LUKE, author of the third Gospel and of the °Acts of the Apostles.* From the letters of Paul we learn that Luke was an honored fellow-worker, a physician by profession and a companion of the apostle in imprisonment. In his own two historical works he furnishes con siderable information as to himself in addition to what Paul gives. It is plain that he was not a Jew by birth or religion, and it cannot safely be asserted that before he became a Christian he had been one of the *devout* persons of whom he repeatedly speaks, usually meaning such Gentiles as attended the Jewish synagogues without, however, becoming full proselytes. The fact that he was a physician, which profession was at his time largely in the hands of Greeks, his facile grace in the use of the Greek language, and the personal character istics revealed in his writings, taken together, render it sufficiently certain that he was of Hellenic descent. His name, however, is of Latin origin, as Lukas is to be reckoned a diminutive of Lucanus (other derivations, even if possible are less probable, especially as Lu canns actually appears in the title of the Gospel in several Latin manuscripts), and the most plausible explanation of the situation is that he was the son of a Greek freedman of some wealthy Roman. From Eusebius we learn that he had at least a family connection with Syrian Antioch, which is confirmed by the way in which he speaks in Acts of that city. It is possible that he and Paul had earlier become acquainted at Antioch or even at Tarsus, and it is certain that they met at Troas where a per sonal appeal from Luke to the apostle to work in Philippi may have preceded the vision which convinced Paul that it was the will of God that he should cross to Europe. It seems that Luke remained in Philippi after Paul and his company had gone on to other cities and pre sumably for a time at least he practised his pro fession in that city, as supposably he had done previously. Whether during the intervening
years he was in any way associated with Paul Cannot be positively asserted, but it is certain that he rejoined him at Philippi on his way from Ephesus for his last visit to Jerusalem, and Luke is known to have been with him both in Jerusalem and at Caesarea, though we cannot be sure that he was constantly with the apostle. He certainly sailed from Caesarea with Paul and shared the fortunes of the voyage of which he has given such a marvelously vivid account. It appears that after the shipwreck on the coast of Malta he used his medical skill during the following winter for the benefit of the inhabitants of that island. We hear of him as with Paul during his first imprisonment, andin during his second, when Paul says °Only Luke is with me.° It may well be believed that Paul valued and encouraged Luke's presence, not only for companionship, but also on account of the helpfulness of the •beloved physician* in medical advice to him. Tradition has busied itself with Luke's career in later years, but we can be sure of nothing. It has been said that he was a painter, the first Christian artist as well as the first medical missionary, and an old painting attributed to him is still carefully preserved in Rome, but the story seems to have no substantial founda tion. While the tradition that he died in Greece is the most probable of all the traditions which link themselves with his later years, yet nothing can be positively asserted as to where he spent those years or as to the date, place or manner of his death. For bibliography and connection of Luke with the third Gospel see article LUKE, Gospel According to.