Introduction
The Bible includes examples of people receiving miraculous healing from God (e.g., 2 Kings 20:5 ESV). The Bible contains examples of people receiving healing from medicine (e.g., 2 Kings 20:7). The Bible even has examples of people getting sick and dying (e.g., Gen. 49:33). And of course we see each of those events every day, but have you ever wondered where sickness comes from? Does the biblical data comprise a theme, which describes why sometimes people get sick and heal whereas other times people get sick and die? This study will show that although sickness entered creation through sin, God has provided a plan to alleviate the suffering associated with sickness in the present and to annihilate sickness at some point in the future.
This work will begin with an examination of the biblical data from a biblical theology framework. Thus, it will start with the earliest revelation recorded in the Bible and proceed through the most recent revelation in the Bible demonstrating the development of the view of the biblical writers regarding healing. After the examination of the biblical data, some doctrinal implications will be offered, and some alternative approaches to the topic will receive consideration. This study will be split into three parts. First, we will delve into the biblical data regarding the manner by which sickness entered into the world and what the Bible says about healing. The next article will discuss the biblical data regarding our hope for a future without sickness. In the final article we will look at the implications of the biblical data regarding healing.
Sickness Enters
Creation predated sickness. In other words, sickness entered into creation at some point in time after God created. In the first two chapters of Genesis, the writer described a cosmogony that continues to shape Judeo-Christian thinking today (Lucas 2003, 135). A cosmogony is a people group’s view of the origin of things that exist. Christians believe that the account in Genesis 1–2 describes the cosmogony, rather than a cosmogony (McDowell and McDowell 2017, 403). On the conservative Christian view, the writer of Genesis, Moses, described what happened in historical space-time. Old Testament (OT) scholars interpret Genesis 1–2 in different ways. They base their conclusions mostly on their view of the genre of the opening paragraphs of Genesis; however, presuppositions about creation influence their view of the Genesis genre (Lucas 2003, 131). In real life, this plays out in an interesting way. Interpreters who accept the validity of the Darwinian theory of evolution tend to interpret Genesis 1–2 as figurative writing, while scholars who embrace Creationism may interpret Genesis 1–2 as historical narrative.
Interpretive paradigms aside, this study requires attention to the fact that God viewed creation as “good,” which the writer mentioned seven times in this passage (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). Therefore, in the Genesis cosmogony, everything in creation began good. The writer did not mention pain or suffering, yet other canonical books include descriptions of pain, suffering, and death in detail (e.g., Exod. 32:28–35; Job 3:3; Lam. 3:1–20; 2 Cor. 12:7). Moreover, modern people observe pain, suffering, and death in the world today. These observations led Thompson Brown (1998, 374) to state, “In the face of such evils an affirmation of belief in God’s will for human health and wellbeing seems to beg questions about God’s relationship to and responsibility for evil.” How did the world transition from good to full of pain, suffering, and death?
Adam and Eve disobeyed, and that changed everything. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command not to eat from the tree of good and evil, the world changed (Gen. 3). According to Tim Keller (2018, 177), “Human beings are so integral to the fabric of things that when human beings turned from God the entire warp and woof of the world unraveled. Disease, genetic disorders, famine, natural disasters, aging, and death itself are as much the result of sin as are oppression, war, crime, and violence.” When Adam and Eve sinned, creation became cursed. God cursed the woman by stating, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). This curse includes the first mention of pain in the Bible (Goldsworthy 2002, 106).
It gets worse. Moses (Gen. 3:17–19) continued,
To Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’
With this curse, “illness, disease, and death among humans enter” into creation (Williams 2022, 135). Fifteen hundred years later, the apostle Paul (Rom. 5:12) reiterated, “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Thus, according to the biblical data, prior to the Fall, the world was good, absent sickness, pain, or death. Since the Fall, humans have had to contend with illness, but the Bible also presents God as the Healer.
