The Great Physician | G. Campbell Morgan 

About the Book: 

In The Great Physician, G. Campbell Morgan invites you to watch Jesus at work—not merely as a teacher delivering sermons, but as the Physician of the whole person. With warm clarity and pastoral insight, Morgan traces the way Christ meets real men and women in their real conditions, and how His touch reaches deeper than symptoms to the moral and spiritual sickness beneath them.

This book is compelling because it is intensely practical. It does not stay in the realm of theory. It looks closely at how Jesus approaches individuals, how He reads the human heart, and how His healing restores people into wholeness—so that faith becomes more than belief in ideas; it becomes transformation of life, character, and relationships.

Why This Book Is So Valuable

Morgan’s strength is his ability to hold together what many separate: deep biblical understanding and living, personal application. He shows that Christ’s healing is not limited to the body or the mind, but reaches the core of personality—where sin wounds, conscience accuses, and the heart becomes divided. The result is a portrait of Jesus that is both reverent and vivid: compassionate, truthful, wise, and perfectly fitted to each person He meets.

You will also find that the book speaks honestly about human need. It does not flatter the reader, yet it never leaves the reader in despair. Again and again, the emphasis is that no one is beyond the reach of the Great Physician, and that true change is not cosmetic, but new-life change.

What You’ll Gain From Reading

You can expect this book to help you:

• See the Gospel stories with fresh eyes, noticing details you may have passed over.

• Understand how Christ diagnoses the real problem beneath outward behavior.

• Grasp the difference between shallow improvement and genuine spiritual healing.

• Grow in compassion and wisdom toward others, without compromising truth.

• Renew your confidence that Christ can restore even the most broken places in a life.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is especially fitting for:

Pastors, teachers, and leaders. If you carry the weight of caring for souls, Morgan helps you look again at Christ’s methods—so your ministry becomes more Christ-shaped, more discerning, and more hopeful.

Those who do “personal work.” If you regularly counsel, disciple, encourage, or help others through spiritual struggles, this book offers perspective on how to bring people face to face with the One true Healer.

Believers seeking deeper spiritual growth. If you feel stuck, weary, or aware that you need more than surface-level faith, this book gently leads you to the healing Christ gives.

Readers who love thoughtful Bible exposition. If you appreciate rich, devotional teaching that stays rooted in Scripture while reaching the heart, you’ll find Morgan both steady and stirring.

A Book That Leads You to Christ

The lasting appeal of The Great Physician is not merely that it explains people—it reveals Jesus. Page by page, it draws your attention to the Savior who knows what is in man, who meets each soul with perfect understanding, and who brings healing that makes life truly “whole.”

About This Modernized Edition

This modernized edition of The Great Physician has been carefully prepared to help today’s readers experience G. Campbell Morgan’s message with greater clarity and ease. The aim is simple: to preserve the strength, reverence, and spiritual insight of the original work while presenting the language in a smoother, more accessible form for modern reading.

The text has been gently updated where older phrasing, antiquated expressions, or dense sentence structure might slow comprehension. At the same time, every effort has been made to remain faithful to Morgan’s meaning, tone, and flow—so the reader still hears the steady voice of a pastor-teacher pointing directly to Christ.

To maintain theological integrity and the author’s intent, all Bible verses and Scripture citations are kept unchanged. The formatting has also been refined for readability in both eBook and print (6"x9") editions, using clean paragraphs and clear headings so the work is easy to follow for personal devotion, study, or teaching preparation.

This edition is designed for readers who want the richness of a classic, without the barrier of outdated language—so that the glories of the Great Physician may be seen and treasured afresh.

About the Author: G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) — The Prince of Expositors

G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) was one of the most sought-after Bible expositors of the early twentieth century—an era crowded with famous preachers. What set him apart was his unusual ability to make the Scriptures feel both immense and immediately personal: he traced the logic of a passage with precision, then pressed its meaning straight into conscience, worship, and daily life.

