Ordination Paper Three
Eric M. White
A Small Step Toward the Healer
When I was a teenager, I experienced an instance of divine healing powerful enough to whet my appetite to know more about this Healer King Jesus. In high school, at a state level competitive speech and debate tournament (I'm an avid thespian), a friend of mine had a terrible migraine throughout the day. She'd qualified for a semi-final round, but her headache was debilitating. Knowing I was a Christian, she asked me to pray for her. I told her I would, but I asked if I could put my hand on her head. She reacted as though she thought that a bit odd, but consented. I put my hand on her brow, closed my ears, and inaudibly prayed the words, "dear Jesus." She jolted back before I said another word and asked me if I'd already prayed. I said I'd just started but she marveled that her headache was gone. I praised Jesus. She began to doubt. After her semi-final round, I asked how her head was. She said she thought I just bumped her headband which had surely been restricting her blood flow causing her headache. I smiled. The more she argued that it was a coincidence, the more her headache came back. She had doubt; I knew better.
This was my first personal encounter with Christ as Healer. I’d observed this type of prayer before and heard messages on healing, but it hadn’t yet become a reality for me. Through this encounter and others, as well as study of God’s Word, I’ve learned that Jesus is just as much healer as he is savior.
Richly Presented in the Word
Divine healing is just as much a part of the Gospel as salvation. The first prayer recorded in the Bible is a prayer for healing. After king Abimelech offends God by his relations with Abraham’s wife Sarah, his household is inflicted with barrenness. Abraham prays, asking God to heal them, and God allows them to bear children (Gen. 20:17-18). After Moses leads the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, as the nation is entering the wilderness, God promises them that they’ll not experience the diseases of the Egyptians as long as they obey his commands. The verse concludes with God saying, “for I am the Lord, who heals you,” (Exodus 15:26). The Psalm writers often reference the healing presence and work of God, both for themselves and for the nation Israel. Isaiah, speaking prophetically of Jesus says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed,” (Isaiah 53:5). There are myriad references to Jesus performing miraculous healings throughout the Gospels, and the early church of Acts continued his healing ministry.
In Matthew 8, just after preaching the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus comes down from the mountain and heals a leper. The timing of this encounter and arrangement of Matthew’s Gospel are no coincidence. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preaches his first great message on the kingdom of God to a crowd of followers. He lays out the foundation for the character and content of God’s kingdom. In chapter 8, having preached the message, “as one who has authority,” Jesus authenticates his words with his power. Whereas the crowds might return to their villages and cities, remembering a few his of words and sharing them with others, witnessing the skin of a leper suddenly and miraculously become clean would be a sure cause of conversation. The same purpose for divine healing exists today. Of vital note is the presence of healing testimony from areas where the Gospel of Jesus is being newly spread. Healing authenticates the message of salvation (Acts 2:22).
Divine healing also authenticates Jesus’ messiahship. In Luke 19:10, Jesus declares that he came to seek and save the lost. As messiah, Jesus redeems the lost through the forgiveness of sins through his death on a cross and resurrection. In Matthew 9, a paralytic is brought to Jesus for healing. Noting the faith of the paralytic’s friends, Jesus says, “take heart son, your sins are forgiven.” The Jewish teachers of the law hear Jesus’ words and accuse him of blaspheming, thinking that no man has the authority of God to forgive sins.
Jesus’ response is profound. He asks the teachers whether they think it’s easier to forgive the man’s sins or heal his paralysis. The aim of his question is not for us to consider which one is truly the easier work, for they both involve the conquering of sin and death and require the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. His purpose is for the observers to consider which would be the greater evidence of his authority. Forgiving the man’s sins would have no visible effect. Healing his paralysis would have the observable evidence of the man standing up on legs that had never before supported his weight and jumping for joy. Jesus heals the man. The crowd praises God in response.
The full reality of God’s kingdom is the total undoing of sin and its consequences. The Johannine vision of Revelation 21:3-4 describes this kingdom beautifully: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” The most empirical evidences of sin for many are physical maladies, sickness and disease. Especially for the Jews of Jesus’ day, sickness and disease were directly attributed to sin (John 9:2). Thus both in the perception of the Jews and in the reality of sin, the healing of disease is an expression of God’s kingdom which knows no mar of sin.
Man has a dual nature: physical and spiritual. The atonement of Jesus is not limited to one of these dual natures, but fully encompasses both. With the original sin of Adam and Eve, death was introduced both as spiritual separation from God and the physical decay of the body. With sin came every sickness, disease, and physical ailment. In Matthew 8, while recounting a spate of divine healings by Jesus, Matthew recalls the words of the prophet in Isaiah 53:4, “He Himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.” According to Matthew, Jesus performed these healings to fulfill what Isaiah prophesied. Romans 3:25 says, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” The sacrifice of Jesus is our atonement. By this same sacrifice, the wounds of his flesh and death on the cross, the atonement is healing for those who receive it through the same faith.
