Luke, the beloved physician, wrote nearly as many words of the New Testament as Paul through his gospel and Acts, yet he never names himself and is named only three times, each by Paul. He was a humble Gentile, not an eyewitness of Christ's life, who carefully recorded what eyewitnesses reported (Luke 1:1-4). The "we" passages in Acts show that he joined Paul at Troas. As a highly educated man, he wrote the finest Greek of any New Testament author, and his gospel is a work of high literary quality, painting with vivid word pictures. As Paul's physician, he likely tended wounds and illnesses from beatings, stoning, and shipwreck, and he also served as Paul's assistant and secretary. During Paul's final imprisonment, Luke alone stayed with him when others had left (II Timothy 4:9-12), showing a loyal, unafraid devotion. His medical detail appears in his writings, yet he points to Jesus as the true Healer, as in the woman with the flow of blood whom no physician could heal. His gospel focuses on Christ the Man, the Son of Man, and the Savior of Jew and Gentile alike. It stresses Christ's real human birth, growth, and compassion toward the needy, and it carries a note of joy through its songs of praise. Luke shunned the spotlight, wanting readers to know the Savior as deeply as he did. How his life ended is unknown.

Luke, a Gentile and the beloved physician, was Paul's nearly constant companion, and he remained with Paul when Demas and others had left. He hides himself so the focus stays on the real Author, yet he inconspicuously joins the account with "we" at Troas in Acts 16. He wrote Luke and Acts, at least 27.5 percent of the New Testament, and possibly Hebrews, with Paul's voice and Luke's polished style, much as a fine editor works. His gospel presents Christ as the perfect Man within family relationships, traced back to Adam, and is written like an investigative journalist's careful account. Both volumes are addressed to Theophilus, "most excellent," probably a Gentile of rank who was a Christian. Luke also makes clear that Christ and His disciples were witnesses to the Kingdom, not insurrectionists. Through years of hardship beside Paul, tending his needs and sharing his trials, Luke was prepared to clarify Paul's hard-to-understand teachings on grace, law, and physical and spiritual Israel for Jew and Gentile alike. His life shows that God's gifts and calling are irrevocable and develop under pressure, however small the gift, if one humbly submits to God and trusts His long-range plan.

Luke is the author of the book of Acts, and he is the same Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke and who traveled as a companion of Paul, the beloved physician named in Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 24. The "we" and "us" passages beginning around Acts 16 show him as an eyewitness of the events from that point on. For chapters 1 through 15 he relied on earlier eyewitness accounts and manuscripts passed on to him. Luke and Acts are best read as one work in two parts, both addressed to Theophilus and deliberately parallel in structure. The Gospel moves from Galilee to Jerusalem, and Acts moves from Jerusalem outward to Rome. Together they show Jesus' preaching, death, and resurrection, and then the church's continuation of that work through the Holy Spirit. Acts was written between 64 and 66 AD, most likely 64, which explains why it ends abruptly with Paul in prison at Rome. Luke's address to Theophilus as "most excellent" is the same title given to Roman officials such as Felix and Festus. This suggests, though it does not prove, that Theophilus was a magistrate and that the work was a trial document defending Paul and the church. Luke records Pilate three times declaring Jesus innocent, a pattern that Acts repeats with Roman officials who found no fault in Paul. Luke did not record everything Jesus did. He chose episodes to serve his purposes: continuing the gospel, showing that Christianity is no threat to Rome, uniting Peter and Paul, and instructing the church.

Luke's opening chapters give an orderly, eyewitness-based account of Jesus Christ as the perfect Man, written so that Theophilus, representing all called Gentile Christians, may know with certainty (asphaleia) the reliability of what he was taught. The word for "those things" in verse 1, pragma, means accomplished deeds and carries the idea of practical lessons to be learned from history. Luke very possibly also wrote Hebrews, with Paul supplying the eyewitness material. Luke 1 through 3 sets the stage for Christ's work with a cast of real people, from the harvest of Scripture and history to the physical line from Adam in Luke 3:38, and these people teach lessons for preparing for the Passover. Theophilus teaches that God's elect must listen eagerly to those God has set apart to teach and then prove what is said from Scripture, as the Bereans did. Herod, descended from both Jacob and Esau, warns against throwing away God's precious gift for fleshly gain and against presuming to force God's hand. Zacharias and Elizabeth were blameless yet doubted God's timing, while Mary and Joseph believed and obeyed, though they did not fully understand the One entrusted to them. Each of these examples calls for self-examination about trusting God's timing, faithfully applying His Word, and treasuring the calling. Zacharias' prophecy in Luke 1:67-79 ends the account with the assured hope of salvation, mercy, and peace for all the called.

Luke is called "the beloved physician" rather than simply "our brother Luke" because, after his conversion and entry into the church, he kept practicing medicine. God's inspired Word gives him that title because he was fulfilling his responsibility in his profession, just as the title apostle belongs to those God appointed to that office. His continued work as a physician shows that faithful service to God and the practice of medicine are not mutually exclusive. In Luke 8:43 he records that the woman with the issue of blood had spent all her living on physicians and could not be healed by any of them. As a physician himself, Luke testifies that her affliction was medically incurable by the knowledge then available, and that help came only through Christ. This points to the need to seek God above all, since human knowledge of the body is limited and physicians are not the Creator, who is working out a far more important spiritual purpose.