Bible Reference > Bible Book Studies > Gospel of Luke
Quick answer. Luke addressed his Gospel to one man, Theophilus. He wrote it for a much wider circle: churches around the Mediterranean, many of them Gentile or mixed, made up of people who had already been taught about Jesus and wanted solid ground under that teaching. The clues are in the text, from a genealogy that runs back to Adam to a commission sent "to all nations."
Every Gospel writer had readers in mind. Luke is the only one who names his. That gives us a firm place to start and a harder question to finish: if the book has one name mentioned then how did the whole church end of reading it? To read more about other topics related to authorship and timing, see Who Wrote the Gospel of Luke? and When Was Luke Written?
Pastor’s heads up: Understanding who wrote the book and to whom they wrote helps you understand the intention. Theophilus wants to know that what they believe is verifiable. Luke’s intention to to get the facts, write them in an orderly account so that Theophilus’ concern can be addressed
Luke’s Audience Downloadable File HERE or Click through below.
A Gospel addressed to one reader
Luke opens with a single long sentence, the kind a Greek historian would put at the front of a serious work:
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)
Three things stand out. First, Theophilus has already been instructed. The Greek verb behind that word gives us our word catechism. Luke is not writing to a skeptic but to a learner. Second, Luke wants him to know the truth, or more literally, to have security about what he was taught. Third, Luke calls him "most excellent." Luke uses the same title for the Roman governors Felix (Acts 23:26) and Festus (Acts 26:25). That suggests rank or wealth, though John Nolland notes it can simply mark a person held in high regard.
Luke picks up the same address at the start of Acts (Acts 1:1). The two books are one project in two volumes, written to the same reader. See Acts as the Second Volume of Luke and Who Is Theophilus in the Bible?
Luke also makes another point. He lays out the chain of witness: the events happened, eyewitnesses carried the word, others wrote it down, and Luke has checked it all. Yet in Acts he never treats evidence as the thing that produces faith. When Lydia believes, it is because "the Lord opened her heart" (Acts 16:14). History gives faith its footing. The Spirit gives it life.
Guardrail: what we cannot know. We do not know who Theophilus was. Most scholars take him as a real person, perhaps a patron who helped copy and circulate Luke's work. His name means "friend of God," and some readers have heard in it an invitation to every such friend. Both readings are old, and neither is proven. Build nothing on the guess.
The churches that would hear it read
In the ancient world, a book dedicated to a patron was not a private letter. The dedication was a courtesy, and the patron often helped the book find its way to other readers. Luke's Gospel would have been read aloud in house churches, where most people heard Scripture rather than read it.
The prologue tells us something about those listeners. They already knew the story. "Many" had written accounts before Luke, and most scholars think Mark was one of them (see Why Are Matthew, Mark and Luke Called the Synoptic Gospels?). The first eyewitnesses were passing from the scene. A second or third generation of believers needed an orderly account they could trust.
Clues that Luke had Gentile readers in view
No single verse settles the question. Taken together, these details show a writer who expected many of his hearers to come from outside Judaism, or from its edges.
| Clue in the text | Where | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| The genealogy runs back to "Adam, son of God" | Luke 3:23-38 | Jesus belongs to the whole human family. Matthew begins with Abraham (Matthew 1:1-17). |
| Isaiah is quoted through to "all flesh shall see the salvation of God" | Luke 3:4-6 | Luke alone carries the quotation to its universal line. |
| Simeon calls Jesus "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" | Luke 2:32 | Gentiles are in the promise from the first chapters. |
| Jesus recalls the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian | Luke 4:25-27 | His first sermon points to God's care for outsiders. |
| A centurion's faith is praised above any in Israel | Luke 7:1-10 | A Gentile becomes a model of faith. |
| Events are dated by the Roman emperor and local rulers | Luke 3:1-2 | The story is set inside world history, not only Jewish history. |
| Passover is explained as "the festival of Unleavened Bread" | Luke 22:1 | A Jewish reader would not need the gloss. |
| Arimathea is called "a Jewish town" | Luke 23:51 | Again, a note for readers outside Judea. |
| "The Skull," with no Aramaic "Golgotha" | Luke 23:33 | Luke drops Semitic terms that Mark keeps (Mark 15:22). |
| Simon "the Zealot" for Mark's "Cananaean" | Luke 6:15 | Luke translates a term his readers would not know. |
| Repentance proclaimed "to all nations" | Luke 24:47 | The Gospel ends facing outward, and Acts 1:8 follows the road. |
The genealogy deserves a closer look. Matthew moves forward from Abraham to Jesus. Luke moves backward from Jesus, son by son, past Abraham, past Noah, to "Adam, son of God" (Luke 3:38). Justo González reads this as Luke's way of saying that in Jesus humanity begins again. Jesus is not only Israel's Messiah. He is the new head of the human family. Read more in Jesus' Genealogy and God's Grace (Luke 3:23-38).