The Church
Healing is not a church issue of a bygone era. The ministry of divine healing was designed by God to last throughout the church dispensation, and “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” (Heb. 13:8). The Bible carefully outlines instructions for how the church is to carry on the ministry of divine healing for the glorification of God.
James 5 has the most thorough instructions for the ministry of healing in the church. It commands that if any person is sick, he or she should call for the elders of the church to pray and anoint them with oil. The elders are to offer the prayer in faith. The result of this prayer is that the sick person will be made well, and their sins will be forgiven. James cautions that the believers ought to confess their sins to one another. He concludes the section by saying, “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” If divine healing is a work of the atonement, we can’t expect that while living in sin, our prayers for divine healing will be powerful and effective. Because healing is an integral part of the Gospel, the ministry of the church is incomplete without an active ministry of healing in adherence to God’s Word.
After the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, while God is establishing his covenant with his people, he gives them detailed instructions on the administration of the priesthood and his temple. Much of the instructions relate to the sanctification, or setting apart, of the objects, practices, and people involved in the priestly ministry to the Israelites. God gives them detailed instructions for preparing and maintaining these things so that they are completely separated unto service for God. Among these instructions, in Exodus 30:25, God instructs Moses to prepare anointing oil with fine spices and aromatics. This oil serves the sole purpose of anointing the priests for service, and God outlines consequences for its misuse.
Elsewhere in the Old Testament, anointing with oil is a symbolic act representing God’s favor (1 Sam. 10:1, Psalm 89:20). Beyond the Old Testament references to healing, the act of obedience to God’s Word also demonstrates the faith of both the elders administering the oil and the person with illness. Notably, James gives no specific instructions on the type of oil used for divine healing or how to administer the oil. His Jewish audience would have been very familiar with the practice and history, so perhaps no further explanation was necessary.
A Polarizing Appeal
It’s near certain that in every church that regularly practices the James 5 protocol for divine healing, not everyone who is anointed and for whom the elders pray is healed. The absence of divine healing when all seems to be in Biblical order has led to widespread doubt of the availability of healing today, with some mainstream sects of Christendom abandoning any efforts at the practice. Healing not coming in the wake of the James 5 method has also led to an assortment of theological explanations as to why. Some say the gift of healing has entirely ceased, others that the Bible only refers to spiritual healing, and not the healing of physical ailments. Still others suggest the mere absence of genuine faith as the reason for restricted testimony of healing. Although it does not answer the why, an interesting passage of Paul’s first letter to Timothy gives some insight.
In 1 Timothy 5:23, while giving a rapid fire dose of practical guidance for life and the church, Paul tells Timothy to “stop drinking only water, and use a little wine” for his stomach issues and frequent illnesses. This is a most unusual statement for the apostle Paul who so frequently and passionately wrote about the ministry of healing and whose miraculous handkerchiefs and aprons were passed around from church to church, healing and driving out wicked spirits from those who touched them (Acts 19:12). With the wisdom of a doctor, Paul acknowledges Timothy’s diagnosis and gives a prognosis that’s about as mundane as we could find. “Drink some wine,” is the response of the great apostle.
Though we see no firm exegetical evidence that Timothy followed the James 5 approach for healing, we might assume that as a close companion to someone with as strong a healing ministry as Paul, Timothy would have sought divine healing first. We can also gather contextually that Paul would have suggested the Biblical approach to divine healing and likely prayed for Timothy’s ailments personally on myriad occasions. Yet Timothy obviously still struggled, and Paul turns to the medicinal approach. Firstly, this gives us a Biblical proof in support of medical means for treating ailments, especially when Biblical methods for seeking divine healing have not yielded the desired results. Secondly, this informs us that even in the early church where we see so many powerful and remarkable instances of healing, there were instances where Christ-followers were not healed.
With omniscient wisdom, God created humanity with an ability to heal before we’d fallen from grace and invited the maladies that require healing. God has fashioned a natural order, infused with the supernatural power of his will. All healing is an overcoming of the effects of sin; therefore, all healing, even that which happens naturally or with the aid of medicine, belongs to God. That natural order is to be neither forsaken nor ignored by Christians who believe in the power and desire of Jesus to heal. It is a great tragedy of perverted theology that some have allowed children to perish without medical attention, claiming Jesus’ healing. Medicine, a holistic approach to health and well-being, exercise and nutrition; these are all weapons in the healing arsenal. A.B. Simpson, such a passionate advocate for the healing ministry of Jesus, asserted that where Jesus has not yet healed all other means in so much as they don’t violate God’s Word ought to be pursued.
