Matthew

Luke

LeRoy Eims

The special emphasis of Luke is the humanity of Jesus. Like the other gospel writers, he shows us Jesus as the Son of God, but he shows Him in His special concern for the weak, the suffering, the outcast. Each of the gospels is intended for all mankind, but Matthew had in immediate view the Jews, Mark the Romans, and Luke the Greeks.

Jewish civilization had been built around the scriptures. Therefore Matthew by making abundant reference to the Old Testament, shows the kingly power and humble grace of Israel's Savior King. He stresses the divine kingship of Christ and this is the basis of Christ's offer of Himself to Israel to prepare them for His coming kingdom, when He shall reign forever and ever.

Roman civilization gloried in the idea of government and power. Therefore Mark calls particular attention to the miracles of Jesus manifesting His superhuman, spirit‑empowered service. He is the divine servant of God and therefore He gave His life as a ransom for many.

Greek civilization represents culture, philosophy, wisdom, reason, beauty and education. Therefore to appeal to the thoughtful, cultured, philosophical Greek mind, Luke depicts the glorious beauty, perfection, and tender compassion of Jesus, the ideal universal son of man.

Because Luke sets forth the perfect manhood of Christ, it is fitting that Jesus is seen in complete dependence upon His Father in heaven. Therefore you will find Him on His knees time and time again. He was praying at His baptism. “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus, also, being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased." (Luke 3:21,22).

He prayed in the midst of great popularity and a busy schedule. "But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed." (Luke 5:15,16).

He prayed all night before He chose His apostles. "He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples; and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles." (Luke 6:12,13).

He regularly spent time alone with His heavenly Father. "And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying, Who say the people that I am?" (Luke 9:18)

What a challenge to you and me to set our priorities straight and not miss the best because we are involved in too many good things!

Luke himself was a physician and a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. Paul refers to him as the beloved physician and fellow laborer. It is interesting to note that he wrote his gospel to one man. "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed." (Luke 1:1‑4)

A characteristic of the Greek of Luke's day was his universality. He could meet any man in the world and establish a rapport with him simply on a man-to-man basis. The Jews and Romans were by nature exclusive. The Jew could only have true fellowship with another Jew. The Roman was limited to another Roman who was born to a place in the Empire. The perfect Jew was a Pharisee who daily thanked God that he was not born a gentile. The perfect Roman was Caesar, but the Greeks could meet all the world on the common ground of the simple fact that we are all men.

Therefore we can understand why Luke, in giving the genealogy of Jesus, carries it back to Seth. Matthew, writing for the Jew in his genealogy stopped at Abraham, but Luke traces it to Adam. This left Jesus (in the mind of the Greek) not as the son of Abraham, but as the son of Adam, the son of man, and therefore the Savior of all mankind.

The Greek would demand a universal Savior who embraced all of humanity in His saving grace. Luke, the man of education, a Greek of Grecian culture and a learned physician, was the perfect choice of the Holy Spirit to write this book. Study it and get your heart blessed.