Luke 1:2

even as they delivered them unto us, which The English version is here ambiguous; and the way in which it is often read shews how completely it is misunderstood. It does not mean -that the writers of these narratives delivered them to St Luke and others who were eyewitnesses, &c.," but that -since many undertook to rearrange the facts which have been delivered (1 Corinthians 11:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:15) as a sacred treasure or tradition (1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:14) to us Christians by those who became eyewitnesses" (which St Luke does not claim to be) -and ministers of the word, I too determined, &c." The words imply that the narratives to which St Luke alludes were secondhandthat they were rearrangements of an oral traditionreceived from apostles and original disciples. Clearly therefore there can be no allusion to the Gospel of St Matthew, who wrote his ownnarrative and would have had no need to use one which had been -delivered" and -handed down" to him.

eyewitnesses, and ministers Those who delivered to the Church the facts of the Saviour's life had -personal knowledge and practical experience," which these narrators had not. (See Acts 1:21-22.)