N. T. Wright - Luke for Everyone

On the very first occasion when someone stood up in public to tell people about Jesus, he made it very clear: this message is for everyone.

It was a great day sometimes called the birthday of the church. The great wind of Gods spirit had swept through Jesus followers and filled them with a new joy and a sense of Gods presence and power. Their leader, Peter, who only a few weeks before had been crying like a baby because hed lied and cursed and denied even knowing Jesus, found himself on his feet explaining to a huge crowd that something had happened which had changed the world for ever. What God had done for him, Peter, he was beginning to do for the whole world: new life, forgiveness, new hope and power were opening up like spring flowers after a long winter. A new age had begun in which the living God was going to do new things in the world beginning then and there with the individuals who were listening to him. This promise is for you, he said, and for your children, and for everyone who is far away (Acts 2.39). It wasnt just for the person standing next to you. It was for everyone.

Within a remarkably short time this came true to such an extent that the young movement spread throughout much of the known world. And one way in which the everyone promise worked out was through the writings of the early Christian leaders. These short works mostly letters and stories about Jesus were widely circulated and eagerly read. They were never intended for either a religious or intellectual elite. From the very beginning they were meant for everyone.

That is as true today as it was then. Of course, it matters that some people give time and care to the historical evidence, the meaning of the original words (the early Christians wrote in Greek), and the exact and particular force of what different writers were saying about God, Jesus, the world and themselves. This series is based quite closely on that sort of work. But the point of it all is that the message can get out to everyone, especially to people who wouldnt normally read a book with footnotes and Greek words in it. Thats the sort of person for whom these books are written. And thats why theres a glossary, in the back, of the key words that you cant really get along without, with a simple description of what they mean. Whenever you see a word in bold type in the text, you can go to the back and remind yourself whats going on.

There are of course many translations of the New Testament available today. The one I offer here is designed for the same kind of reader: one who mightnt necessarily understand the more formal, sometimes even ponderous, tones of some of the standard ones. I have of course tried to keep as close to the original as I can. But my main aim has been to be sure that the words can speak not just to some people, but to everyone.

This particular volume opens up one of the most brilliant writings in early Christianity. Luke tells us that he had had a chance to stand back from the extraordinary events that had been going on, to talk to the people involved, to read some earlier writings, and to make his own quite full version so that readers could know the truth about the things to do with Jesus. He was an educated and cultured man, the first real historian to write about Jesus. His book places Jesus not only at the heart of the Jewish world of the first century, but at the heart of the Roman world into which the Christian gospel exploded and which it was destined to change so radically. So here it is: Luke for everyone!

Tom Wright