In the book of Isaiah at chapter 53, to summarize; we’re briefly told prophetically of Jesus incarnation, selfless life, crucifixion and of Him being the means of forgiveness and eternal salvation for many. I’ve only written on a portion of this chapter, but the whole chapter should be read to understand the focal verse in context.

I began this short study in response to hearing of a doctrine related to healing, which you may also have heard of, it’s based on the portion of Isaiah 53:5, which states: “by his wounds we are healed“. This portion has been taught by some to mean that God will heal Christians of all our physical sicknesses if we just have enough faith, or if we give enough money or time to a “religious organisation” or preacher.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; 
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, 
and with his wounds we are healed.

  • Transgression is sin: “Intently acting contrary to God’s instruction.”
  • Iniquity is sin including “perversity and depravity, which are forms of corruption of good.”
  • Chastisement is “correction, rebuke or discipline.”

The healing mentioned in this passage isn’t of physical nature such as would require medical intervention, it’s speaking of spiritual moral corruption. For example, a person who is sexually depraved, is sometimes referred to in their corrupt condition as being “sick”, that doesn’t mean they are physically unwell, but that they are morally depraved.

The use of the word “healing” in the Isaiah context is referring to a condition of being made well from having been in a spiritually corrupted condition, where they/we were physically alive but spiritually dead or “sick”, with no concern or interest in obeying God to repent from sin.

Jesus spoke about this spiritual condition of sickness in Mark 2:17

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

It’s only through Jesus’s suffering inclusive of all that comprised His death at Calvary, including His wounds, but most notably Him being forsaken by His Father, that we are healed from the condition of the moral “sickness”, which is the result of sin, which separates people from fellowship with God, Jesus was separated from the Father so that many wouldn’t be; but if they’re not “healed” before death, then they can never be “healed”, so the separation will continue eternally, after what is described as the “second death“, but when they’re healed, they experience peace, hope and eternal fellowship with God.

How is this accomplished? Through faith and repentance, as taught in Romans 20:9 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”.

In Peter’s first letter, he also tells of the application of the verse from Isaiah as being said in metaphorical reference to eternal salvation through Christ, as he also employs the contrasting words “die” & “live” which are not speaking in relation to physical condition but spiritual, the application of these instructions then result in righteousness, we’re to die to the desires of the flesh so that we live in righteousness just as Christ was righteous, and we’re able to do this because of what he suffered:

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

So, what does the bible teach about physical sickness relating to Sin?

The first biblical recorded connection of sin to sickness is in Genesis, where God warned Adam and Eve of what would happen if they were disobedient:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die

Genesis 2:17

Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God caused an immediate change to both their relationship to God, and to their physical and spiritual condition, this change subsequently also affected mankind from that day on, so that apart from Christ, all their progeny, from the time of being in a condition of accountability, have been alienated from God in this world, until repentance and confession of Christ is made. The condition of being alienated from God is also referred to as being ‘spiritually dead’, which generally means to be separated from God in fellowship, godly joy, godly wisdom, eternal hope and spiritual peace, this form of existence is written of in Ephesians 2:1 and again in Colossians 1:21-22:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins;
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,…

This is the state of all mortals from the time of us being maturely accountable for our actions and words, unless/until Holy Spirit brings reconciliation to God through belief in Christ, and repentance. 

Another consequence of Adam’s sin is the physical penalty of death, which comes through a variety of means including sickness.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,
and death through sin,
and in this way death came to all people,
because all sinned:

Romans 5:12

The deterioration which eventually causes death (Except for: 1 Thes 4:17), continues
regardless of obedience to God,
regardless of faith,
regardless of good works, and
regardless of the amount of money paid to a preacher or religious organisation.

Jesus also spoke specifically of the relationship of sin to sickness after He healed a lame man in Mark 2, He showed clearly that there are times when sickness is a penalty for sin, so in these cases when sin is forgiven by God, the person is healed. But this form of forgiveness isn’t to eternal salvation, the “forgiven” used in this verse is translated from the Greek word “aphiēmi” which relates to present earthly forgiveness of a sin or sins, it stops the previous sins from resulting in earthly penalty, but this forgiveness doesn’t extend to stopping penalty for future sins:

Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him,
“See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”

John  5:14

James 5:14-15 also tells of the relationship of sin to sickness.

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven (aphiēmi) him.

Mankind’s Transition to Sinfull State.

Adam was created in the “likeness and image” of God in at least 4 aspects of the phrase, but after his sin, he wasn’t of the same full “likeness and image” of God, as he was no longer sinless, and from that point onward every child has been born with Adams corrupt desire to sin, as we’re told earlier in Romans 5, this inherited corrupt likeness is also mentioned in Genesis 5, as being passed from Adam to his son Seth:

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

Genesis 5:3

Individual Accountability for Sin.

The effect of the entrance of sin to the created sphere spoken of in Genesis 1, has brought the process of cellular deterioration to all within this created realm, including various forms of “sickness”, but apart from this general deterioration, we’re given examples of the result of personal sin, such as in 1 Corinthians 11, where sickness and even death, is penalty for dishonouring God,

For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep (died).

