The third Gospel is the longest. It was probably written in Greece, for Greek-speaking people, by Luke, a Gentile physician, who had not been an eye-witness of the facts he describes, but had taken great pains to acquaint himself with the facts as related to him by eye-witnesses. See 1:1-4. The old tradition is that Luke wrote under the direction of Paul, whose companion he was after the events narrated in Acts 16.

It has been described as the most carefully composed of the three narrative Gospels; and is the reply to questionings that would naturally present themselves to cultured men who had been impressed with the strange beauty of the Cross. No one could understand better than the great Apostle the need of an exhaustive reply to such questionings, and of an authoritative history of the rise and progress of the gospel of Christ. Luke dwells specially on the early incidents of our Lord’s life, and some have detected in the Greek forms of the sentences the direct recital of Mary as she recounted to Luke those sacred recollections which she pondered in her heart. There are many places where jLuke uses medical terms, etc., which the other Gospels do not mention, and which show his training as a physician.

Luke addresses himself to show the universality of Christ’s gospel. He ignores all privilege of race, or caste or training, and traces back our Lord’s genealogy to Adam. It is thus that he, of all the evangelists, dwells on the message of the Baptist: ‘‘ All flesh shall see the salvation of God.’’ In the same spirit he tells the parables of chapter 15, as well as that of the marriage supper; and contrasts the ingratitude of the nine Jewish lepers with the gratitude of the Samaritan. It is especially the Gospel of hope and love, of pity and faith.