Luke 1
Gospel according to Luke, chapter 1
Luke 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. With 80 verses, it is one of the longest chapters in the New Testament. This chapter describes the birth of John the Baptist and the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. Two canticles, the canticle of Mary (the Magnificat) and the canticle of Zechariah (the Benedictus), are both contained within this chapter. The unnamed author of Luke names its recipient, Theophilus, who is most likely a real (but unknown) person, but the term could simply mean a fellow believer, since theo philus is Greek for God lover. Early Christian tradition uniformly affirms that Luke composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles, the companion volume to Luke, which is addressed to Theophilus in the same way. The title "The Gospel of Luke", found in many Bibles and some manuscripts, was added later with no indication that it was originally part of the text.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 80 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
Papyrus 4 (AD 150–175; extant verses: 58–59; 62–80)
Papyrus 75 (175–225)
Codex Vaticanus (325–350; complete)
Codex Sinaiticus (330–360)
Codex Bezae (~400)
Codex Washingtonianus (~400)
Codex Alexandrinus (400–440)
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 3–80)
Papyrus 42 (6th/7th century; extant: Greek verses 54–55; Coptic verses 46–51)
Minuscule 481 (10th century)
Old Testament references
Luke 1:17: Malachi 4:5–6 (Malachi 3:23-24 in Hebrew Bibles)
Luke 1:49: Psalm 111:9c
Luke 1:50: Psalm 103:17
Luke 1:51: Psalm 89:10
Luke 1:53: Psalm 107:9
Luke 1:54: Psalm 98:3
Luke 1:68: Psalm 41:13; Psalm 72:18; Psalm 106:48; Psalm 111:9a
Luke 1:69: Psalm 132:17c
Luke 1:71: Psalm 106:10
Luke 1:72: Psalm 106:45
Luke 1:72–73: Psalm 105:8–9
Prologue (1:1–4)
The evangelist, Luke, begins his "orderly account" with the following statement:
1Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, 2just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
“Luke 1” enters the record as gospel according to Luke, chapter 1. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Luke, Gospel and according can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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