Theophilus: Luke's Audience

Who on earth is Theophilus?

Luke 1:3 So it seemed good to me as well, because I have followed all things carefully from the beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 1:4 so that you may know for certain the things you were taught.

Acts 1:1 I wrote the former account, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach

There are some who speculate that Theophilus is just a generic reference to anyone who is a 'God lover' (the meaning of 'theophilus'). I don't think that's the case though. First, there is no reason to suppose that the proper name is anything other than an actual person. Second, Theophilus is refered to by 'most excellent', which seems to me to indicate that he's a man of high honor; a man of high social status. This would certainly not categorize all believers, some of whom had no social status. Also, Theophilus can appearantly read, which wouldn't be true for just any 'god lover' at the time, but certainly would be true of someone of higher social status. It seems to me that Theophilus is indeed a person rather than some abstract category.

For those who think Theophilus is a person, many think he's a Gentile. I tend to think Theophilus is a Jew, possibly a heavily influenced Hellenistic Jew, but a Jew none-the-less. I think this because Luke coats his writings with heavy quotations and allusions to the Hebrew Bible and paints Jesus as the fulfillment of the plan of God laid out in the Hebrew Bible. Had Luke been writing to a Gentile convert, I imagine his efforts would have been more along the lines of Paul's speech on Mars Hill, which had no allusions, quotes, or anything from the Hebrew Bible at all. Or maybe it would have been more like Paul's instructions to Thessalonia, which also had virtually no quotes or allusions to the Old Testament.

Some might object and say that Theophilus is a Greek name, not a Jewish one, so Theophilus was probably Gentile. I don't think this is a good objection though. Jews at the time very often either had Greek names or they carried two names, one Greek one Jewish. In fact, the name Theophilus is attested by Josephus (Ant 17.4.2, 20.9.7) as a Jewish name which was held by a high priest. There are also other well attested Greek names held by Jews (ie, Jason, Matthias, etc..).

There some who think that Luke was writing to the Theophilus who was the high priest. This seems to me to be speculative at best. I do think Theophilus was probably a Jew, maybe a very Hellenized one, but I'm not sure anything much further beyond that can be said about him.