Orderly Account

Luke describes his undertaking in 1:3 “to write an orderly account” for Theophilus. He says to Theophilus: "it seemed good to me...to write an orderly account for you...that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed" (Luke 1.3-4).

Luke calls his account an orderly one (kathexes). For some this means he wrote in chronological sequence. But such a meaning is unlikely here. He has done some rearranging of the order of events for thematic or literary reasons (for example, 4:16-30; the order of the temptations in 4:1-13; the placement of John's arrest in 3:19-20). Fitzmyer says this is “a literary systematic presentation.” Plummer notes that Luke “does not propose to give a mere collection of anecdotes and detached sayings, but an orderly narrative systematically arranged.”

In Reading Luke Chiastically, I discussed the use of chiasmus in ancient writings and in the writings of Luke. Thus one needs to ask if Luke is calling attention to the carefully constructed symmetrical chiastic structure he has created in using the word kathexes in his two part writing?

Over at Hypotyposeis, Stephen Carlson, last Tuesday when everyone was voting, posted his comments on orderly account.

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Gospel of Luke