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# The Certainty of Those Things -- Why Luke Wrote

*Series: Luke: An Orderly Account - Dr. Randy White*

## I. Matters Most Surely Believed (v. 1)

### The Gospel Begins With Events
- Luke writes about **"those things"**: identifiable events that occurred in history, not religious ideals detached from time and place.
- The Christian faith makes claims about what God has done; if the events are untrue, the message built upon them cannot stand (1 Cor. 15:14-17).
- Christianity is not chiefly advice about how to live; it is news about divine acts that call for belief, interpretation, and response.
- Luke's opening directs attention away from the sincerity of the believer and toward the truth of the things believed.

### The Gospel Concerns Settled Matters
- **"Most surely believed among us"** describes matters fully carried and firmly established among the believing community.
- Luke does not begin with uncertainty and hope that writing will make it true. He records the settled truth so that another may know its certainty.
- The phrase **"among us"** identifies a community formed around shared truth. Christian conviction is personal, but it is not invented privately.
- Luke acknowledges that **"many"** had written before him. Another faithful account does not compete with truth; it can establish and clarify it.
- The prologue therefore begins with confidence rather than novelty: Luke's purpose is not to invent a new message, but to give settled truth an orderly and durable form.

## II. Testimony Faithfully Delivered (v. 2)

### Witnesses From The Beginning
- The account rests upon those **"which from the beginning were eyewitnesses"**--people who saw the events for themselves (Luke 24:48; 1 John 1:1-3).
- Luke distinguishes himself from the original eyewitnesses. His honesty about his sources strengthens rather than weakens his account.
- **"From the beginning"** matters: the testimony reaches back to the earliest events and does not begin with legends arising generations later.
- Eyewitness testimony does not make every witness infallible, but it gives Luke access to those positioned to know what actually occurred.

### Servants Who Handed Down The Word
- The eyewitnesses also became **"ministers of the word."** What they saw placed them under obligation to serve the message.
- They **"delivered"** the testimony to others. Gospel truth travels through faithful stewardship, not anonymous rumor (2 Tim. 2:2).
- The witnesses did not own the message and were not free to reinvent it. A steward delivers what he has received (1 Cor. 4:1-2; 15:3).
- The chain is visible: events were witnessed, testimony was delivered, Luke wrote, and Theophilus could know. Certainty is connected to faithful transmission.
- Every link serves the truth beyond itself: the witnesses serve the word, Luke serves the reader, and the written account continues serving those who receive it.

## III. Truth Carefully Understood (v. 3)

### Investigation And Inspiration Work Together
- Luke had **"perfect understanding of all things from the very first"**: he traced the relevant matters accurately from their earliest point.
- **"It seemed good to me also"** reveals genuine human judgment. Inspiration included Luke's research, understanding, vocabulary, and writing (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21).
- Scripture can be fully inspired while displaying the writer's real labor. Divine superintendence did not erase Luke's mind or method.
- Luke's care rebukes careless confidence. Being convinced that something is true is no excuse for handling its details inaccurately.

### Order Serves Understanding
- Luke wrote **"in order"** so that events, testimony, and meaning could be understood as a coherent whole.
- Careful arrangement is not mere literary polish. Truth clearly ordered helps the hearer see how the parts belong together (Prov. 22:20-21).
- Luke's order is purposeful without requiring every episode to be strictly chronological. He arranges a truthful account that can be followed and understood.
- The Gospel will unfold as one account: promise and fulfillment, rejection and reception, the cross and resurrection, Jerusalem and the nations.
- Good order does not manufacture certainty; it removes needless confusion so that the strength of the underlying testimony can be clearly seen.

## IV. Certainty Firmly Possessed (v. 4)

### Instruction Can Be Confirmed
- Theophilus had already been **"instructed."** Luke writes to strengthen a taught man, not merely to introduce an uninformed one.
- Faith does not fear closer examination. Sound instruction becomes more secure when it is anchored to reliable testimony.
- Believers still need confirmation. Prior instruction is not a reason to stop learning, but a foundation upon which fuller understanding can be built (2 Tim. 3:14).
- Luke addresses one man by name, reminding us that careful instruction of one person may serve more people and endure longer than the teacher can foresee.

### Certainty Is Firm Footing
- Luke's aim is **"that thou mightest know the certainty."** Biblical certainty is informed conviction, not an unsupported inward feeling.
- The Gospel offers firm footing: established events, eyewitness testimony, careful investigation, and an orderly written account (John 20:30-31).
- Certainty does not mean possessing an answer to every imaginable question. It means knowing that the truth received rests upon a reliable foundation.
- Luke does not ask Theophilus to believe because doubt is forbidden; he writes so that uncertainty may give way to knowledge grounded in truth.
- The proper response is neither gullibility nor endless suspicion, but settled confidence in testimony that has been responsibly received, examined, and preserved.