A Short Introduction to the Gospels Author:Ernest De Witt Burton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 1. The Author's Preface In dealing with the gospel of Luke we have an advantage, which we do not possess in the c... more »ase of either Matthew or Mark, that the author opens his book with a preface which is rich in information concerning the literary and historical situation out of which the book arose: Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, even as they delivered them unto us which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou might- est know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed. Postponing to a later chapter the fuller discussion of the significance of the preface in its bearing upon the general problem of the origin of our gospels, we may notice here its clear indication that this gospel was by no means the earliest attempt to publish a narrative of the life of Jesus. When the author wrote, not only was that life the subject of instruction in the church (vs. 4), but many persons had already undertaken to compose a narrative of its events (vs. 1). The author of this gospel, while recognizing the value of these efforts, conceives also that they leave something still to be desired, and writes, after careful investigation, that the reader, already instructed in the facts of the life of Jesus, may have certain knowledge of these things wherein he had received instruction. It is evident, not only that the statements of this preface have a direct bearing upon the question for whom and with what purpose the gospel was written, but that its distinct intimat...« less