Healing in the Atonement
What is 'Faith Healing'? Does God Heal Today? Why Are Some Not
Healed? Understanding the Message of the Following Article is
Vital if one is to Fully Understand this
Question.
The Bible admonishes us to pray for the sick.
I myself have prayed for the sick many times as many of you have.
Occasionally I have seen the sick amazingly restored to health
after such prayers, sometimes to the astonishment of doctors. On
other occasions, though, the sick person was not healed of his or
her illness.
I used to belong to a group who naively thought (without thinking
through all of the implications of their position) that the sick
should be healed each and every time they are prayed for. If
there was no healing, either the sick person had insufficient
faith, or perhaps the person who prayed for them lacked faith.
This is a naive and ultimately unbiblical theology of healing,
since all the great men and women of faith mentioned in the Bible
finally died of some illness or other, if not some accident. This
position is based on the assumption that you and I should have
the power of Jesus and the apostles. But Jesus' dramatic healings
were for a reason: He healed as a sign and indication that He
had the power of life and death with the ability to forgive
sins. Those dramatic healings revealed who Jesus was! See
Matthew. 11:3-5; Mark 2:9-11; John. 5:36; 10:37-38. They pointed
to a spiritual reality which went beyond the healing of some
disease, to the ultimate spiritual healing of sin!
The group which I belonged to believed that physical healing is
included within the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice. The group
held the concept of 'physical sin' which led to illness and
'spiritual sin' which led to the possibility of eternal exclusion
from God (they didn't believe in Hell). Both, however came within
the scope of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That is to say: just
as our spiritual sins can be blotted out by accepting Christ and
by personally appropriating His sacrifice, even so with our
'physical sins,' therefore Christians should not really be sick!
I believed this for quite a few years, but then one day a very
sincere man asked me a question which I simply found
unanswerable; the man suffered badly from angina, it was never
far away and was a constant hindrance to him. Some while after
this man had been baptized, he put his question to me. It went
something like this,
"You say to me that God has now completely forgiven my sins
since I have repented, and accepted Christ's sacrifice. Is that
true?"
"Yes, of course", I answered. "But wait", he
continued. "If you say that both physical sins and spiritual
sins are now blotted out, how come I still get this awful pain?"
"Whats more, since I still suffer in an area which you say is
covered by Christ's atonement, it is bound to make me wonder if
my spiritual sins are really wiped clean. After all, my physical
ones don't appear to have been!" This was a very intelligent
question and, to be frank, it left me speechless! It was the
first time that I had had to confront the possibility that the
teaching of so-called 'physical sin' and the inclusion of healing
of sickness within the atonement brought with them quite serious
problems!
While I was not yet quite ready to ditch this line of reasoning,
I became aware of serious problems which this concept brought
with it. Within another year, however, I had ditched this
concept. The idea brings terrible problems within congregational
life since it frequently leads to the conclusion that the sick
must be continuing to sin in some way. Now let us make it clear
that ultimate physical healing is included in the
atonement. In other words, there will be no sicknesses when we
are in our all-powerful resurrection bodies.
The primary Scripture which is used to justify the 'physical
healing within the atonement' teaching is 1 Peter 2: 24:
"Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that
we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose
stripes you were healed"
So those who hold this belief, divide Christ's sacrifice into two
elements:
a. His body was broken for our physical healing, symbolised by
the bread of communion.
b. His blood was shed for our spiritual healing, symbolised by
the wine of communion.
So, according to this, the physical beating which Jesus
had to endure before He was hung upon the cross was to
'pay for' physical healing for us!
But there is no biblical support for this approach, rather,
Christ's sacrifice was to be a complete sacrifice to
reconcile us to God. Yet it is insisted by a few that 'by His
stripes you were healed' refers to physical healing from every
sickness here and now...if we have enough faith. But this is not
what this Scripture is saying.
Now since there is a quote here from Isaiah 53, it is essential
that we go there next. Isaiah 53 is the 'suffering servant'
chapter which was so plainly a prophecy of Christ. I would
challenge those who believe that 1 Peter 2:24 refers to healing
from sickness for us today to go right through this chapter and
to check the context. In the process, one will come to verse
5:
"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for
our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And
by His stripes we are healed" - but continue - "All we
like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his
own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all"
(verse 6). The context is spiritual healing throughout. The
Hebrews often spoke in this way. The Hebrew word which is
translated 'healing' had a holistic approach, referring to the
whole person, but in most cases where it is used in the Old
Testament, it is referring to emotional, mental and spiritual
healing. The reader may wish to check out the following
Scriptures; Isaiah 6:10 and Jeremiah 30:12-17. In Jeremiah 30,
when talking of the suffering which had come upon Israel because
of their rejection of their Maker, words such as 'wound,' 'sore,'
'pain' and 'cure' are used, but in verse 17 the Lord says:
"But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,
declares the Lord, because you are called an outcast, Zion for
whom no-one cares" (New King James throughout).
Nobody doubts for one moment that Isaiah is not referring
to physical illnesses here.
Now up to this point perhaps most readers are right with me, but
I am aware that a few might now be shouting, 'Why does he not
quote Matthew 8:14-17?' Does this not show that Isaiah 53:4
refers to physical healing? Let us read it, since it is obviously
rather an important Scripture for us: "When Jesus came into
Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a
fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up
and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were
demon-possessed were brought to Him, and He drove out the spirits
with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfil what was
spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
"He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases"'
(Matthew 8:14-17).
