Healing According to Faith

[Last updated 2024/10/5]

As a Calvinist, I believe people are divinely healed of sicknesses according to the sovereignty of God. However, at the same time the Bible teaches that we receive healing according to our faith. The Bible, and Jesus in particular, encourages people to have faith for healing. According to Calvinism, faith is ultimately the sovereign gift of God. But I believe we shouldn't use that fact (that faith is a divine gift) as an excuse not to strive to exercise faith for healing. The healing of ourselves and of others [James 5:14-16]. Jesus never (Himself) used or accepted (from others) the sovereignty of God as an excuse for why someone wasn't healed. In fact, Jesus criticized and rebuked His disciples for not having faith to heal sickness or exorcise demons. He blamed the disciples for failing to get people healed of severe demonic influence [Matt.17:14-21; Mark 9:14-29; Luke 9:37-42]. Jesus and the New Testament teaches that with God, and faith in God, all things are possible [Matt. 17:20; 19:26; Mark 9:23; 10:27; 14:36; Luke 1:37].

 Many atheists point to two passages Mark 6:5 and Matt. 13:58 where it says Jesus couldn't do miracles because of the people's unbelief. Allegedly this shows that Jesus (or God through Jesus or anyone else) couldn't/can't heal everyone. That there's a limitation on God's power, or that God isn't omnipotent even according to the Bible's teaching. The passages don't teach or imply anything like that at all. Both passages record the same event of Jesus being rejected by the majority of people in His hometown of Nazareth. The point of both passages is that in their rejection of Jesus (i.e. unbelief) they didn't come to Jesus for healing, and so not many were healed. Both passages say Jesus did do some healings and miracles there. The truth is that God can heal with or without faith. I remember listening to an audio of Walter Martin, a well known pioneer of 20th century apologetics, recount how one time someone asked him to pray for their healing and he was hesitant to do so, but did so anyway and the person was healed to his great astonishment & amazement. He was surprised because he didn't have faith or confidence that the person would be healed. Then in the audio he immediately recounted another story that happened soon afterward (days or weeks later) when someone again asked for prayer and this time he had great confidence that the person would be healed because of his recent experience, and the person wasn't healed. He went on to explain what he believed happened. That it goes to show that God is sovereign enough to heal even in the absence of faith. As well as sovereign enough in His wisdom to withhold healing. I agree and I also think it goes to show that genuine faith for healing and miracles is not merely a psychological confidence, but a God given spiritual reality that goes beyond a mental idea or emotional feeling. God will sometimes heal in the absence of faith, but God's normative way to heal [as seen and taught in the Gospels] is in the presence of faith of the prayee and/or pray-er [usually both]. And from my Calvinist perspective, that faith is ultimately the gift of God. So, God's Sovereignty is not denied in my theology of healing. Nor is the will of humans ultimate in the final analysis. But from the human perspective or at least a practical perspective, the human will is important and often seemingly ultimate. See this blog here by Vincent Cheung on the will of man in healing with my qualifications of his theology here.

George Mueller made a distinction between the "grace of faith" and "gift of faith" that I agree with, but I define them differently than he did. Both are technically God's gifts, but bestowed differently. I believe the "gift of faith" described in the Bible is an immediate temporary supernatural endowment of faith that God can give someone for specific situations where God definitely wants to answer a prayer or perform a miracle or healing. This gift of faith comes upon a person in a way that he know is not something he already had or developed, but is an extraordinary sense of faith that encourages the person to know with certainty that God wants something supernatural done and that He's ready to do it. In contrast to that I believe the "grace of faith" is the ordinary faith we develop in the Christian life by doing those things that we are encouraged to do to increase faith. Things like prayer, Bible reading & study, church attendance, participating in communion (i.e. the Lord's Supper), Christian fellowship, et cetera. BOTH are the gift of God, but one is  immediate, sporadic and clearly extraordinary and supernaturally given. The other is gradual, fluctuates according to one's present state of sanctification, seemingly ordinary and not apparently supernaturally given since it's developed with human cooperation and effort.

Examine the following verses [ESV used]. Notice how often the Bible encourages faith, and teaches its limitless possibilities. Notice how often healing and miracles was tied to someone's faith. As well as how lack of healing was often (not always) tied to unbelief.

Matthew 8:5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant,[c] ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel[d] have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Matthew 9:22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly[a] the woman was made well.

Matthew 9:29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”

Matthew 13:57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Matthew 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”[e]

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 21:20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Mark 5:34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Mark 6:4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

Mark 7:28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Mark 9:23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Mark 10:52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

Mark 11: 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours.

Mark 14:36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Luke 7:9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

Luke 7:50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luke 8:25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Luke 8:48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Luke 17:19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 18:42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”

John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[e] anything in my name, I will do it.

John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 16:23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. [[[Majority Text and TR have "full of faith and power". See the KJV, NKJV, YLT, EMTV, LITV]]]

Acts 14:9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,[b] 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.

1 Corinthians 13:1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

Gal. 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

1 John 3:20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

 

Here's a final caveat. This approach to prayer for healing and all other blessings of God [for finances, wisdom, guidance,  protection, etc.], even if rightly understood, can lead to frustration and even doubt due to delays and seeming denials of prayer requests. But not because of the doctrine itself. The doctrine itself ought to support hope for the future and eventual answered prayer, rather than doubt if a positive answer doesn't arrive or is delayed. It also acknowledges the sovereignty of God without giving people no options or hope for improving their circumstances. Imagine for example being in chronic pain and only having the theology of God's sovereignty to uphold you and the usual Calvinistic applications [often misapplications] of that truth. That could lead to the hopeless conclusion that one may have to endure the pain for the remainder of one's life. See, for example, Dan Downey's testimony. He wasn't a Calvinist. He was more Arminian, but he suffered from chronic pain and his testimony exemplifies the suicidal despair people can enter when they have no hope of being healed of chronic pain. His testimony "How I Received My Healing." can be downloaded HERE.

Under the theology and approach of this blog a person can have hope that his situation may improve and he can have a hand in bringing it about. Instead of just enduring it with nothing to do, or to pray with little hope of an answer. Or with reasons to fear that one may pray presumptuously in violation of God's will. The fear of committing the "sin of presumption" is one of the main hindrances to answered prayer. Yes, [all things considered] God's will of Decree MIGHT not be to heal [or heal right now], but His will of Delight and will of Demand IS to heal [all thing being equal]. For example, for all you know God doesn't intend to heal you today, but next week in response to the faith you develop and receive from God in the next seven days. SEE my BLOG on SIX senses of God's Will.

 Distinctions in God's Will from a Calvinist Perspective