Was Luke, “The Beloved Physician,” A Medical Doctor?

Was Luke, “The Beloved Physician,” A Medical Doctor?

Not much is known about the man, called Luke, who is viewed by most scholars as the author of the gospel account by his name and the book of Acts. The Encyclopedia Britannica article “St. Luke,” written by E. Earle Ellis states, “Information abut his life is scanty.  Tradition based on references in the Pauline Letters has regarded him as a physician and a Gentile.”  Harold W. Attridge, The Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament at the Yale Divinity School says, “Traditions report that Luke was a companion of Paul, a physician and therefore someone learned in Hellenistic literary and scientific culture.  All of those are secondary traditions and most scholars view them as somewhat unreliable.”

Many individuals, Bible commentators, and others will dogmatically make statements regarding Luke that is based on tradition.  Not much is contained in Scripture.  The author of the gospel attributed to Luke and the book of Acts does not give his name.  Based on various things it does seem most likely that Luke is truly the author.  Although it appears that he traveled with the apostle Paul we find that Paul only refers to him by name three times.  Let us look at those three passages.

2 Timothy 4:11 says, “Only Luke is with me.  Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.”  This is part of longer statement.  Paul in the previous verse tells Timothy that Demas has left him and in this verse tells us that only Luke is with him.  Paul continues to speak of another of his associates that was sent to Ephesus.  It appears that Luke was assisting Paul in his ministry.

In his letter to Philemon, verse 24, Paul sends his greetings to his “fellow-labourers,” which included Lucas, thought by many to be the man named Luke.  Adam Clarke, in his commentary, makes this statement, “Lucas - Is supposed to be Luke the evangelist, and author of the Acts of the Apostles.  On these suppositions little confidence can be placed: they may be correct; they may be otherwise.”  This individual, Lucas, was stated to be working, laboring, along with Paul in the ministry.

The third reference to Luke by Paul is found in Colossians 4:14.  It is a short verse, “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.”  This is the verse, of course, that has generated the question in the title of this little study.  Most scholars, commentators, all dogmatically state that Luke was a physician, a medical doctor.  Was he?  We may never fully answer the question but let us look at some aspects that most have never considered.

Checking numerous English language translations of this verse we see almost all translate it the same as the King James Version, “the beloved physician.”  A few vary it a little, such as, “well loved medical friend,” “dear doctor Luke,” and “our dear doctor.”  They all are in basic agreement as to the translation.

When we do a word study we find that the word “physician” is from the Greek iatros, Strong’s number G2395.  Both Strong’s Concordance and Thayer’s Greek Definitions give the one and only definition as “physician.”  They both do tell us that this Greek word is “from G2390.  G2390 is iaomai, and is defined as “to cure (literally or figuratively) heal, make whole.”  Iatros, G2395, is used 7 times in the New Testament and is translated “physician” in all 7 verses.

Matt. 9:12, Mark 2:17 and Luke 5:31 are three accounts of the same occurrence.  Jesus is responding to a question that His disciples had been asked by the Pharisees, “Why does your master eat with publicans and sinners?”  We’ll read His answer from Matt. 9:12, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”  He continues in the next verse, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  Most commentators understand by this proverb Jesus was telling them that He was the Great Physician, who came to bring healing to the world.  He was saying that all men were in need of His healing of all Spiritual issues. 

Luke 4:16-29 gives us an account of Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth.  He was given the scroll to read from and He read from Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”  (Verses 18 and 19 of Luke 4) He told those in attendance that on that day that scripture was fulfilled in their ears.  Now, we will read His words to them recorded in verses 23 and 24.  “And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.”  His reference to “Physician” was not calling Himself a medical doctor, but Healer, the one He had read the prophesy of from Isaiah 61.  He knew their thoughts, that they were thinking and would be saying, “Why don’t you heal the people here in your own home area as you did in Capernaum?”  He plainly told them that the people for the most part did not believe in Him, He was a prophet without honor in His own country.

In addition to these 4 verses and the one we are studying in Colossians 4 there are 2 more passages to look at.  They are found in Mark 5:26 and Luke 8:43 and recount the same incident.  We all are familiar with the story, the woman with the issue of blood that had continued for twelve years.  We read, here from Luke’s account, “And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,...”  Here and in Mark 5 it is pretty apparent that the word “physicians” does definitely refer to those practicing medicine.  There was no condemnation of her for going to doctors, but it clearly states that none of them could heal her.

Now, back to our question regarding Luke.  In Paul’s reference to Luke, “the beloved physician,” is he possibly stating that Luke had a spiritual gift of healing and was loved by many in the Colossian church because he had been used by God in their healing?  Was Paul saying, “the beloved healer?” 
Adam Clarke, in his commentary, in the preface to the book of Acts, seemed to anticipate my question, and I’m sure the question that others have had.  Speaking of Luke he states, “It is worthy also of observation that St. Luke himself does not appear to have possessed the gift of miraculous healing.  Though there can be no doubt that he was with St. Paul when shipwrecked at Malta, yet he was not concerned in healing the father of Publius the governor; nor of the other sick persons mentioned.”  While I agree that we don’t read of any healings attributed to Luke, we must keep in mind that he was the one writing the book of Acts where we read of the healing of a number of individuals through Paul, Peter and others.  If we look through the letters written by Paul we find absolutely no recounting of the healings he, Paul, was involved with either.  Luke was not “tooting his own horn” in the book of Acts and neither was Paul in his letters.  Adam Clarke’s argument isn’t very convincing that Luke didn’t possess the gift of healing. 

Something else we might question in Paul’s statement, “the beloved physician,” is why he would bring up a past career of Luke when he never does this for any others of the apostles, evangelists, and associates in the ministry.  He never speaks of Peter as “the beloved fisherman.”  I would believe his statement might be more appropriate if the situation was current. And, from what we have looked at it appears Luke was full-time in the ministry, not hanging his shingle out and “doctoring.”

So, where are we after looking at all of this?  I think we are still asking the question, “Was Luke, “the beloved physician,” a medical doctor?

November 2019