He is best remembered for his pulpit ministry at Westminster Chapel in London, where his preaching and Bible teaching drew large crowds and shaped generations of Christian leaders. He served there in two major periods (beginning in 1904, and returning again in the 1930s), and in his later years he invited and mentored Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who would become his successor and one of the defining evangelical preachers of the next generation.

Morgan’s influence also spread widely through his writing. He produced a large body of work (often described as dozens of books) aimed at helping readers understand the Bible as a unified, living message—not merely as isolated verses. One of his best-known titles, The Crises of the Christ, reflects his gift for clarity: he walks readers through key turning points in the life and mission of Jesus with a teacher’s structure and a pastor’s reverence.

If you’ve never read him before, this is the simplest way to describe what you’ll experience: you won’t just learn what a passage says—you’ll feel guided to see Christ more clearly, think more biblically, and live more faithfully. That’s why his works have remained in print, recommended across generations, and trusted by readers who want depth without dryness.

Foreword

The studies in this volume were given, for the most part, in the cities and towns of the United States during the years 1919–1932, in the course of my conference work. Later, on returning to London and resuming my work at the Westminster Bible School, they were delivered there and prepared for publication.

The title reveals the purpose of these considerations. Our Lord spoke of His work as that of the Physician. The statement that He went about healing “all manner of disease” applies to the spiritual as well as to the mental and physical. His own words, spoken in connection with a mighty work of healing—“I made a man every whit whole”—show that He dealt with the whole of personality. Moreover, the supreme concern of His heart was ever that of dealing with spiritual and moral malady.

Our purpose, then, is that of reverently watching Him at this work. As He went about, we are privileged to see Him meeting, in different places and under varying circumstances, varied types of men and women, and to observe how He dealt with them.

Such a consideration must be of value to any who have committed to them the cure of souls—or, in the terminology of today, who are engaged in personal work. The task of all such is not that of healing, but rather of bringing the sin-sick face to face with the one Healer. To do this demands some knowledge of His methods, and these are most radiantly revealed in the records of His earthly ministry. He is the same yesterday, today, and for ever.

The printed pages retain something of the roughness of the spoken word, but they are sent forth with the prayer that they may be of some service in setting forth the glories of the Great Physician.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN

