Colossians 4:14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. At the moment of the transition of Christianity from Asia to Europe he was enrolled among St. Paul's companions. We ascertain this by a change of a pronoun — "they" (Acts 16:6), "we" (Acts 16:10). The same language is continued in the narration of what took place at Philippi, and so Luke is very pointedly associated with this neighbourhood. But again we lose sight of the succession from the time Paul quits Macedonia, and we do not discern any trace until Paul is in Macedonia again (Acts 20:5, 6). From this time he appears to have been in close companionship with the apostle, and to have gone with him to Rome.(Acts 28:16; Philemon 1:24; Colossians 4:14). A baseless tradition says that he was a painter; and yet in one sense it is most true. In the Acts, besides the minor portraits, we have a full-length picture of the great apostle, without which we could not have fully known St. Paul, and one drawn by the hand of a friend. We see how thoroughly the biographer sinks and forgets himself, revealing his ardent and steady friendship and modesty. But much more is made known to us concerning St. Luke through what is said of him by St. Paul. He speaks of him not merely as his "fellow labourer," but also as "the beloved physician." The mere fact that his profession is specified is full of interest. There are only two other such cases in the record which we have of the companions of our apostle. "Demetrius, the silversmith" (Acts 19:24), though his conduct had much to do with the very important passage of St. Paul's career, can hardly be said to have been one of his companions: and of "Alexander the coppersmith," or "Zenas the lawyer." (2 Timothy 4:14; Titus 3:13), we know little. Lydia, the seller of purple" (Acts 16:14), was probably brought to Philippi, and thus within the sacred circle of apostolic companionship, by the exigencies of her trade — while of Aquila and Priscilla, who were "tent-makers," we are distinctly told that Paul "abode with them, because he was of the same craft" (Acts 18:3). Similarly, there can hardly be a doubt that St. Luke's professional life was the occasion of his coming into close contact with St. Paul. Physicians were men of high education, and this would establish an easy link of connection with one who, besides other great qualifications for his work, was a man of literary culture. But there is a strong probability that a deeper union between the two men subsisted than that of intellectual tastes. St. Paul had been suffering from serious illness in Galatia (Galatians 4:13), and very soon afterwards St. Luke appears with him at Troas. During subsequent years they were frequently associated in the closest manner, and we have the best reasons for believing that the apostle's health was delicate. What so natural as to suppose that the first acquaintance at Troas was marked by the exercise of St. Luke's professional skill, and that the same skill was on many subsequent occasions available for the alleviation of suffering and fatigue? How entirely this explains the peculiar warmth and definiteness of the allusion here! We must carefully observe, too, that it is not merely St. Luke's medical knowledge which St. Paul mentions, but that he calls him "beloved" in connection with this characteristic. There seems to be evidently here the sense of personal gratitude for benefits received. It is natural to attempt to trace out some indications in St. Luke's writings of the fact that he was a physician. Thus it is in his Gospel alone, in the record of that first sermon at Nazareth, that we find the prominent mention of the "healing" of both mind and body as a characteristic of the Saviour's mission; and here only, at the close of that sermon, have we the quoting of that pointed proverb — "Physician, heal thyself" (Luke 4:18, 23). With this may be classed a phrase which is unique in this Gospel, in the account of what took place soon afterwards — "The power of the Lord was present to heal them" (Luke 5:17). So again, we have, twice repeated, in this Gospel, a peculiar phrase having reference to recovery from sickness: "There went virtue out of Him and healed them all " "Somebody hath touched Me; for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me" (Luke 6:19; Luke 8:46). But, above all, we must notice what is almost an amusing corroboration of the view concerning the existence of this professional feeling in St. Luke's Gospel. In the account which the other evangelist gives of the woman healed a reflection seems to be thrown on the skill of the physicians (Mark 5:26); whereas St. Luke casts no imputation on the skill of those who belonged to his own profession (Luke 8:43). Similarly we trace indications of the physician's mind in the mention of technical details and in the use of appropriate medical terms. In the account of the healing of Peter's wife's mother when St. Luke describes the fever as a "great" fever, and speaks of Jesus as "standing over" the patient, he is really using technical forms of expression; while still by the words, "He rebuked the fever," he is careful to mark the miraculous nature of the cure (Luke 4:38, 39). In the Acts the writer has an evident tendency to dwell on symptoms; and this is a true mark of the medical mind. Thus, in relating the case of the lame man at the temple gate, it is not merely the fact of the recovery which is stated, but it is said that "the feet and ankle bones received strength" and it is added further, as if to mark the stages of the recovery, that "he stood up and walked" (Acts 3:7, 8). So the stages of the blindness of Elymas at Paphos are indicated, and the symptoms of the case, as well as the mere fact of the loss of sight, when it is said that, on the utterance of St. Paul's stern anathema, "there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand" (Acts 13:11). The lash instance may be furnished by the record of St. Paul's stay in Malta, after the shipwreck. A miraculous cure was worked there on the father of Publius, "the chief man of the island," who was suffering from dysentery in an aggravated form; and the language which St. Luke applies to the patient is as exact and appropriate as if he himself had been called in to treat the case professionally (Acts 28:8). (Dean Howson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. |
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