When we apply to historical sources, however, we find very little about this evangelist. He never mentions himself by name in the Gospel or in the Acts, and his name occurs in only three passages of the New Testament: Col 4:14; 2Ti 4:11, Phm 1:24.

That he was an Asiatic-Greek convert of Antioch, though resting upon no conclusive evidence, is supported by the fact that he gives much information about the church there (Act 11:19, Act 11:30; Act 13:1-3; Act 15:1-3, Act 15:22, Act 15:35); that he traces the origin of the name “Christian” to that city, and that, in enumerating the seven deacons of Jerusalem, he informs us of the Antiochian origin of Nicholas (Act 6:5) without reference to the nationality of any of the others. That he was a physician and the companion of Paul are facts attested by Scripture, though his connection with Paul does not definitely appear before Act 16:10, where he uses the first person plural. He accompanied Paul from Caesarea, through the shipwreck at Malta, to Rome, and remained there until his liberation. Tradition makes him to have died in Greece, and it was believed that his remains were transferred to Constantinople.

Both are fond of words characterizing the freedom and universality of gospel salvation. For example, χάρις, grace, favor, occurs eight times in the Gospel, sixteen in the Acts, and ninety-five in Paul. Ἔλεος mercy, six times in the Gospel and ten in Paul. Πίστις faith, twenty-seven times in the Gospel and Acts, and everywhere in Paul. Compare, also, δικαιοσύνἠ, righteousness ; δίκαιος, righteous; πνεῦμα ἅγιον, Holy Spirit; γνῶσις, knowledge.

Luke is the best writer of Greek among the evangelists. His construction is rhythmical, his vocabulary rich and well selected, considerably exceeding that of the other evangelists. He uses over seven hundred words which occur nowhere else in the New Testament. He substitutes classical words for many which are used by Matthew and Mark, as λίμνη, lake, for θάλασσα, sea, when describing the lake of Galilee. He uses three distinct words for bed in the description of the healing of the paralytic (Luk 5:18), avoiding the vulgar κράββατος of Mark. The latter word, it is true, occurs in two passages in the Acts (Act 5:15; Act 9:33), but both these passages are Petrine. So, too, we find ἐπιστάτης master, instead of Rabbi; νομικοί, lawyers, for γραμματεῖς, scribes; ναὶ ἀληθῶς, ἐπ' ἀληθείας yea, truly, of a truth, for ἀμήν, verily; φόρος, tribute, for the Latin form, κῆνσος census. He uses several Latin words, as δηνάριον, denarius λεγεών, legion; σουδάριον, napkin; ἀσσάριον, farthing, though he avoids κοδράντης, farthing, in Luk 21:2 (compare Mar 12:42); μόδιος, bushel. He is less Hebraic than the other evangelists, except in the first two chapters - the history of the infancy - which he derived probably from Aramaic traditions or documents, and where his language has a stronger Hebrew coloring than any other portion of the New Testament. “The songs of Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, and Simeon, and the anthem of the angelic host, are the last of Hebrew psalms, as well as the first of Christian hymns. They can be literally translated back into the Hebrew without losing their beauty” (Schaff).

His style is clear, animated, picturesque, and unpretentious. Where he describes events on the authority of others, his manner is purely historical; events which have come under his own observation he treats in the minute and circumstantial style of an eye-witness. Compare, for instance, the detailed narrative of the events at Philippi with that of the occurrences at Thessalonica. The change of style at Act 16:10, from the historical to the personal narrative, coincides with the time of his joining Paul at the first visit to Macedonia, and a similar change may be noted at Act 20:4-6.

