stephan huller

The names of the men who gathered around Paul in Corinth, where he wrote Romans, are found in two places in the New Testament: Rom 16:21 and Acts 20:4–5. A comparison reveals two names common to both lists: Timothy and Sopater. But in Acts 20:5–6, Luke was present, as indicated by his use of “us” and “we.” Interestingly enough, a “Lucius” is mentioned in the Roman list. Thus, there were simultaneously in Paul's company a “Luke” and a “Lucius." It seems probable that these two names refer to the same individual. If so, the question may be asked, Why does Paul refer to Luke on three occasions as “Luke” and as “Lucius” only in Rom 16:21? Paul may have chosen to use Luke's more formal name since Paul was personally unknown to the Christians at Rome. Similarly in the Romans list, “Sosipater” is used, the more formal spelling of “Sopater,” which occurs in Acts 20:4. There is no mention of a “Lucius” in the Acts list, which is what we should expect if Luke is Lucius, and there is no "Luke" in the Romans list, only a "Lucius." On all other occasions when Paul uses the name “Luke,” it is in writing to churches or groups he had previously visited with Luke; thus Luke's familiar name is used. Origen attests to this identity of Luke and Lucius, giving us a rather early tradition in its favor. Reicke, who also identifies Luke and Lucius, concludes, If this hypothesis is accepted, the New Testament indicates that Luke the evangelist was Jewish in origin. This is the simplest explanation of interest shown by the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles in the redemptive history of the Old Testament, in preaching among the Jews, and in Jewish Christian traditions. Calder observed that Ramsay's evidence, although not conclusive, makes it “highly probable” that Luke's formal name was “Lucius” and not “Lucanus” because of “the frequency of the former and the rarity of the latter in the Greek East at this period.[David L. Allen, E. Ray Clendenen, Lukan Authorship of Hebrews p. 267]

stephan huller

The Latin Lucas and the Greek Leukios would both become Luka (with QOF) in Aramaic, and this would go back into Greek as Loukas.

This is a general rule. In the 1st CE the Greek diphthong [eu] became [ew] or [ev]. Leukios would have been pronounced Levkios or Lefkios. This shows up in the transcriptions in Aramaic, which have VAV VAV or YOD VAV VAV. Writing a YOD or VAV double shows it represents a consonant, not a vowel. Marcus Jastrow does this consistently, and obviously it affects the alphabetical order. However, the mss. are not consistent, and an Aramaic Levka could still be written the same as Luka. The forms with [a] at the end are Samaritan (spelt with HE) or Syriac (spelt with ALEF). Palestinian Jewish Aramaic usually keeps the Greek ending.

The name Lucius became something like Lutchus, Lutsius, and Lushus later on, but not in the period we are concerned with. Assume the original pronunciation of Lukius was still being used.

As said, both Lucas and Lucius will become Loukas in Greek. Regardless of the real etymology, Lucas could be felt to mean forest-dweller, and treated as equivalent to Silva and Sylvester. Lucius means bright or shining, and is related to lux meaning light.

stephan huller

There is a variant cited in an early fourth century text from North Africa Prophetiae ex omnibus libris collectae - erant etiam in ecclesia prophetae et doctores Barnabas et Saulus, quibus imposuerunt manus prophetae Symeon qui appellatus est Niger, et Lucius Cirenensis, qui manet usque adhuc et Ticius conlactaneus, qui acceperant qui acceperant responsum ab spiritu sancto, unde dixerunt Segregate et sqq..

F F Bruce writes "As this document is also a witness for the d reading at 11:27f., the implication may be here that Lucius of Cyrene was Luke the evangelist (cf. Ephrem 's comment quoted above) and that Titus (here Ticius) was his brother."

stephan huller

Tradition also known to Ephrem who after adding "and Luke the Cyrenaean" after "Mark" at the end of 12:25, he goes on: "And these were both evangelists, and wrote before the discipleship of Paul."

stephan huller

full quote from Ephrem "But Saul and Barnabas, who carried food for the saints in Jerusalem, returned with John who was called Mark and so did Luke of Cyrene. But both these are evangelists and wrote before the discipleship of Paul, and therefore he used to repeat everywhere from their Gospel."