When Jesus preached in the synagogue of His home town of
Nazareth, the people were skeptical of His claims, and His power.
Jesus said to them in Luke 4:23 you will surely say unto me this
proverb, physician, heal thyself." Criticism of the physician is of
ancient origin, and had become a proverb in the time of Christ. In
spite of all the modern advances in their effectiveness, they are still
objects of criticism. This is so because people are just naturally
critical and skeptical, and also because doctors, like everyone else,
are subject to sin, and to mistakes, ignorance and indifference.
A nervous patient said to her doctor, "I feel like killing myself.
What shall I do?" The doctor said, "Just leave that to me." Another
doctor said to his patient, "Your left leg is swollen, but I wouldn't
worry much about it." The patient responded, "If your left leg was
swollen I wouldn't worry much about it either." There are volumes
of humorous and serious criticism against the physician that goes
back to ancient times. Much of it is valid. But we must also see that
Jesus put His stamp of approval on the ministry of the physician.
When He was asked why He ate with and associated with sinners He
replied, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Jesus said the sick need a physician, and He implied that their
ministry of making men whole is a kin to His own ministry
enough to use it as an illustration.
This statement of Jesus is recorded in all three of the synoptic
Gospels, and reveals to us how Jesus related His ministry to the
physician. Jesus ministered to man's sickness and his sin, because
the two are directly related. He delivered men from sickness by His
ministry in life, and He delivered them from sin by His ministry in
death. God's plan of salvation included the whole man-body, soul,
and spirit. Since all three are related and inseparable in life, Jesus
could not atone for sin without affecting all three. Sin is the general
cause of all sickness, and the specific of much sickness. It follows
then that deliverance from sin will also be a deliverance from
sickness. You cannot eliminate a cause, and not eliminate the effects.
If I prevent a man from drinking and becoming an alcoholic, I also
prevent him from dying of the liver disease that he would likely die
from. By preventing the cause I prevent the effect.
When Jesus redeems and releases a sinner from the power of sin
he also delivers him from the effects of sin. This means that the
Christian is one who is delivered by his salvation from the great
number of sicknesses which are directly related to personal sin.
Examples would be such things as syphilis, dope addiction,
alcoholism, and many others. Christians still sin, however, and so
they still suffer the effects of those sins that they cling to. Much
sickness is still related to personal sin, and so there are still many
things that Christians can suffer in their bodies and minds do to
some weakness in themselves. Christians, for example, died along
with non-Christians in the great plagues brought on by poor sewage
disposal. Christians still catch all the contagious diseases through no
personal sin of their own. Whatever the case, whether the sickness is
the result of personal sin, or whether one is the victim of
circumstances, James says the church is to minister to their need.
James does just what Jesus did. He relates the victory over sin,
and the victory over sickness by using the same word to describe
them both. To be cured from an illness is one aspect of salvation.
Salvation means to be made whole, and to be kept sound, and this
includes the whole man. The word James uses here for being saved
from sickness is the same Greek word used for salvation from sin. It
is the same word used in Matt. 1:21, "For he shall save his people
from their sins." It is the same word used in Matt. 18:11, "For the
son of man is come to save that which was lost." When Paul spoke of
Jesus coming into the world to save sinners, and when he spoke of his
desire to use all means to save some, he used this same word. James
uses the word in 1:21 and 5:20 for the saving of the soul.
There is no way to escape the conclusion that to be delivered from
sickness is a part of the whole experience of salvation which Jesus
provided for His people. Jesus is no half-Savior. He does not save
men in part only. He saves the whole man of body, soul, and spirit.
Salvation is not complete until there is health, happiness, and
holiness. That is why healing was a basic part of the ministry of
Christ, and a basic part of the ministry of the early church. The
Christian continues to sin, and so Jesus made provision to restore the
Christian to health of spirit through forgiveness. The Christian
continues to get sick, and so Jesus made provision to restore the
Christian to health of body and mind through healing.
The day we no longer need the ministry of forgiveness will be the
day we can also dispense with the ministry of healing. When we see
that the New Testament concept of salvation includes deliverance
from sickness as well as sin, we will cease to limit it to only one aspect
of our being. It is natural that we tend to think of salvation as only
dealing with the spirit of man, for this is the eternal part of man, and,
therefore, the greatest value. The salvation of the eternal soul by
faith in Christ is obviously the primary goal of the churches ministry.
