Can We Claim Physical Healing By Faith? Isaiah 53:5--Twisters series

            Cold and flu season is coming upon us soon, and along with it all of the misery that those ailments bring.  Of course, in the grand scheme of things, those ailments pale in comparison to other illnesses and diseases that sometimes invade our lives.  None of us enjoy being sick, and we don’t like to see our loved ones dealing with such problems either.

            I think every one of us finds ourselves at some point in time thinking, “Does it really have to be this way?  Do sickness and disease have to play such a major role in the story of our lives?” From some corners of Christendom at large, the answer we hear to those questions is, “No!” Some very influential Bible teachers proclaim that sickness and disease do not have to play any part in our lives today because of the blessings that belong to us as children of God.

            These teachers often appeal to Isaiah 53:5, a well-known verse of Scripture which says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

The Suggested Interpretation

            With respect to sickness and disease, these teachers focus on the statement in this verse that mentions healing, and they interpret it to mean that Christ’s death purchased for us not only salvation from sin, but from sickness and disease as well.  Of course, they refer to other verses as well to support this interpretation, but they strongly emphasize this verse because of its connection to one of the central events of our faith—the sacrificial death of Christ.

            Let me read a couple of brief quotes so you can hear this claim.  The first comes from Kenneth Hagin.  He is deceased now, but he had a very influential ministry in past decades.  He said, “A person seeking healing should look to God’s Word, not to his symptoms.  He should say, ‘I know that I am healed because the Word says that by His stripes I am healed.’”¹

            The second quote comes from a pastor named Joseph Prince, who has a very popular ministry today.  He states, “Sickness and diseases are not from God.  On the cross, Jesus bore not just our sins, but also our sicknesses, diseases and infirmities, and by his stripes we are healed.”² Other teachers who have taught this idea in the past include Kenneth Copeland and Oral Roberts. Other popular teachers today who embrace this interpretation include Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, and Joel Osteen.

            With this interpretation, it is said that we today, as children of God, can receive healing from sickness in the same way that we receive salvation from sin—that is, simply claiming it by faith.  Just as we can enjoy lasting forgiveness from God simply by receiving it in faith, these teachers would say that we can also enjoy lasting health from God simply by receiving it in faith.

The Correct Interpretation

            Is this an appropriate way to interpret this phrase, “with his stripes we are healed?” Should we take that statement as a reference to physical healing?  A close look at the context of that statement would say, “No.”

            Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is a majestic passage that predicts the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.  Verses four through 12 place a particular emphasis on Christ’s sacrifice and what he accomplished for us.  Throughout those verses, we see a consistent emphasis on Christ bearing our sins and saving us from our spiritual ailments and dangers. Notice these statements:

• v. 5: wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, his chastisement brought us peace
• v. 6: we have gone astray, have turned to our own way, the Lord laid our iniquity on him
• v. 8: he was stricken for the transgression of my people
• v. 10: his soul made an offering for guilt
• v. 11: he will make many to be accounted righteous, he will bear their iniquities
• v. 12: he was numbered with the transgressors, he bore the sin of many, he makes intercession for the transgressors.

            With this repeated and constant emphasis on our spiritual failings and restoration, the context leads us to interpret the “healing” in v. 5 the same way. In other words, the word “healed” in v. 5 is being used in a metaphorical sense to refer to our spiritual condition, not our physical condition.

            This interpretation is confirmed by the Apostle Peter in the New Testament. In writing about Jesus in 1 Peter 2:24-25, he stated, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Notice how Peter, just like Isaiah, emphasizes spiritual healing—the forgiveness of sins.

            Now someone might say, “Okay, I see the emphasis in Peter and Isaiah on spiritual restoration, but do we have to limit the phrase to that emphasis? Couldn’t we also include the idea of physical healing without taking away from the emphasis on spiritual salvation?”

            Some might point to Isaiah 53:4 and argue that our sicknesses and diseases are part of the “griefs and sorrows” that Jesus bore for us. It is interesting to note that Matthew does connect that verse to Jesus healing ministry in the Gospels. In Matthew 8:16-17, he wrote, “That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.’”

            But notice a very important detail about this reference—Matthew is connecting this statement to Jesus’ life, not His death. According to Matthew, this was not something that Jesus accomplished in His death; rather, it was something that He carried out during His life. Also, Matthew gives us no teaching that such healing would be performed for all believers at all times in all places. He simply records one aspect of Jesus’ ministry, and states that it was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4. We would need more than just this quotation to conclude that we have a right to claim healing from Jesus today.

            So all in all, the context leads us to conclude that the “healing” referred to in Isaiah 53:5 is a metaphor for spiritual renewal and restoration. It gives us no justification to conclude that Jesus purchased physical healing for us on the cross, therefore we have the ability today to claim healing from all our sicknesses by faith.

What’s the Danger?

            There is significant danger to embracing this misunderstanding of Scripture.  People have died from treatable illnesses because they believed they had the right to claim healing from God by faith.  As they tried to muster up the perfect faith that is supposedly required to be healed, their conditions simply got worse and worse until ultimately, their illnesses claimed their lives.

