faith. The paralytic and the woman that was a sinner received pardon by faith alone. Luke alone
relates the prayer of Christ on the cross for his murderers, and the promise of paradise to the penitent
robber, and he ends with a picture of the ascending Saviour lifting up his hands and blessing his
disciples.
The other Evangelists do not neglect this aspect of Christ; nothing can be more sweet and
comforting than his invitation to sinners in Matthew 11, or his farewell to the disciples in John; but
Luke dwells on it with peculiar delight. He is the painter of Christus Salvator and Christus
Consolator.- It is the Gospel of universal salvation. It is emphatically the Gospel for the Gentiles.
Hence the genealogy of Christ is traced back not only to Abraham (as in Matthew), but to Adam,
the son of God and the father of all men (Luke 3:38). Christ is the second Adam from heaven, the
representative Head of redeemed humanity—an idea further developed by Paul. The infant Saviour
is greeted by Simeon as a "Light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel"
(2:32). The Baptist, in applying the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the voice in the wilderness (Isa.
40), adds the words (from Isa. 52:10): "All flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:6). Luke
alone records the mission of the Seventy Disciples who represent the Gentile nations, as the Twelve
represent the twelve tribes of Israel. He alone mentions the mission of Elijah to the heathen widow
in Sarepta, and the cleansing of Naaman the Syrian by Elisha (4:26, 27). He contrasts the gratitude
of the leprous Samaritan with the ingratitude of the nine Jewish lepers (17:12–18). He selects
discourses and parables, which exhibit God’s mercy to Samaritans and Gentiles^1005 Yet there is no
contradiction, for some of the strongest passages which exhibit Christ’s mercy to the Gentiles and
humble the Jewish pride are found in Matthew, the Jewish Evangelist.^1006 The assertion that the
third Gospel is a glorification of the Gentile (Pauline) apostolate, and a covert attack on the Twelve,
especially Peter, is a pure fiction of modern hypercriticism. - It is the Gospel of the genuine and full humanity of Christ.^1007 It gives us the key-note for
the construction of a real history of Jesus from infancy to boyhood and manhood. Luke represents
him as the purest and fairest among the children of men, who became like unto us in all things
except sin and error. He follows him through the stages of his growth. He alone tells us that the
child Jesus "grew and waxed strong," not only physically, but also in "wisdom" (Luke 2:40); he
alone reports the remarkable scene in the temple, informing us that Jesus, when twelve years old,
sat as a learner "in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking questions;" and that, even
after that time, He "advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (2:46, 52).
All the Synoptists narrate the temptation in the wilderness, and Mark adds horror to the scene by
the remark that Christ was "with the wild beasts" (Mark 1:12, μετὰ τῶν θηρίων); but Luke has the
peculiar notice that the devil departed from Jesus only "for a season." He alone mentions the tears
of Jesus over Jerusalem, and "the bloody sweat" and the strengthening angel in the agony of
Gethsemane. As he brings out the gradual growth of Jesus, and the progress of the gospel from
Nazareth to Capernaum, from Capernaum to Jerusalem, so afterwards, in the Acts, he traces the
growth of the church from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Ephesus and Corinth, from Greece
(^1005) Luke 4:25-27; 9:52-56; 10:33; 15:11 sqq.; 17:19; 18:10; 19:5.
(^1006) See § 80, this vol.
(^1007) Lange (Bibelkunde, p. 187) calls it "das Evangelium des Menschensohnes, der Humanität Christi, der Verklärung aller
Humanität."
A.D. 1-100.