The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God wants to heal His people and to prosper them in health. He said, "I am the LORD, who heals you" (Exodus 15:26 KJV). He did this through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus shedding His blood on the Cross. During His ministry on earth Jesus healed everyone who came to Him which was prophesied as proof He was the promised Messiah (Isaiah 26:19, 29:18, 35:5-6).
After John the Baptist was imprisoned, he heard about “the deeds of the Christ” and “sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2-3 ESV) Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matthew 11:4-6 ESV; Luke 7:20-23 - see also Matthew 8:2-4; 9:1-8, 18-19, 23-30, 32-33, 35-36).
There is a belief that healing and deliverance from sickness are absolutely guaranteed in the once and for all atonement of Jesus if a person learns how to pray and ‘exercise’ their faith and authority, resist the devil, walk in the victory and fullness of God, and listen to those who preach positive messages. Those who do this will be healed of every disease and never be sick, as well as have abundant financial/material provision, and prosperity.
The word 'guaranteed' is disappearing from many church Statements of Faith regarding healing and is being replaced by the words 'provided for' because using the word 'guaranteed,' which is defined as a 'certain and assured promise of fulfillment,' is very problematic as most people are not genuinely healed 'instantly' when prayed for and/or their symptoms/issues return days later. In the Bible, Jesus healed everyone who came to Him and needed healing instantly the moment He prayed for them. There was no waiting around for days or weeks for the healing to 'manifest.'
The words ''provided for" are also problematic because they mean 'to cause something to be available or to happen,' which is virtually the same thing as a guarantee, but puts more of the pressure of not being healed instantly on the person rather than God not instantly fulfilling His perceived contractual obligation.
It is also believed that there are conditions attached to receiving the blessings of God and the reason so many do not have the blessing of healing, health, and prosperity is because they are not appropriating them properly through faith.
The atonement is about Jesus, the Lord, and Creator of all things, becoming human according to God’s will “to give His life a ransom”… “for all” (See Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:20; Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6 NIV). God “laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6; also 2 Corinthians 5:21; Gal 3:13 NIV).
Jesus “has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God” so that those who believe in Him might receive atonement and “be saved from [God’s] wrath” through “the precious blood of Christ” (Ephesians 5:2; 1 Peter 1:19 NIV - See also Romans 3:22, 5:9 NIV).
When Jesus became the perfect covering, and absolute substitute sacrifice for sin, not only was the wrath of God appeased upon those who repent of their sin and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, but also the love of God was poured out towards sinful mankind. The intent of the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross was not to influence human morals but rather, to satisfy the demands of divine justice (Romans 3:25-26; 5:6-8; John 3:16; Hebrews 9:12,15,26).
Throughout the Old Testament, all the symbols and examples of atoning sacrifice are made complete and are fulfilled in the New Covenant. This was clearly understood by the disciples of Jesus (Hebrews 9:22, 24-28, 12:24;Matthew t 16:13; 26:28; Luke 19:10; John 6:33, 53; 10:10; 14:6,9; 17:2).
The violent death of Jesus brought about reconciliation - or at-one-ment - between mankind and God. It reinstated the intimate position humanity was destined to enjoy with God before the fall in the Garden of Eden.
The atonement cleanses the repentant person from sin. This change starts within the new Born-Again Christian, who is declared a righteous and justified person in Christ at the moment of salvation, and proves it by continually walking before God, by His grace, in holy obedience that works its way out into their attitudes, actions, behavior, beliefs, perspectives, etc., and can help them to be an effective spiritual warrior and a catalyst for change in the world where they live.
The Prophet Isaiah wrote about the coming of the suffering Messiah and graphically described what the Savior would endure while paying the ultimate price for the forgiveness of sins. The teaching that physical healing/deliverance is guaranteed/provided for is based on a single verse that says "By His stripes ye were (past tense) healed" (Hebrews "rapha" = to be completely mended and cured) (Isaiah 53:5 KJV). It is important to note that the verse does not say 'I am being healed,' or 'I will be healed if I have enough faith.' The Born-Again Christian has the faith of Jesus but not His sovereignty (Romans 3:21-22).
Jesus redeemed every Born-Again Christian from the curse of the law which results in eternal death (Galatians 3:13). The Apostle Peter quotes the Prophet Isaiah in the context of forgiveness that the blood of Jesus heals mankind’s sin because He, by one offering, put away sin forever (1 Peter 2:24 KJV). The soul becomes healed from the ultimate consequences of sin. The Bible says repeatedly that the Born-Again Christian was healed of all their sins at the moment of salvation which is by God's grace through a micro-gram of faith He allotted them as a gift for believing in Jesus and surrendering their life to Him as their Lord and Savior (Romans 8:29-30, 12:3; 1 Timothy 1:13-14; Hebrews 12:2; Ephesians 2:8).
