God’s View Of Doctors And Physicians?

Q. What does God say about doctors and healing. I have many christian friends who say doctors are trying to imitate God and they are afraid of going to one saying they are a lack of faith in God. Are there any verses pertaining to this. I am deeply troubled because I am studying to become a doctor and I am a christian.

A casual research of the term “physician” will assist us with developing an understanding of doctors and medicine from God’s view point.

Old Testament View of Doctors

In Jeremiah 8:22, the prophet is noticeably upset about the spiritual state of Judah.  So he formats his communication to help us understand his concern.  He says…”Is there no balm (Hebrew:  tseriy / medicine) in Gilead, Is there no physician there?”  His point is, if there is medical, physical healing available in Judah, why isn’t there any spiritual healing and potential of recovery in that way?  Jeremiah viewed physicians and medicine as something positive.

Jesus’ View of Doctors

Jesus said in Matthew 9:12 “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick”.  The clear implication being, physicians benefit sick people. In Colossians 4:14, Luke is referred to by Paul as, “Luke the beloved physician”.  So, we see that, one of the human authors of a book of the New Testament was a medical doctor, and he was call beloved.

Mark 5:25-26 does tell the story about “a certain woman (who) had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians.  She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.” The message here is that sometimes…no matter how competent and how numerous the doctors and medicines are, they still will not be able to accomplish a cure.

In this situation, it provided the opportunity for Jesus to step in and preform a miracle.  But the overall message from the bible certainly does not depreciate or prohibit the use of medical doctors or medicine.

This entry was posted on July 6, 2010 at July 6, 2010 and is filed under Christian Living, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.