Читать книгу The Literature and History of New Testament Times - J. Gresham Machen - Страница 44

The proper purpose of a historian is to tell the truth. And Luke was a genuine historian. His own account of his method, Luke 1:1–4, shows that he knew the meaning of historical research, and the character of his books bears this out. Luke did not permit any desire of putting Christianity in a good light, or of defending one kind of Christianity against another, to interfere with the primary duty of truthfulness.

That does not mean, however, that the book of The Acts is like some modern university dissertations—written simply and solely in order to say some new thing, whether interesting or no. No great historian goes to work that way. Of course Luke had an interest in his subject matter. Of course he was convinced that Christianity was a great thing, and was full of enthusiasm in narrating its history. In that he was perfectly right. Christianity really was a great thing. The best celebration of its greatness was a narration of the facts. Christian faith is based on fact. Luke wrote, not only in the Gospel but also in The Acts, in order that his readers might know the certainty concerning the things wherein they were instructed. Luke 1:4.