This illustrates that when a person is not healed, there is still action they should take; it does not answer the question of why some people are not healed. The first possibility is sin. James 5 connects the confession of sin to the healing prayer in verse 16, “therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” If there is some issue of persistent sin with the person requesting healing, James suggests this might produce ineffective prayer.
Secondly, God in his perfect sovereignty allows some of us to be sick for his purposes. In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul speaks of receiving a thorn in his flesh. There are varied ideas of what this metaphoric thorn was—an issue of sin, a difficult relation, etc.—but many have taken it to mean an issue of poor health or a physical ailment given Paul’s identifying the thorn as one of the flesh. How ironic for this apostle with a proven ministry of potent healing to suffer a physical ailment, if that is the right interpretation of the passage! Paul says that he cried out to God three times for the thorn to be removed, but each time God gives him the same answer: “My grace is sufficient for you, my power made perfect in weakness.” Paul says God gave him this condition in order to keep him from becoming conceited, grounding him in spiritual poverty so that Satan could not gain a foothold. Paul goes on to say that he delights in his weaknesses because it teaches him to rely on Jesus rather than himself. Some are not healed because God, in his sovereign will, would use their ailment to develop the saints in the character of Christ and to glorify himself.
Thirdly, not all that we ask for is in Jesus’ name. Jesus tells his disciples in John 14:14 that he will do anything they ask for in his name. Asking for something in Jesus’ name is not merely a command of semantics. It’s not just a matter of verbalizing “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our list of requests to God. Asking for something in Jesus’ name is asking in the knowledge that our request is the desire of Christ. Access to the desire of Christ comes through intimacy with Christ and allows the praying person to surrender in humility and find total satisfaction in praying, “thy will be done.”
Finally, the absence of genuine faith can prevent healing. James says, “the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well,” (James 5:15). Faith is believing in something we haven’t seen (Heb. 11:1). When we pray for healing, are we praying in faith? Or do we doubt the ability and desire of God to do that for which we ask? Despite the importance of faith in prayer, it is often given an incorrect place in our perspective. Faith does not heal. Jesus alone wields divine healing for his children. If Christ is the ambulance that hurries divine healing to the aid of his beloved, faith is the road on which he travels, placed there by the unwavering belief of his children.
In addition to the James 5 ordinance for healing of the saints, God gives some Christians a gift of healing, just as some have gifts for teaching, apostleship, wisdom, speaking in tongues, prophecy or discernment. The Spirit of God distributes these gifts for the edification of the church, and believers are encouraged the use their gifts in accordance with the Word of God to this end. Where the gift of healing is present, the gifted person ought to use it wisely for the glory of God and good of the church (1 Cor. 12-14).
A Practical Application
The ministry of healing, rightly pursued and rightly wielded, can yield remarkable fruit for the Kingdom of God. A ministry involving either authentic or purported healing, used or pursued incorrectly, or fabricated for personal gain, can have devastating consequences. Faith healers using a mix of stage performance and cheap parlor tricks have led thousands astray and further damaged the Gospel by perpetuating skepticism and denial directed toward authentic movements of healing. As a note of personal application, I want to plant my ministry firmly in the camp of those who maintain healthy Biblical perspective and act in full accordance with the will and Word of God. Whereas God is not moving in an obvious way through my ministry where divine healing is concerned, I will eagerly desire the greater gifts by pursuing Christ wholly. The Biblical imperative is also clear that as a pastor, I am to lead my church in administering the James 5 approach to healing for those who come asking.
The atoning fount of Jesus’ blood floods new life into dead spirits, and the same vitality and healing tide is available for the body as an integral part of the full Gospel of Christ. Yet Christians die. This is an unavoidable truth, affirmed by the Word of God. Hebrews 9:27 says, “Man is destined to die, and after that, to face judgment.” In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” Physical death is the destiny of all, yet Christ has conquered death and the grave for us. The great hope of faith in Christ is that our bodies, which are buried perishable, will be raised unto eternal life imperishable (1 Cor. 15:42). In the resurrection of the faithful, there will be no more disease, no more hurt, no more physical ailments of any kind (Rev. 21:4).
Until that glorious day when the dead are raised perfected in Christ, we ought to eagerly desire the gift of healing and continually follow the James 5 model in obedience to Scripture. To neglect the healing ministry is to neglect the Word of God and full ministry of Christ. But we must be sure our approach is balanced and Biblical. To this end our primary desire in all things should be Christ and Christ only, Christ as all-sufficient, Christ as all our healing, vitality, and strength. Jesus is healer.
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