Religion Essay Example: A theology of Divine Healing

When people fall sick, and we pray for them then they are healed then this is called divine healing because the healing is from the scripture of God. The belief of Christians in the authority of the scripture provides guidance in life and through faith we are healed. In the Old Testament of the Bible, we see that sickness came into existence when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. Furthermore, there are different types of healing as it may be physical healing or emotional pain that also need healing. Hence the healing comes following the pain people undergo through such as fallen, hurt or broken moments. After God saw the suffering of his people, he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ so that he could heal humanity. Through the gospel, it is clearly illustrated how Jesus came into the world through a miracle and all through his life he performed miracles by healing people who were suffering. There is a reflection of Jesus Christ's life on earth from his death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven which was to heal the fallen humanity.

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Jesus' life on earth was through his ministry to the sick and the healing of the sick through the miracles that he performed. The scripture clearly shows his ministry which included the divine healing, and it was a form of healing and redeeming humankind from the sins they had committed through the atonement. This is clearly shown in Mark: 9-11, that says "Arise take up your bed and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins' He said to the paralytic 'I say to you arise, take up your bed and go to your house.' It that Jesus came on earth to heal the sick through divine healing and also to heal humanity from their sins. Theologians agree that it is through suffering, crucifying, and finally the death of Jesus that paid the price for healing to be brought to the sick in the world. As it is stated in the book of Matthew 8:17 that says that "This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases." Also 1 Peter 2: 24 says that Jesus had to die for our sins so that humankind could live a righteous life and through his wounds humanity was healed. Both of these scriptures provide their reference to Isaiah 53 that defines Jesus as a bearer of our sicknesses and a healer of our illness.

Galatians 3:13-14 clearly says that God had to send to earth his only begotten Son, Jesus so that he could redeem the humanity from the curse of the law and in doing so he took the curse on our behalf. The curse mentioned in Galatians is sickness and the curses caused due to the disobedience of God's word, and it is clearly stated in Deuteronomy 28:15-44. Three theological positions or movements try to explain divine healing concerning atoning and redemption mission of Jesus Christ. According to the third wave crusade advocated by John Wimber as he states that divine healing is through the atonement nonetheless not strictly in the atonement. Wimber brings up this distinction because it is necessary because healing considered to be through the atonement is not necessarily and automatically leading to salvation. He argues that the Pentecostals consider healing in the atonement and when there is a failure to appropriate healing, the healing according to them then is deemed to be due to the flawed faith on the one that receives.

On the other hand, Easter Orthodox have a belief that salvation consists of health and the wellbeing. Jesus restored our fallen image in God by taking our fallen nature. Furthermore, Orthodox view Jesus as the "Christus Victor" which means that he conquered the death through the cross and in doing so he restored humanity to its original state. Classical Pentecostal differs from others regarding healing and atonement. According to Wright, he considers healing to be in atonement, and they have a belief that healing must not only be automatic and immediate.

There are scriptures in the bible that provide justifications on the view of healing in the atonement. For instance, Miller argument is that the Old Testament contains a linkage of healing to atonement found in Numbers 8:19. Miller according to this he argues that this atonement is a shadow that will come into existence through Christ. In the Old Testament, the sacrificial system left the sick and the dead untouched but when Jesus came on earth that he healed the sick and resurrected the dead. Isaiah 53, points Christ as the linkage of healing humanity from sin, sickness, and suffering that they are undergoing through. Reichenbach states that human beings are diseased with sins and human beings are unable to cure themselves, and hence they then turn to God for his healing who heals us through Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus' death that he took away sickness and through the scripture we learn that Jesus Christ was brought on earth to bring salvation to humanity. The interesting part is the word "sozo" in Greek which means save is mostly in relation with sickness healing in the gospel and Paul uses the same word when he refers to the objective of his evangelist activities.

It is essential to note that many ideas of in the current postmodern culture have greatly changed. According to Brown, today's postmodern culture is losing its sense of the presence of God and healing in the postmodern culture is understood in physiological terms. Brown views these it as becoming a substitute for the saving the grace of God. Due to the postmodern culture, it has made the words to change and hence words that had power have significantly lost thus substituting God's power in the post-modern thought. Due to this fact, Christian theology should come forth and challenge the beliefs of people in the postmodern culture through their theology that is divine and supernatural. According to Reichenbach current society views sickness mainly in physical terms. He states that thinking is very insufficient because human healing that the humans need goes beyond mental and physical symptoms. For the healing to happen to a person, it more necessary then assume a more profound spiritual aspect that can be mainly be ministered to by Jesus Christ.

Therefore, Wimber developed theology in which he proposes that divine healing is through the atonement. The view is the same as that view of the protection of the believers from them being considered as having "faulty faith." Hence if people or believers are given teachings about healing that is through the atonement instead of in the atonement, it can be argued that an individual's faith will be very low than if they are shown that the act of healing was only the atonement. The dangerous part is when the truth starts to be altered for the need of reimbursing the reality then it is compromised, and this makes the individual who believes not be in a situation to be able to accept the spiritual truth and hence be able to do something about the spiritual truth through their faith.

Job had been in pain and misery with open sores on his body for months. Also during his time of suffering, he had to undergo more suffering because he lost his seven sons and also three of his daughters died. All of his wealth vanished as he was a wealthy person and he was left with no one and even his friends and brothers despised shim. Job started complaining to God, and his faith started being wavering in God but through all these tests Job passed and God revealed himself unto Job and Job was healed of his sickness and more wealth added unto him. In the book of Isaiah 63:9 God provides his assurance and sovereignty to humanity by saying that "In all their afflictions, he was afflicted" (Isaiah.63:9). Therefore he assures the humanity the divine healing in the time of troubles and afflictions. In the book of Job, we are introduced to Job who undergoes sickness, and God finally heals him. As it is stated, "So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his crown" (Job 2:7). Job goes through a lot in his life from the veil Satan made him go through, but God finally healed him. In the trial case of Job, it is through God's light that which is the source unto which sickness proceeds and it is delivered from him through God's work. Through the suffering of Job, we can learn and see that Satan is the prince of darkness and also the prince of sin and hence sickness is the consequence of sinning. Therefore Satan is the prince of the world and brings sufferings to the people of God.

Conclusion

The biblical defense of divine healing shows that the authors of the gospel and how the disciples associated and the Jesus Christ did not see any differences between how Jesus was saving humanity and healing of Christ's redemptive work. After the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the disciples continued to proclaim the Kingdom of God and its spiritual power so that they can save and heal humanity. Therefore divine healing is of great importance to the human beings as Jesus through his work on earth paid for our sins through his crucifixion on the cross. Therefore one should not assume upon God's sovereignty, and our healing in our daily life should not exclude the medical profession because it is through them that God heals us. Hence no person should not adjust another person's theology to ensemble the situations. It is very important for Christians today to seek the truth first because it will bring them freedom and the truth will be infested by God upon them through divine healing in their lives.

Bibliography

Bible, Holy. "New international version. (2011)." Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan (2013).

Kammer, Donald. "The Perplexing Power of John Wimber's Power Encounters." Churchman 106: 45-64.

Peterson, Cheryl M. "Healing as an Image for the Atonement." Justification in a Post-Christian Society (2015).

Robinson, James. Divine Healing: The Formative Years: 1830-1890: Theological Roots in the Transatlantic World. Vol. 1. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2011.

Wimber, Joahn, and Kevin Springer. Power healing. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1991