Read This: Luke 1:1-4

The story of Jesus begins with Luke’s introduction. He opens his gospel by explaining why we can trust what he’s written — because it’s carefully researched and drawn from eyewitness accounts. And since many of those eyewitnesses were still alive and reading his account, they would know whether or not he got the story straight.

Luke makes his purpose clear in verse 4: so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

That’s how you follow Jesus Christ. You discover what’s true about Him, and then you stake your life on it.

Stepping back, since Luke’s gospel is part of the Bible, it’s also important to know you can trust the Bible. This is a reasonably straightforward process since there are accepted methods for vetting the authenticity of historical writings. For example:

The Bibliographical Test — Historical writings are translated from ancient manuscripts. How reliable are the biblical manuscripts?

The Internal Evidence Test — The Bible features historical teachings and events. Did the original writers report them accurately?

The External Evidence Test — The Bible was not written in a vacuum. Do other historical sources confirm what was written in the Bible?

The Bible has proven trustworthy on all these tests. To read about it yourself, consider either Evidence that Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, or From God to Us, by Geisler and Nix.