Luke
First appears at Colossians 4:14
First named in Scripture at Colossians 4:14 — read the chapter.
What Luke Did
The beloved physician, Paul’s companion from Troas onward — the "we" passages of Acts are his own travel diary — who stayed with Paul when others departed, and wrote the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, the largest share of the New Testament written by any one man after Paul.
Accomplished for Good
"Only Luke is with me" (2 Tim 4:11), Paul wrote from his last prison; Luke had "perfect understanding of all things from the very first" (Luke 1:3), giving the church the fullest life of Christ and its only history of the apostolic age; Demas forsook Paul — Luke remained.
Mistakes and Failures
Scripture records no sin of Luke’s; he is commended by the apostle as "the beloved physician" (Col 4:14), and his writings commend themselves.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)
the evangelist, was a Gentile. The date and circumstances of his conversion are unknown. According to his own statement (Luke 1:2), he was not an “eye-witness and minister of the word from the beginning.” It is probable that he was a physician in Troas, and was there converted by Paul, to whom he attached himself. He accompanied him to Philippi, but did not there share his imprisonment, nor did he accompany him further after his release in his missionary journey at this time (Acts 17:1). On Paul’s third visit to Philippi (20:5, 6) we again meet with Luke, who probably had spent all the intervening time in that city, a period of seven or eight years. Lrom this time Luke was Paul’s constant companion during his journey to Jerusalem (20:6-21:18). He again disappears from view during Paul’s imprisonment at Jerusalem and Caesarea, and only reappears when Paul sets out for Rome (27:1), whither he accompanies him (28:2, 12-16), and where he remains with him till the close of his first imprisonment (Philemon 1:24; Colossians 4: 14). The last notice of the “beloved physician” is in 2 Timothy 4:11. There are many passages in Paul’s epistles, as well as in the writings of Luke, which show the extent and accuracy of his medical knowledge.