Why does Luke write the third gospel?

A:The third gospel is now known as Luke's Gospel, but that was not always the case. All the New Testament gospels were originally anonymous and the third gospel was attributed by Papias to Luke, later in the second century.

By coincidence, Luke is not only the third gospel listed in the New Testament, but the third New Testament gospel to be written. Biblical scholars have established the order in which the New Testament gospels were written, as well as the approximate dates for each. We know that Mark's Gospel was written first, around 70 CE. Matthew and Luke were written after Mark, since the authors relied on Mark for much of the material in their own gospels. One reason for placing Matthew before Luke is the progressive development of anti-Jewish sentiment in Christianity over the second half of the first century. Paul was proud of his Jewish background and reveals no anti-Jewish sentiment in the communities he visited. Mark's Gospel reflects some antipathy against the Pharisees and scribes, more than against Jews generally. Matthew is moderately anti-Jewish and Lukemuch more so. John's Gospel is clearly antagonistic to the Jews. Thus, Luke's Gospel fits into an evolving pattern as the third gospel. It appears likely to have been written after Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews was published in 93 CE.

Written in the late 90s of the first century or quite early in the second century, Luke is much too late to have been written by Luke, the physician and companion of Paul. New Testament scholars have demonstrated that the author of Luke relied on Mark's gospel for everything he knew about the life and mission of Jesus, in addition to which much of the theology in Luke is very different to what Paul taught, so its author clearly did not learn the gospel from Paul. Luke 1:1 refers to the gospel as "those things which are most surely believed among us" and verse 2 explains that they were delivered to him but believed to have come originally from eyewitnesses, with not a mention of Paul as Luke's teacher. These are not the Words of a companion of Paul - we do not know who wrote the third gospel.

Another Answer:

Yes, modern scholars attribute the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts to Luke. As neither the name of the author or the exact date is given in both Luke and Acts, we must deduce both. Because of the 4 'we' sections in the Book of Acts (see 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; and 27: 1--28:16) many scholars use these as indications that Luke accompanied Paul at least these 4 times.

Early Christian writers from Justin Martyr to Tertullian, identify the writer of Luke as Luke himself. Luke was an educated man compared to the standards of his time and was capable of writing in high Greek style.

Most scholars choose between two time periods for Luke considering the fall of Jerusalem (19:41-44) as being late 60s to mid 70s, or late 80s A.D..