Doctor

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Luke 2:465:17Acts 5:34

Holman Bible Dictionary

Physician

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

DOCTOR . In Luke 2:46 it is said that the boy Jesus was found in the Temple, ‘sitting in the midst of the doctors.’ The doctors were Jewish Rabbis. The Eng. word, like the Greek ( didaskalos ), means simply ‘teacher.’ So Luke 5:17 and Acts 5:34 , where the Gr. for ‘doctor of the law’ is one word ( nomodidaskalos ). Bacon calls St. Paul ‘the Doctor of the Gentiles.’

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

‘Doctor’ (Luke 2:46; Luke 5:17, Acts 5:34) = ‘teacher.’ The ‘doctor’ was a scribe. Till 40 years old he was talmîd (‘scholar’). Probably after examination he became talmîd ḥâkhâm (‘sage scholar’). On receiving a call from a particular community, he was solemnly ordained to office with laying on of hands, and became rabbi (‘master’). Such was the process after a.d. 70. In the NT rabbi has not so specialized an application. The Law, especially the oral tradition, was the great subject of study; it was learned by indefatigable memorizing. Discussions were held at which listeners might put questions (cf. Luke 2:46).

Literature.-E. Schürer, History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] ii. i. § 25 (II.); W. Bousset, Religion des Judentums im neutest. Zeitalter , 1903 ii. 5, p. 147; article‘Doctor’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , Dict. of Christ and the Gospels , and Catholic Encyclopedia .

W. D. Niven.

King James Dictionary

DOCTOR, n. L., to teach.

1. A teacher.

There stood up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law. Acts 5 .

2. One who has passed all the degrees of a faculty, and is empowered to practice and teach it, as a doctor in divinity, in physic, in law or according to modern usage, ad person who has received the highest degree in a faculty. The degree of doctor is conferred by universities and colleges, as an honorary mark of literary distinction. It is also conferred on physicians, as a professional degree. 3. A learned man a man skilled in a profession a man of erudition. 4. A physician one whose occupation is to cure diseases. 5. The title, doctor, is given to certain fathers of the church whose opinions are received as authorities, and in the Greek church, it is given to a particular officer who interprets the scriptures.

Doctors Commons, the college of civilians in London.

DOCTOR, To apply medicines for the cure of diseases. A popular use of this word, but not elegant.

DOCTOR, To practice physic. Not elegant.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Doctor. See Lawyer, Teacher.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Διδάσκαλος (Strong'S #1320 — Noun Masculine — didaskalos — did-as'-kal-os )

a teacher (from didasko, "to teach"), cp. didaskalia, "teaching, doctrine, instruction," is translated "doctors," with reference to the teachers of the Jewish religion, Luke 2:46 . Cp. paideutes, "a teacher." See Master , Teacher.

2: Νομοδιδάσκαλος (Strong'S #3547 — Noun Masculine — nomodidaskalos — nom-od-id-as'-kal-os )

"a teacher of the Law" (nomos, "a law," and No. 1), with reference to the teachers of the Mosaic Law, is used in the same sense as No. 1, Luke 5:17; Acts 5:34; also of those who went about among Christians, professing to be instructors of the Law, 1 Timothy 1:7 . See Teacher. See under Law.

Webster's Dictionary

(1):

(n.) An academical title, originally meaning a men so well versed in his department as to be qualified to teach it. Hence: One who has taken the highest degree conferred by a university or college, or has received a diploma of the highest degree; as, a doctor of divinity, of law, of medicine, of music, or of philosophy. Such diplomas may confer an honorary title only.

(2):

(n.) One duly licensed to practice medicine; a member of the medical profession; a physician.

(3):

(n.) Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency; as, the doctor of a calico-printing machine, which is a knife to remove superfluous coloring matter; the doctor, or auxiliary engine, called also donkey engine.

(4):

(n.) A teacher; one skilled in a profession, or branch of knowledge learned man.

(5):

(n.) The friar skate.

(6):

(v. i.) To practice physic.

(7):

(v. t.) To treat as a physician does; to apply remedies to; to repair; as, to doctor a sick man or a broken cart.

(8):

(v. t.) To confer a doctorate upon; to make a doctor.

