God’s divine plan for human salvation was accomplished during the period of Jesus, who through the events of his life ( Lk 22:22) fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies ( Lk 4:21 18:31 22:37 24:26–27, 44), and this salvation is now extended to all humanity in the period of the church ( Acts 4:12). This history is first of all salvation history. Luke’s story of Jesus and the church is dominated by a historical perspective. This continuity between the historical ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the apostles is Luke’s way of guaranteeing the fidelity of the Church’s teaching to the teaching of Jesus.
To accomplish his purpose, Luke shows that the preaching and teaching of the representatives of the early church are grounded in the preaching and teaching of Jesus, who during his historical ministry ( Acts 1:21–22) prepared his specially chosen followers and commissioned them to be witnesses to his resurrection and to all else that he did ( Acts 10:37–42). The stated purpose of the two volumes is to provide Theophilus and others like him with certainty-assurance-about earlier instruction they have received ( Lk 1:4). The Gospel according to Luke is the first part of a two-volume work that continues the biblical history of God’s dealings with humanity found in the Old Testament, showing how God’s promises to Israel have been fulfilled in Jesus and how the salvation promised to Israel and accomplished by Jesus has been extended to the Gentiles.
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