Luke’s “Orderly Account”
In the prologue to Luke’s gospel narrative, he informed his readers
that he sought to write “an orderly account” of the life of Christ (Luke
1:3). Based upon this statement, some tend to believe that everything
in Luke’s narrative must have been recorded chronologically. Others have
come to the conclusion that this statement must also mean that Luke’s
account avoided the omissions that the other writers made from time to
time. The evidence suggests, however, that though Luke’s account should
be understood as being orderly to a degree, it is erroneous to contend
that everything in Luke’s narrative is arranged in a precise chronological sequence.
One indication of Luke’s “orderly account” not being a strict sequence
of events is found in Luke 3. Immediately following the record of John
the Baptizer teaching the Jews about the coming of the Christ, Luke
wrote: “And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. But
Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his
brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also
added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison” (3:18-20,
emp. added). Had Luke already covered everything that John the Baptizer
accomplished before his imprisonment and subsequent death, this
statement might still be considered sequentially in order with
everything else in the life of Christ. The fact is, however, the very
next paragraph clearly indicates that Luke sometimes strayed from a
normal chronology. Luke proceeded to inform his readers of Jesus’
baptism, saying, “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass
that Jesus also was baptized” (3:21). John baptized Jesus prior to his
imprisonment (cf. Matthew 3:1-17; 4:12; John 1:29-34), yet Luke places
John’s imprisonment before Jesus’ baptism. Although Luke does not
indicate why he mentioned this event earlier than one might expect,
Luke’s account is still very much characterized as being “orderly” and
logical. It seems clear that Luke simply wanted to move John off the
stage before focusing on the ministry of Christ. Luke did mention John a
few more times in his narrative (cf. 5:33; 7:18-35; 9:7,9,19; 11:1;
16:16; 20:4,6), but “the story of John’s active ministry as a free man
ends here” (Hendriksen, 1978, pp. 212-213).
A second indication that Luke’s “orderly” narrative should not be understood as being a strict chronological order of everything
that Jesus ever did or spoke comes from Luke 4. In the first thirteen
verses of this chapter, Luke recorded how Satan confronted Jesus and
tempted Him three times: first, to turn stones to bread; second, to
worship him; and third, to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the
temple. Interestingly, Luke’s order of the temptations is different than
that found in Matthew’s gospel account. Matthew recorded that Satan’s
second temptation involved him trying to persuade Jesus to throw Himself
down off of the temple, while the third temptation was Satan’s attempt
to get Jesus to worship him. Some might assume that because Luke had
earlier professed to write an “orderly account” that his specific
arrangement of the temptations of Christ must be the correct order. Most
biblical scholars, however, believe that Matthew was concerned more
with the order of events in this story because of his use of words like
“afterward” (4:2, Greek husteron), “then” (4:5, Greek tote), “again” (4:8, Greek palin).
These three adverbs strongly suggest that Matthew recorded the precise
order of the temptations. Luke merely links the events by using the
Greek words kai and de (4:2,5,6, translated “and”). [NOTE: The NKJV’s translation of kai as “then” in Luke 4:5 is incorrect. It should be translated simply “and” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASV, and RSV)]. Similar to the English word “and” not having specific chronological implications, neither do the Greek words kai and de
(Richards, 1993, p. 230). In short, the evidence suggests that
Matthew’s account of the temptations of Jesus is arranged
chronologically, whereas Luke’s account is arranged in some other
orderly fashion—perhaps thematically, or possibly climactically.
A final example indicating Luke’s “orderly account” is not as
chronological and all-encompassing as some might initially think,
appears near the end of his narrative. Luke began his final chapter “on
the first day of the week” when Jesus rose from the grave (24:1). He
concluded this chapter (and the narrative as a whole) informing the
reader of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Of interest, is that Luke never
indicated that the events of chapter 24 covered any more than one day.
Someone might read the entire chapter and assume that Jesus rose from
the dead, appeared to His disciples, and ascended into heaven all on the
same day, when actually what Luke recorded in this final chapter
covered a period of more than five weeks (cf. Acts 1:3). Luke simply
omitted most of what Jesus and the apostles did during this time,
including the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus in Galilee
mentioned by both Matthew (28:16) and John (21:1ff.). Luke chose to
focus most of his attention on what happened in (and around) Jerusalem
on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. In order to get a more comprehensive
chronological view of what occurred after Jesus’ resurrection and before
His ascension, a person must consult the other gospel accounts.
Luke’s narrative certainly is an “orderly account.” It begins with the
announcement, birth, and ministry of John the Baptizer—the forerunner of
Christ, and then proceeds to focus on the life and teachings of
Christ—from birth to death, and from resurrection to ascension. Luke’s
account is not confused or haphazard, but “orderly.” Nevertheless, one
must be careful not to force his orderly account into a strict
arrangement in which every single detail falls into chronological order.
In fact, according to Greek lexicographer Frederick Danker, the Greek
word Luke used for “orderly” (kathexas) can refer to “sequence in time, space, or logic”
(2000, p. 490, emp. added). Thus, similar to modern-day history books
that are arranged chronologically, yet occasionally include
nonsequential discussions of people, places, and events in order to
accomplish a specific, intended purpose, Luke obviously wrote certain
portions of his inspired account of the gospel in more of a thematic or
climatic order.
REFERENCES
Danker, Fredrick William (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago), third edition of Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich.
Hendriksen, William (1978), Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House).
Richards, Larry (1993), 735 Baffling Bible Questions Answered (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell).
One direct source of unbelief is the false
promotion of Christianity (cf. Job 13:7). It is surely a great tragedy
that many people have rejected the Christian religion as the true
portrait of reality on the basis of the misconduct that so many who claim
to be Christians have displayed. In fact, some who purport to be
faithful Christians are nothing more than crackpots and religious
wackos.
