18th September, 2023. The Atonement is a fundamental of the Christian Faith. It has sometimes been popularly expressed as ‘at-one-ment’ (ie the process of reconciling us with God) but the serious manner of that Reconciliation is a transaction involving the Sacrificial Death of the Son of God himself. Shining like a jewel in the heart of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah’s 4th ‘Servant Song’ it is stated in ch 53:4 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed”. This ‘Servant of the Lord’ can be traced through the whole of Scripture, and the illustration of a wide beam of light being directed through a convex lens is helpful in showing that the lens first causes the beam to converge narrowly at its focal point, which then diverges and expands as it continues on. (I learned this in ‘O’-Level Physics and I presume it still works!). This illustrates the truth that in the early part of the Old Testament God called a whole nation to be his ‘Servant’, but as generations of Israelites gave up the true faith, Isaiah in particular narrowed his definition of ‘Servant’ as ‘the faithful remnant of Israel’ He goes on in his 4 ‘Servant Songs’ to narrow his concept of ‘Servant’ to one individual man, the ‘messianic’ figure who will deliver the whole people through his act of atoning sacrifice. Eight centuries (give or take) later, the disciple and evangelist Matthew picks up on Isaiah 53:4, and in a comment about Jesus’ many healings, identifies Him in ch 8:17 as the fulfilment of Isaiah’s ‘Servant’, quoting “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases”. (As we continue in the New testament we can see the ‘Servant’ figure widening like the beam of light as it now diverges, to embrace first, the disciples, then the Church, and finally the whole redeemed multitude revealed in ‘Revelation’. But it is at the ‘focal point’ that we must concentrate our attention). Matthew is stating that, on Calvary’s Cross, Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy by bearing the consequences of humanity’s Sins and Sicknesses in his own being, resulting in forgiveness and healing, in what we now popularly term a ‘holistic’ sense.
We know that through the early centuries of Christian history, widely differing understandings were applied to the issue of Physical Healing, in contrast with the issue of Forgiveness of Sins, which was generally accepted across the spread of Christian denominations despite all their different empahases on relatively lesser doctrines. In modern times it was the advent of the Pentecostal and Apostolic movement in the early Twentieth Century (Elim / Assemblies of God / John G Lake) which viewed Physical and Mental Healing as coming under the scope of the Atonement on a level par with Forgiveness of Sins. They preached a ‘Foursquare’ understanding of the Gospel, as TL Osborn and other evangelists offered ‘Salvation and Healing’ at their public rallies. The Charismatic Movement further spread these emphases across the denominational spectrum. Curioisly, though, not all Pentecostal preachers believe that Healing is in the Atonement. A former Bible College friend and Elim Pastor recently explained that, not only is Matthew the only evangelist to make this association between the Atonement and Bodily Healing, he said it was significant that Capernaum was the location for the Healing ministry which Matthew was focusing on. I puzzle to see the significance of the geographical location for this theological stance (even though location does affect other interpretations, eg the fact that Jesus expressly forbids public testimony in Jewish areas, whereas he encourages it in mainly Gentile areas – for reasons of protecting his messianic identity until the time is right).
I hope I am not simplifying the whole matter of ‘Healing – in or not in the Atonement?’, by stating that it was always harder for gospel-preachers to assert that Forgiveness of Sins becomes instant on true repentance and faith, and so also Bodily Healing – when we have to admit that the latter is rarely instant. How do we square the ‘whole human rescue’ that Jesus and his disciples (12 then 70) practised, as did the apostles in Acts, and as we present disciples were instructed to practise in the ‘Great Commission’ …. in contrast with the general lack of belief in Healing being the case across most denominations, and the absolute denial for our times of Healing and all Spiritual Gifts taught by Dispensational preachers and writers?
One of the crasser interpretations of scripture used against Healing in the Atonement is the view that, for Jesus to be bearing all our sicknesses on the Cross, he must have been literally suffering from all possible diseases. That does not have to be true, any more than Jesus had to be practising all types of Sin while on the Cross. The whole point was that he remained sinless and disease-free until the end came, when he bore the penalty and result of sin and sickness – Death!
To what lengths will we go to wriggle out of the full implications of the Atonement. I’ve mentioned above the ‘crass interpretations’, the ‘Location’ argument, and the ‘Dispensational’ doctrine. We can add the “only one gospel writer makes this claim” argument: if we were to equate the importance of different Christian doctrines with the relative scriptural evidence for them, we could be on very shaky ground! For me, the only theory that offers us some understanding of the ‘ instantaneity* gap’ between the forgiveness of sins and the healing of bodies, is the teaching of George Eldon Ladd (and other evangelical theologians) in seeing that in the present age we experience the ‘eschatological tension’ between the ‘now’ and the ‘not yet’ (till Christ returns). Herein we are faced with the ‘mystery of the divine will’. (* I must check if this word is in the dictionary, but I hope you get the meaning!)
I accept this tension, but I believe we do God a disservice in making excuses for not having faith – which is the key to all Christian service and Kingdom endeavour. I believe that the Atonement embraces forgiveness and healing. More to follow in my 3rd theological submission.
Healing in Jesus' Name 