Authorship – “The authorship of the Gospel of Luke was never disputed until the second half of the nineteenth century.”(1) The early church held unanimously to Luke as the author and the Muratorian Canon states “The third book of the Gospel: According to Luke. This Luke was a physician.”(2) If you guys have an interest, we can discuss the Muratorian Canon at some point in our studies.

Date – The best estimate is in the late 50s or early 60s. Paul is still alive at the end of Acts (which is the follow-up to the Gospel of Luke, written by the same author). Most scholarship puts Paul’s martyrdom around 65-67. It would be highly odd if the author of Luke/Acts did not include this information unless these writings were finished before Paul’s death.

(1) Stein, Robert H. 1992. Luke. Vol. 24. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

(2) Ibid