Forasmuch as [epeideper]. Here alone in the N.T., though common in literary Attic. Appears in the papyri. A triple compound [epei] = since, [de] = admittedly true, [per] = intensive particle to emphasize importance). Many [polloi]. How many no one knows, but certainly more than two or three. We know that Luke used the Logia of Jesus written by Matthew in Aramaic (Papias) and Mark's Gospel. Undoubtedly he had other written sources. Have taken in hand [epecheiresan]. A literal translation of [epicheireO] (from [cheir], hand and [epi], upon). Both Hippocrates and Galen use this word in their introduction to their medical works. Here only in the N.T., though a common literary word. Common in the papyri for undertaking with no idea of failure or blame. Luke does not mean to cast reflection on those who preceded him. The apocryphal gospels were all much later and are not in his mind. Luke had secured fuller information and planned a book on a larger scale and did surpass them with the result that they all perished save Mark's Gospel and what Matthew and Luke possess of the Logia of Jesus. There was still room for Luke's book.
