Asbury Bible Commentary – I. Authorship, Date, Place of Origin, and Destination
Resources chevron-right Asbury Bible Commentary chevron-right I. Authorship, Date, Place of Origin, and Destination
I. Authorship, Date, Place of Origin, and Destination

I. Authorship, Date, Place of Origin, and Destination

This gospel is the first part of a two-volume work; the second half is the Acts of the Apostles. The author of these two writings is traditionally supposed to have been Luke the physician, a companion of Paul (Col 4:14; Phm 24). Some scholars reject this tradition. But since Luke was not an apostle, these writings are unlikely to have been ascribed to him, unless he actually was the author.

The date of the two books is a matter for dispute. Since Acts does not record the death of Paul or of James the brother of Jesus, some scholars date them in a.d. 62 or earlier, before these events took place. But most date the books in the seventies, eighties, or nineties, on the assumption that Luke made use of Mark’s gospel.

It has been suggested that either Rome or Greece was the place of origin of Luke’s gospel and that Antioch or Rome was its destination. There is, however, little evidence in support of these conjectures.