The Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles both appear to be written by the same person

(formerly believed to be Paul’s companion Luke) and have a Gentile focus. They both
contain a prologue addressed to an otherwise unknown ‘Theophilus’. The identity of
Theophilus has long been subject to debate and, being translated as ‘God lover’ may simply
be a metaphor for the Christian community.

There is some limited evidence that passages in the gospel may have been inspired by the
writings of Josephus, and quite clear evidence that Acts contains material inspired by the
writings of Josephus. For example:

● Josephus said in Life:

Moreover, when I was a child, and about fourteen years of age, I was commended by all for
the love I had to learning; on which account the High Priests, and principal men of the city
came then frequently to me together, in order to know my opinion about the accurate
understanding of points of the law.

● Luke makes Jesus even more impressive when at only twelve years old,
Jesus was found at the temple “sitting in the midst of the doctors, both
hearing them, and asking them questions.”

A trivial parallel is that Luke, alone among the gospels, has two men in shining garments in
the empty tomb to explain what the women had just seen, then Acts 1:10–11 has two men
in white garments at the ascension to explain what the disciples had just seen.

A parallel that is also a contradiction can be seen in the two stories of the ascension to
heaven, a concept that was unique to Luke-Acts* in the New Testament. Luke 24:51 says
that Jesus was carried up to heaven near Bethany, on the evening of his resurrection. Acts
1:9 says that Jesus ascended to heaven forty days later. Perhaps the author realised that
the earlier ascension story did not suit his purposes in writing about the Pentecost and so
decided simply to ignore it.

* Mark 16:19 also refers briefly to the ascension to heaven, but this was not originally part of
Mark’s Gospel but was added much later, apparently inspired by Luke’s Gospel.