Blog (4) Alex Tabora

There are some key segments of the Gospel of Luke that form strong contrast between the other Gospels in the image of Jesus. According to David Hester's Expository Articles of Luke 4:1-13, there are three variations in the Lukan Gospel that are significant for Luke's intention. ¹First, Luke depicts Jesus as "full of the Holy Spirit" when he enters "the wilderness." The Matthean and Marcan Jesus on the other hand, describe the Spirit as an external force on Jesus that leads him. The passages depict the temptations of Jesus and the unique relationship of the Father to the Son. Jesus as the Son of God and the one "full of the Holy Spirit" bears the conflict as the One anointed by God to do battle in God's name. The second variation in the Lukan account occurs in verses 5-8. The discrepancies lie in the setting of this event. In Matthew, the scene of temptation is set on a "very high mountain." In Luke, Jesus is simply "taken up" and shown the kingdoms of the world. The third variation is the order of the temptations. Hester identifies that Matthew's third temptation is Luke's second, while Matthew's second temptation appears as Luke's final temptation. I wondered why the gospel authors thought it was necessary to rotate the order of the temptations and realized this was most likely due to the fact that Luke believed that the third temptation identified by Matthew was more important to emphasize and so believed it more sensible to have it placed second.

The Gospel of Luke, according to Ehrman's New Testament, identifies the gospel as a Greco-Roman biography of Jesus.² Something I found interesting about the Gospel of Luke identified by Ehrman is that the gospel is the only one of the four that actually presents a sequel, the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel of Luke provides a sketch of the life and death of Jesus, while the book of Acts identifies the birth and life of the Christian church afterwards.

¹ Hester, David. Luke 4:1-13. "Expository Articles." (Interpretation Press, 1997.)

² Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.)