During my teaching on “The Book of Acts” at the Fisherman’s Net Apostolic Bible College recently there was an interesting question raised by one of the students about the Authorship of the Book of Acts. The question is apart from the common “greeting” to a man named Theophilius in both The Gospel of Luke and Acts, which is further proof that that Luke may well have been the author of the Book of Acts. The interest level of the student served as motivation for me to write this article, which could be of use to the others too.

The authorship of The Book of Acts has been a bone of contention for many over the years. The fact is tradition holds that the text was written by Luke, the companion of Paul (named in Colossians 4:14) and this traditional view of Lukan authorship is “widely held as the view which most satisfactorily explains all the data.”

There is substantial evidence to indicate that the author of The Gospel of Luke also wrote the Book of Acts. They are:

1. Both books begin with a greeting to a man named Theophilus (“friend of God”);
2. Acts’ greeting to Theophilus refers to a previous writing;
3. The end of Luke intentionally overlaps with the beginning of Acts to provide continuity between the two volumes;
4. The author’s writing style, vocabulary, and attention to specific themes remain constant throughout both books.

Moreover because of their common authorship, the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles are often jointly referred to simply as Luke-Acts.

The most significant help in discovering the author of Acts is simply recognizing this book’s relationship to the Gospel of Luke. Then we must assume Acts was written by the same author as the gospel of Luke. In fact, many Bible readers believe Luke-Acts is a single work which was divided into two parts as the books of the New Testament were gathered together.

The size of Luke and Acts combined makes the author of these two books the chief contributor to the New Testament, having written twenty-five percent of all Scripture from the Christian era. Taken as a whole, Luke and Acts are a larger work than the combined letters of Paul.

Once we assume Luke and Acts come from the same pen, we can begin to look for evidence within these books which points toward the author’s identity.

However there is still remains the question How can we tell that the person who wrote these books was named Luke?

• The first piece of evidence comes in Luke 1:2. There, the writer states he was not an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus. This fact eliminates any of the eleven disciples as candidates for authorship.

• Next, the “we” passages in Acts also offer a major, internal clue to the identity of the book’s author. During the account of Paul’s missionary journeys, the author occasionally changes his style from that of a third person observer to a first person participant.

• In Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-16; 21:1-18; and 27:1-28:16, the author speaks of “we” and “us” in relationship to Paul’s travels. The language implies the author himself traveled with Paul. These “we” sections include the time when Paul was imprisoned at Rome. Scholars have determined Paul wrote Philemon, Colossians, and the Pastoral Epistles during his house arrest in that city. By searching those letters for references to Paul’s fellow workers, they compiled a list of companions who could have written Luke and Acts. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul says, “Only Luke is with me,” making him the most likely person to have written Luke-Acts.

The Negative Argument:

During the first century church confirmed the likelihood of Luke’s authorship with what they call the “negative” argument. This negative argument recognizes the early church’s tendency to attribute the authorship of New Testament works to recognized apostles and eyewitnesses of the ministry of the Master. We have no reason to assume early Christians would have given credit for the authorship of Luke-Acts to such an insignificant figure as Luke unless they possessed firm evidence that the doctor, traveling companion of Paul, did indeed write this important document.

Conclusion

The facts surrounding the authorship of Acts are not merely intended to bolster the knowledge of persons interested in Bible trivia. Knowing Luke wrote Acts is crucial for understanding this book. Unless readers see in Acts the continuation of themes and emphases which Luke began in his Gospel, they will miss some of the most vital helps available to them for interpreting Acts. Unless readers see the purpose of Acts as a direct continuation of the purpose of Luke, the impetus of the book of Acts will merely be a fleeting shadow to the eager student.However with respect to FN-ABC and as per the UPCI’s teaching is that Luke wrote both Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts.