10 Reasons Why Isaiah's Prophecy Probably Doesn't Refer To Physical Healing

This is in response to an article, "10 Reasons Why Isaiah's Prophecy Refers To Physical Healing." His assertion is that Isaiah 53:4-5 "by his wounds we are healed" means physical healing.

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Cornel,

Grace to you!

I'm on the fence about these verses and am researching the opposite points-of-view. I'm a charismatic Christian, but these verses don't seem to mean physical healing. I searched on the subject and read your list to see if I'm wrong, but I'm still not convinced.

I'm exploring the option because I can't think of anywhere that the Bible commends going to doctors; it seems to expect we'll be healed miraculously. But I can't conclusively say I am promised physical healing based on this Scripture.

Here are my observations on your ten points:

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1. "Jesus healed real people of real diseases in order to fulfil that prophecy. (Matt 8:16-17). If it were only for spiritual healing, apparently Jesus didn’t know about that interpretation…"

GREAT point. I don't think I'd ever heard this taught. Good call. May be the verse that makes me change.

It should be noted, however, that Matthew has the strange habit of reinterpreting OT verses to suit his own purposes. I don't know why that is, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it. See for example Matthew 2:15/Hosea 11:1.

I only mention it becase it could mean Matthew has reinterpreted this verse.

Richard L. Mayhue stated, "Matthew 8:16-17 uses an illustration of physical healing to demonstrate a spiritual truth about the Christian's resurrection hope of being sinless and thus in perfect health."

Could be. We should both meditate on this some more, and proceed with caution.

2. "Nobody needs spiritual healing. Your spirit wasn’t sick, it was dead (Eph 2:5). Hence the fact that you needed to be born again. You were raised in newness of life, not in an improved version of the old life."

Great point. But shouldn't the "healing" be understood the same as Luke 5:31-32 "sick" is understood? I say that because even though those verses use the words "physician" and "sick" when talking about "tax collectors and sinners." As you rightly pointed out, we don't need a physician, we need a mortician -- or a resurrector! Yet Luke uses "physician" and "sick," likely as metaphor. I don't think he intended this to be strictly interpreted.

In the same way, "healing" in Isa 53 is likely to be understood as spiritual.

3. "Your new spirit, is united with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:17). If you need spiritual healing, does that mean the Holy Spirit is sick?"

I don't see why that has to logically follow. Does the Bible say we can't be one with the Spirit and yet need "healing" (or resurrection)? Further, aren't there sick Christians who clearly have the Holy Spirit such as Joni Earickson Tada?

Would you consider backing up your assertions with verses?

4. "Even if it only refers to sin, physical healing is still available. Death entered through sin (Rom 5:12) and if sin has been dealt with, then it automatically makes death and its infant forms of sickness illegal. You don’t acquit a prisoner and leave him in jail. If you have been set free you don’t go on serving your punishment. Sickness was punishment for sin. Your sin has been forgiven therefore you punishment comes to an end also."

Are you sure the Romans 5:12 "death" is physical? When I read verses that follow, it looks to me that the death Paul has in mind is spiritual, as contrasted with the life Christ brings.

To take your logic to its conclusions, wouldn't it also mean that Christians will never physically die?

5. "If Isaiah 53:4-5 refers only to spiritual healing, why did Jesus have to suffer physically? The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), not beatings and floggings."

I don't see why that has to logically follow. Why does the Bible say He had to suffer physical pain?

Would you consider backing up your assertions with verses?

6. "The word 'griefs' in our English translation of Isa 53:4 is actually a Hebraic word, 'choliy' which means sickness. The same word appears 24 times in the old testament and in the majority of cases in reference to physical sickness."

First, are you saying that Isa 53:4 has no idea of emotional grief? Because if 'choliy' only means physical sickness, I think you'd have to say there's no room for a spiritual dimension. I know a God who heals the physical and spiritual. I hope your view of Jesus isn't too narrow.

Second, it's true that in the majority of cases the word refers to physical sickness. Good call. But does that therefore mean that it always means physical sickness?

Top Hebrew scholars disagree. Out of 17 different translations, nearly all chose to translate the word here as a type of emotional grief. That's hundreds (thousands?) of scholars:

http://bible.cc/isaiah/53-4.htm

So just because it is translated that way much of the time, does it follow that it always means that? In at least five instances, it does not appear to mean that, and one of those instances is in Isaiah (1:5).
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2483&t=KJV

Third, if "choliy" is better translated "physical sickness," then the previous verse would read, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with physical sickness."

Think about that.

7. "This is not the only prophecy Isaiah made concerning physical healing and Jesus. See for example Isaiah 35:3-6, and Isaiah 61:1-2. Incidentally the latter passage is what Jesus Himself quoted in Luke 4:18-19."

