Since many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
All Commentaries on Luke 1:1 Go To Luke 1
Bede
AD 735
The many who are mentioned, he reckons not so much by their number, as by the variety of their manifold heresies; men who were not endued with the gift of the Holy Spirit, but engaging in a vain work, have rather set forth in order a relation of events, than woven atrue history.
Nevertheless both Matthew and John were obliged in many things that they wrote to consult those who had had means of knowing the infancy, childhood, and genealogy of our Lord, and of seeing the things which he did.
Theophilus means, “loving God,” or “being loved by God.” Whoever then loses God, or desires to be loved by Him, let him think this Gospel to have been written to him, and preserve it as a gift presented to him, a pledge entrusted to his care. The promise was not to explain the meaning of certain new and strange things to Theophilus, but to set forth the truth of those words in which he had been instructed; as it is added, That you might know the truth of those words in which you have been instructed; that is, “that you might be able to know in what order each thing was said or done by the Lord.”
