Colossians 4:14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. Note — I. THE CONGRUITY BETWEEN LUKE'S PROFESSION AND THE RELIGION OF WHICH HE HAD BECOME THE POSSESSOR 1. The predominating characteristic of Christianity among the religions of the world is its humanity. It brings relief to the physical ills which curse the race. Christ acted as the Great Physician. "The works that I do shall ye do also." Where the gospel comes the laws of health and the healing art receive attention such as cannot be found among heathens. In the palmiest days of Greece these matters were terribly neglected. 2. The requirements and tendencies of Christianity involve attention to what is the physician's peculiar care. Physical well-being is essential to vigour of mind, healthy affections, pure morals, both in the individual and in the community. Diseased nervous conditions render the practice of some Christian virtues well-nigh impossible. II. THE ADAPTATION OF THE GOSPEL TO THE LEARNED AND RICH, AS WELL AS TO THE POOR AND ILLITERATE. Religion in the ancient world was often a luxury for the well-to-do. The glory of the Saviour's ministry and its novelty was, "To the poor the gospel is preached." There is no room in it for despising culture. Dependence was placed, not upon the wild outburst of fanaticism or the erratic movements of ignorance, but upon the calm energy of disciplined intelligence. Paul was himself a scholar of rare attainments, as was Moses in the older economy, as also was Luke. Their mark on Christianity is the deepest, their influence the strongest. Crude, misshapen theologies are the product, not of the educated, but of smatterers. Luke was a physician when he believed the gospel. 1. The rich and scientific need its grace as much as the poorest and most illiterate. Its revelations make special demands upon the reason of the wise. 2. Luke's example shows us that cultivated intelligence does not find it impossible to assent either to the evidences or the doctrines of Christianity. III. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF PROFESSIONAL GODLINESS. Luke practised as a physician and preached as an evangelist. For long the healing art was in the hands of ecclesiastics. Modern division of labour has dissociated them. But the two can work together and work into each other's hands. But as the physician has to be with men under the darkest shadows of their lives and in the deepest depths, how essential that the spirit of their work should be the spirit of the Man of Sorrows. Luke was Paul's beloved friend. It is a calamity when the physician is unworthy of such a confidence on the part of an apostle. Luke's faithful consistency is full of practical admonition. Being dead he yet speaks. Faith in Christ Jesus, the Physician of souls, is the only but all-sufficient means of salvation. So Luke, the beloved physician, teaches. (The Preacher's Monthly.) Parallel Verses KJV: Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. |
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