Historiographer Royal

Historiographer Royal is the official title in English speaking world for the person that a monarch appoints as the court historian. Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dio Cassius were Roman emperor’s historians. If Jesus Christ had a historian, it would have been Luke, the author of Luke-Acts.

He introduced his first book as follows:

“As many (polis) have attempted to compile a narrative (diiyisis) of the deeds (pragma) that occurred among us, as those witnesses (aftoptis) from the beginning and the servants (ipiretis) of the word handed down (paradidomi) to us, I thought to follow closely, from the beginning, all things, and to write to you accurately and orderly, Excellent Theophilus, so that you may know with certainty the instructed words.” (Luke 1:1–4)

Luke highlighted several elements. He mentioned that many (polis) had attempted to compile a narrative. Critics of the NT have often said that early Christians weren’t interested in the life of Jesus, which Luke’s words contradict – many (polis) people were interested and worked on histories.

He called his compilation a narrative (diiyisis). This verb is a combination of the preposition dia (“through”) and the verb ago (“to lead”), giving the impression of a motion – he was leading his reader through the deeds of Jesus. Luke used pragma “deeds” (from which we get “pragmatics”) for his narrative focus, which of course, included Jesus’s teaching (not as much as Matthew and John).

His sources were two: the eyewitnesses (aftoptis) from the beginning of the deeds and the servants (ipiretis) of the word [singular]. Although there were other words for eyewitnesses (e.g., epoptis in 2 Pet 1:16), Luke chose aftoptis, a combination of aftos “oneself” and optis “seeing,” meaning “seeing for oneself,” a firsthand witness. These would have included Elizabeth, Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, several healed from their illnesses and demonic oppressions, soldiers, and opponents.

The second source was servants (ipiretis), a word that combines the preposition ipo “under” and eretis “rower,” as it was used for the second row of rowers in the royal navy. In Luke-Acts, it stood for officials in the synagogue (Luke 4:20; Acts 13:5), prison guards (Acts 5:22, 26), and apostles (Acts 26:16). The phrase “of the word,” a singular, further affirms that Luke was referring to apostles like Peter, John, and James.

Those eyewitnesses and servants handed over (paradidomi) to Luke the materials he wrote. This verb usually refers to a tradition that was passed on. Luke’s use of it tells us that he was neither a primary eyewitness nor a servant; instead, he received these traditions. But he followed them closely and wrote them accurately and orderly. These three adverbs imply that Luke was a careful historian in gathering and dispersing materials.

Luke’s primary audience was Theophilus. Since that name is a combination of theos (“God”) and filos (“friend”), some think Luke was addressing a Christian or church. But the title “Excellent” or “Excellency” (kratistos) indicates that Luke was addressing an official. Elsewhere governors like Felix and Festus were alone addressed as “Excellency” (Acts 23:26; 24:3; 26:25). Perhaps Caesar appointed Theophilus as a judge to hear Paul’s case, a Roman citizen in house arrest who wanted Caesar’s audience and Luke wrote Luke-Acts as a defense document. Just as Luke was addressed to Theophilus (1:3), so was Acts (1:1).

People have difficulty believing the Scriptures because they assume ancient people were not interested in historicity and accuracy. Rome and the Hebrews were very careful about historicity. Our faith stands on solid history.