Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Acts 28:28 "Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 28:28 "Therefore let it be known to you that [this message of] the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they indeed will listen!" [Ps 67:2] |
Bible Question: What is Luke's role n is travels with Paul? |
Bible Answer: Hi Nic, Maybe your teacher knows the answer, and is just prompting the class for other options? I can only do my best, so my chronology might be a bit off but here goes: Luke was an evangelist and travelling companion of Paul. He was also an excellent historian and a physician, although he might possibly have been born a slave. It was likely Luke's attention to detail that prompted his owners to educate him, as was customary in the day, so the owners could be in possession of their own family physician. Luke, was a Gentile. The date and circumstances of his conversion are unknown. According to his own statement (Luke 1:2), he was not an "eye-witness and minister of the word from the beginning." It is probable that he was a physician in Troas, and was there converted by Paul, to whom he attached himself. Accompanying Paul on visits to Antioch, Caesarea and Jerusalem, it would have been in these cities that Luke also encountered people who could have provided the information he sought for his writings, Such as Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Acts 16:8-9 we hear of Paul's company "So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' " Then suddenly in 16:10 "they" becomes "we": "When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them." So Luke joined Paul's company at Troas at about the year 51 and accompanied him into Macedonia where they traveled first to Samothrace, Neapolis, and finally Philippi. Luke then switches back to the third person which seems to indicate he was not thrown into prison with Paul and that when Paul left Philippi Luke stayed behind to encourage the Church there. Seven years passed before Paul returned to the area on his third missionary journey. In Acts 20:5, the switch to "we" tells us that Luke has left Philippi to rejoin Paul in Troas in 58 where they first met up. They traveled together through Miletus, Tyre, Caesarea, to Jerusalem. Although Luke accompanied Paul to Philippi, he did not share his imprisonment there , nor did he accompany him further after his release in his missionary journey at this time (Acts 17:1). On Paul's third visit to Philippi (20:5, 6) we again meet with Luke, who probably had spent all the intervening time in that city, a period of seven or eight years. From this time He again disappears from view during Paul's imprisonment at Jerusalem and Caesarea, and only reappears when Paul sets out for Rome (27: 1), when Luke accompanies him to this destination (28:2, 12-16), and after everyone else deserts Paul in his final imprisonment and sufferings, it is Luke who remains with Paul to the end: "Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11). While Paul was detained in Caesarea for two years, Luke was likely beginning to put together a history of Christianity. He had been taking notes during his journeys and wrote in flawless Greek. During Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, which extended over several years, Luke completed his two volume history. Luke accompanied Paul on the second missionary journey, and was Paul's constant companion during his journey to Jerusalem (20:6-21:18). This is where Luke remains, with Paul, until the close of his first imprisonment (Philemon 24; Col. 4:14). May you be blessed in your studies, keliy |