A website to help you study the Gospel of Luke,

Prayer. Luke records a large number of occasions when Jesus prays, which the other Evangelists don't mention (3:21, 5:16, 6:12); and he tells parables about prayer which appear in no other Gospel (11:5, 18:1-14). Prayer has a vital importance in Acts too, and Luke often shows how crucial prayer is to the breakthroughs in his story (e.g. Acts 4:31, 13:2). The Apostles planned to spend their time `in prayer and preaching and teaching the Word' (6:4).

Jesus the Lord. There is no `Messianic secret' in Luke in the same way that there is in Mark - where Jesus tells people at first not to let anybody know that they have been healed, not to reveal his identity. Luke omits this detail and presents Jesus as `the Lord' (ho kurios) from the start, again and again. But for all this the picture of Jesus which Luke presents is richly, warmly human; he always has time for people (23:27ff., 23:40ff., 22:51, 22:61).

The Holy Spirit. Luke presents Jesus as carrying out his work `full of the Holy Spirit' (4:1) and `filled with the Holy Spirit's power' (4:14). Just to emphasize the point, he immediately tells the story of Jesus' reading from Isaiah 61: `The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...' (4:18) The Acts of the Apostles, it has often been remarked, should really be called `The Acts of the Holy Spirit'. God's Spirit is everywhere throughout Luke/Acts, and Luke pays him so much attention because he wants to make it clear that all these events he is describing are no coincidence, but the unfolding of God's historic plan for the world, impelled by his power, directed by his Spirit.

`That the Spirit occupies a central concern in Luke's theology is seen first of all by the numerous references to his activity. Luke refers to the Spirit seventeen times, compared with twelve times for Matthew and six times for Mark.' - R P Martin, New Testament Foundations

Joy. The words for `joy' and `rejoicing' occur more often in Luke than any other New Testament book. Luke gives us the exultant songs of Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon. `People are often found rejoicing or giving glory to God or praising him... There can be no doubt that the Christianity Luke knew was a wonderfully joyful affair.'

Evangelism and salvation. It has been pointed out that the word `to evangelize' (euangelizomai) is used by Luke about the Christmas message, the ministry of John the Baptist, the work of Jesus and the preaching of the early church.It's a very important word for Luke - as it was for Paul - but it isn't used by other Gospel writers much at all. The whole Gospel tries to demonstrate how the worldwide spread of the message is an indispensable part of God's whole plan to bring salvation to all races and all classes in society. The word `salvation' or `Saviour' occurs frequently at the start of Luke's Gospel, setting the tone for the rest of the message. Luke is saying: this is what the whole Jesus story is about - God's plan of rescue for the entire human race.

God's future. Luke is keen to stress that the Second Coming is sure and certain, but won't necessarily take place tomorrow (19:11). Perhaps part of his purpose is to correct the wrong ideas of people in the first century that the Parousia must be coming any day now. He shows how the international missionary enterprise, and the growth of the church around the world, is part of God's unfolding plan, not an irrelevant period of hanging about waiting for Jesus to arrive. (This is why Luke was accused by some liberal scholars of `early catholicism' - because he sees the importance of the church and stresses it - but the charge isn't fair, because Luke isn't interested much in the church as an institution or a power structure; he sees it primarily as the people of God on the move, fulfilling a task, publishing a message.)
He also wants to present salvation as something for now. The future will be glorious, but we don't need to wait to experience the immediacy of God's presence with us, the joy of being set free, the healing of our lives (19:9). H. Conzelmann's great book Die Mitte der Zeit argued that Luke saw Jesus as standing at the mid-point of history, with the Old Testamenty stretching away behind, and the church age stretching out in front. Conzelmann was too dismissive of the early church's futurist tendencies, and too radical in the way he suggested Luke remodelled the church's theology of the future single-handed; but there's a lot of truth in the picture of Luke's intentions which he presents.
(It is important to notice that Luke doesn't `resolutely renounce his adherence to the imminent expectation', as Conzelmann claimed. There are plenty of verses - 3:9,17; 10:9,11;18:7f.;21:32 - which proclaim the nearness of the kingdom. Luke is not denying that Jesus' return, and the end of the age, will `come quickly', but he does see a reason for God delaying its arrival meantime.)