When did Saint Luke the gospel writer die?

Answer 1

The Gospel was originally written anonymously and was only attributed by the Church Fathers to Luke, the companion of Paul, towards the end of the second century. However, there are strong reasons for believing that the gospel writer was not Luke, the companion of Paul. For this reason, 'Luke' the gospel writer (Luke the evangelist) should not be confused with Luke the companion of the Apostle Paul.

The same author wrote both the Gospel According to Lukeand Acts of the Apostles. Since Acts is believed to have been written early in the second century, then its author must have died some time afterwards, during the first part of the second century.

Roman Catholic AnswerThis is from the Catholic Encyclopedia article:

After St. Paul's martyrdom practically all that is known about him is contained in the ancient "Prefatio vel Argumentum Luc ", dating back to Julius Africanus, who was born about A.D. 165. This states that he was unmarried, that he wrote the Gospel, in Achaia, and that he died at the age of seventy-four in Bithynia(probably a copyist's error for B otia), filled with the Holy Ghost. Epiphanius has it that he preached in Dalmatia (where there is a tradition to that effect), Gallia (Galatia?), Italy, and Macedonia. As an Evangelist, he must have suffered much for the Faith, but it is controverted whether he actually died a martyr's death. St. Jerome writes of him (De Vir. III., vii). "Sepultus est Constantinopoli, ad quam urbem vigesimo Constantii anno, ossa ejus cum reliquiis Andre Apostoli translata sunt [de Achaia?]."

so we do not know the date, as we do not know anything about his early life, much less his birthdate.

Answer 2

Luke wrote his Gospel prior to 62AD. Luke wrote his gospel before he wrote Acts. Acts is known to be written prior to 64AD.

Some people place the time of writing around A.D 56-58 before the death of Paul. Some say after Paul's death but before the sacking of Jerusalem around A.D.60-65
The most likely date for Luke is very early in the 60's of the first century.

Since nearly all agree that Luke must precede Acts in time, and Acts ends about a.d. 63 with Paul in Rome, a date before that is probable. The great fire of Rome and the persecution of Christians as Nero's scapegoats in a.d. 64 would surely have been mentioned by Luke if he was writing after these events.

Answer 3

In his introduction to the Gospel of Luke in his "Study Bible", John MacArthur says that Luke wrote his Gospel in 60 or 61AD.

The Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts clearly were written by the same individual. Although he never identified himself by name. it is clear from his use of the word "we" in many sections of Acts that he was a close companion of Paul. Luke is the only person, among the colleagues Paul mentions in his own epistles, who fits the profile of the author of these books. That accords perfectly with the earliest tradition of the church which unanimously attributed this gospel to Luke.

Luke and Acts appear to have been written at about the same time - Luke first, then Acts. Combined, they make a 2-volume work addresses to "Theophilus", giving a sweeping history of the founding of Christianity, from the birth of Christ to Paul's imprisonment under house arrest in Rome.

The book of Acts ends with Paul still in Rome, which leads to the conclusion that Luke wrote these books from Rome during Paul's imprisonment there (c.60-62AD). Luke records Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem but makes no mention of the fulfillment of that prophecy in 70AD, either here or in Acts. Luke made it a point to record such prophetic fulfillmentsso it is extremely unlikely that he wrote these books after the Roman invasion of Jerusalem. Acts also includes no mention of the great persecution that began under Nero in 64AD. In addition, many scholars set the date of Jame's martyrdom at 62AD, and if that was before Luke completed his history , he certainly would have mentioned it. So, the most likely date for this gospel is 60 or 61AD.

Answer 4

Luke's Gospel is addressed to Theophilus, but the book must have been written for a wider audience, including converts and potential converts. Theophilus ("friend of God") may have been a real person, or may have simply symbolised the faithful.

We now know that the author based his Gospel on Mark's Gospel and added material from a number of other sources, along with his own embellishments. It seems unlikely that the anonymous author now known as 'Luke' was writing for the same Christian community as that within which Mark's Gospel was circulating.

