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At most prayer meetings at church when prayer requests are taken, the focus is typically on physical needs. Church members ask for prayer for family members or friends who are sick or having surgery. This is perfectly fine. We should pray for the sick. But isn’t it strange that most of our prayer requests are for physical healing, especially since there is a much greater healing available? The greatest healing that God provides is not physical healing; it is spiritual healing. Spiritual healing touches the soul and not simply the body. We are born into this world with a sickness known as sin, and only the Lord can heal us and free us from this deadly malady.
One of the clearest passages in the Bible on spiritual healing is found in 1 Peter 2:24-25. It reads, “He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (NIV). Peter is, of course, alluding to Isaiah 53 in his explanation of how Jesus’ death on the cross heals us from our sin-sickness and enables us to live a righteous life. The influence of Isaiah 53 on this passage is obvious. Just read Isaiah 53:4-6 and you will see the connection. It is interesting that Matthew quotes from Isaiah 53:4 in relation to Jesus’ healing ministry (see Matt 8:14-17), yet Peter quotes from the same passage to emphasize spiritual healing rather than physical healing. Actually, Isaiah 53 speaks of both physical and spiritual healing, so there is nothing strange about Matthew and Peter using this passage in different ways. Yet, the emphasis in 1 Peter is clearly on healing us from our sins. To be healed from our sins means that the power of sin over our lives is broken and we are free to live for God rather than be slaves to sin.
This might be a good time to talk about the relation between sin and sickness and the atoning death of Jesus. I believe according to Scripture that Jesus’ death addresses our physical infirmities as well as our sin. So I have no problem saying that physical healing is in the atonement. But we must remember that not all the benefits of the atonement are received automatically or at least not in this life. One day when Jesus returns we will be glorified, and then we will receive new, immortal bodies that will never suffer sickness or decay. God may choose to heal us at times in this life, and thank God He does. Yet, even this healing is temporary. Soon we will die from one thing or another. However, when it comes to sin, once we trust in the Lord Jesus we are forgiven of all sin and made right in God’s sight. This happens right now, and it always happens right now when we place our trust in Jesus. So if you are not spiritually healed, the problem is a failure to trust in the Lord. But if you are not physically healed, the problem may be a lack of faith or it may simply be that God has a higher purpose and that your healing awaits your glorification. Either way, God is good, and He will heal us in his time, not our own.
I think it is helpful to see the relation between spiritual healing and physical healing, and how the former is more important than the latter. Psalm 103:3 speaks of the Lord “Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” Notice that the first benefit mentioned by the psalmist is the forgiveness of sins and how this benefit precedes the healing of diseases. In James 5:13-16, that classic text on physical healing, it is not only sickness that is being addressed. James writes, “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (vv. 15-16). Unconfessed sin can be one reason a person is ill and not able to receive healing from God. This is not always the case, but it can be. Thus, as elders and spiritual leaders, when we pray for the sick we need to not only address their physical needs but their spiritual needs also. Maybe they have sins that they need to confess. If so, we need to hear those confessions, pray for God’s forgiveness, and then seek the Lord for their physical healing as well. But it will do them no good in the long run if they get physical healing while still having unconfessed sin in their lives.
A great passage in the Gospels that emphasizes the importance of spiritual healing is found in Mark 2:1-12. This is the occasion when four men dug through the roof of a house in Capernaum where Jesus was teaching a large crowd. These men brought a paralytic to Jesus on a mat, but they couldn’t get through the crowd to see Jesus. They could have given up, but they didn’t. They decided to go up to the roof and dig through and then lower the mat down to Jesus. The first thing that Jesus said when he saw their faith was, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (v. 5).
Two things are interesting here. First, it says their faith. I assume that the paralytic himself had faith, but it was the faith of his friends that also helped this man receive salvation. They were the ones who brought him to Jesus. Who are we bringing to Jesus? Second, though the man’s problem was physical paralysis and that is why his friends brought him to Jesus, Jesus’ first words were not, “You are healed,” but, “Your sins are forgiven.” He addressed the sin problem before he dealt with the physical problem. Again this shows that spiritual healing is more important and urgent than physical healing. However, in this case the two went together. Jesus healed his soul and his body. To prove that He as the Son of Man had authority on earth to forgive sins, He told the man to take up his mat and walk. And he did. He was completely healed of his paralysis. Even today God can heal us both spiritually and physically. The miracles of the Lord have not vanished from the earth.
I’d like to end this brief article by telling how I was spiritually healed. As a young man in middle school, I began to experiment with drugs and alcohol. I eventually became addicted to marijuana. At times I would also snort cocaine and abuse pills such as valium and xanax. I even took acid on a few occasions. I am not proud of this, and at times it’s hard to imagine that I used to do these things. But I did. I was in bondage to my addiction. I could not imagine living life without some sort of drug. I needed them to make me feel happy or at rest. But thank God that I was healed spiritually through Jesus Christ. When I received Christ as my Lord and Savior, He took away all my desire for drugs and alcohol. I realize it doesn’t always happen this suddenly or dramatically in everyone’s life, but it did in mine. I guess the Lord knew how weak I was and that I needed a full, immediate deliverance to overcome. But by His mercy He granted me just that. Now I am happy and content in Jesus and don’t need a drug to make life bearable or enjoyable. I have the Lord, and that’s what really matters.
What God did for me, He can do for you. Whatever spiritual problem you are facing, Jesus can help you. He bore our sins on the cross so that we could be healed from our sins and begin to live a holy, righteous life. Sin is powerful and some temptations seem almost irresistible. When we have lived a certain way for a long time, it’s hard to change. But that’s why we need the cross. If I could save myself or heal myself spiritually, I wouldn’t need Jesus. His death would have been in vain. But I do need the cross, and so do you. We all do. The power of Jesus’ death can heal us from any sin-addiction that we have and enable us to live a holy life for God’s glory. This is the power of the gospel, and this is the gospel that we should proclaim.
Why Does the Soul Need Healing? Adam was born in the likeness of God, but after his fall by sin, he begat children in his own likeness, after his own image. Thus all persons thereafter, inherited this evil nature; and as soon as they reach the age of accountability, and know the difference between good and evil, they become transgressors. Although innocent at birth, but few years pass by until this inherited nature leads them into the ways of sin: and “the wages of sin is death.”
The person who is traveling the way of sin, and rapidly going the downward road to ruin without a ray of heavenly light, indeed has a sin-sick soul, which only the great Physician can heal. Enoch E. Byrum, Divine Healing of Soul and Body, pp. 9-10
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