Yes, healing is “in” the atonement, like every biblical benefit. So why not 100% healing right now? The goal here is not to put doubt in the reader, but to explain to people why their prayers were not answered and their beloved family member died. (I updated this post yet again, revealing that God has improved one of my conditions.)
What about his kingdom coming and his will being done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10)? Why doesn’t that prayer–part of the Lord’s Prayer!–guarantee healing all the time without one exception?
Those are questions that have plagued Renewalists for decades. Teachers and preachers, particularly the Word of Faith teachers, have not been effective in answering this harsh reality–healing simply does not happen 100% of the time. Why not?
Here is my attempt to answer the question. It is an essay (meaning “attempt” or “try”). It is my best tentative answer, at this time in my understanding of Scripture and in my practical theology of actually praying for the sick. Yes, I believe healing is still going on today.
Here are two main verses that say our (outward) bodies are wasting away and were born (sown) perishable:
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Cor. 4:16)
The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable. (1 Cor. 15:42).
We were sown or born with perishable bodies, and outwardly they are steadily perishing or wasting away. Inwardly, our spirits are being strengthened with the gospel and the Spirit. Only at the final resurrection will the body be raised imperishable. It’s the way of nature–our present bodies are not eternal but will die.
In the meantime, let’s believe that God will heal our bodies when they get sick or attacked.
But when the healing does not come? Let’s explore any possible answer to that difficult question.
This post is divided into three main parts:
Atonement Theology
Kingdom Theology
Practical Guide
Atonement Theology
First, let’s ask a question as it is commonly phrased: Is healing in the atonement?
The question is not worded correctly because every biblical benefit is “in” the atonement, like salvation and authority over demons and redemption. Every item in the long list in the next, linked article flows out of the atonement, even healing.
The question people should ask is this: Is healing guaranteed in the atonement? Or, will people always get healed in the atonement?
And the answer is no, in the here and now. This is upsetting to many, but hear me out.
Let’s take an analogical or comparative example. Does everyone who professes salvation get saved? Matt. 13:1-23, the Parable of the Sower (or Soils), teaches us that an individual can have the word planted in him, but the evil one, persecution, or the worries of life rob or choke it. In modern terms, he heard the word, prayed the “sinner’s prayer,” something may (or may not) have happened, but then later on he walks away from it all. Salvation is “in” the atonement, but it is not guaranteed. There are too many factors for why the seed of the word did not take hold.
Also, in the atonement we have victory over sin, which no longer dominates us (Rom. 6). Yet we still sin, don’t we? Yes. So Christ paid for our victory over sin, but the sin problem is not completely solved and won’t be solved until we shuck off this body. Likewise, our physical healing or our victory over sickness is paid for on the cross, but we still get sick, don’t we. We do.
And so, healing is “in” the atonement, but it is not guaranteed 100% of the time. Our bodies simply wear out. We cannot figure out why some people are healed and others are not, for there are too many factors in the life of the sick person, the lives of the people praying for him, and God’s sovereign will.
Even the “great” man of faith Kenneth Copeland had to get a pacemaker. His words could not create a healthy heart despite his teaching for many decades that our words create worlds. The Spirit rebuked him for not getting a pacemaker but intending to live by “faith” (= presumption).
Kenneth Copeland Gets a Pacemaker
And as noted, just because someone prays for salvation does not mean he received it–just as the Parable of the Sower (or Soils) says. So divine healing of the body is “in” the atonement, but there is no guarantee of total and perpetual healing throughout one’s life. There are simply too many moving parts to understand why people do not get physically healed down here on earth, just as there are too many moving parts to understand why people do not get saved even after they hear the gospel and pray.
However, what about Matt. 4:23? “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”
To reply: in context, that is a summary verse. Here’s another summary verse in the same section of Scripture. Matthew wrote: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Matt. 4:15). Fulfilling the rest of the prophecy (vv. 13-15), Jesus moved to the town of Capernaum. He did mighty miracles there: “At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them” (Luke 4:40). But did everyone living in his adopted hometown respond to the light (Jesus)? No. Here he denounces his adopted hometown: “And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you” (Matt. 11:23-24; see Luke 10:15). Even his adopted hometown did not receive the kingdom and salvation. And so we should not over-interpret summary statements that characterize his ministry overall. And overall his ministry included healing, and he was very successful at it.