Westminster Chapel,
London

Contents

About the Book 5

About This Modernized Edition 7

About the Author 8

Foreword 9

Chapter 1 — The Physician Himself 10

Chapter 2 — John the Baptist 19

Chapter 3 — Andrew 28

Chapter 4 — John the Apostle 37

Chapter 5 — Simon Peter 46

Chapter 6 — Philip 54

Chapter 7 — Nathanael 63

Chapter 8 — The Virgin Mother 72

Chapter 9 — Nicodemus 82

Chapter 10 — The Samaritan Woman 91

Chapter 11 — The Nobleman 100

Chapter 12 — The Impotent Man 108

Chapter 13 — The Leper 117

Chapter 14 — Matthew 126

Chapter 15 — The Man with the Palsy 135

Chapter 16 — The Man with the Withered Hand 144

Chapter 17 — The Centurion 153

Chapter 18 — Simon and the Woman 161

Chapter 19 — Three Would-Be Followers 170

Chapter 20 — The Demoniac 179

Chapter 21 — Jairus 188

Chapter 22 — The Woman Who Touched 197

Chapter 23 — The Syrophoenician Woman 206

Chapter 24 — The Father, and His Boy in the Valley 216

Chapter 25 — The Condemned Woman 226

Chapter 26 — The Lawyer 235

Chapter 27 — The Man Born Blind 244

Chapter 28 — The Covetous Man, and His Brother 253

Chapter 29 — Martha 263

Chapter 30 — Mary 272

Chapter 31 — The Young Ruler 282

Chapter 32 — Zacchaeus 291

Chapter 33 — Bartimaeus 300

Chapter 34 — The Widow at the Treasury 309

Chapter 35 — Annas and Caiaphas 317

Chapter 36 — Pilate 326

Chapter 37 — Herod 336

Chapter 38 — The Dying Thief 345

Chapter 39 — Mary of Magdala 354

Chapter 40 — Cleopas and Another 363

Chapter 41 — Thomas 372

Chapter 42 — The Ethiopian Eunuch 381

Chapter 43 — Saul of Tarsus 390

Chapter 44 — Cornelius 400

Chapter 45 — Lydia 409

Chapter 46 — The Philippian Jailer 418

Chapter 47 — Felix 427

Chapter 48 — Agrippa 436

Chapter 49 — Demas 444

Chapter 50 — Onesimus 453

Chapter 1 — The Physician Himself

The description of our Lord as the great Physician is warranted by the fact that He Himself employed that designation, illustratively, in reference to the whole fact of His mission. Twice He used it: once when He was referring to a possible criticism of Himself in His native town:

“Doubtless ye will say unto Me this parable. Physician, heal Thyself.”

This was, of course, a passing quotation, and might not be considered proof that we have any right to speak of Him in that way. The other occasion, however—recorded by Matthew, and also by Mark and Luke in almost the same words—does give us that right. Let us read the three occurrences. In each, the narrative is the same. Matthew gives the record thus:

“But when He heard it, He said, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew ix, 12,13.)

The record of Mark is a little briefer, but essentially the same (ii, 17):

“And when Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Luke’s report runs thus (v, 31, 32):

“And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician; but they that are sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

It is perfectly self-evident that these words of our Lord, uttered upon this particular occasion, made a profound impression. Matthew doubtless heard Him, for it was in his house that they were spoken. Mark quite possibly was present at the time, though it is not said so. Luke, who gathered his information from eyewitnesses, carefully recorded the utterance, thus further emphasising the fact that it had made a deep impression upon the minds of those who did hear it.

The occasion was the feast made in the house of Matthew, and the reason these words were uttered was the criticism of Jesus by the religious rulers, because He was surrounded by sinning people. The meaning of His great declaration is clear. He was conscious of the sickness of humanity—of the fact that men were suffering from moral malady. The implication of the declaration is equally plain: that He was a Physician, confronting that malady, and able to deal with it.

We observe with what care the three recorders have reported His words:

“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Luke adds the words, “To repentance.” In the light of the story itself, these words cannot be read without a consciousness of an element of sarcasm for these men who were critical of Him. They did not understand their own Scriptures, which revealed the fact that God desired mercy and not sacrifice. It was as though He had said to them, If you are righteous, then I have nothing to say to you. I came not to call the righteous. My mission has nothing to do with those who are whole and healthy in the spiritual and moral realms. Such have no need of healing. I came to call sinners. I am the Physician. The work of the physician is never with those who are in health; it is always with the sick. Here, then, our Lord was implicitly claiming that He confronts humanity in its deepest malady, and that He does so as the great Physician.

It is with that particular phase of His mission that we are proposing to deal in our present series of studies. We shall not be concerned in this attempt with His set discourses and discussions as they are recorded for us in the Gospel narratives. We shall rather attempt to watch Him at His work with individuals.

The purpose for such a series of meditations is twofold. First, it is to help those who, in any sense, have committed to them the cure of souls—and this, of course, means preachers and teachers, and all who in any way come into contact with human life with the desire to lead it to the place of healing and full realisation. That, of course, is the work of the whole Christian Church. The importance, therefore, of watching our Lord Himself doing this very work cannot be overestimated.

At the same time, such a continued study will constantly carry the possibility of helping those also who are in need of such healing. Infinite, in the variety of its expressions, is this common malady of sin; and nothing is more marked—as we shall see more fully—than the infinite variety of the methods employed by our Lord in dealing with it. In this opening consideration, therefore, we confine ourselves to general statements on the whole subject.

Our knowledge of the New Testament reminds us at once of the many different persons we meet as we follow our Lord along the pathway of His earthly mission. By way of introduction to the more detailed study, we now notice, first, the basis of His approach to the human soul; secondly, the universal recognitions in His method; and finally, that to which I have referred and which is the whole theme—His varied methods.

