<p>1:1 <em>The former account- </em>Gk. <em>protos logos</em>. When John begins his Gospel with the idea of the <em>arche</em> <em>logos</em>, he is perhaps saying the same thing. The <em>logos</em> was the word or account of God's purpose in Jesus. Luke's Gospel was written for the purpose of preaching to Theophilus, who had already been 'catechized', taught by rote, one of the Gospels (probably Mark), but who wanted to have a more detailed and factual account (Lk. 1:3,4). Luke later describes his Gospel as his <em>logos</em>, his 'word' about all Jesus did (Acts 1:1 Gk.). The Lord seems to have foreseen this when He spoke of how &quot;Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, which this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her&quot; (Mt. 26:13). There is evident connection with Christ's prophecy of how the Gospel would be preached in all the world (Mt. 24:14; Mk. 16:15). He seems to have seen the 'Gospel' that would be preached as a re-telling of His life and incidents in it, such as the woman's anointing of Him. It is significant that her anointing is mentioned in all four Gospel records. In Mk. 14:9 we read that wherever the gospel was to be preached, what she had done would be narrated in memory of her. So &lsquo;preaching the Gospel&rsquo; is defined there as a narration of the events and sayings of the Lord Jesus in His ministry.</p><p>Regarding the initial intention of Luke-Acts, see on 21:19.</p><p><em>I made</em>- This is the same Greek word used in the next clause, concerning all that Jesus began to make or &quot;do&quot;. The work or doing of Jesus is continued through the written record of that work- that seems to be the idea.</p><p><em>O Theophilus</em>- A case could be made that Luke&rsquo;s account in his Gospel and in the Acts actually emphasizes how wealthy and middle class people came to the Lord- e.g. Joanna wife of Chuza, Cornelius the Centurion; Dionysius; Sergius Paulus, governor of Cyprus. Perhaps a reason for this was that he dedicated his works to the &ldquo;noble&rdquo; Gk. &lsquo;well born&rsquo;, &lsquo;wealthy&rsquo; Theophilus (Acts 1:1). Luke, it seems to me, was writing to Theophilus because he wanted to convert him. And so he gives other examples of wealthy people who had also converted. He was urging the middle class to allow the radical call of Christ to reach to them. Luke's address to &quot;Most Excellent Theophilus&quot; may be a reference to the Roman-imposed High Priest of Israel between AD 37 and AD 41, Theophilus ben Ananus.</p><p><em>Concerning all that Jesus began to do and to teach</em>- Reading Luke and Acts through together, it becomes apparent that the author Luke saw the acts of the apostles as a continuation of those of the Lord Jesus. This is why he begins Acts by talking about his &ldquo;former treatise&rdquo; of all that Jesus had <em>begun </em>to do, implying that He had continued His doings through the doings of the apostles (cp. Heb. 2:3, Jesus &ldquo;began&rdquo; to speak the Gospel and we continue His work). See on Acts 2:6; 2:7; 8:40. Luke uses the same word translated &lsquo;preach&rsquo; in both Luke and the Acts although the other Gospels use it only once. In Luke we find the word in 1:19; 2:10; 3:18; 4:18,43; 7:22; 8:1; 9:6; 16:16; 20:1; and in Acts, in 5:42; 8:4,12,25,35,40; 10:36; 11:20; 13:32; 14:7,15,21; 15:35; 16:10; 17:18. Luke clearly saw the early ecclesia as preaching the same message as Jesus and the apostles; they continued what was essentially a shared witness. This means that we too are to see in the Lord and the 12 as they walked around Galilee the basis for our witness; we are continuing their work, with just the same message and range of responses to it. Lk. 24:47 concludes the Gospel with the command to go and preach remission of sins, continuing the work of the Lord Himself, who began His ministry with the proclamation of remission (Lk. 4:18 cp. 1:77). Acts stresses that the believers did just this; they preached remission of sins s.w. in Jesus&rsquo; Name, whose representatives they were: Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18.</p>