            There is significant spiritual danger in this interpretation as well.  If you believe you have the right to claim healing from God and yet you never get better, the only person you have to blame is yourself.  Your healing is supposedly there for the taking, so if you never receive it, according to these teachers of faith healing, you just didn’t have enough faith.

            It’s hard to imagine a more spiritually disastrous thing to say to someone who’s struggling with sickness and disease.  People in that condition need love and compassion, they need someone who will weep with them as they weep.  They don’t need someone telling them that they just don’t measure up to receive all of the blessings that God might otherwise give them.

            There is also a danger in being part of a church that teaches this theology of faith healing.  Many people can tell you their stories of spiritual abuse at the hands of church leaders who told them that they just didn’t have enough faith to save their stillborn child, or their spouse who had cancer or a stroke.  What heartbreaking guilt such people must carry around, and the saddest part is that it’s all unnecessary!

So where have people gone wrong to get this misunderstanding from Isaiah 53:5?

Interpretive Errors

1.  Failing to let the context determine the meaning of a word

            Teachers of faith healing read the word “healed” in Isaiah 53:5 and they apparently take it to refer to physical healing because that’s the way we normally use that word in conversation today.  But we must understand that we can’t simply read one common meaning of a word into every occurrence of that word.  We have to let the context of the statement tell us what the author or speaker is trying to say.

            For example, if I said there was going to be a board meeting after church today, you wouldn’t expect to see a pile of lumber being stacked together—even though the word “board” can refer to pieces of wood.  The context of our church service would tell you that I’m obviously talking about the church board—the group of men who lead our fellowship.

            So, as you read the Bible, it’s a very important for you to let the context of a statement determine what the words in that statement mean.  Of course, that means that we have to know the context, and we must not be in a rush to interpret a word on the basis of the most common ways that we might use that word.

Overall, I think the biggest error made by teachers of faith healing is…

2.  Allowing your overall theology to distort the meaning of a statement

            Last week, I mentioned the importance of allowing a passage of Scripture to speak for itself.  Another way of saying this is that you need to draw the correct interpretation out of the text rather than force an interpretation onto it, whether that interpretation comes from your own ideas or even another portion of Scripture.  Teachers of faith healing have an overriding theology that forces all of Scripture to be pressed into its mold—no matter what these passages may actually teach in their own context.

            Behind any discussion of faith healing lies one important theological question—could sickness be part of God’s plan for his children during our present time?  Teachers of faith healing universally answer this question with a resounding, “No!”

            Listen to Kenneth Hagin’s take on this question: “I believe that it is the plan of God our Father that no believer should ever be sick…  It is not—I state boldly—it is not the will of God my Father that we should suffer with cancer and other dread diseases which bring pain and anguish.  No!  It is God’s will that we be healed.”³ Kenneth Copeland concurs, stating, “God intends for every believer to live completely free from sickness and disease.  It is up to you to decide whether or not you will.”⁴

            According to Kenneth Hagin, sickness should always be attributed to Satan, not to God: “Jesus plainly taught that sickness is of the devil, and not of God…  Since Satan is the author of sickness, I ought to walk free from it…  Divine health is my covenant right!...  Everybody healed in the ministry of Jesus was oppressed of the devil…  The devil is behind all sickness…  There is no such thing as the separation of sickness and disease from Satan.”⁵

            If you are going to remain committed to this theology, then you have to interpret the Bible in such a way as to make it teach that theology—whether it actually does or not!  You have to find statements that you can twist to support it, then you have to explain away or ignore statements that don’t.

            Let’s briefly allow God to speak for himself on this question of whether sickness could be part of His plan for His children.  In Exodus 4, as Moses is trying to weasel out of his call from God by appealing to his poor speaking skills, the Lord states in v. 11, “Who has made man’s mouth?  Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?” In no uncertain terms, God simply takes responsibility here for making people mute, deaf, or blind.

            Ultimately, the reason that teachers of faith healing interpret the Bible the way they do is that they cannot accept the idea that God might use sickness and suffering even for good purposes.  That idea does not fit with the god that they have created in their own minds, yet since they do not want to cast aside the Bible, they must twist it to make it paint the picture of the god they want to believe in, not the God who really is.

            I cannot stress how important it is for us to allow the Bible to tell us what God is like rather than the other way around.  We must not tell the Bible what God has to be like and then distort it to make it fit our own ideas.  If we do so, we put ourselves at great risk of spiritual harm and danger, and in some cases, physical harm and danger as well.

            I want to leave you today with the reminder that even though God may use sickness for good purposes at the present time, it was not part of his original creation, nor will it be part of the new heaven and new earth.  In the resurrection, God will bring complete healing and restoration to our bodies, and we will be completely well in both body and soul.

            Until then, the Apostle Paul gives us the proper attitude to embrace: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor 12:9-10).”

Notes:

1. As quoted by Hank Hanegraaff in Christianity in Crisis (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1993), 244.

2. “Joseph Prince: Unmerited Favor,” http://www.equip.org/article/joseph-prince-unmerited-favor.  Accessed October 16, 2015.

3. Christianity in Crisis, 248.

4. Ibid., 268.

5. Ibid., 258.