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It is known that the Gospel of Luke targets directly gentile Christians and Greeks.

Matthew uses references to the Old Testament, Jewish customs and ideologies to target his audience of Jews, but what does Luke do?

How does Luke target specifically gentile Christians?

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  • This is a very broad question for this site, requiring a study of the content of the entire book of Luke.
    – Nigel J
    Mar 11, 2019 at 4:46
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    @NigelJ It sounds to me like they're looking for a one sentence answer, like how they summed up Matthew's strategies in one sentence.
    – user32540
    Mar 11, 2019 at 5:40
  • This would probably be better addressed at the Biblical Hermeneutics site.
    – curiousdannii ♦
    Mar 13, 2019 at 2:02
  • @KorvinStarmast The rest of any answer I can give is already covered in the answer where I put the comment. My comment was only an addition and answers of only a sentence or two is also frowned upon; so either way I get frowned upon.
    – BYE
    Mar 13, 2019 at 16:02
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    @KorvinStarmast No problem. Your comment was not offensive in any way. As a matter of fact I considered it complementary since you stated that it appeared as the beginning of a good answer. Thank you for both the apology and the compliment, even though the apology was unnecessary as far as I'm concerned.
    – BYE
    Mar 16, 2019 at 14:46

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There are several things that suggest Luke wrote for a Gentile Greek audience:

  • The Greek vocabulary is vastly more sophisticated and more "classic" in style and construction. The Greek betrays Luke as well-educated and highly intelligent.
  • Luke's writing style shows an intimate acquaintance with current culture, idiom and expression in well educated Gentile circles.
  • Col 4:11-14 suggests that Luke is a Gentile as he is not listed amongst the circumcision group
  • By contrast with Matthew's genealogy back to Abraham (Jewish ancestor), Luke's genealogy goes back to Adam (ancestor of the world).
  • Luke's choice of incidents in Jesus' life feature more Gentiles than the other Gospels, as well as Jesus interest in Gentiles (He includes the large Perean section of Jesus' ministry that is absent from other Gospels.)
  • Luke mentions Roman centurions more than other writers and always in a favourable light.
  • Luke's writing has no trace of Jewish exclusiveness which occasionally occurs in Matthew and Mark
  • Luke's dating of events uses the tenure of various officials

Thus, it has been clear that Luke was a Gentile writing for Gentiles.

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