Luke Chapter 1 verse 2 Holy Bible
even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning wer eyewitnesses and ministers of the word,
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As they were handed down to us by those who saw them from the first and were preachers of the word,
read chapter 1 in BBE
as those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word have delivered them to us,
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Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
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read chapter 1 in WBT
even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us,
read chapter 1 in WEB
as they did deliver to us, who from the beginning became eye-witnesses, and officers of the Word, --
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eye-witnesses, and ministers of the Word. The general accuracy of the recitals contained in those early Gospels is here conceded, as the source of these primitive writings was the tradition delivered by the eye-witnesses of the acts of Jesus; among these eye-witnesses the apostles would, of course, hold the foremost place. The whole statement may be roughly paraphrased thus: "The narrative of the memorable events which have been accomplished in our midst many have undertaken to compose. These different narratives are in strict conformity with the apostles' tradition, which men who were themselves eye-witnesses of the great events, and subsequently ministers of the Word, handed down to us. Now, I have traced up all these traditions anew to their very sources, and propose rewriting them in consecutive order, that you, my lord Theophilus, may be fully convinced of the positive certainty of those great truths in which you have been instructed." Eye-witnesses, anal ministers of the Word; witnesses of the events of the public ministry of Jesus, from the baptism to the Ascension. These men, in great numbers, after Pentecost, became ministers and preachers of the Word.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) Even as they delivered them unto us.--There is something noticeable in the candour with which the writer disclaims the character of an eyewitness. The word "delivered" is the same as that used by St. Paul when he speaks of the history of the Lord's Supper (1Corinthians 11:23-25) and of the Resurrection (1Corinthians 15:3-7), and, with its cognate noun "tradition" (2Thessalonians 2:15), would seem to have been almost a technical term for the oral teaching which at least included an outline of our Lord's life and teaching.Ministers of the word.--The word used is that which describes the work of an attendant, something between a "slave" and a "minister," in the later ecclesiastical use of the term as equivalent to "deacon" or "preacher." It is used of St. Mark in Acts 13:5. On the opportunities St. Luke enjoyed for converse with such as these, see Introduction. The "word" is used in its more general Pauline sense (as e.g., 1Corinthians 1:18; 1Corinthians 2:4), as equivalent to the "gospel," not in the higher personal meaning which it acquired afterwards in St. John (1John 2:14). . . .
