Greek word · G2395

ἰατρός

iatros

physician

A healer or medical practitioner: anyone who treated wounds and illness with drugs, surgery, diet or regimen. In the Greek world it covered everyone from trained practitioners of the Hippocratic tradition to travelling healers and household slaves with medical skill.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἰατρός, -οὔ, ὁ

(ἰάομαι), [in LXX for רָפָא ;]

a physician: Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17 5:26, Luke 4:23 5:31 8:43 (om. WH, R, mg.), Colossians 4:14 (on the status of physicians, see MM, Exp., xv.).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Luke 5:31

Range of meaning

A healer or medical practitioner: anyone who treated wounds and illness with drugs, surgery, diet or regimen. In the Greek world it covered everyone from trained practitioners of the Hippocratic tradition to travelling healers and household slaves with medical skill. Used figuratively, it meant a healer of the soul, and that is how philosophers described themselves.

Against the English

"Physician" (KJV, WEB, YLT, ESV, NASB) and "doctor" (BSB, NIV, NLT) both fit. "Doctor" can bring to mind a licensed, clinic-based professional. The ancient iatros was more varied and often went to the patient's house, which suits the picture of Jesus going to Levi's house to eat.

Used elsewhere in the period

Old Testament / LXX: Sirach 38:1–15 tells readers to honour the physician, "for the Lord created him", while also saying healing comes from the Most High. Jeremiah 8:22 ("Is there no physician there?") uses the physician as a picture for Israel's spiritual sickness. Job 13:4 calls his friends "worthless physicians." 2 Chronicles 16:12 faults Asa for seeking physicians rather than the LORD, which shows Jewish feeling about physicians was mixed. Behind all of this stands Exodus 15:26: "I am the LORD who heals you" (LXX ho iōmenos se).

Greek philosophy: Comparing the teacher to a doctor was a commonplace. Diogenes Laertius 6.6 records Antisthenes, criticised for keeping bad company, replying that "physicians are among the sick, yet do not catch the fever." Dio Chrysostom (Oration 8.5) has Diogenes say the wise man should live where fools are thickest, just as a good physician goes where the sick are most numerous. Plutarch (Sayings of Spartans, Mor. 230F) quotes a similar line: doctors spend their time not among the healthy but where the sick are. Epictetus called the philosopher's school a doctor's surgery (Discourses 3.23.30).

Luke: In 4:23 Jesus quotes the proverb "Physician, heal yourself" (iatre), and Colossians 4:14 calls Luke "the beloved physician."

From the study of Luke 8:43

Range of meaning

"Physician, healer": a professional practitioner of medicine in the Greco-Roman world. Doctors were usually paid, and some travelled from place to place.

Against the English

"Physicians" and "doctors" are accurate. A modern reader may picture licensed, evidence-based medicine. Ancient medicine had no licensing and ranged from Hippocratic theory to folk remedies.

Used elsewhere in the period

Sirach 38:1–15 tells readers to honour the physician and also to pray. Tobit 2:10 has Tobit going to doctors who make his eyes worse. Mark 5:26 is blunter than Luke: she "had suffered much under many physicians… and was no better but rather grew worse". Pliny the Elder (Natural History 29) complains about doctors' fees and failures. The Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 110a–b) lists home remedies for a woman with a flow of blood, which shows how many treatments were tried for this condition.

From the study of Matthew 9:12

Range of meaning

Physician or healer: someone who treats wounds and illness with drugs, surgery, diet and similar methods. In Greek philosophy it was also a standard picture for the moral teacher, who heals the soul.

Against the English

'Physician' (KJV, WEB, YLT, ESV, NASB) and 'doctor' (BSB, NIV, NLT) are both accurate. A modern reader may picture a licensed scientific professional in a clinic. The ancient iatros ranged from trained Greek practitioners to traveling folk healers. He went to the patient's house and was usually paid.

Used elsewhere in the period

Sirach 38:1–15 tells Jews to honor the physician, because 'the Lord created him' and healing comes from the Most High. Some voices were sharper: 2 Chronicles 16:12 faults King Asa for seeking physicians instead of the LORD, and Mishnah Qiddushin 4:14 says 'the best of physicians is destined for Gehenna'. The image of the doctor who must spend time with the sick was a stock line among Greek moralists. Antisthenes and Diogenes the Cynic were said to answer critics of their low company by pointing out that physicians stay with the sick without catching their fever (Diogenes Laertius 6.6). In Plutarch (Sayings of Spartans 230F), a Spartan king remarks that doctors do not spend their time among the healthy. The Old Testament also calls God Israel's healer: 'I am the LORD who heals you' (Exod 15:26), and 'Come, let us return to the LORD… he will heal us' (Hos 6:1), the chapter Jesus quotes in the next verse.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 9:12 ἰατροῦ of a physician

    On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

    Here: 'Of a physician', a healer who tends the sick. Jesus casts himself in this role: his eating with sinners is a doctor making a house call.

Mark · 2

  1. Mark 2:17 ἰατροῦ of a physician

    On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

    Here: A healer or physician. This is the image Jesus uses for his own role. In Mark he has just healed many people (1:32–34; 2:1–12).

  2. Mark 5:26 ἰατρῶν physicians

    She had borne much agony under the care of many physicians and had spent all she had, but to no avail. Instead, her condition had only grown worse.

Luke · 3

  1. Luke 4:23 ἰατρέ, Physician

    Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in Your hometown what we have heard that You did in Capernaum.’”

  2. Luke 5:31 ἰατροῦ of a physician

    Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

    Here: "Of a physician." This is what is needed. In the image, Jesus is the physician and the meal with tax collectors is the doctor's visit.

  3. Luke 8:43 ἰατροῖς on physicians

    including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.

    Here: "On physicians", plural. She went from one doctor to another. Doctors in this period were paid professionals, often expensive and of uneven skill.

Colossians · 1

  1. Colossians 4:14 ἰατρὸς physician

    Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas send you greetings.

    Here: His working trade. In the Greek and Roman world a doctor was a skilled craftsman of the body, often trained by apprenticeship, and sometimes a slave or freed slave. It was not the licensed, high-status profession the modern word suggests.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.