As to His universal recognitions, we may say that He always approached the human soul in the same way. As to varied methods, we may say that He never approached two human souls in the same way. Such a paradoxical statement is of value, because it compels close attention. Nevertheless, its meaning is surely self-evident. When our Lord approached a human being, there were great facts common to humanity, always present to His mind; whereas it is equally true that the infinite variety of human needs was so recognised that He never employed the same exact method twice.

The Basis of His Approach

With regard to the first of these matters, the passage at the close of the second chapter in the Gospel of John is illuminative:

“When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed on His name, beholding the signs which He did. But Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that He knew all men, and because He needed not that any one should bear witness concerning man; for He Himself knew what was in man.”

The statement at the beginning is in itself interesting, declaring that many believed on His name, but He did not trust Himself unto them. It should be observed that the verb, variously rendered there in our translation, is nevertheless the same concerning the attitude of the people and our Lord’s attitude. We might render it, Many believed on His name, but Jesus did not believe in them. Or we might say, Many committed themselves to Him, but He did not commit Himself to them. Without dealing further with that, we observe that John tells us the underlying reason of our Lord’s attitude. He did not commit Himself to these people:

“Because He knew all men, and … needed not that any one should bear witness concerning man; for He Himself knew what was in man.”

Notice that the declaration is, first, that He knew all men—that is, individually; secondly, that He knew what was in man—that is, He knew human nature.

This declaration by John must of necessity be linked with his thought concerning the Lord Himself, and that thought is revealed at the opening of his story:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … and the Word became flesh.”

His knowledge must always be thus interpreted. It was not merely that resulting from observation of men by another Man. It was the knowledge of One Who, in His humanity, bore the name Jesus, and Who, in His essential Being, was the Word.

Thus we have the twofold fact: that He knew all men, individually and universally—Simon as the son of Jonah; Nathanael as the watcher under the fig-tree; the woman by the well as having had five husbands; and so on, and ever on.

But He not only knew individuals individually; He knew humanity generically. He knew what was in man. On this twofold basis of knowledge He constantly proceeded, and this, let it be said resolutely, accounts for His unique ability in dealing with humanity.

He knew perfectly what men today are seeking to understand. All the quest of the psychologist is a search for the ultimate truth concerning human personality or individuality. These things the great Physician knew perfectly. Reverently we may say in this connection, like God, He ever remembered that man is dust; and equally like God, He knew that man was infinitely more than dust. That was the basis of His approach, and it finally interprets His healing power—His ability to deal with all sorts and conditions of men.

We are dealing in these studies with the records only. It is good, however, to remind ourselves at once that whereas they indicate eternal principles, they do not exhaust the theme; for through all the centuries that have come and gone, this Christ has been doing the self-same things—confronting human souls, knowing every one, knowing what was in man, and dealing with man according to the facts of his inherent nature, and according to all the facts resulting from heredity and environment.

Let it be said at once that when, today, men attempt to study the story of our Lord as of one among a number of teachers, they show they have never really seen Him. It is perfectly true that we may watch Him garbed with the simplicity of a peasant, growing weary in common with human nature; and yet He is seen for evermore coming into contact with men and women and children, knowing completely not only the incidental facts concerning each, but the very nature and being of each.

He was, and is, the great Physician, and the basis of His approach to human nature is that of His perfect knowledge.

His Universal Recognitions

Then, as we observe Him at His work, we discover what we have referred to as His universal recognitions. He dealt with men and women of differing temperaments and different situations, and in a very profound way He recognised certain universal facts. In that way He treated them all as being alike. We may cover the ground by declaring that He treated all as spiritual in essence, sinning in experience, salvable by grace.

When we say that He dealt with man as spiritual in essence, we are not suggesting that He neglected either the mental or the physical. It is impossible to watch Him without realising that His words were ever characterised by intellectual depth and majesty, of such a nature that human intellect fails, even until now, to apprehend them completely. It was ever His method to compel men to the use of their mental powers. He was constantly asking questions, as though He would say, What is your opinion? What do you think? What is your mental activity in the presence of this matter?

