Luke 1:1-4
In Luke’s introductory comments to Theophilus, he acknowledges that others had written accounts of Jesus’ life and accomplishments. Matthew, Mark and John are the three we have included in the New Testament in addition to this effort by Luke.
His desire was to share these things with Theophilus, putting them in order, so that his friend could “know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed” (vs. 4)
There are two reasons we can trust in Luke’s account of Jesus’ life. The first is that he was an eyewitness, “having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first” (vs. 3).
The second is that Luke’s account is inspired of God. Paul wrote, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16).
The name Theophilus means, “lover of God.” In fact, all who love God can look to Luke’s gospel, and in it find accurate records of Jesus’ life, teaching, works, death and resurrection. In so doing, we can have confidence in the validity of that Gospel. We can know, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” (cf. 23:47).
