The relationship of "divine healing" and the atonement
Divine healing can be understood on two levels. In one sense it can be seen as God providing supernatural healing for someone, most likely as a result of prayer alone apart from any natural means, apart from any form of medicine or medical treatment. “Divine healing” is also a term employed by some evangelicals over the years, used to refer to what is seen as a veritable guarantee of physical healing and vitality available to believers in Christ in order to allow them to further the work of the Gospel. It is available to Christians, but not necessarily standard - not all believers automatically experience this. They must come to a place of deeper trust in and surrender to the person and work of Christ in order to enter in to this deeper experience of the healing power of Christ for His children.
Before He was crucified, we see that Jesus’ earthly ministry consisted primarily of two things: teaching and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God, AND healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness [Mt. 4.23-24, Mt. 9.35]. The Gospels mention multiple occasions when Christ actually performs miracles of healing either before preaching the Gospel, or without even doing so [Mt. 14.14, Mt. 15.28, Mt. 15.30, Mt. 19.2, Mt. 21.14]. The point being, our Savior clearly placed significant emphasis on healing as an integral part of His ministry.
We see the integral role of healing in the advent of the Kingdom still further when Jesus sent out the twelve [Mt. 10.1, 5-8]. They were to go and preach the message of the kingdom - AND to heal.
Physical healing was a telltale sign of the advent of Messiah. Jesus Himself said that this combination of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom along with healing meant that people should have no doubts as to who He was [Lk. 7.20-23]. His coming and His ministry - including this aspect of physical healing - were the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy [Is. 35.3-6].
"By His scourging we are healed. He bore our sicknesses and carried our pains." Thus declared the prophet Isaiah [Is. 53.4-5]. We understand this passage as looking ahead to the work of Messiah on the cross, where He was pierced through for our transgressions. Some insist that the healing referred to here by Isaiah should be seen by New Testament believers as referring primarily to spiritual healing, the removal of our spiritual sickness (i.e. our sins) by the blood of Christ. Yet Matthew specifically says that this passage finds its pre-crucifixion fulfillment in the (physical) healing ministry that we see Jesus carrying on in Capernaum [Mt. 8.1-17]. In one day we see Jesus heal a leper, heal a centurion’s servant, heal Peter’s mom, and that evening we read that He heals many who are demon-possessed and all who are ill. God inspires Matthew to apply the passage in Isaiah to acts of physical healing. Thus we see a passage which many understand to refer to the work of Christ on the cross also being understood as predicting physical healing as being a part of the work of Christ.
It stands to reason that since we understand that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever [Heb. 13:8], that He would still be working acts of divine, supernatural healing through those He sends out. In fact, we do read about gifts of healings in 1Corinthians 12. Strangely however, while it is clear that healing did play a significant role in the ministry of Jesus and the apostles, there are relatively few mentions of healing outside of the Gospels and Acts (in fact there are only three verses outside of 1Cor. 12 that mention healing). So the question then becomes, not does God still work divine supernatural acts of healing today, not does He command elders to pray for the sick, but rather, is there a special provision, ostensibly a guaranteed one, of physical healing (and vitality) in the atonement available to those who have put their trust in the work of Christ on the cross, and does Scripture in fact teach this?
Now, concerning this idea of divine healing, A.B. Simpson taught that the subsequent atoning work of Christ on the cross provided not only a guarantee of spiritual healing for our transgressions but also a guarantee of physical healing and vitality. In his view, this divine healing was made just as available to believers in the work of Christ on the cross as was salvation. However, Simpson maintained that divine healing was to be found only in a deeper level of absolute surrender to the will of God, of forsaking any and all sin, and of separation from any attachment to the things of the world. It’s available - but you’ve got to go much “deeper” with Christ to access it.
Evangelical Christians understand that we are saved through faith alone and not through works [Eph. 2.8-9]. No ifs, ands, or buts. So I guess my question is, how is it that there could be one level of faith in what Christ did on the cross which is sufficient to access total, eternal spiritual healing and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1.3], but there is some normative physical blessing provided by the same work of Christ yet which is only accessed by a deeper level of surrender? And where is this mentioned in Scripture? I just don’t find a clear Scriptural basis for this secondary level of blessing.
No doubt there is anecdotal evidence. We read about how God did this for Simpson - and how He has done this for others. Can and does God use crises of spirit and mind and body in order to bring believers to greater levels of surrender? Does He manifest His presence to some of His servants in remarkably indescribable ways? Does He impart both vision and healing and a markedly greater level of spiritual vigor and ministry fruit subsequent to these visitations? History is full of testimonies to this effect. But not the New Testament.
Paul does describe his experience of visions and revelations in 2Cor. 12, a time at which he says he was caught up to the third heaven. He mentions a trip to Arabia after his encounter with Christ on the Damascene road [Gal. 1:17] which many understand as being a time when he received direct revelations from the Lord. There are some other occasions of visions and revelations and of course supernatural healings in Acts. But the New Testament is otherwise strangely silent on this idea of God providing healing and health and vitality for believers if they can arrive to this deeper level of surrender and consecration in their faith. It frankly sounds all too much like the poorer cousin of the so-called “Health/Wealth Gospel” - only minus the wealth part. Christ will heal you - if only you have enough faith. He will give you health - if you go deeper.
