|
Healing in the Atonement
by Tom Brown
 There are three views of divine healing: first, that it past
away; second, that it is a special grace; and third, that healing
is in the atonement. The following is a short summary of the
three views.
1. Passed away. Healing was a gift given to the
apostles to attest to the validity of the gospel.
2. Special grace given only to some. Rejects the view
that healing was included in the plan of redemption.
3. Healing is part of man's redemption in Christ;
therefore it belongs to every believer. There need be no questioning as to whether it is God's will to heal; if it is
in the redemption, it is His will.
How you view healing will determine the level of faith you
have regarding divine healing. I believe it is vital to believe
that healing is in the atonement. It is my goal to prove this
from the Scriptures. Please read the article carefully with an
open mind, and I’m sure you will see from the Scriptures
that healing is God’s will for you.
Passed Away
There has been so much light on the subject of healing in the
last century that there are very few people that still believe
healing past away. The number is growing smaller. I would rather
not take the time to discuss this view in this article. (Click here to
read my answer to this view.)
Instead I would like to use this article to discuss the
subject of whether or not healing is in the atonement. If it is,
then you don’t need to question whether or not God wants to
heal you. If Jesus took your infirmities and diseases on the
cross then there is no reason for you to continue to bear them.
Special Grace
The most prevalent view in the body of Christ concerning
healing is the view of "Special grace." This theory
supposes that God still heals so long as it is His will to heal.
If God does not wish to heal a particular individual then no
amount of faith is going to get God to heal him. He must accept
the sickness as the will of God.
With this view, there is no steadfast faith for healing. It is
almost impossible to exercise persistent faith, because according
to this view if the healing does not manifest then the assumption
is that God does not wish to heal you, at least, not now. So how
does the person pray for healing? Well, faith is not very
important, in fact, it really cannot exist with this view. People
who hold to this depend more on God’s sovereignty than on
one’s faith. They generally pray something like this:
"Lord, if it is your will, please heal me."
Of course, in the Bible, the emphasis is not on God’s
sovereignty, but on faith. Jesus repeatedly said to the sick,
"Your faith has healed you." Never once did He say,
"God’s sovereignty has healed you." There is no
solid faith with the view of special grace. A person can only
have sure faith if he holds to the view that healing is in
God’s redemptive plan. He can pray with faith, "Father,
in the name of Jesus, according to your Word Jesus took my
infirmities and carried my diseases. With His stripes, I am
healed. I stand on your word that I am healed. Thank you for
healing me now!"
Do you see how your view determines the level of faith when
you pray for healing?
Sin brought Sickness
We need to start at the beginning. Where did sickness come
from in the first place? Did God make this world filled with
diseases? Many people think so. Since sickness is so universal,
people have attributed it to God.
However the Bible gives a different reason why there is
sickness on the earth. When God made the world, the Bible says,
"God saw all that He made and it was very good" (Gen
1:31).
God did not originally create a world filled with anything
bad. Everything was very good. The Bible also teaches that
something awful took place. Adam sinned against God. Paul
comments on his sin:
…sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because
all sinned—( Rom 5:12)
The result of sin was death. What is sickness? Sickness is an
agent of death. Sickness wants to kill. Without sickness, death
would be postponed for most people. Sin brought death, and
sickness is the offspring of its parent, death.
We could say it this way: Disease entered the world through
sin. Without sin, there would be no sickness. Sickness exists
because sin exists.
Other scriptures affirm this:
His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned,"
said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God
might be displayed in his life. (John 9:2-3)
You might be thinking Jesus contradicted what I just said. But
look at the scriptures carefully. The disciples knew sickness was
caused by sin; they just did not know whose sin caused the boy to
be born blind. They supposed that either the boy sinned in the
womb or the parents sinned.
Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents
sinned." Jesus did not say, "No one sinned."
He only says that the two people mentioned were not responsible
for this sickness. Jesus could have used this as a golden
opportunity to teach that sickness and sin are unrelated but He
did not. The reason: sickness is related to sin. It is at least
related to the original sin.
Jesus healed the man at the gate called beautiful. Later he
met the man and said, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning
or something worse may happen to you" (John 5:14). Jesus
accused the man’s sin as causing his infirmity. Sin caused
his sickness.
There is the case of David committing adultery with Bathsheba.
They had a child as a result of it who was born sick and
eventually died. Why?
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against
the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away
your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this
you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt,
the son born to you will die." (2 Sam 12:13-14)
So we see that other people’s sin can cause diseases.
After all, we know of cases where pollution and second hand smoke
has caused diseases. Can you imagine an innocent child developing
emphysema or asthma because she inhales her parent’s
cigarette smoke? Sickness can be caused by other people’s
sins.
Sin causes diseases. It may be original sin, or personal sin,
or other people’s sins that causes sickness and diseases.
But sin is still the cause of sickness.
What does all this have to do with healing being in the
atonement? Well, we know the cure for sin is the atonement. And
since sin causes diseases, the only cure for sickness is the
atonement. Sickness came on the wings of sin, therefore, the true
remedy for sickness can be found only in the redemption of
Christ, commonly called the atonement.
Atonement is the payment that corrects the relationship
between God and man, which was broken through sin. Redemption is
ultimately the answer for sickness, not doctors, medicine, or
diet. They can help but not heal. (Click here to
read my view on medicine and healing.)
Sickness is part of the curse, and who can remove the curse
but God alone. Evangelical ministers quickly point to the cross
for people’s emotional sickness, but then point to the
doctor for their physical sickness. How inconsistent! Jesus is
the cure for all diseases.
Next 
 Send your
comments
Read
more articles by Tom Brown
Click here
if you're interested in having Tom Brown come to your area
Back to the Main Page
|