But there are two vital things to notice here;
1. Since we have already plainly seen that the Hebrews tended to
use the word 'healing' holisticaly, referring to the whole
person, this does indeed show one element of the approach.
2. Matthew's point is assuredly not that healing from
illness is included within the atonement but, rather, that the
healings of Jesus (not just physical, recall the demons which He
cast out!) fulfilled Isaiah 53:4!
So, the comments in Matthew 8:14-17 only underline the Hebrew
holistic view of 'healing.'
So whereas the Old Testament mostly uses the Hebrew word for
healing when talking about the entire person (though mostly the
emotional/mental/spiritual person), Matthew shows us that an
important element can be seen in the mental and physical healings
of our Lord. He shows that Jesus fulfilled this in His ministry!
Again, let us remind ourselves that our Lord brings complete
healing and the most vital aspect of that is our spiritual
healing. True, He healed the sick during His ministry upon earth
and Matthew perhaps concentrates on that element of the broad
biblical concept of healing. But nothing in the last quoted
Scripture suggests that healing from sickness is included within
the atonement! It says that Jesus healed people from various
maladies of the body and mind and that this fulfilled part of
Isaiah 53! Jesus healed as a sign and indicator that He had power
to forgive sins. Later on, the apostles also healed through the
name of Jesus.
Just think how many passages throughout the New Testament speak
of Christ's death and resurrection, especially in the more
theological books such as Romans, Hebrews, Ephesians, Galatians
and so on; All of these passages show that the atonement of
Jesus Christ is about forgiving sin, it is a spiritual matter.
There is never any point in the thousands of words written about
the work of Christ upon the cross that any New Testament writer
ever states that Christ's completed work means that we don't have
to be sick!
The only one open to misunderstanding is 1 Peter 2:24 which I
have already explained.
The existence of sick people is accepted by the New Testament
writers, although we are continually encouraged to pray for these
people. Many righteous people throughout the Bible become sick.
Yes, oftentimes God healed, but quite often too He did not heal;
we have to leave such decisions in God's capable hands, He knows
what is best for us from the perspective of eternity! Paul was
not able to heal Timothy's stomach problem (1 Timothy 5:23),
when Paul himself pleaded with God to heal him of his 'thorn in
the flesh' (almost certainly some health problem), God plainly
said 'No' to Paul because His (the Lord's) grace was sufficient
for him (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Apparently Trophimus (2 Timothy
4:20) was not healed. Over in the Old Testament, Job endured
terrible suffering and even Elishah the prophet finally died of
disease (2 Kings 13:14). Would anybody seriously suggest that he
was not healed since he lacked faith?
Sickness is always regrettable but probably inevitable at some
stage for all of us, since the Bible also shows that our bodies -
apparently like the universe - are slowly 'running down' during
our lives. Isn't this what we all experience? Notice 1
Corinthians 15:42-44 and 2 Corinthians 4:16. Paul said that
'our outer man is decaying.' Only in the resurrected state will
be completely free from illness and pain. For the meantime I
think that God often has a purpose in allowing illness. Don't
forget that we are promised trials in this life. Just one final
question then, what about healing as a gift of the Spirit?
While we certainly recognise that the first century 'clustering'
of the more spectacular gifts were 'the signs of an apostle'
(Acts 5:12-16, Acts 14:3, Acts 15:12, Acts 19:11, 2 Corinthians 12:12 and
Hebrews 2: 2-4) and the apostles are not around today, this
should not lead us to the extreme position of cessationism
('cessationism' would say that the spectacular gifts have now
entirely ceased). There is ample evidence that in certain
times and scenarios of God's choosing (not ours!) the more
spectacular gifts have reappeared. However, I get very weary with
the activities of certain 'healing & deliverance ministries'
with their yelling, razamataz and - all too frequent - highly money-conscious approach. Some of these people really should take some
time off to sort out their theology before they go around,
foolishly and irresponsibly, telling sick people that they can
all be healed if they have enough faith!
When our son was healed from meningitis - to the great surprise
of medical staff - I had simply sat by his hospital bed and asked
God to heal him, very simple. When I finished my prayer, my son
who had lapsed into a coma, opened his eyes and looked around the
hospital ward. 5 days later he went home! No shouting, no
yelling, no 'slaying in the spirit,' no expensive set, no silk
suits; hospital staff were not even aware that I was praying for
my son. Let us seek to honour God without drawing attention to
ourselves.
Does God heal today? Yes He does, but when He chooses to heal,
for He has complete sovereignty in the matter. Neither should we
expect to see the huge 'cluster' of healing miracles which
followed Jesus or the apostles around. God expects us to petition
Him for the healing of ourselves or others and then - if it is in
the eternal best interests of the sick person - He will heal. But
if He has allowed the sickness as a trial to spiritually develop
the sick person or those close to the sick person, He probably
will not heal. Understanding this point can make our prayers more
efficaceous, since we may ask God to at least reduce the painful
burden of the illness, or even to change the trial. I have
noticed that where God says 'No,' He often does reduce the
pain/stress factor of the illness.
But let us never lose sight of the fact that the form of healing
which God is most concerned about is spiritual healing, which is
the ultimate healing which Jesus' healing miracles foreshadowed.
We are healed in this way by turning from our sins and accepting
Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Ultimately, and in the resurrected
state, this does indeed include complete healing from every
disease of the mind and body.
Robin A. Brace
2002
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