he treats it at some length. His Gospel is the longest of the four, and when Acts is added he has written more of the New Testament than any other single writer. Clearly a study of his writings is important for the student of the New Testament.

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