The promise fulfilled: Luke's preface, two announcements and two songs

The third Gospel is anonymous in its text, but the church from the second century onward ascribed it to Luke, the physician and companion of Paul (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24; 2 Timothy 4:11). Luke and Acts are two volumes by one author, and in several passages of Acts the narrator says 'we', which suggests that he travelled with Paul (for example Acts 16:10-17; 27-28). Most scholars accept Luke as the author, though some critical scholars think the 'we' passages are a literary device or a borrowed travel source. The date is disputed. Acts ends with Paul in Rome and does not report his trial, which leads some to date Luke-Acts to the early 60s. Most scholars date it to about AD 80 to 90, after Mark and the fall of Jerusalem, since Luke uses Mark and his version of the discourse on the temple is more specific (21:20).

Luke addresses Theophilus, whose name means 'friend of God' and who is called 'most excellent', a title used for officials (compare Acts 23:26). The preface (1:1-4) is in the formal Greek of historical writing. Luke says that many have compiled accounts of the things fulfilled among us, as handed down by eyewitnesses and servants of the word, and that he has followed everything closely from the first and writes an orderly account so that Theophilus may know the certainty of what he was taught. His concerns include salvation history, the Spirit, the poor and lowly, women and the reach of the gospel to all nations.

On the sources, most scholars hold that Luke used Mark and a body of sayings shared with Matthew (called Q), together with material of his own, including most of chapters 1 and 2. A minority reject Q and argue that Luke used Matthew. Matthew and Luke both tell of Jesus' birth but with different material: Matthew from Joseph's side, with the magi and the flight to Egypt, and Luke from Mary's, with the shepherds and the songs. Some scholars see both as theological compositions, others as family memory. The two agree that Jesus was born in the days of Herod, to a virgin betrothed to Joseph of David's house, by the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1 combines two literary styles. The preface is polished Greek in the manner of Greek historians, and it announces a work of careful investigation. From verse 5 the style changes to Greek that closely resembles the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, with Semitic phrasing, angels, miraculous births and songs. The change is deliberate: Luke wants his readers to see the story of Jesus as the continuation of the story of Israel.

The reader should look for the parallel structure: the announcement of John and then of Jesus, the births, and the two songs. John is great before the Lord; Jesus is called Son of the Most High. John is the forerunner; Jesus is the Lord.

Two further principles help. The songs, the Magnificat and the Benedictus, are poems in the style of the Psalms, with parallel lines and a dense use of Old Testament phrases, and they should be read as a mosaic of Scripture. And the angelic announcements follow an Old Testament pattern: the appearance, the fear, 'do not be afraid', the announcement of a birth with name and role, the objection and the sign. Seeing the pattern shows what is distinctive in each case, especially the different responses of Zechariah and Mary.

Verses 1–4

Luke has traced everything carefully from the beginning and writes an orderly account, so that Theophilus may know the certainty of what he has been taught. 'Certainty' means reliability: Luke grounds the Gospel in events that can be investigated.

Verses 5–7

The events are set in the days of Herod, king of Judea, who ruled from 37 to 4 BC. Zechariah is a priest of the division of Abijah, the eighth of the twenty-four priestly divisions (1 Chronicles 24:10), and his wife Elizabeth is also of Aaron's family. Both are righteous and blameless in keeping the commandments. They are childless, Elizabeth is barren, and both are old. The pattern recalls Sarah and Hannah.

Verses 8–23

While Zechariah is serving his turn, the lot falls to him to enter the sanctuary and burn incense, a privilege that, according to later Jewish sources, came to a priest at most once. The people pray outside. Gabriel, who also appeared to Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21), stands at the right of the altar and tells Zechariah not to be afraid, for his prayer has been heard: Elizabeth will bear a son named John. He will bring joy, will be great before the Lord, will drink no wine or strong drink, and will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He will turn many in Israel to the Lord, going before him 'in the spirit and power of Elijah' to turn the hearts of fathers to their children (Malachi 4:5-6) and make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Zechariah asks how he can know, since he and his wife are old. Gabriel says he stands in the presence of God, and because Zechariah did not believe he will be mute until the day it happens. He comes out unable to speak.

