ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Luke 1.2

Book: Luke · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV
  1. Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

2. even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word,

  1. it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus; 4. that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed. (Luke 1:1-4, ASV)
WEB
  1. Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

2. even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,

  1. it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; 4. that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed. (Luke 1:1-4, WEB)
KJV
  1. Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

2. Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;

  1. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4. That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. (Luke 1:1-4, KJV)
YLT
  1. Seeing that many did take in hand to set in order a narration of the matters that have been fully assured among us,

2. as they did deliver to us, who from the beginning became eye-witnesses, and officers of the Word,

  1. it seemed good also to me, having followed from the first after all things exactly, to write to thee in order, most noble Theophilus, 4. that thou mayest know the certainty of the things wherein thou wast instructed. (Luke 1:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Luke, in the preface to his Gospel
  • Audience: Theophilus, and through him the wider readership of Luke and Acts
  • Location: unknown; the Gospel's composition is variously placed at Antioch, Rome, Achaia or Ephesus
  • Time period: c. AD 60 to 85, depending on the dating adopted; the preface itself is undated

Theological reading

The New Testament's most explicit statement of a source chain. Luke says the things fulfilled among us were "handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word."

Two technical terms carry the verse, and both are worth stating precisely.

Autoptai, self-seers, eyewitnesses. Not a New Testament coinage but standard vocabulary in Greek historical and medical writing, where autopsia names the historian's own direct observation as against report. English "autopsy" descends from it. See G0845 - autoptes.

Paredosan, from paradidōmi, "they handed over." The technical vocabulary of controlled transmission, cognate with paradosis ("tradition") and the same verb pair Paul uses at 1 Corinthians 15:3, "I delivered what I also received." It names a deliberate act of handing something on intact, not the drift of rumor. See G3860 - paradidomi.

What the verse claims, and what it does not. It claims a named source class and a deliberate mode of transmission, and it distinguishes the author from his sources rather than blurring them. Luke does not claim to be an eyewitness himself, and the honesty of that distinction is a mark in the preface's favor rather than against it.

It does not, by itself, establish that the research was well done. The preface makes a genre claim, that this is investigated historiography in the Hellenistic mode, and genre claims and truth claims are different. An objector who points this out is right, and the argument for Luke's actual reliability runs separately, on his verifiable topography, provincial titles and chronology.

Apologetic use. This is the anchor verse against the chain-of-custody objection, treated at The Bible Is Just Second-Hand Sources Objection Defeater. The decisive observation is that the New Testament's two words for a firsthand witness, autoptēs here and epoptēs at 2 Peter 1:16, are both built from a stem of seeing rather than from any juridical root. The writers are making a perceptual claim, not a claim inside an adversarial procedure of evidence they knew nothing about.

Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (2006) develops the preface into a broader argument from the distribution of personal names in the Gospels. The argument is contested and should be presented as contested.

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.