Luke-Acts

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Luke-Acts is the name usually given by Biblical scholars to the composite work of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. Together they describe the Ministry of Jesus and the subsequents lives of the Apostles and the Apostolic Age.

Both the books of Luke and Acts are anonymous narratives written for a person named Theophilus^[1]. The book of Acts refers to Luke as "the first book"^[2], and the author probably intended both books to be read together. Most scholars believe that they were written by the same person. A traditional view holds that they were written by Luke named in Colossians 4:14, a doctor and follower of Paul, but some modern scholarship doubts this view; a date of between 50 and 150 CE is considered likely for the work's composition. The work is Hellenized and written for a gentile audience. It is not known when it was separated into the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Marcion did not use Acts, perhaps he was unaware of it; Ireneaus is the first to use and mention Acts, specifically against Marcionism.