The Message of Luke

Michael Wilcock, The Message of Luke: The Saviour of the World. First published 1979. This edition with Study Guide: Downers Grove/Leicester, IVP Books 1997. 215 pages plus 13 pages for the Study Guide. This is not a full-blown commentary on Luke's Gospel and was never intended to be; indeed, the slimness of the volume would preclude its doing justice to the longest book of the New Testament. But Michael Wilcock has very cleverly done something else: He has written a succinct, thoughtful and eminently readable guide to the "Message of Luke", concentrating on the broad sweep and the central issues of the Gospel. His analysis of Luke's purpose in putting together the Gospel the way he has done is masterful (and, of course, not without the necessary theological background). But Wilcock succeeds in making the whole an edifying Bible study which I would have no qualms in recommending to any young Christian (or anybody else for that matter) who really wanted to understand not just Luke but Jesus himself and the Gospel he came to bring. The book originally appeared, I believe, under its new subtitle, "The Saviour of the World", and that is really the ideal summary of the message both of Luke and of Michael Wilcock. We see here how Jesus came for a purpose, how he fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures, and how he introduced the earth-shattering changes to the "church" which came about as the result of the rejection of his message by the leaders of the Jewish community and its initial acceptance by Gentiles.

If you want to have a deeper understanding of Luke's Gospel, you will find Michael Wilcock's book helpful. At times it sounds a bit old-fashioned, and reveals Wilcock's Anglican point of view. But the book shows his high view of Scripture and includes a study guide which we found helpful when we studied Luke in our Bible study group. It took over a year, but this is understandable when you realise that Luke is the longest book in the New Testament and has over 24 chapters.Bear in mind that the study guide contains questions about Wilcock's book, not about Luke itself. But we found it quite easy to adapt the questions so that they were about the Gospel, not the book about the Gospel. I have also enjoyed Wilcock's book on Revelation, also in this Bible Speaks Today series, originally entitled "I Saw Heaven Opened."Warmly recommended.