Heal, Healing

Healing means making someone well. The Old Testament provides the proper background for a Christian understanding of healing. In the Old Testament, the main point is that God is the healer of his people.

In Exodus 15:22–26, God had already rescued his people from Egypt, led them through the sea, and made the water at Marah safe to drink. Then God spoke of himself as their “healer.” This healing refers first to physical care and provision. At the same time, it points to a wider idea: God sustains his people in an ongoing and lasting relationship with himself.

A similar idea appears in Deuteronomy 32:39, where God is described as the one who heals. In this passage, God’s power to heal comes from who he is. He heals because he alone is God.

This picture of God as healer appears often in the Old Testament. The writers of the psalms speak of God healing his people (Psalms 6:2; 41:4; 103:3). The prophets also describe God in this way (Isaiah 19:22; Jeremiah 17:14; Hosea 7:1; Zechariah 11:16).

The New Testament places strong emphasis on Jesus as a healer. In the opening account of the ministry of Jesus in Capernaum, the Gospel of Mark presents him as both a teacher and a healer. Mark describes Jesus healing a man with an unclean spirit, Peter’s mother-in-law, many sick people brought to him in the evening, and a man with a serious skin disease (Mark 1:21–45).

Healing sickness and driving out demons are central features of the ministry of Jesus. Mark shows this by presenting many healing stories one after another. These include the healing of:

a paralyzed man (2:1–12),

a man with a withered hand (3:1–6),

large crowds by the sea (verses 7–12),

the Gerasene man controlled by demons (5:1–20),

a woman with a bleeding problem, and

Jairus’s daughter (verses 21–43).

Jesus then commissioned the Twelve to proclaim repentance, to cast out demons, and to heal the sick (6:7–13). Jesus himself continued to heal people in many places. At Gennesaret, he healed many who were sick (verses 53–56). He also drove out an unclean spirit from the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman (7:24–30). Mark then describes Jesus healing a man who was deaf and could not speak clearly (verses 31–37). He healed a blind man at Bethsaida in two stages (8:22–26). Jesus also healed a boy who was controlled by an evil spirit (9:14–20).

Later, Jesus healed Bartimaeus, a blind man, as he was leaving Jericho (10:46–52). These accounts further show that healing and freeing people from evil spirits remained central to the ministry of Jesus throughout the Gospel of Mark.

Healing is a key part of the ministry of Jesus. His healings showed his compassion and revealed who he was. This is clear when Jesus healed the paralytic and said, "so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (Mark 2:10). It also seems that Mark intended his audience to understand that the healing of the deaf and mute man (7:31–37) and the blind man of Bethsaida (8:22–26) symbolize the awakening of spiritual understanding in the disciples of who Jesus is.

It is also important that Mark placed the healing of Bartimaeus (10:46–52) right after the third prediction of death made by Jesus (verses 32–34). Mark also placed it after the third failure of the disciples to understand that being the Messiah (God’s chosen one) meant that Jesus had to suffer (verses 35–45).

Matthew shows Jesus teaching, preaching, and healing (Matthew 4:23–25) in his ministry, largely in parallel to Mark's accounts. Exceptions include the synagogue demoniac healing (Mark 1:23–28) and the blind man of Bethsaida (8:22–26). Matthew groups many of the healings done by Jesus in a "mighty works" section (Matthew 8–9), which complements the "great words" (sermon) section (chapters 5–7). Matthew sees the healings done by Jesus as fulfilling the Old Testament, as stated in 8:17. The way the healings in 8:16 fulfill Isaiah 53:4 suggests the power Jesus has over sickness comes from his future death for sin.

It is interesting that Matthew, when describing Jesus healing many by the sea (Matthew 12:15–21; compare also Mark 3:7–12), quotes Isaiah 42:1–4. This Old Testament passage talks about God's servant, anointed with the Spirit, bringing justice to the nations. Matthew uses this quote to explain why Jesus told those he healed not to reveal him. Jesus wanted to avoid too much attention. Too much attention too early might disrupt God's plan for him as the Suffering Servant who would bring salvation to the nations. This action shows that the healings of Jesus reveal who he is. Another quote from Isaiah (6:9–10) in Matthew 13:14–15 highlights that healing is mainly about understanding the message of Jesus about God's kingdom.

Luke, like Matthew and Mark, shows Jesus preaching and healing. After describing the births of John and Jesus and John the Baptist's ministry, Luke presents Jesus preaching in Nazareth (Luke 4:16–30). In the synagogue of his hometown, Jesus uses a quote from Isaiah 61:1–2 to affirm that the Spirit has anointed him for three key activities:

to share good news,

to free captives, and

to give sight to the blind (Luke 4:18).

Healing plays an important role in the rest of Luke. Luke includes all the healing events noted by Mark, except those in Mark 6:45–8:26. However, Luke's opening scene in Nazareth emphasizes that the healing done by Jesus is not just about compassion for the needy. It primarily shows the arrival of God's kingdom as promised in the Scriptures.

This focus is evident in Luke's unique account of Jesus sending out the 72 disciples (Luke 10:1–12). Jesus tells them to heal the sick in each city they visit and to tell the people that God's kingdom is near (verses 8–9).

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke adopt the Old Testament view of God as a healer and see this fulfilled in Jesus. This fulfillment shows God's reign in the ministry of Jesus and highlights him as the one through whom God works among his people.

The Gospel of John includes four healing stories:

the official’s son (John 4:46–54),

the man sick for 38 years (5:1–18),

the man born blind (chapter 9), and

the raising of Lazarus (11:1–44).

The unique purpose and structure of John's Gospel show that these stories connect closely with the teachings. They serve as signs revealing who Jesus is. This focus on healings as signs in John’s Gospel supports the same idea in the first three Gospels.

The Acts of the Apostles describes how the ministry of Jesus continued through the Spirit working in his followers. Acts mainly focuses on spreading the message, as shown in 1:8. However, the healing of a lame beggar in Jerusalem shows that the disciples could heal in the name of Jesus (3:1–16; 4:8–16). This healing aims to honor Jesus and inspire faith in him (3:12–26). The balanced ministry of the disciples is evident in the prayer of 4:29–30: "Lord, consider their threats, and enable Your servants to speak Your word with complete boldness, as You stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus."

Philip's ministry in Samaria focused on proclaiming Christ (Acts 8:5) and healing the sick and those with unclean spirits (verse 7). Peter heals Aeneas and raises Tabitha (9:34, 40), leading many to believe in the Lord (verses 35, 42). Paul preaches the gospel (17:2–3), heals people (14:8–11; 28:8), casts out spirits (16:18), and raises a dead man (20:9–10).

The letters of the New Testament say less about healing than the Gospels. First Corinthians mentions the gifts of healing (1 Corinthians 12:9, 28). This suggests these gifts should be part of the church's ministry. However, not everyone receives these gifts (verse 30), and God decides who gets them for the benefit of the community. James advises a believer who is ill to ask the church to pray for healing (James 5:14–16; see also Hebrews 12:13). This implies that God is willing and able to heal his people today.