Luke 3

Luke 3
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Luke 6:4-16 on Papyrus 4, written about AD 150-175.
Book	Gospel of Luke
Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Bible part	3
Category	Gospel

Luke 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains an account of John the Baptist as well as a Genealogy of Jesus.

The original text is written in Koine Greek and is divided into 38 verses. Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter are:

This chapter can be grouped:

Luke, as in the first two chapters, provides a chronological guide to the events he describes:

Tiberius' fifteenth year of rule was AD 29 or 30, so if one believes Luke, one can date the start of John's preaching to then.

Luke, like Mark 1:2-3 Matthew 3:3 and John 1:23 quotes Isaiah 40 but quotes it to the greatest length in reference to John. It is possible that he does this to include the message that "...all mankind will see God's salvation" (6) to his Gentile audience. (Brown 235) He preaches baptism and repentance, and tells people that their descent from Abraham will not save them from God, that "...out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (8-9)