Luke's Gospel from Scratch: The New Testament for Beginners

I have been reading and studying the book of Luke for the past four months. I decided to take seriously a comment that too often we as Christians skim over the bible instead of reading it closely. So I have been reading just Luke and reading at least one book a month on Luke. I have read commentaries or bible studies by John MacArthur, Michael Card, a book on the Luke version of the Beatitudes and I am working through a very academic commentary on Luke right now.

This book is the best introduction to Luke. I really like Card's perspective and look at the artistry of Luke. But if I were going to suggest a book for a small group study I would suggest this. It is designed with 60 percent of the book as commentary and the remaining 40 percent is a very detailed suggested bible study format.

I am increasingly frustrated with people that suggest that we should be able to just read scripture on our own without any help. We can, but if we want to understand the deeper ramifications of a passage then we need to build on the knowledge of the church and past scholars.

A good example (although the book as a whole is not dense like this) is from Gabriel's announcement to Mary of Jesus' birth:

"”Do not be afraid; for see–I am bringing you good news [gospel!] of great joy [a major Lukan theme] for all people [another Lukan theme]: to you is born this day in the city of David [Israel's royal city] a Savior [a title reserved for the emperor], who is the Messiah [a Hebrew title applied to King David and his royal heirs], the Lord [a title used by the emperor and also used by Jews to refer to God].” (2:10-11) Luke has laid on Jesus several titles of authority that might make some in Luke's audience a bit anxious. Nevertheless he continues. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (2:13-14) The more sophisticated of Luke's hearers might have heard in the angel's doxology an echo of the Roman poet Virgil's hymn celebrating the birth of another baby boy–Caesar Augustus.”

In general the book is written in a very narrative format and just refers to sections instead of actually quoting long sections. This is a book designed to be read along with the bible, not one that has all the bible passages in it. I am looking forward to using this series in the future.

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An ebook version of this book was provided by the publisher for purposes of review. A longer version of this review was originally published on my blog at http://bookwi.se/luke-scratch/