Gup20
Active Member
Mat 9:5 For whether is easier, to say, [Thy] sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?
6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
I find it fascinating that Jesus calls himself “the son of man”. I think what he is saying is that – as a human being, not as God, he had the power to forgive sins. This gives me hope, because it means that we have the same power if we act in Jesus name (not our power, but the Holy Spirit’s power through us). 6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
What is sickness and disease, but forms of death and corruption – the punishment for sin and The Curse which reigns in our bodies. The same power to save our spirit – the power of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ – is the same power necessary for healing… it’s just that it is applied to our bodies rather than our spirit.
I recently participated in a debate here where we were talking about Original Sin. There were those who say that sin is passed down biologically through humans.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
But I argued that I thought they had it all wrong. I think that DEATH is passed… isn’t that what it says in Romans 5:12 – and so death passed upon all men. It doesn’t say “sin passed upon all men”.
I argued that sin being passed would defeat Jesus’ work on the cross. In order for Jesus to rise from the dead and be resurrected, he had to be sinless, so he couldn’t have inherited sin biologically. But he had to be able to die. Therefore, because Jesus was sinless but did die, we can conclude that sin is not passed on biologically, but death is. Jesus resurrected because he had no sin, and therefore death was an unjust punishment, and so it had to be reversed. When we believe on Jesus Christ our spirits are made alive in Christ, and death is condemned to die in our bodies.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
So sin and death, then, are banished to our flesh, while our spirits are made alive in Christ. This is why we still die after being saved. This is why we get new bodies in the resurrection. Jesus, on the other hand kept his own body because he didn’t sin in his spirit or his flesh. This is why he still has the scars from his crucifixion in his body – because he kept his original body because he was sinless.
Paul makes an excellent legal argument. He says in Romans 7 that death is a fulfillment of The Law. He cites as an example, that it is not adultery for a woman to remarry after her husband dies because she is free from the law binding her to her husband when the husband dies. Paul goes on to say that we are free from The Law that would put our souls in hell for eternity when sin and death are condemned in our mortal bodies when these mortal bodies die. But our spirits live on because they are made righteous by faith in Jesus.
This illuminates the scripture that says “by his stripes we are healed” (Isa 53:5, 1pet 2:24). Because Jesus endured pain and death unjustly (he had no sin, yet felt The Curse of sin which is death and pain) in his physical body, we can have healing because God’s justice demands it. Since the offense – pain and death – were present in Jesus – fully God and fully man – that means the justice of God is infinite in its retribution to serve justice for the injustice of Jesus experiencing pain and death in his body when he had no sin.
Also consider that Jesus’ healing ministry was most prevalent prior to his death and resurrection. Why was this? I think a combination of Acts and Romans gives us the answer:
Act 3:12 And when Peter saw [it], he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Doesn’t Peter imply that both Power and Holiness are required for healing? But why holiness? The answer is in Romans 5:
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also [is] the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, [which is] by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
What Paul says here is that – when Adam sinned, death came into the world, and death is passed to all. He says that even though The Law was not given until the time of Moses, all people between Adam and Moses experienced death – even though none of them ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – this being the only existing Law until the time of Moses. Proof positive that by one man’s sin, death enter the world, and death passed upon all men. 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also [is] the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, [which is] by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
So if by one man’s sin, death can be passed upon all men for all of time (even on those who had not violated an existing Law) how much more can we trust that by one man’s holiness (Jesus’ righteousness and sinlessness) life can be passed upon men. If by Adam’s sin death is our reality, then by Jesus’ righteousness healing can be our reality.
The concept of “original sin” is a bit of a misnomer. It could, instead, be called “original death”. Now we are all sinners, and so when we die our death is deserved. But according to scripture, we don’t die because of our own sin… we die because of Adam’s sin (which generated “The Curse”). If our pain and death were because of our own sin, then Jesus would not have been able to experience pain or death because he had no sin.
So – prior to his death and resurrection – Jesus is able to heal people because he leads a sinless, holy life. The Son of Man is able to forgive sin in the body because he is – from the moment of his conception – experiencing The Curse – dying and feeling pain unjustly. Because of HIS righteousness (in his flesh), He can forgive in the flesh – passing to other people life in exactly the same way that Adam passed death to all mankind by his sin.
Because his spirit lives in us, and because his spirit and he are one, we can also pass on the righteousness and life of Christ to others (otherwise known as healing). However, it takes no more faith than the faith required for salvation – because it is, in fact, the same miracle. As in salvation our spirits are made righteous, with healing, the sins in our flesh are forgiven. This is why one can perform and experience God’s healing power without being “saved” as in Matthew 7:22-23.