The medical peculiarities of Luke's style appear, first, in words and phrases used in descriptions of diseases or of miracles of healing. His terms are of the technical character peculiar to a medical man. Thus, in the account of the healing of Simon's wife's mother (Luk 4:38, Luk 4:39), we read that she was taken (συνεχομένη) with a great fever (πυρετῷ μεγάλῳ). The word taken is used nine times by Luke, and only three times in the rest of the New Testament. It occurs frequently in this sense in the medical writers, as does also the simple verb ἔχω, to have or hold. Moreover, according to Galen, the ancient physicians were accustomed to distinguish between great and little fevers. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luk 16:19-26), we find εἱλκωμένος, full of sores, the regular medical term for to be ulcerated: ὀδυνῶμαι, to be in pain, occurs four times in Luke's writings, and nowhere else in the New Testament, but frequently in Galen, Aretaeus, and Hippocrates. Ἐξέψυξε, gave up the ghost (Act 5:5, Act 5:10), is a rare word, used by Luke only, and occurring only three times in the New Testament. It seems to be almost confined to medical writers, and to be used rarely even by them. In the proverb of “the camel and the needle's eye,” Matthew and Mark use for needle the vulgar word ῥαφίς, while Luke alone uses βελόνη, the surgical needle.

These terms will be pointed out in the notes as they occur. Second, the ordinary diction of the evangelist, when dealing with unprofessional subjects, has often a medical flavor, which asserts itself in words peculiar to him, or more common in his writings than elsewhere in the New Testament, and all of which were in common use among the Greek physicians. Thus Matthew (Mat 23:4) says that the scribes and Pharisees will not move (κινῆσαι) the burdens they impose, with one of their fingers. Luke, recording a similar saying (Luk 11:46), says, “ye yourselves touch (προσψαύετε) not the burdens,” using a technical term for gently feeling the pulse, or a sore or tender part of the body. The word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. “No mean city” (ἄσημος, Act 21:39). The word mean, peculiar to this passage, is the professional term for a disease without distinctive symptoms, and is applied by Hippocrates to a city. “Delivered the letter” (ἀναδόντες, Act 23:33). The verb occurs only here in the New Testament, and is a medical term for the distribution of blood through the veins, or of nourishment through the body. Hippocrates uses it of a messenger delivering a letter. In the parable of the sower, Matthew and Mark have ῥίζαν, “they have no root.” Luke (Luk 8:6) has ίκμάδα, moisture, the medical term for the juices of the body, of plants, and of the earth. In the same parable, for sprung up Matthew and Mark have ἐξανέτειλε, while Luke has φυὲν - συμφυεῖσαι (Luk 8:6, Luk 8:7), it grew - grew with it (Rev.). These latter words are used by medical writers to describe the growth of parts of the body, of diseases, of vegetation, etc. Hippocrates uses together ἱκμάς, moisture, and φύεσθαι, to grow, comparing the juices of the body with those of the earth. Συμφύεσθαι, to grow together, was the professional word for the closing of wounds and ulcers, the uniting of nerves and of bones, and is used by Dioscorides precisely as here, of plants growing together in the same place.

The attempt has been made to show that Paul's style was influenced by Luke in this same direction; so that his intercourse with his companion and physician showed itself in his use of certain words having a medical flavor. Dean Plumptre cites as illustrations of this, ὑγιαίνειν, to be healthy, in its figurative application to doctrine as wholesome or sound (1Ti 1:10; 1Ti 6:3; 2Ti 1:13): γάγγραινα, canker (2Ti 2:17): τυφωθεὶς, lifted up with pride; Rev., puffed up (1Ti 3:6; 1Ti 6:4): κεκαυτηριασμένων, seared; Rev., branded (1Ti 4:2): κνηθόμενοι, itching (2Ti 4:3): ἀποκόψονται, cut themselves off (Gal 5:12).

Luke is also circumstantial, as well as technical, in his descriptions of diseases; noting their duration and symptoms, and the stages of the patient's recovery, etc. See Act 3:1-8; Act 9:40, Act 9:41. The successive stages of Elymas' blindness are noted at Act 13:11; and the process of Saul's restoration to sight at Act 9:18. He also exhibits traces of professional sensitiveness, as in his omission of Mark's implied reflection upon the physicians who had treated the woman with the issue of blood (Luk 8:43; Mar 5:26).