The dating in Luke 3:1-2 works the same way. Luke names the fifteenth year of Tiberius, Pilate as governor of Judea, Herod as ruler of Galilee, Philip over Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias over Abilene, and the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. A Roman reader could place John the Baptist on a map and a calendar.
Guardrail: Gentile-friendly is not anti-Jewish. Luke's Gospel begins in the temple with a priest at the altar (Luke 1:8-9) and ends with the disciples praising God in the temple (Luke 24:53). Jesus is circumcised and presented according to the law (Luke 2:21-24, see Jesus Is Presented in the Temple). Luke's churches were most likely mixed: Jewish believers, Gentile converts, and "God-fearers," Gentiles who already worshiped Israel's God, like Cornelius (Acts 10:2). Luke writes to show that Israel's story has opened to the world, not that it has been left behind.
Readers who could follow a careful account
Luke writes the most polished Greek of the Gospels. His opening sentence is balanced and formal, and Nolland counts it among the finest-crafted sentences in the New Testament. Luke-Acts together make up roughly a quarter of the New Testament. This is a writer who expected readers, or at least a church reader, able to follow a long, orderly account.
Luke also writes for people under suspicion. Again and again, officials find Jesus innocent: Pilate says so three times (Luke 23:4, 14, 22), and a centurion says it at the cross (Luke 23:47). Acts repeats the pattern with Paul (Acts 26:31). For believers who were mistrusted or put on trial, Luke's account said plainly that their Lord was no criminal.
The poor, women, and people on the edge
Luke's churches held rich and poor together, and his Gospel speaks to both. Mary sings of the lowly lifted and the rich sent away empty (see Mary's Magnificat). Jesus pairs blessings on the poor with woes on the rich (see The Sermon on the Plain). Only Luke tells of the rich fool, the rich man and Lazarus, and Zacchaeus. If Theophilus was a man of means, he heard those stories too.
Women stand closer to the center in Luke than in any other Gospel. Elizabeth and Mary carry the opening chapters. Anna speaks of the child in the temple. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and many others support Jesus' ministry from their own resources (see The Women Who Followed Jesus). Mary of Bethany sits at Jesus' feet as a disciple (see Mary and Martha).
Outsiders get the same attention. A despised Samaritan becomes the neighbor in the Good Samaritan, and a Samaritan is the one healed leper who turns back to give thanks (see Jesus Heals Ten Lepers). Luke's listeners would have recognized themselves in those who did not expect a welcome.
Pastor's heads-up: In every town and city, there are people on the margins. When the church embodies the life and teaching of Jesus, it seeks ways to include those on the margins. Many people just assume they are either not welcomed, so a simple invite to join in goes a long way. There is no mistake that Luke’s point is that Jesus’ intention is to include.
Reading Luke as Theophilus
Knowing Luke's audience changes how we hear him. We read best when we read as Theophilus did: already taught, still asking, wanting certainty. Luke answers with an orderly story full of the Spirit, prayer and shared tables. Jesus teaches his followers to pray in Luke 11:1-13. He tells parables to people who thought they were outsiders (see The 24 Parables in Luke). He heals people others had written off (see The 18 Miracles in Luke). For the larger picture, see Book of Luke Themes.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Theophilus? A reader Luke addresses at the start of both Luke and Acts. The title "most excellent" suggests status. Beyond that, we do not know. See Who Is Theophilus in the Bible?
Did Luke write only for Gentiles? No. He wrote for the whole church, which in his day included Jewish believers, Gentile converts and God-fearers. His choices show special care for readers new to Israel's story.
Was Luke himself a Gentile? Church tradition says so, and Colossians 4:10-14 seems to list Luke apart from Paul's Jewish coworkers. Some scholars disagree. See Who Wrote the Gospel of Luke? and Why Is It Called the Gospel of Luke?
How does Acts help answer the question? Acts names the same reader and follows the good news from Jerusalem to Rome. It shows where Luke's Gospel was headed all along.
How is Luke's audience different from Matthew's and Mark's? Matthew writes with Jewish believers close in view. Mark writes a short, urgent account that Luke appears to have used. Luke writes the longest and most outward-facing of the three. See What Are the Gospels in the Bible?
Keep reading in Luke
Sources
Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1997).
John Nolland, Luke 1:1-9:20, Word Biblical Commentary 35A (Word Books, 1989).
Justo L. González, The Story Luke Tells: Luke's Unique Witness to the Gospel (Eerdmans, 2015).
Walter L. Liefeld and David W. Pao, "Luke," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, revised edition, volume 10: Luke to Acts (Zondervan, 2007).
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.