(9):

(v. t.) To tamper with and arrange for one's own purposes; to falsify; to adulterate; as, to doctor election returns; to doctor whisky.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dok´tẽr : In Luke 2:46 ( διδάσκαλος , didáskalos ) "doctor" is equivalent to "teacher," which latter is the translation of the Revised Version (British and American). So in Luke 5:17; Acts 5:34 , the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "doctors," "doctor," of the law ( nomodidáskalos ). See Education; Rabbi; Scribes .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(διδάσκαλος ), a teacher, as the terms both signify (Luke 2:46; Luke 5:17; Acts 5:34). Anciently learned men among the Jews were denominated

חָכָם, chakam', sage, as among the Greeks they were called σόφος, wise. In the time of our Savior the common appellative for men of that description was νομοδιδάσκαλος, "teacher of the law," or νομικός, "lawyer," less exactly γραμματεύς; in the Hebrew סוֹפֵר, sopher', meaning "scribe." They were addressed by the honorary title of רָב, Rab, רִבַּי, Rabbi, great, or master. The Jews, in imitation of the Greeks, had their seven wise men, who were called Rabboni (q.v.), of which number Gamaliel was one. They called themselves the children of wisdom, an expression which corresponds very nearly to the Greek φιλόσοφος, "philosopher" (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35). The heads of sects were called fathers (Matthew 12:27; Matthew 23:1-9), and the disciples, תִּלְמַידַים, talmidim', were denominated sons or children. The Jewish teachers, at least some of them, had private lecture-rooms, but they also taught and disputed in synagogues, in temples, and, in fact, wherever they could find an audience. The method of these teachers was the same with that which prevailed among the Greeks. Any disciple who chose might propose questions, upon which it was the duty of the teachers to remark and give their opinions (Luke 2:46). (See Disciple).

There is a difference of opinion as to what part of the Temple it was in which our Savior was found sitting with the doctors. There was no school in the Temple; but there was a synagogue, and several courts of council and judicature, including at this time the great Sanhedrim itself. It is very probable our Lord was offered a seat among them, from their being struck with admiration at the searching power of his questions, and the depth of knowledge which they displayed. But it is also possible that he might have sat on the floor with other young persons, while the doctors sat on raised benches, according to their custom. This was called sitting at their feet; and as the benches were often raised in a semicircle, those who sat or stood in the area might well be said to be "among" the doctors. (See Jesus); (See Temple).

Teachers were not invested by any formal act of the Church or of the civil authority; they were self-constituted. They received no other salary than some voluntary present from the disciples, which was called τιμή, rendered "honor" (1 Timothy 5:17), and they acquired a subsistence chiefly by the exercise of some art or handicraft. (See Teacher). According to the Talmudists, they were bound to hold no conversation with women, and to refuse to sit at table with the lower class of people (Matthew 9:11; John 4:27). The subjects on which they taught were numerous and of no great interest, of which there are abundant proofs in the Talmud. (See School).

Doctors of the law, frequently mentioned in the New Testament, were chiefly of the sect of the Pharisees; but they are sometimes distinguished from that sect (Luke 5:17). (See Lawyer).

In the schools that were established after the destruction of Jerusalem at Babylon and Tiberias, a sort of academical degree was conferred, the circumstances attending the conferring of which are thus stated by Maimonides.

(1.) The candidate for the degree was examined both in reference to his moral character and his literary acquirements.

(2.) Having undergone this examination with approbation, the disciple then ascended an elevated seat (see Matthew 23:2).

(3.) A writing tablet was presented to him, to signify that he should write down his acquisitions, since they might escape from hi memory, and, without being written down, be lost.

(4.) A key was presented to him, to signify that he might now open to others the treasures of knowledge (see Luke 11:52).

(5.) Hands were laid upon him; a custom derived from Numbers 27:18.

(6.) A certain power or authority was conferred upon him, probably to be exercised over his own disciples.

(7.) Finally, he was saluted in the school of Tiberias with the title of Rabbi, and in the school of Babylon with that of Master. (See Rabbi).

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

Teacher), a title implying that the possessor of it is such a master of his art that he can teach it as well as practise it.