Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 80:320 (Oct 1923)
Article: The Gospel Of Luke Considered As A Psychological Document
Author: Fred Smith

BSac 80:320 (Oct 1923) p. 491

The Gospel Of Luke Considered As A Psychological Document

Fred Smith

Since Renan—master of the apposite and attractive phrase—informed the world that the Gospel according to Luke was “the most beautiful book ever written,” it has been the fashion to stress increasingly the esthetic values of this Gospel. The artist has taken precedence of the physician. Personally, we are not now here disposed to dispute the assertion, except to say that for ourselves, having read the mystical pages of the Fourth Gospel, we hold a different opinion from that of Renan. For us the chief value of Luke’s Gospel rests not so much in its literary beauty, which we readily concede, but rather in its psychological insight. We can well believe the ancient tradition that Luke was an artist, but we know positively that he was a physician. And this latter fact has great importance for the psychologist.

In every physician there are the makings of a psychologist. The good physician has to be something more than a physiologist. It is not enough that he understand “nerves,” he must understand moods and temperament. By the very nature of the case the physician seeks to understand not merely the human body but also human nature. He may have to guard his better judgment by thinking of his patient as a “case,” but they who still have memories of the old time family doctor know that underneath a scientific pose there often is a nature that is quick with human sympathy and feeling. And Luke was called “the beloved physician.” This characterizing phrase predisposes us to the belief that here is one whose profession made possible the psychologist. Predispositions, however, are slender evidence for the sustaining of an argument. To make progress we need to have concrete facts before us and not merely the current of our feelings within us. Our present purpose is to produce the facts.

In the two books of the New Testament ascribed to

BSac 80:320 (Oct 1923) p. 492

Luke, the authenticity of which has been so brilliantly established in our day by Sir William Ramsay, Luke comes before us as an historian. His explanatory preface to his Gospel informs that he is concerned as to the orderliness of the narrative that he has taken in hand. It is pertinent to our theme to notice that Luke seems to have something deeper in mind than mere chronological sequence. Moffatt, in his Introduction to the New Testament, speaks of the “logical” arrangement Luke makes of his material. Our preference would be towards the use of the word “psychological,” and for reasons which we trust will become more plainly evident as we proceed.

Writing a quarter of a century before Renan’s picturesque phrase gave directive impetus to the study ...