Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 1:2

"even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word," — Luke 1:2 (ASV)

Even as they delivered them to us.—There is something noticeable in the candor with which the writer disclaims the character of an eyewitness. The word “delivered” is the same as that used by St. Paul when he speaks of the history of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23–25) and of the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3–7), and, with its cognate noun “tradition” (2 Thessalonians 2:15), would seem to have been almost a technical term for the oral teaching that at least included an outline of our Lord’s life and teaching.

Ministers of the word.—The word used is the one that describes the work of an attendant, something between a “slave” and a “minister,” in the later ecclesiastical use of the term as equivalent to “deacon” or “preacher.” It is used of St. Mark in Acts 13:5. On the opportunities St. Luke enjoyed for interaction with such as these, see Introduction. The “word” is used in its more general Pauline sense (as e.g., 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 2:4), as equivalent to the “gospel,” not in the higher personal meaning that it acquired later in St. John (1 John 2:14).