Division 1:1–4

Luke introduced his book about Jesus

Luke 1:1–4 is the introduction to the Gospel of Luke. In Greek, the style of this introduction is different from the style of the rest of the Gospel. The introduction is written in a formal, literary style with long words and clauses. Luke was addressing an important person in language that sounds impressive. In some languages, it may be possible to use a special style to show this. However, make sure that the wording is still simple enough for people to understand easily.

In this introduction, Luke addressed a man named Theophilus directly. Theophilus was probably an important and wealthy Roman man. Luke told Theophilus the reason why he had written this book. Luke knew that other people had written about some of the things that Jesus taught and did. He also knew that people had taught Theophilus some things about the life of Jesus. But there were many things that Theophilus did not yet know. Luke wanted Theophilus to know the complete truth about the good news. That is the reason why Luke wanted to write a more complete story and tell other important things about Jesus.

Section 1:1–4

Luke wrote this book about Jesus for Theophilus

In these Notes, Luke 1:1–4 is both a division and a section of the book of Luke. You may want to include a section heading here. It is good to read the verses before you decide on a heading for the section.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Luke writes to Theophilus about Jesus
-or-
Luke addressed this book to Theophilus
-or-
Luke’s purpose in writing this book

Paragraph 1:1–4

Paragraph 1:1–4 in the Greek text is one long sentence. In some languages, it may be natural to use more than one sentence for this paragraph. For example, the Good News Translation uses four sentences.

The Greek sentence in 1:1–4 talks about several events and ideas. It mentions them in an order that may not be natural in some languages. Here are the main ideas:

(a) Many people attempted to compile an account of what happened among them (that is, of Jesus’ life) (1:1a–b).

(b) They wrote what eyewitnesses told them (1:2a–c).

(c) Luke also investigated all those things carefully (1:3a).

(d) Luke thought that he also should write those things in an orderly way for Theophilus (1:3b).

(e) Luke did this so that Theophilus could know that what he was taught was accurate (1:4).

You should present these ideas in an order that is natural in your language. See the General Comments on 1:2a–c and 1:1–2 at the end of the notes on 1:2b–c for specific suggestions.

You also need to think about how to connect the clauses. For example, in English there are different ways to connect the reasons in (a)-(c) with the result in (d):

1a
Since many others have written a report on the things that have happened…

3bit seemed good for me to also write a report…. (See 1:1–4 in the Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, King James Version for similar examples.)
-or-

1aMany others have written a report on the things that have happened….

3b
Therefore it seemed good for me to also write a report. (See 1:1–4 in the Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation, NET Bible, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, and Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English for similar examples.)

You should connect the clauses in the most natural way in your language.

Luke did not address Theophilus by name until near the end of his introduction. In some languages, it may be more appropriate to begin the introduction with Theophilus’ name. See the Display for 1:1a for an example.

1:1a

In Greek this sentence begins with a word that means “since.” See the notes above about connecting clauses and decide the best way to connect the clauses of Luke 1:1–4 in your language. (The Berean Standard Bible uses the word “Therefore” in 1:3 to connect the clauses, and so it does not begin with “Since” here.).

Many: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible has translated literally as Many here means “Many people.” In this context it may also be possible to translate this as “Many authors/writers.” In the Jewish culture of New Testament times, usually only men were able to write. So it is also possible to translate this as “Many men.”

Luke himself planned to write an account of the life of Jesus as these Many people had done. So, in some languages it may be necessary to say:

Many ⌊others⌋

undertaken: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as undertaken means “attempted” or “tried.” Luke implied here that others had worked hard to write the story of Jesus’ life. He also implied that it was difficult to gather all the facts and write them down accurately and completely. However, he was not criticizing the others’ writings. He did not imply that they had failed in their attempts. Other ways to say this are:

worked hard
-or-
done their best (Good News Translation)

to compose an account: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as to compose an account means to gather reports of different events and put them together to make one longer story. In this context the writers told about many of Jesus’ actions and teachings as they told the story of his life.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

to compose/write the story
-or-
to organize a history/narrative
-or-
to write a report (Good News Translation)
-or-
to write about what had taken place (God’s Word)

1:1b

the things that have been fulfilled: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the things that have been fulfilled refers to the events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. There are several ways to interpret the verb have been fulfilled in this context:

(1) It means that the events have been fulfilled. This implies that the events had been planned and predicted before they happened, and the events happened just as predicted. For example:

the events that have been fulfilled (New Revised Standard Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004), New Jerusalem Bible)

(2) It means simply that the events have happened. For example:

the things that happened (New Century Version)

(New Century Version, Good News Translation, God’s Word, Revised English Bible, New Living Translation (1996), Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(3) It means that the events have been accomplished/completed. The events were like tasks that were completed. For example:

things which have been accomplished (Revised Standard Version)

(Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This interpretation includes (2) and (3) as well. The events happened (2), and they were completed (3). However, interpretation (1) expresses the important idea that these events fulfilled what had been predicted. That is, God said that they would happen, and they did happen, just as he said. The fulfillment of prophecy is a theme in Luke. (See Luke 18:31.)

things that have been fulfilled: The phrase things that have been fulfilled is passive. In some languages it may be necessary to translate it as active and indicate who fulfilled the things. If that is true in your language, you should indicate that God fulfilled them. He fulfilled them by causing the events to happen just as he had said they would. He fulfilled many of these events through Jesus. He caused Jesus to be born and to die for people’s sins, and he raised Jesus from the dead.

Some other ways to translate things that have been fulfilled are:

things that happened just as God said they would
-or-
what God has done in fulfillment of his promises (New Living Translation (1996) in 1:2)
-or-
things that God did ⌊through/concerning Jesus⌋, just as he said he would do

among us: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as among us probably means “among us ⌊believers⌋,” that is, “among us ⌊who believe in Jesus⌋.” When Luke used this phrase, he probably included Christians who were born after Jesus’ lifetime. The form of the verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fulfilled indicates that the events continued to affect people at the time when Luke wrote. Christians of later generations were not present to see the events of Jesus’ life, but those events continued to affect them.

us: In some languages it is necessary to decide whether Luke meant to include Theophilus when he said us. It is not clear whether Theophilus was a believer at the time when Luke was writing to him. However, he was probably interested in becoming a believer (1:4).

Use a natural form in your language for a speaker to use toward someone who supports his group but perhaps is not yet a member. Remember also that Theophilus was a person of high status. Avoid using a form that would imply rejection or rudeness.

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