Who wrote the Gospel of Luke?
Short answer. The Gospel of Luke does not name its author. From the second century on, Christians across the Roman world agreed that it was written by Luke, a coworker of the apostle Paul whom Paul calls "the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). The same writer produced the Book of Acts. Luke was not one of the Twelve and did not know Jesus in person. He gathered what eyewitnesses had handed on and wrote it down in order.
The case rests on three kinds of evidence: what the Gospel says about its writer, what Acts adds, and what the early church remembered. None of them alone settles the question. Together they make Luke the best answer, and it is the answer most scholars still accept, even those who question other traditional authorships.
What the Gospel says about its author
Luke opens with a single, carefully built sentence:
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed. (Luke 1:1-4, NRSV)
The writer tells us four things. He was not an eyewitness himself; he received the story from those who were. He knew of other written accounts. He researched everything from the beginning. And he wrote for a particular reader, Theophilus, so that he could be sure of what he had been taught. The polished Greek of that sentence matches the prefaces of ancient historians. This is an educated writer doing careful work.
Luke and Acts: one author, two volumes
Acts opens, "In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning" (Acts 1:1). Same reader, same writer, and a story that continues where the Gospel ends, with the ascension of Jesus. See Acts as the Second Volume of Luke and Who Wrote the Book of Acts?
Acts also holds the strongest clue in the text. In four passages, the narrator stops saying "they" and starts saying "we": Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; and 27:1 to 28:16. The writer seems to have traveled with Paul for parts of his journeys, including the voyage to Rome (see Paul's Missionary Journeys in Acts). That rules out most of Paul's known companions, who are named in the third person in those same scenes. Luke fits. He is with Paul in Rome in the letters too.
Luke the physician: what the Bible says
The Bible mentions Luke by name only three times, all in letters connected with Paul:
"Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you" (Colossians 4:14).
Luke is listed among Paul's "fellow workers" (Philemon 24).
"Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11), written as Paul faces the end of his life.
That is all Scripture tells us. Luke was a physician, a loyal coworker, and a friend who stayed when others left. Later tradition adds details, such as an origin in Syrian Antioch, but those come from writers well after the New Testament and cannot be confirmed. For Paul's side of the friendship, see Who Was Paul in the Bible?
Guardrail: the doctor's vocabulary. Many books say Luke's medical words prove he was a physician. He does describe a "high fever" (Luke 4:38) and names a man's illness as dropsy (Luke 14:2). In 1882 W. K. Hobart argued the whole case from such terms. In 1926 Henry Cadbury showed that educated Greek writers who were not doctors used the same words. The vocabulary fits a physician but does not prove one. Rest the point on Colossians 4:14. See Jesus Heals Peter's Mother-in-Law and Healing of a Man with Dropsy.
What the early church said
The early witnesses come from Gaul, Rome, North Africa, and Egypt. They do not argue for Luke; instead, they assume him to be the author.
| When | Witness | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| About AD 140 | Marcion | Uses a shortened form of Luke with no author's name; later critics object |
| About AD 180 | Irenaeus of Lyons | "Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the gospel preached by him" |
| Late second century (debated) | Muratorian Fragment | Lists the third gospel "according to Luke" and calls Luke a physician |
| Late second to early third century (debated) | Papyrus 75 | Among the oldest copies of Luke; its ending carries the title "Gospel according to Luke" |
| Early third century | Tertullian of Carthage | Defends Luke's authorship against Marcion's nameless version |
The most persuasive fact is the one no one argued about. Luke was not an apostle. He was not an eyewitness. If the church had wanted to invent an author to give the book weight, it would have chosen Peter or John. Later writings that wanted authority did exactly that. The name Luke stuck because it was remembered, not because it was useful.
Why it is called "The Gospel according to Luke"
The title on the oldest manuscripts reads euangelion kata Loukan, "the gospel according to Luke." Each word carries meaning.
Gospel means "good news." In the Roman world the word announced a victory or the birth of a ruler. Luke knows it. He names Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1), then has an angel tell shepherds, "I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people" (Luke 2:10), naming the child "a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:11). Read the scene in Angels, Shepherds, and Jesus Born in Bethlehem.
According to means the church believed in one gospel told by four witnesses. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John do not own four gospels; each tells the one good news as he received it. See What Are the Gospels in the Bible?
Luke was added as copies passed between churches. Once a congregation owned more than one Gospel, it needed names to tell them apart. Marcion's nameless edition of Luke made the names matter even more.
Common questions about Luke's authorship
Was Luke an eyewitness of Jesus? No. Luke 1:2 sets him apart from those who were eyewitnesses "from the beginning." He depended on their testimony and his own research.
Was Luke a Gentile? Probably. In Colossians 4:10-14 Paul names three coworkers as "the only ones of the circumcision," then greets others, including Luke, separately. Most readers take that to mean Luke was a Gentile. Some scholars think he may have been a Greek-speaking Jew. Either way, he wrote with care for readers new to Israel's story. See Who Was Luke's Audience?
Why does Luke never say "rabbi"? Mark and Matthew sometimes keep Aramaic words like rabbi. Luke never uses it. He prefers "Master" or "Teacher," words his Greek-speaking readers knew. The same habit shows up in his genealogy, which runs back past Abraham to Adam (Luke 3:23-38). Compare Genealogies in the Bible and Jesus' Genealogy in Matthew.
When did Luke write? Many scholars date Luke and Acts around AD 80 to 90. Others argue for the early 60s, since Acts ends with Paul still under house arrest in Rome. See When Was Luke Written? and When Was Acts Written?
Who wrote the other Gospels? See Who Wrote Matthew?, Who Wrote Mark? and Who Wrote John?
Pastor's heads-up: We owe a debt of gratitude for the early believers who spent time and resources organizing the life and teachings of Jesus. They wanted to ensure people under their pastoral care knew the good news and that the story of the first eyewitnesses was preserved. Now, thousands of years later, we can read those words with the same confidence Theophilus would have.
Keep reading in Luke
Sources
Henry J. Cadbury, The Style and Literary Method of Luke (Harvard University Press, 1920), and "Lexical Notes on Luke-Acts II: Recent Arguments for Medical Language," Journal of Biblical Literature 45 (1926).
Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1997). [affiliate link]
John Nolland, Luke 1:1-9:20, Word Biblical Commentary 35A (Word Books, 1989).
Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.1.1.
Tertullian, Against Marcion 4.2.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.