Hmm. I checked all 17 the translations at Bible.cc, and Isa 61:1 doesn't speak of physical sickness. Same with Luke 4:18-19. Can you explain why you included these?

Isa 35:3-6 is very easy to understand in a spiritual sense.

8. "The events of the cross were foreshadowed long before Isaiah made this prophecy. In Numbers 21:7-9 the Israelites were attacked by snakes in the desert because of their sin and they became sick and some even died. Moses was instructed by God to make a bronze serpent and place it on a pole. Whoever looked on the snake got healed and lived.  This is a picture of Jesus becoming sin for us. He became the cause of our distress so the effects of it could be dealt with. He became sin to free us from not just from sin but also the punishment for it."

Hmm. But doesn't John 3:14 and following tell us that Numbers 21:7-9 is intended to teach us that Christ gives spiritual healing?

Don't forget, this also includes the world-famous verse 16 "for God so loved the world..."

9. "Jesus refers to His flesh as the Bread of life (John 6:51). When we take communion, we remember His body broken for us. For our what? Our sins? No. That’s what the blood is for (Matt 26:28). His body was broken for our healing because His flesh is the bread of life."

I don't see why that has to logically follow. Does the Bible tell us anywhere that the bread of life is for physical healing?

Would you consider backing up your assertions with verses?

10. "The Greek word for salvation and healing is the same word: 'soterio', as is the Greek word for saved and healed: 'sozo'. Jesus also saw them as inseparable because He healed a lame man in order to prove He actually forgives sins (Matt 9:2-7). If physical healing was not what Isaiah was talking about, then Jesus could not offer it as evidence of forgiveness."

If Jesus intended physical healing to be inseparable from forgiveness of sin, would I have been sick for the past for years? Wouldn't all Christians who were forgiven be immediately healed of everything?

Further, the lame man in Mat 9:2-7 was forgiven before he was healed, and Jesus was content to leave the man lame.

So as far as I can see, they are seperable concepts.

It's more likely that Jesus intended to show He had the authority to forgive, and the ability to do pretty much anything else he wanted, because He was God. It does seem to me that Jesus saw them as inseparable.

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I fear that some charismatics have what has been called an "over-realized eschatology." Without a doubt, I will have a perfect body -- after the resurrection. And without a doubt, God heals today, some of the time.

Another I fear some charismatics make is to forget that God has a free will, too. The leper said to Jesus, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, 'I will; be clean.'" (Matthew 8:2b-3a ESV, emphasis added)

Jesus decided to make the leper clean. He used His free will to make a choice.

I'm asking Him on a regular basis to make the same choice for me, but if my thorn in the flesh is not removed, I can be content knowing that "'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV)

This PDF gives solid reasons to doubt that Isaiah 53 has physical healing in mind:

Isaiah 53:4-5 raises the question, "For what did Christ atone?" or more specifically, "Is physical healing in the atonement?" Outside Isaiah 53, Scriptures touching on Christ's atonement in Leviticus and Hebrews deal only with sin, not sickness. The context and language of Isa 53:3-12 address sin alone. A broad range of Scriptures teach that Christ died to deal with humankind's sin dilemma. Matthew 8:16-17 uses an illustration of physical healing to demonstrate a spiritual truth about the Christian's resurrection hope of being sinless and thus in perfect health. First Pet 2:24, studied in both broad context (2:18-25) and narrow (2:24-25), reasons that Christ atoned for sin, not sickness. Therefore, the conclusion is that physical healing is not in the atonement, but rather comes through the atonement after resurrection, because only then does the atonement eliminate the moral cause of physical infirmities, which is sin in one's personal experience.

Finally, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 alludes to something that some charismatics miss: God's purposes in allowing sickness to come to pass. Have you ever read John Piper's "Don't Waste Your Cancer"? That is POWERFUL! POW-ER-FUL!!

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/dont-waste-your-cancer

In my suffering of fatigue for almost four years, I hope that I suffer well, and I am looking to see if there are any promises in the Bible that I can claim for physical healing. I do know my God can heal, I've seen Him heal others, and I'd be delighted to tell of His glories if He heals me.

But I cannot claim the promise of physical healing from Isaiah 53 based on your list. You've got some questions to answer before my conscience will allow it.

If you would, please pray for that I be healed. It's tiring being tired, and I'm sick of being sick, and it seems my only hope to lead my family is a miraculous healing. Thanks.
Grace be with you,
Christopher

UPDATE: I'm embarrassed to say that when I first wrote this, at times I got arrogant and spoke unkindly toward Cornel. I have corrected these things, and asked his forgiveness.