[vineyardlabs]

Questions about authorship aside, note that only Matthew and John claim to be disciples/people who directly interacted with Jesus. Luke is purported to be a physician/associate of Paul who was paid by an unnamed benefactor to document the life of Jesus based on interviews with eyewitnesses and research from earlier sources, and Mark is purported to be writing down an account of the life Jesus based on Peter's eyewitness testimony in Rome several decades after the fact.

[Detrytus]

The benefactor is named, and his name is Theophilus, Luke actually dedicates his second book, "Acts of the Apostoles" to him.

[mionhe]

Some would argue that because the name Theophilus means "friend of God" that it's more likely that it's a pseudonym.

We can't know that that's the case, but I can see the argument.

[vineyardlabs]

Yeah you're correct. I mistakenly said unnamed due to the theory some people have that Theophilus was not a real person but is some kind of metaphor/personification of the church.