Was Luke Jewish?
The only passage that has been taken to suggest Luke was a Gentile is found in Colossians 4:10–14, where Paul distinguishes between those “who are of the circumcision” and others within the Church. Traditionally, the expression “of the circumcision” has been understood to refer to all Jews. Yet such a designation would be difficult to apply to Paul himself, who was certainly Jewish and against those who promoted Gentile circumcision. So, who, then, are these “of the circumcision” in the Epistles?
Within the early Church there existed a group of Jewish believers who insisted that Gentile converts must undergo circumcision. They are described in Acts 15:5 as “some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed,” and they were saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them.” They are also mentioned in Galatians 2:12 as “the party of the circumcision”. They are also found in Titus 1:10 as troubling the church.
It is quite possible that Paul is distinguishing this group from Luke and others, rather than suggesting that Luke was a Gentile. In light of this, it may be more consistent to understand Luke, the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, as Jewish. This perspective harmonizes beautifully with the words of Romans 3:2: “First of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God.” If the oracles of God were entrusted to Israel, it would be fitting that such a monumental portion of the New Testament (about 27 %), the two-volume work of Luke and Acts, was written by a Jewish believer, continuing to entrust that responsibility to those of the Jewish nation.