\\INTRODUCTION TO LUKE\\

The writer of this Gospel, Luke, has been, by some, thought, as
Origen {a} relates, to be the same with Lucius, mentioned in
\\#Ro 16:21\\, but he seems rather to be, and without doubt is, Luke
the beloved physician, who was a companion of the Apostle Paul in
great part of his travels in the Gentile world: he came with him to
Jerusalem, and from thence accompanied him to Rome, and continued
with him when in prison, and was with him to the last; see
\\#Ac 16:10,11\\ \\#Col 4:14 2Ti 4:11 Phm 1:24\\. Jerom {b}, and
others, say, he was a physician of Antioch in Syria; where it may be
the Apostle Paul met with him, and might be the happy instrument of
his conversion; so that he seems to be, by nation, a Syrian, as
Jerom {c} calls him. Grotius thinks his name is Roman, and that it
is the contraction of Lucilius. It is not an Hebrew name, but might
be in common use in Syria; for though the Jews reckon \^owqwl\^,
"Lukus", among foreign names, yet say {d} a it was a very
illustrious one, and well known to them, as it may well be thought
to be if Syriac, the language being spoke by them: and many Jews
lived in Syria, and particularly in Antioch. Some say that this
Gospel was written by the advice, and assistance, and under the
direction of the Apostle Paul, as the Gospel according to Mark was
by that of Peter; though the following preface does not seem so well
to accord with this. Eusebius says {e} that it was the sense of the
ancients, that whenever the Apostle Paul makes mention of his
Gospel, he intends this according to Luke. The time of the writing
of it is not certain; some say it was written in the fifteenth year
after the ascension of our Lord; others in the twenty second; and
others in the twenty seventh. It is commonly thought to have been
written after the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, according to the
order in which it stands; but this is rejected by some learned men,
who rather think that Luke wrote first of all: and indeed, there are
some things in his preface which look as if there had not, as yet,
been any authentic account published, at least which was come to the
knowledge of this evangelist. The place where he wrote it is also
uncertain. Jerom says {f}, he wrote it in the parts of Achaia,
perhaps at Corinth: according to the titles prefixed to the Syriac
and Persic versions, he wrote it in Alexandria: the former of these
runs thus;

``the Gospel of Luke, the Evangelist, which he spake and
published in Greek in Alexandria the great.''

And the latter thus;

``the Gospel of Luke, which he wrote in the Greek tongue in
Alexandria of Egypt.''

However, it is agreed on all hands, that it is genuine, and of
divine inspiration. Eusebius {g} relates, that it was affirmed by
some, that this Gospel, together with those of Matthew and Mark,
were brought to the Apostle John, who approved of them, and bore
witness to the truth in them.

{a} In Rom. xvi. 21.
{b} Catalog. Script. Eccles. sect. 17. fol. 91. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l.
3. c. 4.
{c} Praefat in Luc.
{d} T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 11. 2. & Gloss. in ib.
{e} Ubi supra. (Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 39.)
{f} Praefat in Luc.
{g} Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 24.