The Great Physician: G. Campbell Morgan on How Jesus Dealt With People

“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick” (Matthew 9:12; see also Mark 2:17 and Luke 5:31). Jesus called Himself a physician, and G. Campbell Morgan built a whole book on that idea. The Great Physician looks at the people Jesus met in the Gospels one at a time, and at how He dealt with each of them differently. Straight Bible is reading it chapter by chapter on YouTube, and here’s what the book is about, who Morgan was, and what the series has covered so far.

Who was G. Campbell Morgan?

George Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) was an English preacher and Bible teacher. He twice pastored Westminster Chapel in London and preached and taught all over Britain and North America. He had no formal theological degree. His reputation came from reading the Bible itself, over and over, until he could explain it in plain words. That’s exactly why Straight Bible likes him. As the hosts put it on the John the Baptist episode, Morgan “is a master at just pulling stuff out of the scripture and articulating it in a very clear way.”

Before he became a preacher, Morgan worked as a schoolteacher, and it shows. He explains things the way a good teacher does.

What is “The Great Physician” about?

The Great Physician (first published in 1937) takes one person at a time from the Gospels and asks how Jesus handled that person. Morgan states his method in the John the Baptist chapter: “we shall attempt first to see the man and then to watch our Lord’s dealing with him.”

On the show, the hosts sum it up with the physician picture. A good doctor doesn’t give every patient the same prescription. He learns your history first. Jesus is like that: He deals with a quiet fisherman, a fiery prophet, and a “son of thunder” in completely different ways. Morgan roughly follows the order in which Jesus met people, so the book starts at the Jordan River.

Episode guide

John the Baptist: “the voice crying in the wilderness”

In John the Baptist | The Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Morgan starts with Jesus’ own opinion of John: “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). Then he points out something odd. John had no titles and no credentials. When the leaders asked who he was, he said he was only “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (John 1:23). The hosts love that: John basically tells the religious establishment, I don’t even exist, I’m just a voice.

Morgan’s central point is about the word “lamb.” The first time the Old Testament uses it, Isaac asks, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7). The first time the New Testament uses it, John answers: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Or as Morgan puts it, “The voice of the old spoke, ‘Where is the lamb?’ The voice of the new declared, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’” Morgan openly labels one part as imagination: he pictures John opening the scroll of Isaiah after the baptism and reading on to chapter 53. The hosts like that he says so up front instead of passing it off as doctrine.

Andrew: the quiet disciple who brought Peter

In Why Andrew Was More Important Than Most Christians Realize (embedded above), Morgan works with the little the Gospels say about Andrew: John 1:35–42, the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:8–9), the Greeks who wanted to see Jesus (John 12:20–22), the Olivet discourse (Mark 13:3), Acts 1:13, and the twelve foundations in Revelation 21:14. Andrew is usually introduced as “Simon Peter’s brother,” and Morgan notes that “men who are known thus by their relationship to other men are almost always unobtrusive men.” Even so, he concludes Andrew “was a singularly strong man.” He had been a disciple of John the Baptist, and he had the courage to leave that circle the moment John pointed to Jesus.

The key to how Jesus dealt with Andrew is a question: “What seek ye?” (John 1:38). Andrew answers with a question of his own, “Rabbi, where dwellest thou?” Morgan reads that as give me time; this isn’t a one-sentence answer. Jesus replies, “Come and see.” Then the first thing Andrew does is find his brother and bring him to Jesus (John 1:41–42). The hosts take that question personally. Why are you coming to Jesus? For business contacts? For a social club? Or because you’re on a real quest for the kingdom of God?

John the Apostle and what’s next

The series continues with How Jesus Dealt with John the Apostle, and new chapters come out as the reading goes on. This guide will be updated as they do.

Key lessons from the series so far

• Jesus doesn’t use a template. He meets each person where they are. The hosts’ application: pay attention to how God is dealing with you, and don’t get in the way of how He’s dealing with the people around you.
• Greatness isn’t credentials. The greatest man “born of women” called himself a voice.
• Quiet people matter. Andrew barely speaks in the Gospels, but he’s the one who brought Peter.
• Everything points to the Lamb. From Genesis 22 to John 1, the story is heading for the cross.
• Read the Bible like it’s alive. Morgan pulls whole chapters out of a few verses. The hosts keep saying Scripture isn’t a “cold, dead textbook.”

Where to read Morgan

The Great Physician is still in print, and many of Morgan’s older sermons and commentaries are easy to find in reprints and public-domain archives. The easiest way in is to watch an episode, then read the matching chapter yourself. Straight Bible goes through it slowly, one person at a time, with plenty of side tangents.

Wear the series

The Great Physician – G. Campbell Morgan tee puts Morgan on a black shirt in the style of a vintage psychedelic concert poster: swirling turquoise, orange and pink, big golden-yellow lettering, and his name across the bottom. It belongs to the Classic Sermon Series, which gives the same treatment to preachers like Spurgeon and Tozer. More Straight Bible gear is in the Straight Bible shop.