It records a number of teachings and parables told by Jesus Christ when "an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together", but addressed "first of all" to his disciples.

[1][2] The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke the Evangelist composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles.

Peter asks (at verse 41) whether the parable of the faithful servant is addressed solely to the disciples or to the wider multitude (παντας, pantas: everyone).

[6] The Jerusalem Bible notes that an alternative reading would connect the word "first" with the succeeding statement: First of all, be on your guard ... (Greek: πρωτον προσεχετε εαυτοις, proton prosechete eautois).

[5] F. W. Farrar, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, makes reference to an ‘unwritten saying’ of Christ, He who is near me is near the fire, which is recorded by Ignatius, Origen and Didymus.