He certainly was not unmindful of the physical. He cared for it. This was demonstrated by the wonders of His healing of bodily powers, and, upon occasion, in His feeding of physical hunger. Nevertheless, neither the mental nor the physical constituted His chief concern. He was ever dealing with the spiritual essence; and if that was at fault, everything else was at fault.

The keynote of His preaching was found in the words:“From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent.” That is a call to mental activity, but He was addressing Himself to the spiritual essence which had a mind. Or again, when He said:

“Seek ye first His Kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” the ultimate thought was undoubtedly that of the spiritual. As one of His apostles wrote later: “The Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

One other illustration is climacteric in this regard. To His disciples He one day said:” I say unto you, My friends. Be not afraid of them which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.”

On the level of much of our ordinary thinking, we should say that if the body is killed, there is no more to be said or done. The words of Jesus constitute a tender but definite mockery of that very stupid idea. If a man kills my body, he has paralysed his own arm, and can no further harm me; but I am still there. My body lies dead, but I am not dead.

From that standpoint He for ever approached man, coming with a clear recognition that their chief glory—the central fact concerning them—was not the body which dies, nor the mind that blunders, but the spiritual which is central.

Then it is equally self-evident that He dealt with man not only as spiritual in essence, but as sinning in experience. He saw humanity missing the mark, failing at the centre, and consequently suffering in all the circumference.

“When He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd.”

So He saw them, failing to be what God meant them to be, failing to be what was possible within the mystery of their own personality. In the words in which He spoke of Himself as the great Physician, He made it perfectly clear that His mission was concerning such; and in dealing with man, He treated him as sinning in experience.

The final word is that He treated humanity as salvable. That is a great old theological term, and is incapable of being improved. In spite of all the dereliction, He saw man as salvable—capable of the highest, in spite of having passed to the lowest.

It is impossible to follow our Lord upon the pathway of His service, and watch Him dealing with individuals, and then to speak of hopeless cases. All those engaged upon this same sacred service know that there are occasions when we are inclined to feel that a case is indeed hopeless. Resolutely we declare He never did this. When no one else believed in the possibility of the recovery of a human soul, He did.

We say, and we say correctly, that according to these records men and women were saved, or made whole, through their faith in Him. It is correct to look more deeply; and if we do, we find that their faith in Him was created by His faith in them. Thus He approached humanity, recognising it as spiritual in essence, sinning in experience, salvable by grace.

His Varied Methods

And so we pass to the other matter, where the interest is enormous, and which is to occupy the whole of our subsequent meditations. Here we summarise briefly by saying that we never find our Lord dealing with two different persons in exactly the same way.

To take one or two brief illustrations—to which we shall return for more careful consideration later—To Andrew and John He said, “What seek ye?” To Simon He said, You shall be Rock. To Philip He said, “Follow Me.” To Nathanael He said, Before Philip found you, I saw you. To Nicodemus He said, You must be “born from above.”

With that last illustration we pause to remark that it is at least arresting that He is never recorded as having said that to anyone else. It is true that He so said it as to show that it applies to every human being; but it is equally arresting that He is not reported as having said it to anyone else personally. He was employing the method necessary in the case of the man, and this He ever did.

At the commencement of this meditation we declared that one purpose of this series would be that of helping those who have the cure of souls. We then showed that He proceeded upon the basis of His perfect knowledge. Here, then, for a moment we are halted, because we cannot, of ourselves, have any such perfect knowledge.

It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that we should remember that all who are called to that work are called to a fellowship with Him in and through the Holy Spirit. It is only by such living, maintained fellowship that we can ever do this work. That is a subject which surely needs no argument. It may be stated, however, with reverence and reticence, that the measure in which those called to this sacred business are living in true fellowship with Him will be found to be the measure of their understanding of men and women, and of their ability to deal with them, in order to their saving.

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