Luke’s Preface to Theophilus
Luke opens his Gospel with a formal dedication to Theophilus: an orderly account drawn from those who “from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word,” written so the certainty of these things might be known.
Note. The JST opens the preface with Luke’s own commission (“as I am a messenger of Jesus Christ”), framing the whole Gospel as the testimony of a sent witness.
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The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1Forasmuch as As I am a messenger of Jesus Christ, and knowing that many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, 2even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, 3it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto you in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4that you might know the certainty of those things wherein you have been instructed.
Let Him Be Eye Witness: Let the Records Be Had in Order
Let There Be a Recorder, and Let Him Be Eye Witness
D&C 127:6–9 (CCE T&C 150:5) · September 1, 1842 · scriptures.info ↗Joseph Smith never expounded Luke’s preface, and what follows is not commentary on it: it is a revelation about record-keeping that happens to require the same two things Luke names, in the same order. Luke grounds his Gospel on what came from those who “from the beginning were eyewitnesses,” and on his own decision to set it down “in order,” so that the reader may know the certainty. Writing from hiding in September 1842, Joseph was told to require of the Church’s records a recorder who is an eye witness and hears with his ears, and records kept in order and laid up in the temple. Richard C. Galbraith’s Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith is what noticed the coincidence, keying the requirement to Luke 1:2; it is printed here as a resonance, not as exposition.
Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning your dead:— When any of you are baptised for your dead let there be a Recorder; and let him be eye witness of your baptisms; let him hear with his ears, that he may testify of a truth, saith the Lord; that in all your recordings, it may be recorded in heaven; that whatsoever you bind on earth, may be bound in heaven: whatsoever you loose on earth, may be loosed in heaven; for I am about to restore many things to the earth, pertaining to the priesthood, saith the Lord of Hosts.
And again let all the records be had in order that they may be put in the archives of my Holy Temple, to be held in remembrance from generation to generation, saith the Lord of Hosts.
The day before he sent that letter he had said the same thing aloud, briefly, to the Female Relief Society, promising to treat it at length the next Sabbath: a Sabbath he was never free to keep. Again the subject is the Church’s own records, not Luke’s. The reading is the History’s first-person version; Eliza R. Snow’s minutes of the meeting are under Scribal accounts.
Remarks to the Female Relief Society, 31 August 1842, Nauvoo · History, 1838–1856, vol. D-1, addenda, p. 3 (History of the Church 5:141; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 260) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗I have one remark to make respecting the baptism for the dead— To suffice for the time being until I have opportunity to discuss the subject at greater length;— all persons baptized for the dead must have a recorder present, that he may be an eye witness to record and testify of the truth and validity of his record. It will be necessary in the Grand Council, that these things be testified to by competent witnesses. Therefore let the recording and witnessing of baptisms for the dead be carefully attended to from this time forth; if there is any lack, it may be at the expense of our friends, they may not come forth
Luke does not say he was an eyewitness; he says he received it from them, and then took care with the order. The two requirements Joseph was given (a witness who saw and heard, and a record kept in order and preserved) are the two Luke names in his first two verses. Neither man is quoting the other; the point is that a tradition which cares whether a thing really happened keeps asking for the same two things.