The Ministry of Health and Healing

The Work of the Physician

Chapter 7—The Co-working of the Divine and the Human

In the ministry of healing, physicians are to be co-workers with Christ. The Savior ministered to both soul and body. The gospel that He taught was a message of spiritual life and of physical restoration. Deliverance from sin and the healing of disease were linked together. The same ministry is committed to Christian physicians. They are to unite with Christ in relieving both the physical and spiritual needs of humanity. They are to be messengers of mercy to the sick, bringing to them a remedy for the diseased body and the sin-sick soul. MHH 53.1

Christ is the true head of the medical profession. The chief Physician, He is at the side of every God-fearing practitioner who works to relieve human suffering. While physicians use nature’s remedies for physical disease, they should point patients to Him who can relieve the maladies of both soul and body. That which physicians can only aid in doing, Christ accomplishes. They endeavor to assist nature’s work of healing; Christ Himself is the healer. Physicians seek to preserve life; Christ imparts life. MHH 53.2