Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Luke: Chapter 1].
or servants we have had already in Mt 5:25; 26:58; Mr 14:54,65,
which see. We shall see it again in Lu 4:20 of the attendant in
the synagogue. In the sense of a preacher of the gospel as here,
it occurs also in Ac 26:16. Here "the word" means the gospel
message, as in Ac 6:4; 8:4, etc. {From the beginning}
apparently refers to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus as
was true of the apostles (Ac 1:22) and of the early apostolic
preaching (Ac 10:37-43). The Gospel of Mark follows this plan.
The Gospel of Luke goes behind this in chapters 1 and 2 as does
Matthew in chapters 1 and 2. But Luke is not here referring to
himself. The matters about the childhood of Jesus Christ would
not form part of the traditional preaching for obvious reasons.
1:3 {It seemed good to me also} (\edoxe kamoi\). A natural
conclusion and justification of Luke's decision to write his
narrative. They had ample reason to draw up their narratives.
Luke has more reason to do so because of his fuller knowledge and
wider scope. {Having traced the course of all things}
(\par•kolouth•koti p•sin\). The perfect active participle of a
common verb of the ancient Greek. Literally it means to follow
along a thing in mind, to trace carefully. Both meanings occur
abundantly in the ancient Greek. Cadbury (Appendix C to
_Beginnings of Christianity_, Vol. II, pp. 489ff.) objects to the
translation "having traced" here as implying research which the
word does not here mean. Milligan (_Vocabulary_) is somewhat
impressed by this argument. See my discussion of the point in
Chapter XVI of _Studies in the Text of the N.T._ (The
Implications in Luke's Preface) where the point is made that Luke
here claims fulness of knowledge before he began to write his
book. He had the traditions of the eyewitnesses and ministers of
the word and the narratives previously drawn up. Whether he was a
personal contemporary with any or all of these events we do not
know and it is not particularly pertinent. He had _mentally_
followed along by the side of these events. Galen used this verb
for the investigation of symptoms. Luke got himself ready to
write before he began by full and accurate knowledge of the
subject. \Akrib•s\ (accurately) means going into minute details,
from \akron\, the topmost point. And he did it {from the first}
(\an•then\). He seems to refer to the matters in Chapters
1:5-2:52, the Gospel of the Infancy. {In order} (\kathex•s\).
Chronological order in the main following Mark's general outline.
But in 9:51-18:10 the order is often topical. He has made
careful investigation and his work deserves serious
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