But James is not writing about evangelism. He is writing about the
ministry of the church to those who are already saved, but who have
bodies still in bondage to sickness. James is making it clear that the
church does not quit when it has achieved its primary goal of
winning people to Christ. There are secondary things which are just
as important to accomplish after the primary goal has been achieved,
as the primary goal was important before it was achieved.
We need to think clearly on this point, for misunderstanding here
is the cause for much needless controversy. The question is never,
which is most important-winning a person to Christ, or healing their
sickness? This is no question at all for debate, for saving a persons
eternal spirit is infinitely more important than saving their body
from temporal pain. The question is: Which is most
important-presenting the whole Gospel of salvation, or just the
primary aspect of it? It healing is a part of the salvation of Christ for
the total man, then we do not honor Christ by neglecting part of His
plan with the excuse that we are stressing the most important part.
When the primary is achieved, the secondary then becomes primary.
Healing of the body and mind is no longer secondary to the man who
is saved from sin, but who is now sick.
When you stand in line waiting to be served, and you are number
33, and the clerk is now on number 4, you are a very secondary
customer. When the clerk gets to 32 you begin to have high
potential, and when they call 33 you become the primary concern of
their business. The secondary becomes primary when the primary is
accomplished. We ought never to criticize people for emphasizing
the secondary if they have already fulfilled the primary. We would
be disgusted with the clerk who insisted on perpetually waiting on
customer number 1 even after that customer has been served. First
things are first, but second things are also to be second.
Jesus never seemed to worry that His compassion for men's
bodies might detract from His concern for their souls. True
spirituality is not impractical and mystical, and of no earthly good.
True spirituality begins on the level of reality where men are. It
applies to the body, to suffering, to frustration, and to the anxieties
with which people struggle constantly. The proof of Christianity is in
what it does for a man on the level of reality of which he is conscious.
When John the Baptist is in prison, and in doubt about Jesus being
the Messiah, he sent His disciples to ask Jesus for evidence. Jesus did
not send back a lecture on the incarnation or trinity. He said in
Matt. 11:4-5, "Go and show John again those things which you hear
and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have
the Gospel preached to them." Jesus proved He was the Son of God
by action.
The early church followed its Lord, and combined the preaching
of the Gospel with the healing of the body, and they turned the world
upside down. We are not thinking clearly if we criticize people today
for doing what they did. Those in the healing ministry could say to
their critics, "Show me your success in primary task of evangelism
without healing, and I will show you my success in evangelism with
healing." Billy Graham is not in the ministry of healing, but he
recognizes that those who have a healing ministry are also a powerful
force for evangelism. Many years ago at the World Congress On
Evangelism Billy Graham introduced Oral Roberts by saying, "Our
prayer is going to be led by a man that I have come to love and
appreciate in the ministry of evangelism."
Many people have asked me what I think of Oral Roberts and
other healers, and I use to be confused as to what to say because I
was not sure what to think. Now I know that it doesn't make any
difference what I think. I can think that much looks and sounds
fake, and I can feel that it is too emotional, and I will probably
continue to do so, but I will do so in the humble recognition that my
subjective reactions do not determine the value of someone else's
ministry for Christ. The objective facts are that the ministry of
healers is often very fruitful for the whole man. Many are brought to
Christ, and many are brought to wholeness in the body. The
question we need to wrestle with is, do we believe in the total Gospel?
Do we believe that Jesus saves from sickness as well as from sin? Do
we believe that the church has a continuing ministry to the bodies,
minds, and souls of men?
These are important questions, for there was only one thing that
hindered the healing ministry of Christ, and that was unbelief.
Matt.13:58 says, "He did not many mighty works there because of their
unbelief." In spite of all His miracles many did not believe, and so
they quenched His power in their midst. Could it be they were
offended by the emotions, or the showmanship that seemed to be
connected healing. I don't know for sure, but I do know that I do not
want to be one to hinder the power of Christ through unbelief. Any
critical feelings I have about those who seek to continue the ministry
of Christ to the whole man I recognize our subjective feelings, and
not based on the objective Word of God. Salvation from sickness,
and deliverance from sin is definitely a part of the Gospel, and the
ministry of the early church. It is logical that some form of healing
ministry should continue to be a part of the church today.