It is true that unforgiveness, disobedience, fear, worry, anxiety and stress can affect a person’s health because they can hinder the immune system from working effectively. The scientific evidence of this is overwhelming. I strongly believe that the Bible confirms that it is never the will of God for His people to be sick and diseased, nor does He use it to test, teach, or chastise the Born-Again Christian. God is a good God and only wants the best for His people which is why the Born-Again Christian should take diligent care of their spirit, mind, and body - His dwelling place (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19).
Here is a question to ponder; what requires more faith — salvation or healing? Attempting to answer this question creates a dilemma for those who believe healing is absolutely guaranteed through their own faith. If one says salvation, then they are saying that they have more than enough faith for healing because healing/deliverance is guaranteed/provided for as equally as salvation. Therefore, every Christian should always be healed when they get sick just as “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:32 NIV). On the other hand, if one says healing requires more faith, they are saying that healing is not guaranteed/provided for through faith as is salvation. The only possible answer is that faith comes from God.
The shedding of Jesus’ blood on the Cross was to pay the penalty for sin. God had already found mankind guilty of sin against Him and worthy of eternal death. Jesus took that guilt upon Himself and died in the place of each human being. His death was a matter of law only - God’s law. His death redeemed every Born-Again Christian from the eternal consequences of sin.
The person who becomes Born-Again is “not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16 KJV). Every human being has “sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 KJV). Christians who “have the first fruits of the Spirit, have not yet received the redemption of our bodies. Not only so, but we ourselves groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons” (Romans 8:23 NIV).
The Born-Again Christian is given the “righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ” and is “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:25 KJV). The faith a person needs to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior is given to them directly by God. It is because He gives them faith that they should not “think of” themselves “more highly than” they “ought” when they are healed, and another is not, “but rather think of” themselves “with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given” them (Romans 12:3 NIV). The promise of salvation through the faith of Jesus is given to those who entrust their lives to Him (Galatians 3:22).
God created human beings to live forever and never die. Aging, which is the result of cellular senescence - the process of deterioration with age - is not natural in God’s original intent and is caused by the cells of an organism breaking down. The sickness and disease of sin that made its way into the DNA of human beings were brought into the world by the sinful fall of Adam and Eve and is at the root of why everything dies in this world.
The reality is that every human being in this temporary life begins to die from the ravaging effects of sin’s sickness and disease from the moment they are born. The Bible tells us that mankind is supposed to live up to 120 years (Genesis 6:3). No one is immune from death (unless they are ‘raptured’ out of this world)! However, at the very moment a person becomes Born-Again, they are given eternal life because they were forgiven of all their sins!
Within the science of Physics, there is a branch known as the Laws of Thermodynamics. The second law is known as 'entropy' which is an empirical biological reality and scientific absolute. Entropy is why things deteriorate and the body breaks down as it ages. Hair thins out and turns gray, glasses are needed to see, skin wrinkles, bones get brittle, teeth decay, and organs ultimately fail. Everything dies because cells stop dividing, and organs stop working, which 'impairs normal functioning' - that is the definition of disease. No matter how much 'faith' a person conjures up, they can't escape it. Natural death can't be cured.
A person puts on spiritual immortality when they become Born-Again. Death is the ultimate sickness. However, the mortality of this life that ends in death is swallowed up by eternal life when a person dies in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:53-55).
The sin nature of mankind is not born again when a person receives Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior through repentant humility. Everyone on this planet sins before God. The Born-Again Christian is a ‘saved’ sinner, but still a sinner, nonetheless. That can be seen in the Apostle Paul's statement about the battle of the flesh:
"So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin." (Romans 7:21-25 ESV)
The biblical truth is that every human being has a mortal and perishable body that is subject to weaknesses and is being torn down and destroyed by decay (entropy) (1 Corinthians 15:42-43; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1) which explains why the Apostle Paul told the Galatians that “it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus” (Galatians 4:13-15).
If a human being does not die from an accident or by the actions of another, they will still die of so-called "natural causes," which is a euphemism for dying of sickness and disease, when the body finally decays and atrophies to the point of ceasing to function correctly, and one sickness or another kills them. No amount of faith or obedience will undo that process.
The Bible says that the full realization of what Jesus accomplished in the atonement for the Born-Again Christian will happen at their resurrection when the perishable body is replaced by a glorified imperishable body (1 Corinthians 15:42-43; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1). Until then, the body starts to slowly die (entropy) from the moment of birth.
“And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)
PRAY FOR THE SICK
The Apostle Paul asked God three times to be healed of some kind of physical affliction, and he wasn't. Instead, God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you," so in trusting-faith, Paul stopped asking for healing. Paul learned to be content with this abiding affliction. God taught him that at the very moment he was the weakest in himself, the power of the Holy Spirit would be most evident through him, bringing glory to God rather than Paul (2 Corinthians 12:7–10).
