TRUTH
FOR TODAY
Jun
Malazo
“Hey Pastor…Do you have
the power of healing?” I was recently
asked this question after visiting someone.
The topic of miraculous divine healing has been an issue that many well-
meaning people do not have a clear understanding of and in turn are being deceived. There are many so-called “faith healers”
today that mislead people to believing that whatever physical ailment they have
will be healed if they just have enough faith.
We often see
advertisements for a “Healing Crusade” in our town. Sadly, many attend these meetings with high
hopes that God will heal their physical ailments but in turn come away empty. Faith healers and those that advocate them
make merchandise of peoples’ desperate situations. They will sell items that they say contain
miracle healing powers (oils, napkins, etc.).
Because of their desperation, people fall into the deception only to
walk away disappointed.
Those who
advocate the practice of faith healing do so for many reasons. One of the core reasons is often because of
some misinterpreted Scriptural passages in the Bible that lead to a confusion
of the miracles sign gifts practiced by the apostles in the early church. One question that must be considered is
this: Are the miracles sign gifts of the
early New Testament Church supposed to be practiced today? In order to fully give an adequate answer to
this question, we must first understand spiritual gifts given to the New
Testament Church and how this applies today.
Notice what the Apostle says in Romans 12:1-8:
"For I
say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have
many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we,
being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether
prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry,
let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that
exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that
ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with
cheerfulness" (Romans 12:3-8, KJV).
According to
the verses above, every believer and member of a local church is gifted in one
or more areas to compliment the body of Christ—the church. The list starts with prophecy which is
basically proclaiming the truth. The
list goes on to ministering, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling, and
mercy. To stay on topic I will not
expound on each one of these gifts.
However, suffice it to say, that none of these gifts involve any
supernatural ability of the gift of healing.
There is yet
another set of gifts given to us in 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul expounds on the
gifts of healing, miracles, tongues, and interpretation of tongues, etc. We call these gifts sign or revelatory
gifts. There is no doubt that the gift
of healing was present during the early New Testament era. However, looking at the bigger picture of the
background of 1 Corinthians and looking at its context as a whole will prove
that sign gifts ceased at the end of the apostolic age.
A careful
observation of 1 Corinthians would reveal a reoccurring theme that the Apostle
Paul was trying to emphasize. There is
always an exhortation of unity specially in the context of the church as a body
of believers. This is because one of the
issues that Paul was dealing with was the issue of disunity within the
church. The whole idea of 1 Corinthians
12 is that, as the body has many parts and functions unique within the parts
and must work as a whole, a church also must operate in unity in order to
function properly. No part is greater
than the other. And if one part neglects
its function the entire body is affected.
The church in
Corinth was overemphasizing the sign gifts so much that they were neglecting a
more important aspect of church which is unity in love and truth. This is not to say that sign gifts given
during the apostolic era were not important at all. The sign gifts were all part of God’s overall
plan to give the apostles authority as they preached the gospel.
The very next
chapter in 1 Corinthians reveals to us that the sign gifts will end.
"Charity
never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there
be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is
come, then that which is in part shall be done away" (1
Corinthians 13:8-10, KJV).
The Apostle
says that there will be a cessation of the sign gifts. When will this be? He says, “But when that which is perfect is
come….” Paul was speaking of the
completed Word of God—the Bible. During
the time of Paul’s writing to the Corinthian Church the Bible was not yet put
together as a whole. The Bible is the
compete revelation of God to mankind.
Through its pages we see the Person and Work of Jesus Christ as it
authenticates His deity and His Messiahship.
What about
the healings recorded in the Bible? The
miracles of Jesus Christ recorded in all the gospels were unique. It is important to remember the very central
reason why these miracles were recorded in the Bible. Christ’s miracles authenticated that He was
the Messiah. His miracles were never
meant for us to imitate. Notice what the
Apostle John said about the miracles of Christ:
"And
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are
not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through
his name" (John 20:30-31, KJV).
Likewise, the
Apostles’ miracles were not to set a pattern for believers to follow. Rather, the miracles were for the sign of
their apostleship (2 Corinthians 12:12).
If the gift of healing was meant for every believer, then the sign of
apostleship would be of no effect. If
believers in general could have performed sign miracles, even in the first
century, the brethren at Joppa would not have called for Peter to come and
raise Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:36-42). Peter’s miracle that day was the
“sign of an apostle.”
“Does God
have the power to heal today?” The
answer to that question is a resounding absolutely yes! As mentioned earlier, God is the Master of
healing. Jesus is referred to as the
Great Physician. However, it is
important to know that God heals according to His own will and timing. Faith healers make it seem that divine
healing can be on demand. The fact of
the matter is that there are many instances in the Bible that godly people did
not receive healing through divine intervention.
After Paul’s
writing to the Corinthians we see many evidences of believers who suffered
physical ailments and yet were not healed with the gift of healing. They prayed and asked God for healing, but it
wasn’t God will to miraculously heal them in the same manner that Jesus and the
Apostles healed people.
Timothy was
not healed supernaturally. The Apostle
Paul did not perform a healing miracle, but instead, advised him to consider a
remedy to take care of an ongoing condition (1 Timothy 5:23). Paul himself learned that it is not always
God’s will to heal. In 2 Corinthians
12:10, he said, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am
weak, then am I strong.” Paul learned a
valuable lesson that sometimes God doesn’t remove the pain. This is because the pain often comes with a
valuable lesson. Instead of immediate
healing, God gave Paul the grace to endure the pain as he wrote, “And he said
unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9, KJV).
“Only God has
the power of healing,” was my response to the question above. The God of the Bible is the God of
miracles. The Bible is filled with God’s
display of His power to heal those that are blind, lame and even to raise the
dead back to life.
Divine
healing has always been and will always be in accordance to God’s will and
timing. We can ask and pray for healing,
but we must be surrendered to whatever God’s will is for our lives. We must remember that God has a purpose for
our lives.
Sometimes the
physical ailments are His way of drawing us closer to Him. Whatever God does in our lives, it is for our
good and it is always for His glory and honor.
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