Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Concerning Luke, the follower of the apostles, and the things that we know from the Gospel through Luke alone.
That this Luke never left Paul's side, laboring together with him in the gospel, he himself shows clearly — not boasting of it, but carried along by the truth itself. For he says: "When we had parted from Paul, and from Barnabas, and from John called Mark, and had put out to sea for Cyprus, we arrived at Troas"; and after Paul had beheld, in a dream, a Macedonian man saying, "Cross over into Macedonia and help us, Paul," he says, "at once we looked to depart for Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had summoned us to bring them the good news. Putting out, then, from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace" — and from there he carefully sets down the entire course of their travel up to Philippi, and how the word was first spoken there: "for we sat down," he says, "and spoke to the women assembled there"; and who believed, and their number. Again he says: "Yet we set sail out of Philippi once the days of unleavened bread were past, arriving at Troas, where we remained seven days." And he lays out everything that followed in sequence alongside Paul, recording with great care the places, the towns, and the tally of days, right up to their ascent to Jerusalem; and what befell Paul there, how he was sent in chains to Rome, the name of the centurion into whose charge he was given, the particulars of the ships, the wreck they endured, the island on which they were saved, the hospitality shown them there, Paul's healing of that island's leading man, and the length of their stay at Rome. Because Luke was present through all of this, he set it down carefully, so that no charge of falsehood or embellishment could touch him, since every detail held together, and since he was earlier than all those who now teach otherwise, and was no stranger to the truth. That he was not merely a companion but a genuine co-laborer of the apostles, Paul above all, Paul himself confirms in his letters, writing: "Demas has abandoned me, departing for Thessalonica; Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia; only Luke remains with me" — thereby revealing that Luke stayed constantly at his side, never parted from him. And again, writing to the Colossians, he says: "Luke, the beloved physician, sends you greeting." If, then, Luke, who never ceased preaching alongside Paul, whom Paul called beloved, who proclaimed the gospel in his company, and who was charged with passing the gospel on to us, learned nothing from him beyond what his own words show — how can those never joined to Paul claim to possess concealed and unutterable mysteries? And that Paul taught openly what he himself knew, not merely to his companions but to everyone who would listen, he himself demonstrates plainly. For at Miletus, gathering the bishops and elders from Ephesus and the surrounding towns, since he was eager to reach Jerusalem in time for Pentecost, having testified many things and telling them of the trials awaiting him in that city, he added: "I know that none of you will see my face again; for that reason I declare to you on this very day that I bear no guilt for anyone's blood, for I did not hold back from proclaiming to you God's whole design. Watch, then, over yourselves and over the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the assembly belonging to the Lord, which he purchased through his own blood." Then, foretelling the corrupt teachers still to come, he said: "I know that once I have gone, fierce wolves will come among you, showing the flock no mercy, and from your own number men will rise up speaking twisted things to lure the disciples away after themselves." "I did not hold back," he says, "from proclaiming to you God's whole design." So the apostles, freely and withholding nothing from anyone, passed on to all what they themselves had received from the Lord. So too Luke, withholding nothing from anyone, passed down to us all that he had gathered from them, testifying to it himself in these words: "Just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word."
Now if anyone dismisses Luke as a man ignorant of the truth, he will openly be throwing away the very gospel he professes to follow. For very many and most necessary parts of the gospel we know through him — such as the birth of John, and the history of Zacharias, and the coming of the angel to Mary, and the exclamation of Elizabeth, and the coming down of the angels to the shepherds, and what these angels declared, and the testimony of Anna and Simeon concerning Christ, and that he was left behind in Jerusalem at twelve years old, and the baptism of John, and at what age the Lord was baptized, and that it fell in Tiberius Caesar's fifteenth year. And within his teaching, that saying spoken to the rich: "Woe to you rich, for you have received your consolation"; and, "Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger; and you who laugh now, for you shall weep"; and, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets." All such things we know through Luke alone (and we have learned through him a great many of the acts of the Lord, which all make use of) — such as the great haul of fish those with Peter took in when they let down their nets at the Lord's bidding; and the woman who for eighteen years had suffered and was healed on the sabbath day; and the man with dropsy, whom the Lord healed on the sabbath day, and how he defended his healing on that day; and how he taught his first disciples not to seek the first places at table; and that the poor and the weak, who have no means to repay, ought to be invited; and the man who knocked at night to get loaves, and obtained them because of his persistent importunity; and how, as he reclined at table with the Pharisee, the sinful woman covered his feet with kisses and rubbed them with perfumed oil, and everything the Lord told Simon about the two debtors; and the parable of the rich man who hoarded what had been given him, to whom it was said, "This very night your soul is demanded of you; and the things you have laid up, to whom shall they belong?" — and likewise the account of the rich man dressed in purple who dined sumptuously, and of poor Lazarus; and how he responded when his disciples asked him, "Increase our faith"; and the conversation he had with Zacchaeus the tax collector; and the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who prayed together in the temple; and the ten lepers whom he cleansed together on the road; and how he commanded that the lame and the blind be gathered from the streets and lanes to the wedding feast; and the parable of the judge who did not fear God, whom the persistent widow made to avenge her; and of the fig tree that was in the vineyard and bore no fruit. And there are many other things that can be found spoken by Luke alone, which both Marcion and Valentinus make use of. And beyond all these, what he spoke to his disciples on the road after the resurrection, and how they recognized him in the breaking of bread.
It is necessary, then, that they either accept the rest of what was said by him as well, or reject these things too. For it is not permitted to those who have any sense to accept some of the things said by Luke, as though they were true, and to reject others, as though he had not known the truth. If indeed those who follow Marcion reject them, they will have no gospel at all; for by cutting down the Gospel according to Luke, as we said before, they boast of possessing a gospel; while those who follow Valentinus will cease from most of their vain talk, for it is from this Gospel that they have taken many occasions for their subtle speech, daring to give a wrong interpretation to what was well said by Luke. But if they are compelled to accept the rest as well, giving heed to the complete gospel and to the teaching of the apostles, they must repent, so that they may be saved from their peril.