Luke was a Gentile physician and disciple of Paul who accompanied the Apostle on many of his missionary trips. Luke made it plain at the beginning of his gospel of the life of Jesus that he never knew Jesus personally but had interviewed those who did know Jesus, like Paul, and he investigated all the evidence available and his gospel is an accurate account of the truth. Luke heard the preaching of Paul everywhere Paul went and wanted to preserve what the Apostle taught. Luke also wrote the book of Acts which was about the activities of the early church. As a believer and disciple of Jesus Luke also preached the gospel message to the nations and was preaching in Greece when he was martyred by hanging.
As a Gentile, Luke wrote his gospel for them and in Greek. There is a dispute about whether Luke or Matthew was the second gospel to be written but they were written about the same time. The consensus is Luke was written in 64 AD, give or take a year or two. The Encyclopedia of the Bible say 60-85 AD, Nelson’s Bible Facts says 58-63 AD, and the Bible Handbook says 60-61 AD. Luke is the fullest and most well-rounded account of the life of Jesus Christ and 60% of the material in this gospel is not found in the other gospels. Luke focuses on the humanity of Jesus and has more information on the birth, youth and ministry of Jesus. Luke stresses Jesus was the perfect human who rose from the dead to save sinners. Luke focuses on the humanity of Jesus.
Luke stresses that Jesus, as Savior, brought people back to God and out of their sins. Even thought Jesus died unjustly, God still worked His salvation plan for man. Luke highlights the fact that Jesus came first to save the Jews, as heirs of God’s promise. When Jesus was rejected He took salvation to the Gentiles. Luke’s gospel begins and ends in Jerusalem with the focus on the final journey of Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem. Luke contains the only ascension story in the gospels. Luke alone contains such well-known Bible stories as the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the death of Lazarus and hades, the Pharisee and the tax collector and Zacchaeus along with other resurrection stories. Luke was with the Apostle Paul when Paul was imprisoned in Rome and Luke wrote his gospel there around the time Paul was beheaded by the Roman Emperor Nero.