Jesus had a ministry of healing no doubt, but the commission He handed to His disciples did not include healing. Luke24:47 says "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among the nations beginning at Jerusalem" Matthew28:19-20 says "Go ye and teach all the nations baptising them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you". John says "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep". Mark does mention healing but these final verses are so disputed that I prefer not to use them in the search for truth especially as they are not backed up by the other gospels.
It is only in the earlier parts of Acts and James which was the earliest letter, do we hear more about healing, after which the Scriptures say nothing but to mention that Paul himself had health problems. He said in 2Cor12:10 that he took pleasure in 'infirmities', after describing his thorn in the flesh whatever it may have been. In Galatians he mentions his eye problems "Ye see how large a letter I have written unto ye with my own hand" Gal6:11.
In Eph3:11, Paul says that "He gave some apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and some teachers" There is no mention of a healing ministry. It is strange that it is only in the early days of the church, and the time when Jesus was here that healing was mentioned frequently. But not so strange if we understand the reason for the healing.
The people who were first hearing the gospel were Jews who knew the Scriptures very well, and knew what they had to say about health and sickness. They believed that not only death but all disease was the consequence of sin. "There is neither death without sin nor any chastisement without iniquity" (Shabbath, c.5. fol 55. 1.) Taken from Jerome H. Smith, editor, the new treasury of Scripture knowledge, electronic edition of the revised edition of the treasury of Scripture knowledge Logos Library System (Nashville Thomas Nelson) 1997 c1992 by Jerome H Smith.
In the Old Testament, sickness was the result of sin and was brought about by God in the form of pestilence and plague, wounding by God with the purpose that His people would repent. "Come and let us return unto the Lord, for He hath torn us and He will heal us" Hos6:1 God's promises were "I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds" Jer30:17 the healing was always in connection with cleansing and His people turning away from their sin. Leprosy is seen in a symbolic sense of sin as the real disease causes a gradual death of the nerve endings so that injuries occur to the extremities, whilst the person is unaware of the injuries. Sin is rather like this in that the heart can become slowly hardened in the case of backsliding but we are unaware of the process and the damage.
False prophets were condemned because they dealt only with the symptoms and not with the deep spiritual hurts of the people “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter
Of my people, slightly saying Peace peace when there is no peace” Jer6:4, 8:11.
(Nelson’s Digital Library) In the metaphorical use, God is said to protect His people as a bird protects her young with her wings (Deut32:11) The psalmist expressed God’s care and protection as a ‘shadow’ of the ‘wings’ (Ps17:8, cf36:7, 57:1, 61:4, 63:7, 91:4) In keeping with this usage, Malachi looked forward to a new age when “The Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in His wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall” 4:2 (Nelsons’ Digital Library) We see here the purpose of the healing is that they may mature, giving the meaning a spiritual not a physical aspect.
Blindness was often understood to be a punishment for evil doing. We find an example of this at Sodom (Gen19:11) in the Syrian army (2Kings6:18) and in the curse of Elymas at Pathos (Acts13:6-11) Any person who had a disease was reputed unclean and was forbidden to enter into the camp, where others dwelt. The verses referring to God ‘tearing them’ are Job10:16, 17, 18:4, Ps50:22, La3:10, 11, Ho5:14.
If we look at Isaiah53:5:-
“But He was wounded for our transgressions” and compare Rom4:25-“Who was delivered for our offences and was raised for our justification and 2Cor15:3-“Christ died for our sins” and 1Pet3:18-“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God”
“he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes ye are healed” This is made clear in 1Pet2:24-“who his own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree that we being DEAD TO SIN SHOULD LIVE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS by who’s stripes you are healed”
It does not say here that in taking our sins upon Himself we are forgiven and that is it but that our sin is taken away IF we are dead to sin, that is if we live without sin, and live unto righteousness THEN we are healed by His stripes. The healing is to do with our cleansing and is in full. The healing is of our souls because it is when the soul is healed that man can walk without sin and receive the benefit of Christ’s death, the healing of the thing that sent Him to the cross. He was wounded for our transgressions not our physical ailments. To put a physical healing into these verses is to add something that is foreign to the sense of cleansing.
In Ps103:23 we read “Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits. Who forgives all thine INIQUITIES, who healeth all thy diseases (Ex15:26-“And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight and wilt give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee. I am the Lord thy God that healeth thee.” Jer17:14-“Heal me O lord and I shall be healed, save me and I shall be saved”) who redeemeth thy life from destruction (Ps34:22-“The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants Ps5:12- “For the Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield)
The Jews knew that the one who would come would heal the cause of their disease and make them clean from sin. He went around healing as a sign that this person had come, and this continued during the early years of the church. But the healing was always connected with righteousness. In James5:5-16 it says “The prayer of faith shall SAVE the sick and if he has committed sins they shall be forgiven. Confess your sins and pray for one another that you may be healed.” The verse is talking about the healing of the soul nothing is said of bodily healing. It says further in verse 20 “Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death (spiritual) and shall hide a multitude of sins”
And in Peter 2:24 “Who his own self bore our sins in His body on the tree that we being DEAD TO SIN should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed” again it is this healing to enable man to live a righteous life without sin that the early church understood healing.
After the early books there is very little mention of healing, the power that was released as a sign to authenticate the ministry of Jesus had disappeared until the disciples themselves suffered sickness. Of course God does sometimes heal physically, but the time had ceased when it was common.
It is only when we understand the fullness of the healing that he gives and can only give when it concerns the soul which alone fulfils the meaning of cleansing and righteousness that we can see that the cure of one or two conditions is not the subject discussed throughout the Old Testament and in the early years of the church.