The Apostle Paul is never noted as walking in unbelief and was set forth as an example for all Born-Again Believers to follow (1 Corinthians 11:1). If he was unable to pass the test of faith and attain the level of faith required to be healed, then every Born-Again Christian is just flat out of luck.
When Timothy had stomach issues and frequent illnesses (Gk: 'astheneia' - the same word used in Matthew 8:17), Paul gave medicinal advice to him (1 Timothy 5:23). Paul didn’t blame him for lack of faith or disobedience to God’s Word, nor did he appeal to some guaranteed Scriptural promise about healing; instead, he saw Timothy’s condition as normal.
Paul also wrote that he left “Trophimus ... sick at Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20). He told the Philippians that Epaphroditus was deathly sick in his presence and did not imply there was any expectation of healing but rather stated that his recovery was due to the mercy (not the obligation) of God because of any so-called great 'faith' (Philippians 2:25–27). It would seem evident that Paul would have used his apostolic anointing to lay hands on them for healing. The Bible certainly reveals he had enough faith. It also seems logical that those needing healing did as well.
The Bible commands the Born-Again Christian to pray for those who are suffering, and the one who is sick should “call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14 ESV).
If a person is under the consequences of sin committed, such as what the Bible warns about if a person takes communion in an unworthy manner, they need to acknowledge their faults to another for the sake of reconciliation and repent of them as conditions for their healing because it will bring about the peace and love of forgiveness from those who may have been sinned against (1 Corinthians 11:27-32; see also Isaiah 33:24; Matthew 9:2-5; John 5:14).
When a Born-Again Christian chooses to present an effectual fervent prayer in confident trusting-faith for another by the power of the Holy Spirit, it avails much and shall restore back to health the one who is sick as a result of personal sin, and the Lord shall raise them, and their sin will be sent away (James 5:14-16; see also Mark 10:52; Luke 7:50 18:42).
Offering an effectual fervent prayer does not mean that God is absolutely and unconditionally obligated to heal them at that moment in time. A person may sincerely pray and truly have faith that God can heal, but if it is not His will to provide healing at that moment in time, then it won't happen (see 1 John 5:14). If that were the case, any sick person would always recover, no matter how often they might be sick, and they would never die. The Born-Again Christian is considered dead to the eternal effects of sin spiritually, but not physically. By Jesus freely shedding His blood, every person on the planet can now go to Him and find healing.
It was never God's intent that anyone would die from anything. His will then, and now, was and is that they never get sick. He has nothing to do with sickness or disease. It is also God's will that everyone comes to saving faith in Jesus and that no one should ever die (John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9).
CONCLUSION
Nowhere does the Bible explicitly link physical healing with spiritual healing. Sometimes people are physically healed when they place their faith in Jesus, but this is not always the case. Sometimes it is God’s will to heal at a specific moment, but sometimes it is not. Healing is NOT proof of a person’s faith and God’s love. Someday, all sickness and death will be eradicated (see Revelation 21:4).
God still performs miracles and heals people. Sickness, disease, pain, and death are constant realities in this world. Until Jesus returns, everyone who is alive today will die, and the vast majority of them will die as the result of a physical problem (disease, sickness, injury, etc.).
It is not always God’s will to heal physically at the moment He is asked. As the Creator of all things, He knows what is best according to His timing, not the created. Because He is love, He will use anything to draw His children closer to Him and teach them, including sickness and disease. However, that doesn’t mean He is responsible for it. Faith is not a tool one can use to make God move on their behalf. Faith is trust in action.
The Apostle John gives the proper perspective: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15 NIV).
The Bible does not say anywhere that it is the will of God to cause/allow/intend any Born-Again Christian to suffer and experience disease, illness, and hardship, etc., so that He can teach them things through suffering that they would never be able to learn through a book, seminar, or in comfort and prosperity.
One micro-gram of faith in Jesus Christ is all one needs to become Born-Again. They are considered dead to the eternal effects of sin spiritually, but not physically. By Jesus freely shedding His blood, every person on the planet can now go to Him and find healing according to His sovereign will.
The fundamental truth of the Atonement is that victory over death, sin, and the enemy was provided for (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 John 3:9; Hebrews 14:14). However, physical healing in this life is not guaranteed, but it is found through the provision of grace within the atonement itself. The Born-Again Christian is implored to pray without ceasing for anything they need or until God says to them, “My grace is sufficient for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:17; 2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV).
It is vital and necessary for the Born-Again Christian to exercise trust and hope when they are under affliction, no matter what caused it or where it came from. Remember this - faith is not a tool one can use to make God move on their behalf. Faith is trust in action. A person says by their faith, "God, I trust you to do this for me, but if You choose not to at this time, I will still trust You." Someday, all sickness and death will be eradicated (see Revelation 21:4).
Yes, healing is one of the many blessings provided for by the atonement, but it is only guaranteed after we receive our resurrected and imperishable bodies when we graduate from this world.
