The Fathers quoted here lived in the second to third centuries. They are unanimous that Luke wrote the third Gospel, and it was authoritative for them–so it should be for us too.

They lived before the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, so they are called the Ante-Nicene Fathers (“ante” means “before.”)

They are not modern historians, but their opinions are still interesting. They were unanimous in their belief that Luke wrote the third Gospel.

In this article, early church leaders and one rival to orthodox Christianity affirm not only the third Gospel’s authority, but also that Luke wrote it. These passages to the early church leaders should be used critically, but they clearly affirm Luke’s authorship. Often they assume it matter-of-factly, as if there is no need for further discussion.

All dates in the list are AD, d stands for died, and c stands for circa, which means about or around.

These early church leaders, among others, quote or use the Gospel of Luke as an authoritative source:

Ignatius (d. 117, but see link) 

He was the bishop of Antioch (on the left side of the map, under Syria). While journeying to his place of martyrdom under armed guard, he wrote seven letters, six to churches, and one to Polycarp (see Irenaeus, below). Epistle to the Ephesians, Chapter 15:

Ignatius paraphrases the Prologue to Luke’s Gospel:

Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, first did and then taught, as Luke testifies ….

Irenaeus (c. 115-c. 202)

He is a rich source of Christian traditions. He was the bishop of Lyons, France. As a boy he knew Polycarp personally. (Polycarp [c. 69-155] was a disciple of John the Apostle and other apostles, became the bishop of Smyrna [look under Asia on the map], and was martyred when he was eighty-six years old).

Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter I:

Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.

Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter XI.8

8. It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the world, and the “pillar and ground” of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh. From which fact, it is evident that the Word, the Artificer of all, He that sitteth upon the cherubim, and contains all things, He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit. As also David says, when entreating His manifestation, “Thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth.” For the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. For, [as the Scripture] says, “The first living creature was like a lion,” symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership, and royal power; the second [living creature] was like a calf, signifying [His] sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but “the third had, as it were, the face as of a man,”—an evident description of His advent as a human being; “the fourth was like a flying eagle,” pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering with His wings over the Church.

And therefore the Gospels are in accord with these things, among which Christ Jesus is seated. For that according to John relates His original, effectual, and glorious generation from the Father, thus declaring, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Also, “all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.” For this reason, too, is that Gospel full of all confidence, for such is His person. But that according to Luke, taking up [His] priestly character, commenced with Zacharias the priest offering sacrifice to God. For now was made ready the fatted calf, about to be immolated for the finding again of the younger son. Matthew, again, relates His generation as a man, saying, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham;” and also, “The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.” This, then, is the Gospel of His humanity; for which reason it is, too, that [the character of] a humble and meek man is kept up through the whole Gospel. Mark, on the other hand, commences with [a reference to] the prophetical spirit coming down from on high to men, saying, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Esaias the prophet,”—pointing to the winged aspect of the Gospel; and on this account he made a compendious and cursory narrative, for such is the prophetical character.

Irenaeus used a fanciful method to limit the Gospels to four, but he was (rightly) excluding the Gnostic “gospels” because the Gnostic “gospels” were too far afield–wacky and wild. He had a good shepherd’s heart.

Muratorian Canon (c. A.D. 170)

This is a fragment which preserves a list of the books of the New Testament. It says:

(2) The third book of the Gospel is that according to Luke. (3) Luke, the well-known physician, after the ascension of Christ, (4-5) when Paul had taken with him as one zealous for the law, [2] (6) composed it in his own name, according to [the general] belief. [3] Yet he himself had not (7) seen the Lord in the flesh; and therefore, as he was able to ascertain events, (8) so indeed he begins to tell the story from the birth of John.

Clement of Alexandria (A.D. ?-220)

Fragments, Comments on 1 Peter:

Mark, the follower of Peter, while Peter publicly preached the Gospel at Rome before some of Caesar’s equites [knights], and adduced many testimonies to Christ, in order that thereby they might be able to commit to memory what was spoken, of what was spoken by Peter wrote entirely what is called the Gospel according to Mark. As Luke also may be recognized by the style, both to have composed the Acts of the Apostles, and to have translated Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews.

Tertullian (c. 160-c. 225)

He was an apologist who wrote in Latin. He is known as the founder of Latin Christianity, specifically the North African Latin Christianity.

Against Marcion, Book IV, Chapter II

He summarizes the authority of the four Gospels writers:

Of the apostles, therefore, John and Matthew first instill faith into us; whilst of apostolic men, Luke and Mark renew it afterwards.