Verses 24–38

Elizabeth conceives and hides herself for five months. In the sixth month Gabriel is sent to Nazareth in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary, betrothed to Joseph of the house of David. Gabriel greets her as one favoured and says the Lord is with her. She is troubled. He tells her not to be afraid: she has found favour with God and will conceive and bear a son named Jesus. He will be great, will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. These words come from the promise in 2 Samuel 7:12-16. Mary asks how this can be, since she is a virgin. Gabriel answers that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her, so the holy child will be called the Son of God. As a sign, her relative Elizabeth has conceived in old age and is in her sixth month, for nothing will be impossible with God. Mary answers that she is the Lord's servant and asks that it be done to her as he has said.

Verses 39–45

Mary goes quickly to a town in the hill country of Judea and greets Elizabeth. The baby leaps in Elizabeth's womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cries out that Mary is blessed among women, and so is her child. She asks why she should be honoured by a visit from 'the mother of my Lord', and says Mary is blessed because she believed that what the Lord said would be fulfilled.

Verses 46–56

Mary's soul magnifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God her Saviour, who has looked on the humble state of his servant. All generations will call her blessed. The Mighty One has done great things; his mercy is for those who fear him. He has scattered the proud, brought down rulers, lifted up the humble, filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped Israel, as he spoke to Abraham. The song echoes the prayer of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and the Psalms. Mary stays about three months.

Verses 57–66

Elizabeth gives birth. On the eighth day, at the circumcision, the neighbours would name him after his father, but Elizabeth says he is to be John, and Zechariah writes the same on a tablet. At once his mouth is opened and he praises God.

Verses 67–80

Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesies. He blesses the Lord God of Israel for visiting and redeeming his people and raising up a horn of salvation in the house of David, as he spoke by his prophets, to save them from their enemies, to show the mercy promised to the fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to Abraham. Then he turns to his son, who will be called the prophet of the Most High, going before the Lord to prepare his ways and give knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. Through God's tender mercy the Dawn from on high will visit them, to shine on those in darkness and the shadow of death and guide their feet into the way of peace. The child grows strong in spirit and lives in the wilderness until his public appearance to Israel.

Luke 1 is a statement of God's faithfulness to his promises. The angel's words to Mary recall the promise to David, the song of Mary recalls the promise to Abraham, and Zechariah's prophecy joins both. The coming of John and Jesus is described as God visiting and redeeming his people.

The chapter also teaches the work of the Holy Spirit. John is filled with the Spirit from the womb, Elizabeth and Zechariah are filled and prophesy, and Mary conceives by the Spirit's power. The virgin conception is taught in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:34-35 and is part of the church's creeds. Christians have understood it to show that salvation is the Lord's act: in the creeds, the eternal Son took flesh. The Magnificat adds God's reversal of the proud and the humble, a theme in Hannah's song and the Psalms and continued in Luke 6:20-26 and 16:19-31. Zechariah's prophecy ties salvation to the forgiveness of sins (1:77), not only to political rescue.

The chapter's central claim is about the identity of Jesus. Gabriel says he will be called Son of the Most High and Son of God, will receive the throne of David, and will reign without end. The promise of 2 Samuel 7:12-16 was made to David about an offspring whose kingdom would be established forever, and Luke presents Jesus as its fulfilment. The name Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Yeshua, 'the LORD saves'. Elizabeth calls Mary 'the mother of my Lord' (1:43), and in Luke the word Lord (kyrios) is used for both God and Jesus. John will go before the Lord to prepare his ways (1:76), in words that draw on Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1, and in Luke it is Jesus whose way he prepares.

John's work fulfils Malachi 4:5-6, in the spirit and power of Elijah, and Jesus will say that John is the messenger of Malachi 3:1 (Luke 7:27; compare Matthew 11:14). Zechariah's 'Dawn from on high' is a likely echo of Malachi 4:2, where the sun of righteousness rises with healing, and of the star in Numbers 24:17. Luke does not say which text Zechariah meant, so the connection is offered as an echo. The 'horn of salvation in the house of David' recalls Psalm 132:17.

The words 'the power of the Most High will overshadow you' may echo the cloud over the tent of meeting (Exodus 40:35), though Luke does not say so. What is clear is that the child is both of David's line and the Son of God, the pair of claims that the whole Gospel works out and that Jesus raises in 20:41-44.