1 Cor 11:29-30

Affected by Others Sins:

Because of Adam’s sin, some sicknesses develop from bacterial or viral transmission, accidents, parasitic organisms, radiation or pollution; any of these can affect the healthiest and most Christ-like persons; For example, the apostle Paul told Timothy “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine, because of the stomach and your frequent ailments.”. We can also bring sickness on ourselves by diet choice and lack of physical exercise, 1 Timothy 4:8 “…bodily exercise is profitable for a little;…” .

Money & Miracles:

As mentioned earlier, some teach that God will heal you of sickness, and answer other requests, if you pay or submit to do works for them or their “religious institution”. This isn’t teaching from God, it’s of the type of corruption as the example recorded in Acts 8 starting at verse 18:

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money.
“Give me this power as well,” he said, “so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
But Peter replied,
“May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart.
For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”

Persons who teach healing by payment are of the type who Paul spoke about in Philippians 3:18-19, they claim to be preaching God, but are in fact teaching corruption for their own selfish gain:

For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears,
many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 
Their destiny is destruction,
their god is their stomach,
and their glory is in their shame.
Their mind is set on earthly things.“

Peter showed in Acts 6 that healing is better than money, and not related to it,

But Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!

Act 3:6

Peter gave freely what he had freely received, just as Jesus told the disciples to do:

Heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers,
drive out demons.
Freely you have received; freely give.

Matthew 10:8

Holiness & Health:

Although the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the blood of Christ was just as necessary and purifying for them as it is for us, and the effect of the sin of Adam was just as much a trouble to them as it is to us, this aspect was spoken of by Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:

I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

He also spoke of it in Romans 7:19-25

For I don’t do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I don’t want to do.
And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Though Timothy was a man full of faith, we’re told in 1 Timothy 5:23 that he suffered from frequent sickness, so Paul advised him:

Stop drinking only water and use a little wine instead, because of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

Then we’re told in 2 Timothy 4:20 of Paul’s friend Trophimus who also suffered from sickness,

Erastus has remained at Corinth, and Trophimus I left sick in Miletus

I expect Paul had prayed for healing of Trophimus, because we’re told in James 5:16 to “pray for each other so that you may be healed“, but although there’s no recorded of God healing Trophimus through Paul or any other, we know that all that God does, works together for our good and His glory, which brings consideration of the next aspect:

Adversity for our good and His glory:

There’s an example in John 9, of how one man was notably affected by Adam’s sin from birth, and his physical disability worked to display God’s glory:

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. and His disciples asked Him,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus’s answered,
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,
but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.”…
Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

John 9:1,2,6,7

The disciples first reasoning in their question to Jesus was that God may have penalised a baby for something he hadn’t yet done, if this perspective was applied to all mankind, then because of our many sins, it would result in us all being either born deaf, blind, lame or worse, so I’m grateful that God doesn’t think like we do. The second proposal, that he may have been penalised from birth because of his parents sin, is one that is contrary to God’s relationship with man since the birth of Christ, and even as written in the law of Moses as mentioned in 2 Chronicles 25:4, and Ezekiel 18.
We’re told in Romans 8:28 “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.“. We need to carefully consider each matter of sickness before judging the situation, because there are times when God may provide opportunity to help, or He may intervene alone, but either way His glory will be the ultimate result which includes our good, He may answer prayer for healing, he may provide medication to heal or reduce the affect, or He may allow the sickness to take its course sometimes even to death of the body, but in this and the other scenarios, prayer with humility is the first course of action. In all the effects of men’s sin in this corrupt world, God is full of compassion, wisdom and never anxious, so we can ask God in all our ways, knowing that He works ALL things together for good. Our faith should be accompanied by prayer and practical assistance, applying the resources of time, goods or money, which come from His hand through His children.

Sin leading to death. (1John 5:16)

There are also situations where we’re told not to pray for healing;
Click on the above blue heading to read on the topic.

We can commit ourselves and others to God in prayer, knowing that God will do what is according to His wisdom and best for us, and we have His Word for instruction on how to live in fellowship with Him so that our prayers are effective:

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

James 5:16

Considering that Jesus used earthly compounds such as mud as part of His healing, not necessarily because of any ingredient in the mud, but in part showing that He works for His glory through what He has created in this world, He’s given degrees of knowledge of the earthly elements to mankind to work for His glory, even in the basic purifying aspect of alcohol such as Paul spoke of to Timothy, and there are of course numerous other elements that can be used to alleviate symptoms, and work to heal.

It’s vital that faith in us is accompanied by obedience in action; after Jesus put mud on the blind man’s eyes, he was told to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.
We’re told in James 2:17 “So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.”:

When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes. Then He told him, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came back seeing.

Sickness is primarily the result of the sin of Adam affecting all mankind, but God is with us through all suffering and may heal directly or through medication, or He may allow sickness to continue for a time to change us and others for His glory, or ultimately He may allow it to take its full course until we enter His presence where there is eternally no corruption. Either way, we can rest in the knowledge of His eternal love for us in Christ Jesus as we’re told in Romans 8:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written:
“For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.
Over such the second death has no power,
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Revelation 20:6

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