God Heals
Moses (Exod. 15:26) summarized the OT perspective on healing when he wrote, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.” God remains sovereign over both sickness and healing (Warrington 2006, 154). God punished the sin of the Egyptians with plagues, which included sickness. He possesses the authority to punish the Israelites in the same manner. God also maintains the ability to heal any sickness. Keith Warrington (2006, 155) noted, “God sent sickness (Deut. 32:39) to test or chastise them because of personal sin (Gen. 32:32; Ex. 15:26).” On the other hand, God healed the people when they repented and demonstrated obedience. Moses (Exod. 23:25) explained, “You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.” In the Pentateuch Moses described a one-to-one correspondence between sin and sickness, likewise between obedience and healing. As the progressive revelation of the Bible unfolds, so does a more nuanced view of sickness and healing.
In the historical books, God remains the sole Healer of people; however, some sicknesses emerge absent a direct link to any particular sin. For example, King Hezekiah of Judah “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD” (2 Kings 18:3). However, “in those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death…Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD…and…Thus says the LORD…I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you” (2 Kings 20:1, 2, 5). The writer did not make an explicit link between sin and Hezekiah’s sickness. In fact, he acknowledged Hezekiah’s goodness; however, the writer maintained the providence of God over sickness and health. God informed Hezekiah of his sickness. Hezekiah prayed. God healed him.
King Asa of Judah also “did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God” (2 Chron. 14:2). The Chronicler recorded, “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign” (2 Chron. 16:12–13). Again, the sickness emerged without any explicit indication of its source. But it took a different course with Asa. He sought the help of physicians instead of God, and he did not heal. A pattern begins to coalesce of sickness emerging in this world without explanation followed by God exercising authority over the result of the sickness.
The writer documented the same pattern in his representation of the prophetic ministries of Elijah and Elisha. A certain widow lived in Zarephath of Sidon. The widow’s son became ill, “and she said to Elijah ‘What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!’” (1 Kings 17:18). The widow believed that sin from her past caused her son to become sick, a common worldview for Hebrew people in the Ancient Near East from the time of Moses through the Intertestamental Period (Warrington 2006, 156). However, it was not the widow but her son who was dying. Thus, the link between sin and sickness exists in this passage, but the link has become tenuous, the widow’s sin causing the mortal sickness of the son. Elijah prayed for the boy, “and the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again” (1 Kings 17: 22). Regardless of the cause of the boy’s sickness, Yahweh exercised authority over the sickness, returning the child to health.
Elisha succeeded Elijah as prophet (2 Kings 2:15). A Shunammite woman’s son became sick and died, and she asked Elisha to heal him. Elisha went to her house, prayed for the boy, and he became well (2 Kings 4:19–37). The writer failed to mention any source for the child’s illness, but emphasized God as the healer. Through Elisha, God also healed a Syrian leper named Naaman. Again, the writer did not indicate a source for the man’s sickness but reiterated God’s sovereignty over sickness (2 Kings 5:1–14).
The poetical books include descriptions of God’s sovereignty over health and sickness. The writers added a new element into the unfolding revelation associated with physical health. Whereas Moses and the writers of the historical books developed a causal relationship between sin and sickness or obedience and health, the poetical writers created a metaphorical relationship between the two. Sin is sickness, and forgiveness of sin is health. David (Ps. 30:2) demonstrated his belief in God’s sovereignty over health when he extolled, “O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.”. In Psalm 41, David (v. 4) used physical healing as a metaphor for forgiveness of sin by requesting, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” Apparently, David taught this metaphor to his son Solomon, as the metaphor proliferates in the Proverbs (e.g., 3:7–8; 4:22).
So far, we observe two important themes emerging regarding healing in the Bible. First, sickness came as a result of Original Sin. In modern times, people may get sick regardless of their sinfulness or lack thereof. Modern sicknesses may ensue from sinful behavior, and they may not. However, all sickness traces back ultimately to sin by way of the Fall. Second, God heals. People may get healed by doctors or by prophets, but all healing has God’s sovereignty as its ultimate root. In the next article, we will discuss the biblical data regarding a future without sickness.