Against Marcion, Book IV, Chapter V

The same authority of the apostolic churches will afford evidence to the other Gospels also, which we possess equally through their means, and according to their usage—I mean the Gospels of John and Matthew—whilst that which Mark published may be affirmed to be Peter’s whose interpreter Mark was. For even Luke’s form of the Gospel men usually ascribe to Paul. And it may well seem that the works which disciples publish belong to their masters.

Origen (c. 185-c. 254)

He was a front-ranking Bible scholar and theologian in Alexandria, Egypt. He was a student of Clement (see above).

From the First Commentary on Matthew

Concerning the four Gospels which alone are uncontroverted in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the Gospel according to Matthew, who was at one time a publican and afterwards an Apostle of Jesus Christ, was written first; and that he composed it in the Hebrew tongue and published it for the converts from Judaism. The second written was that according to Mark, who wrote it according to the instruction of Peter, who, in his General Epistle, acknowledged him as a son, saying, “The church that is in Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Mark my son.” And third, was that according to Luke, the Gospel commended by Paul, which he composed for the converts from the Gentiles. Last of all, that according to John.

Caius (A.D. 180-270), Presbyter (Elder) of Rome

Fragments, Muratoranius, III:

The third book of the Gospel, that according to Luke, the well-known physician Luke wrote in his own name ….

Dionysius (third century)

Epistle to Bishop Basilides, Canon I

For the evangelists have given different descriptions of the parties who came to the sepulchre one after another, and all have declared that they found the Lord risen already. It was “in the end of the Sabbath,” as Matthew has said; it was “early, when it was yet dark,” as John writes; it was “very early in the morning,” as Luke puts it; and it was “very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun,” as Mark tells us.

Victorinus (third and fourth centuries)

Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John

From the Fourth Chapter

“The first living creature was like to a lion, and the second was like to a calf, and the third had a face like to a man, and the fourth was like to a flying eagle; and they had six wings, and round about and within they were full of eyes; and they had no rest, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord Omnipotent. And the four and twenty elders, failing down before the throne, adored God.”] The four and twenty elders are the twenty-four books of the prophets and of the law, which give testimonies of the judgment. Moreover, also, they are the twenty-four fathers—twelve apostles and twelve patriarchs. And in that the living creatures are different in appearance, this is the reason: the living creature like to a lion designates Mark, in whom is heard the voice of the lion roaring in the desert. And in the figure of a man, Matthew strives to declare to us the genealogy of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh. Therefore, in enumerating from Abraham to David, and thence to Joseph, he spoke of Him as if of a man: therefore his announcement sets forth the image of a man. Luke, in narrating the priesthood of Zacharias as he offers a sacrifice for the people, and the angel that appears to him with respect of the priesthood, and the victim in the same description bore the likeness of a calf. John the evangelist, like to an eagle hastening on uplifted wings to greater heights, argues about the Word of God.

Constitution of the Holy Apostles

It is not clear when this excerpt was written, but it appears in the multi-volume Ante-Nicene Fathers.

Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles, XLVII (47):

But our sacred books, that is, those of the New Covenant, are these: the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the fourteen Epistles of Paul; two Epistles of Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude; two Epistles of Clement; and the Constitutions dedicated to you the bishops by me Clement, in eight books; which it is not fit to publish before all, because of the mysteries contained in them; and the Acts of us the Apostles.

How does this post help me grow in my knowledge of Scripture?

Luke-Acts has all the signs of being written by one man. In the “we” passages in Acts, it is clear that this author was with Paul in portions of Paul’s journeys. No doubt he also interviewed early believers during that time, especially when he landed with Paul at Caesarea, on the coast of Israel. He stayed in Judea and Jerusalem for a while. He no doubt interviewed men and women there, like Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Paul writes that Luke was a co-worker with him:

And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers (Phm. 24).

And here he is again, a helper to Paul:

Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. (2 Tim. 4:11)

Paul identifies him as a doctor, which means he had high intelligence to write such sophisticated books:

Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings (Col. 4:14).

The testimony of the church fathers that it was Luke who wrote Luke-Acts is decisive. All the facts and circumstances cohere together. Luke wrote Luke-Acts.

The Historical Reliability of the Book of Acts

Book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles: Match Made in Heaven?

ARTICLES IN SERIES

1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel

2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel

3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel

4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel

OTHER POSTS ABOUT CHURCH FATHERS

1. Gifts of the Spirit in Early Church Fathers

2. Healings and Deliverances in Early Church Fathers

3. Prophecies, Visions, and Hearing from God in Early Church Fathers

RELATED

Reliability of the Gospels

SOURCES

Roberts, Alexander, James Donaldson, A. Cleveland Coxe: The Ante-Nicene Fathers Vols. 1-10: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, 1997.