However, he did not heal everyone in his hometown where he grew up, Nazareth: “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith” (Mark 6:5-6). Yes, yes, they did not have faith, but that only shows there are too many moving parts in needy people. It’s too complicated for us to answer thoroughly the larger question of why there is no 100% healing.
Next, Jesus healed only one man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15). So if the mighty Son of God, God manifested in the flesh, did not heal everyone, then how can we guarantee 100% healing?
Further, life in the Spirit clarifies why healing being in the atonement is meaningful but not the whole picture. First Corinthians 12:7-11 says that one of the gifts of the Spirit is the gifts of healings, which the Spirit distributes as he determines.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. (1 Cor. 12:7-11, NKJV, emphasis added)
So we have to listen to the Spirit (Gal. 5) to find out whether God wants to heal someone at this time. We are called to life in the Spirit. He may say to wait. A delay is in order. He is not distributing the gifts of healings right now. (He may distribute this gift later, so keep praying until the Spirit says stop.)
Therefore, yes, healing is in the atonement, but the application of healing depends on God and his Spirit distributing the gifts of healings as he wills.
Conclusion
Our bodies and souls are broken and need healing through salvation–both physical healing and spiritual healing. Our spirits can be saved, but our bodies are “wasting away” (2 Cor 4:16). Our spirits can be renewed through salvation, but our bodies, though refreshed through healing and rest, are ultimately doomed.
In the big picture, God’s Redemptive Global Project is to rescue his groaning, weak creation from its present degraded condition, ranging from the planet itself to our puny bodies (Rom. 8:18-22). Everything will be put right, at that time. In the here and now, the Project is going on gradually, as the kingdom of God and his redemptive work surge forward, person by person, life by life. In this present age, our bodies will have to give out, because we all die. It’s a gradual process of decay and aging. Upon our death, however, we will be with Jesus in a sort of spiritual form, until on the Last Day we shall reunite with our glorified and transformed bodies, which shall never get sick or experience decay or suffer death.
So healing is “in” the atonement, but the total and 100% guarantee of complete, nondegradable health awaits the full manifestation of his kingdom. That’s where we’re all heading.
Let’s explore kingdom theology more thoroughly.
Kingdom Theology
How does the theology of the kingdom impact the harsh reality that healing does not happen 100% of the time?
In the first post in the kingdom series, I said that the kingdom of God means his rule or reign, his kingship, his sovereignty. It encompasses both his realm over which he exercises his rule and his authority and power by which he exerts his kingship. He is the monarch—the sole ruler—with absolute power.
1 Introducing the Kingdom of God
His kingdom is universal and everlasting. “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations” (Ps. 145:13, NIV). By his mighty acts (already here), his kingdom is proved to be glorious and splendid (Ps. 145:9-12). “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” (Ps. 103:19, NIV).
And yet the kingdom is not yet here in its visible and full display, for all to experience and submit to. Jesus prayed, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10, NIV). The kingdom of God is in process and in progress.
Some critics have rebuked teachers for saying that people can call down the good things of heaven to earth. The critics say that evangelism, salvation of souls, demon expulsion, death, sex and marriage are not in heaven, so how do we call them down? How does that make sense? Therefore, don’t call down the kingdom and his will in heaven on earth (even though Matt. 6:10 says we should!).
This criticism, however, fails to understand the already-and-not-yet aspect of the kingdom. We are permitted to call down those things we need the most, like harmony in marriage and evangelism and salvation and healing and demon expulsion, all done through the power of the Spirit. We have plenty of Scriptures to support those things, besides one verse (Matt. 6:10). Immediately, at the Second Coming, there will no longer be the need for evangelism, salvation, demon expulsion, healing, and sex and marriage, and so on. Death will be defeated. But that time is not yet here. Therefore at this time in the history–the Church Age–we need the kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And there is nothing wrong with praying for those listed things and other things.
So we are not calling down nondeath or non-demon expulsion, for example, neither of which exists in heaven. Nor are we calling down “no marriage” to come down to earth. because marriage does not exist in heaven. Instead we are praying from God’s kingdom to empower us to be victorious over the effects of death (by raising the dead) and sickness and demonic oppression and bad marriages. We ask God to give us our daily bread; that is, in our modern economy, we can have successful jobs to pay for our daily needs.
