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 Papyrus 46, one of the oldestNew Testament papyri, showing 2 Cor 11:33–12:9 |
Luke–Acts is the composite work of theGospel according to Luke and theActs of the Apostles in theNew Testament. Both of these books of the Bible are credited toLuke. They also describe the narrative of those who continued to spread Christianity,ministry of Jesus and the subsequent ministry of theapostles and theApostolic Age.
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Both the books of Luke and Acts are narratives written to a man namedTheophilus.[1] The book of Acts starts out with: "The former treatise have I made", probably referring to the Gospel of Luke.[2] The view that they werewritten by the same person is virtually unanimous among scholars.[3] Luke–Acts has sometimes been presented as a single book in publishedBibles orNew Testaments, for example, inThe Original New Testament (1985)[4] andThe Books of the Bible (2007).
Luke is the longest of the four gospels and the longest book in the New Testament; together withActs of the Apostles it makes up a two-volume work from the same author, called Luke–Acts.[5] The cornerstone of Luke–Acts' theology is "salvation history", the author's understanding that God's purpose is seen in the way he has acted, and will continue to act, in history.[6]
It divides thehistory of first-century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first two of these – the arrival among men of Jesus theMessiah, from his birth to the beginning of his earthly mission in the meeting withJohn the Baptist followed by hisearthly ministry,Passion, death, and resurrection (concluding the gospel storyper se). The gospel's sources are thought to be theGospel of Mark (for the narrative of Christ's earthly life), the hypothetical sayings collection called theQ source (for his teachings), and a collection of material called theL (for Luke) source, which is found only in this gospel.[7]
The work isHellenized and written for agentile audience possibly, in part, to counter agnostic understanding of history.[8]Marcion, a famous 2nd-centuryheretic, who used a modified form of Luke known as theGospel of Marcion, did not use Acts, perhaps because he was unaware of it or intentionally excluded it from hisbiblical canon;Irenaeus, aproto-orthodox apologist, is the first to use and mention Acts, specifically againstMarcionism.
Some scholars note that there aretwo versions of Luke–Acts with the longer version 10–20 percent longer than the shorter version. Scholars disagree on which came first.[9]
