On This Day, October 18 AD65

Remembering the World's First Christian Doctor

By Khen Lim



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Although the Bible does not provide clarity here, the question is whether Luke ever medically treated Paul. In other words, did Luke at some stage save Paul’s life? If that is true, we owe Luke a huge gratitude for the former Pharisee became a veritable giant of the New Testament with a bulk of his epistles and who evangelised not just Asia Minor but pretty much the West.

Of the numerous biblical characters, Luke has a special place and in many ways, he is also unique. Firstly, he is the only non-Jewish Gentile author in the Bible. Secondly he had a very close relationship with none other than Paul. His success in evangelising the western Roman empire could well be due to Luke whose medical expertise might have helped him stay alive amidst the myriad life threatening experiences where the Bible recalls violent beatings, stoning or attempted drownings.

Thirdly Luke’s exclusive position in the Bible records him as the first Christian doctor and with that, history also tells us that so many have since chosen to follow in his footsteps. Many today continue to look to Luke as an inspirational example. Historians also view Luke as an important example of the traditional Greek writing style. 

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Painters regard Luke with a sense of camaraderie because the famous doctor is also said to have been the painter behind the famous icon called ‘Salus Populi Romani’ (tr. ‘Health (or Salvation) of the Roman People’), which today is the feature of a column in the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore now enshrined in the Borghese Chapel of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

Because Luke was a medical practitioner, he would have been most taken in by Christ’s wonders and miracles. Reading the four Gospels would help us to understand his position because he deployed medical terms far more prevalently than anyone else in the New Testament. For example, when Publius’ father was ill, he did not just say he was sick. Instead he described the ailment, saying he was afflicted with fever and dysentery (Lk 4:38). It was, of course, Paul who described Luke as a doctor and held the brotherly affection in calling him, “dear doctor Luke” (Col 4:14). Needless to say, it’s no rocket science as to who or where the medical acumen in the New Testament had come from since his two books, Acts and his Gospel offered enough clues already.

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It was also Luke who gave us a fitting portrayal of a very young Jesus (Lk 2:41-52); certainly more so than Mark, Matthew or John. Had it not been for him, we would have known very little of the boy Jesus’ earlier life but being a medical practitioner, he had a vivid passion to observe life even as a young boy such as it was in the case of Jesus. For all of that, it is obvious that Luke would have consulted Mary on many of the details that described Jesus’ childhood (Lk 1:26-2:7, 2:21-52, 8:19-21, Acts 1:12-14). Perhaps from the time he spent with her, he might have had witnessed the beginnings of the Magnificat, as cited in his Gospel (Lk 1:46-56).

On this day, October 18, Christendom has set aside to remember Luke in which many churches worldwide observe as a feast day to commemorate the man who has been quietly instrumental in ensuring that the inspiring luminosity of the New Testament was there to stay.

And maybe in that sense, Paul would nod agreeably too.