Which Gospel was written by a physician?

The Gospel traditionally understood to have been written by a physician is the Gospel of Luke. Christian tradition identifies its author as Luke the Evangelist, whom the New Testament describes as a physician and a companion of Paul.

Luke is the third Gospel in the New Testament and is paired with the Acts of the Apostles. The two works are addressed to the same person, Theophilus, and are widely regarded as a two-volume history of Jesus's life, the early Christian movement and the spread of the message beyond Jerusalem. Luke emphasizes themes such as compassion, prayer, poverty, outsiders and the role of women.

There is an important scholarly qualification: the Gospel itself does not name its author, and many modern scholars describe the writer as anonymous. The traditional attribution to Luke is ancient and remains the standard answer in general-knowledge quizzes. Luke is also associated with distinctive material such as the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, which do not appear in the other Synoptic Gospels.