Conclusion
So this theology of already-and-not-yet of the kingdom explains to a large degree why healing does not always happen 100% of the time. We live in the kingdom that is already here in part, but not yet fully manifested. When it is fully manifested, we will no longer need evangelism and sex and marriage and demon expulsion and the other good things and victory over the bad things down here on earth. We will have complete and total healing in our new, glorified body, for example. Right now, however, we may not.
Even Jesus himself did not arrogate this much power to himself. He clarified that he does only what he sees his Father doing (John 5:19). He lives because of the Father (John 6:57). He speaks only what the Father taught him (John 8:28). He does what he sees the Father do (John 10:37). What Jesus says is just what the Father told him to say (John 12:49-50, John 12:57). Perhaps the most important verse about miracles: “Many good works I have shown you from My Father” (John 10:32 NIV). (“Good works” in John’s gospel = miracles.)
And so the Father through his Son, anointed by the Spirit, performed all miracles during his Son’s ministry. The Son obeyed and followed his Father.
We too should develop life in the Spirit so we can ear from the Father through the Spirit. We will never heal as Jesus did, because he is the Anointed One, but the Spirit can distribute the gifts of healings as he determines (1 Cor. 12:11).
Right now, we live in the shadowlands (C.S. Lewis), and we will never get a complete answer down here, when our prayers are not answered.
For a fuller explanation of the already and not-yet of the kingdom, see the post:
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Practical Guide to Prayer
After all that theology, let’s get practical. We should still pray for healing and not use the “not-100% thing” as an excuse. Let’s pray for God to grant us the gift of faith (1 Cor. 12:9), so that we can then pray in faith for healing.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. (James 5:14-15)
Verse 15 says the prayer offered in faith or literally “the prayer of faith.”
Faith ≠ Doubt
Faith ≠ Skepticism
Faith ≠ Mild Skepticism
Faith ≠ “Maybe yes, maybe no, who really knows?”
Faith ≠ Paralysis of Analysis
Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed → Results
(The arrow means “leads to.”)
Jesus never said, “Your skepticism makes you whole!” If you fit in the other items of the list, don’t spread your unbelief around in the presence of the sick person. But I like what this man honestly told the Lord: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark. 9:24). Pray silently with an open heart for God to give you faith and overcome your unbelief.
Personally, I pray this way for the diseased in body.
A.. I pray until healing comes. (I’ve been praying for a vital organ in my body since January 15, 2010, and I will never stop. I found out recently that it has gotten much better. Looking at the results, the doctor said “amazing!” twice in one session. It doesn’t cost me any effort to pray for it: I put Matt. 7:7-8 in the present continuous tense).
B.. I pray for medicine to be effective and the doctors to be successful. (I exercise and eat healthily.)
C.. I pray until God reveals to me that it is time to stop praying for healing because God is using (not causing) the sickness to take the sick person home to be with Jesus, forever. No, I don’t tell the sick person my new conviction or belief, because I could be wrong. Instead, I shift my prayers for spiritual healing and strength and peace and faith in the ill person. (I pray this in the other lettered points, as well.) Heaven and a new body are the ultimate healing.
God wants to heal in so many situations; we see this in the ministry of Jesus, who never put diseases on people, but lifted diseases and deformity off of them. He wants us to ask for healing with faith.
Yes, God wants to heal, but he is also sovereign. We can trust him when we do not get our healing right now. He still loves us and wants us to come home. And going to his heavenly home is no punishment!
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16-18, ESV)
Yes, our bodies really are wasting away right now, little by little. But our momentary light affliction “ain’t nothin'” in contrast to eternity–the eternal weight of glory. We are headed for eternity, so let’s not weep and wail when someone we prayed for dies. He or she just got crowned!
Final verses for our growth in Christ
In the next chapter in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, the very next verses after 4:18, Paul writes that while we are in this body or tent (or tabernacle), we groan, implying that it is wearing down:
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Cor. 5:1-5, NIV)
So in vv. 1-4 he says that our bodies or tents will be destroyed one day, whether by decomposing in the grave or in the sea or somewhere else. However, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven. We long to be clothed with it. Our mortality will be swallowed up in by life (eternal). We wish to be clothed with our eternal dwelling.
The best news is v. 5. The Spirit lives in us and is the down payment or deposit of what is to come. Which is what? It is heaven and eternal life or living in our new tents or bodies. Until then, our earth-tents wear out and die; then our healing is 100% and forever!
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Kenneth Copeland Gets a Pacemaker
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
SOURCES
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 