Simpson calls this a second, or deeper, baptism of the Spirit. Is this something to be sought by those who follow Christ? This secondary experience? This healing? This power and fruitfulness in ministry? I would suggest that what has been imparted (to others) and what is to be sought is not these gifts or blessings per se but rather the Giver Himself. Christ. We make it our goal with Paul to know Christ, to gain Him, to be found in Him [Phil. 3.7-9]. By all means, we must seek to know Christ and count all things as manure compared to knowing Him. We surely must lose our taste for anything else in the light of His surpassing excellence. We gladly choose Him over any earthly thing, surrender all to Him, in order to gain Him. To live is Christ, indeed [Phil 1:21].
I do think that this is what happened for A.B. Simpson, that this was part of the journey the Lord had planned for him, that the Lord by His grace allowed Simpson to experience a crisis of spirit and of body and in driving him to a place of deeper surrender and dependence opened up the storehouses of heaven and supernaturally blessed him to be used of Christ in singular ways in his generation.
Is this secondary experience guaranteed to every believer? I frankly don’t see it. We still see sickness and death even in the lives of those who claim to have had this experience. My concern is that the surrender can become a work, a means to an end. If I have enough faith, enough surrender, then I will get all this healing and power. It is like Simon in Acts 8:18-23 - he is more interested in gaining the gift of healing, the authority and power of being able to distribute it to others, than he is in gaining the Christ Who heals. May we with Peter have the grace to discern the difference, and press on with Paul to gain Christ!
The significance of prayer and anointing by the elders
One of the more significant (and again, one of the glaringly few) mentions of healing in the epistles is found in the book of James. James 5.14 gives us explicit instructions, that believers who are sick (the word is weak) are to call for the elders of the assembly (this is an imperative) to anoint them with oil and pray over them in the name of the Lord, and verse 15 then promises that the prayer of faith (i.e. this one offered by these elders) will heal (the word is save) the one who is sick, that the Lord will raise them up. The tense of the verbs “will heal” and “will raise up” is future indicative - which means it is a future fact, what we understand as a promise. This is a promise, a very powerful one at that. Elders who are offering prayer for the sick in their congregation can take their stand of faith on this tremendous promise of Scripture. James then reinforces this instruction with another incredible truth in verse 16: the empowered prayer of a righteous man is very strong. It accomplishes much. But the salient point here points us to the Lord as the Source of power - for both the prayer and the healing. We don’t trust in the elders or in the oil or in the prayer in and of themselves but rather in the Lord. It is vitally important that we don’t put any stock in the means through which the Lord chooses to use to effect His work, but only in the Lord Himself.
It should not go without saying that James mentions in that same verse 16 the importance of confession of sin. The one who would have the elders pray for them must be willing to confess and forsake any area of their life in which they are knowingly disobedient to the Lord.
The ministry of healing in the local church
While James 5.14-16 is the only mention of this practice in the entire Bible, it gives God’s people a practical guide for what a ministry of healing can and should look like in a local assembly of believers. Note that this passage presupposes of course that believers are part of such an assembly (which is not always the case), and that such an assembly actually is led by elders (also not always the case).
We all know there have been some charlatans throughout the years who have turned a ministry of healing into a show, into a cult of personality. There have been ones who have pretended to heal but were nothing more than scam artists. Unfortunately, these abuses and misuses have turned many into skeptics, wary of any overt public displays of prayer for healing.
There are other situations where times of prayer or of fielding prayer concerns can be dominated by seemingly endless requests of prayer for Aunt Sally’s sciatica and little Bobby’s toothache. We care about all Sally’s and Bobby’s but sometimes we let these concerns distract us from the real point of what God is wanting to do in and through His people. And that is the real point - that God is the main point in all of this.
We come to God often under the mistaken assumption that it is all about us, all of us - pastors, ministry leaders even. We come to Him to make us happy or healthy or comfy. When in fact what God is after is making it all about Him. And any ministry of healing in the local church must keep this front and center - Jesus must be front and center. Pastoral prayers, in-home and hospital visits, elder-prayers for healing, both public and private prayers - these should all proceed under the banner of, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done [Mt. 6:10]. We are serving and following the almighty King of the universe, the One Who declares, “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images” [Is. 42:8]. Can and does God still heal today? Absolutely. Should God’s people pray for one another and ask God for healing and for strength? Most definitely. Should they invite elders to come and anoint them with oil and ask God to heal them? Most assuredly. But in all these things, the church will do well to point out that God alone is the One Who can heal, He is the One Who determines the course of our lives, and whether or not He decides to heal, He is still supremely worthy of all our trust and adoration.
My personal experience of Christ as our Healer
What are some ways in which I have experienced Christ’s healing power in my life? I honestly cannot point to any miraculous intervention. I rarely get sick - whether this is an ongoing work of Christ or the fact that God designed me with a hearty constitution or tied to habits of diet and exercise or perhaps some combination of these, I cannot say. I’ve dealt with times of illness and a few medical issues which have been healed, albeit more through time and use of “modern medicine”. I have seen the Lord work healing in my heart as it relates to what was a not-insignificant level of insecurity and fear of failure. He applied the biblical truths of grace and no condemnation for those who are in Christ to my heart and replaced that insecurity and fear with His peace. I have prayed for healing for others - whether by myself or with others directly using anointing oil or as part of a broader response to a request for prayer regarding a health-related need. Again, I have not seen what I could fairly describe as immediate supernatural intervention but many of these have recovered (whether this was through merely natural means or that the Lord saw fit to use these prayers, it is difficult to say, altho I choose to believe that my prayers and the prayers of others have and do make a difference). But at the end of the day, I do believe what the Bible says when it shows us that Christ is our Healer and when it tells us to pray for healing, and I will continue to ask the Lord to heal for as long as He gives me the grace and strength to do so.
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