Luke
A coworker named Luke appears briefly in three New Testament letters. Early Christian tradition associates that Luke with the anonymous author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts, partly in relation to the “we” travel sections in Acts.
Luke in the larger story
Luke–Acts together narrate a movement from Galilee to Jerusalem and from Jerusalem to Rome. Historical tradition and the text’s formal anonymity should both be stated rather than treating inference as a signed byline.
Interpretive caution: The Gospel and Acts do not name their author inside the text; attribution to Paul’s coworker Luke is an early tradition, not an explicit author signature.
Key moments and where to read them
Named as a coworker
Letters identify Luke with Paul’s circle and call him a beloved physician in Colossians.
Colossians 4:14 · Philemon 24The “we” passages
Parts of Acts shift into first-person plural during travel narratives.
Acts 16:10–17 · Acts 20:5–21:18 · Acts 27:1–28:16Traditional authorship
Second-century Christian reception explicitly connects Luke with the two-volume work.
Luke 1:1–4 · Acts 1:1–2
Primary reference trail
Colossians 4:14 · Philemon 24 · 2 Timothy 4:11 · Luke 1:1–4 · Acts 1:1–2 · Acts 16:10–17
The references above locate the profile’s central claims. They are not a concordance of every possible allusion or later tradition concerning Luke.