Luke's accurate observation and memory appear especially in the Acts, in his allusions, and in his descriptions of nautical and political matters. With nautical details, he exhibits the acquaintance often displayed by a landsman who has been much at sea and in frequent intercourse with seamen. It has been conjectured that at some period of his professional life he may have served as a surgeon on shipboard. In his political allusions he is precise in the use of terms. Thus, in Act 13:7, his accuracy in naming the civil magistrates is noteworthy. He speaks of Sergius Paulus as the proconsul of Cyprus. Consuls were called by the Greeks ὕπατοι; and hence a proconsul was ἀνθύπατος, one who acts instead of (ἀντὶ) a consul. Roman provinces were of two classes, senatorial and imperial; and the proper title of the governor of a senatorial province was ἀνθύπατος. The governor of an imperial province was called ἀντιστράτηγος, propraetor. Evidently, therefore, Luke regarded Cyprus as a senatorial province, governed by a proconsul; and we find that Augustus, though at first he reserved Cyprus for himself, and consequently governed it by a propraetor, afterward restored it to the senate and governed it by a proconsul - a fact confirmed by coins of the very time of Paul's visit to Cyprus, bearing the name of the emperor Claudius, and of the provincial governor, with the title ἀνθύπατος. So Luke speaks of Gallio (Act 18:12)as proconsul (A. V., deputy) of Achaia, which was a senatorial province. When he comes to Felix or Festus, who were only deputy-governors of the propraetor of Syria, he calls them by the general term ἡγεμών, governor (Act 23:24; Act 26:30). Similarly accurate is his designation of Philippi as a colonia (Act 16:12), and his calling its magistrates στρατηγοί or praetors, a title which they were fond of giving themselves. So the city authorities of Thessalonica are styled πολιτάρχαι, rulers of the city (Act 17:8); for Thessalonica was a free city, having the right of self-government, and where the local magistrates had the power of life and death over the citizens. Luke's accuracy on this point is borne out by an inscription on an archway in Thessalonica, which gives this title to the magistrates of the place, together with their number - seven - and the very names of some who held the office not long before Paul's time. This short inscription contains six names which are mentioned in the New Testament. We may also note the Asiarchs, chiefs of, Asia, at Ephesus (Act 19:31), who, like the aediles at Rome, defrayed the charge of public amusements, and were, as presidents of the games, invested with the character of priests.

A similar accuracy appears in the Gospel in the dates of more important events, and in local descriptions, as of the Lord's coming to Jerusalem across the Mount of Olives (Luk 19:37-41). Here he brings out the two distinct views of Jerusalem on this route, an irregularity in the ground hiding it for a time after one has just caught sight of it. Verse Luk 19:37 marks the first sight, and Luk 19:41 the second.

In the narrative of the voyage and shipwreck, the precision of detail is remarkable. Thus there are fourteen verbs denoting the progression of a ship, with a distinction indicating the peculiar circumstances of the ship at the time. Seven of these are compounds of πλέω, to sail. Thus we have ἀπέπλευσαν, sailed away (Act 13:4); βραδυπλοοῦντες, sailing slowly (Act 27:7); ὑπεπλεύσαμεν, sailed under (the lee). So, also, παραλεγόμενοι, hardly passing (Act 27:8); εὐθυδρομήσαμεν, ran with a straight course (Act 16:11), etc. Note also the technical terms for lightening the ship by throwing overboard the cargo: ἐκβολὴν ἐποιοῦντὄ; literally, made a casting out (Act 27:19); ἐκούφιζον, lightened (Act 27:38); and the names of various parts of the vessel.

Luke's is the gospel of womanhood. Woman comes prominently into view as discerning God's promises. The songs of Mary and Elizabeth, and the testimony of Anna, are full of a clear spiritual perception, no less than of a living and simple faith. She appears as ministering to the Lord and as the subject of his ministries. Mary of Magdala, Joanna, Susanna, Mary and Martha, with others, lavish upon him their tender care; while the daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound, the sorrowful mother at Nain, she who touched the heat of his garment, and the weeping daughters of Jerusalem on the road to Calvary knew the comfort of his words and the healing and life-giving virtue of his touch. The word γυνὴ, woman, occurs in Matthew and Mark together forty-nine times, and in Luke alone forty-three. “He alone,” says Canon Farrar, “preserves the narratives, treasured with delicate reserve and holy reticence in the hearts of the blessed Virgin and of the saintly Elizabeth - narratives which show in every line the pure and tender coloring of a woman's thoughts.”