He must have known that by adding material from other sources, along with his own embellishments, the resultant Gospel was not a true account of the life of Jesus. So, Luke may have been writing an apology (formal defence) for a wider audience than Christians and potential converts. Upstart religions were frowned upon by the Romans, obliging Christians to demonstrate antiquity and virtue. Virtue was claimed from demonstrations of high communal ethic, political respectability and cooperation with the Roman peace.

So, the audience for Luke's Gospel may have included the members of a particular Christian community, potential converts and also the pagan Roman authorities who were suspicious of the new religion.

AnswerLuke was written for the Greek Christians. He had no other motive than to spread the message that Jesus was the Messiah, and he had come to save Gentiles as much as Jews. In the wider scheme of things, Luke is also written for all men in all times since.

Luke 1:3 Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus

AnswerThe Gospel of Luke was written to Theophilus:- Luk 1:1 Now many have undertaken to compile an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,

Luk 1:2 like the accounts passed on to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word from the beginning.

Luk 1:3 So it seemed good to me as well, because I have followed all things carefully from the beginning, towrite an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

Luk 1:4 so that you may know for certain the things you were taught.

[NET Bible]

Luke also wrote the book The Acts of the Apostles, and also wrote that to Theophilus as well:- Act 1:1 I wrote the former account [ie Gospel of Luke], Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach

Act 1:2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after he had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.[NET Bible]

Who this Theophilus (or "lover of God") was is not known, but his address as "most excellent Theophilus" suggests he was an important Roman official. Luke probably wrote his gospel for Greek-speaking Christians. Luke 1:3 reads: "Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus" Theophilus may be a particular person, or a category of persons, because the name means "friend of God".

Answer 5

We can establish an approximate minimum date for when Luke's Gospel was written, by identifying the sources, since the book must have been written after the books Luke used as sources. The author makes it very clear, even in the first verse of Luke that he was not writing a first-hand account, nor one based on witnesses or friends, when he talks of what things "are most surely believed among us".

We know that both Matthew and Luke relied on Mark's Gospel for most of their information about the life of Jesus. Whenever they agree with Mark, the text is almost identical in Greek, somthing that could not happen unless one Gospel was being copied. We also have the "missing block", a short section of text that was obviously missing from the copy of Mark that Luke was using. Since we can say that Mark's Gospel was written approximately 70 CE, Luke's Gospel must have been written some time later. Internal clues indicate that Luke's Gospel must have been written somewhat later than Matthew's, so we can say that Matthew's Gospel would have been written no ealier than 80 CE, while Luke's Gospel was written no earlier than about 90 CE.

Luke's Gospel show evidence of borrowing material from the works of Josephus, a Jewish military leader and historian. Evidence that it contains material from Antiquities of the Jews, written in 93 CE, indicates that it was written some time after this date.

We know that Luke's Gospel was already regarded as a classic of Christian scriptures by the middle of the second century, so we also know that it could not have been written later than the early years of the century.

On the basis of this evidence, we can suggest that the Gospel According to St Luke was probably written in the late 90s of the first century, or quite early in the second century.

Answer 6

We do not know the real name of the author of the gospel attributed to Luke, but New Testament scholars generally believe it to have been written late in the first century or early in the second century CE. Although the Gospel was originally anonymous, it was attributed to Luke by the Church Fathers later in the second century because they surmised that Luke would have known Paul well enough to write Acts of the Apostles, which is clearly by the same author.

More specifically, Luke could not have been written before 70 CE, because it clearly contains material copied from Mark, which was written around that time. Luke is also believed to be somewhat later than Matthew, which was written during the 80s of the first century, although Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) cautions that a few years should be allowed either side of that decade. Acts of the Apostles, written by the same author, clearly contains extracts from Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, which was published in 93 CE, so Acts could scarcely be dated before the second century. Although with less complete certainty, Luke's Gospel probably also contains material from Antiquities of the Jews, but at least from other works by Josephus.

Answer 7

theophilus