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SECTION 1 |
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In this study we will see: ·
How Luke's Gospel fits into history. ·
That Jesus is "the Son of God." ·
What Jesus said he came to do. The New Testament is made up of several short books and
letters. Our English Bibles are translations of what the early
Christians actually wrote. The experts tell us that we can be sure that
the text on which these translations are based is exceptionally
accurate.
In the days of the first Christians, there were many writings about
the life of Jesus. But some had special quality--they had been written
by Jesus' followers or their close friends. These gospels and letters
were carefully copied by hand. Over the years, archaeologists have found
thousands of manuscripts of bits of the New Testament and even some
complete copies. By comparing these, we can get very close to what the
New Testament writers originally wrote. Some of these copies are dated
less than 100 years after the original gospel or letter was written. For an idea of how good this evidence is, compare the New Testament
with other writings that are about as old as the New Testament. For
example, Julius Caesar wrote a book called The Gallic War about
50 years before Christ was born. We obviously do not have the original
copy. Yet, we do have nine or ten copies, and the earliest of these was
made about 900 years after the original. This is a typical gap for
ancient writings. When, however, we examine the historical evidence relating to the
Bible, one learns that there are thousands of manuscripts of the New
Testament books. Therefore, we have good reason to believe that we know
almost exactly what Luke, Paul and the others wrote.
The author of this gospel, Luke, also wrote another book in the New
Testament, the Acts of the Apostles. He was the only New Testament
writer who was not Jewish, and he was a doctor. Independent evidence
confirms that he was a very careful and accurate historian. Luke's Gospel: fact or fiction?
Where did Jesus come from? Luke gives details of the unique origin
of Jesus, and the following passage explains how Jesus' birth was
foretold.
Jesus explains his purpose Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the south of Palestine. He
grew up in a very ordinary town, named Nazareth, located in Galilee
which was in the north of Palestine. Jesus was a carpenter, but at the
age of 30, he became a religious teacher, moving from town to town. In Luke 4:14-22, we read what happened when Jesus began teaching. He
went to the synagogue, which was the local place of worship. Although he
probably had no more religious education than the average Jewish man,
people wanted to hear him. He was asked to speak at the synagogue in
Nazareth.
TO
THINK ABOUT Jesus
came to help the "poor", the "captive", the
"blind", and the "oppressed." What are ways in which
people today are poor, captive, blind or oppressed? page _1 page_2
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page _4 page_5
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