Studies in the Gospels: Luke the Gospel for the Greeks [pp. 448-475]

458 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS. [July,
of Paul. Paul places him among those of his fellow-workers
who are not of the circumcision, or who, in other words, are of
Gentile origin.* Both the Gospel which bears his name and
the Acts of the Apostles abundantly show that his culture was
Grecian. He belonged to a profession which was at that day
almost exclusively in the hands of the Greeks. From the
earliest times it has been the general opinion that he was probably a Greek proselyte, first to Judaism, and afterward to Christianity. It is certain that he was possessed of that Greek nature which would bring him into sympathy with the Greek
soul, and enable him to understand its wants.
That he was a physician appears from the tradition cited
above, from the statement of Paul in the Epistles to the Colossians, ~ and from abundant indications of his knowledge of
the profession, found in his Gospel and in the Acts of the
Apostles.~ This was an important element in his preparation
for the work of the Evangelist of the Gentiles. His profession required him to be a man of culture, gave him
influence with the more refined classes of society, brought
him into sympathy with suffering humanity, made possible such a companionship as that which existed with Paul,
and made him at once a fit amanuensis of that Apostle,
and co-laborer with him in giving the Gospel to the Greek
world. It has been remarked that his Greek culture fitted him
to prepare a Gospel, to which the objection, sometimes urged
against the other Gospels, that they are the productions of ignorant and credulous men, cannot possibly apply. He was
both able and disposed to apply to all the facts before him the
scientific tests properly applicable to them, and he did actually
apply these tests.
His birth or residence at Antioch had a still more important
bearing upon his mission. It was there that the work of the
Gospel among the Greek Gentiles was first begun by those who
* Col. iv: io-i6.
~ Col. iv: 14-" Luke, the beloved Physician."
~ Luke constantly looks upon things with the eye of a physician. For example,
the maladies that are mentioned in this Gospel are described with more detail, and
partly indicated by their proper technical names. The fever of which Peter's
wife's mother was sick is spoken of by Luke only (iv: 38) as a strong, a great fever
(~vperdS jt~y~S), in accordance with